Over the next several weeks I will take the opportunity to write and post several articles on the business aspects of a work for hire photographer. More specifically, I will discuss my own experiences and process involved with Studio Stratus. Each article will blend both personal experience, with useful information on developing a work for hire photography business.
Shortly after arriving on Orcas Island in 2008, I decided to develop a work for hire photography business. After nearly a decade in Academia, both as a graduate student and Assistant Professor, it was the perfect opportunity to expand my knowledge and experience in photography. The first thing I decided upon was to separate my fine art photography from the work for hire business/services. I am still not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but at the time I thought it would be a safe way to enter new territory. For my own organizational purposes, I decided to create Studio Stratus. My idea was to use Studio Stratus as an umbrella for several of my photographic services. I chose the term Stratus, which is a "low cloud that forms in grey sheets" for both regional significance (I live in in the Pacific NW) and a personal reference.
One of my first work for hire projects. Client: Orcas Mandala. Yogi: Djuana. 4x5 Composite, 2008
As you may know, starting a small business is both easy and hard. Easy in the sense that you can get a business license in less then an hour on line, and difficult for all the rest of the reasons, including writing a business plan, pricing, insurance, taxes, and advertising. Not to mention finding clients, competition, equipment, space, etc.
I decided to start small. The first thing I did was buy
ASMP's Professional Business's Practices in Photography, 7th Edition. My first exposure to ASMP was while taking a professional development class in Tucson with
MaryVirginia Swanson. Mary is a leading expert in the business of photography and inspired me in 2005, to begin exploring the business of photography more in depth.
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ASMP's book is an excellent resource and I could not imagine having started Studio Stratus without it. If there was one single bit of information that both Mary and ASMP taught me, it is to control the copyright (usage) of ones images. It took a long time for this concept to sink it, but once it did, the core of what it takes to make a living as a photographer fell into place.
Next week I will continue writing about my experience developing a work for hire business. More specifically I will discuss my transition from shooting predominately film as a fine artist to working completely with a digital workflow. Below is sample project with a complete digital workflow.
Project: House Move from Seattle to Orcas. Client: J. Jewell
In January of 2008, I was hired by a client to photograph/document their house being moved from Seattle to Orcas Island. The shoot took place over a 4 day period, with locations throughout Seattle. The initial move included the house being trucked several miles down Lake City Way, which was then loaded on a barge, and boated through Lake Washington to Lake Union, where the barge sat for a day. The house then went through the Ballard Locks and to Everett, where 1 of the houses was offloaded. Finally, the boat sailed for 1.5 days to Orcas Island, where the house was trucked about 1/4 mile. Much of the shoot took place at night, including the first night the house was moved. The initial night I shot for 14 hours, from 6p.m. until 8a.m. the next morning. I used a Nikon D700 both on a tripod and hand held with a wide Aperture, during most of the night shooting.
Digital Photo, Photographed with a Nikon D700 in RAW, 50mm, 2.8 Lens / 3200 ISO. 2008
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