Starsphinx Posted December 29, 2018 Share Posted December 29, 2018 2 minutes ago, andremichel said: It may not be dying for those hobbyists who still love doing what they do, and do not the count costs, both financial and time spent, against what they earn at this. I am not a hobbyist. I am part time because I have health issues - self-employment is the only option I have open. OK I do not expect to make enough to pay a mortgage - my aim for 2 years is a total of £200 to £400 a month from all photography (and as I said above I have just made over £100 this month from my own site) - but then again I do not expect to be working anywhere near full time either. If I was able to work full time I have seen no reason why I would not be able to create a livable income - not all off Alamy sure but I do not have all my eggs in that basket anyway. Maybe it is because I have spent rather a long time on next to no money, that what others sneeze at seems a just reward. From where I am sat my ambitions seem achievable. I see a market in flux - so I just try to meet it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Walker Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 When I look along the racks of monthly magazines and then add an unknown number of in-house magazines plus newspapers, the total number of images required per month is staggering. Add to this, books and TV. I wonder what percentage of these images are licensed by Alamy? I don't think the market is drying up - perhaps just spread out among more agencies perhaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Caram Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 5 hours ago, andremichel said: It may not be dying for those hobbyists who still love doing what they do, and do not the count costs, both financial and time spent, against what they earn at this. I don't really understand why you had to make this comment.....There are always costs and whether you're well off, or a pensioner or other ....you still consider the costs...If you are a professional (as i have been ) then you have to work harder if your chosen income market is drying up....or find other markets....Do you resent hobbyists or part timers taking a slice of the pie?.....just saying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regen Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 5 hours ago, John Walker said: When I look along the racks of monthly magazines and then add an unknown number of in-house magazines plus newspapers, the total number of images required per month is staggering. Add to this, books and TV. I wonder what percentage of these images are licensed by Alamy? I don't think the market is drying up - perhaps just spread out among more agencies perhaps. I don't think the market is drying up and more and more pictures are being used but supply outstrips demand and the image buyers know this. Many magazines now use subscription models and also trawl the free sources like wikimedia. This has not been helped by the likes of Alamy driving prices down by trying to compete with the Micros by offering micro prices for volume deals with large magazine groups-this is only advantageous to Alamy and the buyer. Whilst the hobbyist and the person who wants to get back some of the capital they have spent or those who get satisfaction from knowing their picture has a value to somebody then its fine. However for the professional prices of less than 10 dollars a pop for very generous rights don't even cover the expenses let alone the time unless they are produced as a spin off from commissioned work. Regen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marb Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 15 hours ago, John Mitchell said: So contributors should not post images that have licensed or discuss how things are going for them because that would be bragging? Not at all. It was in context to the replies I had regarding my lack of sales this month. It seemed a bit conceited and smug reading between the lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andremichel Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 9 hours ago, William Caram said: I don't really understand why you had to make this comment.....There are always costs and whether you're well off, or a pensioner or other ....you still consider the costs...If you are a professional (as i have been ) then you have to work harder if your chosen income market is drying up....or find other markets....Do you resent hobbyists or part timers taking a slice of the pie?.....just saying If you make a comment I do not agree with then I have every right to respond. Costs have a different meaning for many hobbyists when compared to those trying to run a business and make a living out of it. I think stock photography is dying for those who want to make any sort of business sense out of it. I am not a professional stock shooter because I can't make the sums add up. I could do it full time today, but do not see the point in investing all my time and money in stock in 2018 for the tiny compensation I can expect. For me and my abilities it's a loss maker. A small number of pros still can make it work and they are to be admired. But I expect they are getting fewer everyday. Have you really been a true stock photography professional making 100% of your living out of stock? Can you do it now? I do not resent hobbyists getting a slice of the pie, as I am one of them. I am just saying that today as things stand, it only really works for those who ignore costs or do not see them as costs as they are having fun doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andremichel Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 14 hours ago, Starsphinx said: I am not a hobbyist. I am part time because I have health issues - self-employment is the only option I have open. OK I do not expect to make enough to pay a mortgage - my aim for 2 years is a total of £200 to £400 a month from all photography (and as I said above I have just made over £100 this month from my own site) - but then again I do not expect to be working anywhere near full time either. If I was able to work full time I have seen no reason why I would not be able to create a livable income - not all off Alamy sure but I do not have all my eggs in that basket anyway. Maybe it is because I have spent rather a long time on next to no money, that what others sneeze at seems a just reward. From where I am sat my ambitions seem achievable. I see a market in flux - so I just try to meet it. I won't pretend to know what you are capable of. Maybe you are one of the tiny percentage who can still make it work. On Alamy I have sold 224 photos this year from 10700 images online, it is better than the majority of contributors on Alamy, but that still just produces a small top up to my other income. For me the sums do not add up and not worth investing the time and money to grow my port significantly. As far as I can tell there is only one forum contributor who is really making a good full time living today from stock photography and he has 125,000 images and has extraordinary energy loading 5000 or more new images a year across several libraries. Another very well known contributor on this forum, licences 1000 photos per year from 55,000 images and has the impressive ability to do this with minimal costs. He is considered one of Alamy's star contributors, yet I would class him as a part time stock shooter supplementing his other photography work. So even a star performer with 1000 images licensed per year, produces a part time income well below the national average salary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sally Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 1 hour ago, Marb said: Not at all. It was in context to the replies I had regarding my lack of sales this month. It seemed a bit conceited and smug reading between the lines. Unfortunately your original comment “This is fast turning into a boasting and bragging thread. Only kidding. Well at least some are getting success. Good for you.” seemed petulant and grudging to me......reading between the lines.....or it could have been jokey and approving. Forums are notoriously difficult places to navigate if you’re not careful about what you say and avoid making emotional interpretations of what others say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryptoprocta Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 5 hours ago, Marb said: Not at all. It was in context to the replies I had regarding my lack of sales this month. It seemed a bit conceited and smug reading between the lines. But we need to think, "if others are getting sales and I'm not, what am I doing wrong (or not doing right)?" We can't all do anything about that, particularly if location is involved; but it's worth considering. If you only want people who are having a bad month to reply, then your only conclusion would be, "nothing is selling on this site this month. It's the site's fault, not mine". Which is comfortable, but not ultimately helpful. Knowing that other people are selling is actually more helpful, if less comfortable. Trust me, I'm talking to myself as much as to you. I have come to a decision about how I'm going to proceed, but it's just another trial (like my experiment in uploading only to Alamy and FAA was). I have no evidence that my future stategy will be the correct one (for me). There are so many variables, and changes coming so thick and fast and we can't know in advance what they'll be or how they will affect us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 31 minutes ago, Sally said: Unfortunately your original comment “This is fast turning into a boasting and bragging thread. Only kidding. Well at least some are getting success. Good for you.” seemed petulant and grudging to me......reading between the lines.....or it could have been jokey and approving. Forums are notoriously difficult places to navigate if you’re not careful about what you say and avoid making emotional interpretations of what others say. I agree Sally and it is not like each post here is taken in isolation. We all have our distinct forum personalities and ways of communicating and like it or not we do form distinct impressions of each other over time. So in judging what is intended in a single post, past form is certainly going to be taken into account, consciously or not. If someone tends to complain a lot and doesn't take other members' comments on board at all, then that person is going to develop a certain reputation. So it is not so much a matter of reading between the lines as reading previous posts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Caram Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 11 hours ago, andremichel said: If you make a comment I do not agree with then I have every right to respond. Costs have a different meaning for many hobbyists when compared to those trying to run a business and make a living out of it. I think stock photography is dying for those who want to make any sort of business sense out of it. I am not a professional stock shooter because I can't make the sums add up. I could do it full time today, but do not see the point in investing all my time and money in stock in 2018 for the tiny compensation I can expect. For me and my abilities it's a loss maker. A small number of pros still can make it work and they are to be admired. But I expect they are getting fewer everyday. Have you really been a true stock photography professional making 100% of your living out of stock? Can you do it now? I do not resent hobbyists getting a slice of the pie, as I am one of them. I am just saying that today as things stand, it only really works for those who ignore costs or do not see them as costs as they are having fun doing it. Good on you Andrew...and i do like your portfolio, and you deserve the success from your talent and effort....Every photographer here has choices...We all want the same thing to be rewarded with sales for our efforts....We all have varying degrees of talent, and we all have reasons that motivate us to shoot stock...but in the end we still have the choice to do it or not.. I hope that things improve for us all in 2019...in whatever we choose to do...The business of Stock Photography rolls on and is ever changing, i personally will endeavour to allocate more time to my hobby...But collectively we just have to do the best we can, and i do feel for working professional that needs to live off their chosen profession... Best Wishes to ALL in 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Walker Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 I am level pegging with the number of Alamy images licensed last year. So just one more sale on the 31st and I will still have an increasing sales graph. Revenue similar too. So fingers crossed. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Robinson Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 54 minutes ago, John Walker said: I am level pegging with the number of Alamy images licensed last year. So just one more sale on the 31st and I will still have an increasing sales graph. Revenue similar too. So fingers crossed. John Yes, this year is up on last year. Despite one disappointing month (this one) I am just five sales short of a big round number. I had one today (Sunday!) so fingers crossed for a last minute rush tomorrow........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imageplotter Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 On 29/12/2018 at 18:24, John Mitchell said: So contributors should not post images that have licensed or discuss how things are going for them because that would be bragging? There is a difference between posting and constant bragging, John. You know that as well as I do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marb Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 CTR stats Oct 1.52 Nov 1.01 Dec 0.66 Jan 0.32 Feb so far ZERO A sad tale of woe. The graph looks like Eddie the eagle territory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KODAKovic Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 On 12/29/2018 at 12:01, Marb said: I have just as much right to voice my opinions here but as any other member. I don't have to "earn" anything from anyone or any exclusive clique. I am not offensive or using bad language which was freely flowing on the thread regarding the % drop from some members. Marb, i read this old post quite recently and i'm the same situation of you. I don't believe it's a quantity game, i believe we don't do as much market researches as some here do. There are some here doin' very well with a very small port so it's all about AoA and image quality. Also diversification plays a rule here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marb Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 2 hours ago, KODAKovic said: Marb, i read this old post quite recently and i'm the same situation of you. I don't believe it's a quantity game, i believe we don't do as much market researches as some here do. There are some here doin' very well with a very small port so it's all about AoA and image quality. Also diversification plays a rule here. My point is that my CTR is dropping like a stone month after month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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