Colblimp Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 14 hours ago, IanDavidson said: Exactly right. As a largely news shooter I have bad days (most of the time) and good days. I enjoy what I do, I have a fair understanding of what sells and plug away week after week. On occasion I get a surprise when I get a reasonable fee for an old news image. When I stop enjoying it then I will give up. +1. I obviously do what I do to earn a living, but I absolutely love my job. I really can’t see myself ever stopping. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Standfast Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 +1 again. You can't beat the glamour of standing on a motorway bridge in the wind and rain, taking a picture of a traffic jam.😂 Knowing each picture can live again as editorial stock, is a plus. Three this week.😉 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 (edited) Ian and Andy, I hear the tune you guys are playing. I'm playing in a different key myself. I don't do News. I shoot common access editorial images for Alamy stock. Basta. I play by three sets of rules: the law as I understand it, Alamy's rules, and rules of my own. My rules are more flexible but generally I shoot handheld in available light. Higher ISO and IS are my tripod. I never ask for a release for people or property. Edited June 18, 2021 by Ed Rooney 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Standfast Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 2 hours ago, Sally R said: Be careful up there Mr Standfast! Hedgehogs are only small 🦔 You don't want to get blown off and end up in traffic. The hedgehog instinct to roll into a ball might make for a safer landing, but may not suffice as protection once the traffic gets rolling! Good advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickfly Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 Maybe the library is attracting cheapskates? This search term brings up 102,000 images most of which are, quite frankly, beyond belief! "Florists' review [microform]" If new buyers see a few of these on the search pages surely they will think that this is not a professional stock agency? EG... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meanderingemu Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 13 minutes ago, mickfly said: Maybe the library is attracting cheapskates? This search term brings up 102,000 images most of which are, quite frankly, beyond belief! "Florists' review [microform]" If new buyers see a few of these on the search pages surely they will think that this is not a professional stock agency? EG... agree. But it appears that for Alamy the biggest problem is people misidentifying "exclusive" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meanderingemu Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 6 hours ago, Sally R said: Be careful up there Mr Standfast! Hedgehogs are only small 🦔 You don't want to get blown off and end up in traffic. The hedgehog instinct to roll into a ball might make for a safer landing, but may not suffice as protection once the traffic gets rolling! this is the kind of post i will truly miss when you leave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marb Posted June 24, 2021 Share Posted June 24, 2021 On 18/06/2021 at 16:57, mickfly said: Maybe the library is attracting cheapskates? This search term brings up 102,000 images most of which are, quite frankly, beyond belief! "Florists' review [microform]" If new buyers see a few of these on the search pages surely they will think that this is not a professional stock agency? EG... I will go against the grain and say with my fine Art hat on, I like this image. As for sales.........absolutely diabolical. Not a single sale for June. The camera stays on the shelf, unless for personal work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Richards Posted June 24, 2021 Share Posted June 24, 2021 (edited) On 18/06/2021 at 08:54, Ed Rooney said: Ian and Andy, I hear the tune you guys are playing. I'm playing in a different key myself. I don't do News. I shoot common access editorial images for Alamy stock. Basta. I play by three sets of rules: the law as I understand it, Alamy's rules, and rules of my own. My rules are more flexible but generally I shoot handheld in available light. Higher ISO and IS are my tripod. I never ask for a release for people or property. We're both singing from the same song sheet Ed. I don't suppose I'll be getting rich any time soon. Edited June 24, 2021 by Dave Richards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam Bunce Posted June 24, 2021 Share Posted June 24, 2021 I opted out years age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Posted June 24, 2021 Share Posted June 24, 2021 (edited) $0.25 gross today, RM. Ridiculous. Really worth the effort of processing and putting up the image(it was quite a tricky one to edit, a night scene from Quito, Ecuador) - not. Probably doesn’t even cover the electricity cost of uploading it. We need the right to specify a minimum price. I have a few images on microstock which I put up a few years ago as an experiment - less than 100 overall, compared to over 25,000 on Alamy. Yesterday one went for £0.75 - that’s my share with no commission to be deducted, and they still sell several times each month for about this amount. Maybe I am backing the wrong horse. Graham Edited June 24, 2021 by Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reimar Posted June 24, 2021 Author Share Posted June 24, 2021 16 minutes ago, Graham said: Maybe I am backing the wrong horse. Graham You might want to back a few horses. Exclusivity is overrated. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted June 24, 2021 Share Posted June 24, 2021 48 minutes ago, Reimar said: Exclusivity is overrated. Well, it will be soon. That's for sure. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted June 24, 2021 Share Posted June 24, 2021 (edited) 13 hours ago, Marb said: I will go against the grain and say with my fine Art hat on, I like this image. As for sales.........absolutely diabolical. Not a single sale for June. The camera stays on the shelf, unless for personal work. I only have two sales and the first was the middle of the month. But I’ve uploaded twice recently, and my zooms for the last week are at 10. If I’m going to stay, I’m going to try to optimize my staying, otherwise I should just quit stock. If I do something, I don’t do it half way, but that’s just me, and not necessarily others’ preferences. Edited June 24, 2021 by Betty LaRue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meanderingemu Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 4 hours ago, Reimar said: You might want to back a few horses. Exclusivity is overrated. i would say it's more that it is under appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, meanderingemu said: i would say it's more that it is under appreciated. I've found one new 50/50 horse to back (no micros). Hoping to slowly expand my stable. Should be interesting... Edited June 25, 2021 by John Mitchell 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marb Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 Well I just had a sale of a huge $1.75. This is unsustainable. My microstock earnings per download are bigger than this. 6 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marb Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 2 hours ago, Marb said: Well I just had a sale of a huge $1.75. This is unsustainable. My microstock earnings per download are bigger than this. I can't believe I would get red marks for that comment. People here are so petty it's unbelievable. Ok, correction.... Alamy earns me amazing money. I have great sales! Better ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin L Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 3 hours ago, Marb said: Well I just had a sale of a huge $1.75. This is unsustainable. My microstock earnings per download are bigger than this. 1 hour ago, Marb said: I can't believe I would get red marks for that comment. People here are so petty it's unbelievable. Ok, correction.... Alamy earns me amazing money. I have great sales! Better ? Marb I don't know if this is the case in this instance but sometimes people use the red arrows to agree with you. Basically saying that they agree it is a bad thing that MS may pay more. Don't take it to heart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marb Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 1 minute ago, Martin L said: Marb I don't know if this is the case in this instance but sometimes people use the red arrows to agree with you. Basically saying that they agree it is a bad thing that MS may pay more. Don't take it to heart It would be nice if that was the case. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkK Posted June 27, 2021 Share Posted June 27, 2021 In 2016 I sold my first photo on Alamy for very high $$$. I was convinced this would be the best fit for my photographs. This week the very same RM photo sold for $ direct. Don't they look at the past sales of photos before pricing them when RM? It is almost like full circle for me with the exact same photos acting as bookends to my time here. I saw the sale this week of the $ photo as a sign that Alamy is not going to make the effort to sell photos at prices they deserve. Not sure if I am going to remove my portfolio as, like with others, we have invested so many hours into supplying Alamy with our photos and just like overnight the worth of my portfolio has sunk to a level in terms of RM pricing that the motivation to add/edit is just not there. Most of us know the microstock companies and could contribute to them if we wanted to sell our photos for pennies. I personally chose Alamy because they were different but that point of difference is vanishing very, very quickly. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted June 27, 2021 Share Posted June 27, 2021 (edited) 59 minutes ago, MarkK said: In 2016 I sold my first photo on Alamy for very high $$$. I was convinced this would be the best fit for my photographs. This week the very same RM photo sold for $ direct. Don't they look at the past sales of photos before pricing them when RM? I've had photos sell for $ and subsequently for high $$. And vice versa. I take the rough with the smooth, and assume Alamy gets the best price they can (why wouldn't they).... I am though in the (slow) process of diversifying after the commission drop through. Stock seems to be going in one direction.... Edited June 27, 2021 by Steve F 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted June 27, 2021 Share Posted June 27, 2021 22 minutes ago, Steve F said: I am though in the (slow) process of diversifying after the commission drop through. Stock seems to be going in one direction.... Me too, and the more I look around at other agencies, etc., the more I realize how bad things have become for all concerned. The whole business just doesn't seem sustainable for much longer, at least that's my impression. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted June 27, 2021 Share Posted June 27, 2021 (edited) 14 minutes ago, John Mitchell said: Me too, and the more I look around at other agencies, etc., the more I realize how bad things have become for all concerned. The whole business just doesn't seem sustainable for much longer, at least that's my impression. Ditto. I'm diversifying reluctantly; it's starting to make a joke out of spending so much money on kit. I don't regret it yet, I love using my camera, but the vision I had of a steady sustainable passive income seems to be slowly evaporating... I'm not keen on spending time dealing with clients and finding new work which is why stock is ideal, but yeah... I think I need to start reading the positive results thread more, it's all been a bit down recently here... Edited June 27, 2021 by Steve F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colblimp Posted June 27, 2021 Share Posted June 27, 2021 On 25/06/2021 at 15:43, Marb said: I can't believe I would get red marks for that comment. People here are so petty it's unbelievable. Ok, correction.... Alamy earns me amazing money. I have great sales! Better ? It’s just a red arrow on a forum. It means nothing, don’t worry about it, it’s not important. As for the sale - it’s a sale! Embrace it, move on, upload more pics and be happy! 👍 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts