BEYOND THE STOCK PHOTO: Tracking Down and Getting Permission for a Photo of a Rare Animal

By Abi Cushman

My book, WOMBATS ARE PRETTY WEIRD: A  [Not So] Serious Guide, is a funny, illustrated guide to the wonderfully weird marsupial known as the wombat. But although most of the book is illustrated, I wanted to show photos of actual wombats in the back matter so kids could see the real thing.

“No problem!” I thought confidently. I’d worked as a web designer for over fifteen years, so I was used to searching for images in the public domain or purchasing stock photos for use on my websites.

I just needed one photo of each of the three wombat species. Easy peasy, right?

Stock Photo Websites

Right off the bat, I found many fantastic stock photos of the bare-nosed wombat and the southern hairy-nosed wombat on iStockPhoto.com. And they were affordable as well.

 

Bare-nosed wombat                               Southern hairy-nosed wombat

Then I did a search for photos of the northern hairy-nosed wombat, and this is where it got tricky. Northern hairy-nosed wombats are critically endangered with only 300 alive today. This species of wombat does not do well in captivity, so there are no northern hairy-nosed wombats at any zoos. They only live in two protected areas in Queensland, Australia. Only government officials and a handful of volunteers are allowed into those areas.

Here is a video of the elusive northern hairy-nosed wombat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CszzMHDlZkU&t=37s

Northern hairy-nosed wombats look similar to southern hairy-nosed wombats, but there are slight differences, such as the shape and breadth of their snouts, their coloring, their size, and the length of their ears. After studying lots of images and videos of both hairy-nosed species, I started becoming adept at picking out the differences. So when I searched iStockPhoto for northern hairy-nosed wombats, I could see the results actually showed southern hairy-nosed wombats.

My next step was to try more expensive stock photo sites like Getty Images or Alamy. And lo and behold, success! Sort of. Both of these sites did have photos of the northern hairy-nosed wombat, but two of the images showed the wombat in a cage, and there was no way to crop it creatively so you couldn’t see the metal bars around it. Out of context, these images really didn’t fit in with the photos I had of the other wombat species, which showed them in a more natural setting, definitely not caged.

There was one photo where the wombat was not in a cage, but the image was kind of dark. I decided to save it as a last resort and keep searching for a better photo.

Public Domain Photos

My next step was to look for images in the public domain. Sometimes photos that government officials take are released into the public domain.

I looked on the northern hairy-nosed wombat page on Wikipedia, which often displays public domain images, and I found this:

By Eva Hejda http://fotos.naturspot.de/, CC BY-SA 2.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=262609

That looked like a southern hairy-nosed wombat to me, despite it being labeled otherwise. And there was no further information, like where the photo was taken, so I did not want to use it.

Next, I looked at the Queensland Government’s website, and to my delight, they had lots of very adorable photos of northern hairy-nosed wombats.Yay! Now to get permission!

I used their contact form and attempted to select the correct department. I mentioned that I’d written a book about wombats being published by HarperCollins (yes, I name dropped) and asked if I could use one photo for the back matter of the book. And then I sat back and waited for their response.

And waited. And waited.

After a few weeks of waiting, I decided to try a different tack.

Contact Photographers

I emailed a few photographers of northern hairy-nosed wombat images that I found on Google image search. In my emails, I name dropped my publisher again, and mentioned I’d be willing to pay them a fee for use of one of their photos.

And then I waited. And waited.

Get on the Phone

Well, I got tired of waiting, so I decided to call the Queensland Government. After being passed from department to department, and becoming increasingly aware of my American accent as I repeated my query each time to a new person, I was told that someone would get in touch with me via email.

And then, I got an email! But it wasn’t from the Queensland Government, it was from one of the photographers I had emailed, and he was willing to work with me! He had been a volunteer at Epping Forest National Park and had captured many beautiful photos of northern hairy-nosed wombats. After negotiating a fee, I was able to choose one from his collection. Success!

And then, wouldn’t you know, an official from the Queensland Government got back to me a few days later with an image. They asked that I credit the Queensland Government Department of Environment and Science, as well as the photographer. And guess who the photographer was? Yes, the same one I’d been in contact with.

So did I get double permission to use the photo? Yes. Could I have perhaps not had to pay the photographer a fee if I had been more patient? Yes. But did I mind? No, because I think the photographer deserved to be compensated for his work, and in our correspondence, he shared some great stories about the wombats living at the park.

And as a result of my extra effort in tracking down and getting permission to use the photo, I’m thrilled with the back matter of WOMBATS ARE PRETTY WEIRD. All the photos look great, and I have peace of mind knowing that they accurately depict each species.

 

About the Author: 

Abi Cushman is the author-illustrator of SOAKED!, ANIMALS GO VROOM! and WOMBATS ARE PRETTY WEIRD. Her upcoming books include THE QUIET FOREST, written by Charlotte Offsay, and FLAMINGOS ARE PRETTY FUNKY, the second book in the “[Not So] Serious Guide” series. When she’s not making books, Abi enjoys running, playing tennis, and eating nachos. (Yes, at the same time.) She lives on the Connecticut shoreline with her family.

To learn more about Abi and her books, visit her website at AbiCushman.com. If you like secrets, exclusive sneak peeks, wombats, and special giveaways, subscribe to her newsletter.