What Should I Name My Photography Business?
February 5, 2009 by Virtual Photography
Filed under Blog, Photography Business, Start A Photo Business
I had a great question come in today from a photographer that’s starting up a new business, and contemplating name choices. As I was typing up the answer, I began thinking about how many of you may also be thinking of similar things, and thought I would post about it here as well.
The first question I would have to you is, “How do you want to grow?”
For some people, it’s all about the art. They have dreams of becoming a household name with their photography. Think Denis Reggie, Anne Geddes or Annie Leibovitz.
For some people, it’s all about the business. They have dreams of building a large studio in which they can hire multiple photographers, and offer a variety of services using multiple talented people.
Both are great business models. However, both should be named differently.
If it’s all about the art form, and you’re goal is to have your art recognized instantly, your name should be incorporated into your business name. Jane Smith Photography or Smith International would work well. The key is to build the business with you as its leader. You are the heart and soul of the business.
If it’s all about the business, your goal should be to have a recognizable name that talks about your specialty as opposed to the art form of one individual. Creative Weddings International or Children’s Portraits tell people what to expect as an outcome, and speak to the business side as opposed to an individual. (Yes, these names aren’t the most creative by any means, just using the names to show you how to think.)
Let me give you another idea.
When Andrew and I first started our photography studio a long 
time ago, we chose the name Eyes On Photography without thinking much about it. We used it for almost ten years before we decided to take our business international. So we added a tagline to our name – two little words.
Worldwide Imagery
With this one change, our business changed 180 degrees. When people called us they would ask where our other offices were in the world. They would ask how many people worked for us. They expected our fees to be high – wouldn’t you pay more for artists that worked anywhere in the world?
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just to created name for my business
I am new in photography and I know how important an Image for a business is.
I have only recently changed my flikr name to Nicspicandmix. I like this because its different and not too formal. I would also like to convey fun and not have a fixed style of photography media such as just weddings or just portraits. What do any of you think of the name. I would love some feedback to see If I have the right feel for what I want to do.
The important thing with Flickr, and with any social site for that matter, is to have fun with it and help convey your branding. I’m not sure what your overall branding is, but let’s say you have a newsletter that you put out, and you want to keep it light and fun. So you call it Nic’s Pics and Mix – that would help you convey your brand from your business, to your site, to your Flickr and social sites. It should always tie in together, and you should always have it convey the message you’re trying to create with your customers.
Hope that helps – what are your thoughts?
I’m involved with photography and want to make it my full time career. I want to publish a website but just having a difficult time coming up with a name. I can use my name & put photography as the end of it but I want something more catching & more different & as I come up with a name I search it on google & there’s tons of photography business with that same name. But I do like the name nicpicsandmix it’s clever but did you think about using the spelling of nixpixandmix?
In any instance like this, you have to make sure you can gather all the domain names for it, just in case people type in the wrong way. So you could have nicspicsandmix.com and nixpixandmix.com – and of course this leads to many other combinations as well. Since domain names are cheap, buy them all and point them to whatever your “real” domain name is.
Our photography studio was Eyes On Photography. But many people mistook what we said when we said it fast and came up with Izon Photography. Another example of how you need to capture any way your client hears your name.