Sultanpepa Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 On 05/04/2019 at 00:08, Sultanpepa said: I have stated my case but I'm not holding out much hope. I fear they have already made their minds up on who stays and who goes. On 05/04/2019 at 09:11, N Quarmby said: Just wondered if you had heard anything yet? This is my reply, "You haven’t done anything wrong, this email was sent across the board. We’re just trying to streamline the news feed to make sure our customers receive the content they want, quickly and with all the relevant information needed to publish good news images. You are welcome to apply for access to the Live News Feed, you’ll find this under the dashboard." I may not have done anything wrong but I'm not getting a chance to put anything right that er...obviously was not right. Doh 😫 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisC Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 Having had a quick look at my sales, I've had only 1 image, that had an actual live news sale. In total I've not had many actual sales, but of my 2600 images, my live sales when converted to stock have given me 4 out of 5 of my general stock sales, so as I can seemingly no longer upload to live news, it strikes me it is probably no longer worth bothering? Has anyone else discovered this about their images? Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N Quarmby Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 8 hours ago, Penelope B said: I wasnt being critical of anyones pictures, far from it. ✌️ x Neither was I, it was a genuine question, as in why are there still non-news weather photographs in the Live news Feed whilst people are still locked out of Live News unable to file actual Live News images, I have three news stories now backlogged with nowhere as yet to file them, ie not weather photographs. Best wishes PS I think we got our wires crossed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N Quarmby Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 (edited) 8 hours ago, spacecadet said: If that crack is aimed at Keith it's pretty ignorant. We shouldn't be turning on ourselves- this is Alamy's foulup, not ours. I agree, people should be civil, aim your frustration at ALAMY. 2 Edited April 7, 2019 by N Quarmby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Douglas Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 8 minutes ago, ChrisC said: Having had a quick look at my sales, I've had only 1 image, that had an actual live news sale. In total I've not had many actual sales, but of my 2600 images, my live sales when converted to stock have given me 4 out of 5 of my general stock sales, so as I can seemingly no longer upload to live news, it strikes me it is probably no longer worth bothering? Has anyone else discovered this about their images? Chris Yes, and no. Some sell as News the same day, but the success rate is low (and I'm sure it's the same for most contributors). Many are still valid stock pictures, maybe with a bit of tweaking to captions and keywords. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Douglas Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 8 minutes ago, N Quarmby said: Neither was I, it was a genuine question, as in why are there still non-news weather photographs in the Live news Feed whilst people are still locked out of Live News unable to file actual Live News images, I have three news stories now backlogged with nowhere as yet to file them, ie not weather photographs. Best wishes PS I think we got our wires crossed The guidance from Alamy doesn't exclude weather photographs, and many have pointed out on here that there is a demand for such images. There are contributors who understand what sells In that area and have made a repeated success of it, so presumably they are still submitting to Live News. I'm sure that if you contact Alamy about your news stories they will be helpful. Keith 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N Quarmby Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 (edited) 6 minutes ago, Keith Douglas said: The guidance from Alamy doesn't exclude weather photographs, and many have pointed out on here that there is a demand for such images. There are contributors who understand what sells In that area and have made a repeated success of it, so presumably they are still submitting to Live News. I'm sure that if you contact Alamy about your news stories they will be helpful. Keith I don't think they will, and I am not interested in asking them, I am happy to put them on my Photo Shelter page for now, I don't want to be ringing ALAMY for permission every time, not when they revoked my access. It's all left a rather unpleasant taste in my mouth and my days of handing my hard work over for 50% are over, in some ways their bad management has done me a favour. I wasn't implying that weather images weren't saleable, just not news, unless it's something unusual, like a hurricane or flood or an extreme heat event, you get my drift. Edited April 7, 2019 by N Quarmby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colblimp Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 (edited) 10 hours ago, N Quarmby said: I don't think they will, and I am not interested in asking them, I wasn't implying that weather images weren't saleable, just not news, unless it's something unusual, like a hurricane or flood or an extreme heat event, you get my drift. 1) How do you know until you find out?! 2) Weather images are VERY newsy and not just for extreme events. Edited April 8, 2019 by Colblimp 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 (edited) Looking at the Times "News in Pictures" over the years (and they are always live news or equivalent current shots) the focus is on aesthetic appeal, or eye candy, not necessarily related to the major affairs of the day. For example there is a super Alamy shot of a dog running through waves in today's edition. I fear that that Alamy's recent action will reduce the quantity of this type of image that is available to sell. Of course many live news shots that are used are boring but necessary, e.g. the heads of politicians etc, but the usage of Live News is certainly not limited to those subjects. Edited April 8, 2019 by Bryan 2 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Standfast Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 Good point well put! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Ramsay Posted April 8, 2019 Author Share Posted April 8, 2019 On 07/04/2019 at 09:04, imageplotter said: Alamy rely on hobbyists, 60+ enthusiasts, retirees and a guy in Wales with orange filters Don't be too hard on Wales - Alamy has some excellent professional contributors from this side of the border, including at least one with a serious European reputation, and no more orange-hued pictures than you find anywhere else. Cymru am byth! Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EwanBootman Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 Hello, just wondering if anybody that had to reapply have been accepted yet? Ewan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 There are other agencies out there that take live news images, some better than others, and some paying much better than others. I've had success with some of these, but on the whole I prefer to work with Alamy, one of the main reasons being I think the people on the news desk are friendly, responsive and supportive where ever they can be. I was approached by 2 different agencies last week to submit to them. In terms of are weather pictures news, then all I can say is that the papers seem to like them, so from a purely commercial perspective I'm going to carry on doing them, because if I don't someone else either from Alamy, the paper itself, or another agency is going to fill those slots. Sure, some of the pictures I take are naff and often repeat the same location or theme, on the other hand I'm really proud of some of the pictures. I do go and cover events when I have the time but they don't seem to get the coverage. One final comment .. by going out and getting "weather pics" I've met some great and inspiring people who have become friends and clients, discovered places I never knew existed, and that continues to happen on a monthly basis. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Baker Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 (edited) Got the email inviting me to re-apply but I won't be filling the form in. Since 2008 I have filed 1,700 News pictures to Alamy which usually sell as stock weeks/months later. So there's nothing wrong with the images themselves but everything I shoot, News and non-News, is processed at home so I'll never be able to get them up within 60mins - a very deliberate personal choice from the very beginning of shooting digital. And anyway, what I give Alamy are alternatives to the first edit to "G", who, by the way, make sales for next day usage even though it's eventually uploaded sometimes 2-3hrs after the event. So, if it's the golden hour that's affecting my News sales then I'd rather not bother - preferring instead to get the material on Alamy as fast-turnaround Stock which allows it to be in the wider marketplace much sooner than News. Edited April 8, 2019 by Richard Baker Inserted the word 'News' 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjmimages Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 (edited) Like lots of others I have had my Live News Access revoked so at least it wasn't personal! I've only been an occasional contributor so can understand why that might be the case but I do try and upload when I have something, that is what I consider newsworthy. My last upload was Prince Charles visiting Wigan last week and I was planning on covering his visit to the Lake District today but decided there was no point now that I have no access to Live News. I've reapplied and was hoping I'd get a reply within an hour preferably but with no recent cutting to upload (other than one that the local paper used illegally from the web) I'm not hopeful. I''ll be looking for an alternative news upload route if anyone has any suggestions? The way this has been handled by Alamy is poor from a customer relations point of view - no notice whatsoever given as far as I can tell. You would think that following the commission debacle they'd be trying to restore their credibility among photographers but obviously not. Edited April 8, 2019 by pjmimages 2 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Brooks Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 On the positive side, the photographers who were not cut out of live news should make more money. If a news photographer is doing everything right, and better than others, then he/she should not have to split the money pot with others. If Alamy can raise the productivity level and thereby grow the news business with fewer higher earning photographers, then there will come a time when other photographers will have a chance at news. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 (edited) 29 minutes ago, Bill Brooks said: On the positive side, the photographers who were not cut out of live news should make more money. If a news photographer is doing everything right, and better than others, then he/she should not have to split the money pot with others. What "money pot"? It's not a zero-sum game. Others don't have to do badly for some to do well. Edited April 8, 2019 by spacecadet 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nacke Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 On 05/04/2019 at 09:41, Mr Standfast said: From Chuck Nacke's post it's apparent how little thought went into this exercise. They blocked Chuck Nacke?? This chap? http://www.chucknacke.com I'm pleased that his issue was resolved. I surmise blocking him/us was a fairly automated process and he was caught up in the net. Mr Nacke's comments are a lesson in magnanimity. I am however still put out by the process ALAMY followed. - No warning. - Little explanation. - No timescale for the re-application process. Business is business, Alamy had their reasons but to be honest they hurt my feelings. So whats the way forward? May I suggest we continue to discuss the nature of live news and focus our discusion on how to move the business on. Should we differentiate between hard and soft news? - Examples of hard news? Catwalks, eastern european politicians meeting putin and the chinese space agency pictures from the dark side of the moon. - Soft News, the stuff the local press cover but might be interesting on a slow day in Austria. Jane Austen festivals or a chap building his own toll road. - Stock photo submissions go through a 3 picture QC, why not New submissions? Has this issue arrisen because the news team are swamped with poor submission? (Mea Culpa) If a photographer can be trusted enough to submit without QA then he should be trusted enough to differentiate between the two. If a photographer is submitting news pictures which are very soft news and circumventing the two day QA wait, then deal with the issue on a one to one basis. If Alamy cull their news contributors in an unsophisticated manner then they may miss opportunities. Who would have predicted the well deserved success of starlings and sunsets in Aberystwth. James What? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Brooks Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 2 hours ago, spacecadet said: What "money pot"? It's not a zero-sum game. Others don't have to do badly for some to do well. Disagree. If an agency keeps the number of photographers in balance with the agency gross sales, (the money pot), then all remaining agency photographers make a reasonable living. One stock agency that I know closed the accounts of the bottom performers, while inviting new known top performers to join the agency. Every year the bottom 10% were replaced with new photographers. If the agency sales went up, then the total number of photographers went up, but the bottom 10% still had their accounts closed. The philosophy at this stock agency was to shift sales to the top performers, sign on new top performers, and create photographer competition within the stock agency in order to grow the business. News is very competitive. The change was tough, but was probably long overdue. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chester_Brown Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 Well after dwelling on this for awhile I have made my decision. I of course will continue to shoot live news, just won't submit it to Alamy. Can't give your clients what they want if you don't have it. No more deadlines, captions they way Alamy wants it. With other clients they want it fast too, but they do captioning, they have better info than the photographer and they will at least tell you where it was sold/published. I will continue to send my news pics to stock, since with Alamy that is where most of my sales come from anyhow. With all the changes I wonder when that will be restricted too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nacke Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 WOW, I did try to read every post on this forum, but.... I will never forget when Alamy tried to recruit me, and told me that I could mail a CD (do you all remember those) to London. Two years latter I did mail a CD to London and I am very happy that I did. Alamy has evolved and for the most part every step has been a step forward. The "Re-Applying" for news was a small inconvenience and no big deal. Alamy news was more than helpful. Trying to put things in perspective. I am no longer a daily working photographer or "Photojournalist" I was for decades. Alamy has become an outlet for me shoot stories or to scan images that I wish to put back into the market, that I feel are important to issues that are being talked about in today's news. Over the years I've come to trust Alamy and while I've not met Mr. West or James A (James was the person from Alamy that reached out to me in 2003) I do trust Alamy. As some of you know, I've been around a bit. Alamy is my last stop (hey Edo hear me). Now let's all make Alamy better for all of us. Lastly, I like to edit my News Pictures, I like to read coverage of an event to give me a better perspective of how it plays on the global stage. The wires put out images in minutes, Paul Fusco did not. I would prefer for my images to follow Paul. Chuck Nacke 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aphperspective Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 Anybody had any feedback having re applied to join live news. Just curious how long the "sifting" process is going to take. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlbertSnapper Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 I'm a bit late to all this. Feel sorry for the guys and gals who've put in lots of work and effort only to be rebuffed. Doesn't really affect me, but realise several here did well with the Live News. Good luck sorting things out folks. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shergar Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 The Bottom line is that Alamy Live News need to sell the images if they can't then everyone will lose . Cheers and gone Shergar 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sultanpepa Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 13 hours ago, aphperspective said: Anybody had any feedback having re applied to join live news. Just curious how long the "sifting" process is going to take. Andy No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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