Founded by Mike Watson of Digital Vision fame, moodboard says it welcomes the surge in applications to contribute to its microstock collection. The London-based company offers an interesting example of an agency whose traditional roots and products have not adversely affected its relationship with a large pool of micro newcomers.
The microstock side of the business has seen a rise in contributor applications and a considerable increase in content over the last few months. According to moodboard, this popularity is the result of a largely traditional principle of “providing a positive creative arena for contributor development and progression”—or, simply put, offering regular assistance and feedback to its contributors, including those at the microstock and budget-collection levels. In contrast to microstock industry’s often lamented climate of unpredictable and anonymous rejections, moodboard art directors always offer reasons and suggest methods for improvement.
Netherlands photographer Jan Scherders, who is relatively unique for having a microstock specialty of beauty images, excitedly points out that moodboard is “not an Alamy where everybody can submit their images. Moodboard wants a contract with selected photographers, and once you have a contract you get an art director appointed to you… [who] works with you on new projects and… really understands the stock business and who does some real hands-on coaching.”
Another feature popular with microstock photographers is upward mobility. Ever since its 2007 launch, moodboard has been a macro-micro hybrid, offering both traditionally priced and microstock royalty-free content. While other agencies tend to separate their premium and budget brands and suppliers, moodboard takes the opposite approach, offering exceptional contributors from the microstock side of the industry an opportunity to have premium content sold at premium prices.