Tax Time

This is my first time doing tax in the USA. Last year I had a mix of employed work (W2) and freelance work (1099). I hunted around for the best solution of how to do my tax and came up with three that seemed to be the best:

• Get an accountant to do it
• Turbo Tax
• Taxslayer

Get an accountant

This would most likely be the easiest solution. I could give all my information to the accountant and let them do all the calculations. The upside of this is that they may be better suited to finding the deductions etc that are most applicable to me. The downside is that they may not be interested in creative accounting. My tax this year is really quite simple so I decided that I could do most of it myself, with the guidance of a software program.

Turbo Tax

Turbo Tax seemed to get lots of really good reviews. The downside of it was that it wasn’t free. I knew from some rough calculations that I was going to be pretty much right on the cusp of what I had put aside for tax  throughout the year and didn’t really want to spend additional money on paying tax. It seemed a little counter intuitive to pay more money to work out how much money I had to pay the IRS. I really do miss the online simplicity of tax in Australia. So after asking around someone mentioned TaxSlayer – an online service that was free, or pretty close to it.

TaxSlayer

TaxSlayer.com was pretty easy to use. Not the most straightforward of sites, but pretty much step by step going through all the possible options that might pertain to me. I had to do some extra reading, but the help topics were really well written and guided me through the return with very little hassle. It took me all up about two hours to do the tax, and that included finding the paperwork and getting it all together. I’d recommend it if you have pretty simple tax and have a little bit of time.

Some things came up while I was doing this though.

• I didn’t have 1099 forms from all the people I’d worked for. I sent emails to all of them and some I heard back. I wasn’t sure what would happen if I didn’t report the income as I didn’t have the forms. I can’t really give any advice here, but two different sources recommended that if it was <$600 I should leave it out. I’ll leave that decision up to you.
• One of the clients sent me a 1099 form which was inaccurate. I emailed them and advised them that I was going to claim the amount that I had recorded from them. As there may be a discrepancy here I made sure that on all the other things I submitted I dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s. Be careful of other people.
• I put away money every month to cover the tax. This was pretty easy to calculate, I worked out how much I’d grossed that month, multiplied it by 12 and worked out how much tax I would have to pay on that amount. This did not take into account any deductions and expenses as I thought it would be a great way to cover any possible errors down the track and would also be useful for depreciation and extra expenses that might come up at the end of the year. A general rule of thumb is that it’s unlikely that you’ll pay more than 30% in tax so you could just put that aside, but for a more accurate calculation I’d do it every month.

All in all it wasn’t a bad six months in NY. I had a part time job on the weekends for 5 months which paid me around $3500 and I grossed around $7000 from assisting. Unfortunately this was slightly more than my overheads and my personal expenses for the six months, so I’m on the track to pay off the credit card that helped me move here. More on that one later.

If you want any more info on how I went through the tax forms, just ask; but beware, i’m not a cpa, and don’t play one on TV.

Now in the US

It’s been a while, but i thought that I would update and start this again.

In the interim i’ve moved to NYC. Quite a bold move, but I needed a change of scenery. Upon arriving here I hit the ground running and hit up every contact I had and asked for more. This seemed to get me going with a bit of work – mostly assisting and a bit of retouching. After a couple of months I found several really solid regular photographers to work for. Unfortunately one of the photographers who kept me the busiest has turned out to be the worst on the payment front. I’m still chasing payments from jobs that I worked back in October. I get all the excuses and have pretty much written it off and don’t budget it into my future earnings. When (if) the check comes, it will be a pleasant surprise. I’ve tried just about everything to get the money from him, but nothing seems to work. Having spoken to his previous assistants this is a standard fair for him. Hire a couple of assistants, keep them busy and when they ask for payment move on to someone else.

Lesson to be learned – when shooting, pay you assistants in a timely manner. Doesn’t matter if you’re moving house, they’re possibly moving house too and need the money.

I spent the last week going through folio images and working out what I plan to do with them. It would be great to start showing them to prospective clients and to start getting some shooting work. There seems to be two distinct areas of work that I can aim for – architecture + still life. The architecture folio I currently have is mostly exteriors. It feels like this may not be the best thing for NY, but I’m going to make up a database of architects in the area and start to call them, hoping for an interview. The still life work I’m contemplating using a database like AdBase or AgencyAccess. I haven’t really decided yet and the price of them will probably make some contribution to my decision. Having late paying photographers makes outlaying money on getting shooting clients somewhat difficult. I have a friend who keeps telling me to stop making excuses, so I’m going to start.

I’m going to add in here a list of things i want to have done each week as a form of accountability. For the following week I intend to:

• make database of architects and designers
• choose a mailing database of advertising + art directors
• make up a e-mail blast
• update this blog
• update the website

I’ll try to keep the future posts to a single topic, but thought it was important to get this back on track.

The quiet times

Well it seems to be getting a bit quiet around town of late, but that’s just the nature of the business I guess.

This up coming week I have only two days booked for assisting. Now I could sit around and be mopey, but I’ve decided to work on folio images and get my folio looking the way I want it. After a couple of months I realised that I’m not that interested in shooting fashion – though i happily do a little bit here and there – and really miss the time spent in the studio on still life shoots. As a result I’m going back through all my little notebooks and pulling up the shoots I’ve wanted to do for a while, but never got around to it.

In addition to this i’ve been gaining some courage in calling other photographers and letting them know i’m available. It’s not a skill that I am particularly good at but with practice I hope to get over the fear of it. Very rarely will someone on the other end of the phone be unhappy that you called – I guess the more assistants they have to call the easier it is for them to find one.

There are more skills to being a photographer and assistant than just being able to take pictures. One of the most important ones is getting people to know you exist. Theres a great blog by Ian Summers about getting noticed, maybe some interesting techniques need to be implemented during the quiet times. Better yet – implement them during the busy times, and keep the quiet times to a minimum as a result.

losing your job

Just before Christmas 2007 I was made redudant. It was quite a shock to the system but it was perhaps a great incentive to move on.

I was working in the equipment room of a rental studio in Melbourne and was doing a little bit of shooting for myself when I found the time. The same day that I was made redundant I received two phone calls from people asking if I was available for assisting. I wound up with two weeks of work straight after I left the studio.

After those two weeks I took some time off and relaxed and went diving for a bit and then got straight into shooting a bit more and letting the photographers that I had made contact with at the studio know that I was now available for assisting.

The shock of no longer having to go to work everyday and not having a regular pay check took some time to settle in (i’m not sure I’m used to it yet 8 months on). But the realization that now whether I eat this week or not is on me and only me certainly gave me the hunger to look for work. Sink or swim.

If you find yourself stuck in what you’re doing right now, jump. You’ll land on your feet somewhere, and if you don’t you’ll have the drive to claw your way back up

ps. some new work on my folio – Personal Work

Interning Networking + experience

I mentioned before that I worked at a studio while I was in NYC. Initially this was an internship that I applied for through the school I was at (Parsons). I was not required to take an internship during semester, but I wanted to gain some more insight into the industry in NYC other than through school. 

I was advised to approach the bigger studios by an assistant working in NYC. He suggested that it was all about who you knew and then who knew you. He couldn’t be more right. It doesn’t matter if you know the inside workings of a digital back or how to light a face with a 2 stop ratio in rembrant style if you don’t know anyone. The bigger studios in NY have interns working in the equipment room most days of the week. If you’re up for some hard work and looking busy during the other times it’s a great way to meet other assistants. In some cases it’s the photographers who hire the assistants, in others it’s the first assistant and in some cases it’s the producer (other members of the crew also hire assistants but these are the three main ones). 

I originally had a personal bone to pick with interning unpaid. I feel that anyone who brings a benefit to a business should be paid accordingly. If you truly are learning and aren’t able to bring some expertise to help get the job done then it is possible that your gained experience is your payment – but only for a very brief period of time. In an over saturated industry like photography there is a much higher supply than demand and as a result there are all manner of ways to “get your foot in the door” and unfortunately some of them don’t pay. That said after interning at the studio in NYC for two months (two evenings a week) my name was passed to a photographer who needed someone for a two week job. Following that I saw the work I did at the studio equipment room as an investment into my future earnings – I knew the gear, I understood more of the operation with regards to shoots in NYC and was able to add some value to the shoot. My recommendation for anyone looking to assist would be to intern up to the point that you believe you have gained what you can from that position and would be an asset to the photographer and then approach them with a discussion of remuneration. Be diplomatic about it and honest about your own capabilities – a really green assistant can be more of a hindrance on a shoot than a benefit – and if you believe you are ready and the photographer wants you to continue to work for free then walk. Take the experience you’ve gained and add it to your resume and go find a photographer who is worth working for.

All the best for others out there looking for assisting work.

Introduction and background

I guess I should introduce myself a little bit.

I finished high school with a grand plan to study engineering and science and become a great scientist or design robotic prosthetics. After graduating from the science degree (anatomy and neuroscience) I went hunting for an honours project. I couldn’t find any projects in Australia that I thought would fit for me so I went in search of an alternate path.

I applied to different schools, different courses and received some offers at the first round which included physiotherapy, masters in science and photography (this one i had applied for on a whim). I decided to accept and defer the physio and take up photography. From there i’ve never looked back. 

After three years studying at RMIT, with a six month stint in NYC at Parsons school of design, I ventured out into the world planning to hang my shingle as a photographer. 

During my time in NYC I interned at one of the larger photo rental studios MILK studios in the equipment room. This gave me a great understanding of all the equipment – how it worked and what to do when it broke. This was invaluable, not only did i know what was going on, but I also made contacts with a lot of assistants. After some time a couple of photographers would come by looking for replacement assistants and I got a few jobs out of it. I’ll write more about this way of getting into the industry a little bit later.

When I came back to Australia I hear that a similar rental studio were looking for someone – Sun Studios (formally Baltronics). I did the same thing here, although here I was paid to be in the equipment room. Using this job I got to know most of the photographers in Melbourne and also a different set of equipment.

Just before Christmas 2007 I was made redundant from Sun Studios. It really couldn’t have happened at a better time. I had finished studying and was itching to get out and get my hands dirty. I’ll write a bit more about losing your job and what it can do for you later as well.

Following that I enrolled into the NEIS program (New Enterprise Incentive Scheme). A program for new businesses funded by the Australian Government. http://www.workplace.gov.au/workplace/Programmes/NEIS/ 

I finished the business course part of NEIS at the end of May and since then have been getting my photography business moving from a non-entity to something that will start to bring in some money. 

 

I plan on posting updates on what i’m doing to get off the ground, problems i’m facing as i go, aspects of business that i learn and just general stuff about starting a small business.