This is a pretty critical move. Commissions in the "less than 10%" are probably due soon through sister agencies/partner reselling.
My team and I are researching the extend of this, but a royalty set by Istock on partner distribution is not something we favor at all.

Quote from: nosaya on February 28, 2011, 05:38
But does Yuri even shoot with Canon...ever?

I do. Not a lot and mostly for video. I shot a half day shoot with a 5D + their new 70-200mm yesterday and it worked out pretty good actually. Rumors are that Nikon is releasing a new D4X quite soon with video HD. That will probably be my future camera. Nikon's lenses need a serious touch-up however. 

Quote from: dash on February 25, 2011, 20:08

Quote from: Yuri_Arcurs on February 22, 2011, 22:19
I love shooting studio now. Normally I would be a on location guy, but now I love studio days.

Yuri. What to say. Its quite nice 
I think I have to make video with my new studio also


D.

Thanks Dash. Appreciated coming from you! Much respect!

Quote from: Magnum on February 24, 2011, 08:46
It´s obvious you get a special treatment from Fotolia.  I´d do the same If I had an agency.  It´s just a waste of time and money, reviewing 99,999% perfect photos.   Anyone who sells images every 10th second get the same deal;)

I do not get special treatment. I get rejections too you know.

Thanks luissantos84 for bringing this to my attention.

We are on it.

Quote from: Randy McKown on February 23, 2011, 19:45
Photographers honestly wanting to learn something about the business of photography from that video stop looking at the gear. That's really not what's impressive about it at all. What's truly impressive about that video is all the wood molding, beautiful floors, columns and ceiling tiles. A successful photography studio is primarily based on marketing. Which doesn't just mean forms of advertising media. A big portion of that is atmosphere. Your environment reflects on your work even if the environment is completely invisible in your work. If people see your studio atmosphere as rich, elegant and valuable then the services and products you supply are obviously valuable .. regardless of if they are or not.

If somebody told you they would give you $100K in equipment or only $10K to invest in your appearance as a professional which would you choose? Only a fool would take the gear. So if it's a tossup between another lens and hardwood flooring .. go with the flooring.

Awesome studio space and a big improvement over the greenhouse idea. If you really want to start posting videos regarding educational information though I think you should focus on psychology and marketing. That's where you would honestly shine best and make an impact on photographers striving to succeed. Kudos

WOW. I' really really impressed with your insights. Thanks for not being plain and average. Good post indeed

I wanted to share my choices with you guys. That is what I would want to watch myself. I don't like the "show-off" music-video cutting style photography blogs that are out there. They provide no information and are actually just boring in that sense. I wanted to make a video that had information in it.

Happy watching. And help me out. SHARE IT because i need another 5k view in the first 24hours to make it to the youtube front page.

Quote from: corepics on February 23, 2011, 00:10

Quote from: louoates on February 22, 2011, 22:37
Others,
(...)My forecast is that half the replies here will be negative, human nature being what it is.

That's a self fulfilling statement. It has nothing to do with being less successful, unless you want to challenge Mr. Arcurs' throne as dominating player in stock photography. It all depends on the business model you adopt for yourself.

@Yuri_Arcurs: Awesome setup, and from what I managed to read behind the lines, I appreciate providing the insight in the key motivators behind your choices. What happened to your old studio?

The main thing I wonder about the is the styling of the studio rooms and the props, How do you determine their life-span before they're getting out-dated? With the ever-changing trends and fashion styles, it seems to me, that any wardrobe has a rather short shelf-life, before it needs to be replaced with something newer, and basically, the same applies to the interior design.  (The boarding on the studio walls sure looks stylish now, but I remember yanking them out when I moved houses, a few years ago)

Good Question. We change wardrobe a lot. Some items stay and some get packed away.
The studio building is located in Aarhus Centrum and is 300 years old. The roof and "boarding" are antiques and are listed so I am not allowed to change them in any way by government rules. We had to build the whole studio around the antique elements. Quite difficult actually.

All 14 B3's come to use in my next video. Due for launch soon.

The rack stays stable. It can lift 1000KG (a ton) so we sometimes attach models to it and lift them up for shots that need to look like the model is "flying"! Good fun.

I love shooting studio now. Normally I would be a on location guy, but now I love studio days.

Quote from: grp_photo on January 24, 2011, 08:36

Quote from: Opla on January 23, 2011, 23:20
Beer?
Champagne!

If he is a real Dane he will prefer beer!  congrats!

Actually Yes. A good Duval or Trapist will be enjoyed tonight.

Quote from: MikLav on January 26, 2011, 13:38

Quote from: qwerty on January 26, 2011, 11:58
The big question what is the lifetime of the images, how quickly will they date ?

I didn't upload anything for half a year in 2010. And my images are much less "sellable" than Yuri's. Yet my drop in sales has been only 30%.

I believe portfolio of Johnathan Ross still sells quite well on micro despite it's not being updated for a couple of years.

Very interesting Info. Thanks for sharing.

MY RPI is based on a monthly income per image. (as it is mostly in microstock. In macro people often like referring to RPI as being a yearly estimate)

Quote from: holgs on January 20, 2011, 15:19
Anything that keeps your competitors focused on checking their stats and re-calculating them to take into account a hypothetical future, instead of doing actual work, should of course stay!

Funny.

Quote from: aeonf on January 20, 2011, 20:24
Maybe someone can explain what does this mean:

Bad days:
70% 2011-1-3
86% 2011-1-4
76% 2011-1-5
84% 2011-1-6
83% 2011-1-7
95% 2011-1-10
90% 2011-1-11

http://www.arcurs.com/down-day-selling-nothing-today-check-the-down-day-list

Quote from: gostwyck on January 21, 2011, 23:37
Interesting stuff although he did appear to contradict himself on a few issues.

He says iStock are streets ahead of the other agencies and that exclusivity is best ... but then decides it is not for him at the moment. Why then bother to support all the other agencies of which he is so dismissive?

He says "the primary CEO's of the non-exclusive agencies are amateur photographers at best and often don't know good design, good pictures from less good ones, and really don't care too much about the "whine" in the design world." Huh? Where does he place Kelly Thompson in that scenario? Is Kelly a 'pro photographer' now? I hadn't realised. Jon Oringer might not be the world's best photographer __ but he is a very good businessman and that probably counts for more when it comes to running a business. Personally I still think that Shutterstock will win out in the end, simply because they are led by a shrewd businessman who takes the long view, rather than short-term Flash Harrys who are out to make a quick buck.

He reckons he can't produce images for less than $20 a pop but also reveals that his return per image topped $9 in 2009 and is predicted to be under $6 in 2011. That suggests a 4-year payback for his current work at today's prices __ which have already tumbled more than 30% in the last couple of years. If returns continue to dwindle at that pace then his outlay for today's shoots might actually take 6-7 years to pay back. By 2012 the payback could be more like 10 years per image. I'd say that's plenty to be concerned about.

Kelly is not with the "NON-exclusive agencies". He is actually quite good a photographer.
Exclusivity for me involves a huge risk in discontinuing distribution contracts with over 200 partners.

Thanks guys for letting me know about the model release issues. My legal team is preparing a letter to them as we speak. We take this very seriously. This is absolutely not allowed for many reasons.

By the way: What exactly am I trying to sell in my new interview? Had a great time with John writing this and that was basically what I was thinking about.

Have a great day. I am shooting a young family with grandparents today. Got to be off. Set's ready.

Best Yuri

Hmm. I thought it was dead. So 2 says stay so far.

Calculator. Considering removing this feature from my site in arcurs.com v2

Is anybody at all using this feature? Can I remove it from my new site due for launch soon?

http://www.arcurs.com/cal/

Best Yuri

Quote from: RT on January 18, 2011, 19:02

Quote from: leaf on January 18, 2011, 09:14
The rotation part (mounting bracket) seems the same yeah, (Yuri can step in if I'm mistaken), the Yuri monopod also has that tilt head - which was a new piece.

If Yuri could step in and let us know that would be great, I want one to mount on a geared head and studio stand so the monopod and tilt head aren't an issue for me, but a local equipment dealer has the top part and I know I can get it at a very good rate (*), if it's no different I'll go for one because as I said before I've seen them and they're quality stuff.

(*) Yuri the Custom Brackets website is terrible, I'm sure if they got that sorted dealers would shift loads more, but my dealer told me that like me most people just can't work out what bits they need for what, hence I can get one at a good deal because the dealer wants to get them out of the warehouse. Oh and thanks for your link to your set up, I now know what I need 

I agree that the website is not the best and is holding back a lot of potential sales, because people can't figure it out. I have included some extra text in on the page about the steadypod and if you read it, it should make it clear what extra parts you might need. I was confused myself too you see.

The whole system is built partly on existing parts, but almost all of them are slightly modified so the system can't be built on just old parts. The older parts are also simply not as nicely built as the new ones.

Quote from: helix7 on January 17, 2011, 15:14
Considering the expensive nature of most photography gear, I don't see this price being so outrageous. There are plenty of tripods that cost triple what this monopod costs, as well as many other monopods in the same price range. It's expensive, but so is most photography gear. It's an expensive business.

The problem I see is in the potential the market interest. Being most well known for his microstock work, Yuri's audience is largely microstock photographers (I'm assuming), and the segment of the microstock business that is working at a level that would afford some expensive gear like this is probably very small. It's going to take some marketing muscle to get this thing recognized in the more mainstream photography channels where Yuri is more likely to find potential buyers. Or he'll have to get it stocked by a major retailer.

But based on microstock industry awareness alone, I'd be surprised if there was much demand for this product.

There are no financials between me and custom bracket. I took my cut out to get the price down. Custom brackets is a top notch company in the likes of Gitzo and other top end brands. The price is fair, actually quite good if you compare it. The only condition i had when designing this product, was that I got to design it completely as I wanted it. It is so fine-tuned and "custom" and really does not compare to any other product out there. You will not find any swivel, head, tripod, bracket of any system, that can do what this thing can. I love it. I can't get my hands down.

Quote from: Suljo on January 17, 2011, 02:39
What about round rubber bottom but which is loosed when you step on?

That is fixed.
Regarding price: Custom Brackets makes top notch gear. It's for the professional.

Here are more pictures and a review. Tyler Olson of this forum also reviewed it and liked it.
http://www.dentonimages.com/page.php?id=Yuri_Arcurs_SteadyPod_By_Custom_Brackets_Review

Quote from: jbarber873 on January 17, 2011, 02:34

Quote from: CarlssonInc. Stock Imagery Production on January 16, 2011, 22:02
My respect to Daniel and Yuri to clarify and apologies if any offence was taken. Yuri is certainly a bigger person than me by having a direct competitor in-house, most be a great friendship - all the best to you both.

I'm still surprised and sad to learn that many seemed to be ok with hypothetically screwing their exclusivity agreement if financially beneficial to them.

    If you spent as much time shooting as you do trying to get someone at Istock to shut down Daniel Laflor, you might have a different point of view. You seem to have some sort of reverence about the sanctity of Istocks' various agreements and the "spirit" inherent in them. I believe that a photographer can and should use every means available to sell their images. I can also tell you with over 30 years in this business that my assistants were and are always encouraged to use my studio, my props and my equipment. Believe it or not, I get more out of their enthusiasm and energy than they ever get out of using my studio. I can give you a whole list of photographers that I helped start out, and it does make for a lasting friendship. As for Istock, they have proven over and over that they could care less about you, so it may be time to rethink that "spirit" you're so full of...

I completely agree. (The istock talk i don't know much of, but the rest is 100% spot on). I exercise the same spirit in my approach.

Quote from: Oldhand on January 16, 2011, 21:08
Credit to both -  but it has unintentionally outed that Istock loophole.

My great Aunt Bertha hasn't even got a camera, but she's got ID and a paypal account. That's all you need for a second exclusive account at IS.

I thought of it years ago - never acted on it. Nor did I invest any more money in micro. Took a regular job and stayed above board.

Couldn't give a rats ass about the spirit of exclusivity - it's the only way the level the playing field and makes great business sense.

Again - interesting to see it outed here!

Enjoy the topic - Oldhand

Oldhand. You are way off if you think you could outsmart Istock that easy. They would find and shout down your Aunt "Bertha" in a day. No no my friend. Istock knows what they are doing and are way better at finding fraud attemps than that. Exclusivity is not a joke and if you tried something like that, you would probably lose your own account too (as well as Bertha's).