Mark Garfinkel Finds the Sky's the Limit for Expanding Business Using Digital Railroad

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Mark Garfinkel is an award-winning, thirteen year staff photojournalist for The Boston Herald. Armed with a Canon Eos 1D Mark 11N and, for the majority of aviation photos, a Canon 600 F4 with a 2x teleconverter, Mark also has fostered a growing aviation photography business over the last five years.

The biggest challenge Mark faced in expanding his aviation photography business was how to find a way to showcase, manage and distribute his photographs in a more professional fashion.

I recouped my initial investment with Digital Railroad within a week and a half by six fold.

Prior to joining Digital Railroad, Mark relied on gathering clients from a hobbyist web site called airliners.net. Although he got scattered hits from the site, Mark knew there was great potential if he could find a way to expand the reach of his images in the aviation photo buying arena.

"Mark joined Digital Railroad in January 2006, and then immediately organized his favorite aviation photos into one lightbox that he called Aviation. He then spent six hours compiling a list of potential aviation photo buyers and aviation PR industry contacts by using Internet search engines."

"I blasted emails to 130 people with the Aviation lightbox I created on Digital Railroad. Right off the bat, I got six hits and an immediate gig to shoot for a major corporation at Logan Airport. I also had three other people purchase rights to existing photographs."

Using the lightbox feature, just one of Digital Railroad's easy-to-use tools, has helped Mark outpace the competition, and he continues to see remarkable response in only seven months of using Digital Railroad. Mark notes that he has only used Digital Railroad's basic tools so far. "I can't imagine what I'll be able to do when I have more time to explore beyond what I've already learned."

"I'm just scratching the surface and yet, I’ve been able to boost my earnings by over 30%."

Digital Railroad enables Garfinkel to submit images to prospective clients with an expediency and polish that would not otherwise be available. “When clients get my email and click on the lightbox link, they’re astounded at the professional presentation."

"It’s such a collaborative effort with Digital Railroad. They really get what a photographer needs and offer an outstanding support system to their members."

Mark also says the user-friendly focus and the ease with which the system works is another important benefit. “Digital Railroad’s system has empowered and motivated me. Most importantly it’s given me a vehicle with which to sell my images.”The support of Digital Railroad’s team and its goal of empowering photographers continues to energize Mark to do more with his photography. And being a native Bostonian, Mark likens his experience to that of a fisherman.

"It’s like fishing. For garnering buyers, I used to fish off a pier and now Digital Railroad is like a boating service that brings me to where the fish are. The lightbox feature helps me lure and bring those big clients to bite on my line. My goal is always to hook more editors."