EVO? So whats this all about?  Has anyone here been invited?

Got this site mail:

Labor Day 2008 - is a great day that 123RF Contributors will look forward to as there are going to be some welcomed changes on 123RF.com.

1. Free images will be blog size
Since we introduced the free images section for 123RF in April 2007, the daily free image collection has since grown from 800 to an average of 12,000 images. We thank you for your participation and support.

Now to make it even more attractive, 123RF will downsize the images to the new blog size to encourage sales of larger size imagery for your images, hence, earning you more credit sales!

2. EVO images launch, Contribution by Invitation only
Some of you may already know, we're launching a new label called EVO on 123RF. EVO images will be priced higher and will only be sold via credits. There are 4 tiers of pricing that you can choose from.

Some of you have received invitations to upload to EVO and as we gradually roll EVO out, we will invite more and more of you to upload to this collection. To find out if you've been selected as an EVO contributor please look out for the sitemail and your email as well.

Remember that the review process will be a lot more strict and time consuming as we have to re-train some of our reviewers to look at things from another perspective. All in all, we want to ensure that with the EVO Label, 123RF and its Contributors will be offering better images to our customers.

Thank you and all the best for the months to come!

Alex
for 123rf.com

Perhaps I'm not looking at this the right way (and I didn't get an invitation, so perhaps my nose is just out of joint) but aren't they all trying to get some exclusive content?

They want to compete with iStock's exclusive content, but they don't think they can get artist exclusivity, so they're going for image exclusivity. I think that the emeralds at Fotolia can submit to the black collection there, but again, the images have to be exclusive to Fotolia, right?

The way that affects those of us who don't submit to those collections is that prices aren't going up for the main collection, but for the EVO/Infinite group. I guess it just makes iStock exclusivity more appealing (to me) - there I can get higher returns on my lowly non-EVO non-Infinite files...

The other double take I had was on Labor Day - that's the fall in the US, but the site mail says May 1st, international worker's day.

I am hoping someone who has been invited can clarify, but I was assuming that they content submitted to EVO would be exclusive. Fotolia's rules are that the image cannot be offered for less anywhere else, which isn't saying exclusive, but in effect it means it can't be anywhere on the micros.

Leaf - The EVO announcement came by site mail not email.

yeah, that is what I meant as the one i saw.

As I said in this post...  http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php/topic,4271.0.html, the battle for exclusive images is going to hot up.

But why anyone would want to give exclusive images to 123 is beyond me; DT perhaps, FT perhaps, but 123 hasn't yet got the customer base needed to generate the returns from exclusive stuff.  Perhaps I'm wrong.  Nonetheless I wish them well with this project.

So what exactly will it mean for an image to be in EVO if similars can be in the regular 123rf collection as well and the EVO images are for sale as part of subscriptions on SS and anywhere else?

How do you create a notion of these images being "special" and only available for credits at 123rf if you don't preclude them from appearing for subscriptions at other sites?

Just a thought here...

I wonder if this is an attempt by 123RF to develop the beginnings of a midstock collection. Just thinking about the price trends over the last year, moves by many companies away from "dollar stock" and more towards midstock (istock and StockXpert price increases, SV pricing up to $50, etc), and how companies are now trying to distinguish themselves from each other. It doesn't even matter if the content isn't exclusive. Just creating this elite set of images could be enough of a draw for some buyers. Sort of like saying, "Don't bother with those other sites that have millions of average images. Here at 123RF we have this cream-of-the-crop collection."

From a buyer perspective, it could be nice to not have to search the vast collections of the bigger microstock sites, finding only the best images in a smaller collection. Depends on what the buyer is looking for, but I can see how this might be attractive to some. Maybe 123RF launches EVO, builds it up over a year or so, and then raises prices and breaks it out on it's own as an independent midstock collection.

A panel decides who gets invited to contribute to EVO.

Is that site mail an invitation? If so, I'm flattered.

Regards,
Adelaide

Congratulations! You have been selected as one of our potential EVO Contributors.

Ah, it makes sense now.  I haven't received one of these. 

Regards,
Adelaide

cdwheatley.  I can see why you were invited, I just clicked through to DT and wow, you have some gorgeous stuff.  I even bookmarked you! 

I have a client that is planning for the fall.  She is a travel agent who specializes in destination weddings.  She just LOVES the white sand blue sky look.  But she won't want any of your shots because there is no man in them.    LOL, you poor guy - do you only know gorgeous women?  Isn't there an attractive man you can stick one of them with?  With that just-married kind of look?  (Run out from behind the tipod maybe?)   I think I have purchased more nice couple on the beach photos than anything else.  Just a thought, I bet you could clean up if you can find a hunky guy.

Thanks  LOL..Your right about the man. Another woman would be nice as well....hmmm.  Actually, all those pics are of the same woman (my wife), she's a really good sport, thank god!!! I'm to short to model with her and she's got me in the looks department too, I don't like cameras much unless I'm behind It.

I was in the Florida keys until a month ago and the talent pool down there is slim pickens. There are a ton of models where I'm at now, its just a matter of hooking up. Now if I could just get off my arse and make it happen...lazy lazy lazy. 

Please note that our review policy will only accept images that meet the following criteria:
- technically superior
- strictly without noise
- strictly without artifacting
- strictly no software up-sizing/interpolation
- touch ups are permitted or highly recommended
- minimum 8 Mega Pixels shot from a DSLR (or better)
- very stock oriented � we will only consider well composed shots that are taken with intent, effort and purpose.
- images with models must be accompanied by valid Model Releases

Sounds like the current iStock inspection.

Nope.  Aside from maybe the "stock oriented" one, you couldn't tell any of those from a thumbnail.