BFA

What BFA does

BFA is a global event photography, videography, and social media services company headquartered in New York City, founded in 2010 by four photographers — Joe Schildhorn, David X Prutting, Billy Farrell, and Neil Rasmus. The firm provides on-site event coverage including photography, videography, social media content, drone, photo booth, and video services to clients ranging from emerging fashion brands and artists to blue-chip tech firms and super-luxury brands, with a separate BFA Weddings studio handling destination weddings worldwide. The company operates from offices in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Paris, and Milan, with trained assignment photographers stationed in each market.

The underlying technology is built around professional DSLR and mirrorless camera systems with digital capture, supplemented by a proprietary web platform that licenses an archive of over 3 million publicly available images accumulated over a decade of coverage. The platform includes a download pricing module, watermarked image previews, a tag-subscription notification system, and shopping-cart checkout. Additional technical capabilities include custom visual effects (VFX) such as green-screen compositing for campaign videos and virtual product prototypes for pitch meetings, as well as post-production, motion graphics, and multi-camera live-feed services.

BFA's business model combines project-based professional services with recurring and transactional digital revenue. Hourly bookings for event photography and videography have no minimum, with higher rates applied to sub-hour engagements. Recurring revenue is generated through subscription tiers — Casual at $20/month, plus Socialite and Enterprise tiers — while transactional revenue comes from per-image licensing and pre-packaged photo bundles (5/10/25 packs with volume discounts). The company also operates a dedicated wedding studio as a sub-brand. The firm is organized as BFA NYC, LLC, remains founder-owned, and discloses no institutional funding or ownership changes in the available data.

Name

BFA

Legal name

BFA NYC, LLC

Website

https://bfa.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

BFA is a global event photography, videography, and social media services firm founded in 2010. It serves fashion brands, blue-chip tech firms, luxury brands, and weddings from offices in NYC, LA, Miami, London, Paris, and Milan.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Event Photography Services

NAICS

Commercial Photography (541922), Photography Studios, Portrait (541921)

SIC

Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330), Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)

akta.pro primary industry

Party Photography & Videography Services (HSACACAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Reception Planning & Guest Experience (Seating, Favors, Hospitality) (HSACABAM), Corporate Catering, Staffing & Guest Services (F&B, Security, Ushers) (MPAGAHAM)

Keywords

• Event photography services
• Videography production services
• Image licensing platform
• Wedding photography studio
• Social media content services

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Event Photography & Videography Services: Hire BFA photographers and videographers for events. Pricing based on hourly rates with higher rates for bookings of one hour or less. No hourly minimum required.
2. Subscription Plans: Monthly subscription tiers: Casual ($20/mo) includes 20 photos, 1 project, 1 user. Socialite tier available. Enterprise tier for custom pricing.
3. Image Licensing: Over 3 million publicly available images can be licensed. Rates are generated through the download pricing module when previewing images or adding to cart. Also offers PR USAGE editorial rights package for distribution to press outlets.
4. Photo Packs: Pre-packaged image bundles available in 5, 10, or 25 packs with volume discounts (save $10, $20, $100 respectively).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

BFA provides professional event photography, videography, and social media services for brands and private clients, with complete event coverage including drone, photo booth and video. The company also operates an image licensing business, licensing access to an archive of over 3 million images built over 10 years, and runs a full-service wedding photography studio under the BFA Weddings sub-brand.

Product overview

BFA is a global event photography, videography, and social media services company founded in 2010. The company offers a comprehensive suite of visual content services through two primary offerings: photography services (portrait photography, product/e-commerce photography, event photography, and wedding photography) and video services (social video campaigns, post production, motion graphics, VFX, fashion films, corporate communications, and documentaries). BFA operates an image licensing business with an archive of over 3 million images. The company also provides subscription plans (Casual, Socialite, Enterprise) and a la carte photo packs for ongoing access to content. BFA maintains offices in New York City and Los Angeles, with trained photographers stationed in Miami, London, Paris, and Milan.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• BFA Weddings: A full service wedding studio operating as a distinct brand under BFA, with offices in NYC and LA and specialization in destination weddings worldwide.

Products and services

• Event Photography Professional event photography for public and private events, large and small; the original service line established by BFA's four photographer founders in 2010.
• Video Services Professional video production including social video campaigns, post production, multi-camera live-feed, motion graphics, VFX, commercials, fashion films, corporate communications, documentaries and studio shoots.
• Portrait Photography Professional portrait photography offered as an alternative to traditional headshots, created on-site at events with minimal production.
• Product Photography / E-commerce Commercial product photography for e-commerce and marketing purposes.
• Custom Visual Effects (VFX) Visual effects services including virtual product prototypes for pitch meetings and green screen technology for campaign videos.
• Image Licensing Licensing of BFA's archive of over 3 million publicly available images built over 10 years, with retainers and per-image pricing through the BFA.com storefront and [email protected].
• BFA Weddings Full-service wedding photography studio with photographers in NYC and LA, specializing in destination weddings worldwide, with package add-ons including Drone, Photo Booth and Video services.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Editorial News OutletscoreOthersBFA serves as a trusted image source for many of the world's leading editorial news outlets. Images are distributed to press for editorial coverage.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• AKM Images: Event and celebrity photography agency covering fashion, entertainment, and corporate events. Closely comparable editorial distribution and high-volume event coverage model to BFA.
• Splash News: Celebrity and event photo agency with editorial licensing distribution. Comparable event-photo capture and news-outlet licensing motion to BFA's PR USAGE rights package.
• WireImage: Editorial photo agency (now part of Getty Images) covering entertainment, fashion, and event photography with archive licensing. Directly comparable to BFA's editorial distribution and image-licensing business.
• Christian Oth Studio: High-end wedding and event photography studio with destination coverage. Comparable to BFA Weddings on the wedding side and to BFA's luxury event photography on the commercial side.
• Patrick McMullan Company: Long-standing New York-based event and celebrity photography agency serving fashion, entertainment, and society clients. Closely comparable to BFA in editorial distribution, premium clientele, and event-coverage focus.
• Billy Farrell Agency: Event photography brand historically associated with one of BFA's co-founders (Billy Farrell). Operates in the same fashion, luxury, and event editorial space as BFA with overlapping client types.

Others

• PhotoShelter: Portfolio, archive, and e-commerce platform built for professional photographers. Comparable to BFA's licensing storefront and archive infrastructure as an enabling technology peer.

Broad incumbents

• Getty Images Editorial: Largest global editorial and stock imagery platform with deep event coverage and licensing infrastructure. Overlaps with BFA's editorial image licensing but operates at substantially larger scale across all categories.
• Shutterstock Editorial: Broad stock and editorial imagery platform with subscription and licensing offerings. Comparable to BFA's image licensing and subscription model, though BFA's archive is event-curated and premium-focused.

Emerging players

• Junebug Weddings: Wedding photography marketplace and editorial platform. Comparable to BFA Weddings on the wedding-discovery and vendor-presentation side, though focused on marketing rather than direct service delivery.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/bfanyc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bfa-nyc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about BFA