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Selling Highway photos?

Started by AsphaltPlanet, January 08, 2016, 03:16:28 PM

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AsphaltPlanet

I am just curious if any of the highway photographers who frequent this site have ever sold any of there photos to media outlets, and if so what their experiences have been?
AsphaltPlanet.ca  Youtube -- Opinions expressed reflect the viewpoints of others.


Jim

I've had several requests for permission to use my photos in various publications (some of which were actually used in those publications), but never requested any compensation.  I just asked for a photo credit an access to/a copy of whatever it was used in.  I'm guessing that in most cases, they would have opted not to use my photo before paying me for its use.  I've also always made sure that granting rights to use my photo would in no way restrict my own use of it.
Photos I post are my own unless otherwise noted.
Signs: https://www.teresco.org/pics/signs/
Travel Mapping: https://travelmapping.net/user/?u=terescoj
Counties: http://www.mob-rule.com/user/terescoj
Twitter @JimTeresco (roads, travel, skiing, weather, sports)

US71

A friend recommends Snapwire where you can post photos for sale. I get many requests, but no one wants to pay, so I'm looking into signing up

SGH-I337

Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

hbelkins

I've had some requests -- including one from KYTC for a photo I took before I ever started working for them -- but no one ever offered payment. I always just asked for a photo credit.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

oscar

I got $95 for one of my Hawaii road photos, which Ford's ad agency wanted to use for a Focus brochure. Once I cashed the check, I never got around to checking how my photo was used if at all. Considering the aggravation I had uploading a 25MB photo on the slow dial-up connection I had at the time, I didn't really come out ahead on the deal.

I do ask for payment for commercial use, but usually grant permission at no charge for non-commercial use. And I haven't sought to sell my photos for commercial use -- that ad agency came to me, not vice versa.

Some of my hot springs photos wound up in commercial guidebooks, but I've previously worked with those guidebooks' author (including adding Hawaii and Puerto Rico to the guidebooks' coverage), so her request for photos didn't come from out of the blue unlike the ad agency's. For those, I took autographed copies of the guidebooks as compensation.
my Hot Springs and Highways pages, with links to my roads sites:
http://www.alaskaroads.com/home.html

AsphaltPlanet

Quote from: oscar on January 08, 2016, 09:55:36 PM
I got $95 for one of my Hawaii road photos, which Ford's ad agency wanted to use for a Focus brochure. Once I cashed the check, I never got around to checking how my photo was used if at all. Considering the aggravation I had uploading a 25MB photo on the slow dial-up connection I had at the time, I didn't really come out ahead on the deal.

That must have been some digital camera!  To have produced a 25 meg image in the era of dial-up is quite a feat.  I remember spending nearly $1000 (CDN) on a digital camera way back in either 2003 or 2004 and was amazed at the 3 meg images it could produce.
AsphaltPlanet.ca  Youtube -- Opinions expressed reflect the viewpoints of others.

oscar

Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on January 08, 2016, 10:32:24 PM
Quote from: oscar on January 08, 2016, 09:55:36 PM
I got $95 for one of my Hawaii road photos, which Ford's ad agency wanted to use for a Focus brochure. Once I cashed the check, I never got around to checking how my photo was used if at all. Considering the aggravation I had uploading a 25MB photo on the slow dial-up connection I had at the time, I didn't really come out ahead on the deal.

That must have been some digital camera!  To have produced a 25 meg image in the era of dial-up is quite a feat.

Actually, the 25 megs were from a 35mm film negative, run through a film scanner. I didn't switch to digital cameras until 2007.
my Hot Springs and Highways pages, with links to my roads sites:
http://www.alaskaroads.com/home.html

jeffandnicole

Yesterday, I posted a link on the 295/76/42 construction thread in the Northeast forums which was an online magazine article with some pictures ( https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=8539.msg2206140#msg2206140 ).  Later, I actually looked at all the pictures...and happen to notice a byline at the bottom of one of them:  Roadnut.com!  For those that are unfamiliar with me, roadnut is kinda my alter-ego...not to mention part of my main email address. 

The article is from last month, but the picture was from a few years ago.  I tried roadnut.com first to see if it's an actual website...it's not.  So then I looked thru my photos I've posted here, figuring maybe they used this site to locate photos.   There were ones close to it, but not exactly it.  So then I looked thru the only other possible place that picture could've been on - my photobucket account.  And sure enough, there it was...windshield smudge and all!  Oddly enough, the other 5 photos were all NJDOT supplied.  For some unknown reason, I guess the photo must've popped up in a search someplace and the article used it.  It was pure luck I even came upon the article...I was actually doing a search for recent stories about a historic house in the area.

While I wouldn't past me to miss an email or something requesting permission for its use, I certainly never granted the permission.  And besides...the credit is wrong anyway! 

What would you do?  Should I simply write the author of the article (her byline states shes an editor-at-large) informing her that it was my photo (I think my email address would give away that it's truly me) and ask for proper credit for the photo?  Or should I ask for anything more?

peperodriguez2710

Quote from: jeffandnicole on February 16, 2017, 01:40:03 PM
What would you do?  Should I simply write the author of the article (her byline states shes an editor-at-large) informing her that it was my photo (I think my email address would give away that it's truly me) and ask for proper credit for the photo?  Or should I ask for anything more?
I would first certainly ask for proper credit, and an apology if they don't reply with one; asking for more is up to you!

jeffandnicole

Quote from: peperodriguez2710 on February 16, 2017, 01:57:39 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on February 16, 2017, 01:40:03 PM
What would you do?  Should I simply write the author of the article (her byline states shes an editor-at-large) informing her that it was my photo (I think my email address would give away that it's truly me) and ask for proper credit for the photo?  Or should I ask for anything more?
I would first certainly ask for proper credit, and an apology if they don't reply with one; asking for more is up to you!


The proper credit is probably all I'll go for...thanks!

jwolfer

You could have an art opening at a fancy gallery with some wine and cheese.. Amd put price tags of $500 someone may pay

LGMS428


AsphaltPlanet

^ Believe it or not, I once made $450 (CDN) on a photo of a road sign...
AsphaltPlanet.ca  Youtube -- Opinions expressed reflect the viewpoints of others.

jwolfer

Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on February 18, 2017, 10:37:53 PM
^ Believe it or not, I once made $450 (CDN) on a photo of a road sign...
With the right setting i am not surprised...

Title it:  "The Road out of town"

LGMS428


AsphaltPlanet

The thing that surprised me was that it wasn't actually that great of a highway photo.  It was simply a photo of a road sign, from a straight on perspective, taken outside of the car.

I think I have taken some really nice road photos over the years (in addition to lots of not so nice road photos), but all of the images that I've sold have been kind of sub par in my opinion.
AsphaltPlanet.ca  Youtube -- Opinions expressed reflect the viewpoints of others.

Hot Rod Hootenanny

About 10 years ago I got $150 (two $75 payments) from a publisher for some non-descript photo I took along a bypassed section US 30 in Ohio.  The photo was used (somewhere) in some college level English textbook.
Fast forward about 3-4 years ago, I started receiving, in my mail, notices of bankruptcy hearings for the same publishing company. I wasn't sure why I was getting these bankruptcy notices because I wasn't expecting anymore money from these people. Frankly, I was surprised to see the the second $75 check.
Please, don't sue Alex & Andy over what I wrote above



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