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Articles from August 2010
Recently on Linkedin Jacintha van Beveren observed that “The old
photography business model is gone,” observed and asked if the road to
survival and future success is through “creativity and flexibility or
stubborn protection.” Neither.
Phrases like “it’s not all doom and gloom” pop up often, but those who offer such encouraging analysis are typically in the top tier of the profession. While their experience is certainly real and laudable if not amazing, is it representative enough to be touted as a roadmap to a successful career? Common sense, economics, mathematics and every available source of statistical information says no.
Alamy is celebrating an upcoming milestone with a contest. The company has also joined a growing list of photo distributors to offer iPad apps.
In the fall of 2009, I estimated the size of the worldwide market
for still images and illustrations at about $1.45 billion. In the last
12 months, overall sales have probably remained about the same, with a
few companies seeing sales growth, mostly from taking market share from
those that have gone out of business.
Getty Images has launched a new brand, Archive Photos.
It is the child of Getty’s Hulton Archive, which the company says is
the largest commercial archive on the market, containing more than 80
million images that date back to 1860.
When I published “Top Pros Stop Shooting” in my other newsletter Selling-Stock received an unusual number of comments from industry leaders. Most of those who commented had some disagreement with
the positions I took in the article. Since PhotoLicensingOptions readers will have missed
seeing these comments, I have printed them here along with an editorial response.
“
Top Pros Stop Shooting”
received an unusual number of comments, most of which disagreed with
the opinion presented in the article. Since some of you may have missed
these, here they are—along with an editorial response.
Today, a lot of businesses get marketing and branding mixed up. They
are confused as to what the differences are, what they both mean or they
try promoting their business with one and without the other. Simply
put, marketing is how you reach your target market with advertising,
promotions and public relations. Marketing is showing the world with
what you do. Branding is who you are or what the world thinks you are.
Every time a prospect or a potential customer makes contact with you in
person, print, virally or by other means, they are formulating an
opinion of you as a brand.
The dwindling magazine publishing industry may be in for a new digital
future. A study by Next Issue Media forecasts that digital—mainly iPad
and other tablet-based—versions of periodicals will bring in $3 billion
in subscription revenue by 2014.
Getty Images has announced the publication of
Coming Back: New Orleans Resurgent by Umbrage. The company described the book as “a moving body of work” by Getty photographer Mario Tama, introduced by CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
If you have decided you want to enter the microstock world, you can’t get better advice than is contained in Ellen Boughn’s newly release
Microstock Money Shots. Boughn doesn’t promise that it’s easy or that you’ll get rich quick, but she will save you a lot of the frustration that comes from learning the hard way by trial and error.
Fine art photographs are an expression of the artist’s creative vision, perceptions and emotions more than a realistic rendering of a subject. Peers may admire such work and judges may occasionally award a dollar prize, but in most cases such images are not deemed to have commercial value. Actually profiting from the creative effort is rare for most photographers who produce such images. They produce them because they feel compelled to do so, not for the money. However, John Math is proving that it is possible to profit from selling fine art images if you take a business approach and develop a marketing strategy.
On Linkedin’s Photography Industry Professionals
discussion group, Brooke Fagel recently asked: “What’s it like to be a
freelance photographer?” These select responses provide a comprehensive
picture of what a photographer faces.
Cathy Sachs, longtime director of the American Society of Picture Professionals, is retiring at the end of this year. Publishing and photo industry executive Jain Lemos will assume the position of ASPP executive director as of October, finishing the year alongside Sachs.
On Linkedin’s Photography Industry Professionals
discussion group, Brooke Fagel recently asked: “What’s it like to be a
freelance photographer?” These select responses provide a comprehensive
picture of what a photographer faces.
Two-year-old Pixmac is banking on its “rapid checkout and download”
without the necessity for customers to engage in a complex registration
process to help the company expand its customer base in North America.
The stock image industry has recognized that image search does not just
happen at the agency Web site. A number of image sellers have invested
in technologies that take collections to the buyer using Internet
browser software.
Users of leading blogging platform WordPress can now use GueWolke’s
microstock photo plugin to search, purchase and insert iStockphoto images into their posts or Web pages from inside the WordPress interface.
Many rights-managed and traditional royalty-free production companies
are having trouble finding photographers willing to shoot for them. Many
of the photographers who were rights-managed and traditional
royalty-free stars five to ten years ago have given up shooting stock,
or at the very least dramatically cut the number of images they produce
and the amount they are willing to spend production.
Hamburg-based
Plainpicture
has announced new additions to its London sales and Hamburg creative
departments. It is difficult to say why some independent shops continue
to grow where others shutter, but the German boutique has been spreading
its wings over Europe and appears to be weathering the economic storm.
There is a reason why it is called “social” media and there are rules
that you should follow when it comes to employing “social media” to
market and brand yourself and your art. Every day I see small businesses
that are ruining their brand by abusing social media. Artists are no
different, as they are a “small business” too! Here are some quick rules
of social media that you should follow.
Unveiled on Monday, the redesign of the iStockphoto Web site
reflects more than a year of usability research and design. In addition
to a new look, the company has revamped the back-end technology with an
eye to launching other enhancements, including a new search interface,
before the end of the year.
One of the things rights-managed and traditional royalty-free
photographers tend to overlook is the average price per image licensed.
Photographers worry when their images are licensed for low prices. They
track their average royalty per image in file and the trends of their
monthly royalty check, but is a lower royalty check the result of fewer
images being licensed, a lower average price per license or both?
With more and more art galleries and art organizations using the internet and email as a way to receive and administer their art show entries, an artist needs to follow the rules more closely than ever. I see at least 30% of the artists every month who ignore the rules and prospectus requirements for a particular art competition. The artists will send in their entries in the wrong manner, incompletely or in the wrong form. Failure to follow the rules of an art call is the number one reason why artists fail to get into their share of art exhibitions and art shows.
One of the things RM and traditional RF photographers tend to overlook
is average price-per-image-licensed. Photographers worry when their
images are licensed for low prices. They track their average
royalty-per-image-in-file and the trends of their monthly royalty check.
But is a lower royalty check the result of fewer images being licensed,
a lower average price-per-license or both?.
When you are a freelance self-employed photographer, getting to the
level of earning enough to support yourself and your family is
difficult. But you know you can do it, because you are willing to work
hard and you produce great, unique images that are better than anything
offered by the competition. Here are a few basic principles of the
photography business to remember.
This chart is designed to give the reader an understanding of the number of times images belonging to some of the top microstock photographers at iStockphoto are licensed in a given year and what that can mean in terms of gross revenue.
The Stock Artists Alliance has announced its affiliation with the
National digital Stewardship Alliance, a newly formed organization
dedicated to preserving digital collections for the benefit of citizens.
When you are a freelance self-employed photographer, getting to the
level of earning enough to support yourself and your family is
difficult. But you know you can do it, because you are willing to work
hard and you produce great, unique images that are better than anything
offered by the competition. Here are a few basic principles of the
photography business to remember.
Footage.net has announced surpassing 1 million stock video clips in its online
inventory. The most recent additions have been the libraries of
CriticalPast and DVarchive, which have also increased the size of
Footage.net’s royalty-free offering.
When I was recently
interviewed by Photonetcast, it became clear that my position on the best strategy for licensing
rights to images is misunderstood, so it is time for another
explanation. Granted, my position is radical, so bear with me.
In the last few years there has been dramatic growth in the use of
images on the Internet, a market for images that virtually did not exist 10
years ago. Some believe that the potential for growth of the Internet is
infinite, and that there will always be an ever-increasing demand for imagery.
Has the time come to take photojournalism off life-support? For the last thirty-odd years, Neil Burgess, director of NBPictures headquartered in London, has been listening to people talk about, or predict the death of photojournalism. This article, first published on EP/UK, outlines the sorry state of photojournalism today and comes to the conclusion that there is only one thing to do.
PhotoDeck is a new service that
launched out of Paris to provide photographers with e-commerce
photography Web sites. According to the company, the offering targets a
growing group of photographers who are cultivating direct client
relationships.
In the last few years there has been dramatic growth in the use of
images on the Internet, a market for images that virtually did not exist 10
years ago. Some believe that the potential for growth of the Internet is
infinite, and that there will always be an ever-increasing demand for imagery.
Photographers should be aware of the number of images already in online
databases and recognize that any images they produce will be competing
against those that already exist.