phoneography / stock images

hi all, posting up here as was reading in someones diary how they were looking in this forum for ways to boost income and i have an idea that may work for some of you so thought i'd share.


stock photography, every article you see every day on news apps or papers always have a photo showing the "concept" or the idea of the story. how many times do we see articles on inflation with a photo of a stack of notes or coins? once you notice this you will see it all the time!


back in the old days newspapers used to have their own photographers, and send them out to shoot the news. now they licence the images / videos etc they need. that is to say that they pay for the images etc for a defined usage. which may be something like:


1/4 page, 1 edition (including web), for one week, national. UK



which breaks down into what it sounds like they can use the image for upto 1/4 page size, in one edition on the web too for max one week in the national UK news the more eyes see it the more its worth. like a local newspaper would pay less than say a huge international company.


i have prevously sold or licenced images for newspapers and books, one of the most lucrative was 4 figures and to disney for a front cover of a book! as i say the bigger the company and usage the more money you can get.



now i know not everyone has the kit, but theres some apps / companies out there that let you use iphones (no android yet which is very annoying!) and they ask you describe and label etc and then if you have the image that someone is looking for, then your winning.



think outside the box and about the concepts that an image shows. like how many times do you see business men shaking hands next to a report on a companies finances / takeovers. this is what i mean by concepts, you could label that as "business", "business relations" "greeting" etc you get the idea.



it can be a fair bit of work, but no more than i have spent on some surveys, and whilst its not as gauranteed as a survey income, after all if you and 34 people have a similar image you only have a 1/34 chance of being used but the rewards can be big, i know of one famous photographer that has made a million dollars doing just this (thats not to mention if someone then uses the image without permission or in the scope of the licence he grants that he hasnt sued for more that the licence is worth coz if you own the rights thats a very powerful position to be in).



so just a thought that we all take photos with phones and cameras, you CAN make them work for you, with a little thought and some average luck.