Covering Your Bases: Equipment Insurance

Source: Terry White's Tech Blog.

A few weeks ago I wrote about safety when it comes to setting up a shot in public places, but there's another, equally important aspect about safety that deserves its own post. Your gear is what allows you to capture the best images for your clients, so insuring that equipment may just save you from a major financial setback if something should happen. You may find that your homeowner's insurance won't cover equipment that you use to make a living. Talk to your agent to find out, and if you need to add more coverage for your photography gear, check out the options below!

• Start with basic coverage through an association membership. Groups like PPA offer coverage up to a certain dollar amount once you join (in this case, up to $15,000). More coverage can be added up to $100,000.00 with their PhotoCare Plus plan.
• Package Choice through Hill & Usher is a popular plan in the photographic community. The site allows you to easily add or delete items from your insured equipment schedule.
• Another provider is TCP & Co., which offers options that look great for studio owners. 

While you're at investigating equipment insurance options, take a look at this article by The Modern Tog about other types of insurance you should think about purchasing if you plan on starting your own business. Protect yourself, your family, and your business for peace of mind while you do what you love!

-Friday Ambassador

Works Cited:

Brenke, Rachel. "Photography Business Insurance Coverages Every Photographer Needs." The Modern Tog. TheModernTog.com, 2014. Web. 24 July 2014.

Hill & Usher, LLC. "Package Choice™ Insurance for Professional Photographers from Hill & Usher Insurance & Surety, LLC." Package Choice™ Insurance for Professional Photographers from Hill & Usher Insurance & Surety, LLC. Hill & Usher, LLC, 2014. Web. 24 July 2014.

PPA. "PPA Insurance Solutions | PPA." PPA Insurance Solutions | PPA. Professional Photographers of America, 2014. Web. 24 July 2014.
TCP & Co. Inc. "Photography Insurance." Studio Photography Insurance. TCP & Co. Inc., 2014. Web. 24 July 2014.

White, Terry. "How I Broke My D700 By Tethering - Terry White's Tech Blog." Terry White's Tech Blog. Terry White, 22 Sept. 2011. Web. 24 July 2014.

Seriously, what is that?!

Greetings fellow shooters, Tuesday Ambassador here again wondering what in the world I should write about this week. The first thing that comes to mind is that I have not been in a shooting class for some time due to our previous extended winter break. This was about the exact time that I had acquired my strobe equipment and was required to take a self-portrait with my newly acquired equipment. I did much experimenting with the new strobes capturing various subjects, but the one subject that was eating at me the most was me. Perhaps this may have been a mistake on my part in getting the T2i instead of the T3i three years ago. But would you really want an articulating screen as a complete newbie with cameras, regardless of any protection plan you put on it?

Now maybe it was a just a coincidence that in the time of our break, while being away from my studio, I was bored. Bored at my buddies house in the middle of the night and I had been itching to take pictures, but had forgotten one of my tripods at the studio. Of course my buddy is so tired after we watched a video on YouTube that he crashed on his bed soon after. Meanwhile, thinking back about the video it later occurred to me of a unique, yet a potentially destructible way of creating art from the camera. You guys may or may not like this as I have gotten mixed reviews from the people closest to me, but none-the-less a couple of photos are posted below. I think the consensus so far is that you either love it or you hate it.

You are probably wondering one of two things; why am I seeing this, or what did you do to get that? Well, this is much of the reason why my T2i ended up broken in the first place. Although, at the time it was apparent that the lens’s mounting points were broken but the camera functioned as normal with no visual signs of damage.  I kept at it after the fact. Needless to say, I had a feeling that they would need to check the camera as well and so they were both shipped the next day. I ended up acquiring the T3i as a substitute while the T2i was out being looked at. Can one get camera sick? It may be why I had not been shooting much because of the lack of control I had for the T3i at the time. Then I notice looking through the viewfinder that I would be returning the T3i regardless of the outcome of my T2i. This is why I did more “drop” tests keeping well aware of not actually dropping the camera this time. Below you will find the T3i photos of the “drop” test before returning it to establish a brand new, flawless T3i. In case you have not figured it out by now, my T2i is no more. L

These were all done in various lighting situations, so color balance was a concern, however, not important after seeing how they turned out. Yes, the process is simple and may potentially be damaging to any camera but call me crazy when I say that I knew my camera’s demise would come soon after experimenting with this hazardous option. So it’s obvious that this is a do at your own risk project. However, this could not have come at a better time as Studio Photography will be on my next round of studies and I figure that having the articulating LCD screen will help out immensely when it comes time to capture some self-portraits.

With all that said, I do miss my camera but now that I have my control back on the now T3i, I want to kick myself for not getting it in the first place. Often times I wonder if this was meant to happen the way it did. Either way, tell me what you guys think. Am I headed anywhere with this? 

Stay tuned next Tuesday to find out the first subjects I captured with my new T3i. Let’s just hope I did not lose grip on them too. Pun definitely intended.

Have a wonderful day and keep shooting,

Your Tuesday Ambassador

And as always, thanks for reading.