Scubaboard Book: will you contribute?

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I'd be interested in a book, more than likely whether or not one of my photos got published in it. Although, having a picture in it, would be nice and something for me to show friends and family.

Being an incredibly green ameteur photographer, much less UW photographer. I don't think my photo would hurt the market for professional photographers if I were to give one(or two) away for free. I would be willing to give away one or two of my piddly pictures away to see them published. If I were a Pro, it'd be a different story, it would be my livelyhood. My photos are not my livelyhood, nor or they the quality that would threaten the livelyhood of a Pro-photographer that sells Pro-quality pictures taken with Pro-quality equipment. I don't expect to be compensated for a couple of pics that are inferior to a professional equivellant. I don't expect to be compensated for my dives or my gear either. I would dive just as much without the photography gear, its fun with or without. The camera just allows me to share my experiences to my family and friends.

If profits will goto future compilations or a conservation group, awesome. If the profits were to goto mjh's pocket, whatever, he seems to want to bear the bulk of the workload. I don't expect this compilation to be of much interest to the general public. It'd just be a neato keepsake full of ameteur(some very ameteur - speaking for myself ) photographs taken by all my SB internet buddies. Why would that interest anyone else but a SB user? The hell if I know. If it weren't full of SB pics, I would want 1st class Pro-photos in a book that I lay $15-50 on, motivation for someone not registered on SB to lay that kind of money down is beyond me...

... for what its worth...

 

[mjh]

There has been some concern about myself or others “profiting” from this. There is no subtle way to say this sooo; I don’t need the money, my wife and I are in the group Kerry wanted to tax the hell out of. (don’t think you can guess who I voted for) My contribution to this endeavor is the initial push, working with the printer and handling the shipping. I volunteer this because it really isn’t that much more work on my part. I have an office in Shanghai, already import over 1000 containers a year and could throw a couple pallets of books in at a minimal cost. We have +40,000 customers throughout the USA and Europe so getting the books out is not a big deal. That said I don't plan on contributing anything more than "time" the book must pay for itself.

If there is a cheaper better way to do it great! Let’s hear it! Like others I just want to see a photo of mine in a book, even if I have to pay for (some of) it. What I had hoped would happen is somebody with experience in this area would step up with a potential work flow, publishing software, submission formats, etc..... Without a doubt it will take some time and effort but can you think of anything you have done, that you are proud of, that did not require some effort?

 

[RiverRat]

I like that

I'd take out that photographers lose their rights to submitted photos. The photos should, IMHO, be authorised for a single, non-exclusive use.

I second that. Maybe a scubaboard lawyer can come along and help write something up. Shouldn't be too hard.

 

[vladimir]

I too would love to see my photographs published. But paying to have them in a book seems like cheating to me. Most of the thrill of being published, for me, would be knowing that a publisher deemed my work excellent enough to market; excellent enough for somebody to pay for it.
So if I'm going to pay $50 for a book of photos, I'd rather have Chris Bangs' photos than the crap I produce. Those are worth the money.

 

[mjh]

Vladimir I agree with you, it does feel like cheating. The main thing is to make sure it pays for itself thus getting contributors to commit to buying a book. Every time I log on I see so many incredible pictures people have taken I think “what an incredible collection you could put together”. I am all for a “one time use” clause. I just don’t think anyone wants to track sending out 300 checks for $0.22 if one book is sold over the minimum need to cover costs, think that was a Seinfeld episode

So let’s shift gears and start thinking about what the categories should be. I suggest 5-6 maybe along the lines of:

1. Reefs and Wrecks, the big picture
2. Masters of Camouflage
3. Brilliant Sea Creatures
4. The Small Wonders
5. Our Fellow Divers

Don’t laugh it is harder than you think to come up with these, lets see your ideas….

 

[nshon]

I still reading this thread with interest and represent the "take my pics free of charge for one time use" group. If the book takes off big time (wowwww) and beats the next Harry Potter book, great I still don't want any money but maybe that's just me.

My pics are ready.

 

[alcina]

I think you might want a Fresh Water and/or Cold Water section? There's more in those colder climes than wrecks - the PNW has some stunning scenery and critters. The Springs & Lakes can get some great effects, too.

Maybe Big Guys - sharks, rays, turtles, dolphins, mantas, whales etc

 

[DennisW]

I have a few, maybe one or two photos that are good enough for a coffee table book and I would have to see the final decision before I decided to allow their usage, however, I believe this thread is going in the right direction.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Wrecks/Reefs/Spring Scenes
Vertebrates
Invertabrates
Macros
Divers

Not the names of the groupings I use, but thats what they'd include. I would break it down more with more categories.

 

[bakpakka]

Well, it seems like some people are wondering what to do with their underwater photos. There are quite a few other things you could do instead of just putting them on a CD archived in a dusty cabinet. You could actually post them online to show to the world and at the same time make a little bit of income from them.

Anyone heard of ShutterMap.com? Do view my profile and take a look at some of the shots I've posted up for sale there.

I think they are in need of a lot of underwater photos, as many of the existing shots are on land. The website is still fairly new, so you'd sorta be able to have a first mover advantage for underwater pix.