Leslie Garland Picture Library

Photographer Guidelines (cont.)
Picture captions. Should be provided on separate sheets. These are absolutely vital, as it is these, entered as captions and keywords, which will permit picture researchers to locate your picture in the first place. Getting your caption right is as important as getting your exposure right, because if you fail to provide key information and a picture researcher subsequently uses this information to try and access pictures of your subject your pictures will not be called up in the search and they will never have even been in with a chance of selling. List the picture number and describe exactly what and where (country, county, town, village, if necessary detailed location) the subject is and include any additional information (ref. comments in the section Subjects & Markets, and don’t forget to take and use your note book when out and about.) which might relate to the picture’s potential usage. Keep captions factual and, most importantly, do not assume that this library knows anything about the subject in your picture. Enclose a duplicate listing with your submission if you want it marked up and returned.
Continuing contributions. In order to obtain regular sales quantity is just as important as quality, a fact which rather too many photographers overlook. It should go without saying that a photographer with several thousand pictures on a library’s files is far more likely to make regular sales than one with only a few hundred. Yet you would be surprised how many photographers just send in two or three submissions of pictures and then sit back and wait for the pay cheques to role in! And then when they don’t, which of course they won’t because the photographer hasn’t submitted anything like enough pictures, the photographer gives up and that is the last we hear from them. And there is nothing wrong with their work, it is simply a case that they haven’t supplied enough of it!
Stock photography is not an “overnight game”, it is one which the photographer needs to stick at. Subject matter goes in and out of fashion, books are only reprinted every five years or so, and add on to this the fact that projects take time. So do not get disheartened if sales and payments appear to be slow in coming. Regular future contributions are essential if you wish to arrive at achieving regular sales. As a general guide, one is usually talking of needing between 500-1000 pictures on file to feel confident of receiving a reasonably regular cheque!
Library Wants List can be viewed on the “Wants List” page of this site.
Internet sales The library is making Internet sales using the services of alamy.com and now has several thousand images on-line available for 24/7 viewing and sale.
Our medium term objective is to digitise the entire library stock so that all of it is available via the Internet. However, this process is a time consuming one, so don’t expect to see all your work instantly appearing on the Internet. It is also not without cost to the library. However, unlike many other libraries, we make no charges for producing high resolution scans your images, placing them on our web site with alamy, or for the subsequent captioning and keywording of them. We will endeavour to make your work available for Internet sales as soon as possible.
Fees These vary considerably and depend on the use for which the picture is required, size of reproduction and the precise rights required. Unfortunately, one effect of the Internet has been to drive some, but only some fees down. I don’t like or agree with this, but it is an aspect that we have to live with. If it is of any comfort, I suggest adopting a philosophical approach and reminding oneself that the Internet allows one’s pictures to sell both far more widely and to several clients at the same time, than would otherwise be the case. Do two smaller sales add up to more than one slightly larger one? Most certainly, yes. And the larger sales are as good as ever!
The Contract. Our Contract with photographers has been approved by the Office of Fair Trading and has features in common with those of many other libraries - 50/50 split on the revenue received by the library on all sales made, quarterly payments and statements, the photographer retaining copyright in his/her work, minimum retention period of 3 years, etc., and will be sent to you for your agreement if your work can be usefully added to the library.

Leslie Garland Picture Library
High Pasture, Yarrow,, Falstone, Hexham,, Northumberland, NE48 1BG
Tel: 01434-240324, Fax: 01434-240324
pictures@lesliegarland.co.uk
Webmaster: Leslie Garland