What Are Location Fees in Family Photography?

As you’re reading about professional family photography you may come across the term ‘location fees’ and you may have wondered what this means. Is it a fee for using the location, or is it an entrance fee to the property?

In this article I’ll explain what this term means, and how it may impact where you can and cannot have your family photo shoot.

What are location fees?

As lifestyle photography has become increasingly popular, many public spaces have become overcrowded with photographers at weekends.

For this reason many public and private locations have introduced location fees, or the requirement for photographers to hold a permit before a shoot.

Some locations may also place a time limit on the shoot. For example, you can apply for a permit for access for one hour on a given date.

Other locations prohibit commercial photography all together.

Do these fees only apply to family photo shoots?

No, location fees apply to all commercial photography – whether you’re having photographs taken for your wedding, an engagement shoot, maternity shoot or you work for a brand or magazine and are planning a photo shoot.

Who pays the location fees – me or the photographer?

Who pays the location fees depends on which photographer you work with. Some may cover the location fee as part of the session fee, others may require you to pay it yourself.

My approach is to cover the location fee as part of my session fee. If you’ve chosen a location where the fee is prohibitively expensive and won’t be covered by my session fee I’ll let you know about this up front.

You can see my family photography session fees here.

Are location fees the same as entrance fees?

No, the location fee is usually separate from the entrance fee. So, if a location charges an entrance fee you may need to pay this fee to get in.

For example, when I photograph families at a National Trust site, they will need to pay the entrance fee if they are not National Trust members. This is an extra cost to the location fee which I would have paid.

Over to you

I hope that this article has helped to explain what location fees are.

If you have any other questions about choosing a location for your photo shoot please do get in touch. I’d love to hear from you.