REBATE RULES: In order to be eligible for the PFRE-IAAP rebate, the new member must send an email to dues@iaap.us and ask for it with promo code: PFRE in the subject line (*WITHIN 48 HOURS OF JOINING). Upon receipt of the email we will log into our PayPal or 2CO account and rebate $37.50. Please allow 24-48 hours for rebates, as we are all working photographers and my not be able to issue the rebate on the spot.

The IAAP would be happy to have a new speciality group to add to our growing community of Architectural Photographers.

Real Estate Photographers & Architectural Photographers share more in common than not. I am often asked by my commercial clients to images custom homes, and to shoot a commercial space more in the style of a “Real Estate Photographer”, that is to say, less production, faster shoots, often without any production at all. Get in, get out, deliver the image, much like the Real Estate game.

Depending on the level of interest we at the IAAP could offer a reduced yearly membership for the first year, and also set up a speciality member forum on our community. I have emailed you the details, however I’ll post them here as well.

The “Real Estate Photographers” sign up on the site: http://iaap.co.uk/join.html

Choose the $87.50 Yearly Subscription: Upon sign-up I will rebate $37.50 back to the Photographer, then it will be $50.00 for the first year, and then go to $87.50 for each additional year should the member choose to do so.

REBATE RULES: In order to be eligible for the rebate, the new member must send an email to dues@iaap.us and ask for it with promo code: PFRE in the subject line. Upon receipt of the email we will log into our PayPal or 2CO account and rebate $37.50. Please allow 24-48 hours for rebates, as we are all working photographers and my not be able to issue the rebate on the spot.

After joining and uploading images the new member can click over to our forums and register there. The forum is free to all IAAP members, however it uses a different log-in than the listing for security reasons. Once the new member signs up at the forum, we will turn on full access. Access is turned on manually after the members listing and forum registration is reviewed, usually no more than a few hours at max, sometimes in just a few minutes.

IMAGES FOR LISTING:

Q: How do I prep my images for my listing?
A: Keyword your images: Photoshop ?File Info?. At least fill out description field, include your name.
Watermark your images:

A small watermark is recommended on all your images. Use the font ?Verdana? if you have it. Place the watermark/copyright notice in lower right hand corner of your image. Example: ? © 2009 Your Name Here All rights reserved? or © 2009 Your Name Here.

Sample http://www.iaap.co.uk/sample_iaap_image.jpg

Image Specs:
10 jpeg files > RGB > Baseline
Dimensions: up to 600px on the longest side.
Use naming convention: lastname_00.jpg to lastname_09.jpg
Saved in ?baseline? quality setting 12.
Save For Web Function in Photoshop try to get files small, but looking good.

Total File sizes not to exceed 5mg (for all ten) Use PhotoShop ?”Save For Web?” Make the file size as small as possible, but do retain as much quality as possible. It is Possible to get a 600px image down to 66kb to 120kb and still have it look great.

This image is just under 112kb: http://www.iaap.co.uk/sample_iaap_image.jpg in my opinion it is just fine for the site. And will speed in the load time of your portfolio and showcase image. In the end use your best judgment on image quality.

Q: My Images don’t stay in order?
A: The images loaded into your user control panel rotate, as to present a fresh look each time a visitor sees your search results page, and listing page. It does not make a difference what order you upload your images.

Well, that about covers it, any questions please feel free to drop me a line. admin@iaap.us.

Best Regards
Thomas Bliss, IAAP
http://www.iaap.us
http://www.iaap.co.uk
http://www.architecturalphotographers.org

I’m trying to contact Thomas Bliss, founder of the IAAP (http://iaap.co.uk/). I know some readers of this blog are members of IAAP. This may be an appropriate organization for those that want to join a professional organization. At this point in time, I’m not inclined to start a new organization when one that already appears to serve the same purpose.

I’m thinking about expanding the blog tutorial section into an online basic real estate photography training resource. This may contain fill the requests for a certification. I’ll have to get more into the creation of the training to see.

Michael

I think this is a great idea worth pursuing. Whether it has the word professional in it is neither here nor there for me. It would be a great resource for those who are and those who want to make a career of real estate photography.

In Australia there is and institute called REIA – http://www.reia.com.au/institute/index.asp – that caters for the real estate industry and agents can join by subscription. They are made up of members from each state with their own name -ie; here in Victoria it is the REIV – not all agents join.

As a member of this association they provide a search option on the site to find an REIA agent anywhere in Australia – this would be a great tool – like the directory you run. I feel what you are proposing would be similar to the one above in what it could become – not necessarily at government level but within the real estate industry.

If there was such an association worldwide with maybe individual country associations, after sometime [once settled and operating] they could approach the above sorts of associations and likely to be more accepted in the general business of real estate. This could have a large impact on changing attitudes of agents and others towards real estate photography.

It could legitimise our profession in the eyes of those that matter. I would be keen to get involved at either level – international or Australian [Oceanic??]

Regards
Andrew

Here is a brief blurb on what they are;
About REIA
In Australia, the property market is a major source of wealth creation for investors, contributing significantly to the socio-economic well being of all Australians. For example, in the financial year 2006/2007 property sales totalled $204.3 billion; 64% of Australians owned their own houses and 27% rented on the private market. Property affects everybody in Australia.

The Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) is the national professional association for the real estate industry in Australia. Since 1924, REIA has worked to represent real estate industry interests. REIA is a politically non-aligned organisation that provides researched and well-informed advice to the Federal Government, Opposition, media, and the public on a range of issues affecting the property market. REIA has an excellent reputation as the most credible source of knowledge and considered opinion regarding the commercial and residential property markets in Australia.

REIA has eight members, comprised of the State and Territory Real Estate Institutes, through which about 80 per cent of real estate firms and licensed agents are collectively represented.

REIA has entered into strategic alliances with the National Real Estate Franchise Association of Australia (NREFA), First National Real Estate and Australian Commercial Property Agents Association (ACPAA) , strengthening its research and policy focus in residential and commercial real estate.

REIA also represents Australian real estate internationally as a founding member of the International Consortium of Real Estate Associations (ICREA), a principal member of the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI) and as a co-operating association with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) in the USA.

From November 2008, President of the REIA is Noel Dyett (VIC) with David Airey (WA) as Deputy President

“real estate photography”
“photography for real estate”
“photography real estate”
“real estate photographer”
“real estate photography tips”
“real estate photography jobs”
“real estate photography business”

The PFRE blog comes up #1 for most all of these I’ve checked in all the major search engines. “real estate photography directory” has actually never show up… meaning that’s not a search term people use.

Another way of quantifying the subject is as follows: The PFRE blog on the average gets 12,000 unique visitors per month and over half of that is due to referrals from Google for a search term above or similar to the above. A much smaller percentage (around 14%) of the referrals from Google go directly to the REP directory page instead of to the blog from page. This is why I added the large blue ad link on the front page for the directory.