Business Of Photography Workshop

11/22/2025

A sad tale that should raise the hair on the back of every freelance photographer.

Control your work, organize your archive and protect it from unauthorized use. Rockoff's body of work needs to be preserved and properly managed!

Rockoff, who risked his life to photograph the brutality of the Khmer Rouge, has struggled ever since. Now he says his historic negatives have been taken from him.

11/21/2025

As a photographer and just someone not good with being still, I'm constantly on the go & drink lots of coffee, so I know when prices skyrocket like they have.

This is not a political rant but a reality about freelancing. You have to control your costs, both large and small. From food & coffee to camera gear, the costs continue to rise despite assurances a year ago they would immediately go down.

So, if you buy into Trump's claims that his tariffs have had no impact on cost of living, why would removing his tariffs lower prices? 😏

Yahoo Finance is chronicling the latest news and updates on President Trump's plans to impose tariffs on goods from other countries.

11/16/2025

It's great to see when a university puts photojournalism front and center on the campus!

This is seen as you enter Central Michigan University which hosted my workshop on Thurs and Fri. The program is highly regarded with students doing excellent work and getting jobs right out of college.

11/04/2025

Where there is a will, there is a way!

Assistant Professor Jeffrey Sauger put forth time and effort to secure funding to bring me out to Central Michigan University to teach their students next week. The Hearst Foundation provided the funding, but Jeffrey did all the work. 👏

I've been asked by more than a few organizations and major universities to provide this workshop for free. I simply don't do it for a couple reasons. One, I won't be a hypocrite and stand in front of students imploring them to value themselves while I give away services for free. Knowledge IS value and I lead by example. Two, there are grants, endowments and partnerships available to provide funding to enhance student learning. It's up to the professors or program coordinators to recognize the importance of teaching business to freelancers and secure the funding.

10/31/2025

This is the type of engagement that accepts the evolution of search and AI while engaging in a manner that serves everyone's best interest. Bravo to Getty Images and Perplexity AI.

To be clear, this appears not to be about letting Perplexity scrape images on Getty for generative AI reasons, but allows Perplexity to display WITH PHOTOGRAPHER CREDIT images and links back to Getty when users engage with Perplexity's AI search engine.

CNBC reporting on this. Getty Images stock pops 19%

Agreement gives Perplexity rights to display images from Getty Images across its AI-powered search tools

10/21/2025

A huge thank you to ASMP New England Chapter, especially Angela Rowlings & Shawn Henry, ASMP: American Society of Media Photographers – National Page, Bentley University for the use of their facilities (beautiful school and program!) and all those who gave up 16 hours over two days to discuss serious topics for navigating the business of freelance photography. It was a big success. Also, a special shout out to the generous donor who anonymously contributed $2000 to cover tuition for attendees and to THINK TANK PHOTO & Cradoc Software for their giveaways!

In a few weeks, I'll be teaching students at Central Michigan University. The more photographers who get educated on rights, rates, copyright, licensing, client development, archive management, tax issues and more, the better we are as a profession!

Founded in 2013 by Todd Bigelow, the course has been hosted by universities & professional organizations nationwide.

10/16/2025

"At the core of the congressional stalemate is how much people should pay for their Affordable Care Act health policies. They are freelancers, contractors and gig workers."

"Roughly half of the adults covered under Obamacare — or about 10 million — are small-business owners, their employees or the self-employed."

Unless the subsidies the GOP's "Big Beautiful Bill" stripped are restored (and that's the reason the gov't is shutdown), we're going to pay a LOT more for healthcare. If that happens, I hope everyone will negotiate with their clients for rates that take a doubling or tripling of healthcare premiums into account.

About 10 million small-business owners, employees and the self-employed are caught in the middle of the shutdown fight over the Affordable Care Act.

10/15/2025

Respect to past and present professors who've joined students to learn about the business side of freelancing such as how to analyze contracts, how to quote a licensing fee, how to manage licensing terms, how to build and leverage an archive for lifetime revenue, how to copyright register images, set up a business structure, build clients etc, etc.

Several have enrolled for the workshop at ASMP New England on Friday and Saturday. Respect!

Financial aid is still available. Join us!

Designed specifically to address the shortfall in business training for freelance photographers, this seminar is geared toward freelancer photographers interested in working primarily for media outlets, nonprofits, foundations and corporations. It provides practical and timely instruction addressing...

10/15/2025

Joke all you want about Trump as a dictator, but his policies are absolutely in line with authoritarians worldwide who put restrictions in place to control the flow of information until it becomes state sponsored media. So happy to see nearly ALL news organizations, including Fox & Newsmax whose modus operandi is to serve as a portal for MAGA, absolutely refuse to sign it. Even they realize what's at stake if they agree to a policy that shreds the constitution.

The rights to a free press is in the first freaking amendment. Honor it.

Fox News, along with ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN, said that the Pentagon policy violates their “core journalistic protections.”

10/13/2025

Financial aid is still available for the ASMP New England workshop this weekend thanks to the generosity of a colleague. If interested, message me and I'll put you in touch with the coordinator at ASMP. Hurry, though, it starts Friday and there's a limited amount of aid!

Register at https://www.asmp.org/ne/event/business-of-photography-workshop-with-todd-bigelow/

10/12/2025

"Inflation has risen in three of the last four months and is slightly higher than it was a year ago."

Freelance photographers need to be aware of what's going on in the financial world so they can prepare and adjust their rates, when possible, to account for inflation. To do so, one needs to read everything from Wall Street Journal to Bloomberg to non profit stalwarts of journalism like the Associated Press.

Inflation was crazy under Biden but coming down significantly before Trump took office and implemented inflationary policies (tariffs are taxes on American businesses importing goods and they pass those taxes on to consumers via higher prices to stay in business).

Trump promised relief on day one. The reality is FAR different so Americans, especially freelance photographers unable or willing to raise rates, continue to lose spending power.

Inflation has risen in three of the last four months and is slightly higher than it was a year ago. Yet you wouldn’t know it from listening to President Donald Trump or even some of the inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve who have dismissed or even downplayed inflation.