Insurance for photographers

To make a successful career out of photography, you may need reliable professional liability insurance coverage, sometimes called errors and omissions insurance (E&O insurance). Liability insurance for photographers covers claims against your businesses for providing professional and personal services.

When is it important to have professional liability insurance as a photographer? Examples include:

• Faulty memory card: You have been contracted to photograph an event, and your memory card fails causing you to lose all your photographs. You are devastated, and your client makes a claim against you for failure to deliver the photographs, as promised. Professional liability insurance could protect you and your business against claims of negligence even if you haven't made a mistake and the loss was caused by an unavoidable technical glitch.

Memory cards are important to photographers, but they don’t always work perfectly. See how Hiscox can help you protect yourself by requesting an insurance quote.

• Dissatisfied client: You are hired to photograph a wedding, but you forget to take pictures of key family members. You did your best, but there were hundreds of people who requested to be in photographs and you missed a couple of them. Your client may make a claim against you for negligence regarding the failure to fully deliver the agreed upon photography services. Hiscox’s professional liability insurance (errors and omissions insurance) may protect you if such a claim is made.

As all photographers know, some clients are easier to work with than others. Fortunately, Hiscox has created a smarter and more convenient way for photographers to get the right coverage at the right price.

Oftentimes, it’s not enough to only have professional liability insurance in the photography industry. General liability insurance, for photographers, could protect your business from another person or business’s claims of bodily injury, associated medical costs, and/ or damage to property. Having this kind of coverage is beneficial to photographers in instances like these:

• Bodily injury: As a photographer, your job often involves equipment setup that can create a high-risk environment for slips and falls. What would happen if a client that you are working for tripped over a piece of high-cost equipment that you have set out for a photo shoot? General liability insurance could protect you against third-party claims for bodily injury and related medical costs for situations like this.
• Defamation and libel: You were hired to photograph a charity event which featured an appearance by a high-profile celebrity couple. Since it was a big job, you hired an assistant to help out. During the event, the celebrity couple got into an argument, which your assistant overheard. The next day, reports of the argument appeared in the tabloids. The couple blamed your assistant and filed a lawsuit against your business. A general liability policy, from Hiscox, may be able to pay your defense costs as well as any settlement or judgement.
• Property damage: You are in a client’s home to photograph a couple's engagement photos. You are working with an assistant to help with the photography equipment. Your assistant knocks over and breaks an expensive antique vase, which costs thousands of dollars. At Hiscox, we may be able to cover the cost to replace the vase, up to the limits of your liability policy.

If you’re looking to reduce your insurance premiums, Hiscox can help.

Getting a Hiscox quote is easy! Learn more about general liability insurance costs to make a smart and forward-thinking decision for your photography business. 

As a photographer, your largest investment is in your cameras and equipment. Protect that investment with camera equipment insurance, which can pay to replace your equipment if it is stolen or damaged. Having the right insurance for photography equipment can get your business back up and running quickly after a loss. A photographer’s Business Owners Policy (BOP) includes insurance for photography equipment such as cameras, lenses, computers and electronic storage devices.

• You are finishing up a long day of photographing your client's conference. As you are loading your camera bag into your car, it slips out of your hand and hits the pavement. You open your bag to find that your 70-200mm lens and your portable hard drive are damaged. When you get home you discover that you can't even pull your photos off the hard drive. Your Hiscox Business Owners Policy includes camera insurance that could provide coverage for your damaged lens and hard drive and help cover the cost to recover your data from the damaged drive.

Photographs and video can't be taken without the proper equipment. Our business owner's insurance combines general liability coverage with protection for your photography equipment such as cameras, lights, computers, and grip equipment used to provide your service and satisfy your clients.

Photographers store large amounts of data on their computers, including high-resolution images, client information and payment details. The cost associated with this data being damaged, lost or stolen could be covered by cyber security insurance. In addition, any photographer who has a website, takes credit cards for payment, or stores customer information should be protected by cyber security insurance.

Here’s an example. A photographer received an email that appeared to come from a popular local wedding venue. The email included a link to click to be included in the venue’s list of preferred vendors. The photographer clicked the link, but it was fraudulent. The photographer’s computer froze, and they received a demand for ransom in bitcoin to allow them to access their files. Fortunately, the photographer had cyber security insurance that included the services of breach response experts, who quickly determined that the ransom did not need to be paid and helped the photographer to restore their files.