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How to Repurpose Images with Fresh New Stories

another image of the floating grocery store coming and you can see, like how thick the island is of grass reeds. And underneath that is this all floating mud. But this is this is all your living. And it was really a fascinating culture. Whether or not they this is a quote unquote real or not, it Israel. This is how they're living. But yeah, they are having to use modern technology. And in the modern world, there, there. Now, some of them like this. This family now has a web site. They're not managing. It didn't have computers, But they have someone That's mystery. Peru that's helping them bring people that island for them to, like, do a home, stay and earn some more money, and that's what they're doing. So, um, I wanted Teoh just kind of get that in your head to think Yes, you can. You can tell new stories. And I was This trip was what launched it all for me and made me kind of have an ah ha moment of Yes, I could do this to I'm gonna open up for questions for, like, slip right here on...

your photo releases. I could do the village. You might have 10 or 15 people. How do you go back and match the photo release to a certain person? I just had to know when I took the image, I would just mark the piece of paper, like either describe what they're wearing, what they're doing. Or or I knew like Victor, and I knew his wife like, I would just have to keep talking that way. But, I mean, sometimes I'm not like a press photographer in terms of if you're shooting for Getty and you have to sit there and you can also do like a boy's command and, like, save it or right what's frame it is. And right there you can do that. You can have, like, a little note pad and keep track of people's names and frames, but I don't encounter that to too much having to do it. But yeah, in this particular case, I did it, I think, by their outfits. I wrote down what they were wearing and so I could remember. I love the idea of repurposing images, and it seems really great if you've been traveling internationally. Each places that aren't frequently traveled can you do that if you've traveled domestically to places that lots of people go You know what? Yes. And I love that you just brought that up because, uh, Sarah and I, who was just on this trip with me there she's assistant on Hillary were with me. And we have that same movement. We had two weeks off on July a couple a couple years ago, and I can't remember last time I had a weekend off in the summer time shooting weddings. Where can we go? And I was thinking, What what international location could we go to? And then I thought about it. I'm like, I've never seen the national parks. I've never seen Glacier in Montana and Yellowstone. So we decided just to do like an epic road trip adventure. We we packed up my car and we basically had, like, a grill and a tent and air mattress and her photo here we had a bag full of costumes. It's ridiculous because we would just stop him out of nowhere with a tripod. Do these crazy photo shoots on like a broken down train, Or like in the middle of nowhere? And I always believe in bringing colorful outfits and things and props or whatever just to enhance the photos, but that we ended up doing a whole photo story on on the U. S. And on domestic places. And I did the Buffalo roundup that, and I'll talk about that in a second. But South Dakota, I went and shot that, and I did a whole article on. You don't need to go to Africa to go on safari. You've got one right here in your backyard, All Americans safari. It's the Buffalo Roundup in South Dakota, and so I I love that idea because, especially in today's climate, people really scared about traveling the some places. And we have a lot of beautiful places here in the US that we haven't tapped into. And I've spent so much time internationally traveling that there's a lot of places here that I haven't seen a lot of publications. I want you to write about the U. S. A lot of those local publications to that they they want you to start, like in the beginning, when your first pitching articles, it's actually better for you to write about something you really know about where you live or something near you because it will be more personal and attached to it. So it was actually the things I was going to say is that you shouldn't when you first write an article to submit, you should actually right about something close to you somewhere home near home, or like a cool local trip. You did, because you'll be more connected and passionate about it. But also, a lot of people think that you need to be writing about international places, and they are looking for us content. Ah, lot of travel places we're like even now you could spin it. You could use what's going on in the news and not like use the fear against people. But you get to say, Hey, you know, you could get that European flavor without having to travel to Europe and like, go here and like, you know, don't make it like a negative thing. But you could literally write an entire twist on 11 worth. Here in Washington, I went there for the first time, and I was like, I feel like I'm in Switzerland. What is this place? You know? And so you could just write a cool article about this tiny little random town that's in the mountains that makes you feel like you're in Europe and, like, say, like, don't need to go to Europe, you got this right in our backyard and that kind of stuff cells just as much as you have to go and live with an Indian family to start writing. That's what happened to you what I did. But you don't have to be. Oh, yeah. Couple questions from the Internet 10 in is asking if you use the same image for multiple venues. Do you retain ownership? And I'm not sure what they mean about venues. So maybe you can chime into the chat rooms. But let me read the rest of the day I put it together. Do businesses such as Novica purchased the rights to your image to use and their articles? The question is, is about image ownership, right? Okay, so we'll get into, um, sort of stock imagery. Step for me. I've never given fully given the rights of my image to somebody. I always retained the copyright, but I will license it to them. So right now, if I'm writing for articles for publications Yes, I can use them for If it's my photo, I can use it for whatever I want. They're actually more concerned about not having the same words being used like they want you to slightly change your words because, like Google searches can see if your articles written the same way in multiple places, and it actually will make your traffic go down for that. So and like obviously, publications want to feel like they're getting original content. So if you're writing a really similar stories, make sure you change certain parts of it. But it's OK if you re use images. I can use them all over when it gets in. Teoh uh, using it for an advertisement or stock purposes. It depends on what contractor doing. There's so many different types of ways to buy your image for stock. People can literally license it just for online or the license it for a giant advertisement for a year. Or they can license it indefinitely or they can. So it really depends on what contract you end up negotiating with them. If you negotiate a larger contract where they get indefinite use or they're buying like a massive advertisement. It usually prevents you from using it during the length of the time that they're advertising it on, and if they buy it indefinitely, then you've pretty much given up the rights indefinitely. But I I believe I'm still able to use it. For all of my media articles, I just can't sell it to another brand toe. Also use. So I think that answers the question there. But But that's one of the things that you would just have to negotiate. Like, How much are you willing to part with this image for? But I never, ever give up the copyright to manages. Yeah, no, that's awesome. That actually answers a lot of questions I had. Personally, I feel really good. It's a tricky topic. I mean, I joined forces Robert Harding, and that was one of the things I when I sat down and did the contacts with them, was my first time ever being part of an agency. And this just happened this past year, you know, it's funny. I went Teoh when I went to school in Syracuse. Everyone was like you, Well, you have to take your portfolio and go get an agent like It's like the first thing you have to do. And so I had, like, had my little portfolio case and I went around to all these agencies in L. A. And they're like, Yeah, you don't have any celebrities in your portfolio, so we can't hire you I was like, Well, like, how do I get somebody where In order to get celebrity work, you had to have celebrity work one like Ohio. It was like that. Catch 22 again and I got really frustrated. I got turned down by everyone. So that's when I started working for a photo studio instead. And then I ended up getting in the weddings. It was funny because the wedding industry have never needed to have an agent or portfolio review or like our any of that kind of stuff. And and I made a really great career doing that. So all of a sudden I'm revisiting that world of having an agent for my travel work, and I was like, I don't know what I'm doing and I was asking a lot of questions because I didn't want to enter Ah, contract. That was unfair or ridiculous. I didn't know it so I would actually go into photographer forums and asked people How many of you are represented by stock agency? Like, what's your percentage that you make, like, What should I make sure I don't put in the contract like I was. Really? I had a friend with a lawyer, looked through it, make sure the contract is okay. But one of the things I negotiated in it was that I'm a travel writer. I write for these publications like I need to be able to use these images for that. So I just want to make sure that's okay. They're okay with it. But a lot of times to, um I think that you can also like, let's say you you license like a really amazing image that you shot of, Um, this is kind of a sneaky way to get wireless. But let's say you shot amazing image of like the mountains in Colorado and somebody wants it by that, as I probably didn't just walk up to the mountain and take that one picture and I was done with it. I probably took maybe three in that moment. I can license one of them, but the other two. Nobody owns right, so I could potentially use a really similar image for other purposes. That isn't the exact image that I've licensed out. So that's kind of a little thing, too. Like, don't be afraid to take multiple images in a moment that are slightly different, because maybe you will one day give away the rights to one. But you'll still have a really similar one that you could use for other things. That's my thinking way of getting around it. OK, yeah, similar subject is licenses, contracts and such. Uh, would would you have any recommendations on insurance that you should carry for the type of photography that you do? I've always had insurance with State Farm State. Are they? Uh, they have been fantastic for my wedding photography business. A lot of then used that I go shoot weddings at Four Seasons and bigger venues. They require that you have, like a $2 million liability insurance policy that covers anything like accidents or lost equipment or anything like that, and it doesn't cost much. I think it's like 500 bucks a year to have a $2 million insurance policy. Everybody should have it everybody should have one on, and it also will allow you to be They feel safe, but be, you know, if you are shooting and in larger hotels and places or they always ask for liability insurance so it makes you, like seem like you have more clout, just toe have it a lot of targets don't realize that. Yeah. I mean, I realized that I only realize that when wedding. Then you started asking me to do that. Yeah. Hey, a couple more questions while we're here and before we get too far from from your first story from this morning, this question came in again. And we've we've touched on in various segments, but I think it's worth repeating just sort of general guidelines about model releases. So they're asking Did you get model really? For the beautiful people that you featured in your Peru images? Yeah. Are they talk about these ones? Yeah, they're just talking about for editorial. Yeah, Yeah, I It was like there are actually aps now on blanket, But there's an app where you can have people on your phone sign A model release on DSO. You don't have to do what I did, which is like carry on paper and make them sign it. If you want to be a little more savvy, there are APS that you can have people signed model releases on your phone, and that's just a much easier way to do it. Like you could literally SAPA photo over person and then, like, walk over with your cell phone and have them sign a really cool Yeah, So getting back Teoh that analyst is any more questions? I actually have one more than throw in. Beatrice is asking when you submit a story to a magazine, do you send them the story already written, or is it more of you? Send them a proposal or that kind of a balance? So there's a There's a dip. I'm gonna talk about both today, but there's a difference between submitting a story and submitting a pitch. And so yes, I when I've already shot the images, I'll submit the full story if I'm about to go somewhere or if I want someone to be attached to a project I'm doing or they want to try to get some funding or press attached before I go and use that as leverage to maybe get things paid for. I will send a pitch and then get people attached to it. And then that helps me with hotels and brands When I'm when I am doing the job like, Hey, this magazine is really interested. I bought this person attached a lot. So there is a difference between submitting a story and a pitch. Well, we'll talk about that. But yes, I do submit images and stories follow upon the insurance when you're traveling International. What do you recommend for equipment insurance? I'm not talking about wedding photography, business equipment. Sure, you know, someone else asked me earlier today before we got on about just talking about How do I protect my equipment when I'm traveling? Obviously, the only insurance I have for my equipment is through State Farm. There's a different levels of insurance you can get through them, But, um, I just Luckily we're knock on wood. I haven't had any major problems on trips. I have had things malfunction. I haven't had people stealing things, but I always and you know, I carry everything into carry on, and it's my life and it's with me. But I do also have the double back up some things that I have more than one camera back. I, um my lenses, I pretty much, you know, have the set, maybe four violins that'll bring. I'll bring backup flashes is have gone down before I will have backup batteries. And then what I do is a lot of times. Internet is terrible, terrible wherever I go, so I can't like sometimes I'll upload as I go to San Folio from my cloud, my website. But if the Internets really terrible, which is the case in most international places, I will just make sure that I have extra memory card so they will be backed up once they're back it up on a laptop twice there. Back it up 1/3 time in a hard drive, and I never keep those three things in the same place ever. So if somebody snatches my laptop, it saved into other places. And so I'm just really careful about being able to double triple back things up until I can get Internet service and then, like, uploaded and save it that way. But in terms of insurance like there's so many different kinds, you can get some of it is for international sums. Not, and and I'll talk a little bit more about Well, I want to talk about international stuff that I love to have. I have t mobile on the T Mobile global plans. Like the most amazing thing in the entire world. I'm like, not even getting any type of payment from team over this. It's like one of those things where for the super lesson I was paying a month. I get unlimited data and Texas anywhere in the world so I can use my ways and navigation, which has helped me so much. Traveling I can WhatsApp and communicate with people on guides which WhatsApp around the world is like the way tour groups and people are communicating now. I mean, everywhere. Um ways is has been fantastic to find my way around anywhere in the world. And then yeah, if I make any calls from an international, more to us number, it's like I'm making a local call. So it's the best plan ever. And I've I survived so much on my phone when I'm like, last minute having to, like, organize and change plans and do things and like get to places and all of that. I use my phone for model releases like Very like mobile, you know, while I'm traveling, so I think that's a really important thing to also have some lifelines there.