For everyday people, insurance is a topic that can be a little confusing, if not overwhelming. For professional photographers, that confusion can be even more evident as the types of policies you need to cover your professional activities are often different (and in addition to) insurance policies that cover personal things like your home.
With that in mind, we’ve put together this quick primer on common policies obtained by professional photographers, from protection against injured clients to damaged gear to catastrophes that destroy your workspace.
Let’s begin!
General Liability Insurance
A general liability policy is a must-have for any professional photographer because it protects you should a client or potential client (or anyone else, for that matter) get injured while on your property. Whether they slip and fall on some ice on the sidewalk, trip over the threshold and fall, or get injured when a studio light falls over and hits them, a liability policy will have you covered, in many cases up to $2 million per occurrence. That’s great peace of mind!
Miscellaneous Liability Insurance
Mistakes happen. It’s just a part of being in business. But some mistakes can prove catastrophic to your ability to continue operations. If you shoot a wedding and the photos, for whatever reason, don’t turn out, you might face a loss of business or even a lawsuit from dissatisfied customers. If the drone you’re using for aerial photos of an event crashes into a person, you could easily be sued for exorbitant medical bills. Simply getting the dates confused and missing a photo shoot with clients could spell disaster as well.
Fortunately, miscellaneous liability insurance covers you in these and other situations in which there is an error, omission, or negligence on your part. Without this kind of coverage, you run the risk of being unprotected in the event that something goes awry. No matter how much confidence you have in your abilities, something at some point will go wrong, making having a miscellaneous liability insurance policy a smart business move.
Business Personal Property Insurance
As a professional photographer, you’ve got tens of thousands of dollars worth of photography gear, not to mention all the other expensive business-related items like a laptop, a printer, office furniture, and the like. A business personal property policy will cover you up to the limits you select for a wide variety of occurrences. If someone breaks into your studio and steals your gear, you’re covered. Damage caused to doors or windows due to a break-in is covered as well. If your camera is damaged when a client accidentally knocks it to the ground, you’re covered too.
The beauty of a business personal property policy is that no matter how the damage occurs, your policy will cover you for replacement gear or repairs up to the limits you select. Policies are based on your specific needs, with $1 million or more in available coverage.
Photographic Equipment Off-Premises
One of the nice things about being a photographer is the opportunity for travel. Sure, not all photographers get to jet-set to exotic locations for photo shoots, but even getting out of the studio for a couple of hours to photograph your client in a local park or at the beach can be a nice break in your day.
The problem, of course, is that when you’re working off-premises, any number of things can go wrong that can have a negative impact on your ability to provide services to your clients. Maybe a lens falls out of your camera bag and shatters all over the ground. Perhaps you leave your tripod on the roof of your car and it’s destroyed when it falls as you drive away. You might even find yourself in a car accident, during which your camera suffers extensive damage.
For these and other accidents that might occur when you’re traveling, a photographic equipment off-premises policy is a must-have. In many cases, you can get coverage of up to $5,000 per item and $25,000 per occurrence. That means that you can quickly get your damaged gear replaced and keep working without skipping a beat.
Business Income and Extra Expense Insurance
Perhaps a lesser known type of coverage for professional photographers is business income and extra expense insurance. These policies are directed specifically towards situations in which you lose income due to an event or have extra expenses incurred as a result of a problem or issue. For example, if a pipe in the ceiling of your studio bursts and floods your workspace, it will take some time to clean up and repair the damage - time during which you won’t be able to use your studio.
In a situation like this, a business income and extra expense policy has you covered for things like income lost due to canceled appointments, repairs to fix the damage to your workspace, and even rent for a temporary workspace until you can get your studio back in working order. With up to 12 months of coverage, these policies ensure that you won’t feel the financial pinch.
Getting Coverage
Though there are plenty of options for getting insurance for your photography business, we’d like to recommend National Photographer’s Insurance as one of the best.
Why? It’s simple…
National Photographer’s Insurance offers every single policy discussed above. What’s more, each policy is tailored to your specific needs so you’re sure to have the coverage you need, where it counts the most. Better still, National Photographer’s Insurance is a small business, just like yours. That means that they understand the unique obstacles you face as you build your business. And, since they’ve been in the insurance game for 80 years, they have an intimate understanding of the types and amounts of coverage you need.
National Photographer’s Insurance is licensed in all 50 states, so regardless of where you live and work, they’ve got policies that will protect your investment and give you the peace of mind you need to grow your business for years to come. Don’t go another day without the right insurance coverage! Contact National Photographer’s Insurance today for a quote.