A good stock photo tells a story, evokes an emotion, conveys a message.  But can it predict the future?

I ran into one of my models last night when I arrived at Terry Sawchuk Arena to take photos of the River East Royals 11A1 hockey team.  I’ve known Coach Trevor for many years now, he coached my son through his first four years on the ice.  Lucas loooooved Coach Trevor, and he was an amazing positive coach.  He has three boys of his own who are insanely good hockey players – so they spend an awful lot of time in rinks around Winnipeg!   I even rented the ice for an hour one night and they put on all the gear for a quick on-ice shoot that I could add to my stock photography portfolio.

Last night at the team photo shoot, Trevor joked and asked if I was going to make him famous – again, I said “Just sign another release, I’ll do my best!”

I did know that one of my stock photos featuring famous Coach Trevor appeared in a Sobeys flyer this winter for the Kraft Hockey Goes On contest…. (Although, I had to dig through the recycling bin and then call a friend to do the same before I could get my hands on a copy of it).  But, what I didn’t know was that one of the hundreds of kids that Trevor has coached nominated him in this same contest as one of Canada’s best coaches!  Pretty awesome.

The story gets better…. from the info I could collect tonight online, Kraft received 1000 nominations and 3 million votes… And due to the essay from the Cornwall family – Coach Trevor was selected as one of the 20 winners!  And Kraft had no idea what he looked like and that he was the handsome hockey coach who appeared in their print ad/website.

So, what do you think?  Can a stock photo sway the future?

Screenprint of their website with original photo inserted below.  Notice how they changed the jerseys to colours of Kraft!