Hi aeonf,

 There was a time in our countries history that employers were able to pay whatever they liked to their workers and people worked like crazy, from children to over age adults. We changed that with minimum wage, Unions and child labor laws, this helped create and support the middle class. The worker does and should have rights. I do agree 100%, if you don't want to shoot for Istock then don't but as far as being a smart motivating business plan that is another subject.
 When Macro RF came on the scene they started at 20% ( a number literally pulled from the air ) when RM was at 40-50%. How were these companies able to make money by offering their photographers 50%? The did, as a matter of fact Tony Stone made their photographers very rich. To this day there are a few agencies still offering 50% to their photographers and they are still making a profit. I think if you keep your worker bees happy then they produce the best honey and work around the clock to support the hive. My two cents.


Best,
Jonathan

Hi All,

 My experience has been Getty pays you your normal cut for the infringement once it is collected they just don't share punitive damages, within my own experience. They also remove sales from our statements that for some reason did not go through or were rejected before payment was closed. That is why as a third party owner of a stock agency I do not pay out to our contributors until the money is actually collected, that way they never get stung. Many smaller agencies work this way.

Best.,
Jonathan

Hey SNP,

 That was a great show and a good way to explain to most people because most of us saw that episode.

Cheers,
Jonathan

  Hi All,

 Unfortunately agencies across the board have reduced commissions for years, it used to be a 50/50 split and the company that made that split in the beginning were the most respected and powerful agencies in the world.
  I just hope it doesn't sink anyones boat. If some photographer was taken for a great loss it could cost them their careers. If you got a big fat check and went out and bought a new car then they take their money back what are you supposed to do, try to resell the car? I really hope they set a clear president and share all punitive damages, that would make them look pretty darn good in the eyes of the stock photographers of the world. In my opinion.

Best,
Jonathan

Hi All,

 If you have images that could fit www.spacesimages.com style and needs we would be interested in purchasing images. PM me if you re interested.

Best,
Jonathan

Hi All,

 Here's an example that isn't quite the same but this happened with a shot of mine that Getty was representing. It was used by " The Onion " ( online political satire ) in a way that totally violated the contract and hurt my neighbors beyond belief, one of the big reasons I don't shoot friends and relatives anymore. Getty contacted " The Onion " and had them remove the image immediately with no damages because they wanted to keep the customer relationship strong, this is what I was told by my editor.
 These days it appears they would most likely take it more seriously from what I am reading here on this forum. The image was removed within the week but not before our neighbors college daughter was the laughing stock of her school ( word got out, poor girl ). Really kind devout christian family that was truly hurt by the use of the image and the article that ran with it. Worst of all they just cut her head out of my original shot of Mom and daughter in the kitchen having fun. At the time I  appreciated the actions Getty took so fast to handle the problem and understood their wanting to keep their client base strong. As much as it hurt the family after the fact, Getty handled it very well. That was 9 years ago. My two Cents!

Best,
Jonathan

Hi All,

 Getty does not share punitive damages with their photographers in their Macro side of the business, I can't speak for their microstock side. RM which still represents 50% of all sales in stock, is just the same as RF. They will give you the original 20%-35% of the images normal sale but they keep the big chunk. It used to be they would contact a customer and offer them the chance to remove the image or pay the standard price. Their intentions then were to keep customers happy and try to bring in new ones from their open friendly approach to the problem. Maybe that way didn't work like they wanted so they have changed their policy.

Best,
Jonathan

Hi All,

 I had a 27.54 dollar extended license today and it was posted before yesterdays sales were. It seems to have sold for the correct amount though. Are you seeing the larger items sold for less than they are supposed to? Thanks for the feedback. I'm not exclusive.

Best,
Jonathan

Hi M,

 You might check out The Ultimate Ball head by Acretech. They back their heads for 10 years. If anything goes wrong they will fix it or replace it for ten years. I have had mine 6 and they are replacing it from wear so I get a brand new one. Just a thought here is the link www.acratech.net

Good Luck,
Jonathan

 CC,

 That's the only part that is free, the software

J

I'm not getting one Zeus, at least not for some time. 

 Who can afford something like this for stock right now. It is overkill. If you want to shoot high end work it is the bomb and just shows where we will all be heading for a super low price some day for all of us. Remember before these cameras it would cost you 300k to be set up to shoot this quality. Now you can get a 5D 2 for pennies on the dollar and produce great content for customers needs. The prices on Reds will drop as well, right now they are not much more than shooting with a Hasselblad and their Large digital back like some stock shooters use.
 If you could see how much range these cameras capture it is almost like working with an HDR file when you are done. The first tests included shooting inside a barn with just the window and barn door open. The final view shows all the detail in the barn and all the detail of the trees and sky outside the barn through the window, amazing coverage that will make producing great footage and stills that much easier on the set. The need for lighting is drastically reduced so crews get smaller lighting gets smaller costs for production start to drop fast. If they offered this camera at the same price as my Ids Mark 3 I would buy two in a minute. Super small, super easy to set up and break down and you get stills or motion from the same shoot.

Best,
Jonathan

Hi All,

 The Red Epic has just started shipping out their first cameras take a look at the new toy. Pricey but it is still fun to look at the site and learn about some of the specs. Here is the link http://epic.red.com/. Happy Holidays, if you are trying to think of what to get me this would be a great start

Cheers,
Jonathan