MarkK

another month of zero sales......used to be that every month I had sales and usually a payout. In the past year the majority of months had zero payouts. There are many forces working together, imo, some that can be mitigated by Alamy while some being societal. I have lowered my expectations (and submissions) but hope for better months to come.

I take care of my elderly parents who are 77 and 84......this has been my main concern and was why I worried about going down to the protests to take photos. This is why I still feel I made a mistake by going down there. Cleveland has had 259 deaths and nearly 5000 cases so as the crowd got tear gassed consistently for well over an hour, this meant masks (if they had them) were pulled down, people were yelling, etc.. When I leave the house whether to take photos or otherwise, I am always thinking of my immunocrompromised parents and what the potential is that I get them sick. Lastly, I no longer use cameras with zoom lenses but instead use my Fuji X100t meaning I have to get much closer to people then when I used my other cameras in the past....not a good thing when the coronavirus is still pervasive. The Fujix100t is not the best in times of social distance and the types of photos I generally take.

This is a great thread and appreciate the comments. Yes, covid-19 is a major issue obviously and while many protesters had masks, as the day wore on and the screaming and shouted escalated the masks seemed to come down. Much of the police force, if you look closely in some of the photos, don't have masks on either. I was scared shtless to go to the protests as I have been VERY careful until this point. I even told some friends it was a slip in judgement to go. I have self quarantined since. As for obesity, as one who has lived overseas on and off for many years, it is a major problem not just with the black community but with Americans in general. It seems to be the first thing I notice everytime I come back from living abroad. The coronavirus as you know has been played down by the politicians and as a culture it seems the economy is more important than the health of those contributing to the economy (yes it is ironic). As for not contributing to the story, I disagree. I have been watching constant coverage from many sources (BBC, Washington Post, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, New York Times) and not once have I seen Cleveland, Ohio covered. That may be because it was so bad last saturday that they cut off access to the city to even journalists (yes that is a huge problem) thus the story could not be documented after Saturday other than from the politicians and police. That in and of itself means the full story is not being shown. Cleveland has a huge African American population and the damage done to the city was incalculable. Today the police have put out a notice on social media and the news that they want photos and videos from the protests! To say I am not contributing anything to understanding of what is going on is wrong......If all people hear about is the protests in NYC, DC, and LA they aren't seeing the bigger picture. I am contributing to that bigger picture. As for stating I should think about how pictures I take before I take them is wrong......instead I will take the photos and then decide afterwards as I go through them. If I have to think about the potential issues associated with each photo I take before I take it then I would be missing out on a lot of photo opportunities. Instead I will make the ethical decisions during the editing process because at that point they are not public and I am outside the context of the riots to determine if I will submit or not.

Thank you. I see my role as documenting society thus while I am not out there protesting I see myself doing my part in helping document in a world in which truth is seemingly becoming non-existent. While photos, such as those of the protests, have bias as we determine what is in and outside the frame, they provide a somewhat objective of truth in what is happening. On another note, the Cleveland police have put a call out to those who have videos and photographs of what they have termed 'riots'. What do we do as photographers? Do we contribute to potentially giving evidence and ultimately getting the protesters pinned for standing up for injustice? There are a lot of ethical questions, as citizens and photographers, to ask during these crazy times.

Really impressive post you have written. I agree with you. This past weekend here in Cleveland, Ohio I was photographing the protests in downtown which after a couple hours turned violent. Much of downtown was vandalized, looted, etc. resulting in a curfew until Friday......seven days later which gives insight into the damage. As I was uploading photographs I was wondering who will use them. Will the police in Cleveland use them to identify protesters? The last thing I want is for people to be identified and then potentially falsely accused of doing something that may not have. For example, in one photo a young guy holds a bat at his side. His full face is showing. Did he use the bat? I don't know. As the very nature of the protests are against police culture in the US it is ironic that the photos could be used in dubious ways by them. Thanks again for the post as it really made me think.

It's the End of the World by REM

Its in the print edition as well.....great photo.

zero sales again. 27 zooms since January 1 of which 11 of them were the only zoom. hopefully this months long drought ends soon (zero sales in Nov, Jan, Feb and before that I always had sales every month and a constant revolving balance)

Valid point. As I go on 3/4 months without a sale (after always having a couple sales at minimum for years), I started to look into possible reasons. One of the areas I used to have photos at the top of the first page were knocked down a lot by photos from the Everett collection. I looked and saw that the collection was over 1 million photos! No way to compete with that.

You definitely aren't alone. I cannot recall a time I didn't have at least a couple sales in the pipeline waiting to be cleared. I am now going on my second month with nothing in the pipeline. Over 50 zooms since October with none of them resulting in a sale. No sales since early December. This isn't normal at all for me and quite worrisome. This is after having zero sales in November, then a week of showing sales in early December (after posting on this board saying I had no sales for the month of November), and no sales since. My CTR has been steadily decreasing from above a 1.0 last January to a consistent CTR around .6 give or take some. Coincidentally the sales that appeared in early December all cleared on time....that was the first time everything cleared at once....could it have something to do with the acquisition by PA? As for zooms, I have had 50 since October and not one turning into a sale......that is not normal for me at all thus adding to my questioning about what is happening.

It has been almost one year (March 2019) that they spontaneously culled Live News contributors. This gives some context to the acquisition. It can be assumed that the acquisition has been in the works for a year hence the lowering of the commission, culling of Live News Contributors, and the new star system. The question will be how each of those actions will come into play with the restructuring- will they drop all non-live news contributors? will they cull contributors based on their 'stars' rating? will they cull based on sales amount or number of sales? Like others have stated, when the commission was cut it was not done to fund international expansion but rather to get the books in order for the sale. It will be interesting to see what incremental changes will happen over the coming months.

0 sales again

Very interesting news story today regarding the doctoring of a photo placed in the US National Archives and used in an exhibition. A photo from Gxxx of the woman's march had a sign stating 'God Hates Trump' in the crowd photo. The word 'Trump' was blurred out/doctored by the National Archives and/or Gxxx. The blame is going back and forth and will be interesting to see how this dicussion pans out. CNN reported they reached out to Gxxx who apparently gave approval to have the photo altered....whether that was the case or not is still not determined. The argument made by the US National Archives for the removale of the name 'Trump' on the sign is that some people may have been offended as it was part of an exhibition! Historic archives being doctored by the National Archive because they may offend someone is scary on many levels. This takes politics entering the realm of photography to an entirely new level. This doesn't help in terms of the US discussion on fake news which seems to be part of an overall strategic plan to make everyone question reality. Photos capturing a specific point in time for historic archives being doctored for political reasons by Gexxx is a major issue but just as bad is the National Archives is now altering history and in turn reality. Not sure why I am posting this other than to add to discussions about the changing landscape of photography.

Three years is a long time for me as most of that time was concentrated on taking photos instead of teaching at University which I need to get back to. Cheers.