Chasing Buses in London: How One Photography Assignment Opened the Door to Marketing

How Developing New Skills Created an Unexpected Career Opportunity

I would never in my wildest dreams have imagined how one photography assignment opened the door to marketing. There are approximately 9,000 buses operating in London every day.

I was looking for thirty of them. More specifically, I was looking for thirty London buses carrying advertisements promoting Almuñécar, a Mediterranean town in Spain.

At the time, I didn’t realise that this assignment would represent something much more important in my career.

It was my first marketing assignment. For me, it was another example of something I’ve believed throughout my career:

If you want to succeed in photography and video, you can’t afford to stop learning.

The industry changes constantly, and photographers who continue developing their skills create opportunities that might otherwise never exist.

Photography Is No Longer Just About Taking Photographs

Over the years I’ve worked in photography, videography, editing, restoration, web design and other areas of media.

That wasn’t necessarily part of some grand master plan.

It evolved because I’ve always believed that learning something new is one of the best ways of remaining relevant.

Photography and video are incredibly competitive industries.

There are always more photographers.

There are always more people buying cameras.

There are always new technologies appearing.

The people who stand out aren’t necessarily those with the most expensive equipment.

They’re often the people who can offer something more.

That philosophy eventually led to me being invited to become involved in marketing.

And my first marketing assignment involved chasing buses around London.

Thirty Buses Among Nine Thousand

The campaign had been arranged for Almuñécar, a beautiful town on Spain’s Mediterranean coast.

The objective was to promote tourism to the region through an advertising campaign featuring thirty London buses.

My job was to photograph the campaign in action, including photographs of the clients standing beside buses displaying the Almuñécar advertisements.

There was, however, a slight problem.

Nobody could tell me exactly where the buses would be.

The advertising company could provide approximate routes, but London buses are primarily there to transport passengers. Routes can change according to the operational requirements of the transport network.

The advertising agency understandably wanted precise locations.

Unfortunately, precise locations weren’t available.

So I had to find another way.

Turning a Marketing Problem Into a Photography Challenge

 

I decided to arrive in London two days before the clients.

Before travelling, I liaised with the company managing the advertising campaign and obtained a list of the bus routes that could potentially be carrying the advertisements.

I downloaded the route information and started looking for places where several routes converged.

If three, four or five routes overlapped in one location, that dramatically increased my chances of finding one of the campaign buses.

I also asked for information about the depots where the buses would start and finish their journeys.

That became my backup plan.

Plan B: Stratford

On my first day in London, after a considerable amount of research, I located the bus depot in Stratford where buses carrying the Almuñécar advertisements were operating.

Plan B was sorted.

If finding the buses in central London became too difficult, I knew where I could find them.

That immediately took some of the pressure away.

The following day I concentrated on central London.

I positioned myself around areas where several of the potential routes overlapped and began looking for the buses.

Eventually, I found them.

Then the Clients Arrived

When the clients arrived, the real assignment began.

Somehow, we continually managed to find the buses.

And not just anywhere.

We found them in attractive locations where the surroundings added something to the photographs.

The clients could stand beside their advertisements and see their hometown being promoted on London’s streets.

From a photography perspective, it was a fascinating assignment.

From a marketing perspective, it was an even bigger learning experience.

I was beginning to understand that the photographer isn’t necessarily just the person who takes the photograph.

Sometimes you’re part researcher.

Part planner.

Part problem solver.

And occasionally, part bus tracker.

The Best Marketing Came From People Who Weren’t Paid to Do It

The campaign itself was a success.

But something happened afterwards that I found particularly interesting.

People from the Almuñécar region who were living or working in London, along with tourists who knew the area, began spotting the advertisements.

Some photographed the buses.

Then they shared the photographs on social media.

That was completely organic.

Nobody had instructed them to do it.

Nobody had paid them.

They simply recognised somewhere familiar.

And that created something every marketer wants:

genuine engagement.

A carefully constructed advertising campaign can put a message in front of thousands of people.

But when somebody voluntarily photographs that advertisement and shares it with their own network, the message suddenly becomes personal.

My First Marketing Assignment

Looking back, this project was much more significant for me than simply photographing thirty buses.

It was my first real marketing assignment.

It gave me an opportunity to apply the skills I had developed through photography and video to a much wider discipline.

That experience reinforced something I’ve believed for years.

Keep Learning

If you’re working in photography, don’t just learn photography.

Learn video.

Learn editing.

Learn lighting.

Learn marketing.

Learn social media.

Learn websites.

Learn how businesses actually use visual content.

Every additional skill makes you more useful.

And sometimes, a skill you developed almost as a side project becomes the thing that opens your next door.

Why I Believe Photographers Should Keep Evolving

The media industry doesn’t stand still.

Technology changes.

Client expectations change.

AI is changing workflows.

Social media has transformed how photographs and videos are consumed.

Marketing has become increasingly visual.

A photographer who only thinks about taking photographs is potentially limiting their opportunities.

I’m not suggesting that everyone needs to become an expert in everything.

Far from it.

But understanding the wider industry makes you a much more valuable creative professional.

In my case, learning about marketing eventually created opportunities that I wouldn’t have had if I’d remained focused exclusively on photography.

From Photographer to a Wider Media Skill Set

The London bus campaign was an early example of that evolution.

What began as a photography assignment became an opportunity to understand advertising, tourism marketing, outdoor media, campaign strategy and social media engagement.

It also demonstrated something I’ve repeatedly experienced throughout my career:

One skill can lead to another.

Photography led to videography.

Videography led to wider production work.

Those skills opened doors into marketing.

And marketing gave me another way to understand how photographs and videos can actually be used to promote a business or destination.

How One Photography Assignment Opened the Door to Marketing – The Lesson From Chasing Buses

So, what did I learn from trying to find thirty buses among approximately 9,000 operating across London?

Quite a lot.

I learned that preparation matters.

I learned that backup plans matter.

I learned that sometimes you have to solve problems yourself when nobody can give you the answer.

I learned that marketing campaigns can produce unexpected organic engagement.

But most importantly, I was reminded why I continue to develop new skills.

You never really know where the next opportunity is going to come from.

Sometimes it might be a camera.

Sometimes it might be a video camera.

Sometimes it might be a marketing campaign.

And occasionally…

It might be a London bus that you have absolutely no idea where to find.