We are always looking for new talent.

Our general photo needs include: People, lifestyle, (our two most requested subjects) business, finance, industry, energy, medical, hi-tech, agriculture, sports and outdoor recreation.

We are always looking for new content that is unique, exiting and high in quality. However, as a mature agency, we were almost "max'd-out" on landscape, travel and nature photographs. These subjects are very popular with most photographers, so competition is fierce, and these areas fill up quickly in most agency libraries. In most cases, don't bother approaching us with these subjects. IF, however, you have a great "Running Cheetah" collection, we'd like to see some samples! You should gather from this comment that we are looking for unique collections and great symbolic concept photos -- in any subject. Our most requested subjects usually involve people -- people/lifestyle or people in business/industry situations. If you think your work qualifies, send us an e-mail with the subject title, "Photo Submission Sample", and point us to some specific examples (with the exact URL location for each image) on your Web site. If you don't have a web site with samples of your work, read on for other submission instructions.

TSS is a general stock photo agency that works mainly with advertising agencies and graphic designers. Our standard, one-time lease fees are rarely less than $200 (except for some AV and multi-media uses), and often average about $500. We take a standard 50% agency commission and pay our photographers quarterly. Photographers who regularly earn more than $500/month are paid monthly.

In most cases you should be a full-time, professional photographer, or a serious amateur capable of regular production --this business is somewhat of a numbers game. It takes a certain amount of volume to be successful. We must be able to select at least 300 images (color transparencies only, 35mm and larger) from your files before we can accept a you into the agency. This often means that you must have about 1200 good images to choose from, since we rarely accept more than about 25% to 50% of what is sent to us. We prefer to file original transparencies, but will accept duplicates in your first submission. We do accept submissions from photographers outside of the U.S.

Despite the need for large numbers to be successful, we have been known to accept some photographers who produce only a few dozen outstanding photographs a year. These are usually photographers who have a unique specialty that we want. One example was a photographer who created very conceptual and symbolic computer generated visuals (combined with actual photography). He only produced about two dozen images a year, but each was a knock-out image that sold very well.

If you are interested in our agency, we'd like to see a portfolio of about 100 duplicate slides (with a self-addressed, stamped return envelope), from what you consider your best work. If we like what we see, we'll send you a copy of our contract (one-year, auto-renewable) for your review. (You can actually review our contract online.) The photographer always retains copyright of his/her images.

You can also submit these images on a Kodak Photo CD. You can send the original CD, or have a duplicate CD made at most service bureaus for about $50. Please note that we do not accept Photo CD's for regular file submissions (we still prefer actual color transparencies) --this is just for portfolio reviews only. Another way to show a portfolio is on floppy disk. You acquire the Photo CD "Base/4" resolution images (192 x 288 pixels), compress them in JPEG, and put up to 50 images on a floppy disk.

Before you go to the trouble of making a mail-in submission for review, you may wish to query us with an ONLINE submission to see if your imagery is compatible with our needs and standards. You can e-mail us a small electronic "proof" sheet of some of your best work if you are using an e-mailer program like "Eudora". To do this, scan or acquire via Photo CD, about 6 to 8 images at a resolution of about 2" x 3" @ 72 ppi (or use the Photo CD thumbnail size of "Base/16", which is 128 pixels x 192 pixels). Group the thumbnails (with an image editing program like Photoshop) into one JPEG, compressed file. Please keep your final compressed file to under 100K. Compose an e-mail letter to us and "attach" the JPEG file. We'll quickly get back to you with an opinion.

We look forward to seeing your work.