this is why i love my mornings…nothing better than processing life with pen in hand, coffee in the other hand, and the pages of scripture breathing perspective, truth, conviction, and direction.
TEUX DEUX. To Do. That’s an ever growing list around these parts. Lists are what keep me on track most of the time. For some reason my brain lets me remember the wedding date of every couple we photograph, but for the life of me, I can’t seem to keep the short week-to-week tasks organized in my head.
I make lists, misplace those lists, and end up making new ones. Definitely lacking in efficiency, until now. I absolutely love this great organizational tool/iPhone app I’ve discovered. TEUXDEUX is a simple and straight forward online task organizer. Andrea and I are now using it for Loft Photographie, and I l.o.v.e. it. We can each add to the list, assign tasks, and edit it from our phones or desktop. The best part…its FREE. Try it out…you won’t go back to the notepad if you do.
by Abbey
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I get a lot of questions from photographers about the business side of running a studio. We love to learn about our cameras, editing, and product offerings, but talking about spread sheets, bottom lines, and the cost of running a business doesn’t always resonate well with people. I just wrote my quarterly Texas sales tax check…and think its a great time to share this info for those of you unfamiliar with collecting sales tax as a photographer :-)
I’ve found that photographers just opening their doors as official businesses are often intimidated by collecting sales tax. Some people even avoid the topic all together because they are afraid they will do something incorrectly or can just fly under the radar for a few years while they get established. Neither one of those is a good reason to not comply with government regulations. :-) Sometimes people just don’t know where to start in collecting sales tax.
First things first: if you are in business as a photographer, and you haven’t yet, you need to register for your Texas Sales and Use Tax Permit.
Click here for a link on step by step instructions for applying for your permit.
A few weeks later you will receive your permit in the mail. Below is an image of what the permit looks like:
A common misconception I hear a lot is that you do not have to collect sales tax on your session fee because its a service…that’s incorrect. Services and products including prints, dvds of images, albums, individual .jpegs etc. are subject to tax. Occasionally, we photograph for non-profits and other exempt entities. Some of these clients are exempt from being charged sales tax for one reason or another.
Click here for details on when a client is exempt from being charged sales tax.
If you use an online hosting company for your photo galleries, and process sales through that entity, be sure that you have your sales tax calculation set up correctly. Your gallery company may also help track how much sales tax you collected. We currently use Zenfolio for our gallery hosting. We process about 30% of our print sales through orders placed in our online galleries. With the click of a button we can see exactly how much sales tax we’ve collected though Zenfolio for the month, quarter, or year.
If you have additional questions about how/what you should be collecting from clients, calling a field office in your area is a great way to get your questions answered.
Click here for the listing of Texas Comptroller Field Offices… call one in your area, or if you are willing to wait for a while to chat face-to-face with someone, stop in, pull a number, and grab a seat.
Finally, click here to download a SIMPLE and FANTASTIC document about collecting sales tax for your services and products as a Texas photographer.
by Abbey
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Jonathan and I are gearing up for busy. He’s headed out of state for a work trip, I’m headed to San Antonio with Andrea to photograph events for a week straight, followed by two April weddings with some of our favorite clients…Elisabeth & Michael and Melody & Scott.
If there is one thing I’ve learned in being a photographer, its that your work flow is never consistent. There are busy seasons, and not so busy seasons, and finding rest in the slow days or weeks can be a life saver for when the rush hits. Stepping away from the computer and to-do list can be a hard lesson to learn, but the rejuvenation it brings is priceless. So photographers, take some time to step back and not think about work. Clear your head; make room in your day for refreshing moments.
Anticipating the craziness that’s about to flood our lives for a short season, Jonathan and I took an afternoon to just hang together. We took in a matinee movie for $7 (I think we’ve found our new date spot) and spent part of our evening at the Comal with Nimitz our chocolate lab. Actually, it’s Fleet Admiral Chester William Nimitz, as in the WWII veteran & five star admiral in the U.S. Navy, who is from none other than Fredericksburg, Texas. That’s Jonathan for you, history buff & proud Texan purposeful in naming even his hunting dog. It’s managed to be a great conversation starter with the occasional passerby. It’s surprising how many people don’t know their history (including me, a lot of the time).
Yesterday’s evening was lovely. A kind breeze, and a quiet river made for a great place to take our sweet puppy. He’s still learning the ropes of swimming, gets a little nervous around the banks, but is slowly mastering the idea of being a water dog. As you might gather from some of these images, he’s still working on returning to his master once he’s retrieved. Obedience is sometimes a hard lesson to learn :-)
Here’s to soaking up the present moments with the love of your life and taking in lazy river sunsets.
Happy Tuesday.
-ah
by Abbey
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I spent the evening at home…with family…rocking my niece as she fought to keep heavy eyelids open. Its scary how much she looks like my baby pictures…if this is my niece, how much more will our children look like me and Jonathan? Genetics is crazy strange to me. She has my nose, and somehow she has my obstinance. Yes…my hard headed, stubborn personality has been passed down to the next generation.
God help Adam and Ellie as they raise this sweet opinionated doll. She only smiles on her terms, and never for the camera. This evening, in the middle of their family session, she wasn’t having any of it. Her Grandpa Jack danced around behind me trying so hard to get her attention, as I waited to snap the shutter. She found it uninteresting. Looking precious in her Baby Gap rosy pink dress she was a firey mess with puckered lips and hot tears rolling down her cheeks.
We finally let it be that she wasn’t going to smile for us and I’ve finally met my match in the stubborn category. She won. And of course, 15 minutes later, in her uncle’s arms she was fine with it all…happy and content, smiling up a storm.
by Abbey
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by Abbey
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