Anticipating The
Photogeezer Phase

By Billy E. Barnes





         You're either a pro or a very serious amateur photographer or you wouldn't be reading PhotoStockNotes, Your photographs number in the thousands and it's time to think ahead. A shooter's life goes through several phases. (1)
 
The shoebox phase: You've got a clutter of negatives, prints, and slides in boxes and envelopes, plus a hard drive that's bulging with photo files. (2) The "hey, maybe I'm sitting on a gold mine here" phase: You resolve to learn all you can about the stock photography biz. (I was lucky enough to be in contact with Rohn Engh's PhotoSource services early on, thus helping my stock sales to get off the ground in a hurry.) (3) The photogeezer phase: If you're lucky enough to live to be 60 or more, you begin to wonder, "What's going to happen to these images when I'm outta' here?"

         I'm well into phase 3. About 15 years ago I was contacted by the curator of a huge historical-photo collection at the university from which I graduated in 1957. He said, "Billy, what are you doing with all of those negatives? Are they in a safe, humidity and temperature-controlled place?" I replied, "Well, not really." He said, "I sure would like to have them in the University's collection. If you're not ready to let go of them completely, just lend them to us. We'll put them in a state-of-the-art archival vault and you can access them any time you like."

         I drew up a formal loan agreement for both of us to sign, and delivered about 30,000 negatives, almost all of them having to do with my 1960s documentary work on civil rights and poverty. I also delivered a copy of a log I kept, giving dates, locations, and site notes for the photos. Seven years went by, during which the curator called now and then to ask whether I was ready to deliver some more images, and make a more-permanent agreement. I stalled for a good while and finally told him that I didn't want to have to sign some boilerplate agreement, written by the university's attorneys, that might not work to my advantage. He replied: "You draft the agreement you want, and send me a copy."

         I gave some thought to just what kind of deal I wanted to negotiate. The 1960s photos still were bringing in significant income, as were the other 75,000 images in my office files and on my hard drives. Shooting for the moon, I composed an agreement that had these provisions: (1) I and/or my heirs retain full copyright until I, my wife, and both of my children are dead. After that time, the university assumes all rights. (2) Any time the university's collection receives an inquiry about use of one of my images, I am to be notified so I can negotiate the royalty directly with the publisher, editor, broadcaster, film producer, scholar, or whatever.

         To my surprise, that draft of the agreement was accepted, as is, by the university. Since then I've delivered about 8,000 images from the period 1970-1995. Two graduate students have been at work for a year and a half,
organizing and indexing "The Billy E. Barnes Collection." Also, the curator has staff members making 80-meg scans of the entire BB collection. I get frequent Emails and phone calls from publishers who have contacted the collection for a certain type of image, and have been instructed to contact me with regard to permission and payment.

         There are two important morals to my story: (1) It's never too early to ask yourself what will happen to your life's work after you depart this world, and (2) If you like the idea of people enjoying and learning from your images 200 years from now, you should offer your work to a well-known institution that will love them as you do. And remember, you've got something they want! You don't have to give away the farm --- you can negotiate YOUR OWN TERMS.

         A parting note: Many photographers think they can get a juicy income-tax deduction by giving their work to a university or other nonprofit institution. I've read the IRS regulations and also consulted some of the best lawyers and CPAs in the business. Your negatives, slides, and data files are considered "inventory." As creator of this "intellectual-property inventory" you cannot realize a tax advantage by giving it away. On the other hand, if you first give your work to your son, daughter, or best friend, the new owner may be able to realize a tax deduction if he or she in turn gives the images to a nonprofit institution. If you want to get into all this, contact your CPA, or an attorney who specializes in intellectual-property law or tax law.

Billy E. Barnes is one of America's most widely-published photographers, with images in books by 122 publishers, and in more than 100 periodicals including TIME, NEWSWEEK, FORTUNE, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, THE NEW YORK TIMES, WOMAN'S DAY, USA TODAY WEEKEND, Delta Airlines' SKY MAGAZINE, BUSINESS WEEK, NATION'S BUSINESS, AMOCO ADVENTURE ROAD, AND WORKING WOMAN. He's still shooting. You can see a cross-section of his work at www.billybarnes.com, and a just-completed documentary assignment at wunc.org
/voices/highschool/gallery.


           


           

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