As I was writing my post about the exploitation of the masses by a few, I realized I was missing one very important point regarding microstock: it is a pass time of rich people. For one, you need reasonably good quality camera equipment that still runs in the thousand of dollars. A lot seem to … Read More →
One of the best kept secret of this industry is how agencies work in foreign markets. In the prints days, an agency would work with a sub agent in a specific country. Photographers would send process or unprocessed film and the agency would take it from there, paying for processing, editing, captioning and duping. The … Read More →
Photography used to be about creating that one image that would sell over and over again. Film, processing, archiving, duping was expensive enough that editors would harshly cut through a shoot to find the quintessential image. As we all know, with the advent of digital, both photographers and agencies have reduced their editing efforts in … Read More →
Those who continue to believe that volume compensates for intelligence are heading for a painful awakening. I understand that social interaction and User Generated anything is very trendy these days, especially on the West coast of America where any new idea is a Great!! idea. But this belief that there is truth in volume is … Read More →
A lot has been said about those who contribute their images to microstock sites or the free photo sharing sites. A lot of bad things, mostly, said by professional photographers. But an article in the NYT of today just juggled a thought I had years back as this trend was rising. Is it really a … Read More →
Mediavat. Let’s think about it for a while. WHAT HAPPENED?. No VC would invest in a company whose business plan is to sell within a year. Especially 15 Million dollars. For one year? That is what happened to Mediavast. Furthermore, no company would open an office in Amsterdam one month before selling. Would they ? … Read More →
I have read many blogs and news snippets about Getty Images buying Jupiter Images for an obscene amount of US issued dollars. After what I have read and heard about royalty free microstock and looking at that space, if I was Alan Meckler, I would also quickly get out of that market before it collapses. … Read More →
There are too many images available in the editorial market these days. The pressure has been such that the prices of images are going down, following one the basic rules of economy: When supply exceeds demand, the prices drop. And like 1929, it could lead to dramatic results for the stock photo industry business. A … Read More →
There are no absolutes in this business. Fresh young and not so young MBA’s, whether from l’ENA in France or Harvard in the USA have come and gone, and have left nothing behind them besides their rulers and equations, hopelessly ineffective. There has been so many failed attempts to predict the future of photography … Read More →
I have noticed something interesting. There is a fundamental difference between editorial photographers and commercial stock photographers. Commercial stock photographers are exactly that: commercial. They are the ones that spend the most time blogging and ranting. They have endless discussions on the economics of picture taking, from the cost of an image to the licensing … Read More →