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Key words in this issue: Big Hitter | Training | Galen Rowell | PhotoSourceBOOK | Mail Washer | Stock Photo

NEWSWORDS: Royalty Free | Sept 11 | Opici | Printer | Scanner Decrease | Traditional Film | Steve McCurry |

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## PhotoAIM weekly newsletter for 09/07/02 ## 384a

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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.

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ARE YOU A HOME RUN HITTER?

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Remember when you signed up for the Little League team and the team manager asked you if you could hit a home run?

What was your reply?

I don't know what it was, but here's what you could have said: "Look, Mary, a ball team is not made up of nine people who can hit home runs. It's made up of nine different people who each play one position very well. Some of them can hit home runs, yes. If you expect everyone on your team to hit home runs, you're going to be disappointed."

You would go on to explain that a team filled with home run hitters would be greeted by an opposing team with not three men in the outfield but five or six. The pitcher would also adapt to sluggers who aimed only at hitting home runs.

As a stock photographer, have you entered the field aiming to hit home runs?

What's a home run in stock photography? Most people would agree it would be the cover of a magazine, a major ad, a billboard, or a book cover. Something like that.

This kind of home run is similar to winning a lottery, a bingo game, or the slot machine jackpot. It's glamorous but it's rare. It's exciting but elusive.

Most songwriters who hit it big, or novelists or screenwriters, or actors or artists who hit it big, don't get there in one quick jump. They work at their trade, immerse themselves in their field, analyze their sales and requests and keep a constant watch on the market. They aim for excellence and expect the best.

For them to aim every day for a home run would be a recipe for disaster. The Boulevard of Broken Dreams is strewn with burned-out artists who thought they had figured out a formula for hitting the big home run every time. (One photographer told me back in 1988 that he analyzed the big money winners in stock photography and found that photographs of clouds sold for the highest figures. He then set out to take pictures of clouds everyday. A couple dozen other photographers heard about "clouds" and in no time, the market was glutted.)

Stock photography can be a rewarding career for you if you don't let the dollar results blur your view finder. Instead of analyzing what is selling, analyze what kind of pictures you like to take. Then analyze who is buying those pictures. you will find the welcome mat out when you contact those buyers. Having found your niche you will produce excellent stock photos. And every now and then, you'll hit a home run.

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This week's featured photographer on PhotoSourceFolio: Jim Cazel:

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ON-LINE

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On-Line Training Classes

Last month we talked about on-line classes, and mentioned a very popular site, http://www.barnesandnobleuniversity.com, which was scheduled to reopen last month after a hiatus for them to "remodel" as a "new and improved training center." Well, the remodel is over, and guess what? Most all classes now COST you, with only a few that are free. So, head over to Hewlett-Packard, http://www.hplearningcenter.com, where it's all still free (so far!).

Microwave Oven Disrupts Computer Network

No, it's not a tabloid headline under some circumstances, it can be true. If you use wireless networking in your home or office, it's possible for the microwave oven, or the newer cordless phones, to interfere with the wireless signals transmitted by your network. These wireless networks (often called "Wi-Fi" or 802.11b networks) operate on a frequency of 2.4 Ghz, which is the same frequency that the newer cordless phones use, and is in the same spectrum used by microwave ovens. Like all transmitters and receivers (intentional or otherwise), the most convenient and easiest way to avoid interference is to relocate the affected (or offending) appliances. That may mean you'll need to use your laptop on the dining room table instead of the kitchen nook, or when the microwave is not in use. If you have a cordless phone problem, one way to eliminate or at least reduce interference with your computer network is to get a phone that operates on the "older" 900 MHz frequency range. Lastly, if you are experiencing this kind of interference, you might consider upgrading your wireless network to the latest standard called 802.11a which (at least for now) uses spectrum that practically nothing else uses. But 802.11a costs more that 802.11b, and has a shorter effective range.

Switching From AOL to Another Provider

So, you're thinking about switching from AOL to a regular Internet Service Provider, but don't know how to transfer your large address book? You're not alone, and AOL doesn't make it easy for you to switch, either. Of course, you can just retype it all, but if your address book is fairly large, rekeying all that info can be a definite roadblock. Connected Software (http://www.connectedsw.com) makes a Windows program for $29 that will convert and transfer address books among a variety of e-mail programs, AOL being one. The only caveat about the AOL conversion is that it only works with AOL versions 4, 5, and 7 (not 6). (If you're going from AOL to MSN, use the MSN built-in feature called TrueSwitch.)

ON GALEN ROWELL. Much has been written about Galen Rowell. Most of us expected him to last forever, like the mountains he climbed, both geological and photographically. It wasn't to be. A faulty desert airport landing in California, (a pro pilot was at the helm) four people perished, including his wife and constant companion, Barbara. I first met Galen Rowell when we both gave a seminar in the Rockies. –RE

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JUST RETURNED FROM YOUR TRIP with great shots? No longer do they have to be stored away in your file drawer where they get no attention. Here's how to bring them to the notice of photobuyers:

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GOOD STUFF

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BUSINESS NOTEPAD

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Wide band access to the Internet is increasing. Cahners In-State Group, a research firm, predicts that by 2005, 13.5 million residences will have installed DSL lines, up from 3.6 million at the end of 2001. Where we are located out in the country, DSL is not readily available, but we have installed a satellite (StarBand), which uploads and downloads nearly as fast as DSL. The cost is $70 per month, about the same as DSL. In a few years, most photobuyers will be equipped to accept your photos at high speed. You may want to begin now to acquaint yourself with this new way of marketing.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

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"If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough."

-- Robert Capa

FREE THIS WEEK

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FREE EMERGENCY TAG for motorcyclists. Be prepared. The Cycle Gadgets Emergency Info Tag contains pertinent information about you on one side, emergency contacts on the other; ½" x 4" and laminated. If you are a motorcyclist, visit CycleGadgets.com to request one of these tags for yourself, and for members of your family that are frequent passengers.

THIS WEEK'S WEB FEATURE

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Got a question about copyright? Check out the Kracker Barrel and search for "copyright."

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

PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE NEWS

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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.

Stock photographs, or off-the-shelf pictures of people and things, have been around far longer than personal computers, but the digital delivery of images has increased their popularity. So did the advent in the early 1990s of royalty-free collections, which offer photos without asking how they will be used, a simpler and generally less expensive arrangement than traditional licensing agreements.

Looking Through the Lens at History Philip Brookman, curator of photography and media arts at Washington's Corcoran Gallery of Art, was driving to work on Sept. 11, when the third plane plowed into the Pentagon. Philip Brookman has brought to his museum "Here is New York: A Democracy of Photographs." It is a huge, unconventional, uncredited and controversial collection of images from Sept 11th.

Submissions to Photography Exhibit Sought - Seven $1,000 Cash Prizes on Offer - Celebrating the launch of its national ad campaign debuting in publications such as Food & Wine and Palm Beach Illustrated, The Opici Import Company announces its first annual "Opici Scenes of Passion" photography contest and exhibit in conjunction with Vanity Fair and Kodak Professional, a division of Eastman Kodak Company.

Printers: New EPSON Stylus Pro 10600 Delivers Unbeatable Combination of Speed and Image Quality for Printing Up to 44-Inches Wide

Selling ads for one medium is tough enough. Cross Media is now the Top Sales Opportunity for Publishers - According to 40% of the publishing survey respondents, "cross-media communications campaigns" has become the top sales opportunity for publishing firms.

As digital cameras get better, creatives' scanner use declining as digital camera use increases. More than a third of creative shops that own a digital camera say that their use of color scanners has decreased as a result of owning a digital camera.

Technology review - The biggest advantage to a digital camera over traditional, film-guzzling boxes, remains the convenience of seeing shots soon after they are taken and saving money on film developing. Having said that, there are also strong reasons to look at a traditional film camera at the tail end of its life.

Steve McCurry was one of the first photographers on the scene when Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked two U.S. airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11<sup>th</sup> 2001.

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Keep up with what you need to know in the editorial stock photo industry. Our newsletter PhotoStockNotes will put you on the leading edge.

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

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

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Next Week: Losing Our Right to Photograph in Publica

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