Ok, this is not a micro, but i wanted to give some perspective on what im doing. mods can move this if its not in the right place (sorry)

I applied to a common traditional agency which i had never heard of till i started looking around a few months ago.  We just say some of you can guess im sure, but im not going to say.

So, they have a dedicated portal for uploading your test submission.  You upload five images in total.  They ask you for a range of styles.  This makes it a little tougher to decide how to test them.

I select five images, one of which i know will pass, and three i know may, and one i know wont. 

I also note that one of the micros is owned by this company via emails back and forth during my submissions they have listed their company names at the footers.

Coming from the background i'm in, which is mostly working with journalists, i am not surprised by the results, and can make some obvious conclusions.

This agency likes the "handshake", models sell very well in photos, so having model releases and the like, having fresh models with big smiles is where advertising is at.

Again as with SS brighter, snappier images that pop are key, ala naturale seems to be left for editorial work.

I wasnt criticised for my work, but key points to my rejection were,

firstly they dont take editorial work, for which many of my photos show that style, but i know thats my style.  you can see that here http://www.flickr.com/photos/drexxle/

secondly, they didnt see any commercial value in my images.  which is a fair description given the agency and the styles of work that seem to be most popular in general searches.

and lastly, just to have a digg, which i didnt think necessary, was they hit me with poor quality.  I agree with the first two statements, but this is the just like a nail in that coffin.  They were right on the money, respectful and just, then they through this one in. I had touched some images after SS would have passed but were underexposed.

So, all in all, fair, correct, and turn around of about 72 hours from submission to reply, and as with SS they give you another 30 days to reapply.  Obviously i wont be, this is not my "style", so i know i wont fit in.  If anyone can suggest a busy agency that takes the stuff in my flickr, then shoot me a PM, i have thousands of photos like that.

Cheers

If this is the agency I'm thinking of, they only want model released lifestyle type images.  That's all they will accept....that's just the way it is...and it's why many of us are non-exclusive.

As you have been told before getting on Alamy means noting.

Kind of confusing.
You refer to an "unknown" agency, we can try guess.
You refer to pictures we cannot see.
You refer to a flicker account with pictures that are not in play.

What is your message?
Do you want us to evaluate the pictures on your flickr account?
Or what do you want?

+1

Agree with Rux, your photos on flicker are underexposed and wont make the cut. If you hide your good images, whats the use of showing your bad images?

So you are basically exploring where you cannot sell LCV pictures?

Micros are going to die, at least for photographers.

When do you think this is going to happen?

I have a feeling this person is the same one from this thread over on SS!

http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=125027&start=0

The way they are talking especially about Alamy make it all to familiar.

Go have a look it's only 6 pages so far and whoever it is also started another OOF Duck post with an excuse for why the Duck is OOF.

So if you want your Sunday morning funnies you wont need the paper for that.

   

In regards to your (OP's) first post:

Why would you even waste an agency's time by applying with (some) images that you already know won't be approved?

Did you want to get into that agency or not?

What is the point of this "investigation"?

I read almost a page of responses and still don't understand what the whole point was in the first place.

The point, is to see who to deal with or not.  The point is to see who performs as an agency properly or not.  the point is to see what terms & conditions they have, how they operate, how they scrutinise images and how they treat contributors.  Its a dead market.  I see that chatting in here.  Incomes are dropping, interest is waning.

I have images that should pass, and some that should pass but may need some work. 

I dont think im wasting an agencies time if they come up higher on my list.  It shows they are doing their jobs.  So far out of 9 agencies, i can complain about three. six of them have performed as expected from a new customer.

I also for my own reasons need to know what they "wont" accept, and the only way to do that is to test them.

OK, got your point. Interesting to hear how others approach the macro business.

From my experience I can only tell that, once the macros, that I contacted, found out that I also contribute to micros, they dropped me like a hot potato - regardless of the fact that my macro stuff was completely unrelated to my micro port. Funny - I never really understood that.

Obviously there are plenty of agencies out there, so you can play this games practically forever.

Could be that I would have to change my approach of constantly improving my quality and only submitting my best work to the agents to see if anyone is interested. I never thought of showing images that still need work just to see how the agency would respond.

I don't know if we (contributors) can actually expect an agency to hold us by the hand and let us know how to improve our work to their standards simply because of the fact that there are thousands of better contributors already standing in line. The agencies can cherry-pick the stuff they like.

Either you supply a highly desired niche or you are already some big shot that they urgently would like to represent.

I may be completely delusional but I also appreciate constructive criticism if my point of view is totally out of whack.

A common mistake from micro stockers is to think the trad Rm/Rf agencies is some sort of a way out of the swamp. Well its not. Its just another swamp but with a much better stench.

Right, I sort of get the point, and then I would just submit your whole portfolio to all 130 agencies and see what sticks. Your approach doesnt make sense to me.

Why would you submit mine? I only activly work with eight of them, thats enough. No doubt you have your own to submit. Its not my approach, just go to some other forums/discussions etc within the RM or RF agencies and you soon find out what I mean. they fear getting some sort of exodus of photographers fed up with micro, thinking the grass over there is much rosier and greener.

Quote from: ClaridgeJ on October 01, 2012, 13:03

Quote from: Poncke on October 01, 2012, 12:41

Right, I sort of get the point, and then I would just submit your whole portfolio to all 130 agencies and see what sticks. Your approach doesnt make sense to me.

Why would you submit mine? I only activly work with eight of them, thats enough. No doubt you have your own to submit. Its not my approach, just go to some other forums/discussions etc within the RM or RF agencies and you soon find out what I mean. they fear getting some sort of exodus of photographers fed up with micro, thinking the grass over there is much rosier and greener.

I was talking to Drexxle  I dont understand his test. He just needs to submit his whole portfolio to all 130 agencies on his list.

Oh! beg your pardon! didnt read it properly. sorry.