Buddies and Photography

[bladephotog]

" the 600 is too much for you... just send it over to me.. i want to go to africa for a photo trip..."


Sure it's in the mail. ;-)

 

[bladephotog]

Gosh, my Ike housing is so neutral...course I haven't slapped the 8" on yet, I hear its bouyant. In general though, I love diving with a camera out in front of me, like a little scooter. And I feel so much more brave around sharks having that WA lense to duck behind...pretend everything is further away, you know?

I want the 8" port! WAAAAA, I am broke.

It's neutral with the strobes. It does want to roll upward. But it's has a big surface area to push. However, it handles fine so far.

And Ron is right about the taxes. I have to show a profit this year since I wrote off just about everything I spent on scuba last year and took a loss on my freelance stuff the year before. The pressure's on!

 

[PaulChristenson]

When Murphy joins you, then clip off the camera and become a buddy. When the vis drops to where you have to be shoulder to shoulder with your buddy, your buddy skills become the priority. When it comes to taking pictures - at least for me, that is a secondary reason for the dive. When the person that I'm diving with needs my full attention - the camera gets put away.
Situational awareness for me with someone like Uncle Pug means that I know at all times how he is doing and where he is at. I can tell this by how he uses his light or how his strobe is flashing. I can tell how much gas he is using at any point during the dive. Our last dive when we surfaced I told him he had finished with 900 psi. I was right on the mark and I never looked at his spg.

FWIW - I can be a great buddy and still take good pictures.

I was wondering what sort of camera you use for taking those pictures in zero vis????
You know the shoulder-to-shoulder dive conditions...

 

[Jamdiver]

I was wondering what sort of camera you use for taking those pictures in zero vis????
You know the shoulder-to-shoulder dive conditions...

Take a look at Warren L's rig, housed dslr with strobes set very far apart...

 

[PaulChristenson]

wow, OEX2, you guys even dress in the same outfits!

Wrong...

They have different color gloves...

Maybe this is why you won't be DIR...lack of attention to details...:sofa:

Me...I'm just too lazy...

 

[PaulChristenson]

So - If you guys want to sell some prints... Why don't you mat and frame a few good ones, and send them to my store. We'll sell them, and then... Boom! Your a professional (legally that is in the eyes of Uncle Sam)

Except the photographers have to show a profit (i.e. taxable income in excess of costs) or the IRS will define it as a hobby and disallow all your deductions and then penalize you big time...:icon10:

About the only profession that you can lose money in regularly and still continue to deduct, is FARMING...

 

[PaulChristenson]

hey...where did that come from?....I just wanna be famous here on SB

Famous or infamous???? :sofa:

 

[Cacia]

Paul, are you saying they will dissallow retroactively? and penalize? guess its a good thing I haven't done it yet.

 

[HowardE]

Except the photographers have to show a profit (i.e. taxable income in excess of costs) or the IRS will define it as a hobby and disallow all your deductions and then penalize you big time...:icon10:

About the only profession that you can lose money in regularly and still continue to deduct, is FARMING...

Ok... to further explain - The purchase of photography equipment is categorized as the purchase of assets held by the business... These are not expenses, and are depreciable each year, as a "fixed asset" of the company. These don't go against profit and loss.

What does count towards profit and loss (as I understand it is)

The photo paper, framing, and other purchases which go to the actual printing and selling of the photos - is a purchase of "inventory" which is a "current asset"

So let's say you spend $20 (just for round numbers) to print, mat, and frame a photo. You sell the photos for $40.

Sale of items $40 - Cost of goods sold (20) = $20 profit

The photo sales are easy profit even if you only mark up 20-40% instead of a full 2X markup on the COG.

In other words. You don't need to cover the "expense" of the equipment over the short term to make a technical profit on paper.

You also don't need to make A LOT of money... just $1 over COG is profit when you factor out the cost of equipment vs. cost of goods being sold which is the photos themselves. The camera and printer is the equipment you need to make the goods, and is not really an expense.


Also - in my case. I own 2 seperate companies that DO make a profit. I could easily add the photography biz as a division of my other business, and that's that.

 

[PaulChristenson]

Ok... to further explain - The purchase of photography equipment is categorized as the purchase of assets held by the business... These are not expenses, and are depreciable each year, as a "fixed asset" of the company. These don't go against profit and loss.

If you have set up a business then you are facing double taxation ---
The dollars coming into the business are taxed and your income as an employee is then taxed again!!!!

MDs that tried the individual incorporation route with the double taxation to protect private assets discovered this and the trial lawyers were still able to pierce the corporate veil in malpractice cases and still attach the individual assets, which is why you don't find as many private corporations as you used to in medicine...