First of all, let me apologize for the lack of updates for the last week or so. I've been taking a little bit of downtime since the family left, and trying to get some much-needed fishing in. And while I've had my camera WITH me, I haven't taken anything new, aside from MORE phots at the Racetrack. More on that in a later post. As far as having my camera with me while I'm fishing... my apologies, I've had my rod in my hand, and not my camera. That being said, I've had TONS of fun with that, and my right arm is pretty sore from fighting all the fish... on Sunday September 4 I caught and released about a dozen salmon. And nope... not a single picture. Ah, well.
Well, folks... today I don't really have any photos to share although I've spent my day going through many, many pictures. I was reading on something called stock photography. And what I read inspired me to start looking through my archives to see if I had anything which might be suitable for use as stock material.
I can hear a few of you asking me... so I'll answer the question, "What IS stock photography?" The short version is most of the imagery we see in magazines and an awful lot of what we see on TV, is stock imagey, meaning it was taken in advance by somebody. These pictures are used for advertising, illustration, demonstration, and to be visual "fill." It's often easier and less expensive for agencies to search through a library of images than to hire a photographer or graphic designer. As a result of that, there are agencies that make these libraries available, for a fee, to those people. These agencies also pay people, such as myself, royalties for producing these images, when our images are used.
So I've decided that if I can make $20 or 30 a month, or preferably more, I'm going to start working on shooting and producing stock imagery. Needless to say, I'm now a little bit cross-eyed and fumble-fingered from working with my pictures.
So what provides good stock imagery? Well... how about an image like this helicopter? The whole image is in good focus, it's very clear what the subject is, and the open space to the side makes it very usable for a variety of purposes. With a minimum of effort, it can easily be used for illustration or advertising. The nice thing about an image like this one, is that no model releases need to be signed or submitted. Okay... so I was wrong... I have a couple of pictures.
The whole drive behind this is seeing the published figures from one photographer who submits to several agencies, and reports of dedicated stock photographer's earnings. It's a worthwhile step towards my dream of being able to make a living as a photographer. So... if I happen to ask you if you'd sign a model release for me... you may end up appearing in a brochure or a magazine or something like that. But bear in mind... the royalties that I make from a single picture aren't much, if you're interested in a cut... Unless, of course, you're willing to hire yourself as a model for a day or so to a starving photographer. If nothing else, we'll have fun. Did I mention that I'm a starving photographer?
