Thomas E. Witte has been a full time freelance photographer based in the Greater Cincinnati area and Midwest for the past ten years.

His clients range from Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine to Business Week and AP’s commercial division. Thomas comes from a heavy photojournalism background, being schooled in the Ohio University School of Visual Communications and dual majoring in the Department of Psychology. The marriage of the two degrees has surreptitiously helped with relaxing subjects and allowing them to open up and allow him to photograph them in a variety of situations. To view his website, go here.

As more and more layoffs around the country are announced, I’ve been increasingly asked for advice on how to start out and succeed at freelancing. It’s a logical segue right out of the gate because for the most part it’s mainly editorial and they’ll be in their comfort zone before moving on to other arenas of photography.  The first thing out of my mouth every time is that you have GOT to be patient in every single facet of the business.

Wide receiver Chad Johnson of the Cincinnati Bengals can’t hold on to the ball during the first week of NFL action September 11, 2005 at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. The Bengals beat the Browns 27-13. (Thomas E. Witte/Sports Illustrated)

If you want the bullet points, skip way to the end.  If you want the logic behind the bullet points, keep reading.

The first problem is that most people have been living with company gear for so long, that their own gear is either extremely limited or even antiquated. The biggest mistake I’ve seen a few people do, was to go out and buy everything they’d ever need right out of the gate. Two or three bodies, lenses ranging from 15mm to 400mm, strobes, cases, laptops…  Do NOT DO THIS unless you’re just so stinkin’ loaded you aren’t going to miss $30,000.   Sure it’s nice to have all that shiny new gear, and everything you need within arms reach, but think about the monthly payments on that kind of loan.  Even on a 0% credit card, your looking at about $600 a month (of course considering the credit reform currently occurring, you may not even be able to get that kind of limit in the first place).   Depending on your financial status that’s either doable or staggering (but there are caveats to this which I’ll get in to later).  I strongly advise everyone to buy only what they need as they go.  The perfect starter kit is a body, wide zoom (17-35), mid-range zoom (70-210) and a speed light.

The reason for such a small kit is because you’ll very likely be shooting some pretty basic stuff in the beginning.  Back when I started in high school (1993) most of what I was doing was newspaper freelance, which meant a lot of community meetings, features, spots news and lifestyle stuff…  You know, what newspapers normally cover.  However with the current financial state of the industry, I can’t say that this is the same cash cow as it used to be.

Even if you are fortunate enough to jump directly in to the magazine arena, these initial guidelines are still your best bet because EVERY magazine uses portraits in every issue.  Be it Business Week, Newsweek, or Sports Illustrated, they all run a lot of portraits, so you’re going to want to be prepared for that first and foremost.  I had every intention of shooting sports for a living but the fact is that of the first 50 magazine assignments I had, 47 were portraits or news.   As you can see, even though I wanted to be a sports photographer, it was pointless to have a 400mm, let alone the 600mm I also had.  So again, buy only what you really need and rent the rest.  If you start renting something repeatedly, then consider purchasing. After that, your first big purchases should be a second body or a portable light kit.

Elder High School returning Seniors.  Kicker Anthony Miliano, tight end Alex Welch, quarterback Mark Miller, wide reciever Tim O’Connor and linebacker Corey Mason.  (Thomas E. Witte/GO)

The second problem is drumming up work in the first place because even if you are a phenomenal photographer, you aren’t going to be shooting every day for a while.  The work is going to trickle in A: your name is really out there and B: they trust you enough.  To boot, you can’t just stop at meeting one editor at one magazine; you need to get your name to EVERY editor at that magazine as well as their assistants.  I’ll keep using Sports Illustrated as my example since this was my dream gig – they had about a dozen editors back when I started meeting with them, each in charge of a specific sport or section.  Since I’m mainly a football shooter I met with the NFL and college football editors first, but I needed to meet with the MLB, NBA and NHL editors in case they needed a portrait in my area.

Point being, aggressively get your name and work in front of as many eyes as you can.

Problem three is losing sight of the big picture concerning contracts when people start hiring you.  Some people may become desperate to get any work and just sign it.  Some are blinded by how “high profile” the client is.  Some just don’t think about reading it at all because it’s intimidating.  Please – if you take anything away from this article, it’s that you promise to read through everything before signing anything.

Ultimately it’s your business and you’re decisions, but I personally will not sign any contract that stipulates I surrender the rights to ANY of my photos.  Some ask for rights to what you submit, some ask for the entire take and some don’t ask for anything.  Don’t be afraid to do what I do and just cross out the offending paragraph with a black sharpie (and put your initials next to it) because a lot of times they’ll agree to it, and the other times they’ll just negotiate it with you.  What you actually want to do, is alter the wording of that paragraph to state you will retain the copyright.  If you completely eliminate it, then you don’t specify who retains it.

Why are copyrights so important that I’d risk losing a client/job over retaining them?  For the same reasons the client usually wants them; because they’re a potential gold mine.  I stress “potential”.  Will there ever be a demand for images I have of an insurance company CEO?

Maybe not.  But what if the portrait is so nice that the company wants to use it for advertising?  Would you rather have the $45,000 licensing fee for that or do you want your client to have it?

But all of that is moot if you don’t cross out any clauses stating that you can not license the images (even after crossing out the copyright clauses) to any third parties.  You might have agreed to keep the rights, but if you said you weren’t going to license the photos to anyone, your copyrights are worthless.

Embargoes are a nice middle ground.  They allow you to do whatever you like with the photos after a set amount of time.  This is mainly meant to keep you from selling photos to a competitor before the original client gets to run the photos.  For example ESPN Magazine is biweekly while Sports Illustrated is weekly.  So if shoot something for ESPN, they don’t mind if I sell the photo to SI, but only after ESPN’s issue has hit the newsstands.  Typically the embargo is 7 days from it’s first printing but this can vary.

INDEMNITY!  Make sure you aren’t agreeing to pay for any legal fees arising from any potential lawsuits (libel for example).

If you ever need help understanding a contract consult an attorney.

Bobby Martin of Colonel White High School in Dayton, Ohio talks with his coach on the sideline during warmups prior to Saturday nights game against Belmont High School. (Thomas E. Witte/GO)

Problem four links back to problem one, and that is when it comes to getting paid.  When you do start getting your assignments, it’s going to take right around 21-30 days from invoicing to get paid, and that’s once you’re in the system.  The editors are given a budget to work with but don’t always know about the nuances of the accounting departments.  The main one being that no payment can be issued to you until you fill out the proper tax forms and usually a vendor form. Without doing so, you can run in to delays up to 90 days to get paid. Now, thinking back to my second paragraph, if you took out a business loan to buy all of this gear, you’re going to have monthly payments. How are you going to make monthly payments when you aren’t being paid until 2-3 months after invoicing, when it took you 1-4 months to get that first assignment?  See the problem now?

The best thing to do to avoid this with new clients, is to send in a W9 tax form with your first invoice and ask if you need to fill out a vendor form.  Doing so will actually accelerate your first payment because when an accountant sees the VF and W9 they’ll immediately load you in to the system and usually process your invoice since it’s attached.

On top of getting paid more expeditiously, you’re not going to be sending late notices or anything to the assignment editor when it’s an accounting issue.  If you keep pestering them about a problem with another department, you can accidentally blacklist yourself.  Editors are very busy people and they’re looking for great shooters who are low maintenance.  If they come in to work every day to a new late invoice or voicemail, you’re going to shoot yourself in both feet.

This bleeds in to problem five, which is that you need to be professional at all times…  Even when you’re goofing off.   You would be SHOCKED at how damaging one idiotic comment in the heat of passion on a public forum can be towards your career.  I know for a fact that several of the photographers and photo editors at Sports Illustrated pay attention to the popular website Sportsshooter.com.  I also know of dozens of people who have ruined any chances of ever working for them by being childish on the forum.  Some of these people are actually fairly decent shooters too, but because of their actions, they became labeled as problem children.  Does every editor read every thread?  No of course not.  But even if one does, there is a solid chance they’ll mention it to someone else.  I’ve actually overheard someone mention a thread to someone else once, the other editor read the thread, then fired back with a “wow, that guy is clueless”.  Do you want to be that person?  Of course not, nobody does.

Thanks to networking sites like Facebook bringing everyone together, I advise being careful on there as well.  You’ve seen stories on the news of people being fired over content on their facebook pages – well the same applies to independent contractors as well.  I see a lot of my photographer friends posting images of them out partying (because photographers are very lively and fun people afterall) or posting status updates that are a little risqué. Well, what might be a funny status to you about hybrid cars, may be insulting to an editor who is passionate about their Prius or Tesla.

Now I’m not in any way shape or form saying that you should avoid ever posting anything in public.  I’m just saying you need to be cognizant that despite what you think, a LOT of people may be watching.

Running back Reggie Bush #25 and wide receiver Marques Colston #12 of the New Orleans Saints wait to take the field against the Tennessee Titans at the Louisiana Superdome September 24, 2007 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Titans defeated the Saints 31-14. (Photo by Thomas E. Witte/GO)

So to recap;

- Buy what you need when you need it.  Avoid gear envy and keep your initial expenses low.

- Portraits are going to be your bread and butter.  Learn to shoot them. Learn to love them.

- Ergo, consider a decent portable light kit.

- You need to get your name out to as many editors as possible.

- Once you meet those editors, stay in their good graces by always being professional.

- Always be professional. (Must be said twice.)

- Read your contracts and don’t be afraid to make changes to them.

- With new clients, always send a W9 and any required paperwork with your first invoice.

- For problems with billing, hassle accounts payable, not the editor.

- When someone calls you for an assignment, be sure you squeeze in a “thank you for the assignment” during the call.

- After getting you work in (ahead of deadline) let them know the work is in, and thank them again.

- Behave in public photographer forums and in real life at workshops, seminars and conventions.

If you’re read through this and thought “Holy cow, he makes it sound impossible”, I assure you I’m not.  It will be a lot of hard work and sacrifice, but in the end, it’s one of the greatest jobs in the world…  If you’re willing to work at it.