topic Re: Managing a small photography team is harder than the actual photography in General Discussion

Managing a small photography team is harder than the actual photography

mohsin025 — Fri, 22 May 2026 07:12:39 GMT

Honestly the shooting part I have figured out. Lenses, lighting, post processing, all of that feels natural now. What caught me off guard was the moment I brought two people on board full time.

Suddenly I'm dealing with who showed up for the early morning corporate shoot, who left early, whether the editor actually put in the hours they billed for. I was keeping track in my head for longer than I should admit.

A friend suggested looking into a proper time attendance management system instead of the notebook and gut feeling approach I had going. Ended up trying Vertex HCM and the honest truth is I wish I had done it six months earlier. Not because it's fancy but because it just got that one thing off my plate completely.

Anyone else here running a small team and went through the same mess before figuring out a system that actually worked?

Re: Managing a small photography team is harder than the actual photography

Tintype_18 — Fri, 22 May 2026 12:53:01 GMT

I was in a management position with four employees. Never again. I know of too many people in an ownership position or management who had ulcers.

Re: Managing a small photography team is harder than the actual photography

ebiggs1 — Sun, 24 May 2026 14:20:24 GMT

I only hired people per job usually one or two. We did the job, got paid and parted until perhaps they were needed and available for the next. BTW, another thing the novice photographer doesn't know is how little time you spend actually shooting the job compared to the editing work in Photoshop afterwards. I'd say ten to one.

Re: Managing a small photography team is harder than the actual photography

mohsin025 — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 10:43:07 GMT

Team scheduling in photography hits differently because shoot dates, editing windows, and availability all move simultaneously without a predictable pattern.

ran into the same wall and ended up implementing a time attendance management system through Vertex HCM after manual tracking started creating billing inconsistencies between actual hours worked and client invoices. Separating the attendance and hours layer from the project management tools made both work considerably better.

The people management problem and the project management problem sound identical until you try solving them with one tool and discover they are not.

What is causing most friction right now: availability tracking or last-minute schedule changes?

Re: Managing a small photography team is harder than the actual photography

SignifDigits — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 20:31:51 GMT

Interesting problem - let us know what you find. Here's someone that evaluated 5 free time tracking solutions with their feedback on Reddit. Might be useful? https://www.reddit.com/r/ProductivityApps/comments/1kn3s41/i_tested_5_free_time_tracking_tools_so_you_dont/

Re: Managing a small photography team is harder than the actual photography

ebiggs1 — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 15:11:32 GMT

"What caught me off guard was the moment I brought two people on board full time."

You are mostly talking second shooters? Or, are you sending them out to do jobs on their own? I never did that as I only needed second shooters. I did all the post editing myself.

I have a friend, well let's say anaquantence, that did hire some folks to help. His business did grow a lot. Eventually wound up never shooting anything himself again as he was busy managing the people and jobs. That's not for me.

My niece worked for him and took over his business when he retired. She is now back to doing it just by herself.