“Blowin’ in the Wind…”
The New Breed of Stock Photographers: Digital

A dictionary description of “photographer” could be something like this:
“A photographer is a professional who earns ¾ of his or her living from photography, is listed in the yellow pages or the equivalent, and operates out of his/her professional studio or home office.”
At least that’s how we used to describe them.
By the year 2010 (only a few years away), it will become evident that a stock photographer is anyone with a top-of-the-line digital camera, some talent, a sensitive eye, and technically capable of producing and delivering a high-resolution image suitable for publication.
Most of these stock photographers will be self-taught, have no degree in journalism or photography, and own a minimum of equipment. And, yes, won’t know how to spell emulsion, transparency, Velvia or Provia.
It’s inevitable. We saw it happen in the last century when art materials became inexpensive for any consumer. Watercolor pads, oils, canvas, brushes –all became accessible to just about everyone. And, everyone, it seemed, began exhibiting their artistic talent. Original art burgeoned and became accessible to consumers. It was good. And it sold.
Have you noticed the same is happening in this century with photos? The sale of iStock to Getty Images for $15 million should be proof enough that persons who have no previous experience in stock photography can enter this field in the click of a shuitter.
If someone has a good eye for design, composition and color –why not?
Welcome to the new breed of stock photographers.

THE TRANSITION

To flourish in the field of editorial stock photography, no longer will it be necessary in the year 2010 to acquire a brick-and-mortar location, or to advertise in a trade magazine, or send direct mail promotions to a client list.
Varying degrees of talent and capability, as in any profession, will surface –that’s for sure. For the photo editor, as long as the supplier can deliver that on-target picture, capable of professional reproduction, the buyer will care little about the track record of the photographer. There! I called him a photographer, even though the photo might be the first image that came out of his digital camera.
Where does this new breed of stock photographer fit in?
Most editorial photobuyers have a (relatively) long window of time to gather their needed images. (Unlike art directors in the commercial world, who often need images yesterday, or at least –today.)
This “float” is to their advantage. It’s not unheard of that a photo editor at a magazine, newspaper, or book publisher can allow three to four days for a lightbox delivery of a selection of images.
And here’s another way that today’s digital age differs from the world of film that we have graduated from:
A photographer doesn’t necessarily even have to take a picture… until they get a phone call, fax, or email from a buyer who has found them through the Internet. It’s no different than the pizza deliveryman who doesn’t bake a pizza until he gets a phone call from a customer.

HOW IT WORKS

You’ve probably noticed the search engines today can now handle three, four, and even five-word keyword searches very well.
The new breed of stock photographer will utilize this development and add another dimension to his workflow: keywords (what we used to call captions). And they will be three, four and five-word descriptions. (Single word descriptions are now ‘out.’ Multiple word descriptions are in).
Here’s the good part. The photographer can have a hi-res digital image on a photobuyer’s screen within 24-hours of getting the original request. Now that’s speed of delivery.
This is a revolutionary way of doing stock photography. More and more, I see photographers and photobuyers operating in this fashion.
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“A photographer doesn’t necessarily even have to take a picture…
until they get a phone call, fax, or email from a buyer
who has found them through the Internet…”
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THE MISSING LINK

Is something missing here? Yes. A link between a photographer’s keyword descriptions and the world of photo researchers.
It’s easier for photo researchers and photobuyers to search a central website which has millions of keywords referring to large selections of photos, than searching millions of separate photographer’s websites with only a limited selection of keywords and photos.
That’s why we began building our PhotoSourceBANK back in 1999. https://www.photosource.com/products/psb.php Hundreds of photographers have entered over two million keywords and keyphrases describing their photos, and the system continues to grow. Photobuyers use the PhotoSourceBANK daily to find the photos they need, quickly and easily.
Several keywording services have been born since photographers and buyers have recognized the importance of keywording. One we can recommend is Paul Henning’s Stock Answers, 1 414 607 9642; paul@stockanswers.com

Increasing numbers of photographers are focusing on specialization areas they enjoy: teen basketball, gardening, small planes, dance, veterinary medicine, auto racing. Photobuyers are recognizing these photographers as dependable resources, when there’s a match between their subject areas and the photographer’s focus areas. And now the Internet facilitates these working relationships.
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Rohn Engh is director of PhotoSource International (800 624 0266) and creator of the PhotoSourceBANK,whose print partner, the PhotoSourceBOOK photographer directory, is published annually and distributed to 3,000 top-paying photobuyers.