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PhotoRESEARCHER |
PhotoRESEARCHER Newsletter for September Week One ## 444A |
KEY WORDS: | Getty Images | Selection | Storage | Search | Flea Markets | Wal-Mart | Digital Camera | On-Line Galleries | General-Content Images | Stock Photographer | Photobuyers | NEWSWORDS: | Kodak Says It’s Back | Pick A Card | Recycle It | Where Can They Find You? | No ‘Press-Free Zone’ For Children | Sister Shots Not Readily Available | Gottcha! | Social Photography | Things Are Looking Down |
Welcome to PhotoRESEARCHER Newsletter, a monthly newsletter from PhotoDaily, PhotoSource International. http://www.photoresearchnews.com/
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The Elephant And The Mouse
Have you been tempted to acquire images from one of the mammoth stock agencies? If you've dealt with Getty Images, for example, you probably know they have aspirations of becoming the biggest of the world’s image suppliers. How big is Getty? 70 million images. Getty would like to become the Charles Schwab & Co. of the Internet.
But big does not always mean best. When you compare Getty to the supply of photos and the services offered by freelance photographers around the world, how does Getty stack up?
Here’s the Seven "S’s" Test
SIZE: There are 345 million images available from freelance photographers through the Internet. Getty, with its 70 million images, falls short by 285,000,000.
SALES: Photographers with Getty Images receive only 40% of sales; freelancers receive 100%.
SPEED: The bureaucracy of a large corporation means delivery can often be unacceptably slow. Editorial as well as planning decisions handcuff the administration. Many times photobuyers must pay extra for timely delivery. In contrast, freelancers can make decisions on your photo need and deliver with immediacy – a benefit for all photobuyers.
In the world of the Web, monolithic companies with their convoluted hierarchical structures will lose ground to the streamlined directness offered by small one-person companies using the Internet as their delivery method.
SELECTION: Getty can respond to photo requests only with photos that are in its database. And for reasons of cost-efficiency, Getty stores only photos that have promise of cross-subject use that will give Getty a return on its investment in the photo. This translates to an emphasis on generic, broad-use photos. However, as the Web is becoming ever more efficient, photobuyers are able to request highly specific images. Freelancers are in a better position than a large agency like Getty, to respond to non-generic requests and with next day service, even if it means walking outdoors to shoot a particular wildflower blossom in the snow, or stage a surfing party at dawn in Maui .
Want to read more of this article? Go to http://photosource.com/researcher/dec992a.html .
Galen Rowell |
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The Magnet Effect
Advance Notes: In the field of stock photography, if a photographer tries to be all things to all photobuyers, they’ll have trouble achieving success and consistent sales. Wise photographers choose an area, or two or three areas, of specialization. To be successful, it has to be an area of specialization within a specialization. Not flowers, but prairie flowers, orchards, or tundra vegetation. When a photographer has a passion for photographing in these areas, they begin to develop a deep selection of photos that buyers can choose from. The photographer can in effect become a magnet for photobuyers seeking these kinds of images for their publishing projects.
Have you ever shopped at a flea market? Thousands and thousands of objects, items, whatnots, tools, clothing, and auto parts. Visitors can spend hours, even days, roaming, looking and handling the items for sale. People who visit flea markets usually arrive with a $20 bill and leave with a prized object they add to their collection, home, or garage. Flea Markets are a good example of what on-line Internet stock photo shopping has become. The flea markets are growing. And unlike a 65,000 square foot Wal-Mart where merchandise is segmented by signs (“Household”, “Auto”, “Toys”), flea markets are an ocean of unregulated bits and pieces. GROWTH As more and more people discover their digital camera can match and reproduce the same visual quality of the images they see in magazines and books, these folks (we can rightly call them photographers) are discovering they can gain recognition for their art – plus make a few dollars. And like flea markets, on-line galleries are expanding. And more and more photographers are loading them with more and more images. It’s true that you can find treasures at a flea market. You can also find photo treasures on the Internet. But will photos in an on-line photo gallery find their place on a photobuyer’s desktop? Probably not. It’s too time-consuming for photobuyers to browse through these sites. Regards general-content images, if a photobuyer needs a picture of a rainbow, covered bridge or a seagull, they don’t go to the Internet to find it. They shout out the window and 20 photographers will run to them with that kind of generic picture. For images that are very content-specific, it requires a different system of search. The photo need might be a specific African musical instrument, or a toy used by children in Peru, or a plant that is only grown in the Galapagos. Photobuyers usually find themselves engaged in an extensive search. They want to make the experience as effortless as possible. They use a search engine such as Yahoo, Alta Vista or Google. They usually find a particular picture that ‘almost” fits the bill. They are not quite satisfied, and they know, thanks to the Internet, they can do better. Their next step is to contact the photographer of the photo they found, to learn if the photographer is a specialist. If he or she is, they probably have a deep selection of photos in that particular category. Because there are thousands (soon to become millions) of photographers displaying their pictures on on-line galleries, photobuyers gravitate as quickly as possible to the photographer who specializes in the area of their interest and need.
THE MAGNET EFFECT A successful on-line stock photographer in the on-line stock industry needs to become a magnet for specific segments of the photobuyers who are continually scouting for the “just-right” photo for their current projects. Since we all come from a culture where we expect to sell our wares to the local community, it’s difficult to imagine that somewhere in the world a buyer is looking for a particular picture that’s in someone’s database right now. Making the match is the mission, and electronic description of images (keywords, tags, labels) is the method. Photobuyers today are able to seek out photographers who select one or a few specialization areas and develop deep coverage in those areas These photographers become “magnets” for photobuyers worldwide, who need their kind of pictures, and appreciate being able to come back to them again and again… - - - - - - - - - - - - Rohn Engh, veteran stock photographer and publisher of “PhotoRESEARCHER Newsletter,” has provided on-line targeted information for photobuyers, photo researchers and editors for two decades. No other newsletter brings photobuyers such up-to-the minute, practical intimately familiar with both sides of the stock photo desk. For more info: http://www.photosource.com/photobuyer/
CHANGES Each month we report to you moves among, within and between: publishing houses, stock agencies, photobuyers, photo researchers, ad agencies, and design firms. RESPONSE MAGAZINE ( 475 Riverside Dr #1501, New York, NY 10015) former contact and e-mail: Dana Jones, Editor, djones@gbgm-umc.org ; current contact and e-mail: Barbara Wheeler, Editor, bwheeler@gbgm-umc.org. DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE ( 1101 Forteenth St NW Ste 1400, Washington, DC 20005) former contact and e-mail: Mary Selden, Photo Editor, photobuyer@defenders.org; current contact and e-mail: Peter Corcoran, Designer, photobuyer@defenders.org. AMERICAN FITNESS MAGAZINE ( 15250 S Ventura Blvd Ste 200, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403) former contact: Bonnie Lee, Co-Managing Editor; current contact: Kevin McGuire, Co-Managing Editor.
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Robert Sena Photography
Watch
for developments in the field of stock photography in
PhotoResearcher's Newsletter Note: If the URL is long, it may extend to two lines. In that case - clicking on it won't work. Instead, "copy and paste" the URL.
PICK A CARD . Staples Launches "Business Cards in Minutes" For the Fastest Way to Get Professional-Quality Business Cards - Customers can now design customized cards right at the counter and have them printed quickly on the spot. The service also lets customer’s print as few as 100 cards at a timehttp://www.creativepro.com/story/news/ RECYCLE IT . Sony Establishes First Nationwide Electronics Recycling Program with Waste Management's Recycle America - The Sony Take Back Recycling Program allows consumersto recycle all Sony-branded products for no fee at 75 Waste Management (WM) Recycle America eCycling drop-off centers throughout the U.S. http://www.creativepro.com/story/news/25823.html NO 'PRESS-FREE ZONE' FOR CHILDREN . Why the J.K. Rowling privacy case will be closely watched - While JK Rowling's bid to prevent publication of photographs of her four year old son has failed, any future appeal will be keenly watched by celebrities and media alike. http://www.epuk.org/Opinion/660/jk-rowling-fails-to- SISTER SHOTS NOT READILY AVAILABLE . Getty Images Unveils New Web Site With Improved Search - gettyimages.com still lacks a feature that art buyers have long requested. There is no way to select an image and then call up other images from the same shoot, commonly called similars. http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/newswire/article_display. GOTTCHA! Alhambra CA Uses Satellites, Cameras To Nab Taggers A new graffiti-fighting system in Alhambra that uses satellite technology and digital photography is proving useful to police. Since June, police have been using a digital camera that downloads the images into a database, which also lists the global positioning system coordinates of each vandalism site. http://cbs2.com/local/local_story_238174258.html SOCIAL PHOTOGRAPHY . Amateur Photographers Get Professional Assignments Through Citizen Image. Photography exhibition puts a grim face on the war in Iraq Nina Berman's portraits of wounded soldiers focus on psychological as well as physical scars "He has a plastic dome for a skull and a toe grafted onto his right hand to replace a thumb." http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10 THINGS ARE LOOKING DOWN . High in the Skies French photographer Nicolas Chorier is busy at work, trying to capture the moment through a rather painstaking process. He has a three square feet kite, on which he attaches a camera to the string. After his kite is flying high he focuses on the video monitor around his Neck and waits to click the perfect shot from the camera's remote, placed in his hand. http://in.news.yahoo.com/070827/48/6jzf5.html
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PhotoRESEARCHER Newsletter monthly newsletter is produced
by PhotoDaily, PhotoSource International, Rohn Engh, Director,
who is solely responsible for its contents. PhotoSource International |
GOT A PHOTO NEED? Send it to eds@photosource.com (Just write up your photo listing in any way you feel clearly gets across what you need) or use our standard form at < http://www.photosource.com/photo buyer/request.php >. It’s free. No charge. Once you use our photo listing service, details of contact info, budget rouge, w/color, any specifics like “requests no phone calls,” etc., will be saved on your personal computer so you don’t have to re-type them when you make a photo need listing the next time.
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Trying to Locate a Stock Photographer? It’s easy when you use the PhotoQuikFind service of Photosource International. To locate a photographer and his/her e-mail: In the Google search bar, type the person’s name, then a space, and then the word, photosource. Their name will come up at the top of the Google search. Click on their page and you’ll find a convenient automatic e-mail messaging feature. This is a service of Photosource International
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Dennis Cox
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White Mailers Sending a disk or slides? Look like a pro. Stiff white cardboard mailers are available at: MAILERS, 575 Bennett Rd , Elk Grove Village , IL 60007 , Attn: Pat Pulver; http://www.mailersco.com . Phone: 1 800 872-6670. Fax: 1 847 731-2603.
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TRAVELERS ABROAD 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 Rohn Engh (1 800 624-0266). For an expansion of this list: www.photosource.com and press the Travelers Abroad button, to learn of past international destinations of our photographers. Pamela York Shawn McGrath Claudio Bacinello
Paul Kuhn Images
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Want to see back issues of PhotoResearcher Newsletter? You’ll find them here: photo research
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Looking for “Non-Generic” photos for your next project? You’ll find real-life photos at “PhotoSourceGROUP”. Click here for more details.
Betty Sederquist
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 Dena Torgerson |
 Brad Freeman |
 Antonio Verahaus |
 Lacy Drinkwine |