Beyond the obvious

Waiting for something to happen. People on a bench in Ostend, Belgium. Why should you use a professional photographer instead of downloading an image from a stock library? Well there are many good reasons and I hope that photographers reading my blog find something useful here when pitching for new work and marketing themselves. I've got nothing against stock libraries as such and in fact I contribute to a few. These days though the returns are diminishing and articles keep appearing challenging the viability of making a living as a traditional stock photographer. Enthusiasts and amateurs have swamped the stock library market with images and unfortunately designers and agencies, with pressure increasing on their budgets, all too quickly turn to stock libraries for their picture needs. So it is becoming more important than ever for good professional photographers to differentiate themselves from the offerings of stock libraries. Here goes... When a company hires a pro photographer ...