I'm starting to do some portraits on the side and my wife who is insurance tells me that I need insurance. She says people will sue for amy reason. Does anyone out there have this? God forbid my backdrop stand fall and hit anyone on the head (as it did my daughter during Easter pics...oops). ;
You should have at least two kinds of insurance: ; liability, and some kind of errors & omissions/malpractice policy. ; If you travel to a location, business auto & property coverage as well. You can't stop people from suing you, but these kinds of insurance should help. ; I carried my own malpractice insurance when I was a paramedic. ; (I'm not an insurance agent but I did do risk management at my last job[nb]My advice does not replace the advice given to you by a professional nor does it constitute legal advice. ; Seek out your own legal counsel and advice by a licensed insurance agent.[/nb] At one point Wells Fargo insurance advertised in Rangefinder, which is a publication you should subscribe to (it's free). ; If you look online you can find
Thanks Roger. So I suppose that I should also get a LLC so that the insurance will be under that and not my personal assets. Thanks again!
before you get too carried away, ask yourself: are you doing to run this as a business (filing all appropriate paperwork) or are you doing this as a hobby to make a few bucks? HUGE distinction to be made.
While there is a distinction, if he's making money from photography, there is a serious risk that the equipment, or regular homeowners insurance won't cover a claim if necessary. Allen Rockwell had his car broken into in Vegas, and because he gets money from selling photos (even though it's not his livelihood), his insurance refused to cover replacing his L glass that was stolen. The same would go for home businesses as well, especially since you can't do portrait studio photography without having people come into your studio..... While the IRS may consider it a hobby, that doesn't mean that insurance companies will.
I make some money from photography, but it is just the 'money on the side' and nowhere near a career. ; I've never considered insurance for my photography - I don't have a studio, don't display photos in a way that could injure someone or in a gallery or sales setting, etc. ; I don't sell photos with people in them or of private or copyrighted/trademarked things, to avoid any lawsuits of those types. ; And if I were to lose my camera quipment in a theft, fire, etc...it isn't that expensive to begin with, so for me it would be hard to justify insuring myself as a photographer or forming a company as the costs might outweigh what I earn from the photography! ; I would simply write it off as a darn-it moment, and that's that...and work on replacing the stuff. I could see if you have a career from your photography, are making 5+ figures from it, or have invested in 5-figure equipment - then insurance would seem to be almost obvious. ; But for someone making a couple thou on the side in a good year, and less in an average year...it wouldn't seem worth it for me personally. Basically, my photography income has bought my camera, lenses, and equipment...I don't really ask too much more of it - a hobby that pays for itself, and maybe some change on the side, sounds pretty ideal to me!
Thanks all for the input. Her point of view is not theft, but what if someone was to get hurt during a shoot. Being in insurance, she always thinks of the worst case scenario!
how about an umbrella on your homeowner's policy? ; you can get big dollars at a low cost that way. something to think about.
the homeowners rider is what i have, but i always update the itemized inventory whenever i add new gear, i scan and burn all order bills from b&h etc, and burn to cd and keep 2 copies off premises i meticulously do all this so if i suffer a major loss such as my house burning down, i can replace my expensive gear my local farm family agent also happens to be a photo buff, nikonian strain, so he was completely familiar with my needs
An LLC is not enough. If you get an LLC, NEVER sign with a personal guarantee for anything. If the people you are working with will not accept a signature as an office of the LLC, don't do it. I found out the hard way.
Thats a lot of work. If my equipment ran into the 10,000 of thousands I could see that, but even with my darkroom stuff, my computers and multiple bodies and lenses my homeowners would way more that cover my costs. I also have replacement value riders. I had started a project once I never finished of shooting or videotaping all my valuables, collectibles etc to but in a safe deposit box but it became so overwhelming I gave up. Our house was broken into and we had no trouble when receipts were not available. KNOCK ON WOOD! Though to error on the side of caution would be nice. If I was a legit business instead of just making money on the side things would be different. Now you have legit business expenses for supplies, equipment, etc. I think I remember Cali Lewis on GeekBrief.TV talking about a program that keeps track of receipts. I don't remember if it involved a little scanner or just required the barcode. Might work for this kind of thing.
