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RE: Photo Sources

At 07:53 AM 8/12/2003 -0400, you wrote:
Check with people like me (PR types) or directly with the company.

I'm looking for free sources of photos or simple line illustrations to accompany my gardening articles -- primarily perennials, vegetables, & trees. Any ideas?



Let me make it clear that I wear several hats and they often seem to tilt down to cover my eyes when it comes to problems such as this one.

My producer nursery ball cap goes on when a garden writer needs some help with plants the nursery I work for is selling. You have to know if Better Homes and Gardens or Canadian Gardening wants a photograph of Echinacea 'Razzmatazz' (a plant we have Canadian exclusive for in 2003) you have to know we're going to provide it. How can we help you with a picture that will sell more of our product? For a nursery, this is cheap advertising.

My garden photography Tilley hat means I've spent more money and time taking photographs like that for my own use and publications I write for. I dislike it when a nursery gives away an image because this means I can't sell it.

My writing hat (varies depending on mood) seems always to be tipping into my eyes. My latest book "Perennials All Season" ( I wrote it myself) :-) had a ton of my own photographs but it also included a bunch of freebies from TerraNova and Blooms of Bressingham (thank you very much folks) :-) It also really annoys me when somebody writes and says "Can I use this article on my web page - I can't afford a writer." ;-) Yes, I provide free info through my company and no I don't provide it as a freelancer. Consistency is not one of my finer qualities. ;-))

This is indeed the conundrum that is facing those trying to make income in the garden writing industry. I can't throw stones at somebody wanting freebies or graphics because occasionally I would like the same thing. And I don't even pretend to be consistent or outraged about it anymore. I - through the nursery - provide some of that directly to you folks (as does just about any company that supports GWA I note) My company provides a free newsletter to our customers that I write. This is part of my job but it takes some money away from a freelancer. Many members of GWA only write for their companies and do not do freelance work of any kind.

While we'd all like growers to grow, photographers to photograph and writers to write - there's a lot of hats tipping over eyes and the garden writing scene is one blurry picture (and you need bifocals to read the captions). :-) It seems we all do a little bit of everything while peering out from under our brims.

So you can be a little outraged if you like but the hard reality is the industry works on this kind of trading. The challenge for freelancers is to figure out how you can get a bit of that reality to stick on the way by. ;-)

Practically speaking - if anybody needs graphics or text, the best chance of obtaining this is to go directly to a company producing or marketing that product. Or as our most charming gwa belle Susan (Susan?!):-) points out - go to the PR firms handling those products. The GWA membership directory lists all these firms and folks.

Do not however go to a freelancer (photographer or writer) and ask to "borrow" their stuff.

And if anybody here can figure out how to sort out this quandry so we can all wear one hat - I'd like to hear the solution cause all these hats are getting darned expensive to buy and keep clean.

Doug


Doug Green,

Your gardening questions answered http://www.gardening-tips-perennials.com
Syndicated gardening columnist, award-winning author


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