When deciding on a photographer for your event, the primary question you should ask is, “How will they help make my event better?”. A professional team of photographers will add to your event in so many ways. Out of all the products sold by all the vendors at your event, the photos will outlast them all. A few months after your event the only thing they will still have is the photos and maybe a T-shirt. Years later they will still have the photos. As one of the premier events in the industry your event deserves to have one of the premier photography companies covering it. Don’t settle for anything less. We have created a checklist that we think may help you decide on the right photographer for your event.  Click here if you want to know our answers to any of these questions.

-Is this what your photographer does for a living? If your photographer has a full time job during the week that is what really pays their bills then that is the job that will be their priority. If they aren’t good enough to be doing it for a living then they aren’t good enough. Contract with someone who is.

-What is your photographers experience? How long have they been shooting events, and do they have the experience and equipment to shoot an event of this caliber?

-Does the photographer carry liability insurance? You don’t want a photographer that isn’t serious enough about their business (and yours) to carry this most basic business essential. You certainly don’t want to be held liable if your photographer is involved in any kind of accident at your event.

-Does your photographer carry workers compensation insurance? Many companies claiming to be professional photographic companies use day labor hired from Craig's list and other similar sources. As we all know in this litigious world, if these workers are injured at your event you may find yourself being held liable.

-Do they have and maintain a professional web site?  This is most peoples first impression of a company.  You do not want to be associated with a company that is so unprofessional that they can't keep and maintain a web site.

-Does your photographer print on site? This is an absolute necessity.  Most photographers that are not capable of doing this are truly years behind. This capability greatly adds to your event by making sure your customers are happy and not calling you after the event trying to locate photos they ordered months ago. You also have the added benefit of your customers immediately showing all of their photos to their competitors and spectators. This greatly adds to the sales at an event which is a benefit to many promoters since our vending fees are often based on the gross sales.

-Does your photographer create a custom border for your event? This is one of the greatest marketing tools there is for your event. These photos will hang in homes and offices for years to come, continuing to promote your event to your existing customers and others. You simply cannot buy this kind of advertising.

-Does your photographer offer online viewing and proofing? While this no substitute for on-site viewing and printing, it is still an absolute necessity. You do not want to be fielding calls from your customers asking where grandma and grandpa can see their photos and have to tell them that there isn’t a way.

-Does your photographer have experience in the type of event you are putting on? Can they send you real prints for you to examine? Understanding the event is extremely important in many ways. Knowing where to be at what time is something that is important not only for getting great photographs, it is also important for as simple of reason to make sure you are not interfering with, or becoming part of the event.

-Does your photographer understand their place? From many photographers the event becomes about the photos. They put themselves above the event. This is an experience that many promoters can relate to, the photographer that feels that they are more important than the competitors and the event. We understand that the event is not about us. It is about the people taking part in it.

-Is the photographer compensating you? While not all events justify a cash photographic vending fee, your photographer should be adding value to your event at a minimum and paying for events that justify it. Why would you allow a photographer to come in and make money from your work while giving you nothing in return?

-Does the photographer offer every photographic service in the book?  Portraits, action, pet photography, senior pictures, weddings...  If they are offering all of these things, the chances are they aren't very good at any of them.  The amount of equipment and expertise to do all of these things well is EXTENSIVE.  Real photographers focus on certain disciplines in photography because it takes a great deal of time and equipment to be truly good at any one of these disciplines.

-Are they offering you too much money?  I know this may sound a little funny but if you are a professional promoter and have been using professional photographers then you probably have a pretty good idea what you should get paid.  Many new photographers will try and buy their way into events by paying more than the established companies.  The problem for the established companies is that we know what events are worth and can't pay more than that.  The problem for you is they may never pay you any of what they promised, or even worse they pay so much, and do so poorly, that they don't care about your event anymore and take your competitors money and never fulfill the orders.  You don't want to put on a great event and have people mad at you over something like this. This happens frequently and seems to be happening more and more.  We always offer the promoter a fair price for the size of the event.

-This leaves the most basic question. Is your photographer any good? This is obviously a subjective question and the most difficult to answer. Anyone can send you a few good shots. There is no way to know if it took hundreds or thousands of tries to get these. Our suggestion is that you use the above checklist to decide this. It the person/company you are considering cannot answer positively to the above questions then they may be talented photographers but they are not the right photographers for your event. Providing professional photographic services for events requires far more than just a “good photographer”. It requires a complete staff, extensive equipment, and extensive experience beyond a photographer and some camera equipment to do right.

We appreciate you taking the time to read this.  If you made it this far then you are truly serious about having a good photographer at your event.  We really hope this helps you find that photographer!