Danita Delimont

Value & the Bottom Line

2008-01-16T09:11:00.000-08:00

When did publishers become more interested in the bottom line than in finding the best image for the job?

What happened to the value of finding the perfect shot for a project?

Recently, negotiation has become a game of “How cheap can I get it?” What once was gratitude to sources for providing images that perfectly fit the concept has been reduced to nonchalance. And a shark-infested feeding frenzy with all the photo sources competing for business has made it possible. There are so many new photo agencies trying to sell their latest pricing models that picture editors and photo researchers seem to feel the competition can drive the prices down.

Are they wrong? Look what’s happened in the industry. One agency offered package deals (x number of images per year for x dollars) back in the mid-1990s, and other agencies had to make similar offers in order to compete. On the royalty free front, agencies began buying collections of images outright so they could have complete control over how they were sold. Subscription stock was born and, more recently, microstock. I think it is kind of funny that some people don’t even know what microstock is, but want to try it because they know it can be purchased for as little as $1. The trouble is, although microstock may have a place, the overall quality isn’t there and someone has to search tens of thousands or even millions of images created by nonprofessionals to find the gems that might work on their projects.

Four years ago at the ASPP Education Conference in Chicago, many senior photo editors and researchers stood up and pleaded for agencies to put up fresh and new content for their publishing projects—textbooks in particular. Many complained that books from the various publishers all contained the same images because there were so few available.

I beseeched everyone in the room to look to the smaller niche agencies that continue to scan and put up significant content for educational publishing projects. Danita Delimont Stock Photography is one of those agencies, so I know how time-consuming, difficult and expensive the costs are in doing this. Few of the specialty agencies are supported by venture capital, trust funds or billion-dollar backers.

Still, it is those of us who have been in the business for several decades who actually know and understand the value of the images we select. We’ve seen the specs come up over the years for one project after another. We support educational publishing projects with unique imagery, because we know how hard it can be to find some of the content. We also do it because some of the specs are timeless, and we know the content will hold its own for some time. Few of the big agencies, aside from Corbis, have given educational editorial content much notice.

Most of the new content being produced is oriented to commercial or personal-use licensing and not educational, unless the subject is generic. In other words, there may be more content, but little of it is appropriate for textbook use.

I received an email recently from a textbook photo buyer who had a “take it or leave it” kind of attitude. She (unthinkingly?) copied the agencies (royalty-free and non-editorial agencies as I recall) that she was sending the email to. She sent a list of the agencies she currently works with and the deals they have worked out, so we would know how to bid for her company’s work. Her email stated that her design group would have an in-house meeting to determine which sources they should use, and their decisions would be based on the lowest rates they could get. The photo buyer suggested that $100 for a quarter-page would keep them coming back to our site for content.

I politely told this photo buyer that there is more than the fee that they should consider, such as the level of expertise niche agencies offer that can help publishers avoid using inappropriate images in their textbooks. I also suggested that the depth and breadth of subject matter that they require is jeopardized when publishers lower rates in an already volatile marketplace.

After all, when you combine lower fees with the photographers’ increased costs of doing business in a digital world, the end result may be photographers going out of business or switching to subject matter that is more lucrative or, possibly, changing careers altogether.

I encouraged this photo buyer to come back to our site when she couldn’t find what she was looking for anywhere else.

Nancy Carrizales, a friend and colleague who runs Animals Animals, which services the editorial market primarily, said she’s been receiving these agreements for a few years. “Along with lower fees, the rights requested are greater than what we are willing and often allowed to grant due to our agreements with our contributors. The negotiation process has become an education for both the client and the agency. We are both going through major changes due to new technology and consolidation. We try to be understanding and flexible to meet the client's needs, however we also need to maintain a clear understanding of the value of our collection and the services we offer. It is this understanding and confidence that allows us the option to say no when we cannot come to terms with a client.”

Could part of the problem be that few mentors are teaching new photo researchers, editors, art directors, and other photo buyers the value of content? Many come into a new job or an internship fresh out of college and without proper guidance and training. Many—possibly most—photo researchers and picture editors evolved into their positions. There are few college courses that can prepare a picture buyer for the job.

I wonder why no one is teaching these new researchers and editors the value of an image, in particular the harder-to-find content?” Has an entire segment of the industry resigned itself to mediocrity? If a researcher can’t find “the shot” to illustrate a concept the book is covering, is it ok to go with a less suitable generic image he/she can find that fits the budget? We need to take the time to teach these young professionals what we know, and in particular, share with them why some images are worth more than the lowest bid.

Why not increase rather than decrease the budget? The price of textbooks is increasing due to many costs, so why not increase the price a bit more to compensate the photographers properly as well? Isn’t it the role of photo buyers to inform those that set the budget to the reality of what it costs to get outstanding content? After all, the buyers are the ones in the trenches, working with photo sources and negotiating the rights and licenses. They need to speak up on behalf of the photographers if they want to be assured of appropriate content in the years to come.

Some say the lower budgets are all about supply and demand, which is normal for business. There is truly a glut of imagery today, to be sure. Still, if you look deeply into most agency files, you’ll see a lot of content, but not a lot that is oriented toward illustrating the textbooks that are supposed to be teaching the next generation!

“We, the small quality agencies around the world, are between a rock and a hard place,” said Jose Azel of niche agency Aurora Photos. “Maintaining high quality at premium prices can and must be maintained. The problem comes with the subjectivism inherent in photography coupled with the number of high quality clients willing to pay what we consider fair fees.”

Azel continued, “We have several ways to combat this phenomenon. One may be to consolidate as a group by providing large volume at fair prices, if our material is not being provided by others. In the past this has not been easy since, like photographers, many small agents value their independence. Another might be to add value to the work beyond what others are doing. We have experienced this with some of our journalistic material, as our captions and information can be infinitely better than the average ‘stock’ caption. Finally, prove to publishers that better images, even at higher fees, sell more of their product. In the end we [picture agencies] need to make the best choice for the photographers we represent while servicing the market.”

So where does this leave us? The choice is yours, if you’re a photo buyer, speak up for the photographers who work so hard to shoot the material you need or you can go with the status quo, making no waves, secure in your position, and settling for images you might not have even considered five or ten years ago. Alternately, you could educate the bosses and bean counters about the value of editorial content and the scarcity of appropriate work. Use your powers of persuasion to get them to offer prices that will keep photographers in business.

We’re all in this together.

This article first appeared in Issue 4, 2007 of ASPP's The Picture Professional Magazine.

Jane Kinne: Trailblazer, Mentor, Friend

2008-01-11T10:33:00.000-08:00

I first met Jane Kinne at a President’s reception at one of the many NANPA Summits. I introduced myself to this small woman of great stature and she said, “…I know who you are and I’m delighted to finally meet you!”

That was the beginning of a wonderful friendship we shared for the past ten years, during the course of which I served on several boards with her at ASPP and NANPA. I would also call her from time to time with a business dilemma when I needed her sage advice.

What always struck me about Jane is that she was even tempered and never got too worked up over some issue or problem. She always encouraged and advised me to take a fair-minded attitude in order to solve a problem, which I continue to use to this day.

Jane and her husband Russ were avid “boaters” and “birders” as are my husband Dave and are. We always looked forward to the many conferences we attended, knowing that we’d spend some more quality time with them. They stayed with us in Seattle one time and I’ll never forget how they came to our breakfast table with binoculars around their necks, sighting birds out our picture window over the canopy of our NW landscape.

A few years ago during a summer board meeting in Denver, Jane and I discovered that one of her dearest classmates from college at William and Mary and then later in NYC, was my husband’s long time friend and mentor from the UW Business School! This connection was uncanny and Jane often commented how Charlie was looking down at us and had indeed put us together because we didn’t know Jane until right after Charlie’s passing!

Jane had stamina unparalleled to others her age—I asked her how she could stay up partying with us and still get up for the 8:00 meetings. She said she had an arsenal of vitamins and supplements that made all the difference. I know that she influenced me in many ways and her legacy will continue in the on-going efforts I take for our photo industry, exercising caution and fairness along the way.

To those of us that were touched by her, she will always remain in our hearts.

The Office: Preparing the Images (Part 2)

2008-01-10T08:27:00.000-08:00

In the Winter issue of Currents, you got my take on what kind of equipment and technology you need to start your photography business. Now I’d like to talk about preparing images for sale and distribution.

Few photo buyers have more than a couple days to find their shots. The quicker you can deliver digital files, complete with metadata, the better your chances of making the sale. I’ve found that even when there’s considerable lead time before a due date (say a week), the early bird often gets the worm. But you have to have the right stuff. When hundreds of images are making their way to a photo editor’s desk, the quicker her eyes land on “the shot,” the sooner she can stop looking.

Bottom line: make photo requests your top priority!

You can’t fill a photo request unless you can find the right shot or the right version of the shot in your files. You need an organized file naming scheme and a method for keywording and tracking your files. The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers by Peter Krogh is a good resource for figuring out what to do after you take the picture through final output and permanent storage.

Your file and folder names need to be short and meaningful, possibly including ISO (International Organization for Standardization) country codes or shoot numbers for your reference. Programs like Photo Mechanic and Adobe Bridge can help you keyword files quickly. Other programs, like Portfolio and Expression Media, add cataloging features. Still others, Lightroom and Aperture to name two, handle much of the workflow. Try out a couple programs to see what will work best for you.

Present accurate caption information with the image as well as embedded in the file using File Info in the Photoshop drop-down menu. File Info is also where you put your copyright info, credit line and keywords. As painful as it is, enter the keywords at the same time so you don’t have to revisit the IPTC File Info scenario again. Do it once and do it right the first time.

A few tips on composing captions and keywords:

Include country/state, subject and anything pertinent that describes the photo in your caption information.
Include the Latin names for flora and fauna. You’d be surprised how many researchers actually search on them.
If the photo is in a national or state park, reserve, zoo, etc., name it.
If the image is seasonally specific, label it as such.
Use many of the same words from the caption in your individual keywords. When you put any of your digital files on any website, either your own, a photo agency or portal, the captions and keywords are vital to their being found in searches. Some websites search on captions, others search on keywords.
There are no set rules for keywording, but you don’t need every keyword on the subject (“keyword spam,” as it’s known).
Consider 15-25 keywords appropriate. When they apply, use conceptual words—such as peace, happiness, fear, danger, adventure, remote, alone, solitude, security, challenge and so on.
There’s nothing worse than coming across a file of images that have keywords generated by an inappropriate software program. Do the keywording yourself, individually, for each image.

Many of you have libraries of analog images from years past that are still saleable. Few editors take slides anymore, so if you don’t yet own a scanner, consider buying one. You don’t have to spend $10,000 for an Imacon. A Nikon 5000 works well at a fraction of the price.

When looking for a scanner, be sure to get a model with “Digital Ice” as that helps alleviate any of the dust spots from old slides. Before scanning, use canned air on both sides of each slide to remove any surface dust/dirt adhering to the transparency.

Find a stack loader too. Make the feed adjustments necessary and start scanning 50 at a time. We use our son’s old baby monitor—it’s 18 years old now—and set it up next to the scanner while walking around the office carrying the monitor with us. When we scanned thousands of images before the launch of our website in 2003, the scanner was running day and night. We could hear if it had stopped or had a problem because of the monitor.

After you’ve scanned the images, you can work on them in Photoshop—spot cleaning, color correcting and so on. I have one contributor to my site who learned Photoshop early on, and it’s paying off for him. He told me he spends about 15 minutes on each slide, color correcting and making the colors and light pop. His images are downloaded more than any of my other 250 photographers.

Like I said before, take the time to do it right the first time and you can keep moving forward. Scan the high-res image from the beginning and do a batch action in Photoshop to resize and save to jpeg after the initial hi-res Tiff is scanned. Save the Tiff files separately, as you would the Raw files in digital capture, so you can always return to the “original” to make future changes, if necessary. Scan each photo at 16 bit, 4000 dpi, and then save the jpeg to 8 bit for website delivery. You’ll usually get a 50-60 MB file from a 35mm slide.

With digital capture, many photographers make lo-res jpegs for agency submission review and then convert the Raw files after images have been selected. That way, they can take the time to caption, keyword and color correct in Photoshop in order to deliver the high-res digital files. Others do everything all at once. Even if you’re submitting and selling images on your own without the help of an agency or portal, you still need lo-res files with caption and credit info embedded.

There is nothing more maddening for photo editors than returning to a photo they saved to a working folder only to realize that they don’t know whose it is or where it came from because the information has not been embedded.

Offer photo buyers lo-res files that are big enough to enable them to see the content but small enough to load quickly. 500-1000 pixels wide and medium Jpeg quality will usually do the trick.

Once you have your images prepared, be sure to back them up somewhere, including offsite in case something happens to your home. A photographer recently told me how his entire house burned to the ground during the California fires. He was out of the country at the time, and there was nothing he could do.

At my agency, we not only back up daily on a Raid Array within the office, but we also store external hard drives of our entire photo library (which we rotate out every week) offsite at the bank. Then there’s our website server in Connecticut, which has all the files as well. My husband, Dave, used to manage a digital storage facility and we’re lucky to have his expertise for our agency.

Now that you have your images prepared, you can get the lo-res files on your own website and/or start submitting to agency and portal sites.

Take these steps and keep the work flow going and before too long you’ll have a collection of images that not only solve picture researchers’ problems, but that can be found from anywhere in the world based on keyword searches. It’s pretty amazing!

That’s it for this round. Next time I’ll talk about finding clients appropriate to your coverage and, more importantly, how to get them to come to you for images. Happy shooting!

This article first appeared in the Winter 2007 Issue of NANPA's Currents magazine.

Running a Professional Photography Office (Part 1)

2007-10-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

Many of you who will read this column are already tried and true professionals making a living at selling your images. Still, I’ve found that no matter how much we think we know, we can always learn something new from everyone. This column is intended to be for those serious amateurs that are just getting started and want to move their photography passion into some kind of entity that is actually making some money to at least support their hobby

What you'll need to get started:
Computer with lots of hard drive space
Back-Up Raid Array or External Hard Drives
PhotoShop, Lightroom, Microsoft Office or equivalent
Fast connection
FTP site or free web based file system
Archival storage system (DVDs, hard drives, online storage)
Website
Fax machine
Printer
Letterhead & Business Cards
Quiet space to work uninterrupted
Telephone with answering machine or voicemail
Getting Help

First of all you need to find a quiet space where you can work. Most people have some kind of home office scenario, an extra bedroom, the den, or maybe in the garage.

Seriously though, you need some space where you can work on your images and business processes without a lot of interruption. Processing images takes quiet time to make sure you take care of all the steps with the IPTC File info, metadata captioning and keywords which are so crucial to selling your images.

Get started with a good computer with a lot of capacity for storage of images.
Talk to experts about the right configuration of main memory, processor speed and hard drives to suit your needs. You should start with at least 600 gigabytes of storage and select a tower that has a few extra slots for additional drives as you need to add them. Just know that the more images you shoot and the fewer you delete, the more space you’ll end up needing in the end! Next come up with systems for backing up and archiving your images and your business data.

Pay for a fast DSL connection from the beginning because when you find you’re trying to send images to clients, you want them to transfer quickly. The dial-up connections often have problems and can’t send large files. We limit anything we send in an email attachment to 5 megabytes, as we’ve found most offices and even home offices of freelance designers and editors can take a 5 megabyte file.

Get yourself set up with an ftp site that you can post images to for clients to pick up. This is especially important if you’re sending more than a few images at a time. Many photographers have found the portal sites of Agpix.com and
DigitalRailroad.net very beneficial for this reason. They have viewing platforms where images can be posted for clients to review and their pricing is quite reasonable.

Of course you need a printer and a fax. With the fax you should add a separate telephone line that is dedicated to the fax only. (The old-fashioned fax/phone combos are a pain for everyone). With a Dedicated Fax Line you can still be on the telephone and a fax will come in automatically.

You’d be surprised how much a fax is still used, especially when signatures are required and you don’t have an electronic signature set up on your computer (which you should have anyway). Some clients will take an electronic signature via email, but the fax or regular mail is still the most often requested.

My recommendation would be to have your own telephone line for your business. Make sure your telephone has voicemail attached to it. Clients don’t really think your kids’ cute little messages with Mommy in the background are very professional. Those kinds of messages also give a clue to the level of “professional” they’re working with too.

The more you come across as an organized professional, complete with letterhead and business cards, your own logo, etc., the more serious people will take you.

This brings me to Letterhead and Business Cards. They don’t have to be real fancy—just come up with something simple that is representative of you. Some people like to use a favorite image they took—ask a few friends their opinion of several shots before you commit to one. Photographers are often drawn to a very personal nature photo that speaks to their style as well, or maybe just use an element of it in their logo or on the card.

You can often find freelance designers just starting out that will work out the logo and design for a reasonable price. You can also go to Office Depot on-line and put together your own cards and letterhead from templates they have. My son did a simple business card recently (he’s 18) and came up with a handsome two colored card—he got 500 cards for $35.00. Not bad. It looked professional too. He’s still trying to figure out what his business is...but that’s another story.

I think that this might be a good time to talk about getting help. Many of us are not as computer literate as we’d like to be. I know I’m still not, although I’ve learned a lot from my younger staff over the years! This brings me to the value of high school and college students. They are computer savvy, can set up all kinds of computer scenarios, can do research on the internet for you, and can even help you by typing in the IPTC caption and keyword info (with you sitting by their side while working together on images).

They’re much faster than some of us 40+, and really don’t cost that much. You could probably pay them $8-10 bucks an hour and really get your money’s worth—especially if you’re not a great typist. Look for kids at local high schools (contact the main office) involved with photography or graphic arts programs. All the schools have technology centers these days and you might even contact someone in the media department for recommendations for kids looking for part time after school work.

Later on, when you’re at the point that you can use some serious help with Photoshop and processing your raw images, look to the local colleges and graduates from photo oriented programs around the country. They are right on top of the cutting edge of digital imaging and have quite a bit of experience with Photoshop. Not only can you hire them to help you process your images, but they can teach you some of the tricks they know in Photoshop that will benefit you in the long run.

I’ve recently hired graduates from Brooks Institute and Seattle Central Community College’s Commercial Photography program and they are outstanding! I’m sure RIT in NY has talented graduates looking for work as well. Don’t discount location too—often one can figure out how to work with people remotely. There are many options these days with the on-going advances in technology! I had one gal doing keywording for me in NYC and later in France while she was going to school at the International Center of Photography in NYC.

That’s it for this column. In the next few issues I’ll address the actual business of preparing images and finding clients, among other things. Until then, Happy Shooting!

This article first appeared in the Fall 2007 Issue of NANPA's Currents magazine.

Interview with Jim Hunter of StockPhotographer.info

2006-03-20T12:39:00.000-08:00

The stock photography industry has endured an incredible amount of change since 1980 when Danita Delimont first started as an independent agent for Wolfgang Kaehler. In 2000, Danita started Danita Delimont Stock Photography, which specializes in worldwide travel, nature, and lifestyle, images. As the National President of the American Society of Picture Professionals (ASPP), from 2000-2001 she was propelled into the forefront of the photo industry and her expertise was sought by many including numerous photographers. Danita has also worked with the North American Nature Photographer's Association (NANPA) and is a member of the Picture Archive Council of America (PACA). With all of this experience Danita brings a wealth of knowledge to the photo industry.

It is for these reasons that we invited Danita to be interviewed by Jim Hunter, Editor-in-Chief/Chief of Operations of StockPhotographer.info. Danita graciously accepted our invitation and what follows should make for some interesting reading.

~ Jim Hunter, Editor-in-Chief/Chief of Operations

stockphotographer.info

Jim Hunter: For those who may not be familiar with Danita Delimont Stock Photography, tell us a bit about your company and what got you started in this crazy business.

Danita Delimont: I first worked as an independent agent for Wolfgang Kaehler for 18 years, after meeting him on the Amazon River in 1980. We were both working on board the World Discoverer for Society Expeditions. He moved to Seattle and my husband and I helped him settle in where he bought a house in our neighborhood. He continued traveling and photographing for Society Expeditions and I was the only one he trusted with the key to his slide file.

Many magazines were calling for Antarctic and Amazon coverage for their various travel articles and I would send them out and negotiate the payments, etc., while he traveled the world. This business continued and evolved over the 18 years I represented him. In 1999 I made the difficult decision to start my own agency, which has led me to where I am today.

JH: The stock industry was a much different place in 1980 when you first started working with Wolfgang. What was it like to then start up your own agency in 2000?

DD: I knew I could easily make my move because I was already established with photo buyers across the country. Many photographers had been asking for help and I knew there were many more that I could sign up once I let the word out. I also knew the business really well and am the kind of outgoing person that can pick up the phone and call anyone.

Further I’m in the Seattle area, where Corbis and Getty are and I watched for many months as Corbis returned to Wolfgang’s again and again to select images for scanning. There was no question that I would have to scan the images and offer them up on an e-commerce website in order to compete, which is exactly what I did. Also, rather than be all things to all people, I specialized in worldwide travel destination coverage with nature and wildlife a sub-specialty. After all, travel companies need flora and fauna from the various travel destinations such as Africa or Alaska. With so many wonderful nature shooters, I also bring in habitat and ecosystems for the environmental clients I have.

JH: You've seen a lot of changes in the industry since starting your company. Give us some historical perspective on some of these changes.

DD: Right after starting my own agency in 2000, I was also elected the National President of ASPP during that time and served a two-year term. I traveled the country meeting with different chapter members and ASPP colleagues of every background imaginable. It was an extremely volatile time for the stock industry then. Everyone was experiencing enormous confusion as their various offices confronted the technology and processes necessary to make the digital transition in the workplace.

Ad agency and design firms were the first on board to upgrade their computer systems and technology but older publishing houses and freelancers working out of their home offices were the last. They simply didn’t have the budgets for the equipment necessary. Art Directors and Designers were ahead of the curve because they knew about Photoshop and its capabilities already. Photo editors and researchers as well as many photographers had to take the time to get educated on a diversity of new subjects, processes and technology.

It was during my two-year term as the National President that we developed an “Education Program” intended for just these reasons. We had our first 3 day program in Santa Fe at the Santa Fe workshop in May of 2001, thanks to Reid Callanan who was not only the owner, but also on the West coasts’ board at the time.

JH: The advancements in technology over the past few years have created many new opportunities for stock photographers, agencies and researchers alike. How have some of these advancements effected your agency?

DD: The internet is the great equalizer. If you develop your website with sophisticated enough technology, people will find you. Living in Seattle there’s no shortage of bright techno-oriented people and we’ve used that to our advantage. We’ve also signed with great service providers to our industry that help clients find our site as well.

Digital technology also gives us the opportunity to share image files with sub-agents in different countries to reach other markets. Also I can have my photographer’s initial submissions arrive via my ftp site which saves everyone a lot of extra work. I am moving more toward digital delivery, although I do still accept a few analog submissions. I either greasemark the pages and return them to the photographer to scan, or scan them in-house, depending on the agreement I have with the photographer.

JH: Have you seen an increase in the volume of images submitted with the increased usage of digital cameras?

DD: Yes. I will say that some photographers send me way too many similars that I have to wade through and it takes up my time. They just can’t edit themselves, although they’re starting to get better.

JH: Has the quality of stock imagery improved over the years?

DD: Yes of course. When I look back at the faded Ektachrome or Kodachrome, it doesn’t compare to the Velvia and Provia that followed. Digitally captured images taken on professional high-end cameras are really sharp.

JH: How many photographers are currently signed with Danita Delimont Stock Photography?

DD: I have around 175 photographers, although there are many that I really don’t work that much with. I realized when I needed to have “the world” for all my various travel clients that I would have to bring in shooters with on-going worldwide travels, many based globally.

JH: Are your photographers' contracts exclusive or non-exclusive?

DD: I started with non-exclusive contracts and am moving toward Image Exclusive contracts at this point.

JH: What is your commission percentage paid to contributors for images licensed direct?

DD: Most of my contracts are a 50/50 split, but I take a little more if we do the scanning.

JH: How many of your photographers are engaged full time in stock production?

DD: I would say 65% of my photographers are full time pros.

JH: Tell us what it takes for a photographer to be accepted by Danita Delimont Stock Photography.

DD: I’m not taking too many new photographers at this point because I simply don’t have the time to do all the editing for so many images. I’m always looking for depth and breadth in a subject. I like photographer who have on-going access to a particular area or subject because he/she keeps going back to shoot it in all its faces. I also look for serious behavior specialists that have species or habitat.

JH: Unlike most of the big image distributors your agency still develops close relationships with its photographers. Tell us a little about that and why you think it is important.

DD: I actually care about the photographers I represent and I consider many of them friends. I know how hard it is to make a living as a photographer so I like to give them many opportunities... I meet them all over the place when I travel around for conferences and try to get to know them better. I know I can call on them for special coverage if I don’t have it on my site yet and they’ll deliver. They have given me their trust and loyalty and are with me for the long haul. They know how it takes time to get images onto the website and sales in the pipeline.

JH: Do you think that it is still feasible for a photographer working full time at stock production to make a living licensing Rights Managed images only or will most eventually be forced into licensing Royalty Free also to one degree or another?

DD: That’s a good question really. RF continues to rise in its use, although I attribute a lot of it to the younger researchers working without understanding the value of relationships and negotiation. I will often license a use less than the cost of the average high res ($474) RF. Young researchers think the only way to keep the budget down is to license RF when often all they need to do is pick up the phone and talk about their needs. They will be surprised….

I think photographers need to understand that the dynamics of buying images is continually changing worldwide. The more variations of stock they have to offer the more types of buyers they can reach. There is a misconception out there about RF that could be better understood if one studies the different markets and business models out there. Many photographers and agencies in particular are seeing big numbers in the amount of times an image sells and resells itself. In the end, it seems to be working very well for those involved in RF stock. Once you wrap your head around the psychology of RF and why people look for RF, you may better understand there may be a chance for your images in a RF market.

JH: It seems that with a few notable exceptions, many of the agencies and distributors that once licensed Rights Managed images have now gotten into the Royalty Free business as well. Why have you chosen not to do so?

DD: Up until now I haven’t offered a royalty free collection because I’m still studying it. I’ve also wanted to stay true to my photographers who gave me their images for RM sales. In the 5 years that I’ve been developing my agency a lot of changes have occurred on many levels. Because I regularly attend industry conferences such as PACA, (Picture Archive Council of America), ASPP, (American Society of Picture Professionals) and NANPA, (North American Nature Photography Association), I’ve had a chance to learn from many colleagues and hear the voices of photographers as well.

I need to find a balance for both my photographers and my agency when I put up an RF collection. I’ve had several photographers approach me, saying they'd give me their stock for an RF collection, but there’s probably a lot of RM content mixed in it as well… I need to figure out how to sort through it all and make that determination which takes so much time. At the same time, as I develop an RF collection, I need to let my RM photographers understand why I’m doing it, so they can be part of it if they so choose.

The stigma of RF is out there and I want to present my collection in a positive light in terms of my contributors. The hardest part is that the RF collection will compete with the existing RM collection and I don’t want my photographers to be upset with me about that. It’s hard to maintain a RM collection when it’s obvious that adding RF is an important and significant step.

One last thing…because I have many non-exclusive images, they may be out there with other agencies so I really can’t turn any of my existing content into RF. I need an entire new group of images that I can have control over. Whew!

JH: Over the past several years there have been many new, young photo researchers entering the industry who are technically sophisticated and have simply jumped into searching online. Many of these have probably gone straight to the RF sites because they think it's simpler and cheaper to do so rather than considering Rights Managed imagery. Why could this be a big mistake on their part?

DD: I addressed this earlier but would like to add the following: In the past, researchers would pick up the phone and develop relationships with photo sources. They would negotiate a price that worked for both sides. Today, young researchers are so enraptured with their computers and email that they haven’t developed telephone skills. Many are hesitant to pick up the phone and talk to an actual person, but have no fear when interacting in cyberspace. For this reason I believe, when their boss says “go get this list of images, and we have to keep the budget down”, they automatically think that Royalty Free is their only option, not realizing that every photo is negotiable with pretty much any agency. (They won’t tell you that on the website of course, but they are!) They see the prices via the shopping cart and automatically bolt to the next website, rather than making a call to talk about their needs.

This I believe is one of the reasons RF is steadily rising! As young researchers, art directors and editors right out of college move into the workforce, they may have the computer skills to find images but they don’t have the inner personal skills to make the calls, let alone know how to negotiate a price. This is not something taught in school, but rather is learned hands on. Further, their bosses, who most likely have these skills from developing them over the years, are so maxed out and overwhelmed with their own work load, they don’t have the time to teach them, which is a real shame.

JH: What is your view of the RF subscription model and microstocks and do you think that they have caused a devaluation of stock photography or are there other causes?

DD: I shudder at the whole concept of subscription and micro stock models. What’s in it for the photographers? By the time you dibby up the number of images downloaded and pro-rate the money to the photographers, there’s not much to offer. I can understand the strategy for the agency or business owner, but this clearly is not a healthy turn for the industry as a whole.

I can see it working if what you’re offering is “wholly owned” stock which is a growing trend, whereby the agency pays photographer’s X $$ to go out and shoot specific subjects for their “wholly owned” collection. This really is nothing more than “work for hire” in a different guise for the new millennium. Once the agency has paid off the photographer there will be no royalties to pay out and thus all the money for images downloaded go back into the business. I can see this being a way for your shooters to make some money while getting started, but for seasoned and skilled pros…I don’t know what to say except that it’s out there and it’s a growing trend with many agencies, including the big ones.

JH: Does your agency accept photographers who also market their images through RF and microstock sites?

DD: I wouldn’t accept images (non-exclusively) if I knew they were being sold through RF Micro stock, no. I don’t care if the shooter offers some other images, and as I mentioned, I’m moving to Image Exclusive contract these days anyway.

JH: As I'm sure you are aware, Getty Images recently purchased iStockPhoto and Jupiter images acquired the assets of The Beauty Archive. Do you see the industry consolidation continuing for sometime yet or is it nearing the end of that cycle?

DD: The consolidation of the industry will continue in one form or another. The big agencies can’t seem to get enough and they’re making millions of dollars. Still, I’ve found there is room for a niche agency like mine, because photo buyers are frustrated with having to wade through so many images to find what they need. There are so many “brands” on the big sites it’s overwhelming for many image buyers. Where does one start? It’s like going into one of the great upscale department stores when all you need are some black slacks and every department offers one version or another of them. Who has that much time to shop? Researchers want clean uncomplicated websites that are easy to search on.

JH: Does your agency currently have any agreements with sub-agents in other parts of the world for third-party distribution?

DD: I do have a few sub-agents that I’m developing alliances with in Germany, Japan, the Czech Republic, France and the UK. I also put many images up on Alamy and Agpix but the photographer remains anonymous until the client is ready to buy the image. I’ve had plenty of experiences when buyers have gone directly to the photographer to get the final image. We spend an enormous amount of $$ and time getting images in place and to have clients go directly to photographers after seeing an image put there by me, is unethical and inappropriate. Thus the anonymity until the transaction is made.

JH: What is a typical price range for images licensed through your agency?

DD: I would say between $250--$450, although I sell lots of covers and more and more commercial licenses as people are finding my website. My website was only launched in the fall of ’03 (w/15000 images) and we now have over 120,000 up. It takes awhile to put up content and then get people coming back again and again, but I’ve seen 50% growth from the last year and it’s steadily rising as projects come to fruition and billing is issued.

JH: In addition to the standard keyword search, you also have two innovative ways to help researchers find the right images. You call these Visual Power Sort and Image Match. Tell us a little bit about these.

DD: These are cutting edge technologies that I think are still ahead of their time. Visual Search is based on pixel recognition after an initial keyword search is started. You select images that are closest to what you’re looking for and it resorts the many pages of image returns, putting the closest “look” on the first page or so. Thus you don’t have to sift through 20 pages of 120 images, but rather just a few.

Image Match is an entirely new capability. Art Directors and Designers etc. can take an existing sketch or picture, maybe from a magazine or book they’ve seen, scan it, and then upload it to our website and then see if we have anything like that comes close to “the look” they are seeking. It’s a pretty cool idea, but again, I think we’re ahead of the curve on this one. We’re trying to market these new capabilities to our client base, but it takes a little time to figure it out. Also creatives have told us they don’t like to “read instructions” much so we’ve made a Visual Search instructional video on our website to walk them through the “how tos”.

JH: What kind of feed back are you getting from clients about these features?

DD: The clients that have taken the time to use these features love them! Still, it’s one more thing to learn and most researchers are flying through keyword searches from one site to another. Few seem to take the time to learn the new technology, which I find disappointing, but I think they’d find them pretty interesting and impressive if they did!

JH: What do you feel are some of your strongest marketing selling points?

DD: My strongest marketing points are that I know the subject matter that I sell. I’m very experienced with worldwide travel destinations as well as adventure and expedition travel. I know natural history subjects, species and behaviors. I’ve also worked with many textbook specs over the years and I know what educational publishers need and keep that in mind when editing submissions. I make it my point to learn all about these subjects so that when a client contacts me, I can speak intelligently about the subjects, often offering much more than some of the younger researchers even know about it! That, coupled with my inter-personal relationship skills, are key. I also take an interest in my clients and get to know them in many ways. The relations I’ve forged over the years are so important. People move about from one company to another and if you’ve established a meaningful relationship with them, they’ll take you with them.

JH: Your agency specializes in worldwide travel, nature and lifestyle images. What are your most popular subjects in each of these categories?

DD: The world revolves and so do the requests. At one point of the year the Caribbean and Mexico is hot, while later, it may be Alaska and Europe. I really sell all parts of the world equally because my travel clients are constantly producing brochures to one place or another throughout the year. Travel is definitely the main subjects that I sell, but nature and scenic beauty is part of that and often illustrates travel in its own way.

JH: Are there still clients out there who are interested in licensing exclusive rights to particular images for higher fees and if so, which segment or segments of the industry do these clients come from?

DD: The few Exclusive Rights sales I’ve made usually evolve around large cruise ship covers. I also had a shot sell exclusively in the financial banking industry for three years recently.

JH: What trends, challenges or opportunities do you see in the future for your company and the industry as a whole?

DD: I think the biggest challenge for me will be to put together a RF collection that doesn’t offend my existing RM photographers. I do feel it’s important to embrace that model and test the waters with it soon.

JH: What sort of tips would you give photographers wondering how to break in to stock photography today?

DD: Photographers trying to break into the stock photo market should shoot their subjects in as many ways as possible, i.e. a beautiful scene in a National Park is lovely for a calendar but add people walking down the trail, or interacting with a Park Ranger and you have a new way to sell it to travel magazines featuring that destination. Shoot it with a mountain biker zooming past in blurred motion and then it works for the edgier needs of some clients, or adventure sports magazines. The more variations that you shoot a subject, the more diversity you’ll have in the market place. Further, get releases in exchange for prints and then you can sell it commercially.

JH: Do you have any parting thoughts or comments you'd like to make?

DD: I think the most important thing is to educate oneself. Learn from many different sources and venues. Too many photographers get caught up in the negativity of the stock industry today because they’re only talking among themselves about the “injustices” being done to them. Know what’s going on from the agencies and the client’s perspective as well. The more well rounded you are in the entire industry, the better you can understand why decisions are made and how you can best position yourself for success!