Insuring Gear is Different When You’re a Professional
I photographed this roseate spoonbill a few different ways since he was fairly stationary with plenty of distance between the bird and the background. This allowed me to photograph with negative space to the right, as well as with negative space to the left, and a vertical. Leaving some negative space provides flexibility for editors and buyers; they can place copy over the space, crop the photo to their specific use, and play around a bit with placement. Photo and story by: Annalise Kaylor
So, what do you do?” asked my new doctor.
“I’m a wildlife photographer,” I replied, knowing exactly what was going to come next.
“Like, for National Geographic?!”
And… there it is. The often-asked question immediately after I disclose my occupation.
Who amongst us didn’t at one time imagine ourselves out in the world on some killer and badass assignment on behalf of National Geographic? Many times over, I pictured myself in myriad scenarios - using a machete to slice through the dense flora of the Brazilian Amazon looking for a frog thought to be extinct or sweating under a gillie suit for hours upon hours waiting to capture that precise moment when the predator wraps her powerful mouth around her prey.
As humans, we are pre-wired to fantasize about the outcomes and the end goals, and the dream of being a wildlife photographer is no exception. But, I bet not even one of us ever fantasized about which RAID system to buy or what keywords would put our images on the first page of stock agency searches.
Truth be told, a lot of the parts of being a wildlife photographer aren’t nearly as badass as other people think they are. During our recent “Ask Us Anything” live event (which is part of our mentorship program), one of our members, Bob (hi, Bob!), asked us what we wish we would have known when we were first starting out. While Jared and I had some different answers, we both had one part of our answer in common - that anyone we know who has been successful in this business has been successful largely because they treat their photography like a business.
It’s not sexy or exciting, and it is nothing that aspiring photographers (or any entrepreneurs in any field, for that matter) fantasize about. But it is a reality that comes with the dream. If you want to make your business work, you have to work your business.
I tend to write about some of the unsexy parts of the business of wildlife photography not because I want you to feel overwhelmed, but because these are some of the most important parts of your business and they are all too easy to ignore when they aren’t an assignment to look for a frog that is thought to be extinct in the Brazilian rainforest.
It is in that spirit that I’m writing you about gear insurance. B.O.R.I.N.G. I know.
If you spend any time around other photographers, then you’ve been part of a “gear talk” whether you know it or not. We simply LOVE talking about our gear.
Photographers and gear are a true paradox. We are the first to tell other photographers that they need to try “insert the trend of the day here” piece of gear if they want incredible photos, but we’re also the first to balk when someone says, “Your camera sure takes nice photos!” Admit it, you’ve at least once had to say, “Well, I’d like to think that as the person behind the camera, I had something to do with that photo…”
One thing we do not talk about enough, however, is the importance of insuring our gear. I was actually inspired to write this piece because of what recently happened to a photographer I know. We’ll call her, “Susan.”
Susan was out on a photography trip to Alaska. She was in a boat, seeing all the incredible wildlife, and having the time of her life. She changed lenses, as she has thousands of times, and put her 400mm f/2.8 lens back on her fairly new Canon R5. In summary, she was using a setup that was about $16,000. Susan lost her footing on the boat as she repositioned and down into the ocean went her camera and lens, never to be seen again.
Though devastated, Susan thought, “Well, good thing I have them insured!”
When Susan got home, she filed a claim with her homeowner’s insurance, which, as a hobbyist, she had been told was just fine. The claims adjuster, however, had a different take on the matter. He looked online and found that Susan had a SmugMug site where people could buy prints. They saw that Susan had an Instagram account with a “link in bio” in the caption so people could click to buy a print of that photo. In the eyes of a claims adjuster, Susan was not a hobbyist. Susan had a business.
It didn’t matter that she only had the website to sell to her friends and family. It didn’t matter that she had sold less than $200 in prints. She was using her camera gear in a way that could and had generated income. Susan’s claim to her homeowners insurance was denied.
Don’t be a Susan.
Jared recalls another instance in which a former colleague of his, we’ll call him Frank, dropped a camera body and a lens into the salt water. Frank is a full-time working wildlife photographer and thought his insurance policy was enough. Frank started his insurance claim and checked “yes” next to the box that said it was salt water and not fresh water. Claim denied. His policy only covered freshwater loss or damage.
Don’t be a Frank.
Insurance isn’t a fun part of the business, but it is SUCH an important part of the business. If you’ve ever had to deal with insurance before, be it health insurance, auto insurance, homeowner’s insurance, or photo insurance, you know that it can and often will be a tremendous hassle. Few and far between are the people that pay any attention to the fine print of an insurance policy, and in most cases that lack of attention to detail means that the insurance company doesn’t end up paying out - or at least not the way the claimant hoped they would pay out.
So, what should you look for in your insurance policy? The smart mouth my mother tells me I was born with says, “everything,” but truly, you do need to look at everything.
There isn’t one policy to rule them all when it comes to your photo insurance. A photographer who is focused on selling prints isn’t going to need the same policy and coverage as a photographer who guides trips and leads workshops, for example.
There are some photo gear insurance basics that apply to virtually everyone, though, so I’ll cover them here. Keep in mind that this is intended as guide to get you started with your own insurance agent and not intended as legal advice (I know, I know, but I have to put that in there).
Homeowners Insurance May Not Be What You Think It Is
As illustrated with Susan’s story, homeowners insurance may or may not cover the scenarios you find yourself in as a photographer. Most homeowners policies will cover your gear if something happens to it while in your home, or even in your home state, but they may not necessarily cover your gear if you are in another country or state. Jared and I both know a handful of people who have learned this lesson the hard way.
Another drawback to homeowners insurance is that if you need to file a claim, this is a claim that will go against your homeowners policy, not a business or photo policy. There is some risk that multiple claims could cause an increase in your premiums.
Some homeowners policies only cover claims on your gear if they are damaged or lost in certain ways. If you’re unsure about what is and is not covered and under what circumstances, I highly recommend getting in touch with your agent and going over a line-by-line account of what is covered and what is excluded. Email is a great way to do this so you have a written record of their verbiage.
You can also inquire as to whether or not they can offer you a rider with your existing policy that gives you the best coverage for your circumstances. While specialty insurance agencies for photographers exist, many photographers find that adding a photo-specific policy with their current homeowner/auto/renters insurance is just as competitive rate-wise and easy to do.
Photography Insurance Through Association Groups
It used to be a bit of a struggle to find insurance policies that had the unique needs of photographers in mind. Now there are many options, including coverage through private insurance or through professional association membership.
In addition to the obvious gear like camera bodies and lenses, your gear insurance policy can and should also include coverage for all of your accessories, computer hardware, hard drives, and anything else that is necessary for producing your final work. When you start adding everything up, you may just be surprised at how much you’ve invested in your photo career thus far!
Photography associations have some of the most easily-obtained photo gear and liability policies. The two that stand out for wildlife photography are Professional Photographers of America (PPA) and North American Nature Photographers Association (NANPA). Like any other business associations, these two groups work with an underwriting firm to create policies for their members at a group rate. If you’re a member of either, it’s worth a look to compare their plans to those offered by other insurance companies.
PPA is the largest non-profit professional association of photographers in the world, with over 30,000 members in 50 countries. Thus, I’ll do an overview of their program works, but most associations run their insurance programs this way. NANPA’s program is similar, although they have a different underwriter.
Base-level equipment insurance with PPA is included with your membership right out of the gate. You join for about $300 per year and you are eligible for an automatic $15,000 of photographic equipment insurance from their PhotoCare program. You have to activate the gear insurance inside your account, but for many photographers who are embarking on their pro journey or who want to get instant coverage without scheduling out gear, this is a relatively easy way to do just that.
PPA also includes an “Indemnification Trust” policy as part of the membership fee, which is essentially the same as errors and omissions that I mentioned above, but it also comes with a data recovery plan where you can use their association partner to recover hard drives, cards, and other data storage devices for a deductible ranging from $100-400 per claim. You only pay the deductible if they recover the images for you.
Just a few months ago, PPA debuted a new membership level called “Full Plus” which is about $100 more annually but comes with an automatic general liability policy for anyone who makes under $125,000 per year.
PPA also has options to add more coverage to your plan if $15,000 is not enough. For this plan, and for the majority of privately insured plans, you’ll have to list all of the items, their serial numbers, and their purchase price on a schedule. They also include a smaller blanket coverage amount for anything you miss on the schedule, but it’s important to include every possible thing you could want coverage for and leave the blanket coverage area for the small things.
Perhaps one of the biggest changes to PPA’s insurance program is their shift to covering “replacement” value and not just “market” value. When I first joined PPA about a decade ago, they offered the same $15,000 worth of coverage, but it was like many insurance policies then and only offered the market value (depreciated value) if you filed a claim. There are few things that depreciate faster than cameras.
I watched a wedding photographer friend go through their claims process. A drunk wedding guest stumbled and spilled a nearly full bottle of champagne all over everything sitting open in her camera backpack, causing her then-new Canon 5DMKIII camera backup body inside the backpack to die. Though she had to replace it to the tune of $2800, the PPA insurance process gave her just $700 for it because of the “market value.” Ouch. Ouch ouch ouch.
Other associations out there were offering their members “replacement value” insurance for about the same cost or less than what a PPA membership cost. There were a lot of complaints to PPA, so PPA finally negotiated a better deal and started offering a better policy. Now if a situation like what happened to my friend occurred, she would get whatever price it takes to replace the cameras with a body of similar quality.
Using a Private Insurance Company
Both Jared and I use private insurance companies to cover our gear. Jared has his through The Hartford, as they cover all of his business insurance needs. I have my insurance through Hill & Usher (their Package Choice policy) because they gave me a competitive rate when I started my business and because I’ve (knock on wood) never made a claim, they’ve stayed affordable, despite the value of my gear climbing as the years went on.
Private insurance companies typically want you to schedule your gear and any equipment you want to be covered under the policy. If you don’t already have a spreadsheet or a list of all of your gear, serial numbers, and what you paid (or the replacement cost) for your camera gear, now is a good time to make one. They will want all of that information when you apply, and you’ll need it all again if you need to make a claim.
Terms to Understand and Questions to Ask
Whether you go with an association policy, your homeowners insurance with a rider, or a private policy to insure your gear, there are a handful of terms to know and questions you should ask. This isn’t all-encompassing, but it is designed to get you thinking about your specific needs and what might be most applicable to your business model.
Deductibles
Like every other type of insurance, photo insurance has deductibles that need to be met before the insurance companies will pay out on the loss. Typically, the lower your deductible, the higher your premium will be. One thing to look for with deductibles is whether or not it is per occurrence or per year, which can also raise or lower your annual premium.
Replacement Value vs. Market Value
As I described above, this can be a tricky concept for photographers. Make sure that your policy offers replacement value and not just market value. When your photography is a way that you make your living or any money at all, the last thing you need is a stumbling block to replacing your gear.
Mysterious Disappearance
Most of the insurance policies out there exclude instances they term “mysterious disappearances.” This is when you have a loss that you can’t fully explain with some proof behind it. For example, if you report an item as stolen from your car or home, but there were no signs of forced entry or burglary, nothing else was taken in the theft, and everything else around the situation appears to be normal. Different insurance companies have different language about mysterious disappearances, so it is well worth your time to look at those clauses closely.
I know it doesn’t sound likely that something like this would happen to you, but I know of two photographers who went through a situation like this. They were out taking photographs at a state park and put their gear in their trunk while they went out for a hike and a picnic. They came back and someone had picked the lock on their car and popped the trunk, then wandered off with their camera bags. Because there was no sign of forced entry and because it wasn’t caught on video camera, the insurance company denied their claims, even with a police report.
Coverage for Rental Gear and Rental Coverage (they’re different)
For professional photographers, this is a pretty important coverage item. Both Jared and I rent gear that we only use once or twice a year instead of buying it outright, especially if it is specialty gear that doesn’t need a permanent home in our collection. Most standard gear insurance policies do not include rental coverage unless you add it. You won’t find this in a homeowners policy, either. Rental houses usually offer an option to purchase coverage through them with your rental, which is a nice option if you are renting something expensive.
If you travel internationally, though, that rental house policy may not be enough (be sure to ask the company first). A lot of other photo-specific policies will only cover rented gear in your own country, as well. I travel internationally a fair bit, so I make sure that my policy covers any gear I rent for those trips, too. I pay about $60 a year extra for the international coverage, and for me, it’s a price I’m willing to pay to make sure that the 800mm lens I rent is covered whether or not I’m in the U.S.
You’ll also want to look at whether or not your policy covers the cost of renting replacement gear that you will need to have while you wait for your gear to be replaced in event of a loss. Professionals can’t afford interruptions of their work. Right now, there is a shortage of camera gear and a lot of delays in getting things replaced. Jared, for example, has been waiting for six months now for a lens that he ordered earlier this year. While he has lenses that work fine in the interim, six months of renting a lens for work would be more expensive than the lens replacement itself. The standard photo-specific policy includes $1000 toward covering the cost of rental gear while your replacement is on the way, but you can usually add more coverage if you prefer, as well.
Best Practices for Documenting Your Gear
Regardless of which insurance choice you make, you’ll need an up-to-date list of all of the higher-priced items you want on your policy. The insurance company may require it when you sign up and it is definitely going to be needed if you need to file a police report and make a claim. Your list should at a minimum include:
The item make and model
The serial number for each item
Where you bought it and what you paid for it
Notes of any identifiable markings for the police report
I personally keep a Google Spreadsheet of my gear list and I keep photos of my gear linked in a Google Doc. I like having a cloud-based option that’s accessible to me virtually anywhere. I also keep photos or PDF copies of my receipts in that same Google Doc. I also take a photo of my gear and case every time I travel. We check our gear because it is too big to carry on. I like to have a cell phone image of exactly what I packed for each trip. The metadata from the phone shows the date I took the photo, which is nice to have in case I need to prove a loss that occurred from that specific trip.
Though I haven’t yet needed it, I do know from hearing the stories of others that how fast the photographer can provide the necessary information often makes the difference between a replacement camera body being shipped that week or a few weeks later. It never hurts to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
Being a wildlife photographer is, to me, the best job in the world. As Jared and I often joke, self-employed people and entrepreneurs are the only people in the world who will work 80-hour weeks for themselves in order to avoid working 40-hour weeks for someone else. Working with the unglamorous sides to the business, like insurance, are cumbersome and tedious, but they allow all of us wildlife photographers to be out in the field, working and enjoying wildlife, with the peace of mind that we’ve protected our ability to make our living doing that for years to come.