Things move on - sadly

[The Blinking Eye]

1 hour ago, meanderingemu said:

i think the drop to 20% for many of them after one year will be a major moral hit

 

Does this mean less committed producers will get weeded out and more committed ones will get more sales, ya think?

[meanderingemu]

2 hours ago, The Blinking Eye said:

 

Does this mean less committed producers will get weeded out and more committed ones will get more sales, ya think?

 

 

probably, but more sale is not really material for one individual contributor.  Look at the deal Alamy made with a certain travel website.  This has probably resulted in Alamy getting 100s of licence every months, but i might see one every few months personally.   

 

So even if it meant an increase of 0.5% sales to regular contributor, you would have to be a massive account to even notice this. 

[Bill Allsopp]

On 14/10/2021 at 14:44, BobD said:

I used to love going out on nice days, different places, since retiring that is. Now it just feels like I am subsidising Alamy, so I rarely go out now unless for another reason.

I used to travel all around the country in my camper for photos. Not worth the driving now.

[Allan Bell]

When I became a free man again and moved to Lincoln I was planning to do the same as you have done (travelling country taking photos) but circumstances (covid, reduction in earnings, etc) forced me to abandon that idea.

 

Allan

 

[aphperspective]

The price of Fuel now makes travelling just for Alamy images a complete non starter. I understand some ppl have no choice if its your living but for me, putting myself out of pocket by allot just to maybe get a tiny licence from A afraid not.  

[Betty LaRue]

Same here. I wanted to go out shooting on a beautiful, sunny day here, then thought about burning gasoline and stayed home. I got by for 6 weeks on my last tank of gas. It takes about $10 more a tank, now.

[aphperspective]

1 hour ago, Betty LaRue said:

Same here. I wanted to go out shooting on a beautiful, sunny day here, then thought about burning gasoline and stayed home. I got by for 6 weeks on my last tank of gas. It takes about $10 more a tank, now.

To fill my tank now Betty in Dollars would about $105, so I only put less than half a tank at a time.

[Chuck Nacke]

On 14/10/2021 at 15:05, Betty LaRue said:

Allan, there was a woman in Oklahoma City that didn’t busk, she just begged while holding up a sign about needing food, etc. She set up on a heavily travel road divide, and was there forever, every day in her old, shabby clothes, looking desperate.
This one man had handed her money every time he passed that way. 
One day, he came just as she was leaving, so while he sat in his car through a long traffic light, he saw her get into a late model upscale car. She drove away. He followed at a discreet distance until she pulled into the garage of a nice house.

He was furious. She was making a great living, paying no taxes, and hoodwinking people with soft hearts. He said that money could have gone to those who really needed it, like disabled veterans. He felt taken and stupid. Over time, quite a few beggars were outed because people started paying attention. Some were found to head straight to the liquor store. There were newspaper investigative reporters who found a lot of the beggars were doing it rather than getting jobs, which were plentiful. The beggars made more in three or four hours than the average working Joe.

I used to get the ones holding a sign saying “Hungry” who appeared (? How can one really tell) legitimate, a packaged meal and hand it to them. Some looked angry and threw the food down to the ground.

I give to legitimate charities now, and have a soft heart for veterans who have given limbs, and sometimes their sanity for their country.

FIRST; This has little or nothing to do with the OP's original post, but

 

When I was working as a young publication photographer in Seattle, WA, USA

in the late 1970's I did a story on a guy who stood on a street corner in the central area

of Seattle begging for money, actually he was pretty passive and just stood there with a 

sign asking for "donations."  One day we shared a coffee, he paid for both of us, and he told me he was making

$200.00 USD a day.  Or more than I was making working for a publication.

 

He was not stealing from anyone, he was not accosting anyone.

 

What is wrong with him or what he was doing?

 

Now back to your regular channel.

 

Chuck

 

 

[Michael Ventura]

48 minutes ago, Chuck Nacke said:

FIRST; This has little or nothing to do with the OP's original post, but

 

When I was working as a young publication photographer in Seattle, WA, USA

in the late 1970's I did a story on a guy who stood on a street corner in the central area

of Seattle begging for money, actually he was pretty passive and just stood there with a 

sign asking for "donations."  One day we shared a coffee, he paid for both of us, and he told me he was making

$200.00 USD a day.  Or more than I was making working for a publication.

 

He was not stealing from anyone, he was not accosting anyone.

 

What is wrong with him or what he was doing?

 

Now back to your regular channel.

 

Chuck

 

 

Did you ask him if he paid taxes on his $52,000 a year? And that’s giving him two days a week off.

[Betty LaRue]

45 minutes ago, Chuck Nacke said:

FIRST; This has little or nothing to do with the OP's original post, but

 

When I was working as a young publication photographer in Seattle, WA, USA

in the late 1970's I did a story on a guy who stood on a street corner in the central area

of Seattle begging for money, actually he was pretty passive and just stood there with a 

sign asking for "donations."  One day we shared a coffee, he paid for both of us, and he told me he was making

$200.00 USD a day.  Or more than I was making working for a publication.

 

He was not stealing from anyone, he was not accosting anyone.

 

What is wrong with him or what he was doing?

 

Now back to your regular channel.

 

Chuck

 

 

I guess I think it’s probably lying by omission, Chuck. People with soft hearts who may be struggling with bills are sharing what little they have. Not everyone, of course. They give because they think someone’s homeless or hungry, when it turns out the begger is probably making more than the giver, like in your case.  It’s just my own opinion, but I’d much rather anything I give goes to the people who really are desperate. 
I'm on a fixed income that is not keeping up with inflation, so I’m probably looking at it from my own perspective. And that’s ok, we all operate from our own perspectives.

 

[Betty LaRue]

1 minute ago, Michael Ventura said:

Did you ask him if he paid taxes on his $52,000 a year? And that’s giving him two days a week off.

And that’s more than my husband ever made in one year, and he worked hard and paid taxes. Especially his salary in 1972, which was probably half that.

[Panthera tigris]

Very interesting read on one professional photographers career, not what you think its going to be.....

 

https://blog.photoshelter.com/2021/10/how-blaine-harrington-makes-a-full-time-living-as-a-travel-photographer/?fbclid=IwAR2RF-hrQtDH76qaCQv9gtkhVUiy1rSM-bWe_ZPluP7Uf-7gDCSpQY8AGcA

[Michael Ventura]

2 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

And that’s more than my husband ever made in one year, and he worked hard and paid taxes. Especially his salary in 1972, which was probably half that.

And according to several inflation calculators, $52,000 in 1972 would be worth about $340,000 today.  

[Michael Ventura]

1 hour ago, Panthera tigris said:

Very interesting read on one professional photographers career, not what you think its going to be.....

 

https://blog.photoshelter.com/2021/10/how-blaine-harrington-makes-a-full-time-living-as-a-travel-photographer/?fbclid=IwAR2RF-hrQtDH76qaCQv9gtkhVUiy1rSM-bWe_ZPluP7Uf-7gDCSpQY8AGcA

I know Blaine pretty well, been on a bunch of trips with him, we both belong to the same travel journalism association.  He is one hard working and driven photographer.

[Betty LaRue]

Interesting article. It reminds me of shooting my D300, 100-400 with SB900 and flash extender. (That kept sagging) I haven’t used a flash since going mirrorless. I still have a couple of SB900s. (I think) I need to sell them.

[BobD]

On 17/10/2021 at 14:43, Alexander Hog said:

I am a new user contributing to Alamy since September last year and a member of the forum since November last year Last month I had considered leaving as I didn't know how difficult it was going to be with stock photography but sticking with it at the moment as I don't really want to go back to the previous employment which was a terrible place to work Have had good constructive advice from quite a few long term contributors here and appreciate all the comments 

 

I don't wish to put a dampener on your enthusiasm but unless you have some other source of income you will find it very difficult to make a living from stock photography alone. You would need many tens of thousands of diverse images to be able to do that.

[John Morrison]

8 minutes ago, Alexander Hog said:

Thanks You are being realistic I am Semi Retired and get an income that way I agree with you about it being difficult with making money this way This is all new to me and still learning and some aspects of photography I have never done before Going to try my hand at some other styles like food, macro and other things and see how it goes before uploading to Alamy T

 

Yes, a dose of realism is appropriate in 2021. There once was a 'golden age' of stock photography, when a man in a safari jacket, with a Nikon and a couple of lenses, could travel the world and make a decent living from stock. But those days are long gone... 🙁

[sb photos]

9 hours ago, aphperspective said:

To fill my tank now Betty in Dollars would about $105, so I only put less than half a tank at a time.

 

My C1 is economical and has a small tank. To fill when almost empty costs around £44.00. On longer trips I usually carry extra fuel. Depending upon where you fill up, E10 has recently risen up to 10p a litre. Today I leave the car behind and catch a train into London, have multiple events to photograph, if I walk fast enough.

[aphperspective]

14 minutes ago, sb photos said:

 

My C1 is economical and has a small tank. To fill when almost empty costs around £44.00. On longer trips I usually carry extra fuel. Depending upon where you fill up, E10 has recently risen up to 10p a litre. Today I leave the car behind and catch a train into London, have multiple events to photograph, if I walk fast enough.

My car is not massive, just VW Golf Plus with a 55 litre tank, today in Ireland petrol is about 1.65-1.69 Euro a Litre depending on which garage you find, so basically I shoot for local newspapers on a part time basis and passing opportunities. 

[spacecadet]

1 hour ago, John Morrison said:

when a man in a safari jacket, with a Nikon and a couple of lenses, could travel the world and make a decent living from stock.

I think that was Edo.

Edited October 23, 2021 by spacecadet

[Allan Bell]

My diesel engined VW Passat fuel tank capacity is 70 litres but i usually fill up when it gets down to about quarter full. At £1.39 per litre the cost is around £70. This will take me about 570 miles before refilling at the quarter mark. ie. A cost of around 12 pence/mile. A refill usually lasts about two months on the milages I am doing at present.

 

Sorry I do not know why I am posting this.🤷‍♂️

 

Allan

 

[M.Chapman]

1 hour ago, spacecadet said:

I think that was Edo.

Or is it still FocusUno??

 

Mark

[John Mitchell]

On 22/10/2021 at 15:53, Chuck Nacke said:

FIRST; This has little or nothing to do with the OP's original post, but

 

When I was working as a young publication photographer in Seattle, WA, USA

in the late 1970's I did a story on a guy who stood on a street corner in the central area

of Seattle begging for money, actually he was pretty passive and just stood there with a 

sign asking for "donations."  One day we shared a coffee, he paid for both of us, and he told me he was making

$200.00 USD a day.  Or more than I was making working for a publication.

 

He was not stealing from anyone, he was not accosting anyone.

 

What is wrong with him or what he was doing?

 

Now back to your regular channel.

 

Chuck

 

 

 

I guess it's not much different from starting a "go fund me" page and asking for donations, which is what a lot of people do today.

 

That said, demonizing the poor is a very dangerous road to go down IMO. There are plenty of legitimately desperate people living on the streets of big (and rich) cities like Seattle and Vancouver. Sure, there will always be hustlers, but they are the exceptions.

[Betty LaRue]

On 22/10/2021 at 17:42, aphperspective said:

To fill my tank now Betty in Dollars would about $105, so I only put less than half a tank at a time.

I filled mine up for $38. It wasn’t empty, but had about 1/4 tank left. A year ago it would have cost $28.