Tobers
Suspended / Banned
- Messages
- 3,435
- Name
- Andy
- Edit My Images
- No
I happened to take this picture at the weekend:
After all day shooting polo action, it was a shot I had planned to finish off my coverage, and was set up with a 24-105 with a polariser to see through the glass effectively, plus some thought on positioning (driver's side, down the road a bit to get some long shots then the close-up).
Once I realised she wasn't wearing a seat belt, I got on the case to get the shot out to the newspapers as fast as pos. I sent this shot plus a couple of longer shots out to the UK nationals, along with a nice descriptive caption. The Daily Mail published it on Monday - a nice half page with details about how the Queen couldn't be prosecuted for driving without a seatbelt etc etc. with my caption info making up the main part of the story (though I later realised it was a Daimler not a Jaguar).
The story was then picked up and started going around the world. Big Pictures had a couple of shots as well, one of which the Daily Mail used on their web site here along with another of mine.
Things started to get interesting as the story hit the blogs. A Google on Monday afternoon showed hundreds of entries, including numerous like this one from the Bucharest Herald who stole and de-watermarked my shot from the Dail Mail web site. There were lots of hits from India, as well as really obscure stuff like the Himalayan Times.
Then the phone started ringing and I had a nice discussion with a Hong Kong agency who, rather than stealing the picture like the Bucharest Herald et al, offered to pay for it which I gladly helped them to do.
Unfortunately, Getty weren't interested in taking the single close-up shot which was a bit of a shame, as I think their distribution would have worked really well and got a good wadge of cash in.
It's been really interesting to see how a single picture that triggers an article can go viral like this. I'm fairly realistic about being able to obtain any money from Romania, Nepal and Columbia, and just dont have the resources to chase this up. Lesson for next time - get one of the bigger agencies involved earlier and let them do the hard work of distribution and chasing the money.
The money I will get in should keep me in beers for a few months though...
Cheers!
Tobers
After all day shooting polo action, it was a shot I had planned to finish off my coverage, and was set up with a 24-105 with a polariser to see through the glass effectively, plus some thought on positioning (driver's side, down the road a bit to get some long shots then the close-up).
Once I realised she wasn't wearing a seat belt, I got on the case to get the shot out to the newspapers as fast as pos. I sent this shot plus a couple of longer shots out to the UK nationals, along with a nice descriptive caption. The Daily Mail published it on Monday - a nice half page with details about how the Queen couldn't be prosecuted for driving without a seatbelt etc etc. with my caption info making up the main part of the story (though I later realised it was a Daimler not a Jaguar).
The story was then picked up and started going around the world. Big Pictures had a couple of shots as well, one of which the Daily Mail used on their web site here along with another of mine.
Things started to get interesting as the story hit the blogs. A Google on Monday afternoon showed hundreds of entries, including numerous like this one from the Bucharest Herald who stole and de-watermarked my shot from the Dail Mail web site. There were lots of hits from India, as well as really obscure stuff like the Himalayan Times.
Then the phone started ringing and I had a nice discussion with a Hong Kong agency who, rather than stealing the picture like the Bucharest Herald et al, offered to pay for it which I gladly helped them to do.
Unfortunately, Getty weren't interested in taking the single close-up shot which was a bit of a shame, as I think their distribution would have worked really well and got a good wadge of cash in.
It's been really interesting to see how a single picture that triggers an article can go viral like this. I'm fairly realistic about being able to obtain any money from Romania, Nepal and Columbia, and just dont have the resources to chase this up. Lesson for next time - get one of the bigger agencies involved earlier and let them do the hard work of distribution and chasing the money.
The money I will get in should keep me in beers for a few months though...
Cheers!
Tobers
