freelancing

Starting a Photo Business in Canada

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Are you thinking about starting a photo business in Canada and do you speak French? Then do yourself a favour and read En photo et en affaires written by Quebec City photographer Francis Vachon.

This is one of the very few Canadian books about starting and running a photography business. It covers starting a business, getting customers, pricing, licensing, contracts, taxes and copyright.

The book was written in Quebec but most of the information is applicable anywhere in Canada. But keep in mind that Quebec’s privacy laws are different from most other provinces. There might also be some small differences when it comes to contracts as this falls mostly under provincial laws.

 

Stop Being A Freelancer

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Photographers, stop calling yourself a freelance photographer. “Freelance” suggests temporary and, perhaps in the worst case, even fly-by-night.

Always refer to yourself as a professional photographer. It creates a much better image in a customer’s mind. For better or worse, titles are important in business.

So while “freelancer” may be more akin to how you see what you do, it might be selling you short. After all, your livelihood doesn’t depend on your own self-perception, but on how potential clients see you and your work.

– Suzan Bond

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Turning Down Congestion

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The Globe and Mail today published an article titled, Fed up with traffic, contractors refuse to work in Vancouver, which stated:

[Vancouver] homeowners are facing the high cost of renovation and maintenance as tradespeople either opt out of working in the city entirely, or charge extra for having to go there.

A big reason for the premium cost of hiring the trades is the city’s traffic, contractors say. Vancouver traffic is so congested, and so time-consuming, it makes working there a losing proposition.

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Negotiating Need

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I received an email from a local photographer about my previous post. This photographer couldn’t see anything wrong with doing 70 business headshots for $1,000 (i.e., $14 per portrait). She said she “would be thrilled” to make $1,000 in one day. She said she’s been a professional photographer for ten years.

Sigh.

After a couple of e-mail exchanges, it was clear this photographer didn’t know the difference between revenue and profit. She knew nothing about overhead costs, didn’t track any of her expenses and didn’t even have an Ontario business licence. But yet she’s a “professional”.
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Mind Your Own Business

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It’s been said the most important thing to learn is how to learn.

Most people will do a Web search when they need to learn something because it’s fast and free. But search engines offer disconnected, unverified information in random order. The searcher has to know how to interpret and verify the found information. They have to know how to learn.

The purpose of search engines is to offer shortcuts to what you *might* want to know. This is okay when you just want some quick information but it’s usually not good enough when you want to gain knowledge.

By making it easy, search engines don’t really help us learn. Search engines tell us what we asked for and not necessarily what we need to know. Search results can make you think you’ve learned something when, in fact, you haven’t (link to PDF). There’s a difference between knowing a few facts and actually learning something.
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Editorial Sports Photography Is Dead

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If you’re thinking of becoming an editorial sports photographer, don’t.

 

 

Or at least first read this 2015 interview with five veteran sports photographers.

This short article describes what has happened over the past dozen years in editorial sports photography.

Basically, the deal is, editorial sports photography is completely dead as a market for a photographer to make even a modest living. Dead. Kaput. Over. Flatlined. The best action photographers in the world, who freelanced or were staffers at the major sports magazines, are all out of work . . .

– Robert Seale, photographer

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Didn’t See That Coming

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Why didn’t the customer accept your quote? Was it too expensive for them? Did they find a better photographer? What did you forget to do? What did you not foresee?

 

 

• In February this year, a municipality requested a photo quote for an upcoming economic report. I sent a quote and heard nothing for a few days. Was my price too high? What didn’t they like?
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