Fifth-teen Minutes Can Save You...

Fifth-teen minutes can save you...

As we have all heard from the ever popular Flo from Progressive insurance. But let me ask you, as a photographer, either as a novice or amateur, have you ever thought of getting photographer's insurance?

Our cameras and especially lenses can be very expensive. How do we cover our butts when we're faced with a dilemma of fire, theft, of breakage of either your camera or lenses? When you're starting out and you already have the necessary equipment, cameras and lenses, you can’t necessarily have the funds readily available to replace those items. So, what do you do? Insurance companies don’t give out insurance on cameras and lenses. They're considered a personal loss. So, let me help you get that snake off your shoulders and give you what you’re looking for.

You can get photography insurance through an organization called North American Nature Photography Association. Their prices are very reasonable. They range from $25.00 to $270.00 all depending on what kind of photography insurance that you’re looking for. This insurance doesn’t cover snake bites or falling out of trees though, as my lovely daughter likes to do.

You might think, “Why do I need photography insurance if I am always careful and treat my camera and lenses like a baby?" Well, when you get the chance to get to go overseas to Africa or Tanzania or some other far off exotic place to take pictures of the wildlife and you got your camera and lenses in a roller bag, your lenses and camera will get beat up and screws will come loose. So yes, it is important to check out NANPA and get some kind of insurance that will cover your costs.

You have some loose screws? It happens. What I have learned is to not use a multi-tool; it is not functional and way to big. What works really well is go to your hardware store and get a small screwdriver set (micro-tool set) along with Allen wrenches. Periodically check the tightness of the screws so that way when you're out in the field shooting a waterfall or zebras, your camera and lenses stay together. You don’t necessarily have to pack it up and send it to customer support to have it fixed.

When all else seems to fail, and it usually will, when you become a veteran photographer, you learn how to fix those loose screws. What I have learned and want to share with you is to go to your hardware store and get a tube of Loctite blue 242 threadlocker. Put a tiny dot of this on the last couple of threads of the screw and gently screw it in. If your wife or girlfriend happen to be with you on one of your outdoor adventures and she happens to have fingernail polish with her, that will also work until you can get home to fix it with the above mentioned threadlocker.

Duct tape fixes anything. What if you don’t need the whole roll though because it takes up too much room in your carry on luggage. Grab a pencil and roll about two or three feet of the duct tape on the pencil. This works perfectly, as I once had a travesty of one of my light stands falling over at a wedding shoot because a kid accidentally ran into it. I had to fix it pronto. This duct tape fix fixed the problem temporarily until I could get it home to get it fixed and the wedding pictures turned out fantastic.

Sixty minutes can save you literally hundreds of dollars LOL. That's the time it took me to write this article about insurance and it’s importance as well as learning some tips and tricks of the trade to help prevent major losses through a few simple techniques to help you in your quest to become one of the best photographers.