Bob Croxford obituary

[geogphotos]

I'm sad to come across Bob's obituary. I never met him in person only through online forums.

 

I first saw his work in the early 1980s on fantastic landscape postcards of Bath and the West Country. His images stood out from the normal stuff that was on postcards and I found them inspirational.

 

I also found a lot of what he said online to be inspirational with his clear and passionate views about photography and photographers' rights. 

 

https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/croxford/5044401

 

I know that alt least some of those on the  current Alamy forum, such as Brian Yarvin, knew Bob and many others will have interacted with him on various forums. 

 

RIP Bob.

 

 

Edited November 20, 2023 by geogphotos

[Craig Joiner]

Thank you for posting this Ian.

I was thinking of Bob the other day when I realised his last post on another group was nearly 2 years ago and was wondering.

I’d not met Bob in person either, although I had the pleasure of corresponding with him by email on occasion. He was always very generous with sharing his knowledge and I too found him a great inspiration. He had a lot of great stories to tell from his many and varied years in the industry and I believe he spent considerable time and energy working to protect photographer’s rights during the consultation on what would become the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 – something we all have benefited from. His wise words on the old Alamy forum often stood out in a sea of nonsense and I for one missed them when he left.

His postcards were everywhere here in the South West and his business still exists today https://www.atmosphere.co.uk/ - he gave it to his employees when he retired as I recall. I see his many books are still available too and I have a few myself.

A sad loss.

RIP Bob.

[Brian Yarvin]

I had no idea! I thought that Bob was being obstinate, instead, he was gone. I met with him several times in New York and visited his home in Cornwall. His was an important voice during the stock photo boom of the nineties. 

 

Now I must add him to the long list of people I've known who are now gone.

 

Goodbye Bob. You will be sorely missed. I only wish I could have known sooner.

[Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg]

I feel ill.

Who else has "disappeared" without it being noticed...?

I don't read obits...
Mr. Croxford was active on, what was it called, Photo.net forum?

Who was that science shooter that went on & on about

race to the bottom murky mud...?  He was right, I was not...

[geogphotos]

2 hours ago, Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg said:

I feel ill.

Who else has "disappeared" without it being noticed...?

I don't read obits...
Mr. Croxford was active on, what was it called, Photo.net forum?

Who was that science shooter that went on & on about

race to the bottom murky mud...?  He was right, I was not...

 

 

Carl ......?

 

He was the person who invented the name 'Suckerstock' 😀

Edited November 23, 2023 by geogphotos

[Brian Yarvin]

Yes, his name was Carl, but he wasn't a photographer, he was an agent with a one-man science collection. (one-man or couple-run agencies were common before the digital era.) I recall reading his posts on the Stockphoto Mailinglist back in the nineties. As the boom of the time came apart, that was the place where many people expressed their anger. As the years wore on and the bottom fell out, it turned out that even the most dismal predictions of 1999 were way too optimistic. 

 

I would doubt that our Carl is still with us. Perhaps he changed careers, or perhaps he was able to retire, a quarter of a century is a long time.

[Brian Yarvin]

Carl W. May, Biological Photo Service, Moss Beach, California. Couldn't find an obit, so maybe alive and kicking. 

[Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg]

10 hours ago, Brian Yarvin said:

...even the most dismal predictions of 1999 were way too optimistic.

now that I've thought a bit about it

he was right about traditional stock photography

but not about assignment photography or

social media influencer photography AFAICT...

[geogphotos]

6 hours ago, Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg said:

now that I've thought a bit about it

he was right about traditional stock photography

but not about assignment photography or

social media influencer photography AFAICT...

 

Almost time for the obituary for that! 

[Brian Yarvin]

12 hours ago, Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg said:

now that I've thought a bit about it

he was right about traditional stock photography

but not about assignment photography or

social media influencer photography AFAICT...

 

Jeff, back then, stock photography was the most lucrative thing you could do with a camera. It was what the top people in the big markets were doing. Now - as Carl correctly predicted - it's the bottom. Today, in places like NYC, London, Paris, and Tokyo, assignment photography is booming and so is fine art. The people I laughed at for getting doctorates in photography and hand coating their own paper are getting six figures for single images. As for social media, we called it "workshops" back then and they sold their videos as vhs tapes. It existed, but today it thrives.

 

I was VERY bad at predicting the future.

[geogphotos]

Who is coming along to create stock images for the future?

 

Anybody?

[Rebecca Ore]

1 hour ago, geogphotos said:

Who is coming along to create stock images for the future?

 

Anybody?

 

Retired people and trust fund kids doing it for ego boo.  "I was published...." tends not to have people ask the follow-up question:  "Where and for how much?" 

 

 

[geogphotos]

13 minutes ago, Rebecca Ore said:

 

Retired people and trust fund kids doing it for ego boo.  "I was published...." tends not to have people ask the follow-up question:  "Where and for how much?" 

 

 

 

 

I don't see that as much of a basis for the supply of stock imagery into the future. 

 

The agencies seem to think that there will also be a 'tap/faucet' that they can turn on and off.  I predict that the flow will eventually dry up or be reduced to a trickle.

 

Just one indication - isn't Alamy currently sending out emails to try an get more people posting on the forum? 

Edited November 25, 2023 by geogphotos

[Brian Yarvin]

It's been twenty years since I've encountered any trust fund types in stock photography. I'll have to come down to Central America to see this. Retirees? Yes, and let's not forget that if you started in the stock photo business when it was appealing as a business model, you'd be way past retirement age in most countries. Of course, in the field, it would be tough to tell the difference between a seventy year old who's been shooting stock for more than fifty years and a seventy year old who's been shooting for four or five.

 

Both Bob Croxford and Carl May were old school. They entered the business when single sales for thousands or tens of thousands of dollars were routine and couldn't stick with it when those same sorts of deals were happening for a few bucks. Even worse, the photographers who replaced them were happier than they ever were and thanks to the internet, could let them know it.

 

Today, the stock photo world is littered with clues that hint at a need for more and/or better photographers. Do they add up? I doubt it. I miss guys like Bob Croxford, Chuck Goodenough, Carl May, and countless others and doubt I'll ever see that combination of craft, success, and passion again.