I collaborate with other photographers, videographers, second shooters, assistants, models, stylists, hair and make-up artists, and students learning the trade. This page covers how that works and what I can realistically offer — it’s separate from commercial partnerships with venues and agencies, which run on agreed rates and white-label delivery.
Second shooters and assistants
I bring in a second shooter for larger weddings and multi-room events, and an assistant when a shoot involves lighting setups I can’t run alone. Both are paid roles at a day rate agreed before the booking — I don’t do unpaid second shooting, including for people building a portfolio.
What I look for: you own your own bodies and glass, you’ve shot at least a handful of weddings or events, and you’re comfortable being told where to stand and when to disappear. Reliability on the day matters more to me than the strength of your portfolio.
What you get: a day rate, credit where the client permits it, and images from the day you can use in your own portfolio once the client has taken delivery.
Other photographers and videographers
I refer work on regularly. I’m one person, so I can’t cover two events on the same Saturday, and in peak wedding season that happens most weeks. When I can’t take a job I’d rather pass it to someone I trust than let the enquiry go cold.
If you shoot in London and cover a category I don’t — or one I do, for the dates I’m already booked — send me a link to recent work and the kind of brief you want more of. Referrals go both ways and no commission changes hands in either direction.
Models, stylists, hair and make-up
I run test shoots a few times a year, usually when I’m testing a lighting setup or building examples for a service page that needs them. These are collaborative: everyone contributes time, everyone gets the images, nobody invoices anybody.
Terms I’ll agree upfront rather than leave vague:
- How many edited images you receive, and by when
- Where each of us can use them — portfolio, social, submissions
- Whether they can be used commercially, which usually means no unless we’ve agreed a fee
- That I won’t licence your likeness to a client without asking you first
For paid commercial work with a client attached, I book models and artists at their standard rate. Test shoots are the exception, not how I staff jobs.
Students and people starting out
Happy to answer questions about pricing, kit, contracts or how a wedding day actually runs — email is fine and I don’t charge for it. I take on the occasional assistant for a day where the job suits it, paid.
What I can’t do is offer regular unpaid shadowing. Most of my work is in people’s homes, at their weddings, or inside businesses that haven’t agreed to an extra person being present, so it isn’t mine to offer.
Brands and creators
Product gifting in exchange for content is something I look at case by case, and usually decline. It tends to work out well below my day rate once shooting and editing time are counted, and the resulting images rarely fit anywhere on this site.
Where it does work: your product is genuinely useful to how I shoot, and we agree in advance what I’m producing, how many pieces, and where each of us can use them. If you’re proposing exposure rather than payment for commercial usage, the answer is no — said plainly here so neither of us wastes an email.
What I need from you
A short email beats a long one. Tell me:
- What you do and a link to recent work
- Which of the above you’re proposing
- Dates, if any are attached
- Whether money is involved, and in which direction
I reply to collaboration enquiries within a working day or two — slower than client enquiries, which get one working day. If you don’t hear back within a week, it’s an oversight rather than a decision, so chase me.
Insurance, contracts and credit
I’m insured for public liability and hold a CAA Operational Authorisation for drone work. Anyone shooting alongside me on a paid job needs their own public liability cover — a client venue will usually ask for it, and I can’t extend mine to cover you.
Every collaboration gets something in writing, even if it’s just an email confirming usage and delivery. That isn’t formality: the disagreements I’ve seen between photographers are almost always about who could use what, and they’re all avoidable with two lines agreed upfront.
I credit collaborators wherever the client’s terms allow it. Some corporate and wedding clients restrict publication entirely, and where that’s the case I’ll tell you before the shoot rather than after.
Get in touch if any of this fits. If you’re a venue, agency, estate agent or event organiser looking for a supplier rather than a collaborator, the partnerships page is the one you want.