dustydingo Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 Just noticed: . . . one of the perpetually arising threads where folk discuss how their views have gone up/down of late has over 1400 views in 2 days. . . . a thread describing what advertising agencies and designers (you know, the higher paying clients) are buying of late has attracted less than 100 views in one day. Is it just me, or does anyone else think this indicates a bit of an unusual priority? dd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losdemas Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 People are strange. But it could be that folk here have already read the blog entry (which is now nearly two months old)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 Is it just me, or does anyone else think this indicates a bit of an unusual priority? Not for this forum, no. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Brook Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 The problem is that Alamy is a crowd-sourced platform, and so you will get a crowd-sourced mentality, Dusty. I don't know what the Getty forum is like (only supply them via other agencies) but the Corbis forum, such as it is, is more like an Oxbridge seminar by comparison. Try that here and some prat will give you an earful. But there isn't much use in discussing creative buying trends without going into some depth. Ditto serious editorial/documentary work. Smaller agencies have tried to set up discussion groups, but they have tended to dry up. It probably speaks volumes that in 2014 about 90% of my Alamy time has been spent on this forum, and that is about the length of time I have spent on a particular handful of images. Crowd-sourced supply is going nowhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 The problem is that Alamy is a crowd-sourced platform, and so you will get a crowd-sourced mentality, Dusty. I don't know what the Getty forum is like (only supply them via other agencies) but the Corbis forum, such as it is, is more like an Oxbridge seminar by comparison. Try that here and some prat will give you an earful. But there isn't much use in discussing creative buying trends without going into some depth. Ditto serious editorial/documentary work. Smaller agencies have tried to set up discussion groups, but they have tended to dry up. It probably speaks volumes that in 2014 about 90% of my Alamy time has been spent on this forum, and that is about the length of time I have spent on a particular handful of images. Crowd-sourced supply is going nowhere. I think there is a lot in that. It is why I am working to get my work accepted elsewhere, on libraries that are much more targetted (so that I too can be more focused). In the meantime my pics are better on Alamy than on my local hard drive, just. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 No, it's not a priority to read about commercial at Alamy, better to go to the industry themselves IMO. Much more informative http://gdusa.com/issue_2014/september/stock_survey/ (don't read the comments on crowdsourcing or mobile phone imagery). This is even more scary http://issuu.com/visualsteam/docs/2014_art_buyers_results/1?e=7535669/9041382 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 "Try that here and some prat will give you an earful." Nothing personal, but if that is the way you really feel about people on this forum, then perhaps it isn't the right place for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 Just noticed: . . . one of the perpetually arising threads where folk discuss how their views have gone up/down of late has over 1400 views in 2 days. . . . a thread describing what advertising agencies and designers (you know, the higher paying clients) are buying of late has attracted less than 100 views in one day. Is it just me, or does anyone else think this indicates a bit of an unusual priority? dd Get your point, mate, but I don't think that it indicates an unusual priority given that most forum contributors are editorial photographers (I think it's fair to say). Also, any thread about waning and waxing views and zooms -- as mundane as it might be -- will always be popular because leasing as many images as possible tends to top most priority lists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Brook Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 "Try that here and some prat will give you an earful." Nothing personal, but if that is the way you really feel about people on this forum, then perhaps it isn't the right place for you. John, when I am driving, and keeping to a speed limit, it's often the case that some prat is sitting 6" behind my rear bumper. Would you construe from that statement any feelings I have about drivers in general? I'm not in the habit of wearing my heart on my sleeve, but let's just say I am very fond of contributors here. Most of them, that is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Brook Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 Just noticed: . . . one of the perpetually arising threads where folk discuss how their views have gone up/down of late has over 1400 views in 2 days. . . . a thread describing what advertising agencies and designers (you know, the higher paying clients) are buying of late has attracted less than 100 views in one day. Is it just me, or does anyone else think this indicates a bit of an unusual priority? dd Get your point, mate, but I don't think that it indicates an unusual priority given that most forum contributors are editorial photographers (I think it's fair to say). Also, any thread about waning and waxing views and zooms -- as mundane as it might be -- will always be popular because leasing as many images as possible tends to top most priority lists. A lot of editorial photography is used commercially (My highest fee here for an editorial image was $2700). But C/G leave Alamy standing. Alamy obviously wants to move in that direction. Also, high end sales aren't restricted to advertising. And the forum isn't just for forum contributors, it's for forum readers, many of whom aren't editorial specialists. I can't see any logical connection between reading about sad months and leasing lot's of images. If someone with (say) 1k images posts that they make monthly sales in double figures, then I can see that at least has motivational value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Brook Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 One of the scary bits in the link provided by Geoff above (my italics): "Other agencies were mentioned but not enough to rank including: AGE, Imagesource, Big Stock, Alamy, Superstock, Offset, Junkinvideo, Stockxchange" Only one of these claims to have the world's largest online collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 "Try that here and some prat will give you an earful." Nothing personal, but if that is the way you really feel about people on this forum, then perhaps it isn't the right place for you. John, when I am driving, and keeping to a speed limit, it's often the case that some prat is sitting 6" behind my rear bumper. Would you construe from that statement any feelings I have about drivers in general? I'm not in the habit of wearing my heart on my sleeve, but let's just say I am very fond of contributors here. Most of them, that is. No, I wouldn't necessarily construe that. You often make useful -- if sometimes controversial -- contributions to the forum. My point is that calling the perceived tailgaters "prats" won't accomplish anything. Have a good weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 Just noticed: . . . one of the perpetually arising threads where folk discuss how their views have gone up/down of late has over 1400 views in 2 days. . . . a thread describing what advertising agencies and designers (you know, the higher paying clients) are buying of late has attracted less than 100 views in one day. Is it just me, or does anyone else think this indicates a bit of an unusual priority? dd Get your point, mate, but I don't think that it indicates an unusual priority given that most forum contributors are editorial photographers (I think it's fair to say). Also, any thread about waning and waxing views and zooms -- as mundane as it might be -- will always be popular because leasing as many images as possible tends to top most priority lists. A lot of editorial photography is used commercially (My highest fee here for an editorial image was $2700). But C/G leave Alamy standing. Alamy obviously wants to move in that direction. Also, high end sales aren't restricted to advertising. And the forum isn't just for forum contributors, it's for forum readers, many of whom aren't editorial specialists. I can't see any logical connection between reading about sad months and leasing lot's of images. If someone with (say) 1k images posts that they make monthly sales in double figures, then I can see that at least has motivational value. True, there isn't a logical connection between reading and leasing, but there is a possible link between having plenty of views/zooms and making sales. Hence the popularity of such threads. And, yes, you're correct, a lot of editorial photography is used commercially. It can be a false distinction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Brook Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 "No, I wouldn't necessarily construe that. You often make useful -- if sometimes controversial -- contributions to the forum. My point is that calling the perceived tailgaters "prats" won't accomplish anything. Have a good weekend." JM I apologise for the intemperate language. My point is (or should have been - is now) that what this forum has is a diversity of opinion that is refreshing, and rarely descends to the level of inanity (can't think of a more diplomatic way of putting it) that a lot of public photo forums do. However, the sense I get is that (and I think this is underlined by Geoff’s post above) there is a reluctance to discuss solutions because we are scared of, or in denial about, the true nature of the problems. Most problems issue from the fact that the industry is going through a period of near revolutionary change, and that is not all bad, and possibly even liberating. I don’t know if this has anything at all to do with the above but it just popped into my head: a wonderful film I saw recently called ‘Pride’. Perhaps I’d better hide now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Endicott Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 My thoughts (in the form of a little parable)..... I used to do a lot of fishing and I would religiously read the fishing reports come out every week in the newspaper. Then I came to realize that that's what people were catching the week prior. I changed my technique and decided to keep records of the best times to fish, the best bait and lures that I had confidence in, and the best places to concentrate my time. Eventually, I found a pattern that allowed me to be more successful. I read it in the blog and I read it again in the post....I'll keep fishing based on what I have confidence in - but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try different bait or lures every once in a while. I'm glad the folks that licensed those images have had success in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sultanpepa Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 It's not strange. Human nature as it is we all want to see how the other guy/girl is doing. For most of us licenses are sporadic. Seeing someone with a few gives us encouragement and hope that ours will be along soon enough. As someone said, it's like the weather forecast, we all want to read about it being sunny tomorrow even if we know in our heart of hearts that it's gonna rain again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustydingo Posted November 9, 2014 Author Share Posted November 9, 2014 Views and zooms is a bit like talking about the weather with the neighbours... we are all affected by it, its ever changing, and no opinion is going to be really controversial. The other is suggesting what people should do... and people are less inclined to be told what to do... even when its in their own interests. And yet one of the perpetual threads here is the arguing about where Alamy should post picture needs, not far removed from the blog about what buyers have been buying . . . and surely giving great information on what major buyers are buying is not telling anyone to do anything . . . but it sure is a bigger help to me than knowing 4 contributors had more views than me and 5 had less. It was that sort of thinking that lead me to start this thread, because it seemed to me from the quick-and-ready analysis of thread-views that comparative image-views appeared to be more important than excellent trend data on what's selling to major clients. An interesting discussion has ensued . . . :-) dd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 Views and zooms is a bit like talking about the weather with the neighbours... we are all affected by it, its ever changing, and no opinion is going to be really controversial. The other is suggesting what people should do... and people are less inclined to be told what to do... even when its in their own interests. And yet one of the perpetual threads here is the arguing about where Alamy should post picture needs, not far removed from the blog about what buyers have been buying . . . and surely giving great information on what major buyers are buying is not telling anyone to do anything . . . but it sure is a bigger help to me than knowing 4 contributors had more views than me and 5 had less. It was that sort of thinking that lead me to start this thread, because it seemed to me from the quick-and-ready analysis of thread-views that comparative image-views appeared to be more important than excellent trend data on what's selling to major clients. An interesting discussion has ensued . . . :-) dd Yes, an interesting discussion indeed. And I agree, the recent Alamy blog post deserves to get more views. I found the info on what type of travel images commercial clients have been buying to be especially interesting since a lot of my photos fall into that category. However, I'm not 100% sure what a "commercial client" is when it comes to travel. Are glossy travel magazines that "sell" destinations commercial clients? How about travel brochures? Or are we just talking about ad agencies with big budgets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 Like JM I monitor what has worked for me and try to get a handle on industry trends. However I am interested in comparing my views trend with what other people are seeing - I want to get a sense of whether the changes I have made working or the changes in views due to seasonal or other factors. I am in start up mode having completely rejigged my approach so as a "new" business I don't have my own history to rely on yet. That said I am not interested in day to day changes, too volatile, so I watch my trends rather than values. I use indexed or moving average charts to create a clearer picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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