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Key words in this issue: Photo Tour | Photobuyer Changes | Clientele | Web History | Nature Guide | Stock Photo |

NEWSWORDS: Montana Wildlife | Scanner Photos | Photo Geniuses | Go Anywhere Digital | Nativity Photo Ban | Media Boot Camp | LaMere closes |

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## PhotoAIM weekly newsletter for 12/19/02 ## 387c

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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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TREND NOTES

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PAY FOR YOUR PHOTO TOUR

Advance notes: Now you can mix pleasure and work by following the principles of full captioning, the key to successful marketing of the photos you bring back from a photo tour or self-assignment (read "vacation").

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Taking a photo vacation or photo tour? You can pay for it if you make thorough notes about what you photographed, that you can use later to provide extensive caption material for your resulting photos.

Take advantage of the fact that more and more photobuyers are learning they can turn to the web to find specific photos (just like you turn to the web to find specific information about cat and dog medicine, athletic events, festivals in the country you will visit next summer, etc.).

When you begin to photograph a subject on your photo tour, turn your back on the obvious 'post card' views (where you see those scores of tripod marks). Photobuyers can find this category of photo easily on RF (Royalty Free) discs. Instead, photograph flora and fauna, bistros, dockworkers, family vacationers, travel conveyances, indigenous folks and their trades, etc.

Spend some time identifying and getting background material on what you've photographed. The more descriptive and identifying words you can attach to the photo, the greater the chance of it catching the attention of photobuyers when they make electronic searches for photos they need.

DIGITAL HELP

One way you can make notes of your subject matter is by carrying along a plain vanilla digital camera. Photograph placards, hotel signs, historical notices, billboards, posters, even business cards, and your own notes -- anything that will help you keep the visual and the factual in order when you later get home. Many low-priced digital cameras will allow you to capture 150 to 300 low-res images.

HOW TO: Say you're at an oasis in the Sahara and you photograph an interesting local inhabitant, a Tuareg, walking to an isolated well. Ordinarily this photo would gather dust in your photo collection because you didn't know what to do with it. However, this photo can lend itself to many uses. Photobuyers are now beginning to use search engines to find photos by employing highly specific key search words. For example, a photobuyer might be looking for a picture that expresses thirst, being alone, barren, dry, desert, fortitude, survival.

OUT-THINK THE PHOTO RESEARCHER

Since you have no way of knowing exactly what picture the photobuyer is looking for (and sometimes the photo researcher doesn't either!), you can go one step further and use synonyms in addition to your normal caption material. For example, you will expand your original captions from thirst, being alone, barren, dry, desert, fortitude, survival -- to drought, aridity, isolated, remote, toil, exertion, sterile, unfertile, parched, desolate, forsaken, sparsely inhabited.

The consideration of all of this may be a turning point for you -- to place so many words in a caption for one picture. As we move along in the Digital Era, we are finding that many of the older pictures in our stock collection can now have new marketing appeal to photobuyers, by taking advantage of the new text search systems that the Internet provides. If you specialize in one field, you'll develop a loyal following of photobuyers who know they can come to you for a deep and variable selection of photos in that subject matter, that they need and require. And if you are a generalist in your photo operation, you will also find that this system of extensive captioning will help you in making more sales. -RE

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This week's featured photographer on PhotoSourceFolio: !!! **** **** !!!! :

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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

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COMPASS POINT BOOKS (151 Good Counsel Dr, Mankato MN 56001) contact person Sveta Zhurkina, Photo Researcher. Former phone: 1 507 345-0484; current phone: 1 507 385-8484.

KAREN PUGLIANO, Freelance Photo Editor, former address and phone: 4 Willows St, W Harrison, NY 10604, 1 914 686-6627; current address and phone: 43 Casmir, Fairfield, CT 06825, 1 203 374-1537.

SIDEBAR

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New Clients

Your local library is a gold mine filled to the brim with information that can do you and your stock photo business a world of good. It all boils down to knowing what your library can do for you and knowing how to use that information in the best possible way.

Recently I spent a day at my local library. I searched the computerized databases for publishers of books and periodicals in "my" specialized areas of interest. After searching through some 4,000 entries I came away with roughly 200 names of publishers and periodicals that were entirely new to me. These 200 will now be added to my database mailing list. They'll soon receive a convincing mailing that includes a "sell sheet," a presentation of examples of my work, what I do, and how I can assist them with the images they need. Since my specialized collection of photos (law enforcement) matches their everyday needs, I'm sure to eventually make sales.

In the direct marketing business, a "normal" response rate for direct mail is about 3%. Experience tells me that on my very narrow and well-targeted mailings, a response rate of between 15 and 20% can be expected. In this case that would mean that I would get between 30 and 40 responses. Of the ones who reply I normally get 40% to 60% "bites" -- meaning that they will actually use my images within a couple of months.

LIBRARY DAY

Of course, one need not go to a physical library, most of the information I can find on my home-office computer. However, removing myself from the workspace and having the available research assistance of a knowledgeable librarian has proved to be my best method for doing this kind of task.

So, my day at the library, when all is said and done, has produced 18 to 20 good, solid, new contacts. Now, take into consideration that each of these 18 to 20 new contacts can provide me with a total (and this is conservative) of $1,000 net (not gross) per year. Since the average length of time one stays with a photobuyer is ten years, we can see that my ROI (return on investment) has produced a possible $18,000 to $20,000 per year for 10 years! Not bad for a day's work.

By narrowing my initial mailing down I have avoided wasting dollars on postage and promotional materials to inappropriate prospects.

I have found that spending one day per year in the library doing this kind of research is really worth it. Sure, it's tedious and quite boring, but sometimes running your own business can be both tedious and boring. On the other hand, spending one day doing boring stuff to be able to do what I love the rest of the year absolutely makes it worth it.

THE WAYBACK MACHINE
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GOOD STUFF

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

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"To err is human--and to blame it on a computer is even more so."

–Robert Orben

FREE THIS WEEK

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THIS WEEK'S WEB FEATURE

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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!

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.

Montana: The easy way to shoot wildlife

Scanner Photography - Many of the old rules of photography have been shattered in recent years but one assumption has remained unquestioned: every photograph requires a camera, and every camera needs a lens. Not anymore. This year, two different artists mounted exhibits that were remarkably similar: a collection of dazzling images of cut flowers, ''photographed'' not with a camera but with the moving lens of a flatbed scanner, the kind used in offices every day.

"Brandt and Weston: Two Geniuses of Photography" - Only in Milwaukee will visitors see the exhibitions of works by two of the most respected photographers of the 20th century, on view side by side. Bill Brandt: A Retrospective and Edward Weston: Life Work are on view at the Milwaukee Art MuseuM

What stock photographers need: The Digital Go-Anywhere Camera

Ban on nativity photos attacked - EDUCATION chiefs in Edinburgh conceded yesterday they did not know of a single case in the UK where pedophiles have been found with pictures of nativity plays, as the row over banning photography at schools escalated.

Access Vs. Independence: Thoughts On Media Boot Camp - With all eyes on a possible war with Iraq, many photographers are wondering how the current Republican administration, known for its strict control of information, will allow the media to cover the battle for Baghdad

LaMere Photography closes up after 55 years - "If you want to get rich, don't be a portrait photographer," Teresa said. "But if you want a life rich in personal satisfaction - go for it."

FalconStor and Chi Corporation Improve Storage Vision For Buckeye Color Labs Buckeye Color Lab engaged Chi Corporation to expand their storage capacity and to centrally manage the volumes of data they house, while eliminating the frequent disk storage failures that they were experiencing.

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387c

Next Week: The Changing Stock

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