Splitting a Photographer

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Splitting Time

Sometimes a photographer might be asked to split up a work day into non-consecutive hours. This can happen with weddings, business conferences and other full-day events where the customer wants the photographer to cover only certain parts of the event. The customer usually expects the photographer not to charge for any downtime.

For example:

• A bride might want the photographer to cover her afternoon wedding ceremony from 1:00pm to 2:30pm and the evening dinner from 6:00pm to 10:00pm. The photographer would then have a 3-1/2 hour split in their day.

• A business conference organizer might want the photographer to cover the opening speeches from 9:00am to 10:30am, a keynote presentation from 1:00pm to 2:00pm and an evening reception from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. In this case, the photographer has two blocks of downtime.

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In the Twinkle of an Eye

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They may be the tiniest details in a portrait but they’re possibly the most important. Yet many photographers don’t understand catchlights.

You may not need catchlights in every portrait. The most famous portrait, the Mona Lisa, doesn’t have catchlights:

Unlike the Mona Lisa, many of Leonardo da Vinci’s other portraits have catchlights.

But catchlights are very important in a business portrait. Catchlights bring attention to the eyes which are the most important facial feature for conveying emotion.
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Perpetually Yours

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When a photo usage license expires, you expect the customer to stop using the image. This means that, for example, a photo licensed for one annual report can’t be reused in any other annual reports. Of course, already-printed copies of that one annual report can still be distributed.

But what about photos licensed for online use?

You can licence a photo for a specific time period online and then have it removed after the license has ended. This is common for photos used on a company’s home page and for pictures used for advertising.

But often a corporate or editorial customer will want to leave a photo online after the licence has expired rather than deleting the blog post, news story or Tweet that contained the photo.
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Choose better conference photography

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When your company is planning a business conference, workshop or similar event, the question of photography may come up. Conference photography is important because it can be used for your social media, a post-event newsletter, a press release, your annual report and for marketing next year’s event.

You might think that you can get an employee to do the photography because they have a cell phone camera. But if you decide to go this route instead of hiring a professional photographer, don’t pat yourself on the back.

Here’s why hiring a professional photographer is always better:
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I Do Declare

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This shouldn’t come as a surprise but when you do your annual income tax, you have to declare all your business income. Whether customers pay you by cash, cheque or credit card, it doesn’t matter. You have to report it all.

Business income from customers in other countries must also be declared on your Canadian income tax.

A few months ago, Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) sent a federal court order to payment processor Square Canada to turn over information on all its Canadian sellers who annually processed $20,000 or more anytime in the past five years.

According to The Globe and Mail, this is “part of an ongoing effort by the CRA to crack down on tax avoiders.”

In the USA, this has been happening for many years with Square, PayPal and all other third-party electronic payment processors. Every electronic payment processor in the US has to report to the Internal Revenue Service anyone whose payment volume annually exceeds $20,000 and 200 transactions.

The CRA is very concerned about self-employed people and those who get paid in cash. Always keep proper invoices, receipts and bank statements that can prove your income and expenses.

 

A Taxing Situation

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Now that it’s tax time and many folks are doing, or at least thinking about doing, their income tax, professional photographers might want to refresh their knowledge of allowable business expenses.

This list of business expenses and their brief explanations provide the starting point for completing tax form T2125.

This is only a starting point because “you can deduct any reasonable current expense you paid or will have to pay to earn business income.” The key word is “reasonable”.

The word “reasonable” is not defined in (tax) law but it has been shaped through Canada Revenue Agency rulings and technical interpretations. If your tax situation is even slightly complex, a good accountant can come in handy.

 

Life in the Slow Lane

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Most photographers go through a slow period, or two, during the year. Perhaps it’s the time from Christmas to the end of January or maybe it’s during a summer month. It depends on what type of photography you do. So what should a photographer do during a slow period?

What not to do

• Don’t panic (too much).

• Don’t use a slow period to catch up on your TV viewing.

• Don’t buy new gear. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that if you buy a new camera or lens, you’ll get more business. New gear won’t help.

• Don’t have a fire sale. Unlike a retail store, photographers don’t have marked-up merchandise on their store shelves that can be discounted. You have only time on your “store shelf” and, unlike a tangible product, time can’t be restocked.

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