Use your name or create a name for photo business

[Finklenator]

Hi, i was wondering what everybody's opinion is on naming your photo business after yourself or creating another name?

[canonnoob]

While I have done it, Looking back, it is cheesy...

[Karl Johnston]

I still do it, but I've recently changed on over to my own name...my site stays the same because my card has it

[Mark1]

Personally I hate naming it after the owner. However in some areas the "local way" demands that it is a persons name, and if it is not, the company is not taken seriously within the local industry. Other places it is seen as corny to have it named after the owner/shooter. Look through your phone book and see how it is done in your area. Where I am it is about 50/50.

[Choaf]

While I have never done either I like the idea of not naming it after yourself that way later on down the road if you passion fades or want to try something else you can sell the business and it would be more of an asset. I know you could still sell the clientele to the new owner but they would have to change the name and might lower the perceived value of the company to the purchaser and future customers.

[eigga]

Depends on your intended busines.

For family portraits it seems very personable to me to use your own name.

For other things I think I "real" business name seems more professional.

[ChrisRabior]

Register your own name. It's never a bad idea to register your own name, because you can always register a business name later down the road, but you might not always be able to register your own name. If you're like most people, you're not the only one carrying your name, so jump on it.

The way sites work, you register your domain and pair it up with your web host. Should you decide you want to change directions and use yourname.com for a different purpose, you just redirect it to your new site. Same goes for if you have a business name. If you come up with a business name, you can point the business .com and yourname.com to the same site.

[beachbum2277]

I was pretty much forced into creating a company name because both my first and last name are regularly misspelled.

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[Karl Johnston]

What are your first and last names? Everyone does that to me too..they spell it the american way (Carl Johnson) lol

[MJPhotos24]

I'm involved with both ways (Mike Janes Photography & Four Seam Images) - both ways are good, around here most businesses use their own name. Since it's only me and sometimes an assistant who doesn't shoot it works. The other though is a group of photographers so a name not related to any names was needed. All depends on how you want to do things.

[spikeystitch]

Like eigga had said, the vast majority of shooters in my city use their own name for their businesses that deal with family/wedding/maternity which I personally find is bland, stereotypical and uncreative, but I also can't stand boring images so maybe it's me. I created my business "Stoked On Photos". I felt my business name not only described my images but also how I felt about photography. :)

[episodes Photography]

ive been trying so hard coming up with a name... personally, i dont want to use my name.
after so much googling, i have come to realize that you can put almost any word (that makes sense) before "photography" and it will have been taken!!!
heck, i just googled booboo photography for the hell of it and.... http://booboophotos.blogspot.com/
lol

[damonb]

Most of the pros I know use their name as their business name w/area of expertise (name, event photographer in {insert city name}).

Larger agencies will generally run with something more creative...

[JWright]

Another consideration are the laws regarding "fictitious names" (that's what they are called when it's not your name on the business) in your area. Many jurisdictions require a fictitious name notice to be published in a newspaper before a business license can be issued in that name. On the other hand, using your own name will allow you to have a business license issued right away.

[Fenster]

My last name is regularly mispronounced and misspelled by Americans, so...

[Mike Photo]

Another consideration are the laws regarding "fictitious names" (that's what they are called when it's not your name on the business) in your area. Many jurisdictions require a fictitious name notice to be published in a newspaper before a business license can be issued in that name. On the other hand, using your own name will allow you to have a business license issued right away.

JWright I'm interested in finding out more on this how would I go about that?
and is the same thing as working under say a pen name like writers or actors do?

[Mark1]

It is just a DBA (Doing Business As) form. It is so the state knows who is the actual owner of the company. It is required for every company that does not use the owners name in the company name.

[NickJushchyshyn]

Of course this depends also on your market at well.
It seems that most wedding and family photographers in our area use their full name, but almost all of the sports photographer companies (our market space) around Philadelphia have invented business names.

Besides, as you can probably see, my name is a bit challenging and unwieldy as as website or business name, so I asked my wife to make up a word. (It seemed to be working well for Yahoo, Google, etc.)

We brainstormed about influences and an "implied" message to the name. We were creating and using full digital pipelines when film was still the typical medium, so we wanted to invoke things like "technology", "advantage", "technique", etc. We also wanted to avoid the name pegging us into any specific market (sports photography is what we focus on now, but we wanted to be open to branch into other areas and mediums later if the opportunities are right)

My wife came up with "Techvantics" and it stuck.
It's been quite successful and we've built up a fair amount of brand awareness in our area to the point were we hear families talking to each other, excited that "Techvantics is here!" when we're covering an event.

[JWright]

JWright I'm interested in finding out more on this how would I go about that?
and is the same thing as working under say a pen name like writers or actors do?

http://www.cityofboston.gov/dnd/OBD/pdfs/SBRG_Regulatory_Licensing_Requirements_Steps_2008_ v5.pdf