What Sells . . . ?

[Ed Rooney]

 

Is it the subject? The location? The tech? Hmm. 

 

I don't shoot sports, wild life, or rual landscapes . . . and I don't shoot Live News. The locations of mine that sell best are NYC (still after 6 years) and Liverpool. I traveled to Chester and York but have no sales from ether. Not yet. I have some sales from the other places I've stopped at after leaving NYC in 2018 -- Mexico, Quebec, Spain, and Ireland, but not many. Tabletop sells, food and other stuff. 

 

I'm getting close to giving up on this and joining a pub darts club. 

 

Edo

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by Ed Rooney

[Michael Ventura]

1 hour ago, gvallee said:

 

We have Electric Ants here in Cairns. They like to get into any electrical device and chew the cables. 

 

Wow, what did they do before the advent of manmade electrical cables?

[Allan Bell]

15 hours ago, gvallee said:

 

We have Electric Ants here in Cairns. They like to get into any electrical device and chew the cables. 

 

Set up electric ant traps in their runs and FRY THEM.

 

Allan

 

[Cal]

While I do have some "picturesque" type photos sell for stock, it's mostly boring subjects that I would never have thought to photograph before I knew stock. I often still have to remind myself while I'm out and about that while the scene in front of me would not be welcome as a canvas print in anyone's living room, it'd make a great stock photo. Signs, buildings, modes of transport, people doing things and any niche that you can cover well all get the goods.

[Steve F]

1 hour ago, Cal said:

While I do have some "picturesque" type photos sell for stock, it's mostly boring subjects that I would never have thought to photograph before I knew stock. I often still have to remind myself while I'm out and about that while the scene in front of me would not be welcome as a canvas print in anyone's living room, it'd make a great stock photo. Signs, buildings, modes of transport, people doing things and any niche that you can cover well all get the goods.

 

Seconded

[Ed Rooney]

 

Sad but true, Mister Cal to my north. Have you seen people 'doing things' other than dealing with their cell phones? 

 

And I want to see a puffin to make sure they're real and not just another Disney character. 

[Rebecca Ore]

1 hour ago, Ed Rooney said:

Have you seen people 'doing things' other than dealing with their cell phones? 

 

 The best people doing things shots, in my opinion, are people working at their regular jobs, playing sports they really do play.   But getting releases is non-trivial.

 

The funniest use of stock were stock photos of various earnest looking people with political comments attributed to them underneath or in the copy space.  The models frequently were not of the party that used them and had never said those things.  

 

Vital: released photos of people with tech/wine glasses, on some unidentifiable yacht, or trying to pose as a golfer/basketball player/painter (I remember the painter in an ad for insurance or bonds or something, implying that artists never made money; wonder what the license fee for that was).

[spacecadet]

14 minutes ago, Rebecca Ore said:

people with tech/wine glasses,

It's pretty important that people operating machinery look as if they know how to operate them properly. Particularly wine glasses😉

C'mon guys, it's Sunday evening.

Edited November 27, 2022 by spacecadet

[John Mitchell]

Apparently, images of people faking things sell well. 😁

1 hour ago, Rebecca Ore said:

 

 The best people doing things shots, in my opinion, are people working at their regular jobs, playing sports they really do play.   But getting releases is non-trivial.

 

 

 

I agree. Most staged "lifestyle" images are a form of propaganda, which says something about the advertising industry and its hold on people. Communist / socialist regimes get criticized for their heavy use of propaganda, but capitalistic democracies are just as bad if not worse in some respects.

[sooth]

1 hour ago, Rebecca Ore said:

 

 The best people doing things shots, in my opinion, are people working at their regular jobs, playing sports they really do play.   But getting releases is non-trivial.

 

This year I licensed (editorial) an image of a postman, a few of various gig workers delivering stuff; people protesting; people handing out food at a food pantry; person operating a coffee roaster; a person making bagels; tourists doing tourist stuff like dragging luggage; people playing pickleball... just to give an idea. these are all editorial, just stuff I happened across that looked interesting, and had stock potential.. highest paid were a museum license, and tv licenses, lowest were uk news websites. 

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by sooth

[Rebecca Ore]

7 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

Apparently, images of people faking things sell well. 😁

 

I agree. Most staged "lifestyle" images are a form of propaganda, which says something about the advertising industry and its hold on people. Communist / socialist regimes get criticized for their heavy use of propaganda, but capitalistic democracies are just as bad if not worse in some respects.

 

Advertising is weird.   Advertising here for commercial products can be far weirder than most US ads. 

 

Only propaganda from the left in my time here that was really obvious and embarrassing was Venezuelan TV when Chavez was still alive.

 

One thing about propaganda -- TinEye catches some really obvious stuff.  And telephones and social media spread both the lies and the truths.  

 

 

[John Mitchell]

15 hours ago, Rebecca Ore said:

 

Advertising is weird.   Advertising here for commercial products can be far weirder than most US ads. 

 

Only propaganda from the left in my time here that was really obvious and embarrassing was Venezuelan TV when Chavez was still alive.

 

One thing about propaganda -- TinEye catches some really obvious stuff.  And telephones and social media spread both the lies and the truths.  

 

 

 

The only time I can stomach most ads is when they are genuinely funny or clever, which is increasingly rare these days for some reason. I think I'm becoming a curmudgeon... 👹

[Ed Rooney]

2 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

I think I'm becoming a curmudgeon... 👹

 

Well, as long as you don't advertise it.

[Allan Bell]

22 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

The only time I can stomach most ads is when they are genuinely funny or clever, which is increasingly rare these days for some reason. I think I'm becoming a curmudgeon... 👹

 

I am fed up with all the ads on TV here for people to give sums of money (£20 etc) to various charities. I do give to charities but if I was to give to all these as well I would not have anything to live on myself.

 

Allan

 

[John Mitchell]

39 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

 

I am fed up with all the ads on TV here for people to give sums of money (£20 etc) to various charities. I do give to charities but if I was to give to all these as well I would not have anything to live on myself.

 

Allan

 

 

Just by coincidence, I've been meaning to ask you for a donation. 😎

 

Back to what's selling -- for me it's mainly the usual suspects, although I've had a few pleasant surprises lately. Pretty slow this month, though, with a small flurry of PU and presentation sales and not much else.

[Rebecca Ore]

1 hour ago, Allan Bell said:

 

I am fed up with all the ads on TV here for people to give sums of money (£20 etc) to various charities. I do give to charities but if I was to give to all these as well I would not have anything to live on myself.

 

Allan

 

A significant part of charity donations goes to advertising.  Some times, that can involve nepotism or friends helping friends.   My charity in Nicaragua is hiring people to work for me.  Luis is in a vet assistant training program that will last three months of Sundays.  When he finds full time employment in his field, I'll end up with one person to walk Lola and one person who'll do cleaning once a week (a Nicaraguan friend has already lined them up).

 

And this morning, Luis saw what I'd picked for Alamy and that they'd passed QC and then I used Google Translate to explain what work I had to do next -- captions and keywords.   No releases so nothing for Vital. 

[Cal]

On 27/11/2022 at 16:01, Ed Rooney said:

 

Sad but true, Mister Cal to my north. Have you seen people 'doing things' other than dealing with their cell phones? 

 

And I want to see a puffin to make sure they're real and not just another Disney character. 

 

Bumping into other people on cell phones? And yes, Puffins are real, but much smaller than expected. About the size of a town pigeon...