Best Business Practices for Photographers [30]
In the end, the more noncreative aspects of a shoot you can farm out to people who not only do nothing but those things, but who really enjoy and thrive on doing them, the more you can concentrate on making great pictures and ensuring the client is happy and your work meets and exceeds their expectations. This will ensure the client comes back to you. In the end, these specialists appear as line items on your estimates and invoices, so you're not covering the cost of their services out of your pocket.
One more thing. If you're hiring a helicopter or other mission-critical transportation (seaplane, boat, desert land rover, and so on), take the advice that leading aerial photographer Cameron Davidson gives: Safety trumps all other concerns. Also, the more people and equipment you are hauling, the less likely you will be to have a good safety margin—then see advice item #1. Just because there might be room in the helicopter for the client, unless he or she absolutely, positively must be in the aircraft with you, the client stays on terra firma. Come back, review the images on a laptop with the client, and then go back up if you have to or can.
Second, do everything you can to have a helicopter with twin engines. If one fails, you can make it back to the ground safely, without having to eat your knees. In addition, make sure your pilot is not some low-hours hotdog or a pilot used to flying a pattern to show tourists the sights of the local area. Choosing a pilot who's experienced in working with aerial film and still photographers and who has at least 1,500 hours in the aircraft in which you will be flying will mean better results for the client and a safer return for you.
This holds true for small, fixed-wing aircraft as well. On assignment for the Smithsonian Institution in Alaska for a book I was doing for them, we had to have a pilot who could take off from a grass field and land on a sandbar along the ocean. Further, he had to know when that sandbar was going to disappear because of the tides and how much time it would take to get both plane loads of crew and gear out before then. En route, he also pointed out where the black bears congregated along the river so we could avoid that area. He was well-versed in these and numerous other details that I was glad I didn't have to worry about. But that's the point—he's the specialist, and we hired him to get us safely there and back home.
If you're in need of someone who does one thing (or just a few) and does them well, reach out and establish relationships, collect names, and understand areas of expertise and associated rates. You never know when you'll need a specialist and the figures and details necessary to complete that estimate you're working on at midnight.
Chapter 4 After Staff: Transitioning to Freelance
The transition to freelance is one of the more difficult transitions to make, usually because it happens to you without notice and when you've not planned for this occurrence. The trend over the years, starting with Life magazine and then moving on to People, Newsweek, and Time, is evolving into shrinking photo staffs at newspapers across the country who are now relying on freelancers and either laying off or diminishing full-time, salaried staffs through attrition.
This trend started when papers began hiring freelancers on a regular basis, not because of unexpected breaking news, but as a cost savings over large employee budgets. Soon, the accounting departments learned that a freelancer could deliver the same "all rights forever" package for a fraction of what it cost to maintain an employee. The trend began to spread like wildfire and shows no signs of a reversal. The staff photographer