qaz Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 am new to alamy so this is of great interest to me. saw a post here where it was said that alamy had a reputation for being somewhere you got into because you could, i haven't heard this opinion before and find it a little disturbing if its true as it doesn't take much to workout what this would mean to buyers. anyone have any thoughts on the subject? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustydingo Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 I contribute here and to G**** and C***** because I can. Not sure what difference that makes to the general buyer community as I also sell licenses here and at G**** and at C*****. As with the other places, getting into Alamy and selling licenses in Alamy are two different things, although many of the "because you could" crowd may not (yet) realise that. What do you think this means to buyers? dd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qaz Posted November 16, 2014 Author Share Posted November 16, 2014 I contribute here and to G**** and C***** because I can. Not sure what difference that makes to the general buyer community as I also sell licenses here and at G**** and at C*****. As with the other places, getting into Alamy and selling licenses in Alamy are two different things, although many of the "because you could" crowd may not (yet) realise that. What do you think this means to buyers? dd i suspect that if buyers start to think that alamy stocks are low quality because the acceptance standard is low then they simple wont come there to even look. thats what i mean i think u can say the 5 and 6 letter words without fear of retribution Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustydingo Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 I contribute here and to G**** and C***** because I can. Not sure what difference that makes to the general buyer community as I also sell licenses here and at G**** and at C*****. As with the other places, getting into Alamy and selling licenses in Alamy are two different things, although many of the "because you could" crowd may not (yet) realise that. What do you think this means to buyers? dd i suspect that if buyers start to think that alamy stocks are low quality because the acceptance standard is low then they simple wont come there to even look. thats what i mean i think u can say the 5 and 6 letter words without fear of retribution No fear of retribution (been around too long to worry about that sort of thing), just habit. The best way for buyers to think that Alamy's collection is low quality is for it to be low quality. And some of it sure as heck is . . . and some of it is breathtakingly not. I'm sure many buyers know that--certainly those who've purchased licenses to use Alamy-hosted images do. Regardless, there's naught you or I can do about it, and contributing here is not compulsory. I trust Alamy's marketing to address this to a degree . . . dd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 I contribute here and to G**** and C***** because I can. Not sure what difference that makes to the general buyer community as I also sell licenses here and at G**** and at C*****. As with the other places, getting into Alamy and selling licenses in Alamy are two different things, although many of the "because you could" crowd may not (yet) realise that. What do you think this means to buyers? dd i suspect that if buyers start to think that alamy stocks are low quality because the acceptance standard is low then they simple wont come there to even look. thats what i mean i think u can say the 5 and 6 letter words without fear of retribution If that were the case then surely Alamy would have disappeared years ago. I think (and have heard it said) buyers come to Alamy because they can get images here that they couldn't get from the curated collections. Many of my licences have been for images that would have been edited out elsewhere, including by me if my designer sister had not been doing the editing for me. One of her long term complaints was that she could often not get quite the pose/ composition she wanted - an argument for MORE similars? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 I contribute here and to G**** and C***** because I can. Not sure what difference that makes to the general buyer community as I also sell licenses here and at G**** and at C*****. As with the other places, getting into Alamy and selling licenses in Alamy are two different things, although many of the "because you could" crowd may not (yet) realise that. What do you think this means to buyers? dd i suspect that if buyers start to think that alamy stocks are low quality because the acceptance standard is low then they simple wont come there to even look. thats what i mean i think u can say the 5 and 6 letter words without fear of retribution Clients are well aware of what Alamy is...or isn't. They only care about what images are on Alamy, ease of search and price point they can get those images for. If they can't find the images, they go elsewhere. Alamy is what it is...it's that simple, It's not Getty and clients know it. However, most of the best produced imagery in stock will be here, via the major aggregator agencies, so clients are not missing out on that because of the crowd-sourced nature of the portal. Whatthey also get is the less well produced work that may..or may not be of interest. Any agency is easy to get on to if you are producing the imagery that agency wants.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 One of her long term complaints was that she could often not get quite the pose/ composition she wanted - an argument for MORE similars? Is there a case here for Alamy suggesting to buyers that in the case of posed and released shots, if the exact pose they want is not there then it's not impossible that the photographer could repeat the shoot with different poses? Or is that too much extra effort for too little gain? Alan Edit: some more thoughts after posting the above. I regularly take lots of shots of a subject but usually only include one or two in my Alamy submissions to avoid too many similars. So if a buyer can't find the exact composition I may well have it on my hard drive. I'm sure the same applies to other contributors as well. So why don't Alamy set up a system whereby a buyer can contact a photographer (anonymously, via Alamy) to ask if there are other pics from the shoot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 I contribute here and to G**** and C***** because I can. Not sure what difference that makes to the general buyer community as I also sell licenses here and at G**** and at C*****. As with the other places, getting into Alamy and selling licenses in Alamy are two different things, although many of the "because you could" crowd may not (yet) realise that. What do you think this means to buyers? dd i suspect that if buyers start to think that alamy stocks are low quality because the acceptance standard is low then they simple wont come there to even look. thats what i mean i think u can say the 5 and 6 letter words without fear of retribution If that were the case then surely Alamy would have disappeared years ago. I think (and have heard it said) buyers come to Alamy because they can get images here that they couldn't get from the curated collections. Many of my licences have been for images that would have been edited out elsewhere, including by me if my designer sister had not been doing the editing for me. One of her long term complaints was that she could often not get quite the pose/ composition she wanted - an argument for MORE similars? Designers say lots of things but in the end...look at where they shop for images, especially high price point images and see how many similars they don't get to choose from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 One of her long term complaints was that she could often not get quite the pose/ composition she wanted - an argument for MORE similars? Is there a case here for Alamy suggesting to buyers that in the case of posed and released shots, if the exact pose they want is not there then it's not impossible that the photographer could repeat the shoot with different poses? Or is that too much extra effort for too little gain? Alan Edit: some more thoughts after posting the above. I regularly take lots of shots of a subject but usually only include one or two in my Alamy submissions to avoid too many similars. So if a buyer can't find the exact composition I may well have it on my hard drive. I'm sure the same applies to other contributors as well. So why don't Alamy set up a system whereby a buyer can contact a photographer (anonymously, via Alamy) to ask if there are other pics from the shoot? Some years ago I did have Alamy ask if I had any other pictures of a subject, In at least one case I didn't so sold a licence for the one I did have on Alamy/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Brooks Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 The problem with a curated collection is that the collection can become very narrow in subject and treatment, and become dated quickly. It depends on the skill of the curator to see the future demand. The sort order should curate the collection for buyers, by presenting the popular images on the first page. Buyers buy images that meet their needs. They do not care about, or subscribe to, a photographic pecking order. Only photographers do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 The problem with a curated collection is that the collection can become very narrow in subject and treatment, and become dated quickly. It depends on the skill of the curator to see the future demand. The sort order should curate the collection for buyers, by presenting the popular images on the first page. Buyers buy images that meet their needs. They do not care about, or subscribe to, a photographic pecking order. Only photographers do that. I know what you mean. Look at the well known curated collections of that ilk and you see highly polished, technically perfect images dominating their pages; they would not have been out of place 20 years ago (apart from the clothes and hair etc). They have their place but then look at the more trendy publications, broadcasters and picture libraries and you find a different look entirely. Alamy has attempted to hook into that trend, in part at least, with Stockimo but there are other libraries whose whole collection has a similar, edgier, sort of feel. May not last of course but there is presumably money to be made by those who can ride the wave, especially if they pick up the next. Now whether I could hang ten on it is doubtful - any other silver surfers managing to properly catch that wave? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 am new to alamy so this is of great interest to me. saw a post here where it was said that alamy had a reputation for being somewhere you got into because you could, i haven't heard this opinion before and find it a little disturbing if its true as it doesn't take much to workout what this would mean to buyers. anyone have any thoughts on the subject? Congratulations on being one of the ones who could. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 The problem with a curated collection is that the collection can become very narrow in subject and treatment. True! I alo submit to agencies which edit their submissions. And I get the heebie jeebies when they select only one of my images while I take so much care about offering both a vertical AND horizontal version of a particular subject so that it fits whatever layout. Is that so hard to understand for some people? Cheers, Philippe Or how about when they reject images that have proven sales potential? Very frustrating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qaz Posted November 16, 2014 Author Share Posted November 16, 2014 hummm...very interesting to hear views thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Brooks Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 You can also experiment more in a not curated collection. The concept of having two photographs in one image was rejected by curators but acceptable at Alamy. y. I doubt if this image of bigfoot image would have been accepted by curators, but was accepted and sold at Alamy. How many curated collections have this image of the Wendigo that sold last month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 I've always thought that Alamy made a very smart move with its "open door" policy. Without it, they would be just another big stock agency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Richmond Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 I've always thought that Alamy made a very smart move with its "open door" policy. Without it, they would be just another big stock agency. As long as the costs of database management and storage of an ever increasing collection continue to go down per image it's a very smart policy. The last thing any agency wants is for a buyer to walk away because they cannot find what they are looking for. In Alamy's case their 'wisdom of crowds' sourcing model provides buyers with a very good chance of finding something they can use no matter how obscure the subject. For the individual contributor it may not be such good news as competition is fiercer. But that means we have to self-edit, continually improve, look for different takes on familiar, well worn themes, or find niches less exploited if we are to stand out in a crowded field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Brook Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.