# Help!!!  Cant think of a name



## JohnTrav (Sep 19, 2012)

I Need help thinking of a name for a photography business. I can't think of anything and don't want to associate it with my actual name at all. 

Pretty much when I do jobs I don't want people actually knowing its my business. I just want them to know me as the photographer. 

Any help would be appreciated. 

So far I have names of:

City Line photography
No Name photography


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## Big Mike (Sep 19, 2012)

What type of photography will you be doing?  What/who is your primary demographic?  

What web addresses are available?  You don't have to match your website address and your company name, but it helps, especially if it's a nice simple name/address.
So if you really can't think of anything, try looking for available domain names and work backwards from there.


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## sm4him (Sep 19, 2012)

JohnTrav said:


> Pretty much when I do jobs I don't want people actually knowing its my  business.



:scratch:


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## tirediron (Sep 19, 2012)

sm4him said:


> :scratch:


This ^^ !  Out of curiosity, why do you not wanted to be personally associated with your business?  Unless you're doing some fairly technical discipline (medical/forensic photography), most photography is art of one sort or another and being known as the artist is usually beneficial.


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## JohnTrav (Sep 19, 2012)

Big Mike said:
			
		

> What type of photography will you be doing?  What/who is your primary demographic?
> 
> What web addresses are available?  You don't have to match your website address and your company name, but it helps, especially if it's a nice simple name/address.
> So if you really can't think of anything, try looking for available domain names and work backwards from there.



Thanks for the advise


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## JohnTrav (Sep 19, 2012)

tirediron said:
			
		

> This ^^ !  Out of curiosity, why do you not wanted to be personally associated with your business?  Unless you're doing some fairly technical discipline (medical/forensic photography), most photography is art of one sort or another and being known as the artist is usually beneficial.



When I was in business school i always learned not to associate your business name with your name. 

As far as what I want to do is some sports photography, nothing serious like pro games and stuff. I play competitive paintball too as you can see from my avatar so I would like to get paid to take pictures of that. 

Also would like to get into wedding photography and family parties. 

That is true about being known as the artist. I do want to get into some photo competitions but can't seem to find any in the Philly area. Weird but google hasn't shown me any yet. I'll have to keep looking. Maybe find some online ones. 

Another side note. I'm not too thrilled with my initials as a company name.


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## 2WheelPhoto (Sep 19, 2012)

Yes you need a name quick,


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## snowbear (Sep 19, 2012)

JohnTrav said:


> Pretty much when I do jobs I don't want people actually knowing its my business.


Delta Force Photography (the one they won't confirm or deny)?
Secret Squirrel Imagery?


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## tirediron (Sep 19, 2012)

JohnTrav said:


> ...When I was in business school i always learned not to associate your business name with your name...


Fair enough, but I don't believe that holds true in the artistic "professions".  My belief is that you want people know your name and recognize you as the person who created that image.


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## JohnTrav (Sep 19, 2012)

2WheelPhoto said:
			
		

> Yes you need a name quick, then you can move onto big watermark and a FB page



I know. I been thinking for a month of a name. And nothing yet


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## imagemaker46 (Sep 19, 2012)

So you're giving everything up and becoming a professional photographer, You are stumped because you can't come up with a name, but you don't want anyone to know that you are now a professional photographer, instead of what? I think I've read this post before. Wants to do weddings and sports photography, why am I not surprised, there is so much money to had in both, but not anything serious like professional sports.

How about  Sniper photography...I do head shots.  It's a wrap, problem solved.  

Dear Penthouse, I attend a small mid-western college and the other night my girlfriends room mate suggested we...


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## JohnTrav (Sep 19, 2012)

tirediron said:
			
		

> Fair enough, but I don't believe that holds true in the artistic "professions".  My belief is that you want people know your name and recognize you as the person who created that image.



I can always add a little signature to the company watermark with my name so they know I did the work. It is an artistic profession like you say.


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## cgipson1 (Sep 19, 2012)

JohnTrav said:


> 2WheelPhoto said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## JohnTrav (Sep 19, 2012)

snowbear said:
			
		

> Delta Force Photography (the one they won't confirm or deny)?
> Secret Squirrel Imagery?



I'll keep them in mind. Thanks


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## CCericola (Sep 19, 2012)

The national PPA and the several local affiliates in and around Philly constantly have competitions. As you win competitions or have a piece make it past the first round you earn merits towards a PPA masters cert. the masters cert can help you market your business.

Sent using PhotoForum


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## JohnTrav (Sep 19, 2012)

CCericola said:
			
		

> The national PPA and the several local affiliates in and around Philly constantly have competitions. As you win competitions or have a piece make it past the first round you earn merits towards a PPA masters cert. the masters cert can help you market your business.
> 
> Sent using PhotoForum



Thank you I will look in to that


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## sm4him (Sep 19, 2012)

I can't even pretend that I'm not still completely befuddled by this. I have a BSBA degree, with a major in marketing, but I still can't figure out why you wouldn't want your NAME associated with your photography business.  

However, I am not always in control of what my little brain decides to do, and today, while taking my mother to her doctor's appointment, my little brain decided it would be fun to think up names for this business.

AKA Photography (...Also Known As...)
Alias Photography
AP Photos (for Anonymous Photographer)
ICTYWIABTIHTKY Photography (I Could Tell You Who I Am, But Then I'd Have To Kill You)
Not Me Photography--just because it rhymes
Photos by Who
1PI (1 Photographer's Images)

...oh my goodness, I could go on.  

For some reason, this reminds me of how I picked the name of the first book I intend to write--it was one of those stupid FB games, but the result was so awesome, I decided I have to use it at some point.  You had to go to two different sites, hit random and then choose 2 or 3 words from a certain section of the resulting page.
This is how I came to title my future autobiography, "The Terrible Squirrel Cage of Life." :lmao:


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## Mitxil (Sep 19, 2012)

DO you do any particular type of photography?

-Mithil


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## ceejtank (Sep 19, 2012)

Reported mitxil as spam.


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## JohnTrav (Sep 19, 2012)

ceejtank said:
			
		

> Reported mitxil as spam.



Thanks


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## MLeeK (Sep 19, 2012)

I think the business association doesn't hold so true for artistic professions. BUT using your name doesn't mean you can't have a Pixel Photography as a part of it too... Here's the reasoning I have learned or come to over the years:
YOU are the artist. Think of this as you are creating priceless paintings. YOU create those paintings. YOU sign your name as the artist. YOU are always YOU. However, you may dabble in several genre's of art. Perhaps Oil painting-portraits, Acrylic Landscapes and Charcoal Nudes. You can then have Pretty Portraits by YOUR NAME which is totally different than Lovely Landscapes by YOUR NAME and totally different than Hot Nudes by YOUR NAME. Could even be different stores, websites, etc. 
In the photography business people tend to do more than one thing or at least for a while. They may even switch in the middle of their career. 
If you use YOUR name you go back to that you are always you thing. Your images belong and are branded to YOUR NAME. 
Now today you may be doing family portraits and plan to do that for the rest of your life. Fun Family Portraits may be a great name for today's plans. However, 5 years in you may discover all of a sudden that you want to be a wedding photographer. Fun Family Portraits no longer fits, nor does it fit the branding you want. However, if you were YOUR NAME you could simply now add in Elite Weddings by YOUR NAME. 

Furthermore-you are having a hard time deciding on a name that "fits" right now. If you sieze on "mustang sally photos" today, you may wonder what the hell you were thinking in a couple of years. Especially if you are young at this point. You WILL evolve. 
Why do I say this? Because I did it when I started. I had a cute as heck name. Thankfully we were military at the time and when we moved from state to state I had to start over and got out of the cute name. My business is registered under my name. I also now have 2 "add on" names to distitnguish my different work-sports and weddings/portraits. MUCH happier with that decision!

That was really long and probably not what you wanted to hear, but it's my 2cents on the thought. 

Whatever you choose today be aware of the future. Don't use words that will be associated with something cheap-I know quite a few people who used the word photo in their business name and hate it now. Imagery, Pictures, Pix... all seem to be regrets I run into.


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## CCericola (Sep 19, 2012)

Having the name if his business something other than his name maybe helpful if he intends to hire other photographers. I'm sure there is no Mr. Lifetouch or Miss. PicturePeople. He could end up having a large staff of photographers for a successful sports/events photography company. So I can see the why. Try Wordlab | company names product names naming service It is a great free resource for names, slogans, etc...


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## MLeeK (Sep 19, 2012)

CCericola said:


> Having the name if his business something other than his name maybe helpful if he intends to hire other photographers. I'm sure there is no Mr. Lifetouch or Miss. PicturePeople. He could end up having a large staff of photographers for a successful sports/events photography company. So I can see the why. Try Wordlab | company names product names naming service It is a great free resource for names, slogans, etc...



Definitely a good point!


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## MK3Brent (Sep 19, 2012)

What The Foto? DOT COM!


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## MLeeK (Sep 19, 2012)

MK3Brent said:


> What The Foto? DOT COM!


Sung in the voice of Peanut...


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## MK3Brent (Sep 19, 2012)

Photo-RuhRoh.com!


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## WPH (Sep 19, 2012)

I know this covers coming up with domain names. But it's actually really good for business names as well. There are lots of really useful tools to get a lot of business name ideas quickly. 

How to Hack a Dominating Domain Name for Your Website | SEOmoz

Cheers

Peter

Wedding Photography Hive


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## JohnTrav (Sep 20, 2012)

Thanks for the input everyone.


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