Stock Photographer Jon Boyes Interview

This Jon Boyes photo of a gas-fired power plant is one of those all too rare cases of a successful stock shot that also qualifies as art. A big part of it's success is the numerous ways to utilize the image illustrating concepts from "industry" to "jobs" to "global warming".

Jon, can you bring us up to speed on how you got into photography, and stock photography in particular?

I first picked up a camera at age 13 when I was offered the chance to learn how a darkroom worked by our Physics teacher at school. It was a Praktica MTL3. That and some Tri-X and seeing the prints come up in the developer and I was hooked. Cameras gave way to guitars for a long time though - I figured that girls liked guitars more than cameras! But I returned to photography about 20 years ago, and after a couple of years it eventually became my profession.

Around 2003 I was shooting commercial, advertising and editorial images for a range of clients and had just (with trepidation) added digital capture with a Canon D30 (3.1Mp!) which cost an arm and a leg. The Internet was getting bigger and eventually I became aware of Getty, Corbis, Alamy and stock photography in general. I had no experience of stock before then but liked the business model of licensing my work worldwide. I joined Alamy and, purely as a side interest, uploaded a few editorial-based shots, out-of-license shots from some commissions. After a couple of months I landed my first two RM sales for $500. A pair of images destined for a UK sales brochure. I was hooked. The novelty of making money while I slept or did other stuff was too much to resist! So I kept uploading and then started shooting for stock when I had time or when I was out on (or on the way to/from) commissioned work.

You currently participate in stock photography in several ways. Can you go a bit deeper into your various efforts and your reasoning behind those efforts?

A couple of years after joining Alamy, I joined Getty and then Age and a few other exclusive and non-exclusive libraries around. I’m always looking for other ways to market my work. I’m also a bit of a process geek so I kept pretty good stats via spreadsheets on what was selling at the various agencies and it influenced my shooting and placement for each of them, especially the exclusives. Over time, you get a feel for the type of imagery a library is good at selling so I tried to supply that.

I understand that you have been experiencing some significant growth with your stock revenue. Is that true across the board, or with just some of your distribution portals?

I wish it were totally across the board :).  We are up on Getty (with one month to come in) by 11% over 2011 and on Alamy we’re up 40% over 2011. We’ve had increasing sales on Alamy YoY from 2007 – 2012. I’m very pleased with this given the perilous state of the world economy! But of course things can go down as well as up! Like everyone, I’m a bit nervous about the future and I do worry about what’s going to happen. I certainly don’t expect to see these kind of high gains over the longer term – but I’m confident that we’re in a strong position to continue growing, albeit a bit slower!

What do you attribute this success to?

Although stock sales doubled for me in 2006 (over 2005) I was so busy with commissions I really took my foot off the gas and didn’t upload much. Then, in 2007 when the current economic crisis hit us all out of the blue and the phone wasn’t ringing as much, I started to upload again and by the end of 2008 I had increased my stock sales by 150%. Of course, I didn’t have so many images back then!

The difference this time was that I took stock production seriously. I often see people say they dump their second or third ‘tier’ images on such and such an agency and then they say: “This agency is rubbish, they can’t sell my work”. Well, it’s not really such a surprise is it if you’re putting all your old junk on there! I didn’t take that approach. I shot, and continue to shoot, targeted material for each agency.

I looked at Alamy, by far my best performing non-exclusive, and realised that though I was making sales there I was mid-pack in what was then a collection of around 8 million images and climbing rapidly. I thought I should be doing better with the imagery I had placed there. So, along with my partner Sarah, who is a professional copywriter (www.sarahnuttallcopywriter.co.uk) and process geek too, we set about making Alamy’s unique “Alamy Rank” way of handling image keywording and search placements work for us.  I handled the images, reprocessing some of the older ones, and Sarah handled the keywording and research. Then we re-keyworded all of our images… around 3k at that time. At the same time we put new, better-targeted images up, images which we knew buyers were searching for on a daily basis. Steadily, we worked our way up the pack at each re-rank until, in 2009, we were top half of page one and rising. As a result sales followed and continued to increase.

I know that you also have your own, small stock agency, incamerastock (http://incamerastock.com), which you distribute primarily through Alamy.  What led you to creating incamerastock?

To be honest, it was a case of: So what’s next? I’m always looking for something new to do in business! By 2010/11 I was having some very good sales on Alamy and seeing my income from Alamy grow rapidly. A couple of photographer friends who were also on Alamy were surprised and impressed – they just couldn’t seem to make any headway and were buried in the middle/bottom of the pack. By the middle of 2011 I was starting to think: well I’ve got a good rank on Alamy, I’m selling well, so perhaps I can help them do the same and make a go of an agency model. I put together a business proposition and sent it to them and a few others I knew personally who shot stock and who had tried Alamy but never really had success there and that was it, off we went!

My initial idea was to distribute through as many non-exclusives as I could find but after a while it became apparent that based on the ROI I was seeing from my own efforts (which are spread far and wide) it was best to concentrate on Alamy with the non-exclusive material.

The next step for incamerastock is to take on a few more stock shooters and expand. But I never want to get too big. The way it works best for us is to ensure we’ve got time to give everyone individual attention and to work with them. That’s how I’d want to be treated and I think contributors should expect, and receive, that from a small agency. We edit pretty hard and because we must pass Alamy QC I’m a real perfectionist when it comes to processing. I look at every single image at 100% - I treat them exactly the same way as I do my own. Our contributors are a range of people, some shoot only stock and some shoot stock as an addition to other photography work.

How do you choose what to shoot?

We look at what is being used in magazines, to illustrate articles on the web and in advertisements. We also use all the stats available. We shoot for the market and aim to supply it with what it wants, just like any other business. I only started to make good, regular sales once I’d realised that stock was just like any other business supplying a ‘product’ to market, and ditched my art-based photographer’s ego!  That freed me up to shoot the stuff people wanted to buy rather than shooting what I thought was a great. And that really is the crux of the whole thing. Obviously, I started off like all photographers – I wanted to shoot amazing things that would take the breath away. But that’s not stock. So now I always make sure I’m focused on the target audience – the buyer and their customers. I’m not thinking about what I want to shoot, what pushes my buttons – I’m thinking about what they want to buy. I might not think what I’m shooting is the most inspiring thing in the world, but if that’s what the buyer wants then it has value to them and therefore it’s worth doing. If I don’t do it, someone else will.

I tend to keep my compositions fairly simple – I do, yes, shoot cut outs on a white background because they sell but I also try to keep all my concept shots simple and clean. In terms of everything else I just make sure it’s vibrant and appealing. I know that if I’m there shooting it that day then it’s something that there is a market for, so I don’t stress too much.

I assume that since you have to distribute royalties to other photographers you track you sales.  I track all of my stock sales, but find it frustratingly difficult to extrapolate information that can help in shoot better selling imagery. What, if anything, have you been able to determine from examining your sales history?

That it’s not the things you like or expect to sell that actually sell! I track everything and do graphs and charts and the lot. Over time it’s become pretty clear that stock is, well, just stock. Stock is not generally speaking, art. It’s everyday things, streets scenes, travel shots, objects on a white background, basic concepts, lifestyle model-released people shots, animals etc. Most of it is deeply unsexy. I’m not going to tell you my very top repeat sellers but basically they’re highly unsexy too! I’d love it to be the more exciting and inspiring left-field stuff that sells but it just isn’t. Buyers get that shot on commission ;)


You have recently returned to the UK after a couple of years in France. What prompted the move to France, why have you returned to Britain, and how does all of this affect your stock business?

We’d always planned to live abroad at some point – if only for a few years - and after the financial crisis in 2007 we decided to try to sell our house before the bottom fell out. Not really a very sensible move when house prices were crashing! In the end, after losing a fair bit of money, we did sell it and landed in Brittany, France in 2010. The plan was to buy a place there because I can work from anywhere and Sarah’s copywriting business can also operate from anywhere via email.

However, it became pretty clear after about six months of looking at houses that as Brittany is very rural we were going to find it hard to buy a house in a decent condition for our money with the right set-up, the right broadband and the working spaces that we’d dreamt of! Actually, once we’d decided not to buy somewhere it all became great fun! We were renting a huge, newly converted house with excellent broadband speed and a wonderful, fun, landlord who lived next door. So we just decided to stay for a while! And drink a lot of wine!

The move back was really prompted by work. Alamy has a primarily UK customer base – though this is changing rapidly. Plus, I needed somewhere I was truly settled in to shoot more stuff and do CGI work for Getty. So after I’d shot all the cheese, wine, been all over Brittany and taken a few trips further afield in France, I realised I needed to get back to shooting British themed material. Plus I missed ‘real’ beer and fish and chips! Sad, but true. I think also we are just about 10 years or so too young to appreciate the very slow pace of life in rural France and although it’s an amazing place full of wonderful people, food, wine and scenery, it is very quiet compared to the UK. It’s just not time for the pipe and slippers yet!   

Do you participate in, or do you plan to participate in, motion?

No, not at the moment and I don’t really plan to in the short to medium term. I have the ability to shoot it on the DSLRs but I couldn’t tell you how it worked. The reason for this is that I’m not yet convinced that the market is there for motion. I’m not saying it’ll never be there – I think it probably will be eventually. I’m seeing more motion on the web but they seem to be all specific, shot-to-order clips. I’m not seeing much ‘stock’ motion in use and that rings alarm bells. The production of motion is a whole step up from stills time-wise. Essentially, I had a choice in 2009(ish) to dive into motion or CGI and I chose the latter. I also want to concentrate on incamerastock/Alamy and of course my own work with Getty – there’s always a danger of spreading yourself too thin and then not only do you start to stress out but you also cease to give enough attention to the money work – and the money for me is, at the moment at Alamy and Getty. I’m keeping a close eye on motion though!
  
Where do you get your inspiration?

Stats usually! That’s very sad isn’t it! I shoot with a purpose – always. Alamy gives contributors an enormous amount of statistical information and using that, combined with my own sales data, I plan my shoots. Or rather, from that, Sarah plans my shoots! She tells me what type of things buyers are buying and I shoot it. It’s quite clinical really. We have loads of spreadsheets full of lists of things that need shooting and steadily I just tick them off. I never just ‘go out and shoot’, we always plan it carefully – look at what sells in that area of the country or town and do that. Obviously I enjoy a beautiful misty dawn landscape or a fantastic moody black and white portrait as much as the next photographer but unless it’s going to sell as stock I’m not going to shoot it. And generally, for editorial stock, neither of those two things sell.

Do you have any parameters that you maintain in terms of what you shoot for stock?

Yes, I shoot for the market. I’ve shot plenty of art-based personal work over the years but it doesn’t translate to stock. I only ever shoot for a target audience, which in the case of Alamy is mainly magazines and newspapers secondary editorial and for Getty, designers, marketing agencies and ad agencies. We spend a long time thinking and researching on the net as well as using stats to ensure that we’re shooting things that will sell. Stock is not art. We’d all love it to be but it’s just not. The shots that stock agencies hold up as great examples of ‘creative’ stock images – you know the ones: woman standing in a field with yellow box on her head holding a hawk in one hand! That type of ‘creative’ stuff is not, in my experience the type of thing that sells on a regular basis. In fact, in my experience many of these creative images are not the sort of thing commercial buyers actually buy – they are more what we and the stock agencies like to think they buy. And that’s different. But in reality, commercial buyers – designers, ad agencies etc – only buy stock when they can’t commission something or it’s cheaper and more sensible to buy a stock shot. Anyone who has seen the ad agency briefs from ImageBrief over the past few months will know that the requests are rarely that left-field or ‘creative’.

What is the biggest challenge in creating your own “mini” agency?

I think the biggest challenge is the amount of work involved and the back-end workflow process. I think I had visions of it all being a bit of a doddle, just uploading a few more images than I’d done before. But actually, it’s very hard work and because we genuinely like and respect our contributors we go all out to ensure we do the best for them that we possibly can, making sure that we choose the images that are most likely to sell, getting the keywords spot on and managing them on a daily basis – plus of course all the paperwork and the spreadsheet work. But it’s definitely worth it. I actually get a bigger kick out of them selling images than I do out of selling my own! And, conversely, if they don’t sell as many as I’d hoped, I get quite upset. So it can be a rollercoaster ride.  

What about stock photography do find most satisfying?

The money! Is there another answer?! I do love selling images in the middle of the night! After running around all day for clients for years on end, doing exhausting sets of corporate portraits and magazine shoots to deadlines, flogging the folio round etc., waiting months to get paid (!) I do enjoy just only having the money itself to worry about. I also enjoy producing a really good set of images – especially studio or travel. I get a real sense of satisfaction from seeing my images up there on the agencies when they look good. I spend a great deal of time in post processing – I suppose I’m the photographer equivalent of a ‘grammar Nazi’! I am incredibly picky and you will never see any CA or lack of definition or bad histograms or dust spots on my images. I’m a massive perfectionist. I’ve never failed QC at Alamy and as anyone knows, that’s pretty good going! I’m like this I think because I do see stock as a kind of pension scheme! And if they’re as good as they can be now then they have a longer lifespan. And once they are done, they are done for good, so why not make them the best they can be.

What are your thoughts about microstock?

I know lots of people love it and lots of people hate it. I’m neither one nor the other. I don’t do it myself but I have no problem with other people doing it. I think it was a brilliant business model at the start – I’m always looking at things in terms of business – but I think it’s definitely reached its zenith and is falling down the other side. I know the question is really: Has it ruined the stock industry and the answer to that, I think truthfully, is no. If anything, what ruined the ‘good old days’ was that little thing called the Internet. But, you know, if it wasn’t for the Internet most of us stock photographers would still be running around doing commissioned work or down the darkroom with the enlarger breathing in fixer fumes.

What suggestions do you have for those wanting to get into the world of stock photography?

Act like a business person. Don’t shoot what you like and hope it sells, shoot what the market wants. Forget any ego you’ve got, it’s only going to hold you back. There are millions of guys out there that are better than you and they always will be. Learn about stock: go out and buy every magazine on your newsagent’s shelf and look at the photos that go with the articles – ignore the ads with the girls and dresses because those shots are commissioned – they’re not stock. Look at the articles about how to deal with your sulky teenager or where to go on your next holiday or how to save cash on your bills – those are stock – yes, the boring, prosaic ones! And just remember, stock is not art. Businesses and publishers and creative agencies buy stock to illustrate something, a concept or meaning. They’re not buying it to put on their office wall.   

Any suggestions for us jaded pros?

Ha ha! You’re hardly jaded! I think all stock photographers can learn a great deal from you and your attitude to business. If I had one main piece of advice for other established stock photographers – not you – I’d say: please stop going on about how it’s all so unfair. Please stop blaming everyone else for not selling your work. And please drop your egos. The problem with some stock photographers is that it’s all about them. And actually, it’s not. It’s all about the target audience, the buyer, the customer. If you’re not selling, look at what you’re submitting. Is it a stock shot or is it art? Is it well processed – and I mean, REALLY well processed. And finally, is it any good? Is it actually a good photograph?

Also, I think it’s very important that all of us, including the big stock agencies, remember that stock photography is not the only game in town. I think it’s really easy to forget that the majority of buyers, especially the ad agencies, turn to stock for budget reasons. They would much rather commission a unique, bespoke shot than buy one off-the-shelf. Even for editorial, if they had the cash they’d commission someone. And frankly, creative buyers do have a hard time convincing their clients that a stock shot is worth the money. We might think they’re getting it cheap (and sometimes they really are!) but their clients – the end user - will never see it like that. They want David Bailey to turn up with his camera or they want the ad agency to hire a big swanky city centre studio and hire some models from Storm – that’s what they see as ‘real’ photography. Many end users think stock is like going to Walmart or Lidl. So there’s another battle going on there for the stock agencies. So us whining all the time about prices etc. doesn’t take into account the real market forces.

But having said all this, I don’t have all the answers and I do understand the frustration because I feel it too some days. Stock can be a brilliant way to earn a living but it can also be uncertain, irrational and deeply annoying. Some days I love it and some days I absolutely hate it. But I’d rather do it than work for someone else in a city-centre office all day – it’s my choice, so I only have myself to blame if I can’t make it work. And that’s perhaps the moral: start by looking at what YOU are doing and whether you can change it – can you shoot something different, learn a new program, change your style or find new markets. Think like an entrepreneur and don’t be afraid to fail.    

Do you promote your work on the Internet and engage in SEO?

We don’t sell off our own site but I’m not ruling that out in the future. Before I set up incamerastock I had my own Photodeck, site which I loved. Photodeck is brilliant and the SEO is second to none. But unfortunately, because I’m such a generalist and don’t specialise, I found I had millions of visitors to the site but few sales. I think if you’re a specialist then Photodeck is definitely the best thing out there – or in fact if you’re selling direct to established clients. If you are a generalist like me (or should I say now ‘us’!) you’re going to be better off getting your images in front of a warm audience ready to buy, which means using the larger agencies.

What role, if any, does Social Media play in your stock efforts?

I do have an incamerastock twitter account (@incamerastock) but I’m not on Facebook because I, basically, hate the whole data-mining model and I think it has limited appeal for a B2B producer. I’ve never been on it and I never will – plus I can see no proven business benefit.  I think Social Media can be fantastic for the right business – consumer businesses can do very well, but for me, I have no consumer target audience so it doesn’t really feature in my business plans. But, as with everything in business, that might change in the future! I’m on Linked-in under my personal account ‘jonboyes’.

How would you like to see the stock industry evolve?

I’d like to see it evolve into something that makes me very rich but I don’t think that’s going to happen! I think it’s going to become a volume industry – one where the reduction in price is countered by the increase in sales. That’s certainly the way it seems to be going right now. In the long term, who knows. Possibly it’ll eat itself. Perhaps in 100 years’ time people will not be able to understand the concept that when you press the shutter (or whatever it is then) you own the copyright. But I doubt it.

I think my gut instinct is, talking as a Brit, that it will keep on growing and that as developing countries become richer and the middle-classes expand in the emerging nations there will be even more demand for images. One day soon it’s likely that people in developing nations will have extremely high disposable incomes and, as we're seeing a bit of in the UK at the moment, British/European/Western things will become the cool things to have and they will be the cool places to visit for millions more people. And that will have a knock-on effect in terms of selling Western-based images. But also, the market for images of Asia, the Middle East and Latin America is definitely growing so stock shooters based there have an advantage and that advantage is going to grow.

In terms of what’s going to happen to agencies – well I think it’s already obvious that there are three main players in macro-stock: Getty, Corbis and Alamy. This isn’t going to change. It’s too late now. These are the main players and eventually they could be the only players.

How do you decide whether an image should be an RM or an RF image?

Traditionally, I’ve favoured RM because Alamy is currently an editorial portal for editorial clients – but that may change as their market share grows and evolves, so I am making an effort to put more RF on Alamy and mark images as RF more frequently where there’s a choice. With Getty I’ve had great success with my RF work, recently much more so than my RM work, so I’m concentrating on that – usually I shoot concepts with a bit of CGI thrown in.

 
How is that CGI effort working out?

Slowly. Anyone who has ever tried CGI will tell you how exhausting and disheartening it can be. It’s like learning a programme similar to Photoshop but about 1000 times bigger and more complex. But I’m encouraged by the success I’ve had in terms of sales and I think I’m over the worst part of the learning curve now after about three years off and on. But some days I do still want to kick its teeth in!

For those of us interested in adding CGI to our bag of tricks, and tips…or words of warning?

See above! It’s very, very difficult. I’m very computer program literate but I find it hard work. However, it’s a brilliant feeling when it works out – as long as you don’t mind waiting overnight to find out whether that an image has rendered OK and you’ve not missed something really important like the bottom of the toy house you’ve created is actually sticking halfway through the ‘studio’ floor or the balls you’ve carefully balanced on top of each other that looked fine are actually three inches apart! That’s the trouble with CGI, you can do things you can’t do in real life! You are totally in control of the physics and the light - it’s a photographer’s dream really!

Can you share a favorite stock image of yours and the story behind it?

This (image at top of blog) is a shot of a gas-fired power station and I’ve chosen this shot because, despite what I’ve said in this interview, there are times when stock can be art! It doesn’t happen often but this shot is a happy example of an image that is both stock and art. I love this shot because it shows how amazing these places can be – how powerful, literally, and in a way quite beautiful.

I was commissioned by a European ad agency to go and shoot this particular power plant way back in 2008. When I was driving towards the site it loomed up in front of me through the mist and rain and my first thought was: OMG, how on earth am I going to make this place look any good! It was an awful day and anyone who has ever been, even to the surroundings of a power plant or oil refinery, will know that these places are not photogenic – and that’s putting it nicely!

But once inside I had a great time on my tour of the site and the weather improved a little. The people were brilliant and I got access to loads of great shooting positions. On my return, I downloaded the shots and even though it looked OK I thought I really had to do something to make it look more interesting. I’ve shot quite a few industrial sites over the years so I knew that sometimes the only thing you can do is to break the cardinal rules of editorial stock and grunge it up!

This shot has been a big seller over the years and that’s not because I grunged it up, it’s because it illustrates global industry so well. It sells when people do articles on energy, power, utilities, jobs, engineering, exporting, technology, climate change – you name it - and sells for textbooks. That’s the thing about stock, an image will sell if it has a purpose and conveys a message, and this one does.   

Stock shooter and agency owner Jon Boyes. Image ©Jon Boyes

What does your “crystal ball” tell you about the future of stock?

It’s here to stay and it’s got a bright future. Seriously! I’m very optimistic. The Internet means that more buyers want images than ever before. Plus there’s growing expectation in terms of what people expect to see when they read a magazine, go to a website or read a newspaper online. They expect to see lots of images on that site. And that means that buyers are under pressure to publish more and more images – it’s a kind of vicious circle. But it’s a circle we can all benefit from.    
Any thoughts you would like to leave us with?
Yes. Keep Calm and Carry On!

personal website: www.jonboyes.com
incamerastock: http://incamerastock.com

A Commercial Vision, And The Question Why

 

This Butler image, of a funny Beagle Hound, is representative of being in service, something that we stock photographers would do well to remember!

 

Neville Page And Movie Creatures

Yesterday I attended a talk by Neville Page at the Oceanside Museum Art where he was having a show of his “Creature” work for films such as Super 8, Prometheus, Cloverdale and others.  At the end of his inspiring presentation I asked him to tell us a quality or two that he possesses that is responsible for his great success.

Success And Giving Up One’s Vision

I found his answer to be illuminating (since I did not take notes I am paraphrasing the following). The first thing he said was that he felt it was of the utmost importance to remember at all times that the vision that was being created was not his, but the clients (in his case that would be Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, J. J. Abrams or someone of that ilk). He went on to say that if one gets too caught up in the preciousness of their own art it becomes a detriment to both the success of the project and to one’s success within the industry as well. That letting go of “possession” of the vision opens one up to greater things.

A Commercial Vision And Successful Stock Photos

While Neville is referring to his business of designing creatures for feature films I can see how this same concept can be effectively applied to stock photography. Lately I have noticed that several successful stock shooters have attributed at least part of their success to keeping a “commercial” emphasis as opposed to a “creative” one  (I don’t believe the two are mutually exclusive).  If we stock shooters use that “commercial” aspect as the client, then we can keep our “creativity” focused in a way that will maximize the monetary return on our invested time and resources. In other words, I try to remember that I am at the service of all those people, organizations and businesses that need stock photos.

Selling Your Ideas And Stock Photography

The next part of his answer to my question applies more obviously to assignment photographers…and that is the ability to sell your ideas. BTW, every once in a while I have had to sell an idea or image to an agency editor and this can apply to that scenario as well. The specific point Neville made was that it is important to be able to answer the question of “why”? For example, if a client, potential client, or even agency art director asks why a given photo includes a stormy sky (for the sake of argument) and not a blue sky, one might answer that the storm clouds are symbolic of the turmoil in the financial markets as well as adding an element of drama and emotion to the image. Back in my assignment days I recall one of my reps, a very effective one, explained to me that if an art buyer asked “why” and she had a legitimate answer then the bid would likely go through. If she didn’t have a clear and confident answer then the bid would likely start the process of being squeezed to ever smaller numbers.

The Question “Why” And Strong Stock Imagery

Perhaps even more importantly, if you find that you cannot answer questions about your image…then perhaps that image needs further strengthening before being put in front of prospective licensors, and in today’s market, where algorithms move your body of work higher or lower in search rankings depending on the success of your photography, it is more important than ever to be putting out only the strongest of your images.  In fact, if you can put out only your best work and truly be in the service of the clients who need imagery, it is hard to imagine that you wouldn't be successful!

Getty, Image Search and Participation

 

 For stock photographers image search is critical, and participation in communicating with our agencies is a vital part of every stock shooter's business.

Image Migration And Falling Stock Photo Income

For a while now Getty has been migrating a massive number of iStockphoto images onto their site. It isn’t unusual to do a search and get page after page of nothing but E+ images. I find this rather disconcerting, and it possibly explains the fact that virtually every Getty stock shooter I know has seen dramatic drops in their income during the last two months.

Forums, Complaints, And Strong Emotions

Over in the iStockphoto.com site the forums have been abuzz with complaints from the micro guys and gals that are unhappy with…well…pretty much everything. It’s interesting that while we traditional shooters are unhappy with the low prices of the micro images being uploaded to the Getty site, not to mention the number of them, the microstock shooters are unhappy with high priced images being migrated to their site. They are not afraid to express their STRONG emotions about everything from site functions to royalty rates. Heck, administrators have even been pleading with the members to pull it back a bit: http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=349591&page=1.

What Keeps Me Up At Night

I believe it is inevitable that all the major stock photo sites will have a complete range of stock products available from subscription to Rights Managed. I am hopeful that I can create imagery that is good enough that it can successfully compete with all the other images out there. What really keeps me up at night is the idea that my images won’t get seen. And right now, on the Getty site, it sure seems headed in that direction. I hope it is some kind of ingestion glitch, but glitch or not, I can’t believe it isn’t having a deleterious effect on my sales at least at this time.

The Squeaky Wheel Gets The Grease

Getting back to all those E+ images going up on the Getty site. That huge influx of imagery onto the Getty site is probably happening at least in part because the iStockphoto shooters are not shy about expressing their opinions.  On the other side, we Traditional shooters are a tame bunch. The squeaking wheel gets the grease…and us silent types are getting left out of the search. Time to speak up. By the way, I have been with Getty since the beginning, and have never known them to penalize any one for expressing their opinions no matter how adversarial in nature.

A Fare Shake In Image Search

Frankly, we traditional shooters do have value. Our imagery doesn’t look the same as the mass-produced imagery that is the current hallmark of the really successful micro shooters.  The stock industry needs those of us who contribute images that don’t look like micro, but they need to be reminded of that. If Getty owes us anything it is a fare shake in image search…something we aren’t getting at the moment.

Participation Is Critical

I have been as guilty as anyone in staying too quiet, but participation is becoming rather critical. Whether you are with Getty, Corbis, Masterfile or any other stock agency it is important to stay informed and involved. Don’t worry about whether your voice can make a difference; just make your voice heard. In fact, making your voice heard is doing the agencies, and all of us in the stock industry, a favor.  The more honest input the powers that be have access to, the better decisions they can make.

Fear and Motivation In Photography

Fear can be healthy if you harness the energy for motivation rather than letting it freeze you into inaction.

Tech Developments and Fear

I just watched an interview with Marc Andreesson in which he said (my paraphrasing) that all CEOs are scared…scared of the possibility that the next tech development will render their companies obsolete. Hmmm, sound familiar? I don’t think it is a bad time to be scared right now either. I use that fear as a motivator to keep my productivity high and to keep asking what it is that I am not seeing…and where my particular skill sets can work to my advantage. The skill sets I refer to are in the field of photography, and stock photography in particular. And as any photographer ought to know by now, there is plenty to be scared of!

Fear, Paralysis and Complacency

Fear is a fine line to walk. Too much fear can paralyze you into inaction and have you hiding your head in the sand. Not enough fear might lead to complacency and the slow death of your business.  I use fear to keep setting my goals to a sufficiently high level. What is a sufficiently high level? One in which significant progress is made by attempting to reach the goal, but also in a goal that is perhaps just a bit beyond one’s reach. If you are always achieving your goals then you are probably setting them too low. Sheryl Sandberg (again my paraphrasing) pointed out, in the same interview, that many companies reach goal after goal until they are no longer in business.

Blend Images and Impossible Goals

Way back in time, about eight years ago, I was invited to help found Blend Images. In addition to putting up our initial round of funding, we were also required to commit to upload 1500 images…I think it was over a period of five or six months. Whatever it was, at the time I had produced something like 200 stock photos in about a decade. 1500 images in that short a period just boggled my mind. I almost didn’t participate in the Blend effort for that reason…it seemed like far too ambitious a goal for me. Thanks largely to Trinette Reed and Shalom Ormsby I went for it. The rest, as they say, is history. I managed to come up with the necessary imagery…largely be enlisting the help of some additional shooters.

Re-examining Goals

Earlier this year I set the goal of creating an average of 4 concept stock images per week.  That too seemed like an impossible goal, and yet to my amazement, I am reaching that goal.  It isn’t easy, but I am doing it. If I had set the goal lower I don’t think I would be producing as much imagery either. Should I reset my goal higher? Not ready to do that yet but I will certainly be re-examining all of my goals at the end of the year.

Fear, Motivation and Productivity

Getting back to that fear for a moment, fear produces energy. Put that energy to good use by using it to motivate you to try new things, to keep learning as much as you can about our industry and where it is headed, and to keep producing more and better imagery.   

The Case For Watermarks

In an age of digital reproduction and distribution watermarking your images only makes sense!

Watermarks, Copyright and Monetary Value

Imagine if all photographers had highly visible watermarks on every image that they have online.  The message that photographs are copyrighted would become universal. The concept that images have a monetary value would be advanced immeasurably. Further, if those watermarks also showed a viewer where that image could be licensed, there is no doubt that at least some amount of additional revenue would be in the hands of content creators (photographers).

Watermarks And Legitimate Licensing

I understand the argument against watermarks, that they interrupt the beauty of an image and may result in less “sharing” of an image.  But if you are seeking to earn revenue through photography, putting a watermark on your image is a no brainer!  If someone who actually has a budget to license an image, and is on the Internet looking for images, a watermark isn’t going to prevent them from using one of my images if it suits their needs.  Rather, it makes it far easier for them to legitimately license the image and far less likely that they will merely steal it.  In fact, I have heard from some art directors that they won’t use an image if they cannot easily find the creator or copyright holder of an image…it is just too big a risk.

Watermarks and Credit

With a watermark on your photo anyone who sees that image will know who created it. It won’t simply be another anonymous creation that does me absolutely no good for people to share and see. If you are afraid of ruining the beauty of your imagery make the watermarks on the smaller, less obtrusive side. As for me, I want my watermarks to be big enough to get the copyright message across quickly, to make it less optimal for Photoshop knowledgeable people to remove the watermark, and to get credit where credit is due. Sure, watermarks can be removed and people are going to infringe…but with watermarked imagery those infringers will be far fewer.

Dollars And Cents

Actually, even if you are just sharing images you are proud of, and are not attempting to earn money with them, you still should be putting watermarks on them. If you are proud of your images then take credit for them! Fine artists working in mediums from oil pants to watercolors don’t hesitate to sign their work! Do yourself and all photographers a favor and put an easy-to-read watermark on your photos and preferably with your website address included. It just makes sense (and it makes dollars and cents as well).

Passion And Attitude In Photography

With all the change around us, having a good attitude is essential for success in photography; Having passion can make for a good attitude.

Attitude Is Everything: Passion Vital

A photography career is not for the feint of heart. Everywhere one turns there is the constant bombardment of change, and change is threatening. Change offers the promise of possibility but comes in the form of a maze that can lead us on countless dead ends wasting our time, resources and initiative. But then, staying with what we know, refusing to venture from our comfort zone, can be a recipe for disaster as well.  To keep putting energy into such a chaotic and often disheartening industry requires a good, no make that great, attitude.

Pushing Into New Directions

Because I have a passion to succeed I am constantly working on my attitude, and keeping a positive attitude facilitates me in pushing myself into new directions.  I have ventured into motion, put a ton of effort into my website (and, of course, done a lot of blogging), tried my hand at lifestyle photography, and am now experimenting with mobile device camera photography (using my iPhone 4S for Blend’s Memento collection). I keep thinking it would be a great idea to harness 3D to combine with my photography as well, but I just can’t motivate myself to undertake that big a learning process…yet.

The Potential For Burn Out

In this new stock photography environment, to succeed financially, you have to produce…and you have to produce a LOT!  Now exactly what a “lot” is depends on a lot of variables including what kind of work you do and what kind of distribution you have. The problem with producing a lot is the potential for burn out. How do you produce enough without turning a creative endeavor such as photography, into drudgery? You have to have passion and a great attitude.

Stock Photography And Passion

I had a conversation today with a fellow photographer who used to shoot a lot of stock, but has pretty much dropped out of it for the past few years. I was encouraging him to get back into it…but he says he just can’t face the ideas of shooting stock anymore because it bores him to death. He has lost his passion for the game.  To succeed in stock you need passion. It doesn’t necessarily need to be passion for photography. It can be passion for success, passion for earning money (yes, there are still some photographers making really great money in stock photography) or a passion for some other motivating force. In my own case I love making my images, I really enjoy having money, I like my photography community, and there isn’t anything else I want to do…which all adds up to it’s own kind of passion.

Attitude or Passion

That brings me back to my iPhone photography. In a recent blog post “Why I Hate Instagram” I shared my reluctance to use my iPhone to shoot stock photos, but I also know that a better attitude, an attitude more likely to help my career, would be to embrace the iPhone as a camera. My passion to succeed has helped me adjust my attitude. While I am finding that creating good images with my iPhone is a bigger challenge than I thought it would be, I am actually starting to enjoy it.  Forcing myself to have a better attitude always pays off in one way or another…though rarely it seems in the way I expect it to.

A "Commercial" Camera Phone Stock Collection

BTW, for those who want to try earning revenue via mobile phones stock photography you might want to check out Blend Image’s Memento collection. They (I guess I should say “we” since I am a part owner) are putting together a collection of “phone photography” that will stand apart in its strong commercial applicability. If you are interested just check it out at the Memento landing page.

Tom Penpark Interview

 This image of the Milky Way is one of Tom Penpark's "Verizontal" panorama images shot on one of his many "road trips" across America. Image ©TomPenpark.

Tom Penpark is one of those inspirational photographers who can do it all; from fine art to commercial assignments, from fashion to portraiture, and from architecture to landscapes. I first met Tom when he came to interview with me for an intern position. One look at his book and I didn’t need to see anyone else!

Since that time Tom has impressed me with both his creativity and his work ethic.   I understand at least part of his success. He works as hard at his art and craft as anyone I know. The results speak for themselves.  I fully expect Tom to end up rich and famous.

Tom, I know you started your career in Thailand and that you worked there as an art director. How has your experience as an art director influenced your photography?

Being an art director gave me a chance to see images in a wider aspect. Other than the image itself, I need to work with the conceptual idea, work with the layout template, and take into consideration the ideas of different people involved in a given project.  As a photographer now, I am very flexible in the how I shoot with different people and concepts.

What was the biggest challenge for you in coming to the U.S.?

The big obstacle for me is still my language skill. It is not that difficult to use English in everyday life, but it is a big challenge when I try to explain shoot ideas to a client or in presenting an artist statement. But I can get over it by practicing and rehearsal. I am thankful to everyone who has patiently listened to my broken English.

You shoot everything from fashion to landscape to food. What do you enjoy shooting the most?

I enjoy shooting a plethora of images just like I enjoy eating different kinds of food. I always try to find a way to make my subject look interesting. Cliché shooting is more fun when I can add conceptual ideas to it.

But one thing I never get tired of is shooting landscapes. I enjoy shooting American landscapes since I first started to have road trips in 2008. I came from Thailand where it is very beautiful, but it is not as gigantic as the American landscape.  Driving on a road trip through the National Parks gives me a chance to see the most beautiful and unique places on earth like Yellowstone or Bonneville Salt Flats. The most difficult thing is that while I can capture the image in front of me I can never capture the soul of the location I’ve been to.   

 In an industry that is constantly changing and filled with adversity, what is the biggest challenge for you?

The biggest challenge for me is always how to present my work to the client.

I have mixed factors that I always worry about like language barriers, my body of work, and pitching the price. But I find the challenge can be positive as well. Most of the time I over-prepare before meeting the client.

How do you choose your locations for those amazing panoramas you do?

I choose the location after I plan the road trip. I always use Google Maps to see the locations and the directions. After I map out all the locations I want to visit, I will do a little research on where should I take a picture and at what time. Knowing sunset and sunrise times, including the lunar calendar, helps a lot too.

Can you take us through one of your favorite panoramas…the story behind it and what went into it?

Most of my panoramas shoots have been planned, but my most favorite image was not planned. It is the image of Milky Way on Highway 1 (see photo at the top of the blog). In October 2011, I volunteered to shoot a Kathina Ceremony at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in Redwood City, CA. After the shoot I decided to drive up to Fort Bragg to take some pictures on Highway 1 at sunset. Unfortunately it was foggy and I didn’t get any good shots. So I drove back down heading back to San Francisco. Highway 1 was fun to drive through all the curves until it became completely dark. I was exhausted so I decided to have a break. I parked my car in the rest area, turned off the lights and closed my eyes. When I opened my eyes again the first thing I saw was the bright Milky Way right in front of me. All the fog was gone. I captured that image in a “Verizontal Panoramic” (that is what I call my vertical panoramas) from the ground all the way to the back of my head. I am happy that the image won the 4^th place APA Something Personal in 2011.

I have tried a few ways to get the best panoramic images. After a few successes and lots of mistakes, I found out the process should be ‘Go for it’, ‘Grab it’, and ‘Groom it’

Go for it. It means you have to drive, walk, climb trees or even get into the water to get the best spot. So I have driven on, and gotten stuck in, wet salt; climbed trees on the edge of a cliff; and walked bare foot in freezing water to get to the spot I want. But you have to be careful for yourself and your camera.

Grab it. This part is to capture the image. I think it is the most important part because if you don’t capture correctly, you will not be able to process it. What you need for the shoot are a stable tripod, a panoramic head with safe lock and water level, and a remote shutter release. Once you make sure you have your camera on a stable tripod, try to pan your camera from left to right (or right to left) to see if you can capture the image straight. For me, I prefer capture from left to right as the way I read my books.

The most important factor to stitching a panoramic image is to have enough information for the software to read and be able to merge all of the images seamlessly. After you have framed the image and are ready to shoot, try ‘zooming out’ a little bit because capturing a wider area will make it easier to edit and crop out the unwanted portions. I normally shoot the first frame and move to the second frame by having 50% of the first frame overlap the second frame. This will make sure I will have enough information for the editing process.

Another important factor in shooting panoramic landscapes is the dynamic range of the image. The best time to shoot landscapes for me is sunrise or sunset. Because those are the times when there are lots of shadows on the ground and the sky is still bright, extended dynamic range becomes very useful. I prefer capturing 3 to 5 exposures for each frame, unless it is a very high contrast scene during which I will capture a 7-exposure range instead.

The techniques I mentioned need some practice. I sometimes start shooting images at sunset where I start with the sun above the sea level on my first image and it had already disappeared by the time I shoot my last frame. I don’t want to encourage anyone who is not familiar with their tools to shoot extra exposures in twilight time because the software may not be able to stitch the images. I suggest you practice multiple exposure panoramic images in the daytime by shooting to the opposite side of the sun so you will get blue sky and flare-free panoramic landscapes.

Groom it. This is where your software creates some magic for you. Photographers have many ways to combine images together. I normally blend the exposures before stitching it together as a panoramic. There are a few software programs that help you blend images together depending on the style and look you want, but for stitching I prefer Photoshop’s Photomerge. It is automatic and the result is beautiful. I have used Photomerge since Photoshop CS 2 and it is getting much easier to use now.

It’s obvious you put a lot of work into your art…everything from finding the locations and waiting for the right light to the hours of precision computer work that goes into your images. What drives you, or motivates you, to go to such lengths for your art?

I have 2 role models who work very hard and never get tired. One is the King of Thailand who is 84 now and still working hard for his people, another person is my father who taught me ethics and work discipline. I’m willing to spend hours on planning, shooting, and retouching to make the best quality out of every image.

Once it is done, I think the image will speak for itself.

 

What strategies are you employing to further your photography career?

There have been a few challenges in the past year. It is a tough time for all businesses and I continue to try on new strategies. A few people asked me to compromise my image quality thereby reducing the hours spent on each image and allowing me to get more clients in the same period of time. I did try it for my personal work, but then I find I have to re-edit the work it again, so actually it takes a longer time. My strategy for my future is to keep delivering high quality images. But I will have more packages for clients, including working with graphic designers and illustrators. This solution will make a one-stop shopping for clients.

What role does Social Media play in your efforts? 

Social Media is very important. Facebook plays the major role of connecting people with same interests. It is also easy to see portfolios and who people are connected to. G+, Linkedin, Pinterest, Tweeter, these are important channels to let people know you are there to shoot for them. There are lots of good photographers, who never get a job because people don’t know them or their work.

Do you have, or are you seeking, gallery representation?

I am always interested in showing my works to the galleries. I have my panoramic landscape images ready to show. It would be great to have an opportunity to show in the galleries, but that hasn’t happen yet.

How does stock photography fit into your plans?

I was very interested in stock photography before I came to study photography here in US. Working as an art director, I had to search for new images everyday. Getty Images and Corbis were the places I spent hours every week. I always wondered how photographers shot stock. The images they shot looked so cliché, it should be easy to shoot. Well, it was not easy at all. I have tried to take pictures like what the ones I saw but I never came close. So I began to study photography. Now I know how they do it, and now my photos are on Getty Images where I used to spend so much time looking.

Thank you John, my internship with you was an important ingredient to my education.

What is your biggest challenge in creating stock photography?

The biggest challenge in creating images is still the concept. Pre-visualizing an image is a good start before creating a strong image. Concepts can start from basic key words that people are using everyday like ‘network’, ‘election’, or ‘taxes’, but it is not as easy as it sound.

Do you have a long-term plan written out, or do you just “wing it”?

My long-term goal is to can create any images I like around the world, either for clients or for my personal work. I do not have a written plan… it is more like a mind map. I learn new things every day that help me progress towards my goal. 

From where do you get your inspiration?

I often get inspiration from other peoples work. It doesn’t matter if they are famous photographers or not. Also I can get inspired from movies and music. If I need complex work I listen to Beethoven or Rachmaninoff, if I plan to shoot something in nature with beauty I listen to Bach or Vivaldi.

What would people be most surprised to know about you?

I have lots of interests and experiences, which are reflected in my diversity of work.

I was born in Bangkok, but spent some of my childhood in London. I graduated in Musicology, but I decided to be a photographer. I like Metallica as much as I like Beethoven. I was a racecar driver and now I enjoy driving around U.S., though under speed limit.

You recently formed a partnership with Yifei Gu. How did that come about?

Yifei’s background was in arts and painting. She delivers spectacular images with style. Her works are filled with classic looks combined with elegant fashion and beauty. Those are the skills I was not familiar with before. My background was as an art director with a commercial mind-set. My images were focused on commercial concepts and technical aspects more than beauty as an art. We were classmates when we studied photography before. We saw each other develop and it was very interesting to see our works together turn out well. Working together helps us each make pictures.

How do you and Yifei divide up responsibilities…and what does each of you bring to the table?

With great advice from Chris Gramly, “Reducing the impact of the ego is a big part in succeeding”. Yifei and I have very clear communication and a unique relationship. We don’t have much conflict. We work together like a team. I respect her as an artist. We plan shoots together from scratch, drawing layouts, drawing lighting maps, and the look of the final image we want.

Yifei can see the subtle difference in the models that match the concept. While she is taking care of the beauty side by directing and styling the model, I will plan about lighting direction and the light modifiers we want to use. This solution helps managing our working time effectively before the day of the shoot. I still have a lot to learn from her, we are honing our skills every day.

Do you shoot motion or have plans to get into motion?

We shoot motion sometimes. Both Yifei and I have background in movies too. But if we can choose, we still prefer still photography.

How much of your time is spent shooting?

Before I become a full time photographer I had a dream that I would take pictures every day. But as time goes by, I learn new things every day. I learn that I have to plan for the shoot, participate in social networking, meet with clients, edit pictures, archive the digital files, and work at printing and design. Now I have less than 20% of my time taking pictures.

Where do you see yourself and your career five years from now?

I am aiming to work more with advertising agencies. I believe with my experiences as an art director I will be able to deliver high quality images for their campaigns.

Other than assignment work, I will still contribute to stock photography. I like the freedom of creating anything I like on my own terms.

What advice do you have for photographers starting out on their careers?

There are some differences between taking pictures as a hobby or taking pictures as a full time photographer. The main difference is the whole idea of taking photographs for pleasure will start to fade.  Once you become a professional, taking pictures means expenses and responsibility. Expenses are in Cameras, lenses, lighting equipment, computers, maintenance, and other business expenses. One has responsibilities for other people’s important projects, their time, or their once-in-a-lifetime moment.   I would suggest anyone who falls in love with photography to think carefully before leaving his or her current job. The best advice is to keep shooting! For me, I never regret being a photographer.

What is it that I have forgotten to ask?

I came to this point with lots of support from family, friends, and people around me. I would like to thank everyone who gave me experience and support. Both good and bad critics will help me grow in photography and become a better photographer. I hope my work will inspire some of you to be better photographers!

Tom, I know both you and your work inspire me!

 Tom Penpark "Grabbing It").

Tom's Partner Yifei gu.

To see more of Tom and YiFei's work:

Tom's main website: http://www.tompenpark.com/

facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/tompenparkphotocrafter

 Yifei's website is http://www.yifeiimage.com/