Why Editorial Stock?
Yes, we cover editorial stock photography here in this newsletter. We hope that the information that we provide is helpful to both folks looking into this field, as well as established pros who want to keep up with this fast moving area as we round the
The editorial stock field has grown tremendously in the past decade -mostly because photobuyers have discovered it is now easier to find the photos they need. In the past, their only recourse was to get lucky at research libraries or consult stock photo libraries for generic photos of the topics they wanted to illustrate. Nowadays the web, fax, phone, and email distribution systems we all enjoy make it much easier to get in touch with the source of a photo.
The result is that photobuyers, having become sophisticated in their photo acquisition methods, and knowing they can find the photo in a reasonable time before deadline, are turning more to individual photographers. The buyers build up a bevy of select photo suppliers who photograph in their mutually beneficial area of interest (expertise).
The result is that they are able to satisfy their readers (book, web, and magazine, -we rarely list newspapers in our marketletter services because of the low pay), knowing they can find appropriate images that mirror the quality of writing in their periodicals and books.
Photo decor, could this area of photography be considered editorial stock? When we think of photo decor we think of paper products such as greeting card, calendars, placements, and posters. It's a gray area when it comes to editorial photography. No, being an artist or artisan doesn't give the artist a license to use the resulting pictures in works of art such as pottery or limited edition signed posters or prints.
Use the Golden Rule, if you are using the person's image to make profits, then you the photographer, should probably be sharing the revenue. This would go for most paper products, even if the client is a non-profit organization.
In our market letters, we rarely list calendar, poster, or greeting card companies. First because there's so much competition between photographers for the same scenic shot. As the expression goes, you'll probably find tripod marks at an exquisite location you've discovered.
Secondly, we've found the greater part of the buyers in the "paper products" field have an almost disdain for photo suppliers (you), probably because the supply is so great and the demand is so low. They (the buyers) can afford to be insolent and handle your work with limited respect. If you have the energy and will to want to see your images in publication, my advise is to discover an area of interest that "wild horses" can't pull you away from and start building a file in that area. In the future, you will have built up a deep file of highly specialized images that buyers will start coming to you for because they know you have a wide assortment of images in that particular field.
The boulevard of broken dreams is filled with the bodies of photographers who try to make it in the over-flowing field of decor photography. I cannot recommend it.
This shift to individual photographers has been a boon to part-time stock photographers who may have what it takes to be a pro, but spend their working day in other professions. Rather than try to compete with the full-time pros, editorial photographers usually select a niche area that they enjoy photographing in (gardening, auto racing, rodeos, astronomy -you name it) and then match their services with special interest magazines and book publishers. When these part-timers travel, it's usually to venues where they can capture images of their liking, and know that the pictures will be on a photo editor's desk on their return. This kind of activity helps pay for their vacations and interest in certain areas of their personal interest (horse racing, antiques, skydiving, etc.)
Of course, there are a few full-time editorial photographers extant, as Brian Yarvin says in his reply. He rightly points out that getting model releases (when possible) is a must if you want to become a full-time pro.
The reason? Because your pictures might eventually land in a stock agency or you might establish a mini-stock photo agency of your own to serve a specialized niche area. One day you might receive a request for one of your picture's use in an advertisement or some similar capacity such as a billboard, record cover, etc. Most full-time commercial stock photographers carry a model release pad in their camera bag. One old-timer friend of mine who photographed celebrities and always insisted on getting signed releases (when he could) from them, now has a box full of signatures on model releases from famous people in the entertainment business he expects to pass on to his heirs for nostalgia collectors. This may be straying from editorial stock photography but it is certainly a possibility of making money if you don't mind the administration of it all.
Entering the area of commercial stock photography is a choice that only you can make. If you plan to remain solely in the editorial field, there's rare need that a photobuyer will ask you for a model release. We should know here at PhotoSource international because we are on the phone with dozens of photobuyers daily what with our three market letters. If the tides of First Amendment rights change, we will be the first to let you know. We are here to advise you on your options. And, to point out where the rules change if your decide to switch over from editorial stock to commercial stock.
If you straddle both fields, (and it isn't easy) here's an easy explanation of when you might need a model release and when you wouldn't.
Say a film company is producing a movie in your hometown and it stars Anthony Hopkins. You get a photo of him (close up) munching on an ice cream cone. You decide to print the photo on T-shirts and sell them for $10 each. Anthony Hopkins' attorney will contact you and you'll find yourself forking over all of your revenue to Mr. Hopkins and his attorney, plus some additional court costs.
On the other hand, if a book publisher is producing a coffee table book on ice cream and they're lacking a photo of a
A good test also is the Golden Rule. If a photographer got a good picture of your teenager in a public tennis court swinging a racket and placed it later on coffee mugs for a tennis club and didn't share the profits, you would probably be annoyed. No doubt you would begin legal action if the photographer were not cooperative and share the revenue. If the picture, of course, appeared in a textbook on teen sports, the publisher would probably not ask for a model release unless the accompanying text were derogatory in some way.
If it is embarrassing for you to take pictures in public of people and the world around you, or if you are intimidated by these circumstances, it may be that you'd be better off to switch your photo interest area to a less vexing arena of stock photography.
 Tommy Thompson |
 Kerry Kolb |
 Jon Saban |
 Jake Nelson |