Is the stock photo industry moving full-steam ahead, or is it a train wreck about to happen?
A Train Wreck About
To Happen?
A lot of photographers see the stock photo industry as a
train wreck in progress. They blame everything from the emergence of microstock
to the ease of digital to the evil empires of Getty and Corbis. But is the
industry really headed for disaster? Certainly the rampant change is enough to make any of jump the
tracks. But there are opportunities…and I for one wouldn’t want to go back to
the way it was (if it meant giving up digital capture, Photoshop and the Internet)!
Assessing Reality,
Adapting To Change And Elbow Grease
Certainly a lot of barriers to entry have fallen away, an
endless supply of images has brought the price points down and the competition
is fierce. But from where I stand there is still ample room for images that can
stand out from the crowd, though getting them seen is an ever-increasing
challenge. To compete successfully
in this new arena requires a willingness to assess reality, adaptability to
change, and one heck of a lot of elbow grease. It requires getting out of the
caboose and into the engine…and not a steam locomotive but more of a modern
bullet train (sorry about all the train references, but it is kind of fun
seeing how many I can work in for SEO purposes).
Images That Are
Needed And Stand Out
Right now (and this is subject to change) my approach is to
create as many images as I comfortably can, that are clearly needed in the
marketplace, and that stand out from their competition. I then do my best to distribute those
photos in ways that both offer me what I hope is protection from the relentless
changes that are sweeping through the industry and the maximizing of revenue
from that imagery. Of course, the whole undertaking gets ever more complex when
trying to decide whether to shoot RF or RM, whether to pull into the microstock
station, which agencies to distribute through, and whether to offer direct
sales.
Blend Images, Getty,
And Direct Sales
At this point I send the majority of my photography to Blend
Images, an aggregator that offers great distribution including ever more
penetration into the microstock audience (though at traditional pricing), gives
me protection from relying on any one large stock agency, and provides much
more support than I can get from other agencies. Disclaimer here…I am a part
owner of Blend Images. I can
honestly say, though, that if I were not an owner I would still be distributing
through Blend. I am also
continuing to submit to Getty, which is the 900-pound gorilla after all.
Finally, though I have very few images that are not with agencies, I do make some direct sales, and stoke the fires of my agency sales, by getting my stock
pictures up on my own site and linking them to the agencies that handle the
images. I do see a significant number of people finding my images online and
then following the links to the agencies…though it is very difficult to track
the ultimate results.
Full Steam Ahead!
Do I think the stock photo industry is headed full-steam
down the wrong track (have to keep getting those train references in…)? No…because the reality is that the
industry is headed wherever it is regardless of whether we view it as right or
wrong. Our job is to keep an eye on it and switch our own track (did it again!)
when appropriate. We need to use our creativity and critical thinking not just
to make cool images, but also to understand and flow with the realities of our
industry and continue full-steam ahead.
A Runaway Freight
Train And A Successful Career
I can share this bit of positive anecdotal evidence. I do
know one shooter who switched agencies from one of the “traditional” ones to
Blend a little over four years ago and who is now making over $5000.00 a month in
royalties from the new images submitted over those last four plus years. Her
income is continuing to increase with almost each quarter…testimony that it is
possible to carve out a successful career in stock photography even with the
industry barreling along seemingly out of control like a runaway freight train and the economy having such trouble getting back on track.
