Sourcing the right assets for a communication piece can be THE determining factor for great work. Yeah, sometimes you just need a "diverse group at a conference table" for a corporate brochure or a "happy child blowing bubbles" for an education piece. In these cases, stock is great. But sometimes you really, really need a "middle eastern man with cane on a park bench with a shih tzu eating a taco." And the dog is eating the taco, not the man. Trust me, I've had to do even more specific searches. In these cases, having to use stock is a real drag. You do occasionally come across these gems, and that's fun. But after a while, you end up feeling like that french guy who sat inside a boulder for a week, except there's no one around to read you poetry. And let's be honest, the cost incurred from spending all that time searching can rack up real fast.

And what do you do when your actual product is really specific, like a place? It's super hard to find stock images of a particular location for a tourism piece or even worse, a certain product type like an apartment or hotel. Here's how that goes: Best case scenario - you're able to get something serviceable, but not quite right. Worse case scenario - you end up confusing your target. Facepalm scenario - you lose all credibility.

Sometimes, you just have to help clients decide that sourcing original assets is a must. I was thrilled to be interviewed recently by Conor Risch for the February edition of Photo District News. We discussed how capturing custom photography is well worth the extra effort in order to make meaningful connections with audiences.

You can read the full article here.