"Your Name Here" Photography or "Catchy Name" Photography?

[Jamzano]

I am curious what peoples opinions are on naming your photography business. Do you like the business name to contain the photographers name or be a creative and catchy name that gives potential clients an idea of what type of photography specialized in?

In an effort to come up with a name for my future photography have been down both roads and have been unable to come up with something that jumps out to me and says "That's it!" Part of my problem is my last name is on the long side and many people have a hard time pronouncing it. My last name is Valenzano and I cant begin to tell you how many times in my life people have seen my name and called me Valentino or Valenzuela or some other multi syllabic name that starts with "Val". I fear if I incorporate my last name into my business name people will either be unable to remember my last name or they will be unable to spell it and they will never find my website.

[sk66]

I don't know of a single big time pro who uses some "catchy name" for their business. (I could easily be wrong) They might have something different than their business name for their website url, but that's not quite the same thing.

[fofazoju]

I am not a fan of "catchy names" and yes, it is a bit predictable to have "your name photography" (Thats what I have!) but, it IS your work and I believe your work should have your name all over it. Imagine Picasso signed his work, "Cube That Art" or something. I dont know, I just like the names

And Mr. Venuezala (haha , I understand your name is hard to remember, but it will catch on. And what people will begin to associate your name with is, "that really long V name" BUT they will still remember it. My name is CONSTANTLY misspelled but, it is what it is. People are just getting too lazy to remember, so nothing you can do about that.

If it bothers you that much, what is your first name? Could you do like Carl V Photography??

[mshockley]

Agreed with above. I know the last name Shockley (mine) doesn't sound too hard (at least not to me) but people screw it up all the time, and that's okay, because they come up with some funny stuff, and that's how they remember me, so I decided rather than fight it I would just go with it.

I've read time and again that "yourname" photography seems to be the way to go.

[McB!]

I feel your pain. My last name is 'McBlane,' which sounds simple enough, but more often than not people fail to realise there's an 'L' in there. And don't even get me started on spelling. No one ever gets it right.

Having said that, I agree with the comments above. I think having your own name connected to the business is the way to go. In the long run, having an unique or exotic-sounding last name might even be beneficial. Your business is at least going to sound more appealing than John Smith Photography or something similar. I think Valenzano is a cool last name.

[asoupley]

Soupley here... for some reason, people like to pronounce it “Supley”... when I get frustrated, I usually say something like: “that’s right, just like Chicken Noodle Sup” 

[dakwegmo]

Zack Arias's photography studio used to be called Used Film Studios but he is currently in the process of moving everything under his own name. It seems to me that if an established photographer, with a pretty cool business name, is going through all of this trouble to move his business under his own name this late in the game, it would be prudent for a new photographer (especially one with hopes of becoming a big name) to start out using your own name. At the very least, it could save you some trouble re-branding later on down the road.

[OsmosisStudios]

I go under OsmosisStudios because I dont just do photography: I do some graphics and web work as well. It's also because my last name is notoriously hard to spell (and long).

[Jim Poor]

Moose Peterson has "Wildlife Research Photography," however, if you type moosepeterson.com, you get there too.

Artie Morris has Birds As Art. No combination of his name in a URL that I know of will get you to him.

I have "The Dog Sport Photographer" and "Canines In Art" as two sub-genres of "Jim Poor Photography. jimpoor.com gets you to me as do caninesinart.com and thedogsportphotographer.com along with ciadogs and a host of others.

James Morrissey has Wild Cayote Studios.

Zack Arias has Used Film Studios (probably the best known name on this list outside of the wildlife world). zackarias.com or zarias.com will get you to him.

It all comes down to what you like, and what will get you noticed.

[Jim Poor]

Oh and as far as spelling of names goes; "My name is Jim Poor, just like no money."

You'd be surprised how many people still can't get it right.