Written in collaboration with Bethany Nauert
Interior photography is not just about photographing homes for interior designers! It can take you to work in many other commercial photo projects with clients such as large home product brands, home service brands, lifestyle brands, or just about any large campaign client that may be photographed in a built space.
Many commercial photographers, especially ones who work with large brands and campaigns, are represented by an agency. But should you be looking for an agent to rep you as an interior photographer? Agencies represent all sorts of commercial photographers, including interior photographers, lifestyle photographers, product photographers, food photographers, and just about any other commercial niche.
So once you think you want to take that step, how do you find an agent to rep you as an interior photographer?
Los Angeles based commercial photographer Bethany Nauert shares with us the ins and outs of working with an agency, and she opens up about how she went about finding her current agency rep. Bethany has worked with hospitality, product, and interior brands such as Sofitel Hotels, Netflix, Amazon Home, Tastemade, Hilton, DIY Network, Badgley Mischka Home, Dunn Edwards, and many more.
Let's see what Bethany has to share with us!
What Is A Photography Agent and What Does It Mean To Be Represented?
A photography agent is a person or group of people that spearhead your incoming clients and that advocate for you as a business handler. A good agent will bid on jobs for you, know when to ask for money, realize when you’re in need of more support team-wise, deal with all the money transactions and essentially handle all pre production questions. This lets you be the creative that you are.
A strong agency will have great relationships with commercial contacts, editors, art directors and advertising leads. They will put your name and work in front of them when these contacts come to your agent asking “hey do you have a photographer who may be a good fit for …?”
An agent will enroll you in artist databases, art directors rosters and get your name submitted for licensing and syndication opportunities.
Most agencies will take charge of 100% of your existing clientele and handle all bookings from that point forward, including new inquiries. This is often a great way to allow for more time being the photographer and concentrating on the job itself, rather than doing job bids, chasing after people to get paid, or worrying about contracts. Your rep will handle all of this if they are an “all in” agency. This can be a perfect solution for some of us who want to focus purely on doing photography, and not on the business side of things.
Some agencies, though, will allow you to keep existing clients for yourself and will only represent you on the jobs that you choose to have them handle for you. This allows you to keep your relationships as is with people you've worked with for years, but also puts all the burden of any kind of conflict all on you.
With different types of representation, it's important to know what you are looking for in an agency, should you choose to find representation.
What Percentage of Your Income Does an Agency Take?
In my personal experience and research, most agencies will take 20-25% of your day rate on each job.
I’m sure one of your biggest concerns may be that they’ll take this percentage off of what you’re already charging. If you have a good agent that really knows the business, they’ll help you establish a bigger rate and account for the agency fee. And they’ll know how to do this according to industry practice and standards.
How Does An Agency Build An Estimate?
My agency will build a day rate, which is only the cost to have me “show up and do the work”.
From there, they will often add in
- location scouting fees,
- travel fees,
- incidentals for food, mileage and gas,
- gear use,
- equipment rentals and
- any assistants hired to help on the job.
In the past I would offer hourly rates. I would do half days. I would try to pay assistants and rentals out of flat rate…sometimes eating into my own time and cost.
Now I know how to build an estimate by seeing how my agency does it.
- Day rate to shoot
- Prep time / tech scout / travel fees - this is usually 50%-75% of the shoot day rate
- Subtract agency fee here
- Digital tech day rate
- Lighting assistant day rate
- Gear rental. YES YOU SHOULD BE CHARGING FOR YOUR CAMERA.
- Equipment rental.
- Transportation,
- Mileage
- meals/ incidentals
- Travel job costs like hotels, parking, Uber/Lyft etc
- Retouching rate/ time- Figure out a final number of images you’re willing to cover within the cost of the shoot and charge for the time to retouch.
An Agent May Not Be Right For You
While all of this is wonderful, it's also worth noting that being represented as a photographer is not for everyone. An agent may not be right for you if...
- You want 100% control of all your jobs.
- If you don’t need a manager or anyone to represent you as a professional photographer.
- If you feel that you’re doing great work on your own and don’t need help growing your client list.
- If you’re not willing to surrender an agency commission to anyone for helping you with contracts, client inquiries, pricing etc.
- The clients you want to work with are not ones who typically go through an agency to hire.
** One of the biggest misconceptions about getting a rep is that you’ll magically double your income and have a ton of new clients banging down your door right away.. It’s not like that. Like any good relationship, joining an agency and partnering with a rep takes a lot of time, trust and vulnerability. You have to establish your boundaries and future goals early on, and then work toward them together.
How Do You Know If You're Ready To Start Looking For An Agent?
Most agencies want to see what you’ve accomplished so far in your career without a rep! They want to know you’re serious about your career, have good relationships with clients and a strong body of work online.
You’ll know you’re ready for an agent when:
- you’re ready to have extra support in growing your client list.
- you want to take on more commercial and editorial clients.
- you’re looking for help with reaching agencies, advertising firms and art directors.
- you feel like you can no longer grow as a professional without the extra support.
If this sounds like you, then your next step is to put together what you need to have ready when you do reach out to an agency about representation.
What Do You Need When You Are Looking For An Agency?
When you're ready to find representation, there are a few things to prepare before reaching out. Having these items all ready to go will not only make you look more professional, but it will also make their job easier!
- A strong refined body of work that really showcases your style, skills and client base.
- A website and subsequent social media platforms. Many people don’t want to use Instagram to push their work and I think this is a colossal mistake. We are in a time of babies being born with devices in their hands, and everyone has some sort of identity online. When I hear about a brand or a company, 90% of what I find out about them is on Instagram or, if I heard about them elsewhere, the first place I go look at their work is on Instagram. Then I go their actual website.
- LinkedIn... maybe. I say maybe because I’m not sure that many people look on LinkedIn, but I somehow feel agencies and associates will connect through there. It’s like a more old fashioned way to look at a resume.
- Speaking of a resume… I haven’t had one in YEARS. Just a current website that I maintain weekly/monthly with updated polished imagery. No need to bother putting together a resume for this.
- MOST IMPORTANTLY… a strong cover letter or intro email tailored to each agency you want to approach and a current ‘press kit’ or line sheet containing 3-10 strong images.
How To Decide What Agency Is a Good Fit For You
Before reaching out to anyone, you need to find the agencies that feel like a potential fit for you. Don't rush through this part because not all agencies are for every photographer, and whether you are a good fit or not can make or break that first email's response.
- Research them all. Seriously! Each agency has its own personality and specialties, so take your time researching as much as possible.
- Also, this is how I found so many, I would often love a photographers work and go see their website and if they listed their rep/ agency I’d look into them. Then I built a database of the ones that seemed relevant to my goals and area of expertise.
- If you shoot interiors you don’t want to approach an agency that only represents fashion or food. Look at their portfolio to see what niches are repped.
- When looking at the agency's website, pay attention to the clients they've worked with. Do they align with the clients you want to work with, too?
How to Approach An Agency to Inquire About Representation
I'm sharing below what email worked to start a conversation with my current agency rep, but here are a few things to keep in mind when you craft your own email:
- Whatever you do, don’t spam reps with mass emails that have no personal effect. Take your time to research and really personalize your approach. Trust me, they will know the difference.
- Personalized each email to the appropriate reps and give a brief one to two paragraph email introducing yourself.
- Don’t just attach a website, go the extra mile and attach a promo PDF or some sort.
Below is my intro email to my current agency. This email is what that got their attention and got me in a conversation with them about representation. I not only included a brief synopsis about who I was, I linked my website and put a promo PDF inside as an attachment.
WHAT TO EXPECT NEXT
In my experience if an agency is interested they’ll respond fairly quickly and ask for a meeting or a call. This is why the intro email is so crucial when you're reaching out to an agent.
When they reply, be prepared to talk about your past experience, what you expect and hope for in an agent, what your career goals and focus are. A good agency will discuss your current rates, portfolio, promo pieces and clients… and offer some info about how they plan to mentor and facilitate growth in your business. Most agencies will ask for at least 3-6 months to get you integrated as they build upon a relationship and get your work/ portfolio in front of their existing clients.
If the agent writes you back and tells you to keep in touch and keep updating them with new work in the near future, this means that they think you’re not quite there yet…but have strong potential. Keep in touch with them, but don’t spam their inbox. Reaching out intentionally and with quality updates is the best way to stay in touch.
If the agency is not interested you may not hear anything or you’ll get a polite email that explains their roster is full or that they don’t feel you’re the right fit. Don't panic if this happens, just take it as your chance to keep researching until you find the agency that is the right fit.
Another Way To Connect With An Agency
Another angle to get in front of an agent is to express interest in the agency and ask for a portfolio review. This approach is as more of a review, rather than a request for representation. This will be a sure fire way to get a leading professionals eyes on your portfolio. These reps look at thousands of images all year round, so if they offer time for a portfolio review or mentorship, take it!
Conclusion
In the end you may find that working with an agency or being represented is not the right angle for your career path and that is okay! If you do find that your next step may be representation, then follow these steps to connect with your ideal agency.
Meet Bethany
Bethany Nauert is a California based lifestyle, interiors and commercial photographer living Los Angeles with her husband and their dog. Having grown up in San Diego, she graduated from the Academy of Art in San Franciso with a BFA in photography. She took all her training in traditional darkroom film developing and printing and merged with it the inevitable shift to digital platform and computer software alike. Today she not only appreciates the history of photography but loves how social media and all the emerging gear has made the art more accessible to anyone who wants to experiment.
Reaching nearly 15 years of professional experience, she has worked with brands such as Amazon, Walmart, Hilton, HGTV, Marriott, Joybird and Brooklinen. Her work has been
published globally online and in print for websites and magazines such as Architectural Digest, Real Simple, LA Times, and Variety. Photographing everything from boutique hospitality venues to global product campaigns for the tech industry, she has developed a keen sense of how to show off space and tell the story of the people who dwell there.