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This is a really smart and creative idea Ben Josephs.

Make sure though, that all contributions are well organized and identified by date, location and subject, so that people can easily search for relevant photos that they need. Otherwise you'll have a mess of photos to search through like an old shoebox collection. Having it does no good, if nobody can find it.

Ben-

I'm already on flickr but don't often have need for a search. I may try some experimental searches by subject to see what happens and how easy it is to find specific material. As long as people can find the right CC photos, then they can find a way to get them posted.

One addition to your idea, a list of subject matter can in some respects be easier, as an addition to the flickr site. IE: Members here may have tons of photos that are of use, but uploading takes time. In some cases just asking for a subject list of what they are willing to make available with either CC, or another form of consent, might increase participation.

Ben, there in lies my dilemma I'm not sure any of my photo warrant being added. I mean, I have flowers, trees, sunsets, (mostly nature stuff) and some train photos, but I'm not sure any are good enough to be added to what is there already or would be appropriate.

So for right now I'll probably wait and see what else gets added and go from there.

rottlady

rottlady comes to our rescue, again. I'm not trying to take anything away from you Ben, but I wouldn't be here now, if it had not been for rottlady. I haven't looked at the details, but I'm pretty sure I'll be commenting and voting.

Don't undersell yourself Rottlady, you have a good eye. Besides, you never know what may come in handy to someone seeking a specific image for a specific use, and editing can alter an image to suit their purpose too. But the key is using descriptive labels so searching and finding are easier.

Personally I like to be asked before someone uses my work, to know what it's being used for, and that it's an appropriate usage. I just prefer to have that control, even though I usually consent. Plus, I've never digitized a lot of old negatives. Nor would I be in any rush to unless I knew there was a need.

Ben, I think both would be beneficial. That way the pool won't be flooded with things that are not of interest to everyone. Either that or create some Collections or different Sets so it would be easier to see everything.

Elizabeth @ 2.4,

I am always looking for sunset or sunrise pictures for some of the more inspirational things that I write. You know me, I seldom around to be able to take them myself! :)

Ok Mary, I'll add some of my favorites. But note, all of mine are sunsets, I don't have a good sunrise view.

Well azsky, I can add my support to both Elizabeth and Ben, and offer you some sunrises, sunsets, lunar eclipse, full moon, etc. But I haven't posted them to flickr as yet. I would be happy to do so with a few, if I had a general sense of what you were aiming for in your expression.

Ben, to answer your question from 2.7, I think you need both a site with photos, and somewhere that a simple content and contact list is available. My reason why is that writers and photographers sometimes produce their best work in collaboration with each other, and having the discussion and interaction. But there are always days where people need inspiration, and having some photos already posted provides that too.

Flickr has a batch organizer that makes it easier to tag, change the licenses on your photos or make different sets of them. I think making a Flickr group for this makes a lot of sense.

Ok, here's what I see.

The main benefit is that writers are NOT taking days to write a story, they are4 taking minutes, maybe hours at the most. they are NOT going to use a pool and ask for something, this is an impulse thing and they want some picture in a quick search. If you can't put them into the group on flickr where they can be searched there is no use for them (an alternative is to give blanket permission for use of all pictures posted by you on flickr and then give the url to your main page - assuming you have them grouped into individual albums by category or something

You have some writers here (scott, rottlady) why not do the market research and ask them if they plan out an article for a week later, coordinate back and forth; or if this is an "I need to find a picture in 30 minutes or less" thing

Eriq, you are right on how long it takes to think up an article and write it. Not very long. I might plan one out but as for getting it published and finding pictures for it I don't take more than a day. If I don't have the pictures I want in my picture files then I use Flickr CC.

But one thing is most of my article are based on pictures I have already taken so I might not be a very good example.

Warning. It is illegal to sell stuff on newsvine or to advertise it for sale. That includes pictures.

No you can not do this through newsvine (nor link to such a group from newsvine)

1) eliminates the "Impulse" buyer - this may be what you want though

3) image caption or article should add "used with permission" (important legalism)

5) you should allow for reduction in size; if they have multiple images on their article they may have to reduce the size to get the page to load properly (many would get the nasty red X instead of the picture due to time outs)

8) the technology may not - exactly - allow this (i.e. it will be in the reader's cache and could reload even though it is off newsvine; it may be in serch engines "cached" versions of the page) - the author may remove it but it could still show up

With screen capture programs there is nothing that can't be copied and saved by a user. All you are really doing is trying to make the author / user responsible for things he can't control. If your pictures are for profit you need to keep them off the Internet, basically. You use photoshop, you know how easy it is to slightly manipulate images

NOTE: (to a. and to potential users) there are several big stock photo companies on the Net (jupiterimages, etc. - see their terms); free photos abound that you can access by searching flickr, google, ask, pixsy, yahoo, zooomr, etc.

I agree with all you stated. eriq. I may reconsider my offer as the caveats you raised are serious.

Thank you.

A. Mac