Quote from: luissantos84 on May 19, 2013, 09:23

two entries on SS forum from Yuri's father

Well, now Yuri has left Shutterstock I can just as well reveal a few things. It is a long time ago since Yuri only had 1000 downloads a day at SS. A typical day at SS had between 3000-4000 downloads!! How do I know? Well, I introduced Yuri to SS. And I am Yuris dad - and very proud of my son�s success!

By the way, Yuri is not the only one leaving SS. If you want to see my port, do it now. In some weeks it will be gone too! Time to say goodbye!

The best to all of you!

PS: Rinder99, thanks! You have always been fair to Yuri (and me) from the very beginning about 7-8 years ago.

Vista/Dhoxax

AND

Thanks for the nice words about my son Yuri (and my port)!

Why I leave too? Not so difficult to figure out really: I simply got an offer I could not refuse! Got It?

No, stock photography is only my hobby (though, a hobby with a nice income). In "real life" I work as an university professor and researcher.

The best to all of you!

Vista/Dhoxax .)

Well Vista/Dhoxax joined SS in June 2005 while Yuri joined SS in Feb 2005 but he is still claiming he introduced Yuri to SS.

I think that Yuri only started serious uploading to SS in late 2005. Yuri's SS ID is 2700 whereas his father's is 2702 which obviously suggests that both accounts were opened at the same time, quite possibly by the same person. It might be that Yuri or his father opened both accounts and it was some months before Yuri bothered to do anything about it. His father might well have encouraged Yuri to do so only after having a positive experience with sales himself.

It's a pity that Yuri's SS gallery is now gone because was extraordinary to see his level of photography skill (or lack of) when he started . He clearly wasn't even a hobbyist photographer back then and his first few images were amateur snaps of a squirrel in a garden which appeared to have been taken with a P&S camera. He was an amazingly quick learner.

I remember someone saying that they would have loved to be the one that referred Yuri. If Yuris father referred Yuri, then he would have been making 4000*0.03*31=$3600 dollar per month (give or take). SS cut that income back in February. Thats a big hit to take, for anyone.

It might have pissed the Wackerhausen family off, to get hit with a +/- $40k annual pay cut. On top of the low royalties.

That's the best bit of joined-up thinking on this thread. The timing is right for Yuri to have his files off the 3-month rule sites, and coincided more or less with the February deletion, ensuring Getty wouldn't be too bothered about it, and knowing Y was lurching aboard mean they could more easily pap Sean, who was a thorn in their side, but an excellent seller.

Quote from: ShadySue on May 20, 2013, 08:58

Quote from: Poncke v2 on May 20, 2013, 08:07

I remember someone saying that they would have loved to be the one that referred Yuri. If Yuris father referred Yuri, then he would have been making 4000*0.03*31=$3600 dollar per month (give or take). SS cut that income back in February. Thats a big hit to take, for anyone.

It might have pissed the Wackerhausen family off, to get hit with a +/- $40k annual pay cut. On top of the low royalties.

That's the best bit of joined-up thinking on this thread. The timing is right for Yuri to have his files off the 3-month rule sites, and coincided more or less with the February deletion, ensuring Getty wouldn't be too bothered about it, and knowing Y was lurching aboard mean they could more easily pap Sean, who was a thorn in their side, but an excellent seller.

I just wrote something similar in the other thread on iStock simplifying collections

Yup, it seems like a reasonable inference from the facts. A real joining up of the dots.

sad to see there isn't a single exclusive welcoming Yuri to iStock/GI, oh!

doesn't he deserve a topic at the forum?

Maybe all the welcoming comments are within the Exclusive forum (which you and I can't access)?

Quote from: luissantos84 on May 20, 2013, 09:51

sad to see there isn't a single exclusive welcoming Yuri to iStock/GI, oh!

doesn't he deserve a topic at the forum?

Maybe all the welcoming comments are within the Exclusive forum (which you and I can't access)?

Nope.
And posts elsewhere were deleted as per Lobo's earlier comment.

Quote from: luissantos84 on May 20, 2013, 10:14

sure tickstock will show us all that excitement

Still trolling Luis?

why don't you give us your opinion about this matter instead of that

^^^Didn't you notice that the rest of the big 4 cut commissions while SS kept theirs and added more ways to sell our images?  Isn't there more reasons to leave istock, FT and DT than SS?  Yuri has obviously been made an offer he can't refuse, I'm not sure Getty will do that for many more and for everyone they do, there will probably be exclusives going the other way.

Jon Origner will have to bite the bullet at some point and split the collections into different price points if he wants to retain the high value work. I does seem crazy I can buy an apple on white with no production costs and a high production lifestyle photo shot in the Caribbean with massive overheads for the same $0.25. There's a serious crack in their business model and Yuri just fell through it.

It depends if the Caribbean shot is actually any good, money doesn't always make a better photo. Cost of making the photo shouldn't be a factor, quality and uniqueness should be the only measure in my opinion.

I do agree on different price points though. I'd hate to be the reviewer deciding that, can you imagine the fights over being placed in a tier you think is too low for your picture?

It was inevitable Yuri would leave when you think about it.

The work of many artists there have progressed lightyears beyond the grab shots of the early days but the SS pricing structure has remained stubbornly stuck in 2008 - subs prices do not remotely reflect the production costs of todays standards. I doubt he'll be the only one to come to the same conclusion.

Jon Origner will have to bite the bullet at some point and split the collections into different price points if he wants to retain the high value work. I does seem crazy I can buy an apple on white with no production costs and a high production lifestyle photo shot in the Caribbean with massive overheads for the same $0.25. There's a serious crack in their business model and Yuri just fell through it.

Sorry but that is largely nonsense. Even half-decent shooters don't get '$0.25' at SS and certainly Yuri didn't. Personally I'm now averaging nearly 80c per sale there __ that's almost 4x my average at SS when I started. My earnings at SS have roughly trebled since 2008 so again, not too much to complain about there. If only all the other agencies had done the same I'd be laughing.

My costs of production have gone way down too. For the first few years I was using my earnings to buy all the gear I needed __ or more accurately, thought I needed. Now I'm in the business of flogging off excess gear that I realise I almost never use. My equipment was all paid for years ago and I control my costs according to the likely revenue the images will generate. It's not exactly rocket-science __ well, other than when I'm using rocket (arugula) leaves in my food shoots anyway.

Neither microstock or SS was ever about flying models off to the Caribbean and staying in 5* hotels. Never was and never will be. It's about producing images cheaply for our market segment. Wal-Mart is never going to try and compete against Harrods. They operate in completely different market sectors and therefore they also have different suppliers.

By the way, in case you hadn't heard, Oringer already has 'split the collection into different price points' by launching Offset. Maybe Yuri didn't an invite to Offset and that's why he's stomped off in a huff.

Honestly, "offset" doesn't look like any images that "micro" artists, Y and myself included, would be able shoot.  The mentions of Nat'l Geo and others, just by means of their access to unique venues, locations, people, etc., would set it apart.  I wouldn't take it as an insult that I wasn't invited.

I know. I wasn't being serious. I don't think I see Offset becoming a significant entity either.

Quote from: gostwyck on May 20, 2013, 15:12

By the way, in case you hadn't heard, Oringer already has 'split the collection into different price points' by launching Offset.

It hasn't launched. It has been announced as an idea. And there has been no mention of splitting the existing collection. Actually almost no detail.

@Sean - have you looked at Maura McEvoy's work (which I think is excellent and which I like)? She isn't shooting unique venues etc.

You can see more photographers here

https://twitter.com/offsetimages

http://melee-media.com/projects/offsetpreview/

"Melee�s objective was to strategize and produce a buzz generating brand launch. Internally, our goal was to get hundreds of New York�s influencers hands-on with the content in a way that didn�t feel forced or overtly commercial...."

"Inspired by a recent Harvard Business Review article, �Making Star Teams Out of Star Players�, we were determined to put together a ridiculous team of the most talented specialists in New York no matter what the cost: Rockstar developers, projectionists that handle 3D mapping around the world, digital strategists and art directors that work on some of the biggest ad campaigns in the world, builders that have constructed major New York Fashion Week presentations, and finally a well-known curator and art consultant that has one of the sharpest eyes in the art world."