MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => New Sites - General => Topic started by: bunhill on February 19, 2015, 05:51
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unsplash.com (https://unsplash.com) is a side project of Montreal based pickcrew.com (http://www.pickcrew.com). It has a similar feel to VSCO Grid (http://grid.vsco.co) but is not mobile specific.
I know that not many here like free (Creative Commons - Zero) content. But there is some wonderful photography there and it is worth a look - if only to see where things are going.
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unsplash.com ([url]https://unsplash.com[/url]) is a side project of Montreal based pickcrew.com ([url]http://www.pickcrew.com[/url]). It has a similar feel to VSCO Grid ([url]http://grid.vsco.co[/url]) but is not mobile specific.
I know that not many here like free (Creative Commons - Zero) content. But there is some wonderful photography there and it is worth a look - if only to see where things are going.
Why is this an indication of where things are going?
Also, excuse my ignorance, but even though these may be creative commons images, they still contain models and property needing releases, no?
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Looks like my old slide collection before iS told me that Scottish natural light without tweaking the curves was evil. Quite Stocksy-ish. At last as they were when they started, I haven't looked there for a while.
Maybe I should dust off that slide scanner.
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Why is this an indication of where things are going?
I do not mean to imply that this is necessarily the only place in which things are going. I think this article (http://www.fastcompany.com/3042417/how-i-get-it-done/why-building-something-useful-for-others-is-the-best-marketing-there-is) does a good job of explaining the idea behind the project. And the startup clients served by this sort of photography will unlikely to be looking for smiling-at-lettuce, hurrah-for-laptops / business-team pictures.
And more than anything it is about using content to drive traffic. No ?
ETA: oh - and the average price paid for the image which a client will use is moving ever closer to zero.
Also, excuse my ignorance, but even though these may be creative commons images, they still contain models and property needing releases, no?
It's always ultimately for the end user to determine how an image is used and to negotiate the rights if required.
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Thanks for posting - it is good to be aware of these developments.
The article was interesting but I am shocked that he thought stock photos were too expensive - he really can't afford a hundred bucks for some nice images? He also said it started by hiring a photographer and posting the out-takes for free - surely it would be cheaper to buy some stock rather than hire someone. Some of those statements don't make sense to me.
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I see very nice images worth a lot and given out for free... I'm confused for 1000% ??? Should I want money for my work anymore? :-[
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The article says he gained a lot of traffic, and plenty of traffic went over to his main site, so he still makes money through his free photos. It's counter-intuitive to give photos or vectors away for free, but it may work for some people.
The difference with agencies giving away stuff for free, I think, is that the quality of freebies is often too varied and there's no personal feel to it, Just a 'free photo from one anonymous contributor'. In that case the contributor won't directly feel the positive impact of the free give-away.
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If we do not want free sites to excel, why do we want to generate traffic for a free site?
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Very nice of you to provide a link to a site with quality free content. I am sure any designers who come to these forums will appreciate your saving them the cost of having to buy our content.
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Very nice of you to provide a link to a site with quality free content. I am sure any designers who come to these forums will appreciate your saving them the cost of having to buy our content.
Using that logic, discussion of any sites other than those which pay the highest royalties would be embargoed.
But is the old microstock model really now so precarious that we cannot talk about interesting photography and alternative business models ?
(Anyhow - the sorts of designers who are into that sort of work are seldom going to be reading this forum. Or else they will likely know about that site anyhow).