The World We Live In
Times have changed for photographers since Angela and I first picked up a camera. This was brought starkly into view in conversation with a fellow wildlife and travel photographer who lives in the US. Our friend sounded stunned when we mentioned that we were reprinting our popular safari guide books to East African Animals and Birds. ‘Books?’ he replied. ‘You mean e-books, not paper, right?’ He then went on to extol the virtues of Apps over books, and e-books over hard covers, ready to abandon the world of paper. Sacrilege, we thought, as he continued to expound on a new way of being for photographers. ‘Forget “real” books or “art” prints or “agency stuff” – social media is the new marketplace and showcase for your work: Google Plus and Instagram.’ Our friend has given up chasing image sales, believing that the value of a single photograph has become so diluted by the plethora of imagery available worldwide that being a photographer demands a new business model today. Witness the vast reach and sheer volume of Getty Images the most dominant player in the picture business with its vast archive of more than 350 million images (including the rights to distribute the 100 million images in the Corbis collection - outside of China), a stable of award-winning photojournalists, and annual revenues of nearly $1 billion.
To our friend the real value of his images is as online content to showcase his talent as a digital technician and teacher, something at which he has been incredibly successful (his eBooks sold through Amazon are best sellers). When we mentioned this to our Publisher HPH in South Africa (the wildlife photographer Heinrich van den Berg) we were heartened and reassured by his response: “Yes, books are much more difficult to sell these days, but for me it is the best way to show images. I love the printed media and the way images look on paper as opposed to on Facebook. And I also think that South Africa is a little bit behind the times regarding the book industry. Here there are still many bookshops, and hardcover coffee-table books are still sought after. So I can fortunately still justify doing books, although I am not sure how long that will last (. I always hope that books are like movie theatres – when video came out everybody thought movie theatres would die out, but people still go to theatres for the experience. And hopefully people will buy books for the textures and realness of it in the digital age. Sadly, Covid-19 and challenging economic times have contributed to a downturn in book sales through shops with most of HPH’s business now online.
The fact is, Angie and I love books. For us, browsing through the shelves of Waterstones, Foyles or Hatchards on our visits to London is one of life’s great pleasures. And in the US we grieve at the loss of Borders, where we used to spend hours sitting with a pile of new editions, drinking coffee and marvelling at the written word, poring over works of the great artists and photographers, past and present: Ansel Adams, Cartier Bresson, Sebastião Salgado.
Covid and the economic down turn precipitated by Russia’s deadly invasion of the Ukraine turned the world on its head. In many countries currency depreciations, soaring fuel costs and inflation have eroded people’s spending power. More people than ever now work from home. Zoom calls, Skype, Webinars, Podcasts and eBooks have helped ease the transition to a new/alternate way of doing business. We are excited about embracing change with the launch of our range of eBooks on wildlife photography, travel, and nature, and very much look forward to publishing our Safari Guide Books as eBooks too.
