I have quite a few years at learning photography but never turn my nose up at any possibility to learn.  When Shutterstock emailed the "skillfeed" free month offer I said why not.  As I proceeded through the "not working so smooth" sign up it ended up wanting a credit card number.  That pi**ed me off.  Should I be angry  ??

Reminds me of all those book-of-the-month clubs of my youth

You didn't by chance get an acre of canadian land for one dollar or a 50 dollar jeep from selling seeds did ya  ??

Come to think of it,  doesn't shutterstock own skillfeed  ??

It is clear that SS views us as their own personal bank.  They expect us to personally fund and provide the lions share of SS assets as well as the man-hours necessary to fuel their long term business growth and profits.

SS would never be able to generate the growth they have been greedy enough to enjoy without the funds, equipment, training and time we invest to generate content and meta data.  They simply could not afford to fund the production of content/assets themselves, even if they begged and borrowed.

What % of our $$,$$$ investments do you suppose never see returns?  Clearly SS does not care that over the last 8 years our costs of living and production expenses have increased while the SS royalties and cost to buyers have not.

And no they are not content to take profit from our hides; they have decided they need more, they want our credit cards and they want us to develop and provide free videos that they will require to train volumes of new and naive contributors so that we will have more competition and low cost replacements.

once upon a time a photographer really needed to know what they were doing to even be considered a stock photographer. oh the times they are changing changed.

once upon a time a photographer really needed to know what they were doing to even be considered a stock photographer. oh the times they are changing changed.

Nonsense. Stock photography is way more competitive now than it has ever been before.

Can I offset* the monthly fees as a business expense for my tax returns? If not I'll carry on getting (most of) the skills I currently need for free on the interthingy.


* excuse the pun

Yes, definitely.

Quote from: pxhidalgo on January 07, 2014, 13:46

I dont feel its right for ss to charge us for a service which finally benefits them with better photographers and better stock photographs.  I believe it should be free and considered an investment in their workforce (which is us), ultimately their business is to sell our stock images not make money giving courses. 

Bollocks. It's a service they offer. Either pay for it, or leave it. They don't owe you anything. Why should they give lessons away for free? These lessons are not necessarily an investment for them, since you can also use your newly acquired knowledge tp upload better photos to other agencies.

Well said. Why do some people think everything should be spoon-fed for them? Should SS buy us all cameras and lights too? What about a PC to process the images and maybe a house to live in whilst we do it "for them"? Some people need to grow a pair and learn to stand on their own two feet.

Get over yourself
its just business
if you don't want to post your credit card don't, no body is forcing you

A very wise person once said to me "why would you help your competitors take sales away from you?"

I agree 100%

Nuf' Said
 

Quote from: shudderstok on January 07, 2014, 18:03

once upon a time a photographer really needed to know what they were doing to even be considered a stock photographer. oh the times they are changing changed.

Nonsense. Stock photography is way more competitive now than it has ever been before.

sure, cause now everyone and their cat is a photographer and can submit to any microstock agency and not even know what they are doing and not even have to deal with a true editing process. it's a sad day for stock photography as an industry when your agency sends you a "how to" take photos course.

my original post was not about being more or less competitive, it was related to skill level, we never had the "how to" courses cause the only way into any agency was "know how".

hence the often mentioned view of the traditional agencies were "closed shop", they were never closed shop - ever- ever- ever, but if you did not know what you were doing, they's slam the door in your face.

Unless you have Fighter Jets in your portfolio than nobody is superior  in this game 

Quote from: shudderstok on January 08, 2014, 20:35

Quote from: gostwyck on January 08, 2014, 13:10

Quote from: shudderstok on January 07, 2014, 18:03

once upon a time a photographer really needed to know what they were doing to even be considered a stock photographer. oh the times they are changing changed.

Nonsense. Stock photography is way more competitive now than it has ever been before.

sure, cause now everyone and their cat is a photographer and can submit to any microstock agency and not even know what they are doing and not even have to deal with a true editing process. it's a sad day for stock photography as an industry when your agency sends you a "how to" take photos course.

my original post was not about being more or less competitive, it was related to skill level, we never had the "how to" courses cause the only way into any agency was "know how".

hence the often mentioned view of the traditional agencies were "closed shop", they were never closed shop - ever- ever- ever, but if you did not know what you were doing, they's slam the door in your face.

We'll obviously, with your vast experience and superior skills, you'll be cleaning up with the much bigger market available to you nowadays. How come you keep complaining about the increased competition when you are so much better than them?

just curious man, why do you keep bringing up this mention of increased competition? that is not what my original post was regarding nor was it even mentioned or even hinted at, i even noted in reply this was not even mentioned in my in my first reply... "my original post was not about being more or less competitive". not even sure where you are seeing any mention of this so called increase competition, yet you still drag it on and on and on.

i am not for one minute suggesting i am better than anyone, i simply made a point of "once upon a time" and it seems it really hit a sensitive spot for you.

the keywords here are "changing" and "changed" and this is all in reference to SS selling "how to" courses versus having "know how" etc.

it is an observation on the industry, not a criticism so don't take it so personally.