Hogster
03-25-2008, 09:09 PM
Hi all :D
Just spotted this! :D
http://212.50.188.108/cgi-win/vebra.cgi?details1?src=agent&PropertyCode=1431009/BLAMP/29592/9
Whilst shooting this job (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=824146), I had to speak to one of the homeowners as I needed to fly over his house to get the shot the property developer wanted. He was fine about that, and stayed outside to see the work I was doing. I overheard him say, jokingly, that an aerial shot of his house would be great as he was planning to sell his house soon .... so after I'd finished the main job, I knocked on his door and asked ;) He was most interested, so I took two shots of his house with the helicopter, which he then sent on to the Estate Agent!
Pretty thrilling seeing my photos appearing in their search results!
Here's one of the original photos:
http://www.horizonimaging.net/images/portfolio/large/54_large.jpg
Cheers! :D
David :)
odieser
03-25-2008, 09:37 PM
I see money in your future LOL
furyphoto
03-28-2008, 01:56 PM
Interesting how your response differs from mine. I understand that you are just getting started with photography as a business, and it is exciting to see you work used in public. Eventually the excitement will wear off. Since I am not new at the photography as a business game, If I had found one of my photos used in any advertisement with having been paid for it, I would be furious, not thrilled.
I want to be careful to say that I am not putting you down for giving the man some images of his house.
Many photographers who are at the stage of starting to see their work published get so excited about seeing their work in print that they under value their images just to get it out there. Some clients will try to take advantage of this by offering photo credit instead of payment for images. And, new photographers who offer work at lower fees can affect the whole photography industry. I just lost a job for a MAJOR Sportswear company to another photographer. My quote was $4500 for a 3 day heli-ski shoot. The photographer who got the job didn't charge ANYTHING! He was so excited to go heli-skiing that he forgot that his photos (That the mega-company will use for advertising) are actually worth money! In a situation like that, the company expects to pay for photography, and, covering the costs of the heli-skiing for the photographer are a given. He basically gave his services away to a HUGE international company the can afford to, should, and expected to pay for the photography. (And because of that, I probably lost $4500!) So now, he doesn't make any money, I don't make any money, big international company gets free advertising photos, and next time they need someone to shoot a heli-ski trip, they are going to expect the photos for free.
This is a lose, lose situation for all photographers involved, now and in the future.
My point with your house photo is this. It's Great!! and because it is great, and unique, and takes special skills to shoot, it has value. You deserve to be compensated for it.
I probably would have handled the situation like this:
I might have provided the homeowner with the photos for his personal use for allowing me to fly over his property, but let him know that if he wanted to use them for selling his house that there would be a reasonable commercial usage fee involved. I don't know about the UK, but in North America, usually the estate agent pays for the photography.
If you didn't charge anything for the image, it's really too late now, but you can still benefit from it. Here's what I would do now.
- Call the Estate Agent, and let him know that you shot the photos, and tell him all about your service. The shot of that house is great, and there is a good change he will be interested in the future.
- Tell him that you didn't really intend for the photo to be used for advertising without payment, but you will allow it, since it is already in use, but you would appreciate (or require) a photo credit that links to your website. If you cant get a link, then at least get a credit like this "photo:www.horizonimaging.net"
- Follow up by mailing or (even better) hand delivering an A4 or A5 rate card with a few great photos on the front, and a bit of information, and you AP rates on the back. Thicker card works better than regular paper, clients are more likely to hold onto a "rate card", than some info on a sheet of paper.
- Also deliver your rate card to every agent at his office, and every other agent in your service area too.
Your aerial photography is great, and you have invested time, money, and energy in being able to offer the service. The owner of the house is going to make money selling the property, the Agent is going to make a (usually big) commission for selling the house. You deserve to make something for helping them to sell it!
If I have mis-read and you actually got paid for this usage, then kudos to you. Everyone else who is just entering the photography business through AP also please take note, your skills are valuable, don't undersell yourself!!!
Rant over!
Also, if I can offer one more tip as a professional. You website looks great, and quite professional except for the photos of you flying the heli. Only because of what you are wearing in the shots. If you put on some more professional clothes, and re-shot the images of you flying it would be a great improvement to your website. Don't get me wrong, I wear jeans and a hoody almost every day, but when I go to see clients, I wear a dark pair of dress pants (or sometimes a very tidy pair of black Carharts for location shooting) and I have a nice and tidy soft shell fleece jacket that looks professional without me having to wear a jacket and tie. You might even be able to find a place that would embroider you company logo on the back of the jacket at a reasonable price. Your logo would look pretty slick on the back of a black soft shell jacket!
Regards,
Andy
Hogster
03-29-2008, 10:42 AM
Thanks so much for your input Andrew!
Sorry I really should have been more specific. I did charge him for the photos and I knew from the outset they were going to be used by an Estate Agent. To be honest, I only did it because there was money involved :D
Your post was very interesting and full of useful information though, so I thank you for spending the time writing it :) Good point about the clothing too. I do have a black T-shirt with my Logo on it ... I need to get some winter-wear with my logo on it too :)
Am sorry to hear about that $4.5k job :( :(
Thanks again :)
David