|
MicrostockGroup Sponsors
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Messages - a.k.a.-tom
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 [6] 7 8 9 10 11 ... 44
126
« on: January 20, 2010, 20:38 »
sorry, duped my comment...
is there a way we can outright delete a comment?
127
« on: January 20, 2010, 20:36 »
stayed opt'd in for subs... sales still down.....
took a chance and uploaded a few pix.... been 2 days... no approval yet.. used to get approval in a matter of hours..
128
« on: December 27, 2009, 14:56 »
IS is my highest $$ earner... (SS is my highest by volume sales) all the top agencies have their pros & cons(lower down the food chain the cons increase) there is no perfect agency... could I be happier? Yeah... I need a new vacation home in the mountains, an Aston Martin DB9 along with a new H2 hummer, better health insurance, steak every night, a bar with top shelf booze fully stocked all the time, 10 weeks vacation instead of 5, a Canon 1d instead of a 5d mark II.... a few other (hundred) things.. oh yeah and a perfect stock agency... wonder which I'll get first? LOL There's no perfection out there anywhere in anything...  =tom
129
« on: November 21, 2009, 16:04 »
my last Photo.com Nov 12
last Jupiter Nov 16
130
« on: October 19, 2009, 15:29 »
Yup... we do. =tom
131
« on: October 15, 2009, 19:10 »
Make sure you are happy with their 'affiliates/associates' program before taking the leap.
132
« on: October 08, 2009, 18:05 »
Side point: THIS is one of the very reasons I love MSG!! This is truly like a tight family around here!! I am proud to be a Premie Member!! Fantastic work and congrats to all involved in bringing this guy down! =tom I like the idea of a dedicated area to handle this problem. If... leaf can set it up that way......
133
« on: October 08, 2009, 15:56 »
I shoot weddings for a living.
http://www.pictureinfinitystudios.com
I have 5 photographers working for me and 1 partner. The 7 of us shoot an average of 15-25 weddings each at around $3k in Syracuse NY. It's sustainable and decent income. Weddings = summer, portraits and stock = winter. 
Perfect example... a reasonable price for no doubt a quality service..mantonino.. I tried to look at your site but 3x this address crashed me... perhaps it's my computer.. =tom edit...whoops, it's not you, it's me, sir! I just realized I was surfing in Netscape 7 which hardly works anywhere anymore. I'm sure it will work from firefox.
134
« on: October 08, 2009, 15:38 »
Apart from that, what I do not like is the minute I stop submitting for a while my sales fall through the floor. This month I will be lucky to make $10, yet 6 months ago I could get $100 payout easy.
You do have a valid point there Litifeta..... none the less.... I still like them. =tom
135
« on: October 07, 2009, 13:22 »
.
If your local town has a chamber of commerce or some sort of tourism budget, check out that avenue.
Superb idea!! =tom
136
« on: October 07, 2009, 07:06 »
Tom..it's not Tennesse in general... I am only speaking of this corner I am in. Headshots would probably rule in Nashville area and probably around Knoxville... Mephis... and possibly Chattanooga. Tourist stuf... deff. around Pigeon Forge. Weddings might be killer in those same areas 'cause thats where the money is at.
I love that area.... been down in there twice in the last 2 years, rent houses up in the hills 15 min outside of Gatlinburg... my photo passion is the great outdoors, national parks, etc. My NP pix do well (although I'll never retire depending on them LOL). Cades Cove in fall, Clingmans Dome, the BR parkway...over to Mt Mitchell... fantastic photography!! Forbes recently used one of my cityscape shots of Memphis from Mud Island... so there's money to be made... just wont be buying that new Aston Martin DB9 any time soon. Memphis, Knox, Nash... are NOT hick towns... try looking into magazine/newspaper publishers. That work you can mail in. I've never even been to the publishing offices that I work for. I signed my contract in a local starbucks and mail in CD's. Dont give up, bro. Just keep on clicking!! =tom
137
« on: October 06, 2009, 14:28 »
a.k.a.-Tom: you are right, you will offend some people. The same photographers that are offended by microstock photographers.
Yeah... I dont mean to offend anyone and I surely do not mean to flaunt in any way. I know many of these guys ' have to ' go for that kind of money to stay in business due to overhead. And of course, some ..are down right greed mongers. And to a degree I do feel for those first dudes. But, life goes on. Unfortunately as in LSD72's case, it's all a matter of where you live and what the economic situation is in your locale. On the other hand, while he is looking to move out of Tennessee, Im looking to do the opposite. Looking to move out of New Jersey and into a laid back country setting. Then again, I'll be 61 next week and its time to slow down and enjoy the rest of my life...... =tom Edited: I dont want to offend anyone.
138
« on: October 05, 2009, 19:59 »
sorry leaf, I hit quote instead of modify again... idiot.
139
« on: October 05, 2009, 19:54 »
Sorry... I decided to revise my comments.. I realized after I read them, it would tick off some folks. Even still they may... oh well.
LSD72... it depends where you live. I live between NYC & Philly... where there is still plenty of money freely floating around. I have contracted to a magazine/newspaper company which is great money if you can get in the door. I also do headshots, maternity, newborn, highschool seniors, engagement pix...
...edited: dont want to offend anyone....
Primarily, it depends where you live and what the market will bear. Keep it simple, keep your overhead down ( my studio fits in the back of my Chevy Suburban) and mostly, keep the greed factor in check. You can make money.
140
« on: October 05, 2009, 18:47 »
S'why I'm not exclusive. I have plenty of IS rejects that sell well at SS, DT, BigStock etc. Just doing some simple math, taking into consideration the bennies of being exclusive for IS... vs non-exclusive and selling where ever I want. ...I made a bunch more bucks selling everywhere rather than I would if I went exclusive with IS in the beginning. Of course I am not a world renown, household word photographer. =tom
141
« on: October 05, 2009, 18:36 »
have had images taken, sold for a couple years and then removed... but they were Vegas strip shots and the new mgt removed them as evidently everything on the strip is now proprietary.. no biggie, I can dig it. But never.... "ah..we ah..had an accident..like....ah,. whoa dude, I hit the wrong button....ah.... " LOL Thats a good one! =tom
142
« on: October 05, 2009, 12:47 »
........Let's try and get this practice stopped, not just one or two infringing images removed and the guy gets to continue doing it with new material.
Amen. When this type of thing is found... AND..IT IS KNOWN LEGITIMATELY/PROVEN THAT THESE ARE INDEED THIEVED IMAGES... all agencies that can be found with a thief on it should be notified. If clowns like this were continually having the ports pulled.. in time it would be no longer profitable for the idiot to upload thousands of images to new agencies.... and at a point, there wont be any agencies worth uploading to due to poor sales... too bad there couldnt be some Las Vegas kinda set up that profiles card counters and is shared by casinos around the world... similar deal with these thieves. Any agency that would only pull one thieved image and leave the rest of the port intact.... shouldnt be in business. Where's their brains? Do they actually think they guy only took that ONE image and otherwise is an honest person? I dont want to do business with them. =tom
143
« on: October 05, 2009, 12:36 »
Nothing. Top earner for me in volume, sometimes top $ beating out IS. I have no problem with SS rejections, at least let me put it this way, of all the agencies I deal with, SS rejections bother me the least. SS recently shut down an abusing buyer and made sure I got credit for sales that I otherwise would have never been aware of. THAT bought a lot of loyalty from me. Even before that, SS was the agency I trusted the most in my business association with them. They are stable and seem to have direction. Do others pay more per sale? Yup... but do you trust them? Do they go to bat for you when the theives strike? Do you have the consitency of sales with them? Maybe you do... but as for me.... I have no complaints with SS. =tom
144
« on: October 05, 2009, 12:13 »
Once ......and too bad it's so difficult on the world scene to take these scum-eating thieves to trial!! And yes, he/she should be named and so should the agency hosting him/her AND... the agencies where they came from. This gives us all a heads-up alert to protect ourselves. Some agencies are swift at slamming down on this sort of thing while others couldnt be bothered. Those that cant be bothered should be known to us. I for one would pull my port, why would I support their profits when they couldnt care less about mine? Those that support us, as SS recently did for me and others by catching even legit buyers abusing the system, I commend and and thank and support. Those that don't... " hey, couldnt care less about me, hasta la vista, baby". One thing I am so tired of doing is having to waste time searching for stolen work.... like this moron with almost 1400 pix. And I sure dont have time to put my upteen thousand pix thru tineye... sad. Thanks for the info, click X2. =tom
145
« on: September 18, 2009, 14:14 »
hey.... I'm still getting JIU sales on StockXpert.... what's the latest? werent they supposed to be shut down by now? =tom
146
« on: September 18, 2009, 14:07 »
FALL!!!!!!! I love the fall!! Everything about it.... I live in NE U.S. where we have a particularly lovely fall. I'll be heading up to Maine/NH and the ADK of NY state in just a couple weeks and I'll be spending 1/2 my time taking copious pictures and the other 1/2 just sitting on my rump out on the trail gazing at the beauty of natures color. My perfect year? Two weeks of spring when the flowers pop, one month of winter WITH lotsa snow, three months of rainless summer and the rest of the year with fall in full bloom!! Where, can I find that? =tom
147
« on: September 18, 2009, 13:59 »
Dear Tom,
.............. Momentarily the money is not the highest importance for me. Yes, it's great, but I have a great passion for taking photos.
There my friend is the most important part of it all. Micro is just a side line for most of us to make a couple bucks (although some very good and dedicated photogs do make it a fine career). And even if you do make some good money on it... never forget why you started taking pix in the first place. Your love of it. Never let the passion die, certainly not because some guy somewhere said, a picture sucked... LOL .... I take a hundred or more pix a week... why? not for stock, but because I love doing it. Good you see the proper view... never lose it my friend!! =tom
148
« on: September 16, 2009, 14:58 »
Sure... if all could maitain a level of civility and courteousness. Sadly, we dont always see that here when VIP's comment. If we are to invite people to our table for a meal, we need to care not to insult them. If we ask a question and dont like the answer, we need to have the tact and diplomacy to temper our replies.
IF that could happen,good idea, I'd like to see more of this myself. =tom
The list can be prepared in advance, moderated so that only precise and relevant questions are asked. Perhaps we can suggest the questions in a thread and then vote or debate on which ones to be asked.
Sounds Good, Bro!! =tom
149
« on: September 16, 2009, 14:03 »
You have plenty of good advice on the photos... My advice if you are new to microstock is this. Take the time to research all agencies BEFORE you submit. Understand completely their terms of business, what you can expect from them, what they expect from you. Understand the partnership arrangement with each agency. Read all the fine print, don't be surprised later. Understand the nuances of their business, for example, such as subscription sales.. One thing I've see so much of is photographers joining all these agencies and then months or even weeks or days later, upset about something that came to their attention a bit later on. And then, NOT being able to get out of their agreement with that agency. And having the personal frustration of spending so much time uploading only to be dissatisfied. Know where you are going before you put your step forward. MSG is a superb place to read up on most of the micro agencies out there. Read, think, THEN, make your decision. Opinions are like noses...everyone has one. Some are great, some arent. However, check them all out, then you decide what direction you want to take. Don't sign up for another one until you have done yourself this service. You'll be glad you did later on. Welcome to the club!! =tom
150
« on: September 16, 2009, 13:51 »
Interview of microstock VIP (sites owners, best photographers...) with some rules:
- we prepare questions list (every MSG member can participate)
- questions should be precise and professional
- if VIP accept to participate he should honestly and clearly respond. If something is not clear we can ask for more details.
- then members can vote for VIP (relevance, usefulness...)
This ^^^
Sure... if all could maitain a level of civility and courteousness. Sadly, we dont always see that here when VIP's comment. If we are to invite people to our table for a meal, we need to care not to insult them. If we ask a question and dont like the answer, we need to have the tact and diplomacy to temper our replies. IF that could happen,good idea, I'd like to see more of this myself. =tom
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 [6] 7 8 9 10 11 ... 44
|
Sponsors
Microstock Poll Results
Sponsors
|
Show Posts
