The Photography Business

The Photography Business

by William Lulow

Note: Having owned and operated a photography studio in Manhattan for over thirty years, I have an intimate knowledge of what it takes to manage a photography business. I have done this both from a separate studio and a business that I ran out of my home. Both plans can work if you treat your love of the art form as a business. That’s the key. What follows is an updated introduction to some of the elements of the “photography business.”  It is by no means definitive and it’s a bit longer than my normal posts, but it contains some very specific information about the sorts of things that need to be considered before starting any business. I published this information before, but I have updated some figures for this article. But for most, making the leap from something you LOVE to do to making a BUSINESS out of it takes more thinking and planning than people think.

I have written extensively about this over many years. There are a number of folks on the internet recently who claim you can make $35,000 a month shooting pictures. Ah, but what kind of pictures, how often would you work, what equipment would you need and can this kind of money be sustainable in the long run enough to fund an ongoing business? Everyone gets dazzled by the prospect of earning money with his or her camera. It is appealing because taking pictures is something that most folks do anyway and a growing number actually can do with a small investment (relatively) in equipment. And, of course, there are the ubiquitous iPhones!! Let me say at the beginning, that even though you may get some “lucky shots” with your camera phone, it’s not a reliable, professional piece of camera gear you can use for commercial purposes like shooting advertisements.

I also need to mention that I have devoted years and countless amounts of money on film, processing, prints and equipment in order to learn all the elements of photography as an art form and as a business. I have worked for many different studios in various capacities in my lifelong quest to gather as much knowledge as I possibly could about all the aspects of the business. My intent was always to open my own studio which I did in 1980. I have been engaged full-time in the business ever since.

In the days of film, that investment was considerably larger. If you were going to shoot a fashion catalog, for instance, you would have needed a couple of view cameras to make large format photographs that could be used “to size.” You would also have needed a studio, lights, backgrounds, dressing rooms, props, stylists, assistants, film holders, darkrooms and a large number of other accessories, all to make your business functional. You would probably have needed to gross at least a million dollars a year just to keep your doors open.

                                                                                                   (Image made in the studio with black background)

If you were going to do portraits or family portraits, you might well need a place to do this which would entail renting enough space to do your shoots. Or, you might just do this outdoors (maybe only in warmer weather). At any rate, you would need at the bare minimum a good DSLR camera, a couple of good lenses, a decent flash unit or units, plus some accessories. So, the kinds of pictures you might want to do becomes a major factor in how you set up your business. If you are a “reportage” photographer working for a local newspaper or magazine, the salary isn’t much, but you would not need your own studio and all the things and expenses that come with it. Even if you just shoot weddings, you still need more than one camera body, a number of lenses plus some good flash units, and a good computer to process the thousands of images you would invariably be shooting. You would also need the services of a good lab to make your albums and you would need a way to send your clients the proofs from which they could choose. (Today, probably the best wedding lab for albums is actually in New Zealand, Queensberry). And, of course, it kind of goes without saying that you would need some CLIENTS! People willing to pay you for your work.

There is a well-known caveat about operating photography businesses: figure on your expenses costing you about half what your studio can gross in a year.

These days, people can buy a good digital camera, make some decent photographs and think of themselves as “being in business.” Take it from someone who has spent the last 40 or 50 years in the photography business. It’s a whole lot more difficult than it looks at first glance. First, you have to begin with a fair modicum of talent. (Not everyone has it). This also entails a basic familiarity with various kinds of equipment and how it all works. Also, these days it also involves a good deal of computer and software knowledge. Then you have to add a whole bunch of money just to “gear up” with professional-type equipment. You can’t do this with just your iPhone, as I said! Next, as I mentioned, you have to be able to attract a number of clients who would be willing to pay your fees. You would also have to study up on some business practices so that you would know what to charge in the first place. You would need to know how to do a professional assignment from talking to the client about what he or she wants to being able to interpret those needs and how they would be represented in images. This is just for starters! (I have also written many articles about how to do assignments professionally).

So, let’s kind of begin at the end! How much money do you think a good photography business can gross in a typical year? Do you think $1 Million is a lot? What about $100,000? What do you think a good salary is for someone in the workforce these days? Beginning school teachers make around $50,000 per year, beginning lawyers can earn $200,000 and doctors maybe $400,000. Policemen in Philadelphia can earn around $92,000 a year. Keep in mind that the mean household income for a family of four in the United States is around $75,143 per year now as of 2023. This is the MEAN. Fifty percent make more and fifty make less. This translates into approximately $1,425 per week BEFORE taxes! So you’re looking at a monthly GROSS of $6,200! With this income, you would be able to afford approximately $21,000 per year on rent or mortgage. That translates to about $1,700 per month. If just your rent/mortgage costs you more than that, you are spending more than you can afford on housing at the outset, if you earn the mean, national income. If your business is only grossing $100,000 per year, you would probably get to keep around $50,000 of that after all your expenses were paid. This is well below that national mean income. So, $100,00 per year probably won’t be enough to live on. Don’t forget, this is if you are working for yourself, in your own business. You can see right away that in order to have a disposable income near what your friends who work for various companies have, you would need your business to gross way more than you might think.

Now if you are running your own business, one of your first expenses should be your own salary, because that’s the money out of which you will need to pay your PERSONAL expenses. They might typically be rent on your apartment (not your place of business), food, utilities, education, phones, clothing, transportation and vacations (nobody can work ALL the time). So, as I suggested, work backwards. Figure out how much money you would need for all of these things. Let’s do some sample and simple arithmetic! These days, rent on a decent apartment in a good building, NOT in a major market area might be something like $3,500-$5,000 per month for decent-sized two bedroom apartment (and that may sound kind of on the low end, actually). An average phone bill runs about $200 per month (cell service). A car payment could be another $300 per month. Utilities, including cable TV (which also provides internet service, something you will need these days) is another $200 per month. You can probably budget another $200 for clothing, especially if you have young children. And, food would probably cost another $500 per month without dining in restaurants. In case you weren’t adding, you are now up to around $5,400 per month for normal living expenses and you haven’t even begun thinking about the business part of this yet. So, out of your average gross income of $75,000 you already have spent over $64,000 NOT INCLUDING TAXES. You have also not accounted for commutation expenses, vacations, dining in restaurants or any unforeseen expenses. Maybe you would have a leeway of around $10,000. Your average income tax rate in many states is around 20%, so out of your $75,000, your annual income taxes would be about $15,000 per year, which would leave you about $4,000 in the red! You can see that the mean salary in the US now is really not enough for a normal family of four when one person is the breadwinner.

So, it is beginning to look like that average salary wouldn’t be enough to sustain a family AND a business as well. You would need to gross a whole lot more! So, let’s look at business expenses and get down to the “nitty-gritty” of this thing. If you were a great portrait photographer, say, and you wanted to set up a store front studio in a shopping strip mall, for example, to get some “off-the-street” business, here’s what you might be looking at:

1. Rent (maybe around $5,000 per month)
2. Utilities – $800 (including heat, electric and phones)
3. Labor – $600 (minimum wage for a 40 hour week for one worker)
4. Advertising (blank for now)
5. Equipment (initial investment plus monthly) $300
6. Insurance – $45 per month
7. Transportation (to do jobs on location) $200 per month (car plus gas and maintenance)
8. Miscellaneous expenses (little things that crop up from time to time) monthly fund $200
9. Your salary as business owner. (One parameter here is that when your business can pay you twice what you make in salary from a “regular” job, you can think about leaving your old job). NOT BEFORE!

Here you’re looking at over $7,000 per month just to open your doors! That’s $84,000 per year TO START WITH!! This means that this studio would have to gross $170,000 per year in order to BREAK EVEN. That is, not make any real profit, but just pay the expenses of running the business. Remember, business expenses account for HALF a yearly gross. This might leave you with a roughly $80,000 yearly salary. That’s about $6,000 per month before personal taxes. After taxes, you probably would not have enough to live on for you and your family.

Now if you are a photographer and you can work out of your own home or apartment, this might work for you. It is what I have been doing for the last twenty years of my career because most of my work has been corporate shoots that I do on location. If you are interested in running your business from a studio, you would also need to pay those expenses as well, as I have indicated. That would also include additional money for expenses such as electricity, employees, telephones, garbage collection and other maintenance items. If you are a sole proprietor, you may not have expenses associated with a separate studio, but you will need a place for equipment in your apartment/home. You will need a place to have your “office” even if it’s only a table somewhere. These days you need a computer and any number of peripherals.

Whatever your “setup” is, you can minimize the expenses in the beginning. Even if you are a sole proprietor with no other employees, no separate studio, no other expenses except travel and equipment, you will still have to do your homework to determine whether or not the time you invest in shooting an assignment is worth your while. Let’s say you have learned all you need to learn about the photography you do, you have enough equipment to handle the types of shots you do (this might typically include a desktop computer as well as a laptop, a digital camera with at least three lenses to give you some variety and the software packages necessary to produce your images and deliver them to your clients). Let’s also assume that you have made enough to pay your rent and your overhead. The amount that is left is actually your SALARY. Out of this come all the expenses for your normal living, as I have indicated. The way to make an accurate comparison is that if your friend has a job with a regular “company” (he or she works for someone else, not him or herself), and let’s say their salary is $100,000 per year, That’s what they make before taxes and their personal expenses. So, if, after taxes and the expenses of having a family (rent, car, utilities, travel, vacations, clothing, food, etc.) you are left with $30,000 from that original salary, that’s money you could save or invest. Remember if you own your own business, and it grosses $100,000, you would get to keep $50,000 AFTER YOUR BUSINESS EXPENSES WERE PAID. YOU WOULD THEN HAVE TO HAVE ENOUGH TO COVER ALL YOUR PERSONAL EXPENSES as well!! So, if an annual salary of $100,000 sounds good to you and you wanted to own your own business, my guess is that the business would have to gross twice that amount, or $200,000 to provide you with the same living standard. Anything less than that would tend to impact your way of life. In other words you might not be able to live as comfortably as you would like.

                                                                                                                                           (My apartment/studio)

                                                                                                                                            (Part of my “location kit”)

                                                                                                                                             (Typical studio setup with old lights)

                                                    (Studio with all necessary lighting and other equipment)

Now if you plan to work out of your own residence, that would cut down on expenses quite a bit.(Also, these days there are no “film & processing” expenses if you shoot digitally). I assume you would not be doing shoots that involved a lot of space and I am also assuming you are not going to need much artificial light or other props and items associated with a large studio like flats, light banks, props, etc., so you won’t be needing any large flash units or other kind of lighting except outdoor, sunlight and maybe some smaller, portable flash units. You do have to have enough of the equipment it takes to shoot the assignments you want, though. Let’s also assume that your business is not in one of the major markets in the United States like New York, L.A., Chicago, Dallas or Atlanta for starters. If you are in a smaller town, what kind of photographs will you make and how are you going to get your name out to folks who might hire you? Then, again, what kind of photography are you most qualified to do? And, probably most important, what kind of photography do you truly LOVE to do? All of these factors play a part in the success or failure of your operation. One of the prerequisites for success in photography is to have many REPEAT clients; those that need your services on a weekly or even daily basis.

So, as you can tell from all of this, deciding to do photography as a professional “for hire,” and be able to make a decent living at it, takes a great deal of thought. For most people, making a career from something you love is a dream that few can achieve with any regularity. It takes intense dedication and some knowledge of how the business world operates to do it. There are many great artists who can’t seem to get a grasp on how to do the business part of their art.

As I indicated above, different genres in the field of photography require different investments in equipment, time, money and expertise. The dollar amounts indicated here are just samples. Different people run their businesses differently. But I have done some of my own research on costs of running a photography business and these items seem to be average or maybe a bit below average. Whatever kind of business model you use, it all STARTS with your creative ability and talent. Then it goes from there.

More later in subsequent articles. If you are interested in how I came to my figures or anything else about running a photography business, please email me and we can start a conversation.