The Good Old Days

[colinp]

Remembering the good times.....never to return!

 

 

[Brasilnut]

wow, most impressive is 1464px for $267 RF....$8k.... 

[Brasilnut]

Quote

What about the exciting opportunities that Suckerstock was about to bring to us all?

 

G / iS were stronger then...

 

I singled out the following shot's impressive payout:

 

Buckingham palace is one of the most photographed places in the UK, yet client chose this one. I don't mean any disrespect to your work of which much is vibrant and beautiful, but it appears to be quite an ordinary shot (not even blue hour as sky is completely dark) and earned you almost $1800+ wow. Not sure these days it would do even 10% as well but who knows. 

 

I should have dropped out of law school in 2004 and picked up my camera instead  

 

As for the shot, I did a google reverse search to see where the billboard may be or anything about the client (to see if they then went on to license from MS which is what @geogphotos is implying but no luck. 

 

[Niels Quist]

I joined Alamy with a Canon 5d Mk1 in late summer 2009. I should have joined and known earlier what took me a few years to learn (still learning). However, I joined in time to get at least quite a number of good sales (not record-breaking compared to some reported sales, though) . Most remarkable was an RF sale of a rape field, mill and tree for $365 in 2011 and an RM sale in 2012 of a famous Danish building for $602. My first sale was in January 2010 of the COP 15 supporting demonstrations in Copenhagen (RM - $245) - and back then the  photographer received 60% and distributor sales were pretty rare - and payment required a cleared amount of $250, as far as I remember . I thought this would make a pretty good extra income - but I was too late in business.

[Bryan]

Goodness, I can only dream of sales the like of which Colin has shown!

 

My first leases, with a handful of images, were for $400 and $300 for the same photo, but I was working full time then so couldn't add significantly to my collection. The same photo has sold several times since, each time for (significantly) less cash.

 

Like Niels, I missed the boat, but having fun swimming behind 

[John Mitchell]

Wow! I'm impressed. I started submitting in 2007, and I saw a lot more $100+ and $200+ sales back then. However,  it seems that some contributors' good old days were gooder than others'.

[colinp]

That was the amazing thing, both were very ordinary shots especially windsor castle where the sky was terrible but which sold for $8000. It was used by dupont in a global advertising campaign where a glass fascade was placed as a layer over my image - it worked for them ! Up until then I uploaded only my best work, after that sale I uploaded virtually everything.... oh and I received 70% - $5600  but exchange rate was 1 GBP=2 USD !

 

[vpics]

Indeed:

 

Country: Worldwide
Usage: Non-Editorial Electronic and web uses
Media: Corporate website, single design
Industry sector: Travel and Tourism
Sub-Industry: Package Holidays
Placement: Home page
Image Size: up to 1/4 screen
Start: 16 March 2004
End: 16 March 2005

$706.71 

 

and the same image on the same day 

 

Country: United Kingdom
Usage: Direct mail and brochures
Media: Promotional brochures/ leaflets/inserts
Industry sector: Travel and Tourism
Sub-Industry: Package Holidays
Print run: up to 100,000
Placement: Front cover
Image Size: 1/4 page
Start: 16 March 2004
End: 16 March 2007

$ 883.39

[mickfly]

If today's new clients saw these figures on the forum they might expect to have to pay them still.
Unfortunately, forum members keep posting full details of low value sales on here, which (assuming clients look in here) might make them insist on the same deals.

[Lynn Palmer]

Nearly $12,000 on just two images, I'm stunned (and a little jealous). What a dramatic change in less than 10 years. Somehow I doubt it's all the fault of contributors reporting low prices.

[John Mitchell]

I started making sales on Alamy in 2008, but I never saw ones as high these. However, I had some nice direct downloads from my PhotoShelter website around that time, including a memorable $600+ one by Starbucks. It was for Web use, and today the same image would be available for coffee beans. However, "the good old days" weren't all that they are cut out to be (for me at least). I now have many more sales than I ever did in film, pre-Internet days. Still, it's remarkable how things have changed.

[Brian Yarvin]

Interesting original post. That statement wasn't so different than what I was seeing at the time from a certain large agency that will go unnamed. As for Alamy, I seem to recall having maybe three or four thousand images up and records show that I made a total of four sales that year, adding up to a bit less than seven hundred bucks. Someday, I'll learn the Alamy magic, someday.

[Niels Quist]

10 hours ago, mickfly said:

Unfortunately, forum members keep posting full details of low value sales on here, which (assuming clients look in here) might make them insist on the same deals.

 

Yes, please stop that. Sometimes it is a virtue not to spread your disappointment all around.

[David Olsen]

Hi there and Happy New Year!  My first sales on Alamy. Now I average about one sale a month.

	AKP1BD	Amandawithlaptop	David Olsen	19 May 2005	Rights Managed	Country: Poland Usage: Direct mail and brochures Media: Direct mail A6 Industry sector: Telecommunications Sub-Industry: Telecomm Companies Print run: up to 200,000 Placement: Single sheet Image Size: 1/4 page Start: 01 June 2005 End: 01 September 2005	$ 177.18
	AKP1BD	Amandawithlaptop	David Olsen	19 May 2005	Rights Managed	Country: Poland Usage: Advertising and promotion Media: Newspaper national - advertising Industry sector: Telecommunications Sub-Industry: Telecomm Companies Print run: up to 2 million Insert: less than 25 Placement: Inside Image Size: 1/4 page Start: 01 June 2005 End: 01 September 2005	$ 1794.92
	AKP1BD	Amandawithlaptop	David Olsen	19 May 2005	Rights Managed	Country: Poland Usage: Advertising and promotion Media: Advertising posters Industry sector: Telecommunications Sub-Industry: Telecomm Companies Print run: up to 1,000 Image Size: A3 (297mm by 420mm) Start: 01 June 2005 End: 01 September 2005	$ 484.68
	AKP1BD	Amandawithlaptop	David Olsen	19 May 2005	Rights Managed	Country: Poland Usage: Advertising and promotion Media: Outdoor display – billboard/transit ad Industry sector: Telecommunications Sub-Industry: Telecomm Companies Print run: up to 500 Image Size: 4 Sheet 60inx40in (152.40cm x 101.60cm) Start: 01 June 2005 End: 01 September 2005	$ 864.51
	AKP1BD	Amandawithlaptop	David Olsen	19 May 2005	Rights Managed	Country: Poland Usage: Advertising and promotion Media: Advertising posters Industry sector: Telecommunications Sub-Industry: Telecomm Companies Print run: up to 1,000 Image Size: A4 (210mm by 297mm) Start: 01 June 2005 End: 01 September 2005	$ 438.52
	AKP1BD	Amandawithlaptop	David Olsen	22 June 2005	Rights Managed	Country: Poland Usage: Direct mail and brochures Media: Direct mail A4 Industry sector: Telecommunications Sub-Industry: Telecomm Companies Print run: unlimited Placement: Inside Image Size: 1/4 page Start: 01 July 2005 End: 01 October 2005	$ 378.20
	AKP1BD	Amandawithlaptop	David Olsen	22 June 2005	Rights Managed	Country: Poland Usage: Advertising and promotion Media: Outdoor display - Billboards Industry sector: Telecommunications Sub-Industry: Telecomm Companies Print run: up to 100 Image Size: 16 Sheet 120inx80in (304.80cm x 203.20cm) Start: 01 July 2005 End: 01 October 2005	$ 737.24
	AKP1BD	Amandawithlaptop	David Olsen	22 July 2005	Rights Managed	Country: Poland Usage: Advertising and promotion Media: Newspaper-provincial/free - advertising Industry sector: Telecommunications Sub-Industry: Telecomm Companies Print run: up to 1 million Insert: 1 Placement: Inside Image Size: 1/4 page Start: 01 August 2005 End: 01 September 2005	$ 252.94
	AKP1BD	Amandawithlaptop	David Olsen	22 July 2005	Rights Managed	Country: Poland Usage: Advertising and promotion Media: Point of purchase display Industry sector: Telecommunications Sub-Industry: Telecomm Companies Print run: up to 1,000 Image Size: A6 (105mm by 148mm) Start: 01 August 2005 End: 01 February 2006	$ 517.65

[Brasilnut]

You guys are making me depressed 

[Colin Woods]

Bygone days indeed. I do strongly believe that posting low  values here with an accompanying angry face can only hurt. Its an open forum and clients can look around and see what sort of prices they can get. Sure, a big UK company isn't going to get the same deal as those Lithuanian bulk buys that we had recently, but it will certainly give them a great negociating lever. I suggested before, as a joke really, that we should add a zero to the end of every sale we report so that clients only see references to an angry face low of $30 or so and plenty of references to three and four figure sales. Maybe its not such a bad idea. For my part, I am seeing a higher incidence of sales in the $70-$90 region. I'd love to sell more of course but its not all gloom for me. I remember Colin's $8000 sale when he posted about it when it was a current sale, for a fairly ordinary picture too. And my first (and, I suspect, last) four figure sale was a flat out ordinary walking by mid afternoon snapshot of a seaside pier.

[Sultanpepa]

I'm sure if Alamy sales team felt they were getting driven down on price because of the forum they would soon be letting us know and forbidding us from posting figures. Customers will ask a price, and I don't see the sales team entering into a barter over it. Maybe I'm wrong though, it wouldn't be the first time.

[andremichel]

I joined in 2010 and it was already too late. 

[Allan Bell]

8 hours ago, andremichel said:

I joined in 2010 and it was already too late. 

 

 

Ditto 2008

[John Mitchell]

9 hours ago, andremichel said:

I joined in 2010 and it was already too late. 

 

I joined in 2003 but didn't start submitting until mid 2007. Boy, was that a dumb move.

 

That said, I don't think it's ever too late. In ten years' time these will be considered "the good old days".

[mickfly]

On 31/12/2017 at 09:57, Niels Quist said:

 

Yes, please stop that. Sometimes it is a virtue not to spread your disappointment all around.

 

 

It's a shame we both get a red arrow for an opinion!

[ReeRay]

On 04/01/2018 at 00:29, John Mitchell said:

 

I joined in 2003 but didn't start submitting until mid 2007. Boy, was that a dumb move.

 

That said, I don't think it's ever too late. In ten years' time these will be considered "the good old days".

 

My maxim in life is that today is tomorrow's "good old days". Live it whilst it's there. 

[Brasilnut]

I just had a gross $2.20 RM sale "novelty use". If this isn't a micro-sale I don't know what is... 

[Brasilnut]

Quote

Surely you know the difference between a low fee for an NU licence and a micro stock licence - you just like to pretend otherwise.

 

I do, just surprised with the low amounts for this RM license. On the other hand, there's the other extreme of the bell-curve with those shocking yet rare $1k so it's fine. 

[imageplotter]

On 30/12/2017 at 11:17, colinp said:

That was the amazing thing, both were very ordinary shots especially windsor castle where the sky was terrible but which sold for $8000. It was used by dupont in a global advertising campaign where a glass fascade was placed as a layer over my image - it worked for them ! Up until then I uploaded only my best work, after that sale I uploaded virtually everything.... oh and I received 70% - $5600  but exchange rate was 1 GBP=2 USD !

 

 

Out of interest (because I probably categorise most of my images far too conservatively as containing property and may well be losing out on sales that way) - would the statue of Queen Victoria (?) not have some sort of copyright on it that would make it tricky to use this in a commercial advertising campaign? (assuming the grounds around Windsor Castle are public/shot from public land?) Or did the client in that case buy the image knowing there was property in the image? In any case, agree that was a very impressive sale!