Own Your Images!

Workshop at the Ranch
January, 2005 Edition

  Hello and Happy New Year from the Workshop at the Ranch. As I write this article there is a blanket of new fallen snow covering the ranch. A perfect day to sit down and scan in some memories from the past for clients in the future. I have made most of my living capturing images of athletes who compete in the Olympics, World Championships and International sports events. Although I was never a great skier, I was adequate and could hold my own when it came to photographing ski racing. I am already submitting stock images of winter sports to a variety of clients looking ahead to the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy February 2006. Stock image sales come as a result of my retaining ownership of all my images. Ownership of images is a much debated subject these days. Many clients encourage and often require the photographer to sign away his or her ownership rights to all images they produce.

  I have always been of the mind that it would be wise to keep your rights to ownership. For me it has been a perfect blend regarding time management. Sometimes I am out shooting and sometimes I am at home in my office selling images. I have a wife and daughter and did not want to be on the road 300 days a year as are many sports photographers. I have also learned that when the economy is good, photographers are hired for assignments and when the economy is bad clients purchase stock images from agencies. Good times or bad times, my business remains steady with both assignment income and revenue from stock image sales. The variety of images that I must produce is also a motivator for my decision to retain ownership. It is more interesting to me to capture all aspects of the events I cover. I must capture images of high profile athletes, venues, generic details, and creative/artistic images in order to "supply the demand" for a variety of clients. The key is to retain ownership. I must own the image if I am to have the opportunity to resell it. And a single image can resell many times during the course of one's career, thus generating additional income beyond the original assignment rate. The decision to do this might require the photographer to pass up a day rate today for greater payday down the road. A sometimes difficult decision to make, especially if they are just starting out in this profession. I have always planned ahead and have had great faith that the future would produce the greater benefit rather than the present situation.

***Some of these images are quite old. Please allow me some grace with regards to recalling my camera equipment, Film and my Ski Equipment listed with each image. It has been a long time.***

 

Image #1 Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden....is the one of the all-time greats of ski racing. This is a good example of a sports legend and the longevity of the stock image. Strong color transparency images of legends like Stenmark are rare. Nikon F3, ASA 100 Kodak Transparency Film pushed 1 stop. Nikon 400mm lens, Manual Focus, 1/1000 sec. at f 5.6, Hand Held. Head 200 Skies, Marker Bindings, Salomon Boots, Scott Poles.
	Image #2 Winter Olympics, Calgary, Canada 1988.... my first winter Olympic Games.....and probably this skiers last. Nikon F3, ASA100 Kodak Transparency Film, Nikon 300mm lens, Manual Focus, 1/1000 sec. at f 5.6, Head 200 Skies, Marker Bindings, Salomon Boots, Scott Poles, and my 3inch spike da-glo lime green Ice Cramp-Ons.
This is not to say that ownership and future stock image revenue is for everyone. Dealing with clients, cataloging images, preparing CDs, Fed Ex shipping and not being at every event might not be your cup of tea. Some photographers want to shoot every day and send images off to whoever they are working for and never look back. Sometimes the price is right to give up your ownership....that is up to the photographer.
Image #3 Deborah Champagnoni of Itali....was the leader for many years in the technical disciplines. Nikon F4, ASA 100 Kodak Transparency Film pushed 1 stop, 1/1000 sec. at f 5.6, Rossignol 190 Skies, Marker Bindings, Nordica Boots, Scott Poles, 4 Hand Warmer Packets.
	Image #4 Petra Kronenberger of Austria....was a favorite going into the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville , France. Nikon F4, ASA 100 Kodak Transparency Film pushed 1 stop, Nikon 600mm lens with 1.4 Teleconverter, Manual (pre-focus), 1/1000 sec. at f8. This is a "blind jump", a jump that has no visible sight of the skier prior to shooting. I learned to listen for when the crowd began cheering as a skier would approach, and count to 5, then take two frames as the skier soared into view over the ridge. The second frame was usually sharp. Rossignol 190 Skies, Marker Bindings, Nordica Boots, Scott Poles, 12 Hand Warmer Packets and my 3inch spike da-glo lime green Ice Cramp-Ons.
I am nearing 25 years of sports photography as my business and I believe if I had relied solely on income from editorial day rates I might not have made it past 7 years. The ebb and flow of our economy and missing my family while being on the road squeezing in twice as many assignment days might have proven to be too difficult for me to keep solvent, healthy and sane. The revenue garnished annually from my stock image sales exceeds the number of editorial assignment day rates that are available to me each year. In other words, I only had to travel on assignments half as much because the stock image sale produced the other half of my annual income while allowing me to work at home and be with my family. Balance helps me in the long game of life.
Image #5 A.J. Kitt, USA....a break through Downhill skier for the United States. A.J. was first of a new breed speed merchants for America that included future Olympic champions like Tommy Moe and Picabo Street. Nikon F4, ASA 100 Kodak Transparency Film, Manual Focus, Nikon 300mm lens, 1/125th sec. f8, Rossignol 180 Skies, Marker Bindings, Nordica Rear Entre Boots, Scott Poles, and 8 Hand Warmer Packets.
	Image #6 Inside the Gate....is an unusual location for the photographer during the Downhill and Super G. If the skier misses the preceding gate, their only escape route is inside the next gate where I am standing. For this image I positioned myself in direct line with a 3 sponsor banners and a 2 course officials. My thinking was if the banners did not stop the skier, the course officials would. And, according to the course officials from FIS, my position was "excellent!" Scouting a location on the mountain can be as difficult as photographing the race. I learned a lot about race course positioning from the best in the business...Lori Adamski Peek, Carl Yarborough, Rick Rickman and Heinz Kluetmier. Nikon F5, ASA 100 Kodak Transparency Film, Nikon 300mm lens, Auto Focus, 1/250th sec. at f11, Olin 165 Radius Skies, Marker Bindings, Nordica Rear Entre Boots, Scott Poles, 4 Hand Warmer Packets and my 3inch spike da-glo lime green Ice Cramp-Ons.
Image #7 Hillary Lindh, USA....a surprise at the World Championships in 1998, she won the GOLD medal. Nikon F5, ASA 100 Kodak Transparency Film push 1 stop, Nikon 400mm lens with 1.4 Teleconverter, Manual Focus, 1/1000 sec. f5.6, Olin 165 Radius Skies, Marker Bindings, Nordica Rear Entre Boots, Scott Poles, 8 Hand Warmer Packets.

  So why the ski racing pictures you might ask. Well, all of them have sold multiple times beyond the assignment day rate I was paid. All of them produced income 3 times or greater beyond the original assignment rate. And all that additional revenue was produced by being at home working in my office, sometimes on a cold, snowy winter day like today. The fire place is burning, I have some hot cocoa, my favorite music is playing while I scan in these slides and transfer them to a CD, and in a few hours I will go to dinner with my family. And I can afford to stay home today and pay for the dinner with the money generated from my stock image sales, the by-product of an assignment I did 5, 10 or even 20 years ago. ......and I can do this because I own my images.

See you next month at Workshop at the Ranch. Adios, Dave