I Have Tons Of Great Photos. Now What?

The "Don't Walk By" campaign is an outreach program to homeless folks in New York. Led by The Rescue Alliance of NYC, this month-long campaign provides food, blankets, medical care, and, for those who are ready, an opportunity to take their lives in a new direction.

Let’s say that you already have hundreds of compelling photos that tell the story of your organization. Maybe we took the photos, or maybe some photography whiz from the accounting department took them. Either way, you want to get the most out of them. But how?

1. Find multiple ways of using the same image

This might sound obvious, but many times we have a great photo and use it once in a PowerPoint presentation and then it gets pushed to the back of our computer files and lost forever.

• Put your images to work! Try to squeeze as much use from them as you can:  brochures, website, e-newsletters, annual reports, thank you cards, or prints that can be displayed in your lobby.

• Get creative! Does it makes sense for your website have a “photo album” page?  (Note: If you work with people and have donors, YES it makes sense to have this on your website!) We all know that images are powerful tools in conveying the energy and excitement of your programs, so if you have great photos, don’t let them go to waste.

2. Don’t over do it

I know, this sounds exactly opposite from what I said above, but the point is this: images have a shelf-life.

• You will want to refresh your photo stock every couple of years or more, depending on how much your programs have changed and how much you are using your existing stock. While that faded photo of smiley, big-haired, 80′s teenagers might capture the essence of your organization perfectly, it is time for a new shot!

• Don’t look at taking photos as a one-time investment. Build resources into your marketing or development budgets to allow for a regular upgrade of your image and video stock.

3. Don’t let a good photo stand alone

Every good photo has an even better story.  Who is in the photo? What is the event about? Why does the place matter?  Even a short caption can add a lot of value to the photo.

• Get the basics: names of the people, date, event, etc. If you use a photo processing program, you can add them to the meta-data of the photo. You can also change the image name to include this info. Example: JohnandJaneDoe_July2010_Soup Kitchen.jpg.

• “Life-change” captions are amazing assets. The key to making this happen is keeping it simple. A good three-sentence structure to use is this: a) Who (or what) is in the photo, and what problem was he/she/it experiencing? b) How did your organization address that problem? c) What is this person’s life like now because your program exists?  If you can get more info, great!  You can always use longer profiles for newsletters or annual reports.  But a “short and sweet” caption can be just as good and often, more usable.

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