How to Start a Photography Business, From a Second Career Entrepreneur
Written by Tim Campbell-Smith
Authored February 2024
Read Time: Approximately 5 minutes
Technical Disclaimer: All advice, considerations and links will be based out of, and geared towards, Ontario, Canada. Check your local, state and federal laws for equivalencies.
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Before I went into photography, I practiced as a freelance digital marketing consultant for over seven (7) years. Not only was I responsible for running and growing my own business (which I did rather successfully), my job was literally to grow other people’s businesses too. That alone offered me a worldview of what it takes to run and grow a business, but now that I’m doing this a second time with a new business, and with training and additional courses, I now know a thing or two about starting or running a business. There’s two ways we can talk about how to open a photography business, and I’m going to give it to you both ways: through a short and direct list, and an explained list of considerations.
How to Open a Photography Business: A Simplified List
If you just want the technical, bare bones, here’s the minimum requirements kind of list, I present it to you here:
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Decide what you’ll offer. It’s easiest to think of this in terms of what type of photograph you’ll offer (apparently, the most common types of photography services to offer are portrait photography (including families), wedding photography and corporate/headshot photography).
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Pick a name.
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Based on this, if it’s a name other than your own, you have to do step 4. If your business is in your own name, there’s a way around step 4.
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Register the business with the government.
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Open a business bank account.
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Create your “real estate” (like social media, website, business cards, etc.)
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Figure out how to, and set up if needed, methods of payment.
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Decide on insurance.
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Establish contracts or legally binding terms for work.
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Tell everyone you’re in business and go sell!
If you had to leave this blog now, that’s what you need to start a photography business. Now, there’s some nuance to each of these, so I have some considerations for you to make and tips that may make your life easier.
How to Open a Photography Business: An Explained List
I’m going to run down the same list again, but this time explaining some considerations.
Decide what you’ll offer. This includes both the types of photography services and how it gets offered. What will the fees be? What’s included in those fees – a set number of images? Just shooting, and then a per image fee? This is a combination of what services you’ll offer and how you’ll offer or price your services. Decide on additional services or opportunities or well. Will you open a photography studio? (Which can be hugely profitable and helpful as well) Will you display your works in shows? Will you do events?
Pick a name. But, how do you choose what to name your photography business? There’s two common routes right away: either under your own name (like my photography business is) or with a creative name. From my marketing background, what I did with clients going this route was we made a board full of words we wanted to be associated with and then playing with combinations. Avoid anything generic, which usually follows a formula of [feel good adjective] + Photography.
Register your business with the government. In Ontario we have a simple online portal that anyone can access and register a business through. The big thing here to decide is what kind of business structure you’ll register it under. Most photographers register under a sole proprietorship, as it makes sense when they’re the sole practitioner (not including potential subcontractors) and it’s easier to change from sole proprietor to corporation than vice versa.
Open a business bank account. If your business name is NOT just your legal name, you have to do this for legal and tax purposes. If the business is in your own name, you don’t have to open a registered business account, but you should open a new bank account just for the business’ finances to keep them separate (your bookkeeper and accountant will thank you later, and you’ll get a smaller bill from them).
Create your real estate. Anything that outwardly markets your business gets created here. This might include updating your LinkedIn, creating a website, printing business cards or anything else you use to advertise your products or services.
Figure out how you will take, and set up those, payment methods. Will it always be e-transfer and/or cheques, or will you accept credit cards as well? Want people to pay when you invoice them, on a booking page, or directly through your website? Decide a) how you want people to pay you, and if need be, b) set it up. Look into payment processors, as many usually offer a suite of other services and competitive rates.
Decide on insurance. Chances are at the very least your gear is expensive...do you want it insured if it gets dropped? Stolen? How do you want it handled if a client refuses to pay you, or a corporate client sells your images without the proper licensing? Insurance can help with this. Be sure to work with a broker who has access to many companies, and knows business insurance (ideally for photographers).
Establish your contracts. Contracts should spell out in clear legal terms everything that is expected in the working relationship. From day, time and terms of shoot to the deliverables, licensing and rights, almost every photographer has many contracts they have to use. Decide which you need and what needs to be included. If you’re getting ideas for what to include from the internet, some common things that go into the contract:
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Logistics of shoot (date, time, location, people, fee)
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Output deliverables
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Payment schedule and details
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Artistic style clause (that the client is familiar with your artistic style, has seen your work, and understands what you create for them will be similar)
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Governing law
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Responsibilities of both parties
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Rights, licensing and use
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Liability
P.s. While there’s many free templates for legal contracts for photographers, it’s still worth its weight in gold to have a lawyer review your contracts for any potential problems.
Tell everyone you’re in business, start selling! A lot of folks struggle with this: but you can’t just hang up your shingle and hope the masses start filling out inquiry forms. You have to tell people you’re offering your services! Post about it, ask for work, volunteer if needed, but pound the pavement because now you’re competing against everyone with a smart phone.
Bringing It All Together
This is everything it takes, legally and logistically, to start your photography business: then you have to run it. Remember, to be a profitable photography business you have to have, and grow, client base, cover your expenses, and save a bit. Setting up, or starting a photography business simply requires following a checklist...but running it requires constant sales, deliverables, work and late nights. Cover each base listed above, and it will serve you well.