The Largest Stock Photo Agency in the World
Who is the Biggest?

         Did you know you are a member of the largest stock photo agency in the world? Photobuyers have quickly learned to check this “agency” out first – before turning to any other stock photo agency.

         When buyers seek a specific-content, hard-to-find image, they know not to turn to Getty, Corbis,

         Jupiter, et al. These agencies do a great job serving up generic and standard pictures, but for real-life specific action and location images, buyers know to go to this other “agency.” While the familiar large stock agencies have been laboring to keyword their images for access to Internet searches, they’re woefully behind the precision and extensive nature of the keywording being done by many independent photographers.

          Getty, Corbis, Jupiter, et al have not been keeping up. And none of them is the largest stock agency in the world. They represent only a small fraction of the number of stock photos that reside in the files of the Internet’s worldwide database of photographers.

         The largest stock agency is the Internet + Search Engines + You. Increasing numbers of photobuyers are finding out they can easily locate the source of the exact photo they need by simply using a search engine such as Google, and typing in several specific words describing the photo they need. *

THE GOOGLE EXPERIENCE

         You’ve no doubt experienced it: “the Google Experience.” You needed to know the name of the village where Michaelangelo was born, or the name of his father. You typed your question into the Google search bar and your answer was available to you in seconds.

         A text search on the Internet for photos is no different. If you were a photobuyer researching the making of violins in Italy, you would have found that Cremona is famous for its violins. But you need an aerial view. Your search request on Google or Yahoo would read like this: Cremona Italy violin aerial. Presto, the name of a photographer (or photographers) who has this photo comes up. Try it.

         How large is this Internet directory of photographs? You be the judge. Estimate how many individual photographers now have digitized and labeled their collections and presently make them available to photobuyers via the Internet. If your calculations are similar to mine, you’ll figure there are presently at least 450 million images search-available on the Internet. By the year 2010 there will be three times that number. Getty, Corbis, and Jupiter can never catch up.

         *Do photobuyers use Google Images as a source for images? No, they don’t. The Google Images system directs them only to sub par images, that also often present complicated copyright issues. More and more buyers know instead to use the “text” option of the Google search bar, and type in their photo-need description, to locate quality stock photos that offer ease of transaction.

 

Rohn Engh, veteran stock photographer and best-selling author of “Sell & ReSell Your Photos” and “sellphotos.com,” has helped scores of photographers launch their careers. For access to great information on making money from pictures you like to take, and to receive this free report: “8 Steps to Becoming a Published Photographer,” visit http://www.sellphotos.com