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Messages - NorArt
1
« on: July 14, 2016, 01:31 »
I think you need to have minimums so the buyers aren't wasting people's time, as well as rules concerning exclusivity/non-exclusivity.
That's exactly right. There is going to be a minimum so photographers don't waste time and we don't attract the wrong type of clients.
2
« on: July 12, 2016, 18:38 »
A year ago I posted about launching our site. This is a post about a new feature that we've been working on. I imagine photographers underbidding each other on this site until they're being paid $5 for a full day's shoot with models and locations and all custom shots insisted on by their customers. Crowdsourcing is the reason why people underbid. It becomes a race to the bottom. That's exactly why we came up with this approach instead. The clients discover your current photo shoot based on the photo they need. They contact you directly and privately because you're already in position to deliver what they need. No one sees their request and your quote. Everything stays one-on-one, therefore no one will underbid.
3
« on: July 12, 2016, 14:02 »
Jo Ann, you're completely right. We should update all the information on our site so people know exact details coming in. Here are some details about LiveShoots: - The photographer will take 80%, we take 20% to keep the site up and running. - The transaction happens on FocalPool, we act as an escrow until the client gets the photos, after that the money is available for the photographer to collect. - The photographer and the client communicate directly and agree on the licensing terms and the price with each other. - The 10GB storage is not in regards to LiveShoots, it's for the stock photo marketplace. Again, we will update all the information so there is no confusion. Once the photographer is in contact with the client couldn't they simply bypass the site or am I missing something?
Good question. Technically they can bypass the site just like any other two-sided marketplace. (e.g. ebay, uber, airbnb, etc.) What we want to make sure, is that both sides get a lot of value by using our platform. Everything from posting, getting discovered, communications, licensing, transactions and file transfer/management happens right on the platform in the most secure and easy way. If someone bypasses, they will have to do most of the process manually and pay for it out of pocket. Also, your current work helps to get your future work. Other clients see the history of your completed work and will be more likely to work with you. If you bypass there will be no history to show. And lastly, there are negative consequences for violating our term of conditions.
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« on: July 12, 2016, 09:52 »
I've worked with many art directors over the years and I've seen how desperate they get when they are having trouble finding the photos they need. So I came up with a way I think will benefit both clients and photographers. The idea is simple. Next time you plan to do a shoot, post the details on-line. Clients who are looking for something similar can find your photo shoot and ask for small adjustments based on what you're already shooting. This would make the client happy because they have the specific photo they need for their project, and of course, it's good for you because you'll shoot the photos that someone already wants to buy. You deal with the client directly so it's up to you how much you want to charge for your photos. We call this concept a LiveShoot, Check it out on focalpool.com and let me know what you think.
5
« on: February 11, 2015, 14:15 »
Ariene, I just realized that with our last few site updates, the links to the licensing agreements got hidden and we never noticed it. We're working to bring it back up. I'll email you the links as soon as possible.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
6
« on: February 10, 2015, 21:50 »
Hi Ariene,
We have standard license agreements RF/RM which most photographers use to license their own images and it's recognizable to most clients. But if for some reason a photographer wants to use their unique license agreement they will be able to.
7
« on: February 07, 2015, 15:25 »
Maximilian
I agree that some of the other services focus only on the client and it's obvious why. At the end of the day, they have to show revenue to their investors and clients are the ones with the money.
But most clients in advertising, marketing companies don't prioritize low prices. They care about the project vision a lot more than saving couple of dollars. I worked with many of them in Los Angeles in the past decade and their main pain-point is wasting too much time searching for the images they're looking for. Believe it or not, they spend more money on the search itself than the actual cost of purchasing the image. Many straight up told me that they would happily pay 3 or 4 times the price of the image just to find it sooner.
8
« on: February 07, 2015, 14:50 »
USP" must be 100% prepared by the seller. I respectfully disagree that we have to choose sides between buyers or the sellers. I think weve come up with a platform that both can benefit from. Here are couple of things weve done to reduce the time wasted by photographers trying to fulfill someone's photo request. First, on FocalPool you can see how many people are interested in a specific request even before anything is submitted. Before you spend time to search your database, you can decide if the request is too crowded and whether or not its worth your time. Second, the reputation system I mentioned before also applies to the buyers/requesters. If someone consistently makes a request and either does not follow up or is too needy or somehow abuses the system. It will reflect on their reputation therefore as a photographer youll know whore you working with. Thanks for suggesting to talk to Jo Ann Snover regarding FocalPool. I will try to contact her.
9
« on: February 07, 2015, 13:26 »
USP for Sellers:
FocalPool is a self-service platform where you sell your photos in the marketplace while maintaining complete control over pricing, licensing, management.
USP for Buyers:
Search the FocalPool marketplace to buy the photos youre looking for. If it doesnt exist, request it directly from photographers.
10
« on: February 06, 2015, 17:40 »
Hi raresaturn,
Thanks for your feedback. We did have few unusually uploading errors which we're fixing right now. PER is just an internal code for us to know the cause of the server error and get to the bottom of it faster.
11
« on: February 06, 2015, 15:53 »
I think focalpool main goal is to get customers make a request:
YOU REQUEST / PHOTOGRAPHERS SUBMIT / YOU CHOOSE Our main goal is to create a platform that gives photographers many ways to make a sell. The request mechanism is more a way for clients to directly communicate with photographers what they're looking for if they can't find it. This is meant to compliment the existing library, not replace it.
12
« on: February 05, 2015, 18:11 »
rimglow, Do you covert the highest res JPEG version to TIffs, if we want to sell TIFFs.
Or, are we supposed to upload a Tiff version and you convert them to different size JPEGs? If you want to sell Tiffs the original Tiff file must be uploaded. From that it's converted to different resolution Jpegs.
13
« on: February 05, 2015, 18:06 »
sgoodwin4813, I really appreciate your suggestions. 1) Getting ftp submissions working that read IPTC data, plus batch editing will be key - I doubt many people will submit much if it is through a web form only. We are currently working on a FTP submission and batch editing. 2) Most of us probably submit images to be licensed RF commercial, RF editorial, or RM so an easy way of assigning standard licenses for each of those would be helpful - you could post here for the text of each of those to get lots of feedback. We have a standard RF and RM license. And there will be a preset pricing options too if you don't want to do custom pricing. 3) And of course the VAT and income tax situation is very important as mentioned many times already. You may have to hire someone to work on that as it seems to be quite complex. I think youre right. Honestly, weve been so focused on the developing the platform that we haven't really had a chance to look into this matter. However, we will take your advice and hire a specialist. Thanks
14
« on: February 05, 2015, 16:47 »
Ariene,
We fixed the login issue error you encountered. Also, you're right about batch editing. We're working on it and will be available soon.
Thanks for your feedback!
15
« on: February 05, 2015, 16:20 »
Ariene, thanks for letting us know  . We're looking into it right now.
16
« on: February 05, 2015, 15:36 »
Thanks KnowYourOnions
17
« on: February 05, 2015, 15:31 »
how will you attract buyers in the first place? Do you have an advertising budget? We dont have the advertising budget of Shuterstock or istock. However our goal is to get the buyers to FocalPool by offering something that giant agencies cant: collaborative tools to work directly with photographers to find the right images for their projects. Also, you dont have to attract every buyer yourself, since your photos are easily discoverable through the media marketplace.
Besides using all the typical marketing channels. For example, social media, advertisements, word of mouth, industry blogs and publications, we are also working with some of the advertising and marketing companies in Los Angeles to get them on board.
18
« on: February 05, 2015, 15:15 »
you guys have a great question regarding VAT.
Until this point most of our focus has been to work closely with photographers and other creative professionals to develop our platform. To be honest, we still need to do a lot of research to see what is the best approach when it comes to handling VAT. As someone who deals with this in Europe with different marketplaces, can you give me some examples of companies that handle it the correct way?
19
« on: February 05, 2015, 14:49 »
Hey Sean, thanks for checking it out. Ok, I finally got a chance to poke at it. As a buyer, I'm not sure what it does. I searched from the front page on a couple terms. One didn't return anything, but asked me something about requesting it directly from photographers. I can already do that on imageBrief and snapWire if I want to do spec work. When I found a search that returned something, it took me a bit to figure out what to do. First I have to click on an image. Then I have to click on the icon in the lower left. Then the image page that comes up gives me no option to license. So, I'm done wasting my time and I leave.
The search is a new concept that we came up with working closely with image buyers to make sure this will be beneficial to them since theyre the ones doing all the searching. Its a lot of trial and error to see what works and what doesnt. If it doesnt work we always have the option of going back to a regular search. And, the licensing system is relatively new so photographers who uploaded before will go back and license their images.
I know that some of our individual features look somewhat similar to other sites. But we have a different approach, goal, vision and mission to what we want to accomplish with FocalPool. I noticed from your site that you use 7 different agencies to sell your work. Obviously you see a unique benefit from each one or else you would just use one. I hope people will look at FocalPool with an open mind so they can see the unique benefit that were offering to them. Ok, I'm still interested, so I click on the guy's name from the image. I get an empty portfolio page with nothing but his image. No idea what to do now so I leave. All the information is visible to logged in users and were still in the process of opening the rest of the site for logged off users. we'll soon have the full profile with peoples info and their portfolio visible publicly.
20
« on: February 05, 2015, 13:41 »
roede-orm Guess what I do. I decide by myself, which images i upload! Everywhere! Thats true, you do decide which images you upload everywhere, but from that point on, your decision making abilities are very limited or just non-existent. You dont have a lot of saying in how your uploaded images are handled. On focalpool after you upload you are not sitting and waiting to see if its approve or rejected, you price/license the way you want, publish/unpublish when you want and in the case of RM you even have control over who should buy or not buy your images if you dont want to be associated with certain companies. Youre running your business the way you want and at the same time benefit from being on a centralized marketplace where you dont have to run around to find clients to come to your own site.
21
« on: February 05, 2015, 12:58 »
Hi Ariene, it's nice to see something new in stock world and I like your idea but you can't tell there's no middle man when you take any % of sale. As Sean said, this IS making you middle man! I see how no middle man can be interpreted differently so let me clarify. When we say no middle man we mean were not taking your image and becoming the licensor so we can then license it out to the client. Were providing a self service platform where each photographer is in charge of their work and makes all the decisions for her/him self. And just like all the other services/platforms out there, we take a % as a service fee to pay our own bill and keep FocalPool operational. Keep in mind that part of the % goes straight to other services that we use as a marketplace, such as the online payment system which also charges by a % from each transaction. I hope this clarifies it more. And as it's said before, clients and photographers can contact directly with almost all agencies and often do, not a problem, just using fast click "send private message to author". I do it all the time using my symbiostock site, Alamy, personal gallery and other sites... So it's not so new thing in stock world Or I'm missing something here? I know some of the sites have forums where people can talk to each other and few offer a way to contact the seller. Frankly, I think thats just the bare minimum that all the sites should offer. We have developed FocalPool having in mind whole lot more than that. We think there is a lot of other ways that both clients and photographers can benefit from each other by offering a platform where besides just buying/selling they can also collaborate on both public and private projects, network, showcase their work, etc. I'm worry about self marketing here. We already have free site Picfair where we can set up our pricing, photoshelter (pretty cheap), symbiostock (almost free), etc and I never heard it gave mass sales to people. I mean it's a lot of work to advertise own gallery and hit and win with thousands other photographers in "small" internet.
How do you want to help us, authors in getting sales (if it's in plans)? I really hope the takeaway here is not that you should use FocalPool because its free. We think there is a better way for photographers to make money besides just selling. And at the same time provide a better way for clients to find what they're looking for. One thing I dont think I mentioned before is that I have a lot of professional experience first as a photographer and than as a seller. I feel the pain points on both sides and I got involved with FocalPool because there isnt a better solution out there and I know FocalPool can definitely be one.
22
« on: February 05, 2015, 03:49 »
Ava Glass What about transparent PNGs? Are they accepted? Would they be displayed reasonably well on the site? It is supported but we have to do some more tests with it to make sure it displays well as good as possible.
23
« on: February 05, 2015, 03:40 »
Semmick Photo Envato, iStock, Shutterstock, Fotolia, Canstockphoto, Symbiostock, Fine Art America, Zazzle etc etc all have a forum where buyers and photographers can talk to each other. On FocalPool direct connection to photographers is a lot more than just providing a forum where buyers and photographer can chat with each other. As I mentioned above, not being the licensor of the content sold in the marketplace gives us a lot more freedom to allow buyers and sellers to directly interact with each other.
24
« on: February 05, 2015, 03:17 »
Hi Jo Ann Snover, I did a few searches, but I don't see prices on anything. We just launched and the licensing/pricing tool is relatively new so many photographers haven't had a chance to price their older uploads yet. But all the new media is being priced/licensed. If there are search results, you get a minuscule window with mini thumbnails and have to click a link to see them all. When you do see the results, clicking on the thumbnail just puts up a hover preview - you have to click on the three dots to see more information
Everything seems like too many steps to get the simplest things Were still refining everything and I understand how one can think its too many steps by searching from our homepage. However, this is a new concept that we came up with working closely with image buyers to make sure this will be beneficial to them since theyre the ones doing all the searching. Its a lot of trial and error to see what works and what doesnt. If it doesnt work we always have the option of going back to a typical search. Then there's the notion of requesting things. iStock tried this ages ago (Buy Request) and shelved it because it just didn't work well. There are a number of sites with "briefs" where contributors compete to get the sale (or a lot of times no sale). I don't see how this model works at microstock prices. iStock's request forum worked really well for a while - designers and contributors hung out there and could interact. They nuked all of that; not sure how you get the hoped for interaction going on a new site
photographers don't join without buyers and buyers won't bother without contributors I know that iStock tried this before and it didnt work for them. Unfortunately, I personally didnt get a chance to use their service. However, the fact that were not the licensors of all the content gives us more flexibility to keep all the interactions as direct as possible. Our business model is different enough to approach this from a different angle. Whether or not it works we have to try to find out. There seem to be so many things left unsaid - about when you take 10% vs 20%; are there any standard licenses you offer or does each contributor invent their own; do you have FTP upload and do you read IPTC data; What's this limit of 10G of storage with a note about e-mailing if you want more? - "You'll start off with 10GB. There are plenty of other ways to increase your storage for free. If you need mass storage email us. "; do you do any marketing at all or is it all up to contributors; do you exercise any control at all over model/property releases, copyright issues (vectors that are traces of another person's photograph, for example)? -Right now photographers can license their work with standard RF and RM. -No FTP upload yet but were working on it. However you can do multiple uploads from the site. -We do read IPTC, EXIF data -There is a Limit to 10GB because we want to avoid and amateur photographers flooding the marketplace with every single photo they snapped. We increase storage for photographers who actually have stuff they can sell. -Photographers are in charge of keeping track of their model/property releases. However if there is any foul play they can be flagged and banned from the site. We are also registered with DMCA so if someone is using an image thats copyrighted by another person we can take it down, suspend account and kick them out of the site. Were walking a fine line here. We cant give total control to photographers over their work and at the same time take control in our hands. But well do everything we can to make sure problem makers are not part of the community.
25
« on: February 05, 2015, 02:09 »
amabu Because there is "no middleman/agency" there will also be no advertising. You will have to attract the buyers yourself We dont have the advertising budget of Shuterstock or istock. However our goal is to get the buyers to FocalPool by offering something that giant agencies cant: collaborative tools to work directly with photographers to find the right images for their projects. Also, you dont have to attract every buyer yourself, since your photos are easily discoverable through the media marketplace.
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