It's Show Time On The Web
"Bob, it's a whole new ball game. We're in the minor leagues right now, but in a few short years, we'll all be playing in the majors," I said yesterday to my friend Bob Finlay, from Pennsylvania, who has been a PhotoSource watcher since our beginning
Bob wasn't sure what I was talking about. He has been a shooter since childhood (he's now retired) and has a collection of thousands of beautiful photos. They have won prizes and contests. But because the subject matter of his pictures is scattered across the board (aviation to sunset scenes) it has been difficult for him to try to market them for consistent sales.
Photo editors traditionally have expected editorial photographers to have a deep selection in a certain specialty area to choose from.
TURNING THE CORNER
No more. "The World Wide Web is changing the marketing landscape," I said to Bob. "Thanks to search engines on the Web, photo buyers no longer need go through the former labor-intensive process to find say, 'a recent image of a soapbox derby on Fourth of July.'
"In the past, a photo researcher who needed that 'just right' image would have to look through library books that featured soapbox derbies. Or they would phone associations of soapbox derby people and get standard cliche shots, some of them decades old. Or they would try to sift through images at a local stock agency."
"What do they do now, then?" Bob asked.
"Now, when a photobuyer needs a picture of a soapbox derby, they can locate a photographer who has the picture, or locate the picture itself, on the World Wide Web."
"Yes," said Bob. "I've heard you can buy flowers on the Web, even automobiles. Why not photos?"
And then he asked, "But aren't the photos going to be expensive?"
"It depends on their use," I said. "If you are an ad agency and want exclusive use of the photo(s), the on-line Web sites can arrange that for you. But you'll pay a hefty price for that exclusivity. If you don't care about who has used a generic picture before you, you'll find a variety of fees and qualities ranging from $5 to $35 per photo, on services that offer "Royalty Fee" images. Because the process is automated, royalty-free companies can charge low fees. Managed-rights stock photo companies, because their process is labor intensive, charge high fees. Independent stock photographers can charge somewhere in between."
"But could they find that fourth of July soapbox derby picture in one of those on-line photo Web sites?"
"On-line services would rarely have a picture as specific as that. They will post mainly generic pictures that can be used for a variety of situations. But that's where the Web now offers individual photographers the opportunity to compete with the major on-line agencies," I said.
"How so?"
"Here at PhotoSource International our emphasis is the opposite of on-line Web site agencies. Instead of featuring generic pictures on our site, we feature descriptions of highly specific pictures, such as `ultralite flight over Victoria Falls,' or Vladivostok, or an air traffic controller."
"You don't feature the picture itself?"
"No. If a photo researcher needs a highly specific picture, of say a `soapbox derby on the Fourth of July,' they don't want to search through Fourth of July pictures, or soapbox derby pictures. They'd rather find the right combination, and from one source. The quickest way to do that is to make a Web search by using text rather than the photos themselves. It's been said, 'a picture is worth a thousand words,' but on the Web, a word comes up a thousand times faster than a picture. Photo researchers are interested in first finding a source for their photos.
"They can use the Web search engines to accomplish this. Then they'll ask to see the pictures."
CONVERGENCE
The World Wide Web (WWW) is changing the way we do our shopping. What was once the dominion of the mail order catalogs, is now becoming the realm of the Web.
As recently as three years ago, it was useless to use the Internet as a source for stock photography.
What has contributed to this change in the selection process for photo researchers?
The convergence of technological developments on the Internet called the Web, plus hardware and software innovations, have improved the Internet to a point where the Web is now becoming an alternative marketplace for stock photographers and photobuyers. Here are contributing factors:
Computers: speedier, more powerful, cheaper
Modems: more power, swifter, cheaper
Storage: digital compression costs have come down
Scanners: more choice, selection, and lower prices
Telephone lines: 30-times faster within two years
Browsers: easy-to-use and free
Computer literacy: steadily rising in publishing circles
Software: Web authoring tools are easy and simple
CD-ROM: their use is now widespread
Digital Delivery: becoming commonplace
Royalty Free: creating new markets (educating new buyers)
World Wide Web: for photographers - several services to choose from; for photobuyers - larger selection of photographers and photographs to choose from.
THE SAME FIREPOWER
"Once photo researchers begin using the power of the Web, individual stock photographers will have the same firepower as major stock agencies. It won't matter to a photo researcher if the image comes from a major stock agency or an individual photographer. If it's on-target, they'll make arrangements to buy it."
"Well, it just so happens I have a great shot of a soapbox derby taken on the Fourth of July. I'm a member of PSA
"Rush, don't walk," I said. "Put verbal descriptions of all your top images in our section on the Web called the PhotoSourceBank (www.photosource.com/psb). You can use up to 1500 words to describe the contents of a number of your photos. Your entry into the PhotoSourceBank is free up 'til July 4th. After that the fee for inclusion is $4.95 per month. And for an additional monthly $4.95 you can feature 6 representative photos in our showcase area called PhotoSourceFolio.
"We're getting reports every day now where photobuyers are starting to use the PhotoSourceBank and PhotoSourceFolio as a resource. By this time next year, we'll be getting hundreds of photobuyers utilizing the PhotoSourceBank/Folio. One sale can more than pay for a year's membership."
Hundreds, even thousands, of first-rate photos sit languishing in people's shoe boxes and files around the country, going no place but out of date. The Web now offers photographers an opportunity to share their photos with the world. -RE
 Tommy Thompson |
 Kerry Kolb |
 Jon Saban |
 Jake Nelson |