Canned Photography
An interview with Derek Schultz, Founder, Canned Photography
"There are plenty of stock image libraries out there already. What makes you think that we need another?"
"This one is specifically for images from the Yorkshire region of England. We'll include some other stuff in there, but Yorkshire is its prime focus.
"So you mean that you will have high quality images but at a reasonable cost?"
"Basically yes. But don't get too hung up on price. The prime concern has to be focused on quality, creativity and service. People will pay for that if it gives them what they want. The added bonus and clinching factor in our deal though is our guarantee that the cost will be very affordable. We will negotiate on multi purchases, etc,."
"You mentioned 'services', what sort of services did you mean?"
"Well, let me give you an example. We keep all the RAW files from the shoot so we can redevelop an image to whatever your requirements are. We also have a variety of formats and layouts of the same image. You won't necessarily see them all on the site, but you only have to ask and we can get it for you.
"Isn't it inevitable though that you will force your own ideas of what is good onto the customer?"
"No, not at all. We are working hard to keep all the options with the customer. We do of course like to do our own crops, etc., but look at the images on the site merely as suggestions."
"Tell me something of where you get the images from?"
"Well, we shoot all the images available at the moment from the Yorkshire area of the UK, but if there are good photographers who match our strict criteria and align with our philosophy and goals, then we are quite happy to accept submissions from them."
"What are some of the strict criteria you mention?"
"That's simple to answer - creativity and quality really! All we would ask is that images are digitally shot in the RAW format, catalogued and backed up correctly."
"How far does your bespoke service go then?"
"We will provide a full photographic service if you require it. You can check out our sister site at cannedphoto.com which deals with that bespoke service."
"What about copyright? How tight is that?"
"As part of our philosophy, we are keeping this as simple as possible. There are obvious things that we don't want to be done with our images. They could not, for instance, be used as part of someone else's collection for resale, but we are happy to discuss options.
"How many images are you aiming for?"
"I don't think that's a valid question really. I hate these sites where you have a billion photos to search through! We are researching and targeting certain areas to give a useful range of images."
"It's not a large mass market you are aiming for then?"
"Absolutely not! We see this service being useful to any image users who need images of Yorkshire, but we'd be quite happy with a few hundred clients who really value our service."