Name for Photography Business?

[KodakShooter]

For anyone who has started a photography business do you use your name or come up with a totally different name for your business?

Thinking of doing a little work on the side and I do have a name I came up with but I'm wondering if it's better to just use some variation of my name.

I welcome input, suggestions, pros and cons of each.

[The_Animal]

I, along with my wife, came up with the name FalconRose Photography. "Falcon" because I personally am interested in wildlife photography and Heather and I picked "Rose" because we were both born in June (rose is the flower for the month of June).

There are several pros and cons to using either your own name or a completely different name all together.

PRO for using your own name.

1. It increase customer recognition with YOUR BRAND of photography.

CON for using your own name

1. If you choose at some point to sell your business, you may end up not being able to sell the business because customers identify with YOU being the business.

PRO for using a different name:

1. easier to sell a successful business, because customers don't identify with the photographer, but more with the BRAND.

CON for using a different name:

1. customers can't easily identify with what the photographer does, or has a mistaken idea of what the photographer does and doesn't choose your BRAND.

[newlove]

+1111 to The Animals response!!

[KodakShooter]

Thanks Animal! Very good points.

[no16caddis]

Animals pretty much hit that one on the screws....

[garthfan0523]

I know this thread is several months past but, for the sake of new readers, let me add this:

When coming up with the name of a business, you also need to ask yourself what your future plans for the business are.

When my fiancee and I first decided to combine our working experience into an entrepreneurial endeavor, we knew we needed to do two things right off the bat: Come up with a name that was immediately personal to the area we wanted to serve and develop our business not just as a niche tradename but, rather, as an actual brand.

To that end, "603 Media Group" was born. The "603" is the area code for New Hampshire - our prime area of service. "Media Group" reflects the fact that, although we are primarily photographers, we also have considerable experience in many other facets of media. We didn't want to pigeon-hole ourselves into just being a "photography" company.

With the benefit of hindsight, it was a good choice. We have a recognized name in both print and radio in our state, we are frequently called upon to perform services for government agencies and the two major concert venues in the state and, although we are a small enterprise, the name carries in conversation and in referrals like a much larger organization and that definitely helps get our foot in the door with larger clients.

As a real-world example: My fiancee did a photo shoot last year for a medical magazine on Crohn's disease. She was contacted after the publishing company found our business through a last-minute Google search when their photographer was unable to fly out to New Hampshire for the shoot. Jesse went up to Dartmouth Hospital, spent just under 90-minutes with the doctor, delivered three (that's right, THREE) processed photos to the publisher and walked away with $3,000.

So, I guess my point is, consider your future plans and make every decision now with the future in mind.

[no16caddis]

Originally Posted by garthfan0523

I know this thread is several months past but, for the sake of new readers, let me add this:

When coming up with the name of a business, you also need to ask yourself what your future plans for the business are.

When my fiancee and I first decided to combine our working experience into an entrepreneurial endeavor, we knew we needed to do two things right off the bat: Come up with a name that was immediately personal to the area we wanted to serve and develop our business not just as a niche tradename but, rather, as an actual brand.

To that end, "603 Media Group" was born. The "603" is the area code for New Hampshire - our prime area of service. "Media Group" reflects the fact that, although we are primarily photographers, we also have considerable experience in many other facets of media. We didn't want to pigeon-hole ourselves into just being a "photography" company.

With the benefit of hindsight, it was a good choice. We have a recognized name in both print and radio in our state, we are frequently called upon to perform services for government agencies and the two major concert venues in the state and, although we are a small enterprise, the name carries in conversation and in referrals like a much larger organization and that definitely helps get our foot in the door with larger clients.

As a real-world example: My fiancee did a photo shoot last year for a medical magazine on Crohn's disease. She was contacted after the publishing company found our business through a last-minute Google search when their photographer was unable to fly out to New Hampshire for the shoot. Jesse went up to Dartmouth Hospital, spent just under 90-minutes with the doctor, delivered three (that's right, THREE) processed photos to the publisher and walked away with $3,000.

So, I guess my point is, consider your future plans and make every decision now with the future in mind.

Great points...

[agiledogs]

I think much depend on the type of photography you do for pay. Most wedding photgs I know use their name as apart of their business name.

Freelance photog's also seem to use their name more often than a business.

In the photos I shoot for pay I know 2 people who use their names, and 5 who do not myself included. Agiledogs Photography is the name I use for the business.

Obviously, I do not shoot wedding, nor do I plan to shoot weddings or things like senior portraits. If I was to change, I would need to consider changing to using my name as my current business name would not be suitable I think for a wedding photog.

Over the past few years I have built a good solid reputation in the dog sports event photography arena, and continue to do so. Building your reputation for your work ultimately is most important as that is what keeps people coming back for more photos.

[KodakShooter]

Thanks for the renewed interest in this thread guys! Some excellent new points.

[IKuhn]

Is there anyway we could just make these points part of the sticky threads? I've been trying to crossover from pure hobby into business and have been racking my brain about possible names as well. While this didn't give me the answers it definitely shows I'm thinking in the right direction. It also gave me a few things to think about that I hadn't even considered yet.