I’ve Changed My Opinion By Rohn Engh As a marketing consultant in this wide world of stock photography for many years, yes, I’ve changed my opinion. I no longer think it’s misguided of persons wanting to sell their photography to the publishing industry to over and over again take pictures of anything and everything, thinking they can try to sell what they perceived as a good photo, whatever its content. That system of adding new photos to their stock photography files is not misguided; now I think it’s downright not smart. The new era of digital image search and purchase we’ve slid into this past decade reinforces my new opinion. Are you among those whom the shoe fits? Are you still broadsiding on weekend shoots, your vacation, or you’re slamming on the brakes in the car when you think you’ve spotted that blockbuster, award-winning photo –stop. Your chances of getting that photo to the masses, or even the elite, are about as good as winning the lottery, or hitting the casino million-dollar bell-ringer in Las Vegas. There’s a much more effective way to accomplish consistent sales of your work and making it more likely to even hit a big winner now and then. And it’s not difficult. If your photos are not selling, the problem is not that your photos aren’t good. It’s your basic strategy that’s off the beam. The truth of the matter is, you probably already have a “blockbuster” photo in your database that a photo editor is looking for at this moment. But, it’s not a blockbuster for an art contest, or an exhibition, but rather a work-a-day blockbuster at the cash register. The secret to building sales in today’s digital world is to focus your approach Change from trying to sell everything… to selling one thing. Build contacts with targeted markets and get known by the buyers as a dependable resource with coverage in depth in the subject area they need, which is a subject area you love to photograph in. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Everyone has at least one special interest area, an interest area of great passion. Don’t indulge yourself in snapping at everything from the hip. Instead calculatingly make opportunities for yourself to take pictures, – lots of them -in your main interest area. Right now, photo editors in that same interest area are eager to buy your results. You’ll find your sales will grow. Don’t ask me to convince you of this, ask the market. How? Ask it. Go into Google or any popular search engine, and in the search bar enter one of your interest areas. Make a case study. Let’s say you enter, model ships.
Put yourself in the photobuyer’s shoes. If you were publishing a magazine article that required a photo of a model ship, to find the source of the photo, you’d type in photo model ship If model ship-building were a passion for you, you can see how you are missing the boat (sorry!) if you don’t roll up your sleeves and start building a deep collection of photos of your and your friends’ model ships, and a museum’s model ships, and wherever else you can find them. You’re an expert on model ships. You’ll know where to seek them out in your travels. So - if you want to begin to see your photos being published, and
start making money from your talents - shift your emphasis from
picture-taking “across the board,” to specializing in
one or two or three specific subject areas, interests, passions
you have. You are already a mini-expert on the subject. Photobuyers love this. Pictures they get from a microstock site may be beautiful snapshots, but they’re by technically qualified photographers who know zilch about the subject matter. (They know a good picture when they see it, but know little about what they are photographing.) The publishing world of photo acquisition is moving away from this, to people like you who not only know how to take a good picture but know a lot about the subject matter. Buyers depend on you to know, for example, is this a model of an 1865 clipper ship or a whaler from the 1840’s. – That sort of thing. So – to say it again, it’s just not smart not to take advantage of the great wealth of knowledge you already have in some specialized areas, of both photography and your personal interests. The buyers are waiting for you. Use the Internet search system to find out where you stand. Get on the first page of a Google search and start selling your images and see your photos featured on magazine stands and bookshelves. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|
