Most photographers I meet are technically excellent. The problem is positioning. Your clients call you for images — not for your thinking. That's a gap worth fixing.
"The narrative was created by someone else. You just execute — leading to misunderstandings and compromise."
"Clients call you for images — not for your creative input."
"Your real value — visual intelligence, ultimately leading to better results — never gets recognised."
Clients don't buy images. They buy the outcome the images are supposed to create — for example: more bookings, better perception, stronger brand. The images are the vehicle. The result is what they're paying for.
Most photographers never make this explicit. So clients treat them as technicians, not strategists. The brief is handed down. The price is squeezed. And the photographer — who often understands the client's visual problem better than anyone in the room — stays outside the decision.
"What would change if clients called you before the Narrative Content Strategy existed?"
That is the question we work on together.
"When you learn to frame your value in terms of client outcomes rather than technical deliverables, you move from the production budget into the Strategy Budget — the one currently going to marketing agencies whose strategists hardly ever held a professional camera in their lives."
A focused 90-minute session that repositions how you show up in the market — and how clients perceive your value before a shoot begins.
Not a course. Not a webinar. A direct conversation that changes how you think about what you sell.
We work on your specific positioning problem — the gap between how you currently show up and where your real value lies. You leave with a clear framework, exact language, and a positioning strategy you can apply immediately.
One-to-one with René van Bakel. In-depth diagnosis of your current positioning. A clear reframe of your value. Language you can use immediately with clients.
The Executive Strategic Session is the beginning. For those ready to go further, the full programme takes you from repositioning to certified practitioner — licensed to teach the methodology.
90 minutes. One-to-one with René. Diagnose your positioning problem. Leave with a clear framework and language you can use immediately. Open to commercially-oriented photographers who qualify via discovery call.
Two formats, both by invitation from Level 1 graduates. Full Visual StorySelling methodology, repositioning, AI tools and client conversation strategy. Limited to 12 participants per edition.
Villa Tuscany — 3 days intensive.
Sailing Sardinia — One week aboard a sailing vessel. Three days intensive, four days to relax and reflect with René onboard.
Your positioning, live on the web before you go home. A professionally built, conversion-focused landing page — personalised to your brand, target audience and industry. Built together with René.
Tuscany — 2 extra days after the Lab.
Sardinia — Built during the week onboard.
A closed, hand-selected founding cohort of 4–6 participants. One week immersive in Tuscany or Sardinia. Certification earned, not guaranteed. Licensed to deliver the methodology commercially. 9 sessions at €3,000 recovers your full investment. Selected personally by René from Level 2 graduates only.
This is a selection pathway, not a menu. Each level is by qualification or invitation. The discovery call is where we find out if the fit is right — for both of us.
All prices exclude 20% VAT.
René van Bakel
Founder & CEO · DE Visual StorySelling Academy
René van Bakel has spent more than three decades as a working visual professional, with work published in The New York Times, National Geographic, Vogue, Le Figaro, GEO and others.
He began teaching Visual Storytelling in Photography through his own workshops in Tuscany — long before it became part of an academic curriculum. That work eventually led to a lecturing position at the University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten, where he teaches Visual Storytelling in Photography as part of the Master's programme in Digital Photography.
As founder of ASAblanca, an international editorial network of 140+ contributors, he spent years at the intersection of visual content and commercial communication — and developed an early understanding of why technically gifted photographers consistently earn less than their work deserves.
It is not a craft problem. It is a positioning problem.
After deepening those insights through advanced marketing, positioning and business development training at international level, he created the book Visual StorySelling — From Seen to Sold for Business Professionals — used exclusively by participants of the DE Visual StorySelling Academy — and the methodology taught here.
His portrait work includes Andrea Bocelli, Fernando Botero, Frances Mayes, Sharon Stone, President Bill Clinton, Queen Beatrix, King Willem-Alexander, Klaus Maria Brandauer and others. His commercial clients include Rolex, Allianz, Austrian Airlines and the Spanish Riding School Vienna — for whom he produced the official 450th anniversary publication.
He is the author of 14 books in total.
He works with photographers and creative professionals across Europe, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and beyond.
René and his team are highly capable, self-sufficient professionals. Their storytelling approach and multilingual skills make them ideal for our premium international events. The visuals are outstanding, and the process seamless.
Book a free 30-minute call to see if the Executive Strategic Session is the right next step for you. No pressure. No pitch. Just a conversation to find out if the fit is right.