Of Property Releases and Problems....

Failure to secure a property release, despite the promise of one, BEFORE my photoshoot in this beach house, cost me $3,500.00!

Models “Turning On” Photographers

Recently stories about models “turning on” photographers have been popping up (one such occurrence being displayed by “a photo editor” .  Of course nothing can prevent a model from suing you whether you have a signed release or not, but if you do have the release odds are you will prevail. It does remind me of the importance of getting that release though!

It also reminds me of the importance of getting that release, model or property, BEFORE the shoot. I can share one instance of where I did get the release, but because I waited until after the shoot it cost me dearly.

A Stock Photo Shoot, A Beach House, and A Problem

Two of my associate photographers and I were setting up a shoot in Stinson Beach on the Marin County coast. We checked the various house rentals (houses right on the beach) and found one that would be ideal. The property manager told us getting a release would not be a problem. Famous last words….

Don’t Even Try To Bargain With Me

After the shoot, a two-day affair with about fifteen models, three photographers, a make-up artist, her assistant, a producer and her assistant, and three photographer assistants, we sent a property release over to the management company. That got back to us and informed us that the owner of the property would not sign it. I had my producer track the owner down and use all of her charm to coax a signature out of him. His reply to her: “Don’t even try and bargain with me…I am a personal injury attorney. $3,500.00 for the signature…take it or leave it.”

A Property Release and A Significant Expense

I took it. It was worth it too. So far that shoot has brought in close to $40,000.00 and is still earning. But that was $3,500.00 and a lot of time and trouble (chasing down and dealing with the owner…I shortened the whole dramatic episode considerably) that we probably wouldn’t have had to swallow had we secured a release up front. Including that $3,500.00 the whole shoot cost $12,500.00…so it turned out to be a significant expense! Something to keep in mind….

Where There Is Smoke There Is Fire

Just make it standard policy to NEVER shoot BEFORE you have signed releases for both models and property in hand. Also, in my experience, if there is any reticence on the part of a model in signing a release…you probably don’t want to shoot with that model anyway…where there is smoke there is fire!

Strange (And Entertaining) Long Tail Keyword Searches For Photos

Somebody searched for the long tail keyword "person trapped behind a bar code" and ended up on finding this image on my site. The long tail keyword is key to pulling in large amounts of traffic to websites."

Long Tail Keyword Searches

Well over a thousand people came to my website today from various search engines. It can be both entertaining and informative to peruse the search terms that were used. Almost all of the search terms that bring people to my site are “long tail keywords”, keyword phrases of three or more words. Interestingly enough, although my site is all about stock photography, I don’t ever recall seeing the search term “stock photos” bringing anyone to my pages (the closest thing to that on this day was one search for “stock pics”).

Bizarre And Specific Searches For Stock Photos

Most of the people who do find their way to my site don’t actually find what they are looking for, something reflected in my 72% bounce rate (which, from what I understand isn’t too bad).  In some cases the searches seem so specific and unique, and yet fit some of my images so well, that it is hard to understand (artist’s bias here) why the person searching doesn’t go on to license the image.  Some of those keyword phrases are so bizarre it one would never expect them to be searched for…and yet I do have stock photos that fit the phrases!

Strange and Entertaining Search Phrases For Photography

I have put together an edited list of a dozen of the more entertaining and strange search phrases (long tail keywords) for this one day, as well as a list of a dozen of the very specific and often off-beat search phrases that fit images that I actually have in my stock photo collection (though those images still might not be what the person searching for really wants). In the case of the latter list I have linked the phrases to the images on my site that I believe meet the requirements of those searches. In each case the phrases are complete with the original spelling, capitalization and so forth.

Strange (Long-Tail Keyword) Search Requests:

video camera strapped to frypan

elephants sensitive to texture

funny pic cat with shark teeth

who are the men in orange robes

sexy lips due to exercise men with pics

dangerous baby image

dog wearing fire extinguisher

john john surfer father

Pictures of george washington signing the one dollar bill

how to test tube baby real pictures

teamwork cats fishing

picture of a bird running down the road with a piece of chicken

english bulldog testiculs

Strange (Long-Tail Keyword) Search Requests with links to appropriate Images:

boston terrier makes funny face

blue face of holding their breath

women lifting men photos

dog wearing fire extinguisher

picture dog meditating

picture of cat getting a manicure

animal play table tennis games funny images

lightbulb in the shape of a brain

picture of a bull dog riding a motorcycle

lord ganesha symbolism

woman wearing a barrel

dairy cow surfing

Expected Searches and Appropriate Images

Of course, there are many searches that one would expect people to search for, and to find, on my site. These searches are for things like lighthouse in a storm, political elephant and donkey butting heads, and pics of hospital patients in traction. But they aren’t as much fun to peruse!

Creating A Stock Photo Illustrating Man Made Disasters

A negative stock photo such as this fiery mushroom-shaped explosion over a road ahead, can still generate excellent sales.

Picture of a Nuclear Accident

The recent tragedy of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant meltdown in Japan got me to thinking about how I could make an image that could be used to bring attention to the dangers of radioactive accidents and other man made dangers.  I wanted the image to be dramatic and iconic. While it was the nuclear accident that first prompted the idea, I also wanted this stock photo to work for other man made disasters as well. For radiation concerns a mushroom cloud would make perfect sense…and a fireball and explosion can represent all kinds of man-induced destruction. Such an image could be used to draw attention to everything from Nuclear power plant dangers to Predator drone missile strikes, to terrorist bombings to gas pipeline explosions.

The Long Road To Disaster

Having the fireball exploding over a road that stretches out into the distance can show that we are headed towards such disasters. Having the event happen at sunset can indicate that the end is near. In addition, the fiery clouds of a sunset can work to make the explosion fit more naturally into the environment.

Road Trips, Fireballs and Stock Photos

Having worked out the basics of the image in my mind I went to work searching my archives for the necessary raw materials…a fireball from a public “fire” performance, a long stretch of desert road from a road trip, and a sunset image from another road trip (road trips are great for stock photo raw materials).

Creating Stock Images: The Right Stuff

Creating the image was actually relatively simple and once again affirms my belief that Photoshop is easy when you have the right stuff (photos) to work with. I was able to build the mushroom shaped fireball explosion by using bits and pieces of a fireball photographed at a night performance that included the liberal use of fire. I used layer masks and the “Lighten” mode to blend the pieces together and composite them into the sunset. Next I put the road image into the sunset picture, again with layer masks. I used both “curve” and “Color Balance” adjustment layers, with masks, to create an orange reflection on the road. The Photoshop work took me about three hours to complete.

Negative Stock Photos And Images That Sell

Conventional wisdom has it that negative images don’t sell. While it is true that for the most part negative stock photos do not sell as well as positive pictures, in some cases they can sell quite well. One advantage this image has going for it is that there isn’t a lot of competition for it. To further bolster its potential market I crafted the image so that it can work as a horizontal, vertical or square.  There is plenty of room for headlines, mastheads and body copy. The image is simple and powerful and is a quick read as a thumbnail, something very important in today’s Internet-centric world. I chose to submit this stock photo to Getty Images as a Rights Managed picture and it has been accepted for inclusion into the Stone collection.

Sign Posts For The Shortest Route To Success

Finding your weak points, and bridging them, is a direct route to success.

The Most Important Thing You Can Do For Your Career

What aspect of your career is the most challenging for you? What knowledge gap do you have that is holding you back? What is your "weak link"? Find that weak link and turn it into a strength. Then find the next weak link, and make that into a strength. Anyone who actually does that cannot help but move up the ranks of success! Look at those problem areas in your career (and your life) as sign posts showing you the most direct route to success.

Assignment Photography, Negotiating and a “Bridged Gap”

When I was doing a lot of assignment photography my biggest “gap” was in my negotiating ability. We are not talking a small gap here…more like the Grand Canyon! Many times I actually had art directors, after hearing my estimate, suggest that perhaps we could go a little higher.  It was obvious to me that I had a problem that I had to deal with. Through a lot of personal work I was able to get marginally better at negotiating, but being a tough negotiator is not pleasurable for me and doesn’t come naturally. I solved my problem by going outside of myself. I “bridged that gap”, by getting a rep.

A Photo Assignment Negotiation In Progress

Shortly after agreeing to work with my new rep I turned a negotiation in progress over to her. I had almost agreed to a job for $12,000.00, which was the total budget this particular client had for the job (or at least what they told me). My rep came back from the negotiations having secured $29,000.00 for two years of usage. That was ten years ago. By January of this year, after yet again re-negotiating the use, we have brought in somewhere in the neighborhood of $100,000.00.  Sure, my (now former) rep has kept 30% of that as her share of the fees, but without her I would have settled for that original $12,000.00!

Stock Photography and The Image Glut

My negotiating skills, though having improved over the last twenty years, are still abysmal. Another way that I have compensated is by turning to stock photography where all I have to worry about is making the images. The negotiating is all handled by agencies.  Over the years that has worked very well for me…that is until the onslaught of the image glut and the fall of the barriers to entry (microstock) into stock photography. With this development comes an “opportunity” for me to work on another set of skills, skills that will help me compensate for the changes in this new world of stock photography.

Stock Photos and SEO

Now the knowledge gap facing me is the challenge of getting my work, my stock photos, in front of more people. So I am now “bridging” that gap by using my website to gain more visibility for my work…and to expand the ways in which I can monetize it.  I have to master SEO (Search Engine Optimization), or at least get up to speed with it. Once I gain sufficient proficiency in that task I am quite confident that a new “opportunity” will present itself. And so it goes.

What Challenge Faces You?

What challenge faces you? That challenge just may be a sign pointing directly to success. Knuckle down and turn your weaknesses into strengths. If you can do that there will be no stopping you.

Writing: An Essential Photography Skill

Most photographers have a difficult time with writing, yet writing may hold the key to a photographer's future.

A Million Words On A Photography Website

I now have more than one million words on my website! So why would a photographer be excited about having so many words on his site…particularly when most of us professional photographers cry foul when art directors put copy over our images…and when we strive so mightily to create sites free from words that might distract from the aesthetic integrity of our photography? It is because this Internet thing has twisted everything around. Now one word is worth a thousand pictures (because search engines can’t “see” photos). In reality, if you want to get those gorgeous photographs seen, then your going to need words, and lots of them.

The Unseen Photograph

It was Socrates who said “The unexamined life is not worth living.”  I would contend that the unseen photograph is not worth creating. So whether you are trying to make a living at photography, or sharing your vision with as many people as possible, you are going to need, and increasingly so, to turn to words (you can disregard this suggestion if you are only indulging in photography for therapeutic reasons).Words are what get your images seen.

An Important Skill For Photographers

I believe that one of the most important skills for us photographers to develop, at this point in time, is the ability to write. I am not talking about just adding key words here either, but rather having the ability to write clearly, cohesively and compellingly (I am still working on that). Having the skills to communicate effectively through writing can help with proposals, estimates, blogs, books and innumerable other endeavors that make up the world of photography. Writing certainly isn't always easy, and it takes time and effort. But the results are worth it...getting your work seen is worth it!

Stock Photography, Taking Control, and Writing

For me writing is playing a central role in my efforts to maintain a successful career in stock photography; an effort to make my photography easy to find through search engines and in doing so to supplement my agency sales and add additional revenue through a variety of photography-related avenues from imprinted gifts to print sales to online advertising. But perhaps most importantly, writing and the Internet are giving me an opportunity to take more control over my photography career. Ultimately we all have to take responsibility for our own success or failures. We owe it to ourselves to find the tools that are necessary and that work for us, and with the emergence of the Internet as the de facto vehicle for finding just about everything, well, developing writing skills is as close to a no-brainer as there is.

John Lund Stock Photo Sales Statistics For 2010

Interesting Statistical Observation: The above image of a woman connecting the dots on a dollar sign has been licensed numerous times, but never earning me more than $1.50 per sale! Huh?

Statistics on my stock photo sales for 2010.

I just spent some time looking at my stock photo sales for the year 2010. These images are distributed through (in alphabetical order) Blend Images, Corbis, Getty and SuperStock. My Animal Antics Funny Animal Pictures are not distributed through these agencies and are not included in these statistics. During 2010 I had approximately 7,000 images online (about half of which were shot by others and submitted through me.) Approximately 1000 of these images are Rights Managed, and the rest are Royalty Free. I have no images in microstock. A caution here…it can be misleading to compare top earning RM images with top earning RF images. Comparing RF shoots with RM shoots would be a better indication of which licensing model can earn more money. Unfortunately I cannot easily track by shoots because of my less-than-thorough data entry habits.

• 2593 of those approximately 7,000 images actually were licensed during 2010.
• 1379 stock photos earned me a gross of more than $50.00 each.
• 844 of those images earned over $100.00 each.
• Of those, 46 pictures or clips earned me $1,000.00 or more each.
• 21 stock photos brought in over $2,000.00 each.
• 9 images brought in over $3,000.00 each.
• My top earning image brought in $9,301.00.
• My top top-selling RF image brought in $2,764.00 and was the 14^th best selling picture. It sold 115 times (through Blend Images).
• Of my top selling 100 stock images, 9 were clips and 21 were Royalty Free images.
• Of my best selling 100 stock photos (including clips), 48 had people in them, 14 had animals, and 4 were still life images.  23 of my 100 top selling stock photos (and clips) had neither people nor animals in them.
• 16 of my best selling 100 stock photos from 2010 are over a decade old!

I few observations of my own:

• RF shoots can earn as much as RM, and tend to have more consistent earnings.
• The right image can have a very long lifespan.
• The subject matter of the image is less important than the concept.
• Everything sells…some a lot better than others.
• There is still money to be made in stock imagery.

Summation: Let me repeat that last bullet point…there is still money to be made in stock photography. Some of those 100 best selling images are lifestyle, most are concept stock images, some include animals, some, but not many, are landscapes. I still can’t figure out whether Rights Managed or Royalty Free will bring in more money, so I do my best to guess which image should go where. But I don’t sweat that too much, because when I take everything into consideration it doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of difference…a great image will sell no matter which licensing model is used.  One thing I can say, an image unmade, or unseen, will not sell. Now I am off to create an image...and upload it!

A Look At The Blend Images 2011 Spring Creative Meeting

Blend Images 2011 Spring Creative Meeting deserves a standing ovation!

The Blend Images 2011 Spring Creative Meeting
I just came back from attending the Blend Images 2011 Spring Creative Meeting. Each year Blend Images holds a meeting for its contributing photographers focusing on creative issues. There is generally a quick look at what is new with Blend Images, presentations on where Blend thinks the market will be heading, and presentations to help its’ members hone their own creativity and find more direction in their production of stock imagery. Presentations were made by Blend CEO Rick Becker-Leckrone, Director of Sales at Blend Images, Robert Henson, and by Blend Creative Director Sarah Fix.

Stock Photo Needs, Motion for Still Photographers and Stock Production
This year Blend also arranged for presentations by advertising, editorial and fine art photographer Jill Greenberg, CEO and Founder of LookStat Rahul Pathak (sharing insight on the value of analyzing sales data), Freelance Art Buyer Jessica Mirolla (discussing commercial stock photo needs), and Freelance Cinematographer and former motion editor for Getty Images Tim Sutton (discussing approaches to motion capture for still photographers). There was also a panel discussion featuring photographers Andres Rodriquez, Patrik Giardino, Jamie Grill, Jose Pelaez and Ariel Skelly who gave us insights in to how they approach stock photo production. All-in-all, one Saturday packed with information, not to mention socializing, making connections, and sharing information with numerous fellow shooters. I had a great time, and learned quite a few things as well.


The Right Image and Cautious Optimism
I left the meeting with a sense of cautious optimism. There is still a huge demand for imagery despite the ever-growing glut of photos. The opportunities lie in not in madly pumping out pictures, but rather in making smart images, the “right” images. There is opportunity for those of us who are thinking strategically about what we produce. I heard from photographers who are doing well with Rights Managed stock photos, and I heard from other photographers who are experiencing growth with their Royalty Free photos. We were presented with expensive video shoots that are earning the big bucks…yes, they do exist, and small ones as well. There are still success stories in stock, but they are coming from those who are bringing not just photography talent, but brains to their shoots as well.


My own personal highlights (at least what I can remember at this moment):

• There is no doubt that analyzing sales (and acting on that information) will improve your earnings.
• When shooting motion (video) think in terms of a telling a story. For me this was huge. I can get way more excited about creating a short film that results in clips rather than going out and filling a  “clip list”. Telling a story can get everyone from talent to crew far more into it…and that is essential for great work.
• Art Directors do search Google for stock imagery (and art buyers struggle to find the copyright holders).
• At least one art buyer is yearning for more great images than she can find on the agency sites (and for those of you seeking assignment photography…this art buyer still prefers a portfolio of prints).
• There may be a trend away from “stylized” images…and there is always a demand for “authentic” images.
• The importance of “Talent” can’t be overstated. More than one of the top photographers tracks their sales by model, and at least one such photographer even provides the models with a percentage of the royalties…that is how important he deems the models to be!
• Make your images 2% better than the competition and the benefits are enormous. More than ever before creating quality imagery is vital.
• When combining a motion shoot with a still shoot a good starting strategy is to first shoot the motion, then, when energy starts to lag, switch to stills. 

Success In Stock Photography: Passion and Thought
My overriding take-away is that there are still photographers finding success in stock photography in a wide variety of ways. What the successful photographers take to the party is passion combined with a thorough and thoughtful approach. They photographers aren’t flailing about, they are combining research and preparation to produce images that stand out from the competition and are filling a need in the marketplace. In addition, each photographer (or photography studio) was given a thumb drive with Blend specific tutorials as well as several creative reports (which I haven't had a chance to look at yet).

Coming Interviews
In the coming weeks and months I will be publishing interviews from a number of the featured participants of the meeting including Rahul Pathak, Jose Pelaez, Andres Rodriguez, Jessica Mirolla and Tim Sutton. Stay tuned!

A Shout Out For Blend Images
I think Blend Images deserves a shout out for continuing to provide these yearly get togethers.  Many of us agreed that we'd like to see two days next year. In addition to getting valuable information and insights into this ever changing world of photography and stock photography, getting the chance to hang with each other, compare notes and just plain socialize with our peers is an awesome thing!