How To Become A Photographer With Little Or No competition
Before the turn of the century, photographers, like most other professionals, worked with a vertical market. That is, they put their ads in a trade magazine or the Yellow Pages, and based on their talent, marketing know-how, and luck, they conducted their business.
This made for extreme competition. Longtime pros were able to cling to their top position because they built a following based on their competence and expertise. Newcomers to photography found it difficult to surmount this unless they brought superb talent or an exceptional fresh approach to the marketplace.
Eventually the field of photography fragmented into targeted areas. The photographer who could photograph most anything for a client, the "generalist," was no longer the top dog in the industry. Like in most other professions, photographers evolved to specializing; the trend was to develop an expertise in specific subject areas, such as aerial, sports, fashion, documentary, etc., and to go after a "niche." With the arrival of the Internet, all of this has changed, especially in the field of stock photography. The changeover comes to light especially when you look at the market from the buyer's approach.
In our field of stock photography, a buyer turns to an image or images to get a point across, whether it's for an advertisement, brochure, or textbook. Since our thrust here at PhotoSource International is from an editorial standpoint, I'll address editorial stock photography.
The arrival of search engines has brought sophisticated software that has been able to break down the former restrictions in the field and open it to any photographer with quality images.
At the same time, the publishing industry has become more and more specialized. Type any topic plus the word 'publishing' in a Google search, and you'll find that a magazine, book publisher, website or other entity, exists for the sole purpose of supplying that interest area with information.
Here's where every stock photographer can emerge from the "Yellow Pages" race and become an important resource to specific segments of the vast market for stock photography that has now emerged -thanks to the Internet.
A publisher in Albuquerque no longer consults the Yellow Pages, the local library, or a bevy of good ol' boy favorites when producing an article on a certain way of harvesting desert cacti. She consults the Internet.
Why? Because that "just right" picture exists. The "Law of Probability" says that a local photographer might not have the picture. Surprise, surprise. She finds it on the Internet, through a search engine search. The photographer is not even a New Mexico resident, but a visiting tourist from Japan who has cacti as his specialization. Thanks to hi-res delivery of pictures, the publisher is able to meet her immediate deadline.
I hope it's evident to you that as an independent stock photographer, you are part of the largest stock photo resource in the world. No, it's not Getty, Corbis, or Jupiter - it's the Internet. You are no longer competing against those major agencies - thanks to your silent partner -- the search engine.
Rohn Engh is director of PhotoSource International and publisher of PhotoStockNotes. Pine Lake Farm, 1910 35th Road, Osceola, WI 54020 USA. Telephone: 1 800 624 0266 Fax: 1 715 248 7394. Web site: www.photosource.com/product
Welcome
to GraphixStox.com. Here's where you'll
find information about photo marketing, selling pictures, dealing with photobuyers, advertising, and promoting your photography business.
Get In The Right Place
The automatic controls on cameras today make the technical side of photography much easier than a generation ago. As a result, the person with a sensitive eye finds that she or he is amassing a healthy collection of "quite good" images.
"How can I get my pictures published?" is usually the next question. And rightly so, because you've seen pictures published that were not even as good as yours.
Award-winning pictures in exhibitions and contests may earn you blue ribbons, but if you're interested in seeing your credit line in national circulation and receiving checks in the mail, here are some tips on how to shift your emphasis.
For the purposes of marketing, the real judges of what makes a good photo are the editors at magazine or book publishing houses, who buy photos not because they like them, but because they need them.
I've been in many an editor's office where stunning calendar-type pictures are on the wall, but the editor is signing a check for a work-a-day nuts-and-bolts picture he or she needs for their current project.
If you're interested in making money from your photographic talent, you will want to follow a basic business concept: positioning. If your collection of photos is strong in, say, education, position yourself so that you become a valuable resource to editors who are in continual need of education photos. I know photographers who have positioned themselves so well in their specialty area that they can call editors collect.
THEME PUBLISHERS
When you position yourself, you lock yourself into publishing houses that produce visual materials relating to one theme. This may be auto racing, gardening, hang-gliding, medicine, and so on. When you submit your first selection of photos to such a publishing house, spark the photobuyer to say, "This photographer speaks my language."
Once you sell your first photo to a theme publisher, you will find it much easier to make subsequent sales. I have found that once a photographer establishes him/herself with a theme publisher, (s)he can expect to stay with that publisher for an average of ten years, minimum. The individual editors at such a publishing house may come and go, but the theme of the publishing house remains the same. This translates to $20,000 to $50,000 in sales over the ten-year period. And of course the business relationship may go on even longer.
And that is the beauty of marketing your own photos. You can choose to stay with only one or two theme publishers, or go big time and deal with dozens of them, if you position yourself. -RE
Rohn Engh is director of PhotoSource International and publisher of the weekly PhotoStockNotes. Pine Lake Farm, 1910 35th Road, Osceola, WI 54020 USA Email: info@photosource.com Fax: 1 715 248 7394
Web site: www.photosource.com
Business
Notepad
STOCK PHOTO AGENCIES
can be an outlet for some of your pictures. Do agencies object to you marketing your own pictures when they also represent you? No, not the established ones. They encourage you to also market on your own. They want to share the sales with you, and also to share the setbacks. They know that a photographer who markets pictures on his/her own will understands the pitfalls (and glories) of selling ... Full
Story
When you type the word podcasting
in your letter or document - does your spellchecker tell you
it's not found? Hmmmmmm... That's an indication that you are
not keeping up with Internet technology that can change your
photo marketing ability. Learn how podcasting can connect
you with photobuyers, stock photo info, and other photographers.
MARKETING TIP
(From Sell & ReSell Your Photos, Page 301.) Photo illustrators can get by with only a small investment in camera equipment. Unlike the commercial stock photographer who must be "versatile," the editorial photo illustrator can get by easily with a 35mm camera and three lenses. If your excess equipment is gathering dust, sell it and buy film. Your stock in trade are your pictures, not your equipment.
Few other marketing tools have as much impact as a digital catalog. Such catalogs can produce a big return on investment (ROI). A professional catalog marketed properly will put the right images in front of the right photobuyers. This will lead to not only direct sales of the images in the catalog, but also lead to contacts that open opportunities for further future sales.
Stage One: Build a Mailing List
Do you have a mailing list of photobuyers who use the kind of photos that you like to take? If not, start now to build your mailing list. Great resources to find photobuyers are the books, Photographer's Market and Writer's Market. Also take advantage of what your local bookstore and library have to offer. Seek out magazines and books that use the kind of images you produce. Add these publications to your mailing list. To learn more about how to use and build your mailing list, see chapters 3 and 9 of the book, Sell and Re-Sell Your Photos, by Rohn Engh.
Stage Two: Target Your Mailings
Targeting your mailings is crucial. Some photographers don't pay enough attention to selecting the right markets to add to their market lists. Many photobuyers have told me that a lot of the mail they get from photographers ends up in the trash after a quick glance. The reason? The mailings weren't targeted properly and the wrong kind of images were promoted to the wrong photobuyers. For instance, a beautiful catalog of flower photos will be of very little use to a magazine-covering model railways. You'll save postage and time when you target your mailings.
Stage Three: Produce Your Catalog
I recently produced a digital catalog (PDF) and made some questionable decisions. I assumed that all the photobuyers on my list would be willing to flip through a 40-page PDF document. I was wrong. Had I done my homework prior to producing my catalog, I would have known that "shorter is better." I would also have found that multi-format is the best option.
Stage Four: Choice is Everything
Multi-format means that you produce in both digital and traditional formats. The ultimate stock photo catalog would be produced in PDF, HTML, CD, and on paper. While digital might win over traditional when it comes to cost, digital is not the preference of all photobuyers. The key is to give photobuyers the options, so that the buyer can pick the format that suits him/her best.
Your catalog doesn't have to contain hundreds of images. It doesn't have to be printed and glued by a printing shop. It doesn't have to be printed in thousands of copies. It does need to have quality. If you go the route of printing on your own printer, make sure your printer is capable of producing professional-quality prints that enhance your work. If it doesn't, seriously consider upgrading to a new printer.
For those of you who want a copy of my catalog to use as an example, I'd be happy to mail you a CD for the price of postage and handling. Send $5 (check or MO) to Mikael Karlsson, PSI Midwest Office, 2134 State Hwy 41, Wilber, NE 68465. For orders to outside the US, send US$10.
Photojournalist Mikael Karlsson has 14 years' experience of working for magazines and newspapers in more than 30 countries. He moved to the United States in 1998 from his native Sweden. He lives in Nebraska and is currently US correspondent for 11 Swedish magazines and a regular contributor to a wide variety of U.S. publications. Reach him at mike@photosource.com.
Of
Interest
HOME OFFICE PERKS . . .
KNOWING THE ROPES
TO PUT MONEY IN YOUR POCKET
Advance Notes: If you’re self-employed, you’re eligible for specific tax deductions that can, in effect, “give yourself a raise.” There are many tax deductions you can claim that relate right to the place you probably do much of your work, your home. Here are some tips from the book, “422 Tax Deductions,” by Bernard Kamoroff, C.P.A.
The IRS accepts that a “home” office can be in a house, apartment, loft, condominium, trailer, mobile home, or boat. The term also includes any separate structure that is part of your residence, such as a garage or barn. You can deduct the expenses directly related to your home office, such as utilities, insurance, property taxes, etc. You must, however, meet certain requirements for your home work space to qualify as a “home office,” and be eligible for these deductions. (See below).
The home-office rules apply to sole proprietors, partners, and owners of an S corporation. The ... Full
Story
BETTER VIDEOS COMING Canon, Nikon video-shooting SLR cameras ready for action
Two new SLRs can now shoot high-definition video, taking advantage of
the superior lenses (much better than video cameras,
way better than point-and-shoots) available for SLRs.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-10-01-slr-video_N.htm?csp=34
HOW DO THEY DO IT? Yuri Arcurs - Microstock Entrepreneur - Not content with an
annual microstock income of US$1.3 million and being the top selling microstock photographer, Yuri Arcurs is creating a microstock empire. Here's a summary of his new entrepreneurial activities.
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/meet-the-new-yuri-arcurs-microstock-entrepreneur.html
WHO SAID PHOTOGRAPHERS CAN’T WRITE? History in the Buffer - David Burnett, photojournalist, wrote this piece about his experience "in the buffer" covering the election night in Chicago. A remarkable diary of his election night experience.
http://werejustsayin.blogspot.com/2008/11/history-in-buffer.html
TAKEAWAY: When TIME Magazine made “the computer” the Man of the Year, they sent David Burnett to Pine Lake Farm to photograph me and my new Radio Shack TRS-80 Model II. You can see the picture TIME used at:
http://www.photosource.com/rohntime
