Having worked as a corporate photographer in London for many years and having plenty of experience at working in a corporate photo agency I thought it would be interesting to look at the pros and cons for clients commissioning both.
Availability. As a freelance corporate photographer, there is nothing as frustrating as when one of your clients want to commission you on a certain date and you already have that date booked in for another client. I would scratch my head when I had empty days during the week and often had to turn work down on days I was already booked. When this happened it meant the client could not get their first choice photographer and they would have to go in search of a replacement photographer who would be new to the client and therefore not up to speed with the client’s requirements. A photo agency has benefits here as they have more than one corporate photographer to assign to commissions and will have specialist photographers available. For instance, if a client has a large London event and they require more than one corporate event photographer along with video coverage etc then a coordinated agency can provide this which makes the process easier for the client.
Pricing. Independent corporate photographers can build a reputation and charge the market rate or a premium rate if they have a popular creative style that is difficult to replicate. A photo agency can have a good reputation with a loyal client base but will have to price their services so they are compatible with what the market will pay.
Quality. From both photographic services you will expect high quality as the client will soon go elsewhere if it is not delivered. Interesting point as if the client changes photographers for whatever reason then the responsibility for checking quality and consistency with the new photographer rests with the client. If an agency sends a different photographer on a commission then the responsibility for quality and consistency rests with the agency rather than the end client.
Post-production and delivery. Clients would benefit here from using a corporate photo agency as usually they would have in house post-production and therefore whilst a freelance photographer would need to fit post-production in between their daily commissions the agency can concentrate on post-production whilst their photographers are freed up to undertake commissions. The agency’s editor can undertake the quotations, travel arrangements, post-production, invoicing and delivery which allows their photographers to focus fully on their photography.
© Corporate Photography London 2019
