Getting Ready To Return To Business

Sooner or later there will be a demand for photography services again. It may still be several months away but photographers should do a few things now to be ready.

Face Masks

Customers may require photographers to wear face masks. Some local governments may require everyone to wear a face mask in all indoor locations. Be prepared for this now by buying some face masks.

N95 respirators are virtually impossible to find and many of those for sale online are counterfeit or bogus. The online market has been flooded with fake respirators so it’s difficult to know what’s real.

Most legitimate N95 manufacturers are selling only to governments and hospitals. N95 respirators are currently priced about five to ten dollars each. If you find an online seller with N95 or KN95 respirators priced at $2 or $3 each, they are most likely fake. Unless you’re photographing in a hospital, don’t worry about having a respirator, a face mask is just fine.

Don’t bother with a full-face respirator or anything that looks like you’re about to spray toxic pesticide. This is not necessary whatsoever and no one will be able to hear you talk.

Hand Sanitizer

Buy hand sanitizer. Virus or no virus, hand sanitizer is always a good thing to have.

Hand sanitizer must be at least 60% ethanol (aka ethyl alcohol) or 70% isopropanol (aka isopropyl alcohol, propan-2-ol or 2-propanol).

Some hand sanitizers are alcohol-free and may use benzalkonium chloride or some other chemical to disinfect. These may kill most bacteria but their effectiveness against viruses is less reliable.

Note that the product is called “hand sanitizer” not “hand disinfectant.” A sanitizer is meant to reduce most bacteria (e.g. 99.9%) while a disinfectant will kill or inactivate bacteria, fungi and viruses (e.g. 99.9999%). Hand sanitizers made with a suitable amount of alcohol just happen to also inactivate (some/all?) viruses.

Alcohol Wipes

Don’t let other people handle your photo gear or computers.

Some customers may appreciate seeing you wipe your cameras before a shoot but cleaning your gear is more to protect you than them. You can also use alcohol wipes whenever you normally clean your gear but do not use these wipes on a camera sensor.

Not all wipes are intended for optical lens elements because the wipe might be too coarse or it may leave lint. Before using a wipe on a lens or other glass element, blow off any dust and dirt.

Alcohol wipes can vary from 1% to 75% alcohol content, usually ethanol or isopropanol. There are special “electronic” cleaning wipes that are 99% isopropanol but this amount of alcohol is an ineffective disinfectant.

Don’t buy “Alcohol Prep Pads” because they are too small and too dry. Wipes made for cleaning eyeglasses and other optical surfaces are usually around 5″x5″ and tend to have barely enough moisture to work. Generally you want as much alcohol wetness as possible without having any dripping liquid. Wipes that have too little liquid will evaporate quickly and you’ll end up using too many wipes.

There is one brand of alcohol wipe that uses methanol. The manufacturer says not to use these on eyeglasses that have coated lenses or on any plastics. These wipes are intended for “monochrome CCDs, scanners, optical mirrors and other sensitive electronic and photographic image-forming surfaces.” Due to their purity, these wipes cost about ten times more than a normal alcohol wipe.

When cleaning cameras and lenses at home, you could make your own alcohol wipes using a bottle of isopropyl alcohol and a pack of lint-free wipes such as Pec Pads or Kimwipes. Just dampen each wipe with a few drops of alcohol. To disinfect, use at least 70% isopropyl alcohol (ideally with no other additives other than water).

Probably don’t use rubbing alcohol because there’s no official definition of what it is. It will contain isopropyl alcohol and/or ethanol but it may also have other additives.

Added September 25, 2020: Alcohol wipes (60% to 75% alcohol) are now readily available in stores and online. The wipes I bought at a local grocery store were large, reasonably wet and much cheaper than Amazon.

Gloves

I doubt you’ll need gloves but it might make some customers happy. I’ve used both latex gloves and nitrile gloves when photographing inside labs and drug manufacturing sites and there was no problem with camera handling. Bacteria and viruses can pass through vinyl gloves.

Remember that you can’t wear gloves when using a touchscreen.

Studio Cleaning

If you work in your own studio, you have to clean it frequently. Be sure to have suitable cleaning and disinfecting supplies on hand as well as lots of liquid soap and paper towels in your washroom. Hand sanitizer will also come in handy.

When photographing people in your studio, you probably should wear a face mask. It’s a good idea to have extra masks available for other people in your studio.

Plan to minimize the number of people in your studio at any one time and have everyone stay a couple of metres apart.

You are responsible for your customers’ health and safety in your studio.

Your Photo Contract

Review your current photo contract to make sure your Force Majeure clause, or similar clause, is suitably worded so that it does include epidemics, diseases, quarantine, order of any governmental authority, etc. The generic phrase “act of God” might be okay but it’s still very vague and may not include quarantine restrictions, national emergencies, supply chain disruptions, etc.

An updated Force Majeure clause may be important if things get back to normal only to be later shut down again. Any contractual obligations you have might become liabilities if you can’t provide your agreed upon photography services. You can’t assume that common sense will prevail.

Apparently some insurance companies have quietly added a new exclusion to their policies over the past few weeks. This exclusion says something like: your insurance will not cover any loss or damage caused directly or indirectly by any communicable disease. This shouldn’t affect coverage for theft or damage of your photo equipment but it may affect any insured photo shoot that gets delayed or cancelled due to the current pandemic or any other communicable disease.