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Messages - Sean Locke Photography
7151
« on: January 30, 2009, 15:17 »
Hmmmm....discuss but not learn. Well, apparently I'm at the wrong site.
Learning is a subset of discussion. Not saying you can't do both. Maybe I did word that comment badly. The point was, and, this doesn't just apply to that poster, that if you walk in, being able to show some effort towards your goal with a sensible outlook, that people are more likely to help you. ie., if you come in with "How do I make it in microstock" without even reading the camera manual, that doesn't show a lot of respect towards the members with knowledge to share, that you couldn't even take the time to access the opportunities available.
7152
« on: January 30, 2009, 15:10 »
7153
« on: January 30, 2009, 13:53 »
People come to this site to LEARN about microstock.
Actually, I come to this site to DISCUSS microstock. Sorry about misreading your other post. However, I wasn't rephrasing his question. I was setting it up as an example of how he should approach what he wants to do. I'd also agree with the "best way to build up a portfolio" would be to take the initiative to assign yourself work to do, get it done, and fill your portfolio with that. That's what we all do daily. Make our own assignments, shoot 'em, process 'em and add to the portfolio. A business is not going to let you walk in the door as a newbie just because you have a camera.
7154
« on: January 30, 2009, 12:33 »
Sorry, I can't find the thread right now, but "Not Needed" was dropped as a rejection a long time ago. While things on the "not needed" list are subject to higher scrutiny, good shots will make it in.
7155
« on: January 30, 2009, 12:03 »
Then why does everybody have a "We have enough of these" policy in place. Tried uploading a photo of a flower lately or a cloudscape?
I can't speak for other agencies, but iStock does not.
7156
« on: January 30, 2009, 11:56 »
For another example of how rude people are on here, read this latest thread http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php?topic=6947.msg80456;topicseen#new The last post I read on there, someone took the time to write up a whole new version of how he should've presented his question, rather than taking the time to answer it. Another person questioned the amount of time he had available. And yet another person took the time to just be a smart a$$. It seems to me that the people on here just want to attack newcomers. But I guess jerks need their own forum, too.
Here I take some time to point out to that poster a sensible way to approach what he wants to do (that would garner respect from other members) instead of blindly flailing ahead, and I'm a smart ass? If you'd actually read it, it was a way to answer the question. Perhaps some of those here would like to see people walk before they start running. Makes more sense. ... and here you are calling people names, and someone else is the rude one?
7157
« on: January 30, 2009, 11:37 »
There are lots of buyers and that is going to increase a lot in the future. The sites would close their doors to contributors if they had too many images and not enough buyers, like some of the traditional sites have.
Very good point
Not really. The number of images they carry is no concern to the agency. They'll make the sales regardless of who they come from. It is concerning from the contributor's point of view, not the agencies' point of view.
7158
« on: January 30, 2009, 10:40 »
I'm a student in the northern, VA and have tons of free time! First thing I need to do is build a food portfolio since I want this to be my niche in the micro stock industry (with some portraits on the side). Any advice on how to do this? Calling restaurant and offering my services for free hasn't worked to well since I have very little to show them. What would be the best way to build up a portfolio? Once I've built the portfolio how should I go about getting opportunities for photo shoot? I was thinking of just visiting restaurants and setting up a time in the near future to photograph food, as one member suggested in another post. What props should be used/buy? How should I use my lighting? I currently own two Lowel EGO light which work great for shooting isolated objects on a white background! I have a white mini background that work nice, but also own two 1000 watt contentious light systems with soft boxes. Thanks in advance I know I've asked a lot of questions!
More sensible version of this post: I'm a student, and in my spare time outside of classwork, I've been taking a photography class. I'm really interested in food photography, so, for the last several months, I've been experimenting with food photography. I read "How to Food Style" by Ima Knowitall, and I'm taking the back-lit, tight DOF approach you commonly see in food magazines, which I've also been studying. I don't have a lot of access to prepared foods, but I've bought some backgrounds, cutting boards, fabric, place settings and such, and have been using mostly natural light and raw foods to experiment - see here: http://vox.com/myawesomefoodshots . I'd like some criticism on what I've done so far, and maybe some tips on showcasing my work to a local restaurant in hopes of a TFCD trade. When I'm good enough, I'd like to submit to microstock to supplement my other income for schooling. Thanks" That would probably garner a more useful set of responses instead of "I have no work, but these restaurants won't let me shoot there."
7159
« on: January 30, 2009, 08:02 »
I'm a little concerned about what is going to happen over the course of the year as I continue to post articles that will help photographers grow their businesses, find new ways to promote their services, expand on their photographic knowledge and yes clue them in on tricks of the trade in microstock. Why don't you spend your time trying to increase the buyer base instead? That will be beneficial to all contributors, help them as sales grow and educate new buyers out there as to the options available. The sort of approach where "I make money from X, I want to train others to compete with me in X" just seems masochistic to me. Will me training newcomers cause the sky to fall and our incomes to drop and put us all out of business? Did the stock industry crash when I switched to microstock 5 years ago? Did stock photographers freak out when I licensed my very first stock image in 1990 before I was even old enough to drive? No it didn't and if I thought I alone had a global effect on it .. well that would be extremely foolish and egotistical of me. So .... Did the microstock industry go into a downward spiral when somebody clued you into it? You and others keep saying "well, one more won't hurt". A - It ain't going to help. B - You forget there's an entire world out there poking around the internet. you hardly know what waves you are going cause. If I want massive referrals I'm going to target an audience that is unaware of the microstock industry .. not groups that specialize in it. If you were not able to catch on to that maybe you should ask yourself .. how much of a business sense do I really have? Rather than worrying about other photographers getting ahead you should focus on learning a few new tricks yourself ... I will be making a habit of sharing everything I know. 
You are targeting an audience that is unaware, with your "shoot pictures of dirt to make money theme". Lee Torrens posts perfectly useful stuff on his blog that we can all enjoy discussing, but he's not running about trying to sign up the next 1000 contributors. Again, I (and others) certainly don't think the sky is falling because you posted an article on shooting mundane things, regardless of all the words like "panic" and "fear" people seem to use around here. And having the insight you do could provide help for experienced micro shooters (again, probably to your detriment). But as one piece of the pie, it just doesn't seem to make financial or business sense to me.
7160
« on: January 30, 2009, 07:46 »
...I'd also like to point out that I think iStock should block this. No one should have to put up with their financial information being spread all over the internet in such detail.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it istock that makes this possible through the API?
No, they are data scraping the contributor pages daily, from what I understand.
7161
« on: January 29, 2009, 22:33 »
While the sort may not be including the relevancy factor, the "more like this" links certainly are, and are returning great results.
7162
« on: January 29, 2009, 21:13 »
If you think your sales are dropped because of few more photographers, than you should maybe follow stock market everyday, and see the connection between global economic crisis and your sales. You will see that every day stock market goes down, your sales go down as well, and vice versa.
And, as someone already said, if you are afraid of new photographers, maybe it's time to try to find your self in some other business. Creative people will find a way to stand against the crowd. They are not afraid
Got it. The only thing that affects your sales is the stock market, and nothing else. Seems to be an awfully narrow indicator of what affects your performance, but I'm not one to judge how your sales are affected.
7163
« on: January 29, 2009, 19:10 »
Now tell me, if you know math, where do you see reason for panic??
And, you didn't even think that some of us will maybe stop uploading, or even die these days. Do you want to hope that someone of us will die for you not to lose 0,000 001% of your sales? Do you?
Ummmm, I see no panic anyone here except for this hysterical statement above. Just common sense thoughts. I will bookmark this thread. Someday, when complaints arise about profits dropping, I will pull it out to see who is being greedy, and not sharing enough with all their competition.
7164
« on: January 29, 2009, 15:45 »
The problem for non-exclusives on IS is that when an exclusive artist copies your work, they automatically get a boost through the best match - so if its a similar image, it doesn't matter how many downloads yours has had, whether its bigger etc, your image will sink.
While I'd like to think that quality of an image is going to lead to higher sales, we all know that this business is all about search rankings.
The problem for exclusives on IS, is that when a non-exclusive artist copies your work, they are free to distribute it cheaper at other sites, so it doesn't matter how many downloads yours has had, you'll make less money.
7165
« on: January 29, 2009, 15:42 »
Today on Oprah - "Microstock and your piece of the pie" with a special appearance by Dr. Phil about "Trying to keep your income stable can actually kill you".
7166
« on: January 29, 2009, 12:16 »
Still missing the point.. It's not the sharing, it's the pimping, sign up here to make money.. Not the sharing techniques info etc. that stuff is great..
Well, there seem to be a lot of people concerned about making money here. Monthly threads on performance, daily threads on holiday sales, stats surveys, constant, constant, constant. Yet, someone suggests a good way to not dilute your sales is to not post "training" and "sign up" articles, and suddenly, you're greedy Scrooge McDuck. Like it or not, everyone is a competitor for the royalties out there, and by actively running about trying to show others how easy it is to make money, all you are doing is growing the supply pot. Non-dilute-the-pot-threads - "Is today a holiday somewhere?" "How do I get a tax form from SS?" "Is there an easier way to upload model releases?" "Why won't my 580ex trigger?" Grow the Buyer Base articles - "The best way to search on XYZ site" "How do you find images with clipping paths?" "Do I need an Extended License?" Grow your competition threads/articles - "Make money by shooting XYZ!" "Even a monkey can make money in microstock!" "The best time of year to upload XYZ!" See, you can share and chat all you want on topics people are interested in, while avoiding the last category above, and it's still a helpful discussion forum.
7167
« on: January 29, 2009, 11:57 »
I'd call it above average. I'd also like to point out that I think iStock should block this. No one should have to put up with their financial information being spread all over the internet in such detail.
How can you say that? Aren't we all here to share and encourage others? 
7168
« on: January 29, 2009, 11:32 »
Not so strange, Liliboas relies a lot on her abundant,popular and very well done portfolio of Christmas images.
Yes, and it's hardly average.
7169
« on: January 29, 2009, 08:44 »
No, it's not a threat to anyone here except himself, by encouraging others to dilute his sales base. There's only so many buyers for images of dirt (or whatever it doesn't take a lot of skill to shoot).
7170
« on: January 29, 2009, 08:17 »
Wow not the response I expected .. I didn't realize there was such a fear of competition. Which when you think about it is really silly. For example, when you look at the size of my portfolio as a part of the entire microstock industry it is a tiny tiny tiny fraction of a fraction of a percent.
Now that you're out recruiting new competitors for your images of "nothing", it will get even tinier. Congrats! He said he never thought about selling textures and I'm glad I was able to point out something he was missing on. ... and tinier ...
7171
« on: January 29, 2009, 00:49 »
If you've found a niche, or at least a successful topic to shoot, like dirt, please, please tell me, what the sense is, in writing an article so that hundreds or thousands of others can exploit your knowledge and take away your sales. I mean, do you really get enough in referrals from the links at the bottom to make this make sense? What is your concern with "a lot of photographers" who are not "more active in microstock"? Shouldn't that make you happy they aren't competing with you?
7172
« on: January 28, 2009, 04:40 »
Lots of places are also not totally up for this. They don't want you using their locations and selling images in a way that could benefit their competitors. They also don't want to worry about granting access and dealing with security and staffing in their locations. So, try, but don't be surprised if it isn't an automatic sell.
7173
« on: January 27, 2009, 19:31 »
Paul, when you pay someone, they show up and do what you want. You can work on taking photos and not so much on making lifelong friends or worrying about what they want.
7174
« on: January 27, 2009, 14:29 »
The photos may appear the same or similar to you, but they are not.
No, actually, they are the exact same images he is offering.
7175
« on: January 27, 2009, 13:57 »
Yuri does sell on Alamy. (unless everything has been pulled from both accounts in the last month)
I meant he's said he has no sales there.
I don't buy that. I don't see his royalty reports, yet I can absolutely say with all certainty, that he makes sales on Alamy. He has too many images there to not.
Well, I don't see them either, but he's the one who said it.
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