Photographers are increasingly more popular with people wanting wedding photos, engagement photos, baby photos, family photos, anniversary photos, and literally photos for whatever you could think of.
Many photographers start their career as a hobby after getting a nice camera and start shooting friends and family members. Insurance is typically not a consideration until they are hired for an event, and the venue asks for the Certificate of Insurance. To satisfy the requests, you purchase a General Liability policy with required insurance limits and think you are good to go. This is a great first step, but as your business and clientele grow, so should your photography insurance policy. Here’s what you need to know about photography insurance if you’re a photographer.
General Liability Policy
As mentioned above, this is the policy that most photographers will have, simply because it is required by venues, businesses, and production companies. They want you to have it because it protects them in the event someone would get hurt at their property, shoot, or location due to your negligence. The standard GL policy includes $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate. This will provide coverage if someone trips over your equipment at a shoot and is injured.
Business Property (Your Equipment)
Photography equipment is not cheap; from cameras to lenses to lights, you have invested a lot in your business and the equipment. If something were to happen to the equipment, it could derail your business financially or cost you a few clients as you are rushing to get it repaired or replaced. As your business grows, you will want to consider adding or “scheduling” the equipment on your insurance policy. This will protect it in the event it gets damaged or is stolen.
Professional Liability (specifically for photography)
This insurance coverage is generally the last to be considered by photographers. Professional liability insurance applies to events/operations specific to the professional service you are providing. Here are some examples of key coverages that a professional liability policy will provide:
Faulty Memory Card: You have been contracted to photograph an event, and your memory card fails, causing you to lose all your photographs. You are devastated, and your client makes a claim against you for failure to deliver the photographs as promised. Professional liability insurance could protect you and your business against claims of negligence even if you haven’t made a mistake and the loss was caused by an unavoidable technical glitch.
Dissatisfied Client: You are hired to photograph a wedding, but you forget to take pictures of key family members. You did your best, but hundreds of people requested to be in photographs, and you missed a couple of them. Your client may make a claim against you for negligence regarding the failure to fully deliver the agreed-upon photography services.
These policies are generally thought to be too expensive for a one-person operation, but in reality, they are affordable, starting at around $300 annual premium. The larger your operation, the more expensive the policies will be.
Regardless if you are a commercial photographer, wedding photographer, family portrait photographer, or do-it-all freelancer, you want to make sure you have the right insurance coverage for your business.
If you’ve got questions you want us to look over your current policy, give us a call, or shoot us an email. We’re happy to help! Our goal here is to make insurance as clear and simple as possible. Give us a call. Check us out. And happy photo-taking!