Quote from: tempura on July 22, 2009, 07:53

six month and how much cash?

1000s & 1000s. Although some shoots were organized with friends or non-agency affiliated models and cost almost nothing.. That way is possible, but probably not sustainable in the long run. Buyers will demand higher and higher production values, now and increasingly in the future..

... And yet, you'll probably find you won't be able to sustain yourself selling micro on a high price budget.  Bit of a challenge, eh?

There was a guy on istock with six months, and I think he got about 100 accepted...

Thank you David, for spelling out the issues better than I can from my phone touchpad

Yes it is and most fractals are like snaps from a camera until they get bored and toss it aside.  If you've pushed it further, congrats...

Sorry, and no, I haven't had any particularly bad experience.  But as istock moved from designers little secret to what it is today, there have been changes.  And I don't expect to agree with all of them.  And if you are ever successful enough to be mentionable things will change to.  Like less royalties because you need to expand or whatever.

And again, I don't see a family business as any benefit.  Acclaim had big problems once because of family conflicts.  Instead of a benefit, it becomes a problem.  And where does that leave contributors?

"Goofy credit based system" ?  That system was essentially what created the microstock market.   It also creates a slight psychological disconnect for buyers between their wallet and their purchase.

Aside from just charging higher prices, how are you "changing" the market?

Smells like spam to me.

I'll need to keep an eye on mediapost for further articles, but my takeaway from that is that Hispanic teens in the US are pretty much like any other teen.  Just Hispanic and large in number.

I get 5-10 a month on iStock.  Nothing to do with credit issues - they absorb that.  Mostly client downloaded wrong size, wrong photo, etc.

I think Sean has been given a bad rep. He's really a nice guy !

No, I'm not.  Don't tell people that! 

Same thing rings true for ethnicities and there cultural differences. Just an observation, ya'll can shoot anything you like as long as it makes you happy. For me it only takes a bit of time these days to learn about different cultures on the internet and I find it fascinating as well as educational.

I doubt there's much to worry about when shooting two models having burgers at a table outside, and one of them happens to not be caucasian.

I read a suggestion about partnering with existing smaller sites�here or on another forum or blog�and that seems to me to make more sense. For those with ideas and initiative: Maybe you should find a good small site and get in on the ground floor instead of thinking about starting another agency/site. Tell them what they can do to improve or serve you better! Also, as small site artists, are you helping them attract buyers? OK, you took great photos and put them on the site, but have you done anything to help get that word out? Remember, what benefits them also benefits you! We are always willing to listen to our artists and ready to work with them.

What's the point in spending time to help someone else get big enough eventually to treat you badly?  They can't be cute mom and pop forever.  Eventually they will become a big business just like any other.

David's blog also talks about networking which I think is vital. But it seems nowadays people seem to be concerned more with �privacy� than with getting to know others. I think it�s counterproductive to keep my email address secret when I am in business to sell something! I am curious: Why do so many artists hide their email addresses? One of our artists blogged about this on our site a few days ago, in a blog post about badly designed web sites. So I am not the only one wondering!  :

So you don't get spam, pretty simple.  I do have a contact email, although there really isn't much reason for anyone to contact me - my stock is on the sites where it is ready to buy.