Often, a public relations firm or agency will turn to stock photography for images on a web site they are developing.
That need not be the case. There is a better way that is free, spreads good will and provides your site with a collection of fantastic images.
Flickr is one of the best resources for great photography. Some of the world’s most talented photographers use Flickr to show their work.
In this example, we will show you how we use Flickr to develop relationships with photographers by asking them for permission and then featuring their work on a blog, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and multiple other social networks.
We start by looking on Flickr for photos of the sports that we expect to have in the competition.
For instance, we discovered a photo of a bike race in Portland by Rudy Joggerst:
In this case, we simply sent Rudy an email. We explained that we would like to use his photo for our web site. In exchange, we told him we would feature his work and give him credit.
Once receiving permission, we created a slide show with his images using an application called animoto. Animoto creates a video of the photos you upload. They offer a choice of music that syncs with the video.
Here’s the result:
Once published, we promote the photographer through an application called Tarpipe, which automatically distributes the photo back to a Flickr page, Twitter and Facebook. We’ll have more about Tarpipe another time.
We use Delicious to keep track of the link to the photographer’s profile page.
Delicious connects into social networks, further extending the reach of the photographer you feature. Friendfeed offers a simple way to pull in Delicious bookmarks. You may then extend the photographer’s link even further by connecting your Friendfeed account to Facebook. Check the settings tab in Friendfeed to see Delicious and the other services you may integrate.
The photo is tagged with a name that we recognize. For example, in Delicious, you may want to tag the photo according to the context for how it is being used.
The next step:
We download the images that we want to use for the web site. An easy way to store pictures is by keeping them on the server where your web site is being hosted. We mostly use WordPress for the sites we develop. Photos get uploaded to the WordPress site in the Media Library.
That about covers it. By following this process, you are getting great photos for your web site and giving attention to the photographers whose images they are graciously allowing you to use. You are generating more links and most of all, developing a network that will help you build a lasting community.
