DragonFang, I got one at Sears in Kildonan Mall and it works lovely.  Gosh, what did I pay - let's say between 100 and 200.  I also noticed that Costco had one last week that looked quite "industrial" at a quick glance - can't remember the price. The product is likely on costco.ca if you want to look it up.  If you don't have a Costco membership I could meet you there some day when you are in town.  I'll likely have some reason to go to Costco in the near future and I'll try to make a point to look at it next time.

Sh*t. I feel horrible, I've been such a freaking idiot.  I better get a ladder and rip all the shingles off my roof and ship all the backdrops back to the U.S. and drag my 3 most recent lenses down to the camera store because these are a few things that I purchased in the past 13 months with my illegitimate micro earnings.

Seriously Wilddingo, I asked you specifically for your opinion oh-wise-one, but your reply is just another rant.  Your way of treating others tells me clearly what your life must really be like.  I don't doubt that you are a very talented artist and keep a good set of books, but you really need to find some beauty in your life.  This perpetual state of misery will give you a heart attack and there's way too many shots left to take for that.

I do agree that if stock was my primary source of income that of course time would be calculated into the break-even.  For me, it's not.  The hours I have put in have not taken away from paying work so I'm not sure how I could apply an hourly rate.  If I have time and feel like doing it, I do it.  Stock has actually enabled me to improve my day-job earnings by upgrading equipment.  So, if I am not paying myself an hourly rate, I normally break even the moment I have my first sale.  

I am considering doing a real shoot though... I am working out a budget right now and if I go through with it I will be renting a location, purchasing props and wardrobe.  I will either pay the models, or trade for one of my products.  This post has inspired me to earnestly track my time, and to determine an hourly rate for myself, I'll have to estimate the time I've spent budgeting and looking for wardrobe up until now.  I will also have to track the TFP time on my graphics design for the models I guess as well then.   Without time factored in, the shoot will cost around $500.  For me, that is a big deal because I have not paid for a shoot before.  (LOL, I am usually the one getting paid for shoots!)  I have 7 or 8 random photos in this subject that have earned more than this amount in the past year so it appears to be a good risk.  The topic is somewhat timeless so if I get some good shots, they should be salable for many years as well.  

Wilddingo, I would be interested in your point of view.  I think you will tell me not to sell to micros.  I am not on macros, so then what is my option?  Alamay?  I have not heard of any wild success stories on Alamay (but I only really know micro shooters).  Should I split the photos up and send some to micro and some to Alamay?  At least 60% of the shots from this location will have models.

Whew, glad to hear it's not just me.

Hey, I took an acting class from the guy carrying the medical chart in his wallet.  Glen Kudelka Peloso I think his name was.  Now he has one of those reality shows where they clean up your wardrobe and your house.

So, am I supposed to be reciprocal and flag the flagger's bad keywords?  Would that be the best way to show my sincere gratitude?

Oh my, look... those files I ftp'd two months ago are there under new and here I was cursing Filezilla!

A directory of common questions might be useful... "how do I upsize for Alamy?" etc.  Would that be a tutorial, a wiki? 

You may want to pick up a neutral density filter.  Also, I have used my CP from time to time for an extra stop, but if your model has pink tones in the skin a polarizer exaggerates them.

Dragging up an old(ish) thread here, but I just had my first 70 cent subscription sale on DT for a level III file.  I forgot that the increase was that much. 

Randomway I see that you are an illustrator, maybe Americans buy more illustrations than the rest of the world?   I am a photographer and at a glance seeing around 20% U.S. sales.   

I got a 4 recently, the stores around here still have 3's on their websites but they don't actually have any and can no longer get them.  (I AM in a small market though).

There is a new major vendor in town, I called to see what they had and he had one in stock.  He makes sure I know they price match.

So... I went to Wacom's site, looked up their authorized sellers, all the stores in town have it for between $449 and $549 (Canadian).  But... I see that Costco online sells them.  I never would have thought that they Costco would carry a tablet.  Anyhow, their price was $399 vs $449 at Henry's.  I printed it off and took it in.  He matched the price (although he let me know that they don't normally match Costco.

So the moral of my story is, look up the retailers in your country and make sure you get the best price, most electonics stores here price match.

More and more often I see my photos in advertisements in the newspaper, or a model will tell me that so and so saw them in the Edmonton Journal, or the Saskatoon Star Phoenix ...  I bet most of you have received these phone calls or opened up the paper yourself and seen your work.

So, last week a photo of mine appeared in a small paper in an advertisement for a huge name in the agricultural industry.   The newspaper is small with a circulation of only 59,000 so all is on the up and up. 

BUT, I simply can't believe that a huge international company like this would pick one tiny little market to place an ad one time in a little tiny newspaper.  I'm speculating it is a much, much bigger campaign. 

This particular photo has sold a few hundred times, but I just checked and there has never been an EL. 

So, as artists - are we hurting our industry if we shrug this off or should we individually perform audits in these situations? 

First - as I said, I'm only speculating that the photo has been used in more than one publication, but there is a high probability that it has been used on a US/Canada campaign.

Number of copies:  am I right about usage, a photo can be printed up to 500,000 times (DT/IS) and then requires and EL.  That is a combined number isn't it, not a per publication figure?

If we want to run a little audit, what do we do in this case?  Do you phone the marketing department, the legal department, or the division that ran the ad? 

I have to say, that in times like this - exclusivity would sure make things easier!  Do you start the phone call with "I'm performing an audit on my distributors and would like to know which agency you purchased _______ from".  Obviously I can't point my finger in this case and say "you didn't buy an EL", because hey - maybe they didn't even need one.

Anyone have experience with this?

I can't say I have what it takes to follow up on this, (is it worth it for 20 or 28 bucks?) but part of me thinks we need to educate the buyers and owe it to each other to make sure licenses are properly purchased.

Thoughts?