########################################

Key words in this issue: Software | Photobuyer Changes | Hotmail | Etiquette | Stock Photo |

NEWSWORDS: Plane Crash | Photojournalist Self Taught | Al-Qaeda | Camera-Phones | Blah Photos | Digital Management | Portrait |

########################################

## PhotoAIM weekly newsletter for 08/17/02 ## 383c

########################################

PhotoAIM, the weekly newsletter from PhotoSource

ISSN 1530-0511

If you no longer wish to receive PhotoAIM, see the instructions at the end of this newsletter.

########################################

SOFTWARE TAILORED FOR YOU - PART 4

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

by David Arnold

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Advance notes: In the first installment of this four-part series I discussed image management (or cataloging) software and captioning (or labeling) software. I then introduced stock (or slide) management software -- specifically fotoBiz (Mac and Windows, $199.95, www.fotobiz.net), NSCS Pro2 ($189, www.nscspro.com, Windows only), and StockView (Mac and Windows, $495, www.hindsightltd.com). In the second and third installments of this series I discussed how these three programs handle such tasks as filing and searching, creating delivery memos and invoices, and tracking submissions. This month I’ll wrap things up by reviewing some additional capabilities, examining the programs’ tutorials, manuals, and technical support, and offering some tips to help you decide which one is the best choice for your photographic business. -David Arnold

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Having reviewed, in the last two installments of this series, the core image handling and business features of fotoBiz, StockView, and NSCS Pro2, let’s now turn to some additional features that, while not essential, are nonetheless very useful additions. As we’ve seen, all of these programs can help you keep track of your photos. But fotoBiz and StockView can help you keep track of your photo equipment as well. Not only can their equipment databases keep track of what you have, when you bought it, how much you paid, serial numbers, etc., both programs can generate packing lists, complete with weights.

All three programs can print contact sheets for promotional mailings. In addition, StockView and the just-released NSCS version 3 can generate contact sheets that you can e-mail to clients. StockView can also create html (Web) pages, a capability both NSCS and fotoBiz plan to add later this year. StockView can also create CD-based searchable portfolios.

NSCS and fotoBiz include client databases. While the core $495 StockView program doesn’t have this feature, it is included with Hindsight’s InView/StockView and Studio Pak versions, and it’s complete enough to replace Outlook, Act!, or other full-blown contact managers.

With their many features, fotoBiz, StockView, and NSCS are not programs you can become comfortable and competent with, without some help. That help falls into three categories: manuals, tutorials, and technical support. All three programs provide tutorials to get you started. NCSC’s is a 2-page 42-step "quick start" that guides you through entering photo information and printing labels. FotoBiz’s tutorial is a 7-page print-out that guides you through the entire work cycle. Both are quick and easy to follow, but for an in-depth understanding of either program you’ll have to spend time experimenting with its various features. StockView’s tutorial is part of its free downloadable demo program. It covers more ground than the others, and consequently requires more time to go through.

If the tutorial doesn’t answer your question, the next stop is the manual. fotoBiz’s is a 55-page PDF file you can read on-onscreen or print yourself. NSCS Pro2’s comb-bound manual is longer (88 pages), but smaller (8½ x 7). Neither has an index, but there is one with the new NSCS Pro3. StockView’s ¾" thick spiral-bound manual contains 283 pages of text plus a detailed index with more than 2,000 entries.

If the manual doesn’t solve your problem, there’s always tech support. fotoBiz owners can e-mail their questions, and will receive an e-mail reply for simple issues, a phone call for more complex ones. NSCS users can either e-mail or phone. The same is true for StockView, though free phone support is limited to one hour, with a charge after that. However in most cases the handiest way to get help for StockView is their online forums. (Check them out at www.hindsightltd.com/hsforums/Forums.html.)

Customizability. Boyd Norton (NSCS), Jim Cook (StockView), and Cradoc Bagshaw (fotoBiz), have gone to extraordinary lengths to provide programs that fill their users’ needs. But different users have different needs and different ways of working, so each program allows some degree of customization. In all three you can customize categories in drop-down lists, modify printable documents, and fine-tune label formats. NSCS can’t be customized beyond that. fotoBiz can, but only if you own and are proficient in FileMaker Pro, its underlying database engine. In StockView almost every feature is customizable, but in many cases this will require a lot of time studying the manual and working at your computer. -David Arnold

########################################

This week's featured photographer on PhotoSourceFolio: Jeannie Couch:

########################################

As a special service to our PhotoAIM subscribers, we provide you with a fresh, up-to-date list of photobuyers every month. Look for this list every third week of the month, to update or add contacts to your personal Market List.

CHANGES

```````````````

ADVANCED GRAPHICS, former address and phone: 2101 Martin Way PO Box 1817, Pittsburg, CA 94565, 1 925 432-2262; current address and phone: 447 E Channel Rd, Benicia, CA 94510, 1 707 745-5062.

NEWS INTERNATIONAL SERVICE (532 State St, Brooklyn, NY 11217) former phone and fax: 1 212 688-2770, 1 212 688-2551; current phone and fax: 1 718 852-3779, 1 718 834-8466.

NOTEPAD

``````````````

JUNK E-MAIL. Until someone builds the ultimate filter to prevent unwanted e-mail messages, I'll provide you with my method of dealing with the hundred or so e-mail messages I get each day. The filter system that comes with our e-mail software really doesn't do the job. We use Outlook. HotMail and Yahoo! offer filtering features, but like in Outlook, often a word you have chosen to filter out as inappropriate might eliminate important messages that you won't get a chance to see (because it's been relegated to the trash bin.) Here's the method I use for Outlook: 1.) In your side bar, establish folders (if you haven't already), for a.) important mail and b.) no-so-important mail. 2.) Open your e-mail account and place the cursor at the bottom of the messages. 3.) With one finger on the mouse and one finger on the delete button, work upwards and eliminate the obvious junk mail. 4.) Transfer any important mail to the ("a") folder and the less important mail to the second ("b") folder. This method takes only a few minutes. You're now ready to read your important messages, and the not-so- important ones. Be sure to check your Delete Folder, from time to time, for messages you erroneously put there in haste, or especially by the automatic web mail filtering systems that you might be using. E-mail and Junk Mail are going to be with us a long time - so, roll with it. -RE.

SHOOTERS

````````````````

Laura Zito won first prize in the juried exhibition: Art of the State: Pennsylvania 2002, held in June and exhibited through September at The Susquehanna Art Museum in Harrisburg PA. (Laura Zito, Photographer, Philadelphia PA)

Shooters. Photographer and lecturer, Bill Thomas, has turned novelist and filtered many of his photojournalistic experiences into an adventure/romance novel called, The River Purple. Check it out at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and local book stores.

THE WRITER/PHOTOGRAPHER

````````````````````````````````````````````

Famming 3—Fam Tour: Etiquette

It is important you behave well on a fam tour for three reasons:

It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.

1.) You want to make a good impression on the other photographers, writers, and editors you’re traveling with—good contacts all.

2.) You want to get invited back.

Ah, but what constitutes behaving well? Here’s Olders’ Laws of Fam Trip Etiquette:

3.) If you accept a trip to Trenton, New Jersey, and then you're invited on one for the same dates to Paris, France, you're going to Trenton.

4.) Once you're on the trip, never, ever be late for anything. Ever. That’s the fastest way to get the group to hate you for ever. And ever.

5.) Don’t whine. Got a smaller room than that stuck-up thing from Glamour Magazine? Don’t whine. Didn’t get the room with the Jacuzzi or the lanai? Don’t whine. Hate everything you see and taste and smell? Don’t whine. If you’ve got legitimate complaints about the attractions, say it in your article.

6.) Don’t get drunk.

7.) Don’t ask for special favors that might be nice for you but are hell for the person organizing a group of eight other photographers and writers.

8.) Dress good, shave good, smell good.

9.) Once it’s over, send a thank you to the tour organizer — and his/her boss.

Follow Olders’ Laws and you'll be well-remembered, widely published, and likely to be invited back.

Note: This is the final column in the series by the Olders. We wish them good luck!

GOOD STUFF

```````````````````

ART OF BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY, by John Garrett. Using 190 pictures as examples, with precise details on how they were taken and printed, an internationally acclaimed photographer provides a wealth of practical advice. Covers exposure, lighting, film, filters, formats, composition, and darkroom techniques, as well as insights on how to approach different subjects, from scenics to sports, architecture, portraits, candids, and more. ($19.95; ISBN: 1-85732-956-2) Contact: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 387 Park Ave S, New York NY 10016-8810. Phone: 1 800 805-5489.

THE LAW FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS, by Leonard D. DuBoff. This long-popular and newly revised edition gives a straightforward look at the legal issues faced by stock photographers. Complete with a practical topic-by-topic format and sample forms and contracts. Keep this handy guide on your desk, to tackle the legal aspects of your stock photography business. ($19.95; ISBN: 1-58115-225-6) Contact: Allworth Press, 10 E 23<sup>rd</sup> St, Ste 510, New York NY 10010.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

``````````````````````````````

"The work will teach you how to do it."

-Estonian Proverb

FREE THIS WEEK

````````````````````````

Free Internet answering machine. Hear who's calling while you're online

FREE Inventor's Kit. Need help marketing that invention? Click here for a FREE Inventor's Kit to point you in the right direction.

THIS WEEK'S WEB FEATURE

`````````````````````````````````````````

Watch for developments in the field of stock photography in PhotoAIM's

PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE NEWS

``````````````````````````````````````````

You'll be the first to know…

Note: If the URL is long, it may extend to two lines. In that case - clicking on it won't work. Instead, "copy and paste" the URL.

2 Photographers Die in Plane Crash -Friends and admirers lined up at the gallery of nature photographers Galen and Barbara Rowell to express grief over their deaths in a plane crash.

John Zimmerman, innovative sports photojournalist, dies at 74

``I wanted to be more free,'' she says. ``Being a teacher, just entering the school, closing the door, it was very nice. But I wanted more in my life. So I decided to be a photographer.'' She taught herself photography skills by reading books and taking classes in the basics of black-and-white processing.

PluggedIn: Camera-Phones Double as Photo Albums - If you sit down to lunch at a Tokyo restaurant and a business associate offers to show you pictures of her toddler, chances are she'll reach not for an envelope of photo prints, but for a mobile phone with a built-in camera.

Veteran Photographer Overcomes the Odds to Reopen the Doors to The Historic Chapel; Grand Opening Showcases Restoration of the 19th Century South Methodist Episcopal Church -What people in the town saw as run-down, veteran photographer Lawrence Ruggeri saw as an opportunity for restoring a landmark in a community that has been undergoing revitalization since its 200<sup>th</sup> anniversary in 1998.

A Few That Clicked - Each year, as the entries pour in for our annual photo contest, certain themes tend to emerge. Last year we received scads of Adorable Street Urchins, with a smattering of Grizzled Peasants. The year before that, it was Meat (don't ask). This year, it's Animals on Steroids. Think we're kidding?

No More Blah Pictures - The goal: Pick out a few choice shots, enlarge, frame and hang in my new townhouse. It's a cheap alternative to paintings or professional photographs, plus I'd get bragging rights when showing off my work to visitors. But it quickly became apparent that there would be no bragging. It was just one bland photo after another. So, I reluctantly signed up for the Washington Photo Safari,

Digital Asset Management Still Barely a Blip on Creatives' Radar Screens. For creative markets, more than a quarter are challenged by "archiving and storage of clients' job files" while only 8% are challenged by implementing digital asset management (DAM).

Digital portrait takes the long view of San Francisco -Pixel by pixel, photo by photo, a Bay Area artist is stretching the limits of digital technology to create an urban portrait that measures in miles. Michael Koller is walking the streets of San Francisco, using a tiny digital camera for a huge undertaking. Shooting thousands of photos for a continuous image of the city.

Playwrights Probe War Correspondents' Battle

########################################

Need to find specific information on our web site? You can easily find it by using our search facilities. Check out the Search Page. It's free!

Feel free to forward this issue of PhotoAIM to your photographer friends.

########################################

New products for stock photographers can be found by typing in ' GoodStuff' in the Search section of PhotoStockNotes.

########################################

As a subscriber, you can search back issues of PhotoAIM. On your Web browser go to:

and type in your keyword. (Your password is listed on the final entry of your current newsletter)

To cancel your subscription, send email to:

with "PhotoAIM UNSUBSCRIBE" as the subject line.

########################################

PhotoAIM weekly newsletter is a product of PhotoSource International, Rohn Engh, Director, who is solely responsible for its contents. Stock Photo.

To sign up for our newsletter:

For information about PhotoSource International:

########################################

PhotoAIM Archives: http://www.photoaim.com/list/

User name: photosource

Password: free

########################################

383c

Next Week: Core Marketing

"I’ve been looking for a stock photo website like yours for an entire year now. Thanks so much for your creative ideas."

- Marilyn Haddrill, Photographer, Las Cruces, NM