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For one, it improve s credibility/trust in your business. It is ALWAYS better to hire a professional photographer/graphic designer/creator for content for businesses and organizations - and that goes for government, too. Why?
For one, it improves trust in your business. Think shopping on Amazon/eBay. Are you going to trust the seller that has gone to the effort to take a picture/hire someone to take one of their product/service, or the stock image 18 other sellers are using and may have stolen?
For another, it shows you& #39;re invested in your community by supporting local creators/business owners. Chances are, if you invest in them, they& #39;ll invest in you.
I& #39;m not going to lie - it has actually really bugged me how every level of government is guilty of using stock photos.
I& #39;m not going to lie - it has actually really bugged me how every level of government is guilty of using stock photos.
This isn& #39;t a partisan issue - all stripes have done it. And I get it to an extent - stock photos are easy to find, typically cheap or even free, and if you& #39;re looking to save $ any way possible, it often looks like the best option.
But there is a trade off.
But there is a trade off.
Most stock sites don& #39;t tell you how many times a photo has been used. Sometimes you have no idea where a photo is actually taken, or where the photographer is from. Are you paying a foreign-based photographer/stock agency & inadvertently promoting their work, or someone local?
For government, especially any govt. wanting to claim they& #39;re investing in the economy, trying to spur and attract business, it& #39;s especially important to actually hire photographers/creators, because it& #39;s an industry like anything else, and often there& #39;s a disconnect with that.
Photos have huge power in sending messages. They& #39;re the first thing people notice when picking up a newspaper, or clicking on a website. Social media posts that have images are much more likely to attract attention than those without.
Yet, there are & #39;photographers& #39; out there who have cheapened the industry by giving work out for free, or putting their images on stock sites where the licencing fees are minuscule, because they& #39;re OK with making pocket change.
But photos have a lot of value, particular when you& #39;re trying to convey a certain message. A good photographer will understand there can be subliminal messaging sent through composition. Using stock photos....you don& #39;t have control over that messaging.
