Event photography is one of the most steady, reliable and accessible forms of income for professional photographers. If you haven’t already started to look at offering a professional event photographer service then now may be the time.
It’s not only for global events taking place but you will find lots of smaller, local requirements for event photos. From weddings and birthday parties to charity events, corporate events or even product launches, your event photography services could be utilised.
Table of Contents
A how-to guide for event photography
Step 1
Finding event photography work is pretty straightforward. The best starting place is to produce a web page for your event photography services and use a few simple phrases (keywords) in the text of your post.
For example, I would use “London event photographer” as I am in London and offering an event photography service. Simply add your location and people searching for event photography in your area will hopefully find you. It’s worth noting that major cities such as London will be more competitive in Google than the smaller towns.
Other useful phrases to include in your text could be “corporate photography” and “wedding photography” which is easily included in a list of event photography services you offer.
Step 2
You have a web page to direct your event photography clients to, now you need to work out your corporate event photography rates and general event photography prices. As much as we would like to think the work would speak for itself we all know this isn’t true as every event has a budget to adhere to.
It’s important to keep your event photography rates competitive and in line with the current market, but not too low that you come across cheap to the client and won’t turn a decent profit for your time.
It’s also worth remembering that prices will differ from place to place. For example a photographer in London will charge different prices to one in the US. So do your research and set your price accordingly.
Step 3
Once you have a web page and your event photography pricing set up and ready to direct people to, you are ready to start targeting bushiness ann events directly.
Start small and search for sporting events, charity balls, black tie or social events in general. These types of events will almost always have a photographer present. You may be too late for this year but hopefully, after seeing your work is of the highest quality they will keep you in mind for their next event.
A good way to keep in people mind is to follow them on Twitter or Instagram or any other social media channels and engage with their content. This will keep you consonantly visible without seeming overly pushy.
Step 4
So you have your event photography jobs rolling in, the next step is the most important. Do a good job, act like the professional photographer you are.
If people see you working hard you will become highly recommended and we all know people talk. Your biggest marketing tool as an event photographer is word of mouth.
Step 5
So the event is done and your images have gone through post-production, its time to make them work for you with after-sales. All professional event photographers do it and its a great extra earner.
The best and most efficient way to do this is to set up and an online gallery where guests or participants of the event can view the images and order copies for themselves. Loads of labs offer this service so you don’t have to do anything other than collect the additional revenue stream from your event photography business.
A few online gallery event photography hosting options are:
Bonus tip
Offer a photo booth option. Yes, its a little cheesy but you can charge more for this service and the print after-sales are a great little extra.
Hopefully found our event photography article useful and we would love to hear how you get so please do let us know via our social media channels.
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Jordan Banks is a successful travel photographer and Lee Filters & Cruise America brand ambassador. With almost 20 years of experience shooting assignments and campaigns for some of the world’s leading brands, companies & tourist boards such as British Airways, Credit Suisse & Visit England.
His editorial work has appeared on the covers of National Geographic, Lonely Planet, Sunday Times travel and many more. If you would like to learn more from Jordan or join him in the field, why not join one of his travel photography courses.
This event photography article is subject to copyright. Words and photos by Jordan Banks (That Wild Idea). Copying or reposting of photos or article elsewhere is strictly forbidden. Please contact us if you would like to use this feature on your website.