Only logical
Don's new DVD got me thinking about how shooters can find new revenue streams in today's cutthroat market, and I think his idea of a instructional DVD is a darn good one.
Our client's budgets are usually inflexible. Complaining that they're turning to cheap stock sites instead of hiring us is to no avail, because if there isn't the money in the budget for a thousand dollar location shoot, there's little that can be done about it. The problem from the client's perspective is that cheap stock sites they turn to have a lack of quality photos. So on the one hand, there are a lot of photographers out there that are contributing to those sites but with photos that stink. On the other hand, there a bunch of professional photographers other there who take good pictures, but can't compete with the prices the amatuers on istockphoto are charging.
Time to turn some cash cows into hamburger.
Commercial photography has existed for years with only one revenue stream, the selling and licensing of the photographer's images to the client. It can't survive much longer doing business like that, as the prices the market is willing to pay for images are dropping ever-lower. But the very thing that makes the images from a good pro shooter valuable to clients is what allows for other revenue streams: The knowledge and experience the photographer uses to take his photos.
Why can't that knowledge be licensed and sold? And that's just what Don's DVD is, a licensed product selling his knowledge about lighting. This is the way commercial shooters can find new income in a world of cheap stock photos: Sell not just what you make, but what you know.
Our client's budgets are usually inflexible. Complaining that they're turning to cheap stock sites instead of hiring us is to no avail, because if there isn't the money in the budget for a thousand dollar location shoot, there's little that can be done about it. The problem from the client's perspective is that cheap stock sites they turn to have a lack of quality photos. So on the one hand, there are a lot of photographers out there that are contributing to those sites but with photos that stink. On the other hand, there a bunch of professional photographers other there who take good pictures, but can't compete with the prices the amatuers on istockphoto are charging.
Time to turn some cash cows into hamburger.
Commercial photography has existed for years with only one revenue stream, the selling and licensing of the photographer's images to the client. It can't survive much longer doing business like that, as the prices the market is willing to pay for images are dropping ever-lower. But the very thing that makes the images from a good pro shooter valuable to clients is what allows for other revenue streams: The knowledge and experience the photographer uses to take his photos.
Why can't that knowledge be licensed and sold? And that's just what Don's DVD is, a licensed product selling his knowledge about lighting. This is the way commercial shooters can find new income in a world of cheap stock photos: Sell not just what you make, but what you know.
This entry was posted by Kevin Creighton, on
8.12.2006.
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