Trek it Out Photos--Revised

Over the past five years, the use of photographs in decorating schemes, instead of painted pictures, has grown exponentially. Painted pictures will never become obsolete, but they do not offer decorators the variety and fluidity available through the use of photographs. So, demand for them will continue to wane. While there are a lot of photographs available for consumers to choose from, the things that make a photograph valuable are exclusivity and quality.

The decorator of today is seeking pictures with certain themes in mind. Photos of tulips in Holland, rivers in Thailand, mountains in Northern Africa, or crowds in Mumbai. But, photographs of this nature are not always readily available. Consumers are craving this and many are willing to pay top dollar for the right to own beautiful, exclusive photographs for decorating purposes. Trek it Out Photo Studios helps to make it possible—bringing highly sought after, but hard to obtain photographs to the homes, offices and galleries of demanding consumers everywhere.

The Mission

The mission of Trek it Out Photo Studios is two-fold. First, our mission is bringing beautiful, high-quality photos from abroad and here in the States to consumers, and second, providing a source of revenue for those living in nations surrounded by beauty, but rife with poverty. This revenue stream would be intermittent, but the value of the United States Dollar is very strong in many of the poorest countries. So, while the money may not be constant, a single payment could be a great boon to an individual or family.

The Method

Given a $10,000 budget, this is how Trek it Out Photo Studios would use the funds. Trek it Out management envisions purchasing 10 high-quality digital cameras with memory cards and a sufficient supply of lithium batteries. Trek it Out producers would travel to various places around the world, hiring locals as amateur photographers to capture the essence of where they live.

Trek it Out producers would teach the chosen locals how to use the cameras, give them rules and ideas about what to capture and then spend two or three days traveling across the area where they live to immortalize some of that region’s beauty and wonderment in photographs. The locals in any given country would be given $50 for each four hour work day. The assigned Trek it Out producer would provide food and water throughout the course of each day’s excursion. The Trek it Out producer will also be taking photographs during the outing, but the goal is to have the local capture the primary photograph. The Trek it Out producer will serve as a backup in the event the local’s camera malfunctions on a particular photo.

Once the two to three day excursion is over, the producer will have the local photographer sign an agreement that states that should any photos captured by him be sold, he will receive 30 percent of the sale price, per photo, in United States Dollars. Each photo is only available for sale once, fostering the exclusive nature of Trek it Out Photo Studio’s products. If none of the photos are sold, he will not be owed anything additional. Payment will be forwarded to the local photographer within 15 days of the sale of any individual photograph.

Trek it Out producers and editors will handle any necessary, minor editing of photos once they are brought back to the Trek it Out studio. This will not effect the payment to the local who captured the photograph.

The Breakdown

Costs for this effort should be minimal, with the bulk going to travel, but even that will be purchased in as frugal a manner as possible. The digital cameras selected will be high-quality, but on the lower end of the cost spectrum for a number of reasons. The cost of digital cameras has decreased tremendously in recent years making it much easier to get a quality camera at a much lower price. The camera should come with sufficient features to capture a good photograph, but should not intimidate the photographer. In the 2004 documentary Born Into Brothels, children in India were given very basic cameras to take photographs with and they were able to capture some amazing images. Location is the greatest factor in whether or not a great photograph will be captured, not the camera.

Once the first five excursions are completed, including the sale of photographs captured during those trips, Trek it Out Photo Studios should see a tremendous return on the initial $10,000 investment. It is highly possible and likely that more than 10 times the start-up costs will be generated at the end of the first five excursions. This is the breakdown of costs and projected revenue:

Five (5) Kodak EasyShare Z915 Black 10MP Digital Cameras
$179.99 each, Wal-Mart
Total Cost: $1,000 including tax

Five (5) Dane-Elec 4GB SDHC Memory Card, 2-Packs
$19.99 each, Wal-Mart
Total Cost: $110.00 including tax

Five (5) Ape Case PRO1800 Professional Digital SLR Backpack by Norazza
$78.84 each, Wal-Mart
Total Cost: $425 including tax

Five (5) AA Ultimate Photo Lithium Battery 24 Battery Bundle
$43.75, Amazon.com
Total Cost: $250 including tax

Estimated cost of five (5) flights to TBD locations
(These first five excursions will more than likely be in locations near South America and the Caribbean as the flights will be less expensive. Trek it Out will venture to more distant lands after revenue streams from these first excursions is realized.)
Total estimated cost: $3,500

Lodging for five (5) producers in each location for a maximum of three (3) nights
$125 per night
Total for five producers: $1,875

Food for five (5) producers and local photographers for a maximum of three days in each location
$75 per day
Total for five producers and local $1,125

Payment to local photographers in five (5) countries for a maximum of three (3) days.
$50 per day
Total for five local photographers $750

Website domain name, hosting and other peripherals necessary to sell photographs online
$100

Total Cost
$9,135

The Revenue

Once the initial costs have been realized, the next step is preparing the photos to be posted to the web for sale. Each image will only be sold once in keeping with the exclusive nature of Trek it Out Photographs. They will only be sold in either digital format, available for download directly from the site, or as a 30x40 sized print, with the option to come with or without a frame.
Photos will be marketed to individual homeowners, business owners (including popular magazines) and art galleries. Prices are as follows:

High-quality digital download, which comes with exclusive licensing rights
$500

High-quality 30x40 print, mailed to the location of choice (no frame)
$700

High-quality 30x40 print, mailed to the location of choice (with frame)
$1,000

It is estimated that at each location, at least 500 photos will be taken during the maximum three day excursion. Of these, a minimum of 100 should be viable for sale purposes. Heavy marketing to the right clientele should make selling the photographs very easy as there is an already established market for these images. The possible revenue, compared to the startup costs, is exponential.

If, even only 50 of the 100 viable for sale images captured at each location sell, that would mean $25,000 in sales. For all five locations, that number would jump to a total of $125,000. Close to 38 thousand ($37,500) would be directed to the local photographers, offering a remarkable opportunity for them to have a better life for themselves and their family for only a few days of relatively easy and exciting work. The Trek it Out producers would each be paid $1,000 per day during the excursions and they too would be paid either the same 30 percent as the local photographers per photo or stock options in Trek it Out Photo Studios if one of their individual photos is sold. It would be their choice to make. The local photographers will not have the choice of being paid in stock options.

All of these numbers are based upon the possibility that only 100 of the photos captured at each location are viable. There is no reason to believe that no more than 100 will be viable. This raises revenue expectations considerably.

The Conclusion

Trek it Out Photo Studios believes that this is an extremely worthwhile investment. Not only does this project generate massive revenue streams, it also does something good for the state of mankind globally. The first year will see steady growth of the project, but nothing like that which will happen in later years. Through word of mouth alone, the project will grow considerably.

Much of the equipment purchased initially will only have to be replaced every few years, and there is little overhead beyond that. This is one of the most pain-free investments of a lifetime.