Photography business guidelines - how to work with your photographer as a client

It’s been a bit more than a year since I’ve started this blog and I had some different plans for it, but as life changes, this little creative outlet has changed as well.

Now as I was sitting in my bed, talking on the phone with my best friend Carmen, she gave me an idea: “How about, and just a thought, you write some guidelines as how the photographers and clients should work”. And this is how the idea for this blog post came to life.

In the past years, and especially past year (funnily enough I’ve had the most different clients in 2020, and probably the most serious photo sessions) I had different clients, and with that come different experiences. Most of the experiences were amazing and some friendships were born out of the work we did together and I am so grateful for that, and I will cherish these moments forever!

But what clients very often don’t know is how to, so to say, treat the photographer. Most of the brands/agencies/companies/clients think that paying the invoice is enough, or in worst cases paying the work with so called “exposure”. The idea behind this blog post is not to complain how clients are doing everything wrong and they are being mean people and the photographers are these heavenly made creatures. The goal of this blog post is to explain how the workflow should look like (not for everyone, but from talking to some colleagues, the workflow is pretty much similar) so that the relationship between both parties gets better.

• Communication!

Just like in every relationship, communication is essential! Both parties should communicate well and be very clear to what they want to achieve. If the client is the one approaching the photographer and is hiring her/him for the style she/he has, then it is often assumed by the photographer that they have a bit more freedom. In case that the client has a very clear vision of what they want to have as the final product, they should provide the photographer with some mood board, brief, some examples of what they have in mind so that the photographer knows what to deliver.

What should also be communicated in the very beginning is the workflow. What are the steps you are taking? - example: first the photo session is done, then I will send you the photographs to select the certain number which I will then retouch and after the invoice has been paid I will send you the final product

The workflow should be communicated in the beginning so there are no misunderstandings and confusions afterwards. You want to have a very good experience, no matter if you are the client or the photographer. No one wants extra work problems and unpleasant situations.

What I would highly suggest is to sign the contract. Specify all of your conditions and steps in the contract and have it signed, by this everything is clear and there are no misunderstandings.

• Credits!

Something I have experienced A LOT is not being credited. And this happens to SO MANY people in the entire creative industry. What makes me think every time this happens to either me or any of my colleagues is, and I will focus on Instagram accounts now: these accounts that belong to brands or other people, exist because of the photographers, videographers and designers (fashion, graphic, product, etc..).. then why not crediting those people? what do you gain by doing that? and what will you lose by crediting these people that literally create your content? I assume you won’t lose anything, you can just gain a happy artist that will gladly work with you again.

There are situations where the artist gives all the rights to the client and where the artist agrees not to be credited, but these are some different situations.

As I am re-reading my first paragraph, it seems a bit angry to me hahah.. so I just want to make it clear that I also know that a lot of people don’t do this on purpose, some forget some just don’t know that this is how it should be. So then I will come back to the first point of this post, which is communication. As a photographer you can politely ask to be credited, or just be very clear about this before the work starts.

• Exposure as a means of payment? I don’t think so!

There are a lot of discussions on this particular topic going around me lately. Why are brands not willing to pay their content creators? It will always be a mystery. And why are they offering “exposure” instead? Another mystery. What would happen if a person would come to a store and instead of paying with real money, they will ask to pay with exposure? Would the store let them? I don’t think so. What if you go to the restaurant and say: “so is it okay if I pay with some exposure”? Also, I don’t think it will work.
* Again, I do know there are situations where this happens, people with big number of followers on Instagram could potentially “buy” dinner with exposure, but this is not how it works for everyone.

But to come back to the photographer that is trying to earn for living, to pay all of the equipment, programs that are necessary, maybe manage to add something to the savings, and also earn back the money that has been put in the education. The offered exposure won’t do anything.

So what people usually think that they are paying for when hiring a photographer? A photograph. Sounds correct but there is also a backside story, you are actually paying for: education, equipment, programs, bills, rent, food, savings. To put it again to the comparison to the restaurant, you think you are paying for the meal you eat, but actually you are paying for the rent, for salaries of the people that work there, for the ingredients for your meal, and for the owner to earn something as well after all the bills have been paid.

Someone would argue that oh well you need food to survive, but doesn’t your brand also need photographs to survive?

• Collaborations

This topic is somewhat an extent of the previous one. There are specific situations where no one earns any real money, but gains a product needed, and that is a collaboration. A collaboration means that a photographer will give the photographs in exchange for something. This doesn’t happen as often, these kind of collaborations are mostly made for influencers.

But what kind of collaborations you can have as a photographer? Fashion editorials! You could gather a team that combines a stylist, a model, a fashion designer/brand, a makeup artist etc.. and each member of the team does their job in order to get something that will be of use to them for self promotion, which is not money. So let’s say you have some friends in the industry that are doing these previously mentioned jobs, and you have an idea for an editorial. What you as a photographer can offer them is to give them your photographs that they can use for their portfolios and self promotion. A makeup artist needs a photograph to show what they have created, so they will need a photographer for that, if they don’t want to do it themselves. In this way, the makeup artist gets professional photographs of their work that they can use.

When it comes to collaborations, everything should be communicated in front, and please credit each other!

So this post got a bit longer than I have wanted it to be, but I will finish here. I certainly do have plenty of other tips and tricks on photography guidelines, “how to” topics in different genres and I will gladly share with you here. So more of these will be coming soon! :)