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Messages - Anyka
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526
« on: January 10, 2013, 06:03 »
I've always liked filling in your survey, it never felt als a "job you had to do".
528
« on: January 07, 2013, 03:17 »
A few weeks ago, I did the planned shooting in the medieval church (building 14th century, interior 17th century). As said before, the metal racks were a problem, so large general views were out of the question, but I did not really mind, as the models would have been too small in general church views. As a backdrop, the walls, altar, choir and pillars were absolutely perfect. As I am a vintage lover, we concentrated on keeping things very authentic. You can see some of the results on my Flemish website http://www.anyka.be/p622070124. Everything in the building is between 600 (walls) and 300 (woodwork etc.) years old, all religious clothing (and most props) are completely authentic. Lighting is mostly done with studio strobes, except for the stained glass windows. I don't think I'll be needing a PR for these, as the church is obviously just a backdrop for the models, but any comments are welcome!
529
« on: January 01, 2013, 14:44 »
December was break even with December 2011 : Dreamstime and Fotolia went down (Fotolia even 16%), and all others pulled up to achieve the break even.
2012 gave me a growth of 9% overall. Have to say that Fotolia went up during the first 6 months, and has been going down with an average of 14% in the second half. Dreamstime is on the way down too, and Istock (Thinkstock included) has made its come back and taken the 3rd place again after SS and FT.
Thanks to the weak Euro, I made more than +9% in Euros, so I'm quite happy with the results, especially since this was my first fulltime year as a photographer.
530
« on: January 01, 2013, 01:34 »
A super 2013 for every one. I wish myself perfect health, fun photo shoots and great sales, and I wish the same for all of you.
531
« on: December 22, 2012, 01:43 »
Merry Christmas to you all, plus a successful and happy 2013, with lots of reasons to smile and laugh!
532
« on: December 14, 2012, 07:07 »
Yes, I certainly include mistakes like that, but only if it's about the main subject of the photo (not if there happens to be a small donkey or mule in the far right corner of the picture).
The only "mistake" I never add is the word "baby" for images with newborn animals. Technically, these are babies too ...
533
« on: December 12, 2012, 05:23 »
About 2 weeks, en then AFTER approval, I got another e-mail telling me I had the renew my tax form. I checked again on my Fotolia tax page, and it said "approved", so I just ignored the e-mail.
534
« on: December 01, 2012, 09:35 »
I had another overall BME (October too), but weird enough, not 1 of my 11 sites had a BME. My overall BME was thanks to great sales at SS, 123rf and ... Istock. Istock (I added the October figure for partner sales) went up with 50% compared to November 2011. IS was still 25% below my last BME though.
Going down compared to Nov. 2011 : Dreamstime 11%, Fotolia 5% and Rodeo 20%.
Interesting : November shows the exact same trend for the whole year 2012 : good growth for SS, 123rf and Istock, downhill for DST, FT and Rodeo, the rest is status quo (I only started with DP end of 2011, so no comparison possible).
535
« on: November 15, 2012, 02:00 »
Now I feel bad! Everyone and their brother/sister is making money 'hand over fist' while I chug along with lot's of .33 sales 
Do you feel better if I tell you that my downloads on SS are down by 13% compared to November 2011? DOS's are up, and EL's are about the same, so I'll probably end up with a break even.
536
« on: November 14, 2012, 15:39 »
Can I got a little bit off topic?
I just got a photo session commissioned by a glasses retailer. They invited 6 children (children of their customers) to pose for me with their glasses on, evidently bought with this retailer. The retailer is paying for the photo session, and will put the framed photos in their display window.
I bet these glasses won't be cheap rubbish, but nice (expensive) frames. Suppose they are Luxottica stuff? This is not (micro)stock photography, so I suppose it's the retailer who will be in trouble if ever Luxottica (or any other glasses manufacturer) "finds out".
Though for me it's just a small commissioned shoot, I will ask the retailer to sign an order form, just to be sure that I have proof. And I'll also tell them why I want everything in writing. If they cancel the photo shoot, so be it.
537
« on: November 14, 2012, 05:39 »
Well, I'm not going to publish my income here, but I can tell you that IMHO you need 3 things to earn $8000/month in microstock :
- large port
- port starting in the early years, like 2006, not 2012 or 2013
- excellent stock subjects or niche subjects (or excellent vectors)
As my port only has quality 1 and 2, my earnings are much lower than the OP's.
538
« on: November 14, 2012, 03:31 »
I don't think he said he went from 800 to 6800 in 2 years. He's in microstock for 6 years now, and after 6 years, he has 6800 files in microstock (not particularly on Istock). I started in 2006 too, with a fulltime job as a secretary, and now I have between 3900 (Istock) and 6300 (Bigstock) on micro. So yes, it's super-possible. I'm fulltime since January, but my port did not grow more than usual the last 10 months. I thought it would, but it didn't because my commissioned work grew faster than expected.
539
« on: November 12, 2012, 14:56 »
Lisa, I absolutely understand that if you are responsible for a family, quitting is much more difficult. You say your husband did not like his job, but did not quit because he had a family to support. Good on him, but suppose he had a boss like mine, a really cruel one, who enjoyed breaking your husband mentally, day after day, wouldn't you as his wife have asked him to quit?
My advice to become a fulltime photographer was based on the fact that I take the word "hate to death" literally. If he just meant "I don't like it", asking for a part-time job would be my first choice.
540
« on: November 12, 2012, 03:28 »
Just for the record : I did/do not earn $8000/month with stock, not by far, but then again, I only have myself to support so I need less. Still, diversifying is (IMHO) the key to a big step in life like this. Even if I like stock photography MUCH more than commissioned work.
On the other hand : commissioned work has its opportunities too : when a really cute/beautiful model comes along for commissioned portraits, you can offer him/her a free photo shoot + MR. I did so when parents came along with newborn twins of 11 days old.
541
« on: November 12, 2012, 03:06 »
And I thought I was the pessimist in the family  Don't you think that if Daddy comes home depressed every evening "love will fly away" too ? The question is of course : does he REALLY hate his job, or was he just exaggerating, like in "I hate brocoli" ? I quit (almost) one year ago because I realised that staying in that job would (1) make me unhappy for the rest of my career ( really unhappy, no exaggeration) and (2) would even be bad for my health, both physical and mental. If you realise that, and at the same time earn $8000/month with microstock, becoming a fulltime photographer is a great option. I did NOT say fulltime stock-photographer ... This year, commisioned work amounts to 20% of my income, next year probably 30%. Gambling for 100% on stock photography without diversifying is indeed very dangerous.
542
« on: November 12, 2012, 02:28 »
Problem is, the eye wear is the same as shoes, a hat, a belt, a purse, and clothes and the buttons on a dress. It's not the subject. Unless someone is selling just images of the glasses or using the brand name. It's going to be difficult to say, there is any infringement.
Think about this. Someone shoots a photo of the busy traffic on the highway and every car maker sues. This case is overboard and there's always hope that the court will not only charge the company filing the complaint for all the court costs for Yuri, but also fine them for a frivolous lawsuit.
You'd be right if the glasses were an unimportant part of the image, but some of Yuri's photos show a tight closeup of a woman wearing designer glasses, were the glasses are definitely the main subject. Even the caption is something like "attractive young woman wearing designer glasses". Possibly the court case is only about these closeups. I've even seen photos by Yuri were the woman is photographed twice, once with and once without glasses, which means that for that particular model, he cannot claim she is not able to work without her glasses.
543
« on: November 12, 2012, 02:17 »
I am amazed that so many people advise a 33 year old to stick with a job he hates. What, for the rest of his life? At least give him the advice to find another job ... Yes, I know wife/kids is important, but does that mean you have to be unhappy during every working hour for the next 30 years?
You say it's easy for me to tell him to quit his job, well I say it's easy for people with nice(r) jobs to tell him to stay with a terrible job. What about the wife/kids when he comes home every evening depressed after another rotten day at work?
If you think about fulltime stock photography, you have several choices :
- nice job? ask for part-time
- rotten job? find another job / ask for part-time
- rotten job? try stock fulltime (+ diversify!!)
- rotten job? stay unhappy - - - is this really your best solution?
544
« on: November 11, 2012, 02:03 »
SIFD, one year ago, I was in your position (though not with $ 8000/month). I had the worst boss I ever had, and because of him I hated every day at work. I had already gone from fulltime to 4/5 and microstock income had grown to a bit more than my 4/5 job.
In January this year, I quit and since then I am a fulltime photographer. But not just fulltime microstocker. Because I am cautious like you (and also pessimist and always expect microstock to go downhill), I started offering commissioned portrait work. Today, in my 10th month, portraiture takes up about 20% of my income, the rest is microstock. And I have not used 1 penny of my savings (yet).
Right now, what you spend is probably much more than what you really need, simply because your income is very high. Make a list, calculate how much income you really need per year, and then calculate how much microstock (or any other photography income) can go down without getting into trouble. Then realise how much you hate your job ...
545
« on: November 10, 2012, 13:22 »
There are absolutly no reason why anyone should be prevented from wearing their precription glasses at anytime for the same reason you would not prevent someone from wearing their prescribed hearing aids or denture. There are absolutly no reason why anyone should be prevented from working as a model just because he/she is wearing precribed glasses for the same reason you would not prevent someone to be a model just because he/she is wearing denture or an hearing aid.
Denis
Absolutely true! Denmark probably has (like Belgium) a law against discrimination. That is against discriminating people for anything, including what they wear. If we start hiring ONLY models without glasses, that would be discriminating and against this law. You can hardly expect Yuri to order generic brandless glasses for every model he hires.
546
« on: November 04, 2012, 13:47 »
That is weird. When I had the bug, I could still use the site, login/out like always. The only problem I had was the continuous request to change my password (which I only did once). I did report it to DST, and they replied "it was fixed". Maybe they meant they had transferred it to another contributor
547
« on: November 03, 2012, 10:25 »
If you don't see your details in upper right corner, then find the little arrow button next to logout. Click on it and it should show your details in the upper right corner again.
You're a genius!
548
« on: November 02, 2012, 09:44 »
I can log now again, but i have now the same problem you encountered, no earnings in the right top of the page. 
Those earnings in the top right corner came back after about 10 days for me ...
549
« on: November 01, 2012, 12:18 »
One off topic question : why are Leaf and I the only ones in this topic showing port size (and links to portfolio) ?
Probably because people want to remain anonymous here because agencies are checking this forum and every now and then trolls ridicule someone's work in flame wars
I understand that for the portfolio links, but why hide the port size dials under your avatar?
550
« on: November 01, 2012, 08:39 »
One off topic question : why are Leaf and I the only ones in this topic showing port size (and links to portfolio) ?
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