A corporate photographer shoots portraits and photographs of an organization’s key people, VIPs and achievements for the purposes of annual reports, marketing, business proposals, press releases, website content and general PR.

How to break into Freelance Corporate Photography

As many corporate photographers could always do with an assistant to help with corporate events, it is worth volunteering as an intern with an established corporate photographer. Assisting is a good approach to get some experience as there can be many unforeseen incidents at a corporate event, and this is a good chance to appreciate how an experienced professional deals with various situations.

Also, some business magazines may need freelance photographers to help in covering events at busy times, so another good idea would be to contact these magazines and ask the editor if they need an assistant photographer to go along and help them cover any trade shows. A portfolio based on shots from trade shows would still be able to demonstrate to a potential corporate client what you can achieve.

Who hires Freelance Corporate Photographers?

Many business owners will want to employ corporate photographers to promote their business and show it in the best possible light. However small businesses or sole traders are more likely to employ a freelancer as they will be looking for more a tailor-made service that can fit within their budget.

What to Charge

What you can charge depends on many factors and you need to cost your services in view of that. Investigate a little to find what other corporate photographers are quoting. It can be difficult at first to get your pricing right so try contacting a few photographers who are doing similar work pretending to be interested in employing them for an assignment, just to get an impression of what your competitors are charging for a days shoot.

Tasks Expected of a Freelance Corporate Photographer

Busy corporate events do not give photographers much time to set up shots or for retakes, so the photographer must be very efficient. Many unforeseen things arise at corporate events; therefore a corporate photographer must always be aware of what’s going on and quick to react.

Skills of a Freelance Corporate Photographer

Corporate photography requires experience and flexibility to cover corporate events, photography for marketing literature, producing striking pictures of the company’s products as well as inspiring corporate headshots. Freelance Corporate Photographers should also get on well with people; after all they will meet and photograph a lot of people. A good photographer should be able to relate well with staff, as they need to be at ease when the photographs are being shot at the organization’s informal or official events.

Equipment used by a Freelance Corporate Photographer

You should aim to purchase the best equipment you can, so to get you started you should have a quality camera, a tripod plus a couple of lenses. A wide angled lens may also be useful for large team shots. As some of this work will be headshots, remember that the lighting used for headshot photography is very important.

Where to look and apply for jobs

There are many freelance websites that offer work for freelancers to bid on and another way is to advertise your services and display your portfolio on a website. Some sites such as photoshelter.com provide a website showcase for freelancers to advertise and sell their pictures. Many people will choose a photographer based on their reputation as a corporate photographer and examples of the photographer's previous work; so a good portfolio is essential.

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