Oh come on.

Yeah fine, for the big dogs or the contributors pumping images online by the hundreds every month this "free idea" may work to an extent. But hobbyists and part-timers will just get suffocated along the way.

Sure does free stuff generate a lot of traffic and the agencies will monetize that but that doesn't necessarily mean that we will see a cut of that.

It's already "bad" enough, having to produce like an idiot to stay in the game (as a full timer) - now the agencies wanna start the free thing?

The sickest part is that along the way there will always be enough newbies discovering the microstock world thinking they can make a killing until they realize a couple years down the road that it's just not paying off. In those two years the agencies just milked them dry and leave those burnt out but the agencies will keep going with a continuous flow of decent content.

Although there is still a significant amount of mediocre content being approved it has to be noted that a lot of very good stuff is represented at the micros in the meantime. Lots of 16MP+ with pro lighting and pro models - so the agencies really feel that this is working well for the high rollers?

I guess they all just assume that those contributors already have endorsements with Nikon, Canon or Hasselblad, besides running a studio somewhere also offering portraits or wedding services while contributing to some Macros on the side. Geez - welcome to the world of photography in the 21st century.

In the statement from my blog quoted above, I meant that some photographers...and here I was referring to assignment photographers...will find other avenues for revenue. For some it will be adding video to their kit, others will simply leave the industry, but in no way do I see that a total migration of assignment photographers to video will pull all out of the perfect storm of events that is depressing the assignment world presently.