Hiring a Professional Farm Photographer
Why invest in professional photography for your farm?
In the age of email newsletters, social media, and online ordering, digital photos have become a must-have asset for small farms in marketing directly to consumers. Having a beautiful library of high-resolution, professional photos is infinitely valuable — it means there's always an authentic, compelling photo on hand for your farm website, labeling your products, illustrating your CSA mailers, running an online ad, capturing the interest of more customers on social media, or creating an eye-catching banner for your market booth.
Outstanding photos are more likely to be interacted with, shared, and circulated on social media, automatically growing your farm’s reach. When a restaurant customer or news outlet wants to feature your farm, it sure is nice to have a go-to photo to provide. Like commissioning a new farm website, professional photography can often be financed through grants relating to technical assistance and business development.
Hiring an experienced professional photographer can be a fantastic investment and a wonderful way to capture the beauty of your work in full detail, show yourself in your element, and even sneak in a few family photos, too!
How to Find a Farm Photographer
Ask around! Chances are a member of your growers’ organization, farmers market, or an extension agent can connect you with a photographer who has delivered great work to another farm business in the past.
Investigate. Does another local business have photos you like? What about farmer portraits in your local co-op? Find a local photo project you like and then find out who took it. Photographers who work for your local newspaper are a great place to start—they’re at the top of their game and would most likely welcome a little extra work on the side.
Google is your friend… But be prepared to wade through a lot of wedding photographer websites! What you are really looking for is a local documentary, editorial, or photojournalistic photographer.
We’ve started to compile a national database of dedicated farm and ag photographers. Get in in touch if you’d like help finding a farm photographer, or if you’d like to be added to our list!
The Process
Once you’ve found a farm photographer you’d like to talk to, give them a call or send an email to initiate contact. From there, you’ll want to figure out some more details on your own:
What’s my budget?
Pricing will vary by region, but a professional photographer can charge anywhere from $400 - $1,600 for a two-hour session that includes a license to use the digital files. Having a budget in mind will make planning the photography and negotiating a final price for services quicker and more transparent for both parties.
How long should this take?
How much time are you able to devote to showing a photographer around your farm? How hard will it be to coordinate your whole family for a picture? What are the best times of day to photograph the action around your fields and crew? Photographers will charge more for multiple locations, like if you want photos at an off-farm market too.
What photos do I need the most?
If your budget is limited but you know you need a solid family photo, for example, prioritize what you can. Even if you think it will be out of budget, let your photographer know what else you’d really like to have documented. You never know—maybe they’ve never seen a potato harvest and will be able to pitch a story on it to a magazine and make a little money back that way.
Get it in writing.
Whenever possible, communicate about the details of your photography needs and plans via email. This way there will always be a written, searchable record of what you discussed in terms of price and timing, as well as an easy way to refresh your memory when you need to. This can also serve as a good record going forward--if you choose to hire the same photographer again in another year, you’ll be able to refer back and think about how everything worked out. Of course, before you pay any deposits, you’ll want to sign a contract, too.
Questions to Ask the Photographer
Is your business insured?
This is potentially the most important question you can ask. A legitimate professional photographer will have business insurance that not only protects both the photographer and their farm clients from liability, but also ensures that they’ll be able to make your shoot date with working equipment, even if their gear bag got soaked or stolen at their previous shoot. Your photographer may be working around animals, equipment, and certainly weather. You don’t want to end up on the hook for medical or equipment damages in the worst case scenario.
How will you deliver files?
An online transfer like Dropbox or Google Drive may work for some businesses, but beware: If you don’t move the photo files from the photographer’s account into your own, you’ll lose access if the photographer eventually deletes your files to make room for others. Online transfers are also dependent on reliable, high-speed internet, a utility still lacking in many rural areas where farmers live. If possible, make sure your photographer can hand over your files on a thumb drive. That way you’ll always have a backup hard copy, and you’ll be able to access them regardless of whether or not the internet is down.
What are the limits to how I can use my farm photos?
As the creator of the photos, your photographer will retain the copyright to the photos they make of your farm. You’ll receive a commercial license from the photographer granting you use of the photos for business and personal purposes. (Make sure this is in the contract!) Your photographer should be able to tell you exactly what the terms of the photo license for your images are. For example, some photographers may require an extra fee to actually license the photos on top of payment for the shoot day. This is when you’ll find that out. Ask to see the license before you sign the contract.
It’s also worth establishing whether your farm photographer will require you to use a watermarked image for web use, and what that watermark looks like.
How should I credit you on social media?
Let your photographer know how you plan to use your photos, whether it’s on your farm website, in print or trade shows, for banners, etc. If you want to post them to your social media accounts, ask the photographer what their handles are so that you can tag them. The photographer will be glad to know that you understand when to give photo credit, and will be more motivated to give your their best work, knowing it will be so publicly displayed.
I love this photo. Can you do that?
If you have specific ideas about photography in your head already, please let your photographer know! Give links to examples of work you like when possible, and be clear about what you expect to receive in terms of photos. If you’re looking at a photo from another farm you love, but it turns out to be a staged, professionally-lit shot, your photographer won’t be able to produce that for you unless they know ahead of time.
If your farm photographer doesn’t have a quick answer to these questions, they may not be running a legitimate business and likely is not the most experienced candidate to trust with your hard-earned budget.
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