How do photography agents work

I gravitated to photography because I love photographs. I love to edit them, put them in different orders, pair them with unexpected images and ultimately share them. A good agent needs to be able to work closely with a photographer to tell a story with their imagery. This takes a very special skill — a skill that is not learned, but comes from a deeper understanding and appreciation for the art.

I have too many projects on my desk at any given time to count. There are estimates, estimates and more estimates, and, there are just as many revisions. All of those things are marked urgent, of course. Photography licensing can be tricky.

Interpretation of usage tends to be different from agency to agency, and purchase orders often take a law degree to decipher. A good agent needs to read the fine print, negotiate the best terms for the advance possible, and partner with the photographer to communicate their concerns if the conversation gets challenging.

When you lose a job, we lose a job. We have advertising and travel expenses, payroll, k, insurance and all the same headaches photographers do when it comes to keeping our business profitable. I love photography and I love my job—so the money seems like an added benefit sometimes—but at the end of the day I am running a business and I need it to be profitable, too. When it comes to setting fees and determining bottom lines, the rules are always changing in this business.

Glad to see people talking more about business practices. Sure you can shoot some jobs here and there, but ad agencies and fashion houses will most likely only hire through art reps because they have existing relationships with them.

This rule of thumb also applies to Local Union and access to those jobs. It eliminates their commitment to keeping you on roster and will do all the negotiating for you on job to job basis. The barrier to entry with art reps is even more difficult now. Agents or reps are not going to take on a photographer who needs a rep. They will however tend to and grow your field of clients but they are not going to plant it.

I have had a few and one was great and two weren't. Recently I have used freelance consultants to help with the negotiations but that's after I got myself into the bid.

Home Topics Business. How to Get a Photography Agent. Posted In:. Gallery : Please visit the gallery to view images in full size.

From the gallery, you will be able to add the images to the shopping cart and checkout. Please subscribe to my channel and share my videos. I appreciate your support. Thank you for visiting my site. As you develop your skills and techniques throughout your photography career and you start to enjoy more success and clients, you may start to consider working with a photography agent. A photography agent offers you professional representation through an agency and can be hugely advantageous for your further growth in the competitive photography industry.

There are pros and cons to be weighed up when it comes to making any business decision and the right choice will depend on where you are in your career, what your budget for future growth is and how well your work will translate into marketable opportunities with the assistance of a photography agent.

If you are a photographer with a large and loyal client base then signing up with an agency might actually harm you financially so you need to carefully consider your position before signing any contracts. A very useful free online resource that you can use to begin your search is The Agent List.

You can use this site to search for agencies all over the world and the location based search bar is extremely helpful to get you started. To arrange an in person meeting you should call the office rather than sending an email, although you can do both. Once you have secured a meeting, you should prepare the following to take with you:.

Taking both physical and digital versions of your portfolio will give the agency an idea of how your images look in both formats as well as projecting a professional attitude.

While you are going over your portfolio be prepared to answer questions about the images and how you plan to move forward in your career. As competition is so high in the photography industry having a representative can be an invaluable asset in your career.

You should always meet with a potential agent in person before you commit because the relationship is one of mutual support, collective strategy making and using the reach of the agency to promote your photography to the right clients and audiences.

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