Photography Business

Production safety might not be the most exciting aspect of your photography career, but these days, like it or not, it’s one of the most important.

There's a seldom discussed threat to any business owner or self-employed person. That threat can drastically affect photographers if they aren't aware of it, and it has been seen many times over already.

If you’ve ever wondered what publishers are looking for from photographers, here are some really helpful nuggets of wisdom from the publisher of one of Australia’s most iconic magazines.

As the world is set to face the worst recession since the Great Depression, do you worry about how your photography business will be able to weather the storm?

What does being a photographer mean to you? Do the people around you see you in the same way?

Olga Tenyanin is a boudoir photographer based out of Vancouver, Washington, but she’s also been a social media manager for years, and she’s got a few tips to help photographers tame the social media monster.

We would all love to become better photographers and make more money from our work. If you want to become a better photographer, make more money, and have more subject matter to shoot, you should consider shooting around your home area more. 

Self improvement, hustle, and gurus have been around for some time now. However, until recently, they hadn't fully infiltrated the photography industry, but that seems to have now changed.

There's almost an infinite amount of decisions that a photographer has to make on their journey to becoming a professional. While many of these choices may be somewhat trivial, other decisions will place you on the wrong path, cost you money, or slow your progress down dramatically.

Photography has changed as a profession. In this video, I go over how I make my money as a photographer, including a full breakdown of my income streams and what percentage of my income they comprise.

In this video, I go over how I price local and small commercial photography jobs. The video covers day rates, license fees, and how they differ from bigger jobs.

You can't do a project on a zero budget. If you actually spent a zero amount, that means you never did anything.

Making movies is expensive. It's harder than you think to go from an unlimited budget to one of just a few million dollars. Sarcasm aside, what can we learn when a giant of cinema tries to shoot a masterpiece on budget?

Creativity and productive is difficult to maintain at the best of times, and these are not the best of times. So why not try a simple and straightforward trick that can aid in both?

In this video I show you around my commercial food photography studio. This is very much a place to create and steps away somewhat from the pristine white, minimalist set up to complete and utter (organized) chaos.

Whether you're looking to create your first portfolio or you're a print veteran thinking about some updates, this webinar may help to move you in the right direction.

The world has never been more uncertain in our lifetimes. However, now is a perfect time to start up as a professional photographer. And as a pro who started in the last recession, let me explain why.

Becoming a professional landscape photographer may sound easy to some. There are no clients to work with, no schedule, no lights or backdrops, just nature, you, and your camera. Or is it?

I know, you're tired of reading about coronavirus and its colossal impact on both people and industry alike. Well, this article isn't really about coronavirus, but rather what it has served to highlight.

Pricing restaurant photography is something most food photographers will struggle with at the start. In this video I discuss how much you can charge as well as some of the negotiation pit falls to avoid.

Working out how to price high end commercial food photography campaigns is incredibly hard, especially with no information online available. In this video I go over exactly how I go about pricing my larger shoots and everything that goes into creating the quote.

You bought a camera, lenses, and gear that you're not convinced was essential. Many photographers feel that's all you need and the clients come walking in through your door. You've been fooled because the majority of your success depends on the business aspect of your operation. Let's do an exercise that better prepares you for success.

Generating decent income from YouTube is a dream of a lot of content creators, and you might be wondering what kind of money you can earn from the platform once you have found decent success. This great video features a prominent photography YouTuber sharing an honest look at the kind of money he makes from his channel and what you can expect. 

This is inevitably the question that pops up in the minds of most photography enthusiasts and amateurs. In this video, a photographer who has gone from I.T. to photography to YouTube recounts his story of how he got to where he is now and gives some advice to would-be professional photographers.

Most of my working life was spent at jobs in factories, in classrooms, behind a bar, and in offices. Being a freelance photographer means that I began spending a lot of time working from home. Now, given recent events, I’m spending all of my time working from home. How does working from home affect your mental health? Do you have any strategies for wellbeing?

There's no denying that the Coronavirus has changed the world as we know it. The way companies and individuals act towards photography going forward is about to shift dramatically. Are you ready for this?

As tempting as it might be to allow the current work stoppage to push you off track, now is the time to focus even more on reaching your goals.

Creating a portfolio is more than simply selecting pretty images. In this video, I go over three photographers' work who are at different levels and explain how they should build their portfolio and what they need to do to move up to the next level.

Although the current situation is far from what we used to know as "normal," I believe we will still have a chance to get to our daily routines. This time, we have to be more careful about a number of habits we may have been ignoring.

Even before the economic disaster of COVID, the camera industry was contracting. The software industry has adopted SaaS pricing, with Adobe Creative Cloud being the most recognizable example. That pricing model, or one like it, might be the next big change coming to camera hardware.

We all want out. We want to get working. Our clients are calling, and we want to get back at it. Genero, a global agency connecting creatives with projects has launched a map to help you plan when and where you could start working. 

Crazy click-bait title or truly the missing piece? It could very well be the missing piece for your photography account because ultimately it comes down to making Zuckerberg and the Instagram/Facebook empire happier.

If you haven’t been keeping up with your photography Instagram marketing, now’s the time to revisit. Instagram marketing can be incredibly fruitful for photography businesses. To make it work for yours, you must understand how to use Instagram productively. Let’s start off with some statistics…

A survey of more than 600 people in the U.K. suggests that photographers have been among the hardest-hit workers in the creative industry. The income of 67% of photographers has dropped by 80% or more.

No doubt, a lot of us are struggling right now and wrestling with uncertain futures, and it can be very helpful to hear a little guidance from an experienced professional. If that is something you could use, this excellent video features a longtime professional discussing the current situation and offering some honest advice on how you can survive this tough difficult time. 

What do you do when all of your contracts for the year are canceled in a matter of weeks? Regardless of how well-drafted your contract is, do you consider damage to your reputation when you think about holding clients to dates and payment schedules?

It’s going on day number 587 of being confined to my home during social distancing, or something like that. And while this experience has turned life upside down, it has also reminded me of a thing or two.

The draw to lower your prices will be just as strong as the economy is weak, but while that may be good for new business volume, here’s why you should stay firm on existing business, even as rescheduling occurs. Don't know how to handle that? I also have a few tips for what to say to your clients to avoid falling into the trap of discounting services to the point of driving yourself further into debt.

With the outlook of the coronavirus finally starting to look a little less ominous, people are beginning to think about life in a post-coronavirus world and reflect on how this time has impacted the world of photography.  

A bit of brainstorming in an uncertain time for photographers.

Whether you are an owner of another company or someone with a nine-to-five job, you may want to start your own business offering photography or video services. This article will give you advice about how you should and should not name it.

This is a bit of a taboo subject among photographers, but in this video, I look back at my work and how much I charged and what validated that rate at any given point in my career through to today.

When you are a professional photographer, you can easily end up spending all your time working on things for clients and letting your personal work fall by the wayside. However, personal projects can be crucial not only to your own creative growth, but to your business as well. This excellent video discusses why you should carve out time for personal projects to help grow your business.

I have been sent a lot of messages and seen a lot of comments on this topic over the last year, and it is something I have shied away from tackling, but in this article I am going to delve into the taboo debate around internet photographers versus professional photographers.

Following on from some depressing financial results from Canon, new data from CIPA shows that the camera industry took a hit in March, and things are only expected to get worse in the coming months.

Photojournalism is perhaps the most emotionally rewarding type of photography. But the financial reward can sometimes be more elusive.

Canon has posted its financial results for the first quarter of 2020 and sales of cameras have dropped massively. The global pandemic is having a huge impact on the camera industry, and Canon is no exception.

I recently published an article about why photographers hate my images here, and I think I may have missed a few points, as well as feeling the need to cover more about why most photographers don't understand person work.

You can have all the creative and technical talent in the world, but if you want to be successful as a photographer, it is crucial that your business abilities be sharp as well. This great video will give you four tips for landing more photography jobs. 

This past weekend marked ten years of me being a full-time professional photographer. There have been ups and downs since 2010, to be sure, but I’ve learned a few things along the way.