MicrostockGroup

So true.  I don't think (m)any of us could have anticipated how much. 

I suspect you ain't seen nothing yet. A lot is going to change in the next couple of years, possibly quite a bit sooner. I don't mean just at Istock either. Think about what's happening and how the various agencies will react.

I'm quite interested in your scenario

Me too.  Your crystal ball's better than most, Gostwyck.  Would love to hear your predictions...

Thinking of an adjustment to the upload procedure ... Will submit images that are rejected by SS.  Strange but many of my SS rejects are accepted at iS.  If they want to relegate me to 28 cents ... okay. 

I've done three shoot events in AU. Only the 2nd one in Melbourne in 2010 was a mini-lypse. We got a box of swag and a subsidy of US$30/photographer regardless of them being indie or exclusive, but the images were exclusive to istock. The money was paid to me after the event had concluded.

As the organiser I had to be exclusive as well.

At the end of it, the feedback from indies was very clear. Not worth it to only be able to upload to one site. From an organiser pespective I also didn't feel it was worthwhile.

I think the key changes in the new program are mainly around logistical support (identifying content gaps and making sure the details are covered), and it seems as though funding support is a sliding scale ie: the more backing you get, the more IS will contributr (i hope it goes in that direction).

I've been sounding them out a bit on a shoot event in Peru in a few years but it means I'd have to go back to being exclusive to qualify for sponsorship. If it's only US$30/attendee it's probably not worth it (US$ aren't worth what they used to be either).

I've been curious because of the locations ... not hosting; just attending ... but it seems to be nothing more than a very expensive social event.   

I get a personal buzz out of seeing the images others create as a result of my efforts. At every event I've done I see people come up with images I'd never have thought of. I tend to leave the ideas to contributors tho - get them good locations, models, hair and makeup, wardrobe, let them do the rest. Some people really shine with this approach, others struggle.

On the flip side you're right. At the most recent shoot I put together I got to shoot for a total of 2hrs in a 3.5 day event. The rest of my time was taken up with trying to run the event and dealing with numerous issues as they arose. Afterwards I got accused of profiteering (when I actually sank a heap of my own money into it). Really demotivating.

In future I'm doing them as invite only.

To circle back to the original post from Lisa, how have people gone on other sites with regards to model releases?

I have a lot of files on istock that aren't from lypses etc but I only have an istockphoto release for them. I hear Dreamstime are particular about only their releases being good enough, what about the others? Do they accept istock releases in lieu of their own?

Ben

Yeah I've seen Yuri's generic release. That's not what I'm asking about as it onoy deals with future shoots.

I want to know if istock releases get accepted by the other agencies for shoots that have happened in the past where there's no option for getting a new release (or set thereof) done for migrating a folio.

Doesn't help with old releases, but I've been able to get the iStock release accepted at Dreamstime and every other site to which I contribute with a small change to the language of the release.  I used Adobe Illustrator to change

to

Someone, I can't recall who, identified this as the language that Dreamstime found objectionable.

I can make copies of my modified release available to anyone who wants one.

in some cases they can end up being just that, however, I would say that I got a lot of value out of attending and hosting.  yes, we had same models, same locations, but the models get rotated at locations so, for instance the models I had at a barn shoot were different for my group then for the previous group that rotated in when I rotated to the next location out behind the barn at the chicken coop.  And while sometimes you have a same concept, I see a lot of different ideas from different photographers in the same and different groups.  And it's a teamwork approach where you help each other out and build on ideas.  That's what I got out of it.   

I must admit at some of the 'lypses I attended there was a bit of drama but you need to expect that when you have so many different personalities in one place.  That's why if you decide to attend one, pick one that has a low number of attendee spots (like 12 or less).  There are some rules also that are provided in advance.  things like "No shooting over another photographer's shoulder" and "if you see someone else with an idea, don't steal it"  Golden Rule stuff ("do unto others as you'd have done unto you") that we all should have learned in Kindergarten but often need to be reminded of now that we are 'grown up.'    For the most part a good organizer will cover these and the attendees will honor the 'rules.' 

As for making your money back.. I can say that I DID earn back what I spent on some of the minilypses (about half of the ones I attended) from the images I took at the specific lypse.  Mostly it was the RedRock 'lypses that AJ Rich (aka RichVintage) hosted.  He is also the one who  wrote the article that is referred to in the new minilypse guidelines.  AJ knows how to run a 'lypse, knows how to get great locations and models and is an all around class act.