Photo ready

This great blue heron is one of many beautiful Outdoor Indiana photos that can be purchased by calling 317-233-2347.

Take DNR photographers Rich Fields and John Maxwell home with you. Frame them and hang them on your wall.

Not them, personally; their photographs.

DNR's Outdoor Indiana has built a huge archive of natural history photography and we want to share it with you.

Many of the photos that have appeared in the magazine, other DNR publications and publications of other state agencies are now available for sale.

I'll provide as many details as possible here, but I ask your patience. This is a start-up enterprise, we're not entirely sure what we're doing, so we're making most of this up as we go.

We'll start real slow and, if there is demand for the product, we'll grow our little photo business into a proper operation.

So, how are we doing this?

Instead of paying a printing company to do the digital computer voodoo necessary to reproduce color photographs in the magazine, we have decided to start doing that ourselves. A small investment in equipment for the magazine color work can be used for other purposes --- like selling photos at a reasonable cost.

What photos can I buy?

If the DNR holds the copyright on a photo and it is in our archive and, more importantly, we can find it, a photographic print of that image is for sale. To start, most of the photos that have appeared in Outdoor Indiana since Jan. 1, 1999 fit that bill.

How do I order a photo?

The easiest way is to call 317-233-2347 and say: "I want to buy an Outdoor Indiana photo." You'll need to provide this information: date of the magazine (for now, it should be Jan. 1, 1999 or newer), number of the page the photo printed on and a brief description of the photo.

You can order by credit card and we'll rush your photo to you.

Once our little photo business is up and running, we'll post some of our favorite photos on the DNR's new Mother Nature's Mercantile Web Store. You'll be able to order straight from an easy to use menu.

By the way, you simply have to see some of the great products available on this new e-store. The holidays aren't far away and you can find wonderful gifts at www.IN.gov/dnr.

OK. I love your photos, but what's it gonna cost me?

Our photos come in four sizes and prices: 5 by 7 = $15; 8 by 10 = $20; 11 by 14 = $30; and 12 by 18 = $40. Add $7 for shipping, no matter how large the order. Add another $10 if you would like a white, museum quality mat with the photo.

How can you afford to sell these photos at such low prices?

We looked at what other publications are charging, but we based our prices most on what a commercial photo lab would charge you if you purchased a custom photo from a slide or negative that you provided.

Call us silly, but we just love to make people happy. Time will tell if we make any money.

Just one note. These are pictures for your desk or wall, not to put in another publication. We sell one-time publication rights to other magazines and book publishers for a whole lot more money.

Stephen Sellers, editor