Friday Foto
By now you should know the routine. Each and every week Kingstonist publishes Friday Foto, which showcases outstanding images taken by local photogs. We rely entirely on Flickr for all of our photographic needs. While some Flickr users subscribe to creative commons licensing, a vast majority of people maintain full copyright over their work. This is understandable, but as a result we have to contact (and wait for) people to grant us permission to display their photos. From time to time, this has caused us some grief, especially when it comes to meeting self-imposed deadlines, and publishing content in a timely manner.
Rather than continuing to use the current and oftentimes inconvenient photo selection process, we’ve decided to make some changes. In that respect, it gives me great pleasure to announce the launch of Kingstonist’s brand new Flickr group. While we’ve established this group in an effort to expedite the process of seeking permission to use people’s photos, you may rest assured that we will continue to give photographers full credit. Otherwise, our Flickr group will serve as an official means to contribute your photos for use on Kingstonist. Subsequent editions of Friday Foto as well as written columns will feature photos from this group.
Kingstonist is always on the look out for new contributors, be it writers, photographers, or creative go getters. If you’re interested in contributing your photos for use on Kingstonist, please join our Flickr group. We’ve already got 11 members and some outstanding photos for you to look at, and comment on!
Special thanks to Ashley Rose for today’s photo. Admittedly, Ashley isn’t a Kingstonian. In fact, I doubt she’s ever heard of Kingston. The reason why we’re showing her image today, and the reason why we’re publishing our Friday Foto on a Saturday, is because we’re still waiting for a local guy to grant us permission to use his image.
Why did it take us so long to establish our own Flickr group? In less than 24 hours we've got 18 members, some of which are brand new contributors to Kingstonist. Thus far, I'm thoroughly impressed with the talent and high quality photos being added. This is going to be a huge asset as it continues to receive new photos! Thanks to everyone who has joined.
Have you considered licensing your photos from a stock agency? Licensing your images isn't expensive (about three bucks for a royalty-free license) and it's a really great way to support local photographers and get access to some very high quality imagery. Paying for a license also shows that you are committed to supporting all the levels of the micro-media industry that we're all involved in together.
Asking for feebies on flickr may leave a sour impression with some creatives; photographers have got to eat too!
Why not do a search for Kingston on iStockPhoto, which is a Canadian company with a pretty good collection. http://bit.ly/dgmrc6 Some of photos from the 'Kingston' flickr group are available for licensing there!
I'm pretty familiar with iStockPhoto, it's a great site and as you've pointed out there are definitely some great local photogs on there. I'd love to be able to shell out a few bucks for their licensing fees, but at this point in time that's simply not how we're running things. Currently, none of the writers are paid a dime for their contributions, so it would be kind of strange for us to start paying photogs and the like. Until we're able to compensate everyone, contributions across the board will remain voluntary. I know our system is not for everyone, but we've got some pretty solid, professional contributors (writers and photographers) who do it for the love of their craft, as opposed to some token payment.
In any case, I hope you'll consider uploading something to our Flickr group in the future.