Are you thinking of turning your passion of photography or filmmaking into you main source of income? Perhaps you just made the switch or in the process of doing just that. In either case, here are five crucial tips you may want think over before going any further.
These five tips don't cover how to become a better artist behind the camera, but more about the business side fo freelancing. Coming from Nick over at NicksFort, he shares five tips on how to get started as a freelancer as well as making sure you are preparing into taking this step in your career. With years of experience under his belt and along with some knowledge from his friends, Nick’s first tip covers two different starting scenarios which depends on your current situation. While some may be able to live with an immensely limited budget, there are many who can’t so the second path is for those individuals .
Many photographers start this journey coming from a hobby, which is great but at the same time, many do not understand or even think about what is all needed to change your passion into a career. While browsing through threads of conversation online, I come across many photographers who could benefit from these tips (especially tip 3 and 4) as they are transitioning into a freelance photographer or filmmaker.
What are some other tips from the business side for those looking into making the switch? Share them in the comments below.
My 5 tips:
Be young.
Don't need medical or dental care.
Have very little debt.
Live in a shoebox.
Don't buy expensive gear until you have the gig.
Bonus Tip: Be able to maintain this for 3-5 years while you get established.
buying expensive gear is the worse. Especially if you can't afford it (ex. credit cards). Expensive gear is not only a financial liability but also a creative liability. "gear heads" get too infatuated with the gear that they forget what is really important. Many professional photographers I know that ended up quitting is because they have too much financial liability from running a studio and all the equipment purchases they have made. So don't go splurging if the jobs aren't coming. I have some shopping advice for new photographers as well. Come check it out and let me know what you think.
https://www.paperfishphoto.com/blog/shopping-advice-for-photographers
Rob you forgot a spouse with a reliable income.
Ha! Ain't that the truth.
Photography as a Career or a business is definitely very different from doing it part time or even as a hobby. While like any business, it's not easy but it's also no impossible to run a smooth a successful photography career/business. Like anything I think the key is passion and perseverance. While unlike a 9-5 job it doesn't have the security of a monthly cheque but in most cases you will find it more rewarding than a stable monthly cheque. We live in a world nowadays where businesses depend of visual media constantly. This means that there are a lot of jobs out there but you need to stand out. Let your clients know why they should pick you rather than anyone else. The first couple years is always rough for any business, but if you play your cards right you will flatten that road and eventually things will get smoother.
I just wrote an article about freelancers getting paid on time and earlier I wrote another about why some photographers make more money than others. Please go check it out if it interests you and I would love to hear from you about your experiences as well.
https://www.paperfishphoto.com/blog
Most countries will allow you to deduct business expenses, including equipment, the work area used for your business, heating, rent, professional services. vehicle expenses, and other costs related to your business. Getting the advice of an Accountant is a must to navigate your tax laws.
sleep good for couple of years before you begin. It will offset the rapid aging process.
My 5 Tips
Pick a niche
Stick to that niche
Learn SEO
Learn Lightroom
Practice
http://rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk/
Tip #1 --- Retire from something else. Makes "living" while building one's clientele a lot easier.
The tip on taxes -- yeah. You have to do that. Last year, I had several thousand set aside, ended up owing a lot less. Had a lot of fun spending the rest on new gear. Christmas in April . . .
BTW -- your age doesn't matter. I know several other professional freelancers who, like me, were photographers, but not "professional" photographers until much, much later in life. We're all doing quite well, if I do say so.
When starting to freelance, you MUST quickly get up-to-speed on how copyright works, licensing your images, and timely registering them with the US Copyright Office.
Registering your photo/video copyrights is akin to business insurance protection when a third-party reproduces your images without permission/payment (notwithstanding Fair Use applications).
I searched the Copyright Office’s on-line database, but didn’t see any works registered under Nick Girard (aka NicksFort/video) or Alex Ventura, the author of this post.
Understanding copyright and licensing is very important. Though you don't need to register every single piece of work with the US Copyright Office. According to the US Copyright Office "Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device."
And in terms of registering your work you don't have to. Here is what they say: "Do I have to register with your office to be protected? No. In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work"
Here is more info: https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html#mywork
Nick: The five tips you shared to help freelancers begin photographing professionally are excellent ones!
However, you and others who post “photo business tips for freelancers” routinely miss the importance of encouraging new photographers to learn about US copyright law and to timely register their photographs with the US Copyright Office.
Without a timely registered copyright, you and freelancers can neither enforce your creative rights nor prove your photo authorships.
Sure, you can use the DMCA’s take-down procedure to get a US-based infringer’s ISP to remove your unlicensed work on third-party sites; however, if the infringer files a counter-notice, you’ll have to file suit in federal court to get it permanently removed. It can take eight months or longer to receive your Certificate of Registration (or pay an expediting registration fee of $800 to receive it in about two-weeks).
To make your point to my post (“…registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created…”), you linked and quoted (cherry-picked!) the US Copyright Office’s Q&A regulations--you did NOT include the important Q&A response that it immediately followed:
“Registration is RECOMMENDED for a number of reasons. Many choose to register their works because they wish to have the facts of their copyright on the public record and have a certificate of registration. Registered works may be eligible for statutory damages and attorney's fees in successful litigation. Finally, if registration occurs within five years of publication, it is considered ‘prima facie’ evidence in a court of law.”
Copyright registration is heavily endorsed by www.ASMP.org, www.PPA.com, www.CopyrightAlliance.org, and other professional photography associations.
The most valuable asset freelance photographers own is not their photo equipment or computers, but rather their intellectual property rights (IP/copyrights). As I wrote previously, a timely registered photograph is your insurance policy against unlicensed uses of your IP (similar to your #3 “Business Insurance” point).
BTW, how do you prove that you created and own your photographs (copyrights) posted to your web and social media site (it’s not by having the RAW file)?
If you register your photographs before publication or within five-years of first-publication, you receive presumptive proof (i.e., “prima facie evidence”) that you have a valid copyright and the facts stated in your copyright registration application will be deemed valid to a federal judge. Having your copyright Certificate of Registration in-hand convincingly proves when you created the work, your authorship, and its corresponding copyright (see 17 USC § 410(c): Registration of claim and issuance of certificate). When filling out a US copyright registration application, the photographer (artist) must “certified” to the best of his/her ability that s/he is the author, copyright claimant, the owner of exclusive right(s), or authorized agent of the work. The artist or others who knowingly lie and make false representation of a material fact in the copyright registration application, are subject up to a $2,500 fine (see 17 USC 506(e): False Representation [Criminal Offense]).
When your copyright registration application clears, the Copyright Office will mail you a Certificate of Registration; it will also publish it in its on-line public database. If the photograph is missing copyright attribution and the owner can’t be found via an Internet search, fans, third-parties, and licensees can search the US Copyright Office’s on-line database (if the photograph included robust image descriptions); photographs registered help mitigate “orphan works”. Also, photographs listed in this database, to some extent, can help alleviate claims for innocent copyright infringement actions.
Question: Why should you register your images if copyright protection is automatic, as you wrote?
Among other benefits, a timely registered photo copyright pushes infringers to settle out of court (assuming the infringement is not within the scope of Fair Use). If the infringer doesn’t settle and the matter proceeds to trial were the photographer prevails, the infringer is now liable for enhanced statutory money damages (vs. actual damages and profits, if any!) from $750 to $30K and up to $150K for willful copyright infringement actions. Since the defendant didn’t settle, s/he is now liable for the photographer’s attorney fees and legal costs. Being able to recoup your attorney fees & legal costs gives your copyright attorney a BIG legal stick to force the infringer to (quickly) settle. See 17 USC §§ 412, 504-505.
If you and other freelancers choose not to register your copyrights, at the very least, affix them with a watermark (a small font copyright logo and your photography business logo with a URL or social media handle) and corresponding metadata and/or other DMCA “Copyright Management Information” (CMI). The removable or modification of any CMI to hide a copyright infringement can subject the infringer to statutory damages from $2,500 to $25,000 (see 17 USC §§ 1202-1203)—a timely registered copyright is NOT required to pursue CMI violations! You’re also eligible to pursue attorney fees & cost, at the court’s discretion—I’m seeing more IP attorneys pursue CMI actions against infringers.
SUMMARY: Your photographs have very likely already been infringed—you just don’t know about it! And when you find those infringers who are exploiting your IP (that are not within the scope of Fair Use) and contact an IP attorney for legal advice, his/her first or second question to you and other freelancers will be: “Did you timely register your photo copyright with the US Copyright Office?” Without a copyright Certificate of Registration in-hand (or filed in some jurisdictions), you have NO legal standing to defend your creative rights.
The following copyright-attorney links reinforce the importance of timely registering your photo copyrights:
1) Joshua Kaufman is a Washington, DC copyright litigator: https://youtu.be/cBOKkrleY3Y
2) Gordon Firemark is a Los Angeles entertainment attorney: https://youtu.be/Zg1laoSKXc0
3) John W. Mashni, entertainment attorney with Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, writes,
“We encourage all content creators, including authors, producers, businesses, musicians, filmmakers, organizations, photographers, and freelancers to register all of their copyrighted materials to take advantage of the benefits that registration provides”: http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=72fa2637-e8bc-41b1-a327-fd...
If you and other freelancers enjoy having photo & business problems, skip registering your copyrights.