Are You Legally a Photographer?
- One World Many Hearts Photography & Creations
- Apr 10, 2021
- 4 min read
What makes a Photographer or any business person a professional? Is it their experience, how expensive their equipment is, how big their portfolio is, or how about their prices?
Well when I was younger, I was trying to tell my mom how good of a Roller-Skater I was and told her I was a Professional! She then asked, are you getting paid to do it? Well, no I was not. So her definition of a professional is if you get paid for a service in general. But according to Google, the Noun of Professional means "a person engaged or qualified in a profession".
I'm going to put down my wall for a minute here. I have been practicing photography since the end of 2015. Of course in the beginning, I thought that once I had the camera, I could use the pre-set setting and should start trying to charge people. When that did not work, I got frustrated and stopped using the camera for a few months. We moved to Utah and when we finally settled, I picked up the camera again. But I still did not take the time to learn the settings on my camera, I did what I could with the dial on the top, spinning it based on the scenario and continued to get frustrated with the turn out and edits. During all of this, I was having a difficult time finding support from my family, friends, and community. But who can blame them? My photos were definitely not purposely blurry, the skin tones were orange or grey, and the composition was just awkward. Finally in 2019 I learned how to properly use my camera, find the right shot, and edit! But even after all of that, I was still not considered a Professional.
I may have some of the expensive equipment, large portfolio, experience, and had set some prices, but in no way would it have been legal for me to accept payment for my services. Knowing this, I kept making excuses to not go legal, such as "I need to know people are interested" "I need to buy more equipment" "I need more shoots under my belt" "I don't have time to set that up" "I don't know how to set it up" and "I need more education". While it is a good idea to sort this stuff out before going legal, it is also a good idea to not charge in the meantime and be considerate of the photography businesses that are ALREADY legal!
Photographer & Blogger: Will Moneymaker makes an excellent point in one of his posts Five Problems You’ll Face as a Photographer saying,
A great way to build your portfolio without charging, as well as get your name out in the community, is to join or create a local group to collaborate with. There are a lot of groups on Facebook, and apps you can download to find these opportunities! Another way is doing Model Calls. Whether you need individuals or large groups, Model Calls are a great way to interact with the community and bring your visions to life without interfering with Professional Photographers' businesses. Not only will the Group Collaborations and Models calls connect you with the community, but they will help you connect with resources such as Make-Up Artists, uncommon locations, and future referrals from other photographers.
When it does come time to pricing your services, and you are about to register as a Legal Professional, you will need to figure out your Cost of Doing Business (CODB). Charging clients $0-$150 per session is not feasible and can do more harm than good. Yes you may get clients from low prices, but you are setting the wrong impression for any clients you do get. This will make it difficult for you to raise your prices in the future, you will need to work 2x/3x harder and longer to make a livable wage, and you are hurting photographers by setting the bar low for those clients. In order to make sure you are not just breaking even or going into the whole even further each month, you absolutely need to figure out your CODB. Improve Photography has an excellent breakdown made already called: Photography Pricing: Calculating your cost of doing business which goes over definitions from the calculator as well as explaining what to expect each scenario to cost.
I just recently registered One World Many Hearts Photography & Creations myself by working with the County, State, and IRS to get an EIN, Tax ID#, and to claim the name. I recommend calling ahead of time to get a good idea of what to expect if you can not find that information online already. Next I will be looking at Insurance Plans to cover any legal issues that may arise as well as cover any damage to my equipment while on the job. The final step will be to set up a bank account under my business name since mixing personal and business funds can create some serious issues.
In April, I set my start date with the IRS to begin selling my services for June 8th, 2021. I will be selling the normal sessions, but also providing services to specialists like yourself called Preset Your Brand. This is a 1:1 session that you can either do in-person or online via Zoom. We will design the perfect template together for the editing style you are wanting to display on your social media! If you come do a session in person, there is a special opportunity for you to take advantage of! Subscribe and you will be notified of when this service becomes available so that you don't miss out on the right spot!
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