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Stock Photography Workshop in London


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Alamy Contributor Martin Norris has let us know about some workshops he is putting on in London.  The title is 'How to make money from stock photography' more information can be found here - 


 

Please note Alamy don't benefit financially in any way from promoting this.

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'How to make money from stock photography'

 

Start an online stock collection, and find a load of optimistic photographers who'll create millions of pix for dwindling fees?

Or start Stock Photography Workshops....

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I am the photographer running this workshop at my studio in London on the 20th and every month - which Alamy have kindly mentioned. I have been with Alamy for 10 years and my 1800 picture sales have made $180,000. While the average price of a photo sale has gone down over the years across the whole industry I am still doing well and making money from stock photography. To prove that, what i do at the workshop is open my Alamy account completely. You can see exactly what i have sold, for how much and to whom in the areas of travel, lifestyle, studio conceptual. If you feel you would like to learn from that then do contact me martinnorris@btinternet.com

http://www.meetup.com/martin-norris-photography-workshops/events/124051722/

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I always think that when successful people start charging to reveal the secrets to their success it means that the bottom has fallen out of the market. 

 

I totally agree with you. I noticed this with the amount of photographers online providing videos and tutorials about the secrets to photography. I like learning on my own, making my mistakes, rubbishing a whole set of pics and walking around deciding what angle is best only to find I trod in dog poo. 

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With due respect to Martin Norris I think I have to agree with the statements made by John and Paul.

 

Allan

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Oh gentlemen, what pessimism ;-)

 

From your comments on this and other threads it appears that Alamy/Stock photography is not working for you - a combination of lack of sales and low fees. Thats a shame. Contributing to photo libraries works for me and gives me a good supplementary income to my work as a professional photographer of 25 years.  

I have looked at all of your alamy portfolios and websites and while you are all obviously competent at taking good pictures you are not necessarily taking the sort of pictures that have the best chance of selling. I think that is a crucial difference that many aspiring stock photographers do not understand. A 'good' photograph and a 'saleable' photograph are often not the same thing

 

Here's an example of what i mean.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/8366770/My-boyfriend-is-addicted-to-cannabis.html

Its not a particularly 'good' picture - its not that interesting to look at on its own. But to illustrate an article its a good stock photograph because it is simple and flicking through a magazine it gets a visual message across immediately. Perhaps most importantly; its clean and neutral; lighting, people, clothes, background would not upset a facing layout and it can fit into many different magazine styles. Consequently this picture had several sales to illustrate diverse things like financial problems and relationship issues. You can produce a stunning, striking, bold and strong picture but if it cannot fit into a magazine 'style' it won't be used by them. 

 

Here's another example

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jul/13/michael-gove-school-buildings

I conceived and crucially, keyworded it for a variety conceptual uses; water, drip, house, money, leak, repair etc and it has had several sales predictably illustrating insurance, house repairs, money problems and also bizarrely 'blood in the water at the 1956 olympics'. 

ATE4B1

Once again it has sold well because it is a clean image that immediately gets its point across. But also importantly there is a lot of space so that it can be cropped in various ways or type can be run across the background. It could even be used as a cover shot; its vertical with plenty of space at the top for a name and headlines and also at the bottom for other type. Its important to sometimes compose pictures so that they are suitable for front cover, full page, double page with suitable clean space for text. You'd be surprised how these pictures are often used in the way that they have been composed.

 

Here's another one that was composed to be suitable for a cover and it has sold twice for that use.

A0WMWJ

 

So - my workshop contains a lot of this and other information from all kinds of stock photography. It shows and tells you what has sold, what hasn't and why and is full of my extensive professional experience.

The most important thing is that if you are serious about wanting to make money from stock then one has to conceive and plan shoots with an end use in mind. Shooting mainstream stock is not a vanity project - its about earning money from selling photographs. If you are not prepared to approach it as a business then you are probably going to be disappointed with your return.

 

So if anyone would like to attend my stock photography workshop or any of the others that I run at my studio; food, drink, nude etc then do have a look. I will next be running the stock workshop in late August so do contact me for dates or join the Meetup group for automatic updates.

 

http://www.meetup.com/martin-norris-photography-workshops or email me martinnorris@btinternet.com

 

Most importantly check the feedback from the people who have attended - its rather more complimentary than some of the comments above. You can also see, rather tellingly that 5 of the 6 photographers who came to my last stock workshop have signed up for the model released lifestyle shoot on July 27th

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Well Martin thank for taking the time to reply with some cool info. My statement was probably more to do with photogs on Youtube who sell out. 

 

Your take on Stock Photography seems pretty sound and why not, you've made quite a bundle :) 

 

I'm a relative Minnow and would have loved to attend the workshop but its a bit far for me being in Glasgow. 

 

Cheers for the input. 

 

Paul 

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I always find that I learn something of use at that kind of event. Put it this way, if it was being held in Salisbury, I'd probably go along. Martin has clearly been successful in this field and my view is that he probably has knowledge that might just help me along a bit.

 

Good luck with it Martin, hope it goes well.

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Oh gentlemen, what pessimism ;-)

 

From your comments on this and other threads it appears that Alamy/Stock photography is not working for you - a combination of lack of sales and low fees. Thats a shame. Contributing to photo libraries works for me and gives me a good supplementary income to my work as a professional photographer of 25 years.  

I have looked at all of your alamy portfolios and websites and while you are all obviously competent at taking good pictures you are not necessarily taking the sort of pictures that have the best chance of selling. I think that is a crucial difference that many aspiring stock photographers do not understand. A 'good' photograph and a 'saleable' photograph are often not the same thing

 

Here's an example of what i mean.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/8366770/My-boyfriend-is-addicted-to-cannabis.html

Its not a particularly 'good' picture - its not that interesting to look at on its own. But to illustrate an article its a good stock photograph because it is simple and flicking through a magazine it gets a visual message across immediately. Perhaps most importantly; its clean and neutral; lighting, people, clothes, background would not upset a facing layout and it can fit into many different magazine styles. Consequently this picture had several sales to illustrate diverse things like financial problems and relationship issues. You can produce a stunning, striking, bold and strong picture but if it cannot fit into a magazine 'style' it won't be used by them. 

 

Here's another example

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jul/13/michael-gove-school-buildings

I conceived and crucially, keyworded it for a variety conceptual uses; water, drip, house, money, leak, repair etc and it has had several sales predictably illustrating insurance, house repairs, money problems and also bizarrely 'blood in the water at the 1956 olympics'. 

ATE4B1

Once again it has sold well because it is a clean image that immediately gets its point across. But also importantly there is a lot of space so that it can be cropped in various ways or type can be run across the background. It could even be used as a cover shot; its vertical with plenty of space at the top for a name and headlines and also at the bottom for other type. Its important to sometimes compose pictures so that they are suitable for front cover, full page, double page with suitable clean space for text. You'd be surprised how these pictures are often used in the way that they have been composed.

 

Here's another one that was composed to be suitable for a cover and it has sold twice for that use.

A0WMWJ

 

So - my workshop contains a lot of this and other information from all kinds of stock photography. It shows and tells you what has sold, what hasn't and why and is full of my extensive professional experience.

The most important thing is that if you are serious about wanting to make money from stock then one has to conceive and plan shoots with an end use in mind. Shooting mainstream stock is not a vanity project - its about earning money from selling photographs. If you are not prepared to approach it as a business then you are probably going to be disappointed with your return.

 

So if anyone would like to attend my stock photography workshop or any of the others that I run at my studio; food, drink, nude etc then do have a look. I will next be running the stock workshop in late August so do contact me for dates or join the Meetup group for automatic updates.

 

http://www.meetup.com/martin-norris-photography-workshops or email me martinnorris@btinternet.com

 

Most importantly check the feedback from the people who have attended - its rather more complimentary than some of the comments above. You can also see, rather tellingly that 5 of the 6 photographers who came to my last stock workshop have signed up for the model released lifestyle shoot on July 27th

 

Thank you for your explanation as above. This does put a much clearer perspective on what you are trying to achieve for the lesser performers (me included) in this industry, and for those who wish to do better in it.

 

Allan

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Oh gentlemen, what pessimism ;-)

 

From your comments on this and other threads it appears that Alamy/Stock photography is not working for you - a combination of lack of sales and low fees. Thats a shame. Contributing to photo libraries works for me and gives me a good supplementary income to my work as a professional photographer of 25 years.  

I'm not sure I have ever complained about lack of sales. I am quite pessimistic.  A few month's back I did complain about lack of zooms but that was mainly because I was convinced there was something wrong with the reporting.

 

In the time I have been with Alamy there has been quite a drop in fees. My first newspaper sale in 2007 went for $250. My most recent newspaper sale was for ...  well you know what current fees are for newspapers. ... and licenses for online uses are tiny.

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I would just like to say I attended this workshop last week. Martin is very, very knowledgable about the Stock industry. He shared his experiences and knowledge - showing examples of his work, explaining how to create concept images for different markets, doing keyword exercises, analysing images and explaining how to shoot to illustrate articles. I came away from this workshop more knowledgeable and inspired - just like the other attendees. 

 

I would recommend this workshop to any one new to stock photography. I've only been shooting stock for 12 weeks. 

 

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As far as workshops & promises of future success,

ask for multiple references of established shooters

who can verify their success was spurred by specific workshop, IMO...

 

What about asking the teacher about his success. Current sales please! Not 5 or 10 yrs ago.

;-)

 

wim

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> Easy to say if you have already...

> Is it that easy to start from scratch?

 

 

It is EXPERIENCE that provides the ability to say with AUTHORITY

that this very month there are NEWBIES today who will be, by any

standard, successful FULL TIME stock shooters in the future!!

 

No one said it was easy or instant.

No one said it doesn't require persistence & hard work.

No one said everyone pursuing it will make it work.

No one said one can't mix shooting what they love with what will sell.

 

Finally, congratulations to you few dedicated newbies reading this

today who are destined to be

FULL TIME STOCK SHOOTERS!!! :) :rolleyes: :D  :lol: 

 

 

Mr. Greenberg, either your statement is wrong or your graphic is wrong. Your numbers do not support your statement.

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Martin's workshop is probably worth attending. Although I'm a bit fed up with the proliferation of social photographers calling themselves 'mentors' (something you should NEVER call yourself, it's a term which can only be used by that even worse concept - the mentee... honestly I could string 'em all up) and offering wedding/boudoir/portrait workshops, very few are focused on stock. And good workshops can be inspiring.

 

BUT the examples Martin showed are ones which, as an editor, I go straight to iStockphoto to find. If I need cheese, I go to LIDL not Fortnum & Mason becaue I know that LIDL actually does very good cheese - and sometimes I do need cheese (especially to illustrate ad features on things like insurance, or business features on pensions, etc). In fact, I maintain my iStockphoto account just to find this type of material, the model released kind of generic situation-illustrating 'read what you want to into it' image.

 

Alamy is so very different. You can find specific shots on Alamy in a matter of minutes which would once have required a half-day's expert time from a picture researcher. The 'found' threads always prove this. Countless places and things you never even imagine exist are not only needed because writers have mentioned them but because readers are now interested in every tiny corner of the world. And Alamy gets there, even if someome else is paying for the trip (you&me!).

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David,

 

I agree, but to be fair, he hasn't mentioned Alamy. (Although his examples were from his Alamy collection.)

So he may be directing people and their images to the respective agencies just like you would.

 

wim

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> Easy to say if you have already...

> Is it that easy to start from scratch?

 

 

It is EXPERIENCE that provides the ability to say with AUTHORITY

that this very month there are NEWBIES today who will be, by any

standard, successful FULL TIME stock shooters in the future!!

 

No one said it was easy or instant.

No one said it doesn't require persistence & hard work.

No one said everyone pursuing it will make it work.

No one said one can't mix shooting what they love with what will sell.

 

Finally, congratulations to you few dedicated newbies reading this

today who are destined to be

FULL TIME STOCK SHOOTERS!!! :) :rolleyes: :D  :lol: 

+500  you have to be persistent. I like that about you

thank you Jeff.

Martin, although I live on the other side of the world I will be in contact

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Jeff,

 

in Dutch and Flemish Anders means Other like in someone else  (but it can also mean: different)

(Confused? You won't be after the next episode of...)

;-)

 

wim

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are you suggesting I am JAnders??????

Said Philippe from Ghent, FLANDERS

Suggested nothing did I,

nor once did I slander,

and blame JAnders (Images:0)

for Mr. Sanders of Flanders.

 

Mr. Greenberg, do you really think I need - as you name it - a "secret pseudo" to reply to your nonsense?

I do not!

You may have 96602 images on-line, but frankly, I'm not really impressed by your boozy talk. Never was and never will be.

 

Now, why don't you crawl back to the hotel bar and get another one  :rolleyes:

 

CHEERS,

Philippe (are we feeling a little lonely and bored in our hotel room? :( )

Well Phillppe. I am not impressed by your attack on a respected contributor.

 

Regards

Craig

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I often do not understand Jeff's posts, but I put them into the eccentric category, much alike my over 60 category. Once you are over 60 you have a license to say whatever you wish and you are forgiven. Am I mistaken?

 

Ken

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I often do not understand Jeff's posts, but I put them into the eccentric category, much alike my over 60 category. Once you are over 60 you have a license to say whatever you wish and you are forgiven. Am I mistaken?

 

Ken

I certainly hope that is the case Ken and I intend to quote you when I am over 60 (in fact I wish I could use that excuse now) 

 

I think Jeff is just having a bit of fun. It is easy to read a 'tone' or meaning in something that may not have been intended, especially when it is text.

 

Your banter has been keeping me amused today as I edit and upload.

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I often do not understand Jeff's posts, but I put them into the eccentric category, much alike my over 60 category. Once you are over 60 you have a license to say whatever you wish and you are forgiven. Am I mistaken?

Ken

I certainly hope that is the case Ken and I intend to quote you when I am over 60 (in fact I wish I could use that excuse now)

 

I think Jeff is just having a bit of fun. It is easy to read a 'tone' or meaning in something that may not have been intended, especially when it is text.

 

Your banter has been keeping me amused today as I edit and upload.

My daughter, a qualified mental health professional, assures me that over 60's get a lot of latitude. As I have just past 61 I'm taking full advantage of that assurance.

 

Like you, I take Jeff's posts as a bit of fun. I just wish that I could understand more of them.

 

Ken

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Sorry Philippe, I'm in agreement with Jeff here. 

 

Is stock shooting + an income still attainable? Yes, it is but what folks don't appreciate is that you have to keep going all the time. Of course, with the plethora of people shooting now it is harder but not impossible.

 

Since I started throwing myself into this properly and thinking logically about what it is that I should be doing I have seen sales start to come in more and more.

 

In addition, the argument that you see every so often that "don't bother going here as there's already loads of coverage" is rubbish. Places and people change all the time, so these things need updating. I always wonder if this last argument is because people feel precious about their areas.

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