It started in 1987: My online archive hits 50,000!
Posted on August 18, 2011
Brad Mangin started shooting for his archive back in 1987 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. This picture was shot by Mangin’s junior college photojournalism teacher Gerry Mooney during Giants batting practice prior to a game in 1987 as Mangin was on assignment for the Contra Costa Times. (Photo by Gerry Mooney)
A few days ago I hit a magic number. I had been looking at 50,000 for a long time. After uploading 170 images from the August 7, 2011 game between the Phillies and Giants I surpassed the 50,000 mark for searchable, captioned images in my online archive powered by PhotoShelter. My friend Grover Sanschagrin has been giving me a hard time over the years telling me he would only be impressed with my archive when I hit 50,000. Well Grover, I did it!
I started shooting professionally in 1987, and that is when my archive starts. Need Dave Dravecky as a Padre or a Giant? I got him! Mike Aldrete? Done. How about Pete Rose managing the Reds? Got that too. I have everything in my archive from Greg Minton posing for a portrait in 1987 to Hideki Matsui connecting with a pitch yesterday in Oakland. Do you get the feeling that I am proud of my archive? You got that right. I work hard on keeping my archive up to date every day. I am constantly adding current images, as well as old ones when I have old chromes scanned from the 80’s and 90’s. As I look back on all my pictures over the years I am so glad I had some great friends give me terrific business advice over the years, and I am glad I have been able to keep my copyright for so many terrific images.
This could be image number 50,000 in my archive! Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants gets ready in the dugout before the game against the Philadelphia Phillies at AT&T Park on August 7, 2011 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Brad Mangin)
It is our job as photographers to keep our copyright (unless we have a sweet staff job with benefits, etc.) and do a good job of marketing our images. You would be surprised how many image buyers LOVE dealing directly with individual photographers like me. Having my easy-to-use archive makes my editors happy, thus it makes me happy. And that is a good thing. Thanks for getting me off my ass Grover!
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