Certificate of Insurance?

[littlemissprint]

Hey all,

Quick question about insurance here!

I'm about to do my first paid photo shoot soon (a few corporate portraits) and we are using a city/government building as a location. They have asked us to provide a certificate of insurance to ensure that the location will not be liable for any possible injuries to myself of my clients.

Since I don't do this for a living, I obviously do not have my own insurance set up and honestly unless I begin doing paid shoots pretty frequently I don't plan on getting any.

Is this certificate something I can ask the client to provide from their insurance company? I'd like to find out if that's an acceptable option before I go to them and request it.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate any advice you can give!

[Tom]

Originally Posted by littlemissprint

Hey all,

Quick question about insurance here!

I'm about to do my first paid photo shoot soon (a few corporate portraits) and we are using a city/government building as a location. They have asked us to provide a certificate of insurance to ensure that the location will not be liable for any possible injuries to myself of my clients.

Since I don't do this for a living, I obviously do not have my own insurance set up and honestly unless I begin doing paid shoots pretty frequently I don't plan on getting any.

Is this certificate something I can ask the client to provide from their insurance company? I'd like to find out if that's an acceptable option before I go to them and request it.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate any advice you can give!

Their company is not going to insure you (unless they happen to be an insurance company.) Asking would be a bit unprofessional.

Even if you don't do it for a living or full-time, it is a very wise decision to have basic liability insurance on your business as well as errors & omissions coverage and have your gear insured. If you make money with your gear and it is stolen, your home owners won't cover it.

[PHOTO-DA]

Sarah,
If you have renters insurance or homeowners ask your agent about this type of coverage (don't need to go into the cost of equipment coverage though the agent probably would want to add that to the policy) they should be happy to add you at a reasonable price.

BTW have you filed a DBA with the county?

[littlemissprint]

Thanks to both of you for the quick responses!

No, I have not filed a DBA - is this something I need to do? I've never done any paid photography work at all yet, so I'm really in the dark as far as all this legal biz!

Tom, I will check with my insurance co this evening and see what the cost will be to add something to my existing policy. I agree I would not want to ask my client's insurance co to cover me - does seem a bit unprofessional.

Thanks again for the help.. I so appreciate it.

*sarah

[PHOTO-DA]

The Insurance agent may request a DBA, costs less than $20 in Dallas County and it's good for many years and you can actually have more than one DBA.

[PHOTO-DA]

What lens do you plan to use for the portraits? If it is a gray flannel suit type I would use at least an 80mm (since your camera is a crop sensor you may be able to get by with one a bit shorter), if it is a laid back dot.com biz then you could get away with a wider angle.

[littlemissprint]

Oh thanks! I will definitely look into the DBA - sounds like it would be very good to have on hand.

I was planning to use my 50mm f/1.4 on these. It's for a company that basically helps other companies to improve productivity, behavior, moral etc of their employees. They are looking for something professional but not stuffy.

I also have an 18-55mm f/3.5 as a backup. Honestly I've only done a few portraits so I'm going to need to do a bit of reading/practice before this shoot to have an idea of what I want to achieve. Any other advice is MOST welcome! =)

[PHOTO-DA]

If you read some threads here on portrait work, head and shoulders (which is probably what your client wants) you will see that the best lens range for that is in the 100mm to 140mm range (adjusting for crop bodies that would indicate a lense closer to 85 mm vs a 50mm) since when you get into that length or lower you will get certain types of distortions in the facial features (more so on wide angle lenses). Some people like that look but more button down types won't-it can make chins and noses look out of proportion and other problems. So you may want to beg borrow or rent a longer prime lens that is fast 2.8 or faster to get a bokah background affect. There are several lens rental companies on the internet that are reasonable in their fees for these size prime lenses.

When you get to Medium Format and Large Format cameras the lens sizes are different.

[littlemissprint]

Aaah thank you for the advice on lenses - and for explaining the reasoning behind all that. I will definitely read up some more on it. Thankfully I have several weeks to soak all this in before the shoot! Renting something more in the range you suggested does sound like the right way to go.

Besides, anytime I have an excuse to rent another prime lens and try it out is a great thing! =)