Photographer insurance: gear, venues and unhappy clients

Most working photographers need three things: tools and equipment coverage for the camera bodies, lenses and lights that travel to every shoot, general liability because wedding venues, event spaces and corporate clients will ask for a certificate before you set up, and professional liability for the claim that costs photographers the most sleep, which is a client who says you missed the shots, delivered late or lost the files. Each policy is subject to its own terms and exclusions, and the gear coverage is the one to buy first if your kit is worth more than you could replace from savings.

That applies to portrait, wedding, event, product and commercial photographers, and to videographers, since both are business types you can start a quote with; for the policies service businesses in this group usually carry, see insurance for offices and professional firms.

The numbers behind the camera bag

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says about 67 percent of photographers are self-employed. Put plainly, two out of three photographers are running their own business, buying their own gear and carrying their own risk, with no studio owner or employer whose insurance stands behind them. BLS also notes that the work can involve travel and carrying heavy equipment, which is a polite way of describing a bag worth thousands of dollars riding in the back seat of a car five days a week.

That combination is why gear coverage comes first for most photographers. A homeowners or renters policy may limit or exclude business property, but even where it covers some, it’s often capped at a low amount and tied to your home. A commercial property policy covers what’s at your business address, but tools and equipment coverage, a form of inland marine insuranceInland marine insuranceInland marine insurance covers business property that moves or is kept away from your main location, like tools on job sites, goods in transit and property held for others.Read the definition insurance, is built to follow the gear instead: to a client’s house, a venue, a hotel room or a rental car, typically covering theft and accidental damage, subject to conditions and a deductible. Gear you rent or borrow for a shoot is its own question, because the rental house will usually hold you responsible for it, so ask whether your tools and equipment coverage includes rented equipment and up to what amount. For more on what a home policy may leave out, see does homeowners insurance cover a home business?.

Why does the venue want your certificate?

Because if a guest trips over your light stand, the venue is the first place their lawyer looks. Venues, planners and corporate clients usually ask every vendor for general liability, with the venue named as an additional insuredAdditional insuredAn additional insured is a person or company, such as a landlord or client, added to your liability policy so it can protect them from claims tied to your work.Read the definition, so the venue is protected under your policy for claims arising from your work there. The claims they’re picturing are a guest catching a foot on a power cable taped badly across a dance floor, or a speedlight on an unweighted stand tipping into a table of wine glasses. Ordinary stuff. Those are bodily injury and property damage claims, and general liability typically pays them, along with your defense, subject to your limits.

With Corgi, a certificate of insuranceCertificate of insuranceA certificate of insurance (COI) is a one-page summary that proves your business has insurance, listing your policies, limits, insurers and policy dates.Read the definition is available the day you buy, and you can download it or send it to the venue coordinator from your account. If a venue’s contract asks for a higher limit than you have, limits can be raised the same day, which matters when the coordinator emails you on a Thursday about a Saturday wedding.

The shots you missed and the files you lost

Put bluntly, for most photographers, the claim that does real damage isn’t a broken lens or a tripped guest. It’s an unhappy client with a story about money.

Think about what a wedding or event client is actually buying, which is the only record of something that can’t be staged again, with your afternoon as the price of getting it. So when a memory card corrupts, a camera fails during the vows, a second shooter misses the processional, files vanish when a hard drive dies before backup, or the gallery arrives four months late, the client wants more than the fee back. They may claim the cost of restaging portraits, flying family back in or reshooting a product launch, and some will hire a lawyer to say your work fell below the standard a professional photographer should meet. Commercial work has its own version: a catalog shoot delivered with the wrong color profile, a missed product deadline that pushes back a launch, images handed to a client without the model releases they assumed you had.

This is professional liability’s job. It typically pays your lawyer and any settlement when a client says your work cost them money, subject to its terms and exclusions. General liability usually doesn’t respond, because these are claims about the quality of your work, and general liability is built for injuries and physical damage. Two details are worth knowing before you buy. Professional liability is usually written on a claims-madeClaims-made policyA claims-made policy covers claims first made against you during the policy period, for work or incidents that happened on or after the policy’s retroactive date.Read the definition basis, so the policy that matters is the one in force when the client makes the claim, and its retroactive dateRetroactive dateA retroactive date is the earliest date of work or events a claims-made policy covers, so anything that happened before it isn’t covered, even if the claim is new.Read the definition decides how far back your past work is covered. And a policy may not pay to simply refund your fee, since many policies treat a fee dispute as a business matter that sits outside coverage. Videographers and photographers carry one more exposure, which is rights: a song you didn’t license under a wedding film, or a client’s photos in your ads without a release, can bring an infringement or privacy claim, so ask whether your policy covers intellectual property claims at all. The deeper comparison is in general liability vs. professional liability.

The cheapest protection here costs a second memory card. Shoot on a body with dual card slots writing to both, back up the same night to two places, and put a clear limitation of liability in your contract, reviewed by a lawyer in your state, because the claim that never gets filed is the best outcome of all.

Drones are aircraft to your insurer

If you fly a drone for real estate, weddings or commercial shoots, two separate sets of rules apply. Flying a small drone for pay means following the FAA’s Part 107 rules and holding its Remote Pilot Certificate. That’s the flying side.

The insurance side catches photographers off guard. Many general liability policies exclude injury and damage arising from aircraft, and insurers often treat drones as aircraft, so a drone that clips a guest or drops onto a parked car may not be covered by your ordinary general liability. Ask your insurer directly whether your policy covers drone use, and get the answer in writing, because a vague yes on the phone won’t help after a crash. If it doesn’t, look for separate drone liability coverage from an aviation or drone insurer before you offer aerial shots, since Corgi doesn’t sell it.

Studios, assistants and second shooters

Renting a studio adds a lease, and leases usually require general liability with the landlord named as an additional insured, plus property coverage for whatever you keep there: backdrops, strobes, the computer you edit on.

Hiring is trickier. Here’s our rule of thumb: if a second shooter uses your gear and your shot list, assume your state may call them an employee until you’ve checked. Assistants and second shooters are often paid per shoot on a 1099, but the IRS looks at who controls the work, who controls the business side and how the relationship is set up, and working only your weddings points the same way. Your state decides when you need workers’ comp, so check before your busy season.