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Messages - hiddenstock
1
« on: December 10, 2012, 11:42 »
 I really wanted to post this on iStock
2
« on: November 17, 2012, 18:12 »
So if you are exclusive the partner program is crap. What a suprise.
3
« on: November 15, 2012, 13:42 »
Wow. So they're actually looking for new programmers and developers? So maybe some heads are rolling after all? That's a little hopeful I guess. But maybe it's too late... 
It's possible they laid off the person responsible for updating the job listings...
Very Good  As for Michael and the Berlin office, I was under the impression there is no more Berlin office. My sales stink, yesterday was 62% less than last year with 51% more images.
4
« on: January 20, 2012, 12:18 »
However, while the marketing, quality control and accounting functions may remain in Calgary ...
I presume JJRD's position as Director of Content (or whatever it was) has been made redundant which suggests to me that the inspection side of Istock might be moving to Getty. I could imagine that the concept of having 100-odd partially-employed 'inspectors' dotted around the globe to be quite alien to Rebbecca who does not come from a microstock background. Maybe she will out-source it to Romania instead.
All those Admin 'staff', operating from their homes, might be let go too (I've never really understood how that side of things could work efficiently). Rebbecca might not like the way they operate either.
Maybe that has happened already. Inspections are really speedy now, and vetta/agency nomination go though at the same speed. Those nominated files used to take 3-7 days longer now they don't. ETA recently accepted agency are all established agency artist. I am guessing it is more of the same for a chosen few.
5
« on: January 20, 2012, 07:21 »
Getty works like this and has done ever since 93. They will look after unique ports, nieched ports that can offer something that other agencies are short of or havent got.
All these business ports, handshakes and general ports, no matter how big, they will find themselves in an uphill struggle. This is the fundamental rule of their HQ-creative department and has always been. Further more, lots of ports will be redundant, especially all the ones built on copying.
This will ofcourse only apply if IS, is totally swallowed up by Getty, i.e. cease to exist? Ofcourse one can argue if it would be for better or worse? I would say it would definetely benefit the full time photographer, not having to battle with copys, spamming and tons of irrelevant material.
Anyway, who knows?
This may sound pretty selfish but I hope my portfolio unique and good enough. Just started doing this full time so I am pretty worried.
6
« on: January 19, 2012, 20:16 »
Just childish. Maybe JJRD took the keys to the server on the way out.
7
« on: January 18, 2012, 07:26 »
I shoot Nikon D3x it is incredible and easy to use. Would I recommend it to someone starting out? No. Too bloody expensive. As others have mentioned Canon 5d mkII, full frame, lots of great lenses available and not too expensive (if top shooters pick this over more expensive models then you know it has to be right).
However Nikon should be bringing out a D800 soon which should move the game on. But and it is a big BUT, I waited a year for this camera and got bored and got the d3x (which I have had for over a year).
8
« on: January 18, 2012, 07:12 »
And just to add, Steve Jobs once said of Mark Zuckerberg, ""I admire Mark Zuckerberg. I only know him a little bit, but I admire him for not selling out, for wanting to make a company. I admire that a lot."
Too bad that can't be said of Bruce.
From what I heard it seemed that istock needed a lot of invest at the time of the buyout. I read it that quite a lot of the money was reinvested in IT to make the place run smoothly (for a bit).
9
« on: January 16, 2012, 20:05 »
Someone who did very successfully go from exclusive to nonexclusive was monkeybusiness, but I think that was a tactical move to get a lot on istock and up to diamond.
Huh?? You're saying Monkeybusiness started out as exclusive to Istockphoto, before going independent? AFAIK, they've never been Istock exclusive. Istockcharts shows them starting in March of 08, and that's the same date they started on DT. Not to mention they only managed to upload 4600 out of 25000 images on Istock, which averages to 100 uploads a month - well within the non-exclusive upload limits.
Monkeybusinessimages could not possibly have been exclusive to IS. Why would you state something like that as a fact?? Maybe I am misunderstanding you...?
I do remember quite clearly that they were exclusive for a bit, up to about 1000 images uploaded. (I am pretty sure I am right but I may be loosing my mind). I think it was back in the days when monkeybusiness was called stockbroker.
10
« on: January 15, 2012, 15:18 »
I think that different peoples experiences will differ greatly. I would not put too much stock in anyone else's experiences.
Bridget's (stockcube) blog is interesting but shouldn't really hold any weight with the OP on what return he should expect to get. I am sure Bridget would say there is a world of difference between portfolios and expectations. Jo Ann's experience would be closer but different too.
Someone who did very successfully go from exclusive to nonexclusive was monkeybusiness, but I think that was a tactical move to get a lot on istock and up to diamond. Also another stock site gave them permission to dump their whole portfolio onto their site as well.
Model releases should really be acceptable any where as they are a contract between a model and a photographer. If there was any legal action then the original signed document would be required.
11
« on: December 23, 2011, 12:24 »
^ just remember it is against the T&Cs at istock to download your own files (unless you have a very good reason). I am sure you'll pick up 14 RCs in a week and a bit with out having to risk anything.
12
« on: December 23, 2011, 12:01 »
^ yes, 31st December. I would also imagine you have just lost one of your images and need to download a replacement 
13
« on: December 23, 2011, 07:17 »
They dropped gold and silver more than last year but diamond was slightly higher. I think the increased diamond offsets the lower level for gold and silver.
You know it is not all doom and gloom over there. I am up 25% on dls from last year and 72.5% on $$s.
14
« on: December 21, 2011, 13:50 »
Finding a camera that will do the following for me:
1. 50mp or higher
2. Provide its own lighting
3. Key word all my photos automatically
4. Know exactly which markets to submit my photos
5. Able to tell me my RPI on each shot
6. Never out of focus
7. Never any aberration no matter how extreme the conditions
8. Light weight see less that a pound with large lens included
9. Develop photos directly without using Photoshop
10. Upload files via WiFi as soon as you finish shooting- the camera knows exactly what each photo senior editor will accept
11. Never needs batteries for at least five years
12. Memory card can hold at least 10,000 RAW images and cleans the card each time you shoot
13. Displays which markets are hot thus telling me which photos to take each day
Now that is what I want for 2012 a camera that can do this for me...
T
I am going to work on stealing this camera
15
« on: December 19, 2011, 19:05 »
I have been using the app for a very long time. I upgraded the os on my phone to get this new version. There are good bit and bad bits withthe new version.
I really like it when I am at home on wifi but find it really slow when out and about. Most of the time the coverage where I am is Edge or less (the little circle) and it takes an age to load.
I was hoping the DLs and $$s this month would make a reappearance preferably as well as the last 30 days.
Having separate screens for DLs and uploads was useful. Now I have to load the main screen and then load the DLs or uploads in addition if I want to show someone else (without showing them how much money I have).
I don't really understand the balance notification alert. You have to manually refresh the app to get the total before it alarms. This is only useful if you have no short term memory and can't remember what you want to hit.
The box at the bottom is very small for view the daily stats and now requires a lot of scrolling.
I haven't seen any adverts on mine yet and could you confirm that I want as I paid for previous version.
16
« on: November 30, 2011, 09:11 »
Ok now the real answers 1. Find out if it is possible to do a roll back to the working site. If it is see what functionallity will be lost and make a decision from there. 2. Find out whether the site problems are skill related to the team working on it or technology related. If it is the former see if it is feesable to add more people to the team to get a stable site. If it is the latter bite the bullet and buy some hard drives in spite of the Thai flood hard drive price hike 3. Employ someone to make sure this crap never happens again.
17
« on: November 30, 2011, 09:02 »
1. Divert all payments to my personally account while no one can see what is going on.
2. Transfer money to Swiss Account
3. Move to a country without an extradition treaty to either the US or UK.
18
« on: November 29, 2011, 17:32 »
now you've all got me convinced this is a harbinger to monthly reporting. I certainly hope it isn't. the live stats debacle is still fresh enough in my mind and it did in fact finish off the era of live stats, which never returned.
It would be a brilliant move by istock to reduce stats to a monthly report. Most of the ill will they're seeing from contributors is based on falling earnings. Monthly stats would make it harder to closely monitor the ongoing decline.
Ugh! Don't give them any ideas! 
I think it may be their nasty plan. 'Woo yay f5 everyone, we are now in-line with our Getty big brother, woo yay'. And then when would we realise we are getting base royalties, 6 weeks after the event.
19
« on: November 29, 2011, 17:16 »
If I remember correctly, live sales reporting (as in instant updates to the stats page) did not break, it was discontinued because it consumed too many resources. That was a long, long time ago.
That is what I heard. I wonder how much resource is being used by people continually refreshing to try and get their latest downloads. Haven't sites been crashed by f5ing in the past?
20
« on: November 29, 2011, 07:29 »
I'm exclusive and I have put some fines over there. It is not really working for me and has gone down in the last month which I would imagine is because they have forced the indies to go over to it.
21
« on: November 24, 2011, 07:48 »
One thing to remember when thinking of dropping exclusivity is model releases. Some of my friends dropped exclusivity and their istock model releases weren't honoured by other site. This would cause me a major headache if I was to go independent.
22
« on: September 11, 2010, 19:12 »
I think Vetta will become a lot more important. The ones in the Vetta club will do well, the ones who aren't will have to struggle on.
Is that the same "Vetta Club" that is taking something like a 10% cut in royalties?
Prices are going up though, and many will have access to The Agency. Financially they'll be better off, and will accept that. They don't really have much choice.
Yes it is the same club. But it is also the club which gets a massive best match boost and a lot of redeemed credits per sale.
23
« on: September 11, 2010, 18:22 »
I think Vetta will become a lot more important. The ones in the Vetta club will do well, the ones who aren't will have to struggle on.
24
« on: December 10, 2009, 20:15 »
iStock get a minimum of 60% gross profit and say it is unsustainable, what a joke. The worse thing is there is nothing contributors can do without hurting themselves more than iStock.
25
« on: September 24, 2009, 03:28 »
Which is exactly what stock photography/illustration is.
I think the difference is that they were discussing having to modify the logo files for the buyers. I'm not sure what they will eventually decide on, but the beauty of stock is that you don't have to make changes or deal with clients.
I would be happy to deal with clients. You get to sell them a load more stuff. At the moment I produce stock photos and don't know if they will sell or not.
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