PhotoStockNotes, June 2003

DO YOU MANAGE YOURSELF WISELY?

Advance Notes: "Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday." -Don Marquis. Here are some management tips that will help you avoid the dreaded "procrastination."

A reader wrote last month, "I have great pictures, and I know exactly which photo editor’s desk they should be on at this moment. The only thing standing in the way of my seeing my credit line in national circulation is procrastination."

Photography is a business, and by applying the same management techniques that are used by successful businesses, you can move forward in 2003. Here are some self-management principles for the small-business entrepreneur:

GET IT DONE. It’s easy to slip into the habit of narcotizing yourself with the evening news or a sitcom. (I haven’t watched a TV news program since 1995. I rely on weekly news magazines for my information on current issues.) Change your habits in 2003. Buy a $5.95 quartz alarm to beep the same time every evening to remind you and others in your household that it’s "Photo Marketing Time."

SPECIALIZE. Creative people often do themselves in because they are interested in many areas. Choose a select few of your high interest areas and specialize. You’ll become known as a valuable resource to specific photobuyers in these areas.

ASK AROUND. Don’t reinvent the wheel. There’s a goldmine of information waiting for you out there to tap, for example on our bulletin board, The Kracker Barrel. Or, with the entrepreneur next door who’s already been there. He knows the pitfalls and the obstacles, especially if he’s failed. Everyone loves to be an expert. Weigh his opinions against others, and then come to a consensus. If you don’t want to consult a local competitor, phone someone in another similar-sized city that is travelling the same highway.

ELIMINATE THE LOSERS. Take time to analyze what’s working for you and what’s not. Parts of your business are moneymakers, others are not. Don’t let sentiment or the tired phrase, "We’ve always done it this way," drag you down.

LOOK LIKE A PRO. Too many photographers feel that because their product is good, it should sell. Not so. A "better mousetrap" will not insure your product’s success. Employ delivery techniques of the 21st century. You don’t get a second chance at a first impression. If you want first class treatment from your photo editors, give them first class treatment. Invest in deluxe stationary, labels, and (white) mailing cartons. Get into the digital area.

DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Jumping in with two feet and enthusiasm is fun and romantic, but unless you’ve checked to see if water is in the pool, you’re in for some disappointments. If your enthusiasm is still high after you’ve done your research, you’ve got a winner.

UNDERSTANDING MARKETING. Your product will sell if you position yourself effectively. Super umbrellas won’t sell on sunny day, but poor ones will sell easily in the rain. Your success in the next millennium will be built on not only your photography’s worth to a customer, but your ability to find that customer’s needs and fill them.

RELAX. Some of your best self-management comes when you are not managing yourself. Develop a deep interest in some hobby or pastime that has no relationship to your photography business. You’ll find the time spent away from your enterprise will afford you a fresh approach and new insights.

BE BUDGET-MINDED. You’ll see your credit line in national circulation if you have the cash flow available to pay the photographic, office, and Internet bills. Don’t fall into the Madison Avenue trap of buying a new car, new clothes, new office equipment, over the counter drugs, high-calorie ‘goodies’, and other creature comforts that are supposed to make your life fulfilling. If you donate your cash to these dollar-gobblers, you have no excuse to say, "the cost of getting into photo marketing is too high."

FAIL BUT DON’T QUIT. Are you afraid you are not going to make it? Fear of failing is one of the greatest deterrents to beginners in the photo-marketing field. That’s why not too many succeed; they never get up after they’ve been knocked down. Most successful people in any field have failed many times. The difference between them and the ones who fail is that the ones who "make it" never quit. Many of the success stories are still in business not because they are extra good, but because the rest of the competition gave up and quit.

PLAY NOT WORK. There’s a saying; "The luckiest people sweat the most." Yes, it’s going to mean long hours. But don’t translate that to mean work. If you love what you’re doing, it’s mostly play. Choose your area of photography by first asking yourself, "What area of photography do I love most?" Then find if there’s a market for photos in that interest area. If there is, it’ll be mostly play.

START TODAY. Most people spend their time preparing, rather than doing. "One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, four to get ready, five to get ready…" Take the leap. Start today.

Rohn Engh is director of PhotoSource International and publisher of PhotoStockNotes. Pine Lake Farm, Osceola, WI 54020 USA Email: info@photosource.com Fax: 1 715 248 7394. Web site: www.photosource.com .

WEBSITE PRICING

Advance Notes: Picasso once said, "You can sell a painting for $25 or you can sell it for $25,000. It just depends on how long you want to wait." When it comes to website pricing, however, you don't have the luxury of waiting. Here's one method you can use to base your fees on, that will dependably put your fees within the range of the industry norm.

WEBSITE PRICING of your photos is easy if you use what I call the "One Dollar" formula. It applies to both editorial and commercial markets.

A client asks, "What do you charge for website use?"

Answer the question with your own question, "How many visitors (actual visitors, not number of hits) does your site get each day?"

This question may stump them, and they may admit, "I don’t know." But you can easily look like the expert when you return with, "Just a minute, I’ll let you know."

Using the free software from www.Alexa.com (a company owned by Amazon.com) you call up Alexa.com. Next: type in the URL of your client’s company. When the Alexa page comes up, click on the button that says "Site Info." Alexa’s assessment of the site will come up.

The statistics on the Alexa page will show you the owner and address of the company (you can spout that back to the client also, for verification). Also included: the number of "Alexa visitors" the client gets each day. Alexa has its own complex formula for determining the visitor number, but it’s generally based on a percentage of the total hits a website receives each day. Example: the client’s site receives 7500 hits per day; Alexa estimates the site gets 1500 actual visitors (about one-fifth the total number of hits).

THE ONE-DOLLAR FORMULA

Now that you’ve determined this figure, you are ready to apply my One Dollar formula. You’ll find that most inquirers who contact you wanting a photo to use on the Web, are interested in acquiring a photo for their Home Page, and my Dollar Formula applies to this usage. If your client currently receives 300 daily visitors, you will charge them $300 per year ($1 per visitor). If they receive 3,000 visitors per day, you will charge them $3,000 per year, or $250 per month, which is probably within their standard advertising budget.

If a client is just starting out and has no stats available yet at Alexa, your response can be: "Who are your competitors? Can I assume you plan to keep up with them? Let’s see what they are getting in the way of daily visitors."

MULTIPLE USES

Some companies may want to use a number of your photos at different places throughout their website. In this case it’s discount time. The annual fee for the initial, primary photo will remain the same, but for the additional photos, divide the annual fee by the number of extra photos they plan to use. This will give you a per photo fee to charge.

For example, say a client fits the $3,000 annual fee category for the initial photo, and they want to use five more of your photos on their site. Dividing $3,000 by 5 results in a $600 annual fee ($50 per month) for each of the other five photos; $250 total per month added to the original $250 per month, making their monthly fee $500. You might find it necessary to make some bargaining concessions. One of your advantages is that graphic designers often will want to use just one photographer's work when using multiple images, to insure a consistency of style throughout the website. It may be good politics to adjust your price for volume purchase.

DISCOUNTS?

Also, in some cases you may want to offer a 6-month contract, rather than a full year. Conversely, you may want to offer a two-year rate if they pay in advance.

For non-profit organizations that might have a high visitor count but a low budget, be prepared to make adjustments. In such a case, your credit line prominently displayed could prove to be of useful promotional advantage for you, compensating for a lower fee.

Note: Alexa.com provides a tool bar for your browser that you can install (free) in a matter of minutes. At the bottom of Alexa’s site, click on "Download the Alexa Toolbar." The toolbar will ride along with your browser for ready information each time you talk with a client.

Rohn Engh is director of PhotoSource International and publisher of PhotoStockNotes. Pine Lake Farm, Osceola, WI 54020 USA Email: info@photosource.com. Fax: 1 715 248-7394. Web site: www.photosource.com

Gone Fishin'

If you're a person who loves fishing, you know that when a warm coaxing breeze urges you to come sit on the bank of a lazy river or in a rowboat on a lake stocked with walleye, you have to grit your teeth to resist. Your salaried position won't allow you such luxuries. Duty calls. Small office/home office workers carry a passport in their pocket that's unavailable to corporate workers. It's a ticket that says, "Gone Fishin'."

It's a Post-It-Note they tack up on their office door that says, "Gone Fishin'". Downsizing in corporate America is having a beneficial effect on many Americans, who, when faced with early retirement or losing their jobs, thought the end was near. But they discovered a beginning, one they probably never would have experienced if they hadn't been forced into a position where they had to strike out on their own.

The beauty of being an independent stock photographer is that you can have the best of both worlds. As a photographer supplying photos to the specialized editorial market of your choice, you can justify the time you spend at your favorite venue, whether it be a dog show, horse race, antique aviation meet, or fly fishing. You are always working, -and enjoying it.

Entrepreneurs know that leaving corporate America and striking out on their own is not always a paradise. But when demands and pressures begin to mount, they know they can get the fishin' pole out of the closet, pick up their fishing tackle and camera bag, and go out to the river and do some research. -RE

FLASHBACK

1850 – First photograph of a star (other than the sun): Vega, which was made at Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 17^th, by Whipple, a professional photographer. A 15-inch telescope was used as a camera lens and a daguerreotype plate was set up at the eye end.

LOVE NOTES

"Your latest 2003 survey – good job! Without belittling previous surveys, this one is by far the most informative in my view. The photobuyer comments are numerous and to the point. The web site comments were particularly helpful."

- Don Geyer, Photographer, Renton WA

"Always look forward to getting the next PhotoRESEARCHER Newsletter."

David Mclintyre, Photo Researcher, Sunderland MA

- Brett R. Henry, brett@bretthenryphotography.com, Photographer, Burbank, CA

CHANGES

LEARNER PUBLISHING GROUP (241 First Ave N, Minneapolis, MN 55401) former contact and e-mail: Rebecca Kluber, Photo Researcher, rkluber@leanerbooks.com ; current contact and e-mail: Ann Waldusky, Photo Researcher, awaldusky@lernerbooks.com .

FLORIDA WILDLIFE (620 S Meridian St., Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600) has ceased publication.

MENASHA RIDGE PRESS (2000 1^st Ave N Ste 1400, Birmingham, AL 35203-4125) former contact and e-mail: Ann Marie Healy, Creative Director, ahealy@menasharidge.com ; current contact and e-mail: Gaby Oates, Photo Researcher, goates@menasharidge.com .

PHILLIP JOHNSON ASSOCIATES (12 Arrow St, Cambridge, MA 02138) former contact and e-mail: Matt Thorsen, mthorsen@agencypja.com ; current contact and e-mail: Ken Denorscia, kdenorcia@agencypja.com .

OUTDOOR CANADA (340 Ferrier St Ste 210, Markham, Ontario L3R 2Z5, Canada) former contact and e-mail: David Wilson, Art Director, Wilson@outdoorCanada.ca; current contact and e-mail: Rob Biron, Art Director, biron@outdoorCanada.ca .

REI ADVENTURES ( 6750 S 228^th St, Kent, WA 98032) former contact: Joe Staiano, Operations Manager; current contact and e-mail: Andy Kronen, kronen@rei.com .

THE POSTCARD FACTORY (2801 John St, Markham, Ontario, L3R 2Y8, Canada) former contact and e-mail: Steven Baine, Special Projects Coordinator, stevebaine@postcardfactory.com ; current contact and e-mail: Grace Koo, Special Projects Coordinator, gracekoo@postcardfactory.com .

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY (40 Staffordshire Ln, Concord, MA 01742) Contact person Sharon Donahue, Photo Editor. Former e-mail: sharonahue@worldnet.att.net ; current e-mail: Sharon.donahue3@verizon.net .

SUNSET MAGAZINE (80 Willow Rd, Menlo Park, CA 94107) former phone: 1 415 321-3600; current phone: 1 650 321-3600.

PACE COMMUNICATIONS (1301 Carolina St, Greensboro, NC 27401-1022) former phone and fax: 1 336 378-6065, 1 336 275-2864; current phone and fax: 1 336 383-5658, 1 336 383-5699.

TRAVEL AGENT MAGAZINE (100 W 88^th St #2D, New York, NY 10024) former contact and e-mail: Joshua Bucklan, Photo Editor, jbucklan@advanstar.com ; current contact and e-mail: Charlie Doherty, Photo Eidtor, cdoherty@advanstar.com .

NEWBRIDE EDICATIONAL PUBLISHING, former address, phone and fax: 333 E 38^th St 8^th Fl, New York, NY 10016, 1 212 652-0238, 1 212 867-5968; current address, phone and fax: 11 E 26^th St, New York, NY 10010, 1 212 478-1706, 1 212 478-1771.

COMPLETE WOMAN (875 N Michigan Ave Ste 3434, Chicago, IL 60611) former contact and e-mail: Mary Munro, Art Director, Assocpub@aol.com ; current contact and e-mail: Scott Oldham, Art Director, Oldham@associatedpub.com .

GENSLER (1625 Broadway #400, Denver, CO 80202-4725) former contact and e-mail: Cathy Crabtree, Graphics Designer, cathy_crabtree@gensler.com ; current contact: Amy Siegel, Graphics Designer.

INNOVATIVE PRINTING (P.O. Box 190-6 Ironbridge Dr, Collegeville, PA 19426-2045) former contact and e-mail: Helen Kerns, Photo Researcher, hkerns@innoprint.com ; current contact and e-mail: Bob Pearson, Photo Researcher, bpearson@innoprint.com .

COPYRIGHT

As with all areas of intellectual property, copyright issues in photography often boil down to, "What can I protect?" and "What can I prevent others from using?" But in many ways, photography is unique. In contrast to works of music, literature and other visual arts, photographs contain relatively objective depictions of real world subject matter. Because photographs generally are not created from "whole cloth" -- but include subject matter that is in the public domain, owned by others, or not protected by copyright -- copyright in photographs is often not as broadly protective. In other words, it is "thinner," than other works of art.

A recent decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals illustrates the limitations in protecting real world elements in photographs ((Ets-Hokin v. Skyy Spirits, Inc., 323 F.3d 763 ((9^th Cir. 2003)). Ets-Hokin was retained by Skyy Spirits to photograph its vodka bottle for advertising. Ets-Hokin delivered three photos, each containing a side-lit Skyy Vodka bottle displayed in front of a plain white or yellow backdrop. Instead of using these images, Skyy hired and used similar images from other photographers. Ets-Hokin sued, alleging that the newer images infringed his copyright.

Initially Skyy claimed that Ets-Hokin had no independent copyright in the images separable from Skyy’s underlying right in the bottles. But three years ago, the Court held that Ets-Hokin’s many photographic judgments made his images sufficiently "original" to be copyrightable.

Although Ets-Hokin won the earlier battle, he recently lost the war. In March, the Court ruled that even though his images had copyright protection, the newer images were not infringing, as a matter of law, and dismissed his lawsuit.

The Court specifically found that the newer images were very similar to Ets-Hokin’s. But the similarity arose because both images shot a similar real world object -- the Skyy bottle -- that was unprotected by copyright. The Court stated that there can be no copyright infringement resulting from similarities that arise because "the idea underlying the work can be expressed only in one way" (the doctrine of "merger"), or where "the expression embodied in the work necessarily flows from a commonplace idea" (the doctrine of "scenes a' faire").

The similarity of the images was "inevitable, given the shared [and unprotectable] concept, or idea, of photographing the Skyy bottle." In contrast, the court found that the elements that were protected by copyright -- the lighting, angles, shadows, highlights, reflections and background -- were all different.

WATCH FOR IT. In October, your PhotoStockNotes will be combined with "PhotoAIM" and be delivered weekly in a choice of three formats: HTML, PDF, and regular text. As we move through the summer months we'll keep you posted on progress.

SHOOTERS

The City of Chicago has purchased six of photographer Art Shay's images (for $1000 each) of Chicago life in the 50's. The photos depict the grim hangouts of author Nelson Algren. The images will be used to decorate a new arts center in Chicago.

WHAT'S THIS? KODAK ADMITS FAULT? You've seen it, that disclaimer that comes along with each roll of film that states that if the images are lost or damaged, the customer is entitled only to a new roll of film and the development cost. Well, a man in Potters Bar, a suburb of London, England, took Kodak to task saying the disclaimer had no legal force. Kodak settled out of court in June 2003 for reportedly $10,000, enough for Mark McCarthy to re-do his vacation in the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. And take another roll of film. -RE

GOODSTUFF

TAKE GREAT PICTURES: A Simple Guide, by Lou Jacobs Jr. Contains techniques for portraits, action shots, close-ups, landscape images, and more; with composition ideas for instant image improvements; techniques for eliminating exposure written by a long-time photography observer. ($14.95; ISBN: 1-58428-102-2; 112 pages) Contact: Amherst Media, 155 Rano St, Ste 300, Buffalo NY 14207. Phone: 1 800 622-3278. Fax: 1 800 622-3298.

LEARNING TO LIGHT, by Roger Hicks and Frances Schultz. Although this book is subtitled "A Practical Guide to Photographic Lighting for the Amateur," it’s equally appropriate for most pros. In 62 concise chapters the authors show you how to handle practically every lighting situation you’re likely to encounter, including large interiors, buildings at night, polished surfaces, food, and group portraits. Helpful lighting diagrams show exactly how the book’s many illustrative photos were taken. ($24.95; Amphoto Books; ISBN 0-8174-4179-4; 160 pages) Contact: Watson-Guptill Publications, 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003. – David Arnold

http://www.photosourcefolio.com/bookstoreone.htm#0817441794 .

How to Shoot Stock Photos That Sell, 3^rd edition, by Michal Heron. Allworth Press, 2001, 224 pages, $19.95, ISBN 1-58115-087-3. Although Heron also discusses commercial stock (corporate, advertising, etc.), most of her book is directly applicable to editorial stock photography. The emphasis, as the title promises, is on how to shoot saleable stock. Her chapter "Thirty-Five Stock Assignments You Can Shoot," with detailed instructions for self-assignments that can generate saleable photos, is especially useful. There are also chapters on equipment, editing and organizing, marketing, negotiating prices, etc. Contact person is Birte Pampel, Publicist, Allworth Press, 10 East 23rd Street, Suite 510, New York, NY, 10010; (212) 777-8395; http://www.photosourcefolio.com/bookstoreone.htm#1581150873 . - David Arnold

THE PHOTOSHOP BOOK FOR DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHERS, by Scott Kelby. This book shows you step-by-step the exact techniques used by today’s cutting-edge digital photographers and retouchers. It also does something that virtually no other Photoshop book has ever done: it tells you, flat out, which settings to use, when to use them, and why. ($39.99; ISBN: 0-7357-1236-0) Contact: New Riders Publishing, 201 W. 103rd Street, Indianapolis, IN 46290. Phone: 1 800 545-5914.

http://www.photosourcefolio.com/bookstoreone.htm#0735712360 .

WEB ANIMATION EXPERT: All That You Need to Create Your Own Fantastic Web Animations, by Graham Davis. Beginning with the basic theory behind moving images, this manual explains how browsers understand animation (along with hints on control); how to use animation judiciously; and how to achieve a variety of effects. Tells exactly what you can animate, and the different ways you can create the illusion of movement. ($24.95; ISBN: 1-58663-679-0; 192 color pages) Contact: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 387 Park Ave S, New York NY 10016-8810. Phone: 1 800 805-5489.

http://www.photosourcefolio.com/bookstoreone.htm#1586636790 .

TAX TACTICS

MEDICAL INSURANCE DEDUCTIONS FOR STOCK PHOTOGRAPHERS

Those kinder and gentler folks at the IRS have a nifty present for stock photographers and other self-employed individuals: a better break on what they spend for medical insurance, starting with returns for 2003 to be filed in 2004.

You need no reminder that the cost of medical care keeps climbing. Worse yet, you have to absorb more of the cost because so many charges are not covered by your insurance.

Understandably, these outlays loom large in your eyes. Unfortunately, they usually fail to measure up to a deductible size in the view of the IRS: As you laboriously list your itemized expenses on Schedule A of Form 1040, you'll find that the only expenditures deemed allowable are those exceeding 7.5 percent of your AGI, short for adjusted gross income, the figure on the last line of page one of the 1040 form.

But for 2003, stock photographers and other self-employeds are able to deduct 100 percent of their medical insurance premiums for themselves and their spouses and dependents without regard to that 7.5 percent threshold, up from just 70 percent of such premiums for 2002.

Who qualifies: (1) self-employeds, whether they operate their businesses or professions as sole proprietorships, partnerships, or limited liability companies; and (2) S corporation shareholders owning more than 2 percent of the stock. (S corporations are companies, taxed much the same way as partnerships are, that pass profits through to their shareholders.)

ABOVE THE LINE. I said that this deduction for medical insurance payments for self-employeds is not subject to the 7.5 percent threshold for all other medical expenditures. This means that the deduction is not claimed on Schedule A, where expenses are itemized, but on the front (line 30 of 2002’s return) of Form 1040. In IRS argot, this is an "above-the-line adjustment," that is, it's one of the off-the-top subtractions applied in the section where you calculate your AGI. Thus, take this deduction the same way you claim write-offs for funds put in traditional IRAs or other retirement plans.

Not only is this deduction not lumped with those sums to which the 7.5 percent limit is applied. The self-employed medical-insurance deduction is available even to someone who foregoes itemizing altogether and instead simply uses the standard deduction -- the no-questions-asked amount that is authorized for someone who finds it more advantageous not to itemize. So even if you opt not to itemize, you nonetheless get an up-front deduction for 100 percent of your medical insurance premiums.

CAUTION: DON’T COUNT IT TWICE. If you do choose to itemize, don't forget that you've already claimed your medical insurance premiums; you can't count that sum again under itemized medical expenses.

SELF-EMPLOYMENT TAXES. How does that up-front deduction affect your self-employment income for purposes of calculating Social Security taxes? Sorry: It doesn't. The amount you deduct above the line for insurance coverage does not reduce self-employment income when filling out Schedule SE (Self-Employment Tax) of Form 1040 to compute net (receipts minus expenses) earnings from self-employment. The computation on that schedule is based strictly on Schedule C, on which you report your self-employment receipts and expenses to arrive at a net profit.

Julian Block, a former IRS agent and a tax attorney, is the author of "The Stock Photographer's Tax Guide." For details on how to purchase this important 32-page booklet: <http://www.photosource.com/taxtips.php>

Photo Thefts?

Is thievery on the Web a hazard to the editorial stock photographer?

There's no need to experience sleepless nights worrying whether an image-thief is going to run off with one of your photos. Why? The stories you hear about web image thievery are of three kinds: 1.) Individual admirers of your photos, grabbing them for their personal website or fraternity/sorority room wall, or 2.) Print-on-demand vendors who fill orders for calendars, posters, greeting cards, placemats, jigsaw puzzles, coffee mugs and t-shirts, or 3.) Entrepreneurs who are supposedly ignorant of copyright law.

If you've done your marketing right, you will deal with none of the above. Your markets are reputable publishers who stake their reputation on their integrity in dealing with their suppliers: you. No reputable publisher is going to "steal" one of your images and publish it in 15,000 textbooks, coffee table books, or other material.

Can you protect yourself from the three types of thieves mentioned above? Well, yes, you can buy expensive image-protection software. With what results? You could eventually engage yourself in an expensive lawsuit with an infringer who will probably be penniless and make you penniless (attorney's fees) in the long run.

Leave the court suits to the major stock agencies which are already making headlines by going after infringers, not to make money, but to provide copyright education to the public. Every time an infringer loses a lawsuit, it makes for good reading in the newspapers and magazines, and increased understanding. You, the photographer, are the beneficiary, and at no legal costs to you. -RE

  TRAVEL NOTES

Hold Tight!

Having just returned from a trip, two months in Australia and a month in Japan, I have been very busy sorting out what I've shot in that time. In truth, far too much even though I try to cut down.

My first look is to see if there is anything there. Even after taking pictures for half a century I am still amazed at seeing good pictures on film and get a buzz from it. Then I weed out all the junk, wrong exposures and bad composition being the worst offenders. This is probably about 20%, and if it seems I am hard on myself deliberately, there is no other way to improve my own standards. This still leaves me with around 80%, a lot to offer my clients and stock libraries for sure!

This will happen in due course, but in the meanwhile I have also have to deal with my least favorite part of being a travel photographer, the accounts. While I was away the Tax Year ended on 5 April in the UK. Although my accountant has shifted the actual date to the end, rather than the beginning of the month, the time still flies by and the accounts have to be done.

So I knuckled down, put it all together and guess what, I have not made as much income as in the previous year. This is disappointing but was predicable. Apart from whether my work is saleable or not, the down-turn has a lot to do with the after-effects of 9/11; international terrorism threats, the war in Iraq and the SARS virus. Combined, they have made a big dent in my income. People are not traveling as much as they did, so the need for pictures is not as great. This lack of demand has been told to me by every stock library and picture-buying source I deal with. Thankfully, at least I am not alone.

But it will not stop me from investing in my future. I know the travel photography business will recover; in fact it is already being predicted that tourism is likely to be far bigger in the next fifteen years and that travelers from China will be at the forefront of this. In the stock market, which has boomed and crashed so many times, the overall outcome over a long period is a slow rise. This is what I think will happen in our business too, so hold tight, keep shooting and investing in your future. It should all come to good!

Happy shooting!

On June 2, 2003, the United States Supreme Court decided that the law does not require that attribution or credit be given to the original creator or source when public domain material is copied.

The case, Dastar Corp. v. 20th Century Fox Film Corp., concerned the repackaging of the Fox "Campaigns in Europe" videotapes which were based upon a 1949 television series and Dwight Eisenhower's book. The Dastar product basically copied Fox's videotapes, adding only a new opening sequence, and making minor changes, while claiming it was the producer of the video, without giving credit or attribution to the series or to the book.

The TV series aired in 1949. The copyright under the 1909 Copyright Act was for 28 years with an additional renewable 28 year extension. Unfortunately for Fox, this copyright for the TV series was never renewed. As a result, the copyright for the series expired in 1977 whereupon the material went into the public domain.

The Supreme Court was called upon to rule whether the failure of Dastar to give credit to the creator of the original series or the book in its use of the public domain material was a violation of that portion of the Lanham Act which prevents the unaccredited copying of a work.

The Court, in reversing the United States District Court and the Circuit Court of Appeals, looked to copyright law. It concluded that under copyright law there is no prohibition from copying a work that is in the public domain.

The Court stated that it "would be no simple task" to determine who would be in the line of origin and would therefore be entitled to attribution credit. In what may become a memorable phrase, the Court said, "We do not think the Lanham Act requires this search for the source of the Nile and all its tributaries."

The Court pointed out, however, that the defendant was not yet off the hook, since the copyright to the underlying book had been renewed. All of this litigation and expense could have been avoided had Fox simply protected its property by renewing the copyright. This is but another example of where a little precaution could go a long way towards protection of rights.

The decision means that, for photographs in the public domain, a user need not give attribution to the photographer. The Court did, however, state that it may be improper to falsify the origin as opposed to just not giving notification of origin.

We may hear more of this on a later date.

BUSINESS NOTEPAD

DIGIMARC continues to expand its watermarking techniques for the benefit of stock photo agencies who choose this method of guarding their images against unauthorized use. One stock photo agency says it easily pays for the DIGIMARC annual fee, by tracking down copyright infringers and sending them a bill and a threat of legal action. Digimarc's original patent was issued in June 1997. The company has now produced its 100^th patent. Of interest to stock photographers, this latest innovation can equip an image capture device, such as a scanner or camera, with the ability to apply an image-adapted watermark to scans and photos. (Digimarc, 503/495-4568; lconstans@digimarc.com ).

INFRINGERS BEWARE. That's the message Corbis recently sent to the websurfing public when it won a big settlement from Ofoto, a web print-on-demand company owned by Kodak. The lawsuits results, which barely paid for the legal costs, sent a message to would-be-infringers that it is illegal to capture a non-public domain photo on the web and use it for commercial purposes. Corbis initiated the case in 2001 after it noticed large amounts of its photos on Webshots, (now gone bankrupt), an image file-sharing site then owned by the Web portal Excite@Home. Many Corbis photographers' images were infringed. As one Corbis photographer put it, "By persuing this suit, Corbis established a precedent. I think a lot of potential infringers will think twice before doing that to us again." -RE

SCAN QUALITY "You may think you know how to scan a photo for evaluation for a photo researcher, but unless you have someone who is knowledgeable about scanning to evaluate your work, don't send the images to a potential client." So says Bob Nover, photobuyer at McDougall-Little/Houghton Mifflin in Boston. "It's quite simple, - if the scan we receive is not up to par, we don't want to see the original. I usually see two faults: the exposure is off, and the scanning quality itself. The images look soft, not sharp at all. I'd be wasting my time if I took the chance to wait to see if the original [slide] was better." -RE

PRIVACY SUITS work both ways. Barbara Streisand, the singer, objected to her Malibu home being photographed from the air, and sued fellow environmentalist, Ken Andleman, for $10 million. ``I don't need permission to take a picture of her house," Andleman said, "if it is taken from a public place,'' he said. ``And the airspace is a public place.''

"I would say she has zero chance of winning,'' said attorney Terry Francke, of the California First Amendment Coalition in Sacramento. "The law of privacy, even the paparazzi extensions of it, is not about taking pictures of structures. It is about people.''

NATURE NOTES

Vision through a Blind

In your average portrait studio a photographer usually has the time to set things up. The perfect lighting and backgrounds may take hours to create. Posing and shooting a subject in a thousand different ways is a normal way of studio life. The studio photographer is limited only to the imposed deadline and/or the hourly fee of a Super-Model.

A wildlife photographer, on the other hand, will spend most of his or her time getting to the shot location, and can only hope that nature will cooperate. Will the lighting be strong enough, and will the animal models arrange themselves in prize-winning fashion? Mother Nature has a way of playing little jokes on photographers. She will offer up a beautiful day or perfect backgrounds but tells the critters to stay clear, or visa-versa.

Don’t you wish there was a way to create a studio in the middle of the wilderness, where Mother Nature works with you and not against you? Well, there is, and it’s easier that you may think. Many photographers will use some sort of blind to hide in as they take their pictures. It's 'out of sight and out of mind' for the animals, and they will go about their daily business sometimes just feet away from the camera lens. If the photographer plans ahead, a blind is a perfect setup for taking wildlife photographs.

Blind Site!

A photography blind is nothing more than something which will hide you and which will not be frightening or objectionable to wild animals. There are several types of photographic blinds, and all can help out the nature photographer. Photographic and hunting supply shops sell several ready-made models you can choose from. Some even fold up in a pocket-sized pouch when not in use. The car you drive is also a great photography blind. Birds have become accustomed to the large metal vehicles, and photographers can sit inside and shoot from the open windows. I have used camouflage- colored bed sheets to hid under, with only my lens showing, to take pictures. A good way to shoot water birds is to place the sheet over you in a rubber raft or small boat and drift along the banks of ponds and small lakes. Some parks and wildlife areas have built permanent structures with lens holes, near locations of wildlife gatherings. No matter how you look at it, a blind is a great way to get in close.

How to use a Blind

Sometimes a bag blind, or camouflage sheet, is used to creep up on unsuspecting animals. Other times the blind is in a stationary location set up for days or more at a time. Once you find the location you want, say a tree where a flicker is building a nest, wait until it flies off to feed, then set up the blind. Make as little noise as possible and then stay put. You will need a little, if not a lot, of patience to stay quiet until the flicker returns, but the payoff will be worth it when the pictures are printed. Once you get the shots you want, wait again until the bird flies off so you don’t disturb the nest-making. Many birds will abandon a nest under stress.

There is a lot of work involved when first learning to use a photographic blind. Whole chapters can be filled with the details, but common sense and experience can be the fastest teachers. The primary idea behind the blind is to keep the animal’s stress level down, so the critter isn't frightened or disturbed, and acts normal, which also allows the best pictures to be taken. And Great photographs are what nature photography is all about.

Scott Alan Johnson is an award winning nature photographer and three-time Emmy nominated journalist for Fox Television News in Cleveland, Ohio. Some of his photographs can be seen at the "fstopnature.com" photography web site.

TRAVELERS ABROAD

Photographers: We broadcast your foreign destinations along with contact information, departure date, length of stay, etc. Contact PhotoStockNotes (1 715 248-3800) at least two months in advance.

Photobuyers: Watch this column. For the e-mail address, phone or fax number of the traveling photographer, call the PhotoSource International office and ask for Deb Koehler (1 800 223-3860). For an expansion of this list: www.photosource.com and press the Travelers Abroad button, to learn of past international destinations of our photographers.

Erin Eberle
July 3 – July 10, 2003
Bolivia
July 10 – July 24, 2003
Brazil and Argentina

Debbie Jefkin
July 21 – August 15, 2003
La Paz, Lake Titicaca, Sucre and Potosi (Bolivia)

Ditta U. Krebs
September 1 – September 20, 2003
Frankfurt (Germany)

Mike Matlach
October 26 – November 14, 2003
India
January 4 – January 18, 2004
Burma
January 18 – January 28, 2004
Thailand

CONTESTS

INTERNATIONAL NAVIES PHOTO CONTEST. Deadline: August 1, 2003. Naval and Maritme subjects from countries other than the United States. Awards: $200 first prize; $100 each two second prizes; $50 each two third prizes. Contact: U.S. Naval Institute, 291 Wood Road, Annapolis, MD 21402. Web: http://www.usni.org/membership/contests.htm .

WORKSHOPS

ROCKY MOUNTAIN VISIONS: Summit County, Colorado. With leader Karen G. Schulman. September 14 – 19, 2003. Opportunity to capture the elegance and grandeur of 14,000 ft. peaks, fall foliage, high mountain waterfalls, picturesque Lake Dillon and its many sailboats. Tuition: $795, includes opening evening dinner, all field trips, park entry fees, photo instruction, extensive pre-workshop information and materials. Contact: Focus Adventures, P.O. Box 771640, Steamboat Springs, CO 80477. Phone/Fax: 1 970 879-2244. E-mail: focus22@excite.com . Web: http://www.focusadventures.com .

AMAZON: GREATEST VOYAGE IN NATURAL HISTORY. Destination dates available multiple times a month. Comfortable boat accommodations; skilled guides. Expedition Length: 9 days. Price from: $2,998 - $3,498 includes International Air. Contact: International Expeditions, One Environs Park, Helena, AL 35080. Phone: 1 800 633-4734. Fax: 1 205 428-1714. E-mail: nature@ietravel.com . Website: http://www.ietravel.com .

KRACKER BARREL

Unless it is in a subject area you specialize in…

Don't Photograph It

The most common mistake editorial stock photographers make that leads directly to failure is that they try to be all things to all photobuyers.

Instead, want to quick-start your stock photography business?

Take a tip from successful magazine writers. The successful ones are those who focus on one (or a select few) special interest areas, e.g. genetics, NASA, horse racing, rock groups, etc. Amateur writers, on the other hand, attempt to sell articles on subjects "all across the board" to any and all magazine publishers in the spectrum.

As a parallel, many stock photographers just starting out, take photos of all kinds of subjects and try to sell them in an attempt to pay the grocery bill. In the long run, this approach leads not to more dollars in the treasury, but less.

By scattering their attention across many subject areas, amateur stock photographers aren’t able to collect deep coverage in any specific areas, to offer buyers enough choice in their area of focus. Nor do the photographers develop expertise and knowledge in depth, of specific areas, which can enable them to be a sought-after resource by buyers.

Professionals approach it another way. They take photos only in their field(s) of interest. It may be one field or a half dozen. But seldom more. Since the photographer is already a mini-expert in these fields, there's no 'initial' research to accomplish. Because they have an established track record in the field, and previous photos sales to show for it, gaining entrance, and permission for taking certain photos, when necessary, is only a matter of a phone call. Very often, these specializing photographers come to be on a first-name basis with the persons who give or deny access for photo coverage of events or activity in specific areas.

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"Amateur stock photographers tend to take ‘Sunday’ photos – and at random. Ask yourself, am I taking this photo for sale or for soul..?

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In contrast, amateurs will take completely different photos each day of the week. On Monday, they cover a museum. On Tuesday, it's a dog show. On Wednesday, it’s photos of a new medical procedure, etc. Time allows only scant research, and the result is surface coverage. A scatter-shot approach like this doesn’t offer much promise to advance your career.

Exceptions would be when you happen upon good photo opportunities while on vacation or a Sunday outing. Include these scattered categories on your website along with plentiful keywords. Allow the search engines to pick up these keywords. (Who knows? Maybe the Internet will help you to discover new prospects and make a match with buyers for these photos now and then.)

Professionals build substantive coverage in a select number of areas, and find buyers who need photos in those specific areas. They build up contacts with dependable markets who come to rely on the photographer as an expert in their field of interest. Buyers looking for pictures in these specific areas know who to go to for the widest and most current selection.

Eventually, the photographer does not have to seek out buyers; the buyers come to him/her. It’s not an overnight process. You have to have a real desire to photograph in the area of your choosing. Waiting for sales to click won’t be a problem because you enjoy what you ‘re doing.

The problem of paying the grocery bill is solved, and the future looks bright. The next time you’re tempted to take photos that are "out of your field," have the courage to say, "No." Or at least just take those photos on Sundays or your vacation.

Rohn Engh is director of PhotoSource International and publisher of PhotoStockNotes. Pine Lake Farm, 1910 35^th Road, Osceola, WI 54020 USA. E-mail: info@photosource.com . Fax: 1 715 248 7394. Web site:www.photosource.com .

ON-LINE

There must be a lot of you going digital. Well, maybe not all the pros and advanced amateurs, but certainly a whole bunch of other people are. And I can prove it. How? Kodak, the king of film, and who has seen their cash cow shrink, has picked up the assets of Applied Science Fiction, Inc. One of ASF's prime technologies is a process that converts film (without the usual lengthy development process) into digital images within minutes. Kodak is installing this technology, called Digital PIC, in their 18,000 US kiosks. This will permit the film user to go from unprocessed film to digital photos on a CD in seven minutes. The hope is to keep film sales going strong, at least for a little longer. You may already have Digital PIC in your town now. But beware, the original film negative is destroyed in the process. To counteract this, ASF calls the DigiPix CD a "digital negative." Each photo is digitized into three files: 1,600-by-2,496, 1,268-by-1,978 and 512-by-768. In other words, the top resolution is roughly equivalent to that of a 4-megapixel digital camera file, while the lowest is Web-and e-mail-ready. The CD automatically displays a thumbnail index when inserted into a computer and includes a slide show utility.

At a recent conference in D.C. to discuss the issue of unwanted commercial e-mail (spam), the Federal Trade Commission's Eileen Harrington said of the situation, "Things are worse than we imagined." Imagine that, spam is really bad. According to one anti-spam company, 45 percent of the e-mail sent in March was spam. Some have gone as far as proposing a (US) National Anti-Spam Registry, similar to the federal tele-marketing do-not-call list. Since spam is readily sent from anywhere to anywhere in the world, such a national list would do little good. As with the real burglers, a bigger lock just attracts a bigger hammer. But on the bright side, spam may be helping with the national trade deficient. Motohiro Tsuchiya, a communications professor at the International University of Japan, joked about the 80 percent of spam (mostly in English) coming into Japan, "We are now importing more spam from the United States."

The Center for Democracy & Technology conducted a spam research program in the summer of 2002. Their major findings are that e-mail addresses posted on websites attract the most spam, and that USENET newsgroups were a fertile ground for harvesting e-mail addresses. The Center also offers several tips on how to reduce the likelihood of your getting included in a spammer's address book. Read the full and informative report at: http://www.cdt.org/speech/spam/030319spamreport.shtml.

Bill Hopkins is the Webmaster of PhotoSourceFolio* (www.photosourcefolio.com) and a regular contributor to PhotoStockNotes. Send comments via e-mail to wh@photosourcefolio.com. Fax: 1 818 831-0916. (*Display 6 of your own images for photobuyers to view on your own page on the PhotoSource website.) For on-line questions, contact Bill on the Kracker Barrel at www.photosource.com/board.

If you were selling apples, which scenario would you enjoy most?

A. You start your morning with a leisurely breakfast at 9:00 a.m., load three-dozen apples into your cart and deliver them to one customer at 11:00 a.m., and then spend the afternoon at the beach.

B. You are awakened by the alarm at 5:00 a.m., you rush through breakfast so that you can start knocking on doors in order to sell your 36 apples by the end of the day.

No contest, right? Yet most stock photographers resort to the second, or even a third: they wait by the phone and hope someone will call them.

In the early days of the California Gold Rush, the '49ers who proved most successful were those that panned the creeks first to locate the gold, but then took one more important step. They followed the gold back to the source and then spent their time in the mine.

Too often, stock photographers will sell a photo to a buyer and consider the sale and relationship done. The photographer goes on to look for "gold" elsewhere.

FUTURE WORTH

Successful stock photographers, on the other hand, learn how to "mine their lode." That is, they calculate the future net worth of each photobuyer (and the market he/she represents) and put the buyer into their marketing program, which includes systematic promotion. A buyer soon forgets a photo and a photographer unless you remind the buyer regularly of your work.

These photographers cultivate long-term working relationships with photobuyers at markets whose photo needs match the photographer's strong coverage areas.

Determining the future net worth of an editor or photobuyer is not difficult to do. Based on photobuyers at other, similar, markets, be it a book or magazine publisher, a corporation, etc., the photographer estimates the jobs, sales, and other revenue that can be obtained from the photobuyer over two to three years, and then projects what potential revenues will come in. Past experience shows that each buyer represents certain predictable variables: per-picture rate of pay, average number of pictures bought per transaction, frequency of purchase per year, spin-off to other photobuyers in the same publishing house/ad agency/ corporation. From this, it's possible for the stock photographer to determine a fairly accurate future net worth of their new photobuyer.

The future net worth over a ten year period of a typical low-budget buyer would be approximately $5,000. A mid-range buyer would be approximately $25,000, and a high range would be about $75,000. By the way, we have found ten years is an average length of time you can expect to remain with a buyer in the publishing industry.

PROMOTION

The critical factor is promotion.

If the stock photographer does not set up a regular and consistent plan of promotion, the new photobuyer could very easily be lost.

What does it cost to promote? If your costs to promote were just 10% of the expected gross revenue, it's easy to see that promotion costs are irrelevant. The critical factor is to know who you should spend your promotional dollars on.

Which brings us to how to get good leads worth your promotion dollars (panning for gold along the creek). Obviously, the leads in your marketletter (PhotoDaily, PhotoLetter, or PhotoStockNotes/Plus) are the most cost-effective for you. If you spend $350 per year on a marketletter service, and obtain 10 excellent mid-range leads during that one year, you have a gold mine: 10 x $25,000 = $250,000 future net worth--at a cost of only $350, plus 10% to promote to them over a ten-year period. There are not many businesses that can realize that kind of cost-effective marketing strategy.

Begin today. Follow up with the photobuyers you've cultivated in the past. Start mining this hidden asset of yours.

Rohn Engh is director of PhotoSource International and publisher of PhotoStockNotes.

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