Finding Stuff

Despite the ease of consumer shopping these days, finding essential items is not so easy. Take the case of the lowly shoelace. You can't do without them. And you need white ones for your sneakers, not black, not plaid, nor leather. You don't feel like walking half a mile through a Wal-Mart. On-line shopping on the Internet would cost you three times the actual price when you add in the shipping. And gas prices make a special trip to the Dollar Store prohibitive.
I can't suggest an easy way out of this dilemma, and it's interesting that the same parallel holds true for the photo researchers looking for an essential picture for their publishing project. But on this latter issue I can offer a solution. Like on a shoe, 'any ol' shoelace won't do. For the researcher, that "just right" picture can turn a B-minus layout into an A-plus.
The savior in this case is the search facilities on the Internet. Like the improvements in cell phones over the last two years, 'search' on the Internet has improved also. Using a text search, rather than a picture search is the simplest answer for the weary photo researcher.
"But are researchers using text to find pictures?" you might ask. Not all of them, because not all of them are aware of this fairly recent search method. But the successful researchers are finding out about the benefits of this method, and growing numbers are climbing on board. realize this method.
The top search engines these days seem to be Google, Yahoo and MSN. On your website, if you enter several words, even sentences or phrases, that these search engines can pick up in their frequent 'web crawls' of the Internet, your pictures and essential details will be indexed. In other words, you'll be 'cataloged' like a reference book, just like in your local library. You and your picture description will be identified. And you'll be found.
Though each search engine will invite you to apply for a search (it's free), you don't have to. Like the census taker, they trace you down -in this case, about every three to six months, depending on their workload.
If you don't have a website, or you want double protection, place your descriptions on the PhotoSourceBANK at Photosource International. The web crawlers will index your personal website but also the PSI website, giving you double protection. More importantly, the photo researchers tend to opt for easy shopping by adding the word -photosource-to their search description, which directs their search to the major image database, the PhotoSourceBANK.
As for shoelaces, however, I don't have an easy answer for you. -RE

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PhotoRESEARCHER Newsletter

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Our weekly newsletter that features carefully researched coverage of trends, methods, and the latest information that can help photo researchers in their quest to find that "just right" photo for their publishing project.

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Book Covers...

Do They Require A Release?

Advance notes: When can a picture be published without requiring a person's consent? A one-sentence answer would be, "when it's not being used to advertise or endorse a product or other commercial entity." If the picture is informing and educating the public, such as in a texbook, newspaper, TV documentary, etc. it generally is designated an editorial photo, which does not require a model release. But not all is conveniently clear and black and white when it comes to the requirement of model releases. Consider just one subject area, Book Covers:

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Photographer Question: "I have a pretty good understanding of the model/property release issue with editorial stock, but I do have a question. If a photo is used for a magazine/book cover, wouldn't that be considered promotional and require a model/property release?"

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PhotoSource International Answer: Book and magazine covers have a way of becoming "quasi advertisements," when they do double-duty of "hyping" the book or magazine when placed on a newsstand or in a catalog or even in an ad in, say, The New Yorker magazine. The courts, however, have almost always considered book and magazine covers as editorial in nature, and therefore not subject to the regulations that are applied to advertising photography.

The same has generally been true for photos in gallery shows or exhibits, where 'editorial-type' photos, taken in public places, are exhibited. The courts so far have ruled that even if such photos were sold by the photographer, the displays or exhibits were regarded as fine art use, not commercial use. While the pictures weren't used as 'editorial use,' they also were not used to advertise or endorse a product.

One of the earliest cases addressing this was back in the early part of the last century, when a hod carrier on the New York waterfront, sued a local magazine for using his picture on their front cover. The magazine won the suit, and the case is often used as the example (precedent) for similar suits.

The famous Arrington case in the early '80's is another significant case concerning this question. It points up how in some cases the use of a picture might be editorial in nature, but might be embarrassing to the person being photographed. Mr. Arrington, a black man, sued the New York Times for publishing a photograph of him. The Court judged that the photograph, taken in a public place, and used to illustrate an article on the upward mobility of blacks, was not considered detrimental, because Arrington's name was not used, and the photograph was published for illustrative, not commercial purposes. The law subsequently was amended to include protection for freelancers supplying photographs for use as news. (1983) You can look up this case at: Arrington v. New York Times, 433 N.Y.S.2d 164 (N.Y. App. Div. 1980), modified, 55 N.Y.2d 433 (1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1146 (1983).

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