Hello, my name is John and this is my first post.  I am neither a photographer nor ...stocker, but I do follow these forums because you can learn a lot about the general direction of business this way.  I also have several photographer friends that are exploring new ways to market their images.

The reason I decided to post is because of the glaring absence of any discussion of large segment of the photography market.  I know this segment is large, but there seems to be no mention of it or its impact.  That is the "non-traditional" image buyers.  I am talking about people that like to collect nice images for "personal" use.

In discussing this market with a photographer friend who is making a very good living he estimates that as much as 80% of the people buying his images are private collectors that have no need or interest in obtaining commercial rights.  He says these private buyers often avoid stock sites because they are too cumbersome and seem to be geared exclusively to business users.  The current crop of ...stock sites all seem to ignore the private segment and cater all of their marketing efforts to business users.

My question is why is this?  How come there are no hybrid sites marketing to both private collectors and commercial buyers?  Have you considered that many of the people buying your images may be private collectors?  Hopefully this will spark some debate.


(Incidentally, I have nothing to sell or offer, I am merely a student of business and it seems odd that ...stock sites seem to ignore this segment.)