Running Your Equine Photography Business
Today's Photography Marketplace has grown more and more competitive. It seems like everyone wants to be a photographer these days. The biggest reason that most people fail in their professional efforts is because they underestimate the requirements and costs of doing their photography as a business as opposed to a hobby. Yes you can take great pictures, but can you actually run a business? Pretty photographs won't keep food on the table unless you price your work to make a true profit, have excellent customer service and understand the importance of marketing to mention just a few of the key elements in a successful business. Do you have what it takes to succeed?
Well known international equine photographer Scott Trees will guide you through the ins and outs of making your photography business work for you in his video-based course with online discussions. Whether you are just starting out or already run an established photography business, this course will have the information you have been looking for! This course is packed full of information and Scott openly shares the success and failures of his 42 year career as a professional photographer.
Please Note: Content for this class will be sent via DVDs. Discussions
will be online through a special section of the EPNet Forum.
Session One: Getting Started
What does it take to be a business?
Making yourself a legal business
Types of businesses
Business Name and Tax ID’s
The business plan
Cost of doing business
Overhead
Pricing structures and the licensing concept
Sources of income in the equine industry
Insurance
Equipment
Session Two: Making Contacts and Getting Work
Marketing overview
Defining your market
Targeting your market
What makes a good portfolio?
How to make connections and find clients
Types of advertising
Customer service
Defining your competition
Getting business and keeping business
Session Three: Accounting and Paperwork
What makes you a business?
The IRS, W-9 forms, deductions and taxes
What is profit and how is it determined?
Overhead and how it translates to tax deductions
Bank accounts and credit cards
Defining expenses
Travel expenses and mileage
Employee vs. outside services
Recordkeeping
Filing systems
Invoicing
Software
Session Four: All the Other Stuff you need to know!
Copyright
Work Flow
Filing images
Software that works
Fed Ex, postage and shipping
FTP Sites
Protecting your images with Federal Copyright Forms
On Line Proofing
Contracts
Model Releases
Professional courtesies
About the Instructor
Scott Trees has been a working equine and commercial professional photographer/videographer for 42 years. Recognized internationally for his talent, he will be the first to tell you that skill alone is not enough to succeed: “After all these years, I know succeeding in photography is a two-fold venue. First is the talent side, and second is the business side. In many ways the business side is more important. Without that, a talented photographer will not last as an ongoing business.”
“Today’s digital photography world has changed a lot of things and more and more people want to make a living from their images. Photography is a difficult and expensive business to maintain. With all my years of work for a variety of equine and commercial clients, I have had both success and failure. I have learned from both. My goal for this course is to take the business lessons I have learned and share them with people who wish to succeed with their equine photography business, whether they are already in business or just starting out.”
He continues, “I have been fortunate to spend my entire career as a working professional photographer. It’s been a great experience and I hope this course will help others understand what it takes from the business side of photography to make it a full time career.”
About the Course
- You do not need to be an EPNet member to take the course.
- Participants do need to be registered on the EPNet discussion forum:
http://www.equinephotographers.org/4um/index.php to be able to participate.
- Each week the class will focus on a module on the DVD set. Assignments, follow up discussions and questions and answers will be posted on the forum and can be accessed at your convenience. All partipants are encouraged to post their own questions. The DVDs are yours to keep and review any time after the course.
- Participants will each have their own thread in the forum, beginning with their introduction, to use as their work area. You will be able to view other participants threads as well. This makes for a dynamic learning experience regardless of your skill level.
- This class includes a set of DVD's for students to refer back to after completion of the class. Past students who would like to retake this course and have the DVD set should contact us for discount information.
|
