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Author Topic: Isn't it technically an underpaid job?  (Read 23149 times)

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« on: January 26, 2011, 14:39 »
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Shooting or illustrating for microstock is useful for an extra little income (for most of us) but isn't in reality and extremely underpaid job? Aren't we all better off taking a standard job at minimum wage? I read in another topic about an income of $10/image/year, which is extremely low imho.

I myself have around 60 vector images in my port now. They have generated plenty of sales, but little money (around $300) in a couple of months. Yet the hours I spend on them are much much more.

So, with that in mind, why do you keep on microstocking? Is it really worth all the effort? I'm curious.


lisafx

« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2011, 14:49 »
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In the beginning, as you are building your portfolio, it is a hideously underpaid job.  I don't do illustrations, but I can imagine I would be quite frustrated with the time it takes to do them, vs. the return. 

As time goes on, though, and your older stuff is still selling, and you are doing new stuff, the income can build to a more respectable level.

I do think it's much harder now than a few years ago to get enough sales to make it worthwhile.  I wouldn't want to be starting in microstock now. 

« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2011, 15:52 »
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Yes, you should just take a minimum wage job ;)...

I'll just say I was making more than my day job 4 years ago after 2+ years of work, which is why I quit 3 years ago.  Agree with ^ that you could not start today and expect that.  For once I timed something correctly.

On the other hand, I have some ValueUsa and Pets.com stock from 99 to sell you.

« Reply #3 on: January 26, 2011, 16:37 »
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true, nothing to see here, move along

gbcimages

« Reply #4 on: January 26, 2011, 16:44 »
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u bet your life it is  ;D but oh the fun we're  having

« Reply #5 on: January 26, 2011, 16:53 »
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Would you like to Super Size that illustration, sir?

« Reply #6 on: January 26, 2011, 16:54 »
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Someone recently asked for my advice about whether he should enter microstock, and I had to share with him some hard truths.  Most people simply won't make it.  The majority of stuff that is uploaded these days simply isn't needed by today's buyers... either because the subject matter is so oversaturated, or the images have nothing unique to offer in terms of style or perspective, or even if the images are unique they're just not marketable.

You can be a great photographer or artist in terms of technical quality, but that doesn't matter anymore.  Technical quality is a commodity now.  It simply gets you in the door, but quality alone won't make you any money.

The only way to succeed now is to think of this as a business.  What is selling today, and what will sell tomorrow?  And I don't mean be a copycat.  It doesn't work... may have tried and failed, because you're simply following the pack that has made its money and already moved on to new subject matter and styles.  If you're attempting to compete in subjects that are oversaturated (and just about everything is), what is going to make a buyer choose your images and not the best sellers?  Sadly, most will never figure out these answers.

« Reply #7 on: January 26, 2011, 17:17 »
0
  • No boss
  • Freedom to work/sleep when I like
  • No commute
  • No annoying people
  • Passive earnings mean if I want a day off, I have it.
  • Creative outlet
  • Intellectual stimulation
  • Happiness

But hey, anyone who can even imagine working a 9-5 (or more often at minimum wage, a 7am-9pm job) after spending 3 years out on your own, then maybe it would be the right move for them.

This lifestyle is hard at first, but every bit of hard work you do today, is one bit less to be done tomorrow ;)

« Reply #8 on: January 26, 2011, 17:33 »
0
  • No boss
  • Freedom to work/sleep when I like
  • No commute
  • No annoying people
  • Passive earnings mean if I want a day off, I have it.
  • Creative outlet
  • Intellectual stimulation
  • Happiness

But hey, anyone who can even imagine working a 9-5 (or more often at minimum wage, a 7am-9pm job) after spending 3 years out on your own, then maybe it would be the right move for them.

This lifestyle is hard at first, but every bit of hard work you do today, is one bit less to be done tomorrow ;)

You could make this same pitch if you were selling a network marketing scam.  Sure, those are the selling points, the dream we're all chasing.  But how many will actually achieve this?  Probably the same number who fall for a pyramid scheme.

How many people have all of the above, and enough money to pay the bills?  The number as a percent of total contributors is shrinking every day.

« Reply #9 on: January 26, 2011, 17:49 »
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I bet the talented people here could make more than minimum wages.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #10 on: January 26, 2011, 17:56 »
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I bet the talented people here could make more than minimum wages.
Yeah, but they're probably the ones who'd be promoted after a week at the minimum wage job.

« Reply #11 on: January 26, 2011, 18:35 »
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Talk about being underpaid... Check out some photo freelance jobs here. Have your chains secured firmly to your desk.  http://www.odesk.com/jobs/photography

Here's one of their latest offerings with 11 applicants no less:

Job Description

I have a list of tips on how to take better photos on specific topics. I need you to find a photo that matches each tip. These photos must be available for use in commercial work, so they should be either from your own collection, or from a source such as Flickr (and licensed under the Attribution License).

There are approximately 220 total tips for this job, all for different types of sports photography. I do not expect photos for all of the tips, but around 75% or more would be good. The photos should be of a high standard, and illustrate excellence in photography.

You will need to return to me a spreadsheet with the list of tips and image file names. I will also need the original image, the source (eg. Flickr), the name of the photographer for attribution, and a link to the original image.

Please see attached sample tips, with the first item filled in.

Those with photography experience and/or their own collection they can source from will be highly regarded. I have more work across other categories for interested candidates.
Open Attachment

Skills Required:
Photography
Employer Activity on this Job:

Last Viewed  :
    Today
Applicants:
    11 (avg $186.87)
Interviewing:
    0

lisafx

« Reply #12 on: January 26, 2011, 18:41 »
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I'm sorry, perhaps I am reading that wrong.  Are they offering to pay $186 for 165 images done to their specs??  For commercial use??  Or is it $186 per image?  The latter might be doable.  The former is sheer masochism. 
« Last Edit: January 26, 2011, 18:43 by lisafx »

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #13 on: January 26, 2011, 18:41 »
0
Those with photography experience and/or their own collection they can source from will be highly regarded.
Whoops, I first thought he meant 'highly rewarded', but I guess not!

OM

« Reply #14 on: January 26, 2011, 18:55 »
0
Talk about being underpaid... Check out some photo freelance jobs here. Have your chains secured firmly to your desk.  http://www.odesk.com/jobs/photography

Here's one of their latest offerings with 11 applicants no less:

Job Description

I have a list of tips on how to take better photos on specific topics. I need you to find a photo that matches each tip. These photos must be available for use in commercial work, so they should be either from your own collection, or from a source such as Flickr (and licensed under the Attribution License).

There are approximately 220 total tips for this job, all for different types of sports photography. I do not expect photos for all of the tips, but around 75% or more would be good. The photos should be of a high standard, and illustrate excellence in photography.

You will need to return to me a spreadsheet with the list of tips and image file names. I will also need the original image, the source (eg. Flickr), the name of the photographer for attribution, and a link to the original image.

Please see attached sample tips, with the first item filled in.

Those with photography experience and/or their own collection they can source from will be highly regarded. I have more work across other categories for interested candidates.
Open Attachment

Skills Required:
Photography
Employer Activity on this Job:

Last Viewed  :
    Today
Applicants:
    11 (avg $186.87)
Interviewing:
    0


Offer of penal servitude now cancelled.

« Reply #15 on: January 26, 2011, 18:58 »
0
I'm sorry, perhaps I am reading that wrong.  Are they offering to pay $186 for 165 images done to their specs??  For commercial use??  Or is it $186 per image?  The latter might be doable.  The former is sheer masochism. 

If you are into masochism you might want to put in a bid. Look at the other postings on that site and you'll see bids for original photography plus sizing them for web sites for LESS THAN $2 EACH.

After reading through a bunch of those postings I feel that I'm being overpaid at FT.

OM

« Reply #16 on: January 26, 2011, 19:32 »
0
I'm sorry, perhaps I am reading that wrong.  Are they offering to pay $186 for 165 images done to their specs??  For commercial use??  Or is it $186 per image?  The latter might be doable.  The former is sheer masochism. 

If you are into masochism you might want to put in a bid. Look at the other postings on that site and you'll see bids for original photography plus sizing them for web sites for LESS THAN $2 EACH.

After reading through a bunch of those postings I feel that I'm being overpaid at FT.

Mail FT about it and I'm sure that they will oblige by cutting your percentage yet again within the first half of this year. ;D

On second thoughts, probably better not. Support (aka HAL 9000) wouldn't appreciate the irony and either delete your entire portfolio or award you ruby status.


« Reply #17 on: January 26, 2011, 20:18 »
0
  • No boss
  • Freedom to work/sleep when I like
  • No commute
  • No annoying people
  • Passive earnings mean if I want a day off, I have it.
  • Creative outlet
  • Intellectual stimulation
  • Happiness

But hey, anyone who can even imagine working a 9-5 (or more often at minimum wage, a 7am-9pm job) after spending 3 years out on your own, then maybe it would be the right move for them.

This lifestyle is hard at first, but every bit of hard work you do today, is one bit less to be done tomorrow ;)


I love this life.  :D

The beauty of licensing images, whether through the micros or traditionals or even through your own specialty stock site, is the long-term income they generate.  I don't invest in the stock market...instead I invest my time and money in my own stock image portfolio.  The concept is essentially the same.  It just takes time and energy to build a self-sustaining portfolio.  In five years, my own small portfolio (around 3,000 rather ordinary images) has seen me through losing my job, which is when I decided to go pro, a broken ankle that sidelined me for several months, a volunteer project that lasted six months, and an apartment fire that sidelined my business for the next three months after the project ended (9 months total that I didn't or couldn't work last year).  Did I mention I'm the sole income earner, too?  Don't get me wrong...I'm not making a lot of money...it's definitely tight around here...but no longer am I at the mercy of unexpected events or health crises or a J-O-B or a tyrannical boss, and that's priceless!!!

An important thing to remember, too, is that the images we create today have the potential to generate income literally forever.  I've heard countless photographers and illustrators ask about an image's "shelf life," but what they and many others fail to understand is at some point today's image becomes an historical record, and there are plenty of buyers interested in the history of their subject. Of course, most income is in the current stuff, but as Lisa pointed out, by the time my images become vintage, I will have already built a self-sustaining portfolio and won't have to worry about how little income they generate.

I know a guy named Tom Myers who has been a stock photographer for over 35 years and has a portfolio of *gasp* over 500,000 images created solely by himself and two members of his family.  His portfolio not only continues to support Tom and his wife Sally in their later years, but his son and his family as well, despite the fact that the bulk of it is now vintage, still on slides and is built almost exclusively with images of California.  One of his favorite stories is about a town that had been destroyed in the 1989 San Francisco Earthquake.  As town officials made plans to rebuild, they discovered much to their horror that they did not have any photographs of the center of Main Street prior to the earthquake.  No one from the town had thought to take one...but Tom did!  Tom saved the day...and made some money on an otherwise stale photo.
« Last Edit: January 26, 2011, 20:28 by Karimala »

« Reply #18 on: January 27, 2011, 01:19 »
0
  • No boss
  • Freedom to work/sleep when I like
  • No commute
  • No annoying people
  • Passive earnings mean if I want a day off, I have it.
  • Creative outlet
  • Intellectual stimulation
  • Happiness

But hey, anyone who can even imagine working a 9-5 (or more often at minimum wage, a 7am-9pm job) after spending 3 years out on your own, then maybe it would be the right move for them.

This lifestyle is hard at first, but every bit of hard work you do today, is one bit less to be done tomorrow ;)

agencies are another form of bosses and annoying people. think about it, they cut your commission whenever they like

« Reply #19 on: January 27, 2011, 03:23 »
0
agencies are another form of bosses and annoying people. think about it, they cut your commission whenever they like

They can't tell you when to work, when you are allowed to take holidays, whether or not you are allowed to wear this or that, or what your targets are, they can't shout at you or threaten you, they can't push so much work on you that you have to do hours of overtime. They're not bosses, they are businesses that you have to deal with.

« Reply #20 on: January 27, 2011, 05:56 »
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threaten you

hmnnn... i don't think they threaten ,they just cut whenever they like.

« Reply #21 on: January 27, 2011, 06:33 »
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They can't tell you when to work, when you are allowed to take holidays, whether or not you are allowed to wear this or that, or what your targets are

That thing with "targets" sounds quite familiar...

RT


« Reply #22 on: January 27, 2011, 07:06 »
0
They can't tell you......what your targets are........

Well except for telling you that despite your sales numbers going up in order to get the same percentage of commission that you did last year you need to sell 500%+ more, now there's a target  >:(

« Reply #23 on: January 27, 2011, 08:28 »
0
I think, this work must be seen as a return on equity, not as a return on work!

« Reply #24 on: January 27, 2011, 08:30 »
0
agencies are another form of bosses and annoying people. think about it, they cut your commission whenever they like

They can't tell you when to work, when you are allowed to take holidays, whether or not you are allowed to wear this or that, or what your targets are, they can't shout at you or threaten you, they can't push so much work on you that you have to do hours of overtime. They're not bosses, they are businesses that you have to deal with.

They can't tell you......what your targets are........

Well except for telling you that despite your sales numbers going up in order to get the same percentage of commission that you did last year you need to sell 500%+ more, now there's a target  >:(

If you don't like it, you have the free choice not to work with them, and doing so does not require sacrificing your entire income as it would if your boss in a 'real' job was a four-letter-word.

Agencies ARE business partners, if you're not happy doing business with them, then don't, it's as simple as that. You are the market (or at least one side of it), and the market ultimately decides ;)


 

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