Fall 2000   Volume 1, Issue 1

Editor's Letter

Feature Article

Seth Resnick
Meeting Notes

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The May 6, 2000 Seth Resnick meeting was one of our best attended meetings this year. Seth keeps attracting larger audiences each time he makes an appearance in Houston, and many of you expressed regret that you couldn't attend. For those of you who couldn't make it, I provide these impressions taken from my notes (I was that guy hunched over his laptop typing madly away all during the meeting). But I must warn you -- the spirit was willing but the fingers were weak -- my typing skills are barely up to typing much less dictation, so my apologies to Seth and all of you for any inaccuracies. For the real skinny, of course, you'll need to go to the source. I suggest that you check Seth's site at sethresnick.com -- he usually has a schedule of upcoming speeches and he may do another summer program.

For those few of you who don't know, Seth is one of the founders of Editorial Photographers Forunm on the Web, a lively group of over 2,000 shooters committed to improving the lot of photojournalists through communication and some high-profile arm-twisting of clients, e.g. Business Week. If the news of that encounter is any indication, EP is very effective indeed. And, as his images showed, he can shoot some excellent photos as well.

The Business of Photography in the New Millennium

Contracts: When photographers negotiate they are often their own worst enemies! Trade organizations like ASMP teach us the right way to conduct our businesses, but the problem is the right way is not always the REAL WORLD way of doing things.

But there are two words which are your best friends:
NO -- to disagree with unfair contract provisions.
Liability -- to teach clients that a good contracts avoid liability. How do you get a contract signed every time? Seth tells clients that without a signed contract his liability insurance will not cover him, leaving the client with the liability (that word again).

Contact law can protect photographers more than copyright law. Why? Because most of us are not protected by this law now because we don't register most of our work. Contracts are more enforceable. Statutory penalties for copyright infringement only apply to registered works and even then the infringement must be not simply mistaken but willful, a much harder thing to prove.

Arbitration, as in the ASMP contracts, is a nightmare, usually taking place on the client's turf and requiring hefty deposits from both parties, putting the little photographer at a grave disadvantage. Also remember that boilerplate contracts are only a starting point but must be customized for your locale and situation -- so get your own lawyer. Companies' in-house counsel is usually only licensed in their home state -- contract language requiring adjudication in Houston, Harris County, Texas will require the company to hire expensive independent counsel -- making settling with you that much more attractive.

Use the terms in the contract to stay in touch with the client. Call when film is sent, call for return of film, tear sheets. Turn these calls into future jobs. Sometimes just a call won't be returned, but a "contract liability" call will always be returned. But remember to be friendly -- you might get job out of it.

Bidding: The problem with quoting a day rate is that the salaried art buyer will think of it like a day wage, multiply it in his head by 250 work days in a year, and come up with an astronomical "salary" for you, destroying your credibility. Seth emphasizes the daily costs of staying in business to clients, even to the point of giving his own calculated figure to keep his doors open. Being upfront about the high cost of being a photographer helps jusify fees.

Try giving three or four prices. This covers all the bases and they can't throw you out because you're too high. This also tells them you haven't committed to a price which keeps them talking to you. Ask them to share the sacrifice with you if they want you to lower your price -- agencies that mark up your work are usually not willing to cut into this profit.

Negotiating the Deal:
• Keep the harmony and listen for loopholes and options. Do not be confrontational but rather offer options.
• Be silent, talk with confidence not with questions.
• When in person watch body language.
• Know your opponent.
• Set the tone.
• There is always a reason for objectionable clauses.

Stock: Seth uses a film "license lock" system to prevent unauthorized uses which consists of the following:
#1 A faxed contract sent first
#2 Images in a binder with delivery memo on front, invoice inside
#3 Images sealed in a Tyvek envelope with license lock on outside

The Web: "I don't want to go on the Web -- my images will be stolen". The Web can provide increased security over traditional stock transactions. Scanned film has no photographer info ever entered. Copyright and caption often get separated from the image in the hustle and bustle. There are several significant web/digital advantages:
• "File information" feature in Photoshop can store important legal history and prices.
• When dealing overseas: no customs, no FedEx, etc. charges
• You can be paid by electronics fund transfer BEFORE image is sent.

Protecting Your Images on the Web: The first and best way of protecting images on the Web is to watch the file size. KEEP ÔEM SMALL!! Thumbnails linking to larger image is the usual way of showing work but puts very useable, stealable images out there.

Seth's site takes visitors through several layers, all of which help protect his images: an animated GIF file on the opening page, in addition to being attractive, also takes up memory and increases loading time for the low-end users he's not particularly interested in (The desirable high end users will often have fast T1 lines).

The next page is an open letter about registering. Although this offends some photographers they aren't Seth's prospective clients. The next page is a copyright warning page, with a list of where the viewer has been, to let him know that information is already being collected on him. A "NO" answer to the copyright agreement sends him to the U.S. Copyright office.

"YES" sends the viewer to the client information page, which contains filters for fake names. The site also checks for Javascript -- only if the viewer has it can he go on: if someone tries to simply copy an image off the site, a Javascript warning pops up. The "Seth Security Spy" tell Seth where the viewer was before coming to his site and how he was found. Consistency checks tell him if someone is lying. Seth also asks for contact info from art directors -- legitimate buyers don't have a problem with providing this. Buyers are also prohibited from changing the unique file names of photographs they use, allowing Seth to track the images across the Web. Seth sends a "Copyright Police" notice to any offenders he uncovers. Interestingly, Seth had only three thefts of images last year, all by photographers!

Seth also has some canny methods for further protecting images: he uses a "slide mount" system of displaying images with copyright notice on the "slide mount". In addition to provide notice of copyright, this technique removes the "innocent omission" defense of offenders because the copyright notice cannot be separated from the photo except by conscious act, making his lawyer's job much easier in prosecuting such cases. Transparent GIFs over images further stymies thieves.

Getting seen: Sorry folks, but I'm got to throw up my hands on this one. Seth went into extensive detail on the methods he uses to keep his site out in front of potential clients searching for a photographer and stock photography, using meta tags, ghost pages, multiple mirroring sites, many domain names and an extensive understanding of the mathematical models used by various search engines, but space and energy constraints prevent me from going any further. The hours Seth spent talking about this subject only touched the highlights by his own admission. Perhaps he'll teach another Maine workshop on this in the future.

Thanks again to Seth for a very intense (whew!) educational experience.