Keith Douglas

That was last week. You now need to be able to take the photo and upload it before the event happens: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-47947745 😉😊

You can get it second hand in the UK for about £7 hardback and £15 paperback. I suspect that the hardback version is from 1978, and the paperback from 1997. Well worth it though.

But that's not what you've been told at all. You've been told to stop submitting images to Live News because your images weren't selling as News. There could be two photographers who shoot similar subjects - one who achieves regular sales, the other who achieves zero sales. Who would you accept images from? Is the successful news photographer going to get a scoop every time? No Is the successful photographer going to shoot 'soft news' subjects some of the time: Yes Is the successful photographer going to sell News images every time? No The anger of some contributors has been on Alamy for implementing a plan to improve the Alamy business. Do those same contributors question their own work and ask themselves why their News images didn't sell? What steps are they taking to improve their own news images?

Have you come across the book: Pictures On A Page: Photojournalism,Graphics and Picture Editing by Harold Evans. First published in 1978, updated in 1997. "For the general reader it is a classic collection of news photographs fascinating in their own right. For the professional and the student it remains an unrivalled study of photo-journalism, a complete analysis of how photographs are taken, selected and edited for newspapers and magazines."

Yes, the grass is always greener, and the other agency is far more accommodating. Back to the real world. I had seen that local professional photographers, who I had stood next to taking shots had been successful with another agency whereas my photos with Alamy didn't get taken. Surely my images were as good as theirs? A couple of weeks later I had a sunrise news story that I submitted to this other agency as a bit of a trial, and also to Alamy. The other agency, and Alamy were both keen. The image appeared in the National Press the next day via both agencies. They were good News images - the sales say that, not me. A few months later I had another, but admittedly less compelling news story. I submitted it to the other agency. Heard nothing, not even an acknowledgement. Yes, any agency will bite your hand off if you are offering them images that will make them money. But the idea that they're going to be any different to Alamy for anything less is fantasy. However, and this comes back to the point I have made before, the important thing is to establish a track record and a history of delivery of news stories that will sell on a regular basis. That's what Alamy appear to be looking for and that's what any agency based in the South West, North East or anywhere else will be looking for too.

There's a lot of photographers taking images of the Flying Scotsman and competition is fierce. I had some success with Live News images around the time that the Flying Scotsman made its inaugural steam tour after its restoration - 25 Feb 2016. By a long way, my highest $$$ seller on Alamy from that shoot was this one - make of that what you will. Although I have also sold pictures of Flying Scotsman itself from that time, both as news and stock, and also elsewhere (mainly POD).

Why? They want Live News that is going to sell as News. Then it goes into Stock with the same quality warnings. But what we don't need is a get out for contributors who submit Stock via Live News to bypass QC. I saw one portfolio which was almost all submitted as 'Live News' but the vast majority of images were not News and the general quality was very poor, to put it mildly. Clearly someone gaming the system. Just Keep it simple rather than making it complicated so that you can argue about it.

I didn't say you did claim to be anything. It may not have been handled very well, but Alamy did tell you and took it away. They just didn't give you advance notice.

I'm sure that all the agencies and newspapers will be welcoming your images with "how much do you want, name your price". Good luck! If you were an agency, which type of contributor would you build your business on: 1. The ones who claim to be good photographers, say they always have their camera ready and have been near to where the action is, and one day will come up with a scoop, but never actually deliver News images that sell? or 2. The dedicated news photographers who will seek out news stories and images, can be relied on to be there, know what makes a good news picture, and regularly deliver images that sell? I think you need to think about it from a business point of view, and not from your own, narrow perspective. Alamy is operating in a professional and competitive market. As contributors we should be operating as professionals, whether we are full time professionals or enthusiastic amateurs or somewhere in between. To expect access as a right without delivering the results is not what this business needs, either in terms of administrative burden or damage to its reputation by being seen to deliver sub-standard work that doesn't meet what the Clients want.

What you're saying is that these are saleable subjects, and I would agree. But your images of those subjects didn't sell. What conclusion can we draw from that? Alamy are measuring a contributors News sales, not how many images they submit, to determine whether they should have free access to Live News. If you have a newsworthy story you can submit images to Alamy or any other agency and they will evaluate whether your images illustrate the story and are worth submitting to News outlets. A professional News agency needs to be sending out only the quality work that meets the Client's brief and has a chance of being used, not everything that they receive.

If your News images haven't sold in the past then I'm not sure how Alamy loses if you decide to submit elsewhere?

It's not about sending in News stuff day after day (the input). It's about making regular sales of News stuff as News (the output), not Stock. From a business perspective the output seems to me to be the most relevant measure to use. That appears to be what Alamy has done. Did your News stuff sell as News?

I posted this earlier in the thread, but you may have missed it. I started [with Live News] on 6 April 2014. I was taking some photos of a friend running in the Sheffield Half Marathon, when things went badly wrong for the organisers. I think I was the only photographer who caught the action but I was just submitting Stock to Alamy at the time. I realised that the images were newsworthy, so I dashed back to my friends house and contacted Alamy. They set me up with News Access there and then (this was a Sunday afternoon), helped me with the captioning, and I uploaded the images and they appeared in the National Press the next day. Sheffield Half Marathon Tear Sheet It's not difficult really. If you've got a news story, get in touch with Alamy.

I think it cleared within a few hours, possibly with updates that happen the next morning. So I didn't follow it up any more. The best thing is probably to contact Alamy. Keith

I'm sure it was all topical. But did you make regular News sales from your Live News submissions?