In this final installment of our four-part interview series, we wrap up our conversation with Todd Bigelow—professional photographer, photography business instructor, and respected industry expert. With years of experience leading workshops throughout North America, Todd has helped photographers navigate the business side of their craft. He is also the author of a must-read book on photography business essentials, available here. Don’t miss this engaging, edited discussion!
The following is a transcript of an interview conducted by Betty of Cradoc fotoSoftware in February 2025. To watch this and other interviews, visit the Cradoc fotoSoftware YouTube Channel.
Photography Business Advice for Beginners: Tips from a Pro
What photography business advice do you have for beginners?
I always want to be supportive and encouraging, so I usually am that irritating person that asks questions back before they give answers. That’s kind of Journalism 101 anyways.
I have a wonderful, successful, hardworking, young son. Sometimes when he’s asking me things and I’m asking back, I can start to hear the frustration like, just give me an answer! But what I also know, because I know him better than anybody in the world, is that with a few extra questions, there’s more information that comes out that is absolutely significant.
So to answer your question, when people come to me and say, hey, I want to be a freelancer or, they come to the workshop and they say, “what do I really need to know?”, I ask them of their current situation. Basically, are you independent? Do you have a full time job now? Do you want to do this full time? And that’s a big difference in how it used to be and how it is now. There are a number of photographers that consider themselves professionals and they come and they show me work, and whether it’s consulting on Zoom, they’re good. But they’re also very happy in making any income, outside of photography and then pursuing their endeavors, which changes how to approach freelancing.
So if it’s not necessary to make your rent as a freelancer, a lot of them are perfectly fine with either going on the super low-end of the scale for what they should be charging, which can impact the rest of us and does, or not charging at all, which I have many people say, well, I don’t really need to charge, so I’d rather do it for free. Now, that destroys the business model for the rest of us, but I can’t do anything about that.
So I ask those questions to anybody that’s interested in going into freelancing, and depending on their answers, I take them in that direction. If they want to be a full time freelancer, I ask them if they have clients now or are they just stepping out and hoping to just build a website and wait for people to come in? And, oftentimes, that’s what they do, and they need to take it to another level and be very aggressive in their pursuit of clients. And if they’re on the other side, where perhaps they’re already making money, maybe they work at Costco and they earn a decent living, twenty-four, thirty hours a week or something, then I would encourage them to really be aware of if they want to go full time at some point to not value themselves at a very low level because they don’t think they need to, because they have other income, because that can go back to bite you later.
For me, it’s really, really important to tell freelancers that you have to have an understanding of where the market is. And I do provide that in the workshop, and I rely on Cradoc for a lot of the research on pricing. But I also share from personal experiences what clients will pay so that if a new freelancer gets a call that they don’t value themselves so low that they may pick up some work but they’re never going to be able to sustain themselves financially.
They’re just not making enough money to pay the rent or anything.
Something I also mentioned to photographers, is if somebody says, let me just ask you just off the top of your head what would your fee be? And to which point I say, well, I always want to give you the fairest and most realistic estimate, so why don’t you email me exactly what you’re looking for, and I promise to respond. And I usually respond with a very professional quote, which I do through using the fotoQuote software. That way it’s in writing. I do it quickly, it’s not difficult to do. It eliminates any potential issues later for, “I thought that when you did this, it would include this.”
And this kind of goes back to your other question: What are some of the questions you get in your workshop? In assignment work, especially in the editorial world, the fee is often contingent upon not just one factor, but how long it’s going to take for you to go out and do the shoot, which is something that’s really funny because a thirty-minute shoot should not be any less valuable than a three-hour shoot. Because if I can do that shoot in thirty minutes, it’s because I’ve attained the skillset to come in and do that shoot in thirty minutes in a professional way and deliver that to you.
Photography Rights for Beginners: What You Need to Know
Aside from the actual shooting portion, there is the rights portion. You want to be careful about just saying, “ I’ll shoot that, it should only be $500.” And then it turns out they say, great, I’ll send you over the contract. And it’s a $500 shoot. But now they own your copyright, because you didn’t even think about telling them, well, I retain the copyright. So be very careful.
Licensing is one of those things that we keep: licensing and rights. It is one of those things I get so many questions about. What if a client wants to buy out? They want exclusive rights and those types of things. This is your work. This is your professional work. You need to ensure that you retain the copyright. Or if somebody wants to do a buyout, they’re paying you not just for a file, but for the fact that that file no longer exists for anybody else. How are they going to use it? So all of these things are such important things when thinking about how to price. You know, just going, that’ll be $500 is not really considering that your work has value.
And if I might add to that, it has value, and the client knows it has value. So I’ve heard every manner of excuse for why they want to take a copyright or take all rights. And when I do raise it, with whoever I’m dealing with, and I know anybody who’s listening to this and watching this is going to laugh and say, oh, this has happened,they’re going to tell you it doesn’t really matter. We don’t really need them. It’s just wording in the contract. Well, then take it out, which they generally don’t want to do because they know it has value. If it didn’t have value, they wouldn’t be asking for it.
And if they’ve been around for any period of time, the push for work-for-hire, owning your copyright, perpetual rights has just been in the last fifteen years, as platforms have exploded in the digital world, and publications now can place those images in many, many different places. But a lot of clients and editors and director of photographers know that it’s always been when you’re dealing with photographers that they retain the rights and that if they want to come back and use something, they’re absolutely welcome to; they just pay a supplemental fee. It’s a licensing fee. It’s what they do all the time when they go to Getty and Alamy and Shutterstock.
They know what it’s about. But, you know, the old saying, if you can get the cow for free, why would you pay for the milk? So try to keep that in mind, because as a freelancer, it’s really important to run our business so that we can earn income throughout our lifetime. It’s necessary in our world. It’s important. And the image, the license tracking is such a valuable part of the software that I love because every time I would track and put in that the license was going to expire, and then I’m going to get a notification. I had an image from my immigration work from years ago that was being licensed, multiple images actually, from the Oakland Center of Photography, where Dorothea Lange’s archive is actually located. And they were doing a permanent exhibition for quite some time and they kept relicensing my images to be included, two images from the border. And it was great. And every time, it was a very fair, simple negotiation. Nobody’s getting rich, anybody who thinks you’re charging $50,000 each time a gallery wants to put them up for six months or something, obviously you’re not aware of what the fee structure is.
But over time, altogether, those dollar licenses add up and by being aware of when they expire, I would always just reach back out to them about a month in advance and just remind them. And then it’s oh great. You know what? We want to keep it in. Can you send us a quote for continued use? And I would usually discount it a little bit each time as a sign of loyalty. And it’s a great, great tool and one that we all need. And the way I address it with some of my students is that holding on to your rights has two components that are very, very important to me. One is I I need to help provide income for my family.
Of course, that’s paramount. But second is, a lot of the work that I do is important to me. It has social context. There’s subjects in there that respectfully gave me their time to come in and document their lives. And to just hand those rights off means I have no control over how those images are used. That part is equally as important to me as the income. I want to make sure that those who do license my work are doing so in a manner that reflects how my images were set to be seen and how I shot them. And quite frankly, I’ve had a lot of my work has been stolen and used without authorization, and I’ve been a very big proponent for holding on to your copyright, registering your copyright with the United States Copyright Office. I do pursue those that use my work without authorization. Along the border, which I’ve shot at since the early nineties, I’ve had several congresspeople, presidential candidates use my work without authorization. And I do go after them, one, because they didn’t request use, and two, because they’re twisting it to use in a way that is not only inaccurate, a false narrative, it’s just being used to serve their personal interest. And that really does not sit well with me, so I go after them for that. So how your work is used is determined by if you hold on to the rights to determine how your work is used. That’s what the copyright law is for.
Want more photography business advice for beginners-friendly advice? Check out our blog on pricing your work and explore this post for additional tips and insights.
About Todd Bigelow
Todd Bigelow, a contributing photographer with Contact Press Images, specializes in creating powerful still photography and multimedia content for top publications, nonprofits, foundations, and corporations worldwide. Their work has been featured in Sports Illustrated, TIME, The New York Times Magazine, ESPN, Smithsonian, Der Spiegel, and more. Independent projects and collaborations through Contact Press Images have also been licensed by major outlets such as Vox, Politico, NBC News, and The New York Times Magazine.
With extensive experience in researching and developing compelling visual narratives, Todd has worked with leading media organizations, including TIME, Politico, NBC News, the LA Times, and Public Radio International. They also collaborate with mission-driven nonprofits and foundations—such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, AARP, and the Irvine Foundation—to produce impactful imagery that highlights critical social issues.
Todd is the author of The Freelance Photographer’s Guide to Success: Business Essentials (Focal Press/Routledge, 2021), offering valuable insights for photographers looking to build a successful freelance career.
Website: Todd Bigelow Photography
Instagram: @tbfreelance
Facebook: Todd Bigelow
LinkedIn: Todd Bigelow
Twitter (X): @ToddBigPhoto
Book: The Freelance Photographer’s Guide to Success
Business of Photography Workshop
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