Sold to America...

[Allan Bell]

5 hours ago, gvallee said:

Sod's Law struck again. Just had a $$$ license to the US. Will post it in Sold Images. Happy!!

 

Good show Gen.

 

Allan

 

[spacecadet]

6 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

Got there - at last.

 

EU      =   4%

ROW  =   3%

UK     =  88%

US     =    3%

 

Allan

 

Scuse me being a wuss.😞

 

I've had to revise mine down due to a misuse of Excel- US about 5%, not 20. So if half of those are non- UK subjects, Allan is doing quite well with a UK- only collection.

UK 59%

EU 25% (I'd miss those!)

ROW bar those so must be about 10%.

EU mostly buys EU subjects- not surprised, it's a big place. France and Germany tend to prefer their own distros, but there have been some directs lately so maybe the translation thing is working through. Prices still nothing to shout about.

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by spacecadet

[Bill Brooks]

Thanks to Mr Standfast and everyone else we know images sold in the USA attract USA prices.

 

So how do you sell more images in the USA, particularly if you only have images shot in Europe and the UK?

 

My suggestion would be to create images that drip British and Euro culture. Georgphotos shot C8RK0B of the draft horse in front of the historic pub comes to mind as very English. Pomp and circumstances, Royalty, Morris dancers.

 

Then the reverse. USA personalities living in UK/Europe. Pubs with a fake USA motif. Hockey, American football games in the UK or Europe. Obvious USA citizens on tour. Watch some TV series set in the USA. There is a US people look. Transportation hubs because all the USA airlines fly there, and USA airlines need images of where they fly. USA terminal at UK airport. Planes with USA livery.

 

USA photographers tend to MAKE a photograph rather than TAKE a photograph. More photographer as director. Do the same.

 

Then make sure your keywording is designed for the mind of a USA searcher. US spellings. Circumpolar plants and animals should have common names for US as well as UK. red deer/elk/moose conundrum. Wikipedia is your friend.

 

Fill out the optional page, as US clients will be more concerned with legality.

 

Any other suggestions?

[geogphotos]

"USA photographers tend to MAKE a photograph rather than TAKE a photograph"

 

Really? 

 

Do all of them tend to do that?

 

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by geogphotos

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, geogphotos said:

"USA photographers tend to MAKE a photograph rather than TAKE a photograph"

 

Really? 

 

Do all of them tend to do that?

 

 

 

I'd say that there are definitely more takers than makers in my collection, but then, like Bill, I'm a polite Canadian. 😛

[geogphotos]

Thanks John, given your wise comment I am going to hold back on forming an opinion that all Canadians make stereotypical comments about the photographic characteristics of entire nations.

[Mr Standfast]

When you start a thread you don't know where it's going. I've sat back and watched as this one has moved towards a survey of returns by region. Thank you (from me) for taking the time to dig out your number's it was fascinating seeing where non UK contributors pictures are going.

 

I think that it is now timely to refocus on the original idea before we disappear down the rabbit hole of "taking versus making" pictures. I find this an interesting idea worthy of discussion and hope someone takes the trouble to start the thread. If USA picture buyers are looking for made rather than taken pictures, we should explore it. Other than the Ansel Adams quote I'm not really sure what it means.

 

Bill,  thank you for your input on the types of pictures which should sell, but the fact is we are up to our necks with pictures of Morris Dancers, Country Cottages and  Union Jack's, and they are not the gold mine we'd like them to be.

 

So far the identified opportunities are:-

 

 

1. Climate change activists.
2. Goods exported to the USA, JCB's and Rolls Royces's.
3. Links to USA in Europe in WW1/2/cold war.
4. American Toy Crazes.
5. The American look.

 

Thank you again to everyone who has contributed so far and if any one has doubts about the value of this exercise, well lots of the break throughs in the Renaissance came from stating the obvious and then following it up.

 

Anyway thank you and sleep tight!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by Mr Standfast
Randomness

[geogphotos]

Cool summary.

[Mr Standfast]

2 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

Cool summary.

 Thanks and all done without quoting Agricola or Paracelsus.

 

[geogphotos]

2 minutes ago, Mr Standfast said:

 Thanks and all done without quoting Agricola or Paracelsus.

 

 

Yep that would definitely be overkill and definitely over my head.

[geogphotos]

Just to add to the mix of information. Last month sales from another agency shows that circa 20% were to USA 38 out of 183. These were a mix of the same sort of editorial images that sell on Alamy - exactly the same because they are non-exclusive.

[wiskerke]

2 hours ago, geogphotos said:

Just to add to the mix of information. Last month sales from another agency shows that circa 20% were to USA 38 out of 183. These were a mix of the same sort of editorial images that sell on Alamy - exactly the same because they are non-exclusive.

 

Are the same images that are selling here, selling over there?

 

wim

[losdemas]

In the last 3 months only 2 directly reportable to the US (both presentation):

1. Mock-up of Roald Dahl's study in the Roald Dahl museum (UK)
2. Front of a Clark's shoe store shopfront in the UK rain!

[John Mitchell]

Perhaps the US isn't the only goose laying golden eggs. During the past year, I've also seen good sales to the EU and ... yes ... even to the UK.

 

Actually, I get quite a few really low sales to the US along with the golden ones.

 

Just sayin' ...

[John Mitchell]

21 hours ago, geogphotos said:

Thanks John, given your wise comment I am going to hold back on forming an opinion that all Canadians make stereotypical comments about the photographic characteristics of entire nations.

 

I think that what Bill is getting at (partially, anyway) is that images which tell a story probably do better in the US, although I find that just about anything can license there. A lot of UK villages, rural scenes, churches, etc. are so historical and picturesque (I'll spare you "quaint") that they lend themselves to "taken" images -- i.e. just point and shoot. This could be a disadvantage in some ways. Alamy must have the world's largest collection of the types of images that Mr. Standfast alluded to -- "...we are up to our necks with pictures of Morris Dancers, Country Cottages and Union Jack's, and they are not the gold mine we'd like them to be."

Edited August 30, 2019 by John Mitchell

[geogphotos]

6 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

I think that what Bill is getting at (partially, anyway) is that images which tell a story probably do better in the US, although I find that just about anything can license there. A lot of UK villages, rural scenes, churches, etc. are so historical and picturesque (I'll spare you "quaint") that they lend themselves to "taken" images -- i.e. just point and shoot. This could be a disadvantage in some ways. Alamy must have the world's largest collection of the types of images that Mr. Standfast alluded to -- "...we are up to our necks with pictures of Morris Dancers, Country Cottages and Union Jack's, and they are not the gold mine we'd like them to be."

 

My own sales show that another agency sells more of the same sort of secondary editorial images to USA than does Alamy. - locations in Europe and UK, businesses, all the general stuff, same as Alamy.

 

That agency sells a lot more but for a lot less.  So, perhaps Alamy has a certain sort of better paying share of the US market? Or perhaps they have not broken in to the bulk deals as successfully as others? 

 

With respect to Mr Standfast and all I can't see that this leads anywhere trying to second-guess what some particular market might want.  To me that makes the photography a little contrived. Though clearly just a personal opinion and no wish to insult anybody else. 

 

Given the state of it all these days I'd just rather get on and do what I want and what I enjoy - and what interests me and allows me to learn from.

[John Mitchell]

19 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

 

My own sales show that another agency sells more of the same sort of secondary editorial images to USA than does Alamy. - locations in Europe and UK, businesses, all the general stuff, same as Alamy.

 

That agency sells a lot more but for a lot less.  So, perhaps Alamy has a certain sort of better paying share of the US market? Or perhaps they have not broken in to the bulk deals as successfully as others? 

 

With respect to Mr Standfast and all I can't see that this leads anywhere trying to second-guess what some particular market might want.  To me that makes the photography a little contrived. Though clearly just a personal opinion and no wish to insult anybody else. 

 

Given the state of it all these days I'd just rather get on and do what I want and what I enjoy - and what interests me and allows me to learn from.

 

I'll drink to that.

[Mr Standfast]

11 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

I'll drink to that.

 

So will I, thank you to every one who contributed. We now have a few more ideas, probably not to actively seek out, but certainly not to walk past without consideration. Good night all.

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, Mr Standfast said:

 

So will I, thank you to every one who contributed. We now have a few more ideas, probably not to actively seek out, but certainly not to walk past without consideration. Good night all.

 

I had never heard of "Morris Dancers", so I did an Alamy search. You're correct, there is no dearth of such images (have no idea what they're up to, but they do seem to be having fun). Images of Pow Wow dancers (no shortage of them either) would probably do better in the US and Canada. But that's just the way it is.

[Marianne]

I originally answered this before reading all the answers, but as a US photographer, I would say don't worry that being in Europe is a disadvantage -  IMHO, it's not!

 

Here's my (edited) experience:  Although I’m based in New York and about 75% of my portfolio is US travel and/or nature, those images only account for 65% of my sales and, even more surprising, half of those sales are to European clients. In fact, half of all my sales (studio, nature, US, UK, other European travel, US editorial) are to Europe, and a full 24% of all my sales are to the UK. Only half are to the US. I haven't seen any other regions show up. I'm including Russia as part of Europe. 

 

European images make up only 6% of my portfolio, but account for 12% of my sales; UK pix do even better - only 2% of my pix are from the UK (taken in 2007 in Scotland before I ever heard of stock photography) and since 2011 these old photos have accounted for 7% of my total sales. (I only reviewed my sales going back to 2011 - I wasn’t sure when the US office opened but I remember going to a meeting at the Brooklyn office in the fall of 2010. I met up with my daughter, who I believe was in her first year at NYU, earlier that day)

 

All of my sales in the $100-450 range were to US clients and most of those were US travel or studio shots. There were also a lot of low $ US sales. I didn't average them all out. 

 

Many of the exact same  or very similar images are licensed by both European and American clients: travel scenics, famous architecture, lighthouses, studio concept images,  and even health warning signs. The only location-specific exceptions (from a quick but admittedly not exhaustive review) are that all of my UK photos (taken during a 10-day trip chaperoning my daughter and her fellow actors in Edinburgh) were licensed to UK publications, and all of my photos taken in small towns in Connecticut, and in cities in Ohio and Maryland sold to the US. Many other larger and smaller US towns and cities sold all over the world, and my other European images have sold to the US (the exception, the Edinburgh photos, are 6MP and mainly just of the festival, the Tattoo at night w/ a D70, & architectural details).

 

 I have had one sale to Canada, an image stolen by a library that Alamy chased up for me (again, not what I'd expect from a Canadian library - but life is never what we expect is it?)

 

Popular destinations sell best to a worldwide market but smaller towns and cities do best locally (I think Alamy's unedited collection really makes it a good source for licenses of small town/smaller city America and I would imagine it's a great place for images of small towns and out of the way places in the UK, and of festivals - I've certainly done relatively well with my photos of the Fringe Festival, which still sell years later. In June Alamy licensed a tall ship photo from a festival in 2012. 

 

On other sites my US/non-US sales also seem to be evenly split. Most of those portfolios have more concepts and backgrounds, but also some editorial and travel. I have found a fair number of my non-Alamy images on Latin American sites, particularly Brazilian, and have licensed countless images to Canada as well as throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East. The same types of images seem to sell for me everywhere. I don't really see any strong preferences even with 1000's of licenses from a very small portfolio (<350 images) on those other sites. 

 

Anyhow, that's my experience. I have to say, when I look at the photos sold on here, it always seems to me like the European photographers are selling the lion's share. 

 

America is not as monolithic as some people think, especially in today's global economy. But it's a great place to visit. 😎
 

I really want to go back to Edinburgh, and to London (last trip there was in 1980!), and to the English countryside, which, along with Wales and Ireland are on my bucket list. I really wish that travel photography could fund those dreams.  

 

 

Edited August 30, 2019 by Marianne

[Johnnie5]

I just had a random thought pop into my head while reading through this thread.  Could the current U.S. government administration have an effect on our sales?  I am not trying to be political, but it seems the U.S government has pulled back from the rest of the world.  Would that reduce demand for certain types of imagery, especially travel related.  Americans are traveling in record numbers and may even be regarded as a pestilence in some places, so it would seem there would be a demand for photos from all over the world.  Time will tell I guess.  Stock photography is a lot like farming in that you are providing a commodity, you have no control over the environment, and prices are at the whim of the markets.