But why are photos so expensive?

There is no denying that good photographers -- often having undergone years of training and with years of experience behind the lens -- are worth every penny that they and the photo library that carries their work charge. But for the average company looking for images to aestheticize their literature or newsletter, they do not necessarily need an outstanding photograph taken by a professional photographer. Often, a good quality, high-resolution photo is all they need.

This is the premise behind the Chamber's Digital Photo Library (www.chamber.org.hk/pl). Launched last month, the library aims to alleviate some of the hassles that members may encounter in producing advertisements, promotions or general newsletters by providing a wide variety of quality photos at a very reasonable price.

"In producing the Chamber's Bulletin every month, finding not only suitable photos for stories, but also photos that we can afford to pay for is a constant challenge," said The Bulletin's Managing Editor Malcolm Ainsworth, who came up with the idea for the photo library. "Thumbing through other publications, I noticed that many of them use the same old photos from the same old sources. So this seems to suggest that there is a lack of photos available for companies with small budgets."

Another observation is that many photo libraries carry only a limited selection of photos on Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Tourism Board has a great photo library and sells photos at a very reasonable rate, for example, but its images are, obviously, related to tourism.

The Chamber photo library currently has 10 photo categories exclusively on Hong Kong, and one category on overseas destinations.

"Admittedly, we do not have that many photos in our library at the moment because we've just started building up our stock, but we do have the type of images that you will struggle to find elsewhere," Mr Ainsworth said. "If you want a photo of workers in a factory, or people hiking around Hong Kong, or seemingly such mundane things as an up-to-date photo of the harbour, then we have what you are looking for."

Alfred Chan is the Chamber's Information Technology Manager. He can be reached at, alfred@chamber.org.hk