Photography bookings made through a personal assistant

Assistants do a great deal of invisible work: finding suppliers, checking dates and keeping an executive's calendar. Photography is one of many tasks they handle. A short written arrangement keeps the booking safe for everyone.

This guide is part of our overview of booking event photography and agreeing the scope.

Who is the client?

The client is the person or organisation that the photography is for and that takes on the obligations under the quotation. The assistant acts for the client. This sounds obvious, but it is easy to lose track when messages come from the assistant's email and the quotation is addressed to the client.

Say clearly who the client is, who the assistant is and how they are connected. If the client is a company, tell us the entity. Our guide on confirming the legal name on a quotation and invoice explains why this matters for payment. If you are booking for another person, our guide to booking a photographer on behalf of someone else also applies.

What may the assistant decide alone?

Draw a line before the booking. Many assistants can safely handle:

• sending the programme and venue details
• agreeing arrival logistics such as parking and entry points
• relaying contact details of other attendees
• answering questions about the schedule
• arranging calls

Anything outside the line goes back to the client. The line varies, and the client sets it. Tell us the line so we know when to ask for confirmation.

What needs the client's own approval?

Material changes need the client. These include:

1. The date, time and venue.
2. Coverage hours and the number of photographers.
3. What the client receives and when.
4. The total cost and payment arrangement.
5. Who may use the images and how.
6. Any change to the scope of the assignment.

If the assistant passes on a change, we ask for the client's confirmation in writing. This can be a short email or message. It protects the client from a change they did not intend and the assistant from being blamed for one. Our photography scope change log is a simple way to record what changed and who approved it.

How should approval work in practice?

Choose a method that suits the client. Some prefer a reply to an email. Others approve through a messaging app. Some want a short call with a note afterwards. Whichever you choose, record who approved, when, and what exactly was approved.

Avoid approvals that only exist as a conversation. If the client says yes on the phone, the assistant can send a one-line message afterwards: "Confirmed with the client by phone on 12 March: coverage to extend to 11pm." That line becomes the record. Our guide on what to record when a photographer agrees to a verbal change goes into detail.

An example scenario

For example, imagine a company director's assistant books photography for an anniversary dinner. The assistant handles the brief and the schedule. The director has said that cost, date and use of images need her own approval.

Two weeks before the event, the venue moves the start time by an hour. The assistant tells us and asks if we can adjust. We confirm availability and update the quotation, then ask for the director's written approval of the new time. The director replies by email, the assistant forwards it, and the record is complete.

What if the assistant is unavailable?

Assistants go on leave, change roles or are busy on the event day. Agree a backup contact before the event, with the limits of what that person may decide. Our guide on assigning a backup contact explains how, and the photography responsibility planner helps to list who does what.

What we confirm

We confirm the date, venue, crew, deliverables and quotation in writing, together with the names of the client and the assistant, and the list of decisions that need the client's approval. If instructions change, we update the record and tell both of you.