tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553278593406733377.post1595693218094875113..comments2024-03-20T00:37:30.189-04:00Comments on Photo Business News & Forum: BusinessWeak - Amateur vs. Pros?John Harringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16941161605443479300noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553278593406733377.post-65397361391547288312009-02-04T18:34:00.000-05:002009-02-04T18:34:00.000-05:00But it is what it is. If the new price for stock p...But it is what it is. If the new price for stock photos is $1, then we had better all get used to that and find 10,000 term papers to make up for the lost annual reports.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553278593406733377.post-61921317554447487572008-09-04T13:53:00.000-04:002008-09-04T13:53:00.000-04:00I'm a photographer, but I also know how to use a p...I'm a photographer, but I also know how to use a pair of scissors. It's easy, you just squeeze the the little round handles together, while there's something between the blades and voila!<BR/><BR/>Anyone need a haircut? <BR/><BR/>I'll charge much less than one of those ripoff professional barbers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553278593406733377.post-81156898379682383302008-08-01T10:30:00.000-04:002008-08-01T10:30:00.000-04:00I totally support the idea of a bond being posted ...I totally support the idea of a bond being posted for professional wedding photographers. I hope that this idea will catch fire and spread throughout the country. This will "fix" some of what has gone wrong with that part of the business; and force these "weekend pros" to have some accountability when they make mistakes.<BR/><BR/>As far as the art directors using cheaper sources for photography and then billing their clients "pro" prices; this has been going on for some years now with no end in sight. I can only hope that a major ad campaign uses a microstock image and then after spending the monies for the media buy they find out that it's been used before.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553278593406733377.post-7388684235135176302008-07-30T00:33:00.000-04:002008-07-30T00:33:00.000-04:00A friend of mine, an hard working man, live only o...A friend of mine, an hard working man, live only of stock and editorial photo.<BR/>His archive give him around 70.000 $ during year 2007.<BR/>He opened last month an account on Photoshelter...<BR/>It could be interesting to take a look to his business<BR/>18.000 images on Alamy<BR/>2.500 images on Corbis<BR/>2.500 images on Getty<BR/>5.000 images on DRR (and he starts to upload here his best shots from 2008)<BR/><BR/>And other 10.000 images in a couple of microstock sites...<BR/>He also sells posters.<BR/><BR/>His archive is quite big 38.000 images tha cover more of less 100 countries in the world. He starts this kind of job 5 years ago and his analogic archive was impressive.<BR/>Let's do some math:<BR/>70/38 is less than 2$ a year for every picture... <BR/>So it is not so easy to survive...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553278593406733377.post-47610322535220283052008-07-29T11:15:00.000-04:002008-07-29T11:15:00.000-04:00I'm probably one of the newcomers who'd be right a...I'm probably one of the newcomers who'd be right along side everyone else ruining this profession. Photography is not my primary source of income and I’ve considered myself some level of “pro” for about a year now. But before you tune me out, John, I'd like to say thanks.<BR/><BR/>If not for the advice doled out here, I probably would be charging JC Penny prices for portrait work and happy pulling in a couple dozen dollars off of iStockPhoto, losing money while doing it, and not knowing it could be better. Instead, I'm doing less portrait work, for more money, and I signed up with PSC last fall. I’m with Mark – there are A LOT of whiners on the forums there. I don’t know how he can hang out there, but to his credit he hands out a lot of fee advice there from a legal standpoint.<BR/><BR/>I have about as many images as Hartwell live on the collection (but a lot more varied.) Unlike her, I’ve made a sale. Doing the math, that ONE sale would have had to be hundreds of THOUSANDS of sales on iStockPhoto.<BR/><BR/>If you're a newbie like me, it can sting a bit (sometime, a lot) to read what John puts out here. There isn't a lot of love for expanding the profession here, at least in terms of actual headcount. But if you read between the lines, there is plenty of tough love that will do you right to listen to. For that, I say thanks, John.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553278593406733377.post-31526859507984577122008-07-29T02:30:00.000-04:002008-07-29T02:30:00.000-04:00Full Disclosure: While I do not work for PhotoShel...Full Disclosure: While I do not work for PhotoShelter, I am a contributor, and I am a volunteer moderator on their user forums.<BR/><BR/>You hit it on the head, sir. The forums consist of approximately 10-25% whining about how I've had my images live for MONTHS, where's the money rolling in? (It depends on the day. It tends to cycle.) How many? Oh, gobs! At least two dozen! What of? A bunch of black and white unreleased pictures of nondescript kids getting drunk somewhere.*<BR/><BR/>I more or less just refer them to prior threads: "It takes a while for a stock library to establish itself. It takes a while for sales to start. When you have the image a buyer wants when the buyer wants it, you'll make a sale. Until then, you won't." *I* have made a sale, and I had about sixty images live at the time and they'd been up for about two months. I had what the buyer wanted when the buyer wanted it. It's MY job to get the images the buyers want on the site. It's just PhotoShelter's job to get the buyers to look at them. They can't do anything without images to work with.<BR/><BR/>M<BR/><BR/>*They <I>were</I> really good pictures, the ones I'm thinking of. I'd have allowed them. But they're pretty specific - when somebody wants to do a gritty article on teen drinking, they'll be just the ticket. Anything else, especially with no releases? Not so much. But the person was convinced they should be bringing in hundreds a week.MarcWPhotohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08065637738819949604noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553278593406733377.post-77678779336517165692008-07-29T01:41:00.000-04:002008-07-29T01:41:00.000-04:00"In fact, stories abound about photo buyers who ar..."In fact, stories abound about photo buyers who are buying those $1 images and charging the same to their end client as before - pocketing a difference that is rightfully due the photographer."<BR/><BR/>I believe this is Microstock's dirty little secret, and why designers love the $1 stock photos so much - it allows them to pad their own bottom line on the back of other people's work.<BR/><BR/>It's interesting how the same designers object when someone creates a startup (e.g. Pixish - although this one is not really a serious threat IMO), that threatens their own livelihood.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com