Like many great (and sometimes, not so great) ideas, the concept for BYLINED was born over a cup of coffee and some good conversation. I was chatting with Walker of ColumbusUnderground, a local online news outlet, and during our chat, Walker was explaining how he curated the photography for his stories and news coverage. For events around town (Columbus Marathon, Pelotonia, Comfest… ), he’d hire several freelance photographers to capture a variety of perspectives . Those photographers, he explained, would sometimes come with a considerable price tag.
We then started to chat about an upcoming event, Comfest, a local event that gets over 25,000 attends over a 3-day weekend.
I then asked Walker: If you need daytime, nighttime, people, food, entertainment photos, what about using the tens of thousands of people already at Comfest, already taking pictures? How do we get them to submit photos to you?
Lightbulb moment.
With the iPhone, everyone is a photographer, right? Thousands of people taking tens of thousands of photos at Comfest. It can’t be that hard to get Comfest attendees to submit their great photos to Columbus Underground.
Definitely easier said than done.
Finding the right people with the right photos were hard to track down, hard to manage conversations and negotiations, and even harder to own. A logistical licensing headache.
Until BYLINED.
BYLINED’s goal is to finally bridge that gap between the photography buyer (whether that buyer is a publisher, a venue, a brand or an agency) and the fan/customer taking great brand-oriented photos. No sunrise or sunset shots.
By being the middle man, we’re helping to elevate the customer engagement game for brands in a way that’s exciting and beneficial to all participants.
Everyone’s a photographer.
Dave H., Founder
