If you’re a photographer and you don’t have liability insurance, you are operating on borrowed time. Too many things can go wrong over the course of the day, the week, and the year, that could jeopardize your ability to stay in business. A simple mistake on your part that results in unsatisfied clients can end up being much more than losing income or a bad review on Yelp - it can lead to financial disaster and closing up shop for good.
While that picture is certainly a gloomy one, it’s the simple reality of doing business in today’s world. If you want to have a successful photography business, you absolutely need liability insurance. Here’s why...
Your Pictures Might Not Turn Out
Imagine you’ve been hired to photograph a wedding. You do your due diligence and meet with the clients, get a shot list put together, and tour the venue. You have all your batteries charged, your cameras outfitted with the desired lenses and memory cards. You’ve checked all your gear to ensure it works and you’re ready to tackle the job at hand.
But then, after the wedding, you upload the images to your computer and notice that some of them did not turn out. Something was wrong with the lens on your secondary camera body, and some of the photos taken during the ceremony and reception do not have the crisp, sharp look that they should. In situations like this, miscellaneous professional liability insurance offers you protection for professional errors. Any legal obligations you have to the client as a result of the poor photos will be taken care of, protecting you from going out of business.
A Scheduling Snafu Occurs
You’ve been hired by a client to photograph their child’s birthday party, an engagement at which you hope to make connections with other families in the area to photograph their children’s parties as well. Though your assistant wrote down the correct date on your calendar, you superimposed the numbers, thinking that the party was on the 21st when it is actually on the 12th. When the party started and you didn’t show up, the clients were understandably upset. Without insurance, this situation could spiral out of control, with you losing income from the job (and potential future jobs) as well as expenses related to legal obligations arising out of the error. In this case, professional liability insurance would offer you the protection you need.
A Client Might Get Injured
You’re about to meet a new client at your studio and want to make a good first impression. You’ve tidied up your desk, dusted, and swept the floor. What you neglected to do, however, is remove the ice from the sidewalk out front. As your client steps out of their car, they slip on the ice, fall, and injure their back.
Without general liability insurance, you aren’t protected from lawsuits that result in injury. Something that seems like a basic injury could end up costing you thousands and thousands of dollars - far more than it costs to pay liability insurance premiums. Whether you have a dedicated office space or work out of your home, it’s essential that you have coverage for injury to others while they are on the premises. Certainly, the last thing you want is for a client or potential client to be hurt while they are on your property. But you also don’t want to be on the hook for medical bills - or worse - a lawsuit.
Get Covered Before It’s Too Late
As noted above, there are just too many things that might go wrong to not have insurance. Getting appropriate coverage isn’t just a smart move in the short-term to protect your investment in your business, but it’s also a long-term measure that could very well save you from financial doom should you be on the wrong end of a lawsuit.
There are a lot of insurance companies offering coverage for photographers, but our choice has to be National Photographer’s Insurance. Why? For starters, they offer customized protection that takes the unique concerns of the photography trade to build industry-specific plans for photographers. With 80 years of experience, they’ve developed plans for photographers that work on their own to large studios that employ dozens of people. National Photographer’s Insurance is licensed in all 50 states as well, so regardless of where you work, you can get the coverage you need that addresses the unique risks of being in the photography business.
Whether it’s professional liability insurance, business personal property insurance, business income insurance, or something in between, National Photographer’s Insurance can protect you so that you have a long-lasting and successful photography career. Contact National Photographer’s Insurance today to inquire about customized coverage that is tailored specifically to your business.