Canon’s New ‘Photographer Matching Service’ Helps Photogs Find Work

Canon was an on announcement spree at CES. In addition to officially releasing the 1D X Mark III and debuting an AI Lightroom assistant, the camera brand also launched something called Image Connect: a ‘photographer matching service’ that could help photographers find work.

Canon is calling Image Connect a “matching service,” but you can think of it as a full-featured job board that takes you from booking, through image delivery, and even handles payment. The whole hiring process happens through the platform, as Canon explains in this step-by-step breakdown:

  • Through the platform, customers can provide basic details for the job, such as event type, location, and date
  • Once photographers are matched with the customer through the platform, customers review photographer profiles and invite those they like to bid on the job
  • Photographers create an offer which allows them to set their own price (rather than adhering to standardized pricing) and allows them to communicate their rates and value to customers
  • Once an offer is accepted, the job is booked through the platform
  • Following the event, images are delivered electronically to the customers through a Canon customer portal

From “bidding” on a project, to communication ahead of time, to image delivery and payment, it seems you’ll be able to do it all through Image Connect.

The beta version of the service will be available “in a limited number of markets” across six US states—Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas—and will initially offer services for family events like newborn portraits and birthday parties, but Canon expects to expand both the locations and types of photography on offer as time goes on.

Importantly: you don’t need to shoot Canon gear to use Image Connect—the service is “brand agnostic.”

If you want to learn more about this service/marketplace or join the waitlist, you can dive into the details at this link. The official launch of Image Connect should happen sometime in Q1 2020, so we shouldn’t have to wait too long.

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