I don’t think I have ever seen things so riled up in the world of politics in the United States.
People are mad. People are disgusted. Politics have always been a dirty business, but this is different. People are fed up with what is going on in the government. There are incumbents trying to stay in their positions of power. There are massively unpopular policies. There are revelations about massive government salaries, pensions, and kickbacks. The negative campaigns are filled with smear tactics that ruin the reputations of good people trying to do the right thing. Most of all – there is waste.
My tax dollars (and I pay a lot of taxes) are being used to fund programs and policies that I don’t agree with and our leaders don’t seem to care. The spending is out of control!
The Tea Party movement is gaining continuous momentum because there are a lot of people that feel the same way I do – disgusted with the partisan politics – voting straight party lines – refusing to balance the budget – taking more and more and more of my money in the form of taxes and fees. Just stop! Do the right thing! For crying out loud – stop the out of control spending! We can’t afford it!
In the midst of all the madness, there is opportunity.
There are tons of people that feel the same way I do. They write blogs. They write articles. They write for magazines. They write books. They even film commercials and documentaries. And in all of these publication mediums they need pictures that back up what they are trying to say. Some articles are positive; some are negative. Some are critical of the current administration policies; some are supportive of those same policies. Some believe that we need to raise taxes to earn more money to support the government programs; some believe that we should lower taxes to give people the chance to go out and create businesses and jobs to lower the unemployment rate.
Regardless of what political party you agree with, a stock photographers opportunity is to think of the writers and designers. What do they need? What are they thinking about? What message are they trying to deliver and how can you shoot images that can be used to convey those messages.
Here are some stock photography shoot ideas:
- Smiling politicians
- Angry politicians
- Cheering crowds with flags
- Images to do with voting (vote buttons, vote signs, voters standing in line, ballot boxes, electronic vote displays, dangling chads (thank you to Florida for that idea), I voted stickers, vote republican signs, vote democrat signs, etc.)
- Things to do with the Tea Party (Kick the bum out signs, historical dress, etc.)
- Patriotism – flags, capital buildings, flag shirts, etc.
- Political parties (elephants, donkeys, etc.)
- and more – much, much more!
There are thousands of ideas. Think like a buyer and shoot what sells!
When I wrote this post, I searched istockphoto under the keywords “election” AND “politics” and there are 2,187 results. In the first 100 results there is a good combination of both vector images and photographs, with the highest download a photograph of a paper with boxes on it with a closeup of red pencil and a checked box. This image had been downloaded over 1,300 times. The second highest downloaded image was a vector illustration of a vote button – red, white and blue with stars and stripes that had been downloaded over 1,300 times as well.
Check out istockphoto’s portfolio on “elections” AND “politics” to evaluate where you can add your own creative stock images to those already available.
Flickr image courtesy of Andrew McFarlane
