The hard truth for the old timers -  their best images today wouldn't fetch enough per sale to get a cup of coffee especially at Starbucks!

Quote from: nobody on July 26, 2018, 23:55
The hard truth for the old timers -  their best images today wouldn't fetch enough per sale to get a cup of coffee especially at Starbucks!

Any time you want to compare portfolios, I am game.

Quote from: farbled on July 27, 2018, 00:50

Quote from: nobody on July 26, 2018, 23:55
The hard truth for the old timers -  their best images today wouldn't fetch enough per sale to get a cup of coffee especially at Starbucks!

Any time you want to compare portfolios, I am game.

The best and only referees for this game are the customers. How much you sell per month and image is what matters. Not some fancy critique from a fellow (old timer) contributor, not how many likes or faves one gets on social media, but how much real money is earned (per month/year and image)

When one sells only 2-3 images over a few days that one is not qualified to judge this business.

I don't know if I am an old-timer or not.

Quote from: Zero Talent on July 27, 2018, 01:02

Quote from: farbled on July 27, 2018, 00:50

Quote from: nobody on July 26, 2018, 23:55
The hard truth for the old timers -  their best images today wouldn't fetch enough per sale to get a cup of coffee especially at Starbucks!

Any time you want to compare portfolios, I am game.

The best and only referees for this game are the customers. How much you sell per month and image is what matters. Not some fancy critique from a fellow (old timer) contributor, not how many likes or faves one gets on social media, but how much real money is earned (per month/year and image)

When one sells only 2-3 images over a few days that one is not qualify to judge this business.

Great comment! Plus one!

Quote from: farbled on July 27, 2018, 00:50

Quote from: nobody on July 26, 2018, 23:55
The hard truth for the old timers -  their best images today wouldn't fetch enough per sale to get a cup of coffee especially at Starbucks!

Any time you want to compare portfolios, I am game.

done...

Hahaha good! Anyone who wants to see mine, here's one:

https://www.shutterstock.com/g/farbled

Quote from: nobody on July 26, 2018, 23:55
The hard truth for the old timers -  their best images today wouldn't fetch enough per sale to get a cup of coffee especially at Starbucks!

nah you got it wrong mate!  to complain about a controled revenue system and new images dont sell is a FAR cry from complaining about  a month total earnings! I am still earning handsomely every month BUT not as good as a couple of years ago not as good as it could be.

So there you go old images isnt worth a sandwhich and new images not even worth the loo-paper in a French stand-up gutter bogg!....I take my sandwhich thank you!

Quote from: farbled on July 27, 2018, 02:20
Hahaha good! Anyone who wants to see mine, here's one:

https://www.shutterstock.com/g/farbled

That's a lot of cooking! 

Those quesadillas look tasty. Now the real question: Did you eat it all?

With few exceptions, everything I have is something I ate about 1 minute after I shot it. My process is:

watch (sometimes help) wife make a meal, she enjoys styling
grab my plate and stick it on my setup table (studio/piece of wood/whatever
shoot 10 or so pix in about 30 seconds
go eat

Quote from: farbled on July 26, 2018, 22:39
OK, so we reach a level where image sales stay the same month to month without dropping or increasing no matter how much or how little I upload. I have never heard of that before and have never seen it in the more than a decade of doing this until recently.

Weird, but ok. Problem solved.

Actually mine change month to month, more consistently depending on what month it may be, but the yes was, there are more than a few different issues and questions, all being lumped together into "controlled revenue". I kind of liked the one where, if it's controlled, down, then it must also be controlled, up, so things stay the same? 

I wouldn't compare my best to your broad collection. Sorry, you win by default or is that I concede defeat without a battle. 

Quote from: Uncle Pete on July 28, 2018, 01:01

Quote from: farbled on July 26, 2018, 22:39
OK, so we reach a level where image sales stay the same month to month without dropping or increasing no matter how much or how little I upload. I have never heard of that before and have never seen it in the more than a decade of doing this until recently.

Weird, but ok. Problem solved.

Actually mine change month to month, more consistently depending on what month it may be, but the yes was, there are more than a few different issues and questions, all being lumped together into "controlled revenue". I kind of liked the one where, if it's controlled, down, then it must also be controlled, up, so things stay the same? 

I wouldn't compare my best to your broad collection. Sorry, you win by default or is that I concede defeat without a battle. 

Not a contest. I have quantity and some ok stuff plus a niche. I know my limits. My "photographic" talents are more in event shooting. Or they were when I did that. Stock was a fun way to make extra money, now its more work than anything, with the returns * the fun out of it. I figure I am in the middle of the pack for (part time) stock shooting.

Quote from: farbled on July 27, 2018, 02:20
Hahaha good! Anyone who wants to see mine, here's one:

https://www.shutterstock.com/g/farbled

Wow. Thats a lot of food. Great port.
PS: gonna complain to my wife about her cooking..

You know, my more recent stuff is worse than my older stuff. I have a few thousand newer pix that are way better than whats there now, but no incentive to upload except maybe to my own website.

Quote from: farbled on July 31, 2018, 23:39
You know, my more recent stuff is worse than my older stuff. I have a few thousand newer pix that are way better than whats there now, but no incentive to upload except maybe to my own website.

Put it on Pond5, exclusive at a premium price, like Stocksy for the masses.

Do photos actually sell there?

Quote from: farbled on August 01, 2018, 00:07
Do photos actually sell there?

Not yet, but it's about creating a market, Stocksy contributors promote on social media, find out who your buyers are and get in their networks.  If half of those 5,000 Stocksy applicants did the same, Pond5 would start promoting it as well.  It may take a year or two, but it beats the race to the bottom with the other agencies.

Been thinking about that with my own website. Back in the Symbio days my idea was to get 6 or even a dozen artists with complimentary portfolios and do one "bigger" site with lots of variety all around the same quality and price points.

Not a bad idea with Pond though, I have a negligible amount of photos there, but they do sell sometimes.

Quote from: farbled on August 01, 2018, 00:29
Been thinking about that with my own website. Back in the Symbio days my idea was to get 6 or even a dozen artists with complimentary portfolios and do one "bigger" site with lots of variety all around the same quality and price points.

Not a bad idea with Pond though, I have a negligible amount of photos there, but they do sell sometimes.

The structure is there to make an agency within an agency a Stocksy clone without the closed coop limitations, a Premier Select, but open to all, just needs enough contributors brave enough to take advantage of it. One drawback is lack of control over Pond5, they could change the rules halfway through the game as agencies are apt to do, but if it works would they want to kill the golden goose?

Stocksy proved a co-op could work. I think a few contributors going it alone would not do a heck of a lot unless the strategy changed from competing with the big guns in their own playground and go after boutique, direct market, small clients that the big guys don't bother with, kind of thing. Have a decent selection and enough image exclusive stuff, and it could work. I liked the original Symbio idea, just needed some tweaking and money thrown at it, plus curation, so that there was a quality level and common price points. Maybe multiple networks? Who knows..

Anyway, sorry for hijacking the thread.

Quote from: farbled on August 01, 2018, 01:31
Stocksy proved a co-op could work. I think a few contributors going it alone would not do a heck of a lot unless the strategy changed from competing with the big guns in their own playground and go after boutique, direct market, small clients that the big guys don't bother with, kind of thing. Have a decent selection and enough image exclusive stuff, and it could work. I liked the original Symbio idea, just needed some tweaking and money thrown at it, plus curation, so that there was a quality level and common price points. Maybe multiple networks? Who knows..

Anyway, sorry for hijacking the thread.

What have you got to lose, then wait a year or two and you will have a lot less to lose, life's too short.