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Messages - ellenboughn
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1
« on: January 08, 2015, 11:28 »
Nancy Wolff is an excellent choice. She is very knowledgable. I have hired Nancy to make training presentations to licensing staff at more than one stock company. She knows the ins and outs of model related problems and you will find her to be fair (no padded bills) and reasonable. There are many cases in the past of similar situations and Nancy is aware of them.
If I were an attorney, I'd go for a summary judgement right out of the gate...but then I'm not.
2
« on: September 09, 2010, 13:41 »
@ Ellen
Is there going to be a Kindle version available on Amazon in the near future?
The publisher says that the Kindle version will be coming along one of these days. Meanwhile my blog is available on Amazon for the Kindle if you want to plunk down less than $2 for a subscription or you can read it for free here: www.ellenboughn.com/blog
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« on: September 07, 2010, 10:18 »
i'm sure Ellen will bring tips about macro as if i'm not wrong she spent most of her career on macro
and her blog is excellent with insight from top stockers.
There is very little difference between what to shoot for micro and macro and much of my book applies to both business models.
4
« on: September 07, 2010, 10:17 »
Hi Ellen, as a matter of interest do you have a preference as to where we should buy the book from?
If you click on the Amazon link www.ellenboughn.com/blog I make a little in affiliate fees but otherwise buy it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and ask your local bookstore. It will be available in stores in UK, France and Germany Oct 1. Thanks for asking!
5
« on: September 06, 2010, 08:43 »
Thanks for all the good words. I hope that many will find my experiences of over 30 years in the stock photo business helpful and notice that several times I say, "Don't be a copycat. Respect copyright!"
I paid for the images in the book and the press run is far, far less than 500,000.
Also the medical photo mentioned in these posts isn't in my book.
Thanks again for the discussion.
6
« on: August 10, 2010, 09:15 »
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.
7
« on: August 10, 2010, 09:06 »
For the forseeable future, until another business model emerges that makes sense to contributors (free? that's an argument for another thread) microstock will prosper, and will become much larger than it is today. Bingo. Ellen Boughn had some slips of the tongue a while ago, and also Arcurs. There is something being cooked, and one of the most prominent artists here made a slip of the tongue too. All those people were in Dublin and they apparently conspired there about that new "free" business model. It seems to be covered by an NDA, but we will know soon enough, I've been told in private.
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« on: August 10, 2010, 09:06 »
For the forseeable future, until another business model emerges that makes sense to contributors (free? that's an argument for another thread) microstock will prosper, and will become much larger than it is today. Bingo. Ellen Boughn had some slips of the tongue a while ago, and also Arcurs. There is something being cooked, and one of the most prominent artists here made a slip of the tongue too. All those people were in Dublin and they apparently conspired there about that new "free" business model. It seems to be covered by an NDA, but we will know soon enough, I've been told in private.
Sorry to disappoint but if there was some new 'free' model being discussed behind closed doors and under an NDA in Dublin...the people involved didn't invite me! But since I'm a busy body, I probably would have heard about it and I didn't. So not to worry. Most of the talk was about how to raise prices, not free.
9
« on: March 07, 2010, 11:03 »
Ellen Boughn was the flagger for this one...
Your image was flagged/reported for incorrect usage of the following keywords: nude. No admin action has been taken yet and the report is pending.
I checked this photo as there is no way that I would flag a photo of a nude man as having 'nude' as a bad keyword. I might have used the search words "nude from the back" or nude back. Since you used 'back' in the description, the image came up. Since Dreamstime uses words in the description for the search, 'back' would have been considered a keyword. The other issue is that I often sort not on most relevant but most downloaded. I did this first when searching for images for my book, for example. If I had chosen most relevant, the image would most likely have been far down in the search.
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« on: March 05, 2010, 15:07 »
I have one word for all those worried about competition, people writing books to encourage others to enter the business and other somewhat irrational fears that the marketplace will decide that microstock will cease to make money. If you really want to have something to worry about, consider the following. It isn't smart business people like Yuri or newbies or more amateurs or more pros entering microstock it's: Flickr
PS "Free" actually will have excellent financial rewards to market leaders in the future and it won't have anything to do with selling ancillary products or links. I predict that it will drive all models from RM to micro. I'm not prepared to reveal what that might be as it is in its infancy and not worth getting all riled up about. And NO I won't be making money because of it or promoting it or anything.
" "Free" actually will have excellent financial rewards to market leaders in the future"
Where will this leave the non "market leaders"?
Where they are now.
11
« on: March 05, 2010, 14:07 »
Creative Commons now has a new license called cc+ that allows for a third party entity to license the images for a licensing fee. I'm not at all surprised that some people are generating work and licenses from Flickr as stated here. Some photographers use cc designation on their very low res images on Flickr and then charge for the higher res when they are contacted by someone interested in using the image.
And yes, Flickr has some wonderful work that hasn't been driven by what sells. I've said for a long time that the copying of the best selling images is what was damaging rf long before micro entered the scene. The same thing will have impact on micro as those looking for creativity will search outside those venues. I know I do on occasion.
12
« on: March 05, 2010, 12:27 »
I have one word for all those worried about competition, people writing books to encourage others to enter the business and other somewhat irrational fears that the marketplace will decide that microstock will cease to make money. If you really want to have something to worry about, consider the following. It isn't smart business people like Yuri or newbies or more amateurs or more pros entering microstock it's: Flickr
PS "Free" actually will have excellent financial rewards to market leaders in the future and it won't have anything to do with selling ancillary products or links. I predict that it will drive all models from RM to micro. I'm not prepared to reveal what that might be as it is in its infancy and not worth getting all riled up about. And NO I won't be making money because of it or promoting it or anything.
13
« on: March 01, 2010, 15:10 »
...
I have had three images flagged by Ellen Boughn and all of them for words that were not only applicable, but visible in the image.
...
Geez, how embarrassing - I'll bet that's the last we'll see of her flagging keywords!
Lisa...send me a message on Dreamstime with the images and I'll either apologize...I was testing the flagging thing early on and probably did make some mistakes...or explain why I flagged the pixs. And Sharply...I don't flag much these days as I don't work with Dreamstime but sometimes do when I search for photos there to use in my work.
14
« on: February 02, 2010, 11:55 »
I would think that the deceased's will plus the instructions of the executor of the will will direct whatever micro site to transfer all rights to the proper heir(s). I can't see how the assets of the deceased would be treated any differently with micro stock sites than with book publishers or any other company handling copyrighted material. The response from IS makes the most sense in this regard.
The microstock sites should not treat heirs in any way differently from book publishers etc but the same issues exist. These are: copyright ownership AND royality payments. They aren't exactly and permanently tied together.
15
« on: February 02, 2010, 08:12 »
I have watched this thread with interest as a former (traditional) agency owner/executive in the U.S. Since we had written contracts, rather than user agreements, and at the most less than 1,000 photographers (at all but the giant agencies), we were much more informed about our contributor/photographers. We also used to only issue checks that had to be counter-signed by the recipient before deposit and it is generally considered fraud to sign another's name for the purpose of cashing their checks. Thus when there was a death, we were contacted by someone for the money.
We then required (in California) a form issued by probate that indicated to whom the funds were to be transferred. In the case we heard from no one or if checks or other mail was returned, we held the money for three years and then, as required by the state, turned it over to the state's unclaimed property fund.
That brings us to today....there is little direct contact between the microstock company and the thousands and thousands of contributors. In many cases, a death will surely go unnoticed even if the funds aren't claimed. If the funds are being deposited to a debit card, anyone with access to the deceased's password, can request and load the funds. This could go on for years without heirs finding out.
I have no information at all nor do I think the following would happen with any large microstock companies that I am familiar with but I did work for a traditional company in the past that simply, quietly kept all the unclaimed funds with only a desultory effort at finding those whose checks were returned. When I asked about it, I was told, "Oh they are all dead anyway." (I left the company within a few weeks).
All our stories end one day. Do the correct thing: at the very least make a simple will with instructions and make it known to those that matter.
16
« on: January 09, 2010, 11:20 »
I have reprinted an article that I wrote for ASPP on appraising stock photo collections including for purposes of inheritance and donations: http://bit.ly/63EmNl I write about a man who had only made a few thousand dollars over the course of his 70 + year from photography but was able have a $50,000 U.S. tax deduction to spread over a few years. Because he created the work, under U.S. law, he could only deduct the cost of making the images, excluding his cameras. Perhaps some of the information may be useful but always ask an accountant or attorney as I am a mere appraiser.
17
« on: October 08, 2009, 11:38 »
I'd be happy to come along as a producer/art director but I don't get to NY until the 21st and I'm busy with meetings all that day.  More notice next time!
18
« on: April 21, 2009, 00:37 »
The bright spot in the doomsday black cloud is that the number of users of microstock are almost infinite. As long as the prices stay low, buyers will come tumbling in as the number of blogs grows hourly and the number of people using photos on websites also explodes. And no one photographer or group of photographers can serve all those needs for images. Check your local businesses on the web...I bet a lot of them are still showing those grim no photo web designs of 10 years ago. Slowly each will be replaced with a new design w/photos and illustrations. I'm totally bullish on microstock. And on the wonderful variety of images that are found there...creativity that would have never made it into the traditional world that I left. So newbies stay the course. Like Bob Dylan said: What is new will be old...or something like that.-ellen boughn
19
« on: April 20, 2009, 11:19 »
oops. Forgot to sign my post with my real name in case anyone wanted to know. I'm Ellen Boughn who wrote the blog "Stock Shots that Sell" for Dreamstime for 2 years.
20
« on: April 20, 2009, 11:18 »
I have known Beate for many many years as a colleague in PACA. I asked her to write a short paragraph for my upcoming book on how users utilize photos of residential interiors. She gracefully responded with great insights as her stock company was primarily images of interiors. She is very aggressive and thus successful. She sold her business to Corbis and worked there for a time. On the other hand she is learning the painful lesson that I also had to learn that stock business lessons of the past do not easily translate to microstock. Nor do the old promotional methods work in the new world. I have no doubt though that Beate will quickly figure that out and be back to you with a more appropriate offering.
I'm certain she has a lot of good information to share but probably not of a lot of use to most microstock photographers unless they want to head out to being full time assignment or stock photographers with a trad agency. Beate has fought her way up to the point she could sell her business and I know it wasn't always easy. Along the way, I know she has learned valuable lessons she could share.
I haven't reviewed her class or spoken to her about this post. It had been many years since we had been in contact when I contacted her about the book.
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