As a former Getty-iStock employee who was also let go in July (after doing GREAT work there), I can only say there is a much better door open for these people. I'm now at Shutterstock, and we're hiring like crazy. So we'd love to hear from talented people who have much to contribute in this industry. All my best to the 30 iStock people at this time of transition. I know from personal experience that it can be scary for you (and those close to you) right now, but it may get a lot better as it did for me.

That's great to hear!  congrats on your new-found position at SS!  Thanks for sharing that info here.

Quote from: gostwyck on January 18, 2012, 06:01

Slightly off-topic but some customer just tweeted that they're unable to buy credits;

"@shayniebelles
Shayniebelles @iStock hi, i've been tryin to buy credits (50) from your web for a couple of days now but no avail. system is not accepting it. pls help"

Their system is trying to tell this guy something.  "Shop elsewhere". 

I already tweeted a reply to her and told her to try other options like dreamstime, shutterstock, etc... I listed about 5 others. 

Were inspectors affected by the layoff?  I just got the looniest rejection I've ever received.  I've been rejected for keywords before in cases where I was reaching somewhat for the concept implied by the shot, but this is the first time that keywords were rejected for things which are blatantly, obviously visible in the image: "house", "tree" and stuff like that.

I doubt it.  Inspectors are more like contract workers and not direct employees.

Quote from: gostwyck on January 18, 2012, 12:42

Quote from: SNP on January 18, 2012, 12:16

makes me sad. I have truly loved iStockphoto as it was.

"I have truly loved" ? Do me a favour. It was supposed to be your agency and you should have maintained a business relationship with them.

There's what you were supposed to be doing and what you actually do. I completely get the emotional attachment - and I was never a pom-pom carrier.

I think that at its very best, a successful business, particularly one that is changing how things are done, is a very exciting and engaging thing. On top of which there are a number of really wonderful contributors who were active participants in the supplier side of the community. I don't think that was illusory, even though it is now largely gone (wholly gone for me and the forums are  heading for ghost towns compared to what they once were).

Call me foolish (and Douglas Freer suggested I was in need of psychiatric counseling for going exclusive!) but I was at one time very engaged with being part of the business and its growth and success. It felt like a partnership. Perhaps I just saw what I wanted to see. At any rate, I get the attachment thing (wouldn't have called it love, but that's just a quibble).

couldn't agree more with this sentiment.  I truly felt that it was a strong partnership at one time.  Until they basically thumbed their noses at all of us starting with the canister change fiasco.

According to Manta.com they have (had) 116 employees.  That data might be questionable since they say that iStockphoto, LP was established in 2008 - but then that could be when they organized under the "LP" status?  director is listed as Kelly Thompson.

Manta also lists iStockphoto Ulc at the same address with 50 employees - director there is listed as Darren Brown.  I'm not familiar with Canadian business structures to not sure what Ulc is, but I"m guessing someone here may know?

But I'd say it's still pretty close.  I wonder what effect this has on the other offices outside of Canada - like Germany?  didn't they open an office there?  and I thought another one somewhere too?  

Thanks.  I thought i was searching wrong. I was rushed

I think someone at iStock must be reading this thread. They have disabled displaying monthly stats so we can't do any more screen grabs to post here.

haha.. I think you give them too much credit.
It was taking a long time to load for me earlier so probably it's just the general site issues that were being reported earlier.

Quote from: jamirae on January 15, 2012, 22:25

Quote from: luissantos84 on January 14, 2012, 19:38

Quote from: Batman on January 14, 2012, 19:13

How do I see where they sold if it was photos.com thinkstock or some other partner. Don't they tell us?

Quote from: Karimala on January 10, 2012, 15:40

You can also see how individual images are performing on TS and Photos.com under My Uploads by clicking one of the three DL links and then clinking the Partner Program link in the list of various types of sales.  

I must be dense.  are you saying I can see the sales from TS and Photos.com individually?  I only see a download page with total PP downloads for each image.  

Don't worry...it's not you.    There's just too many places to view our stats.

Go to My Uploads where regular sales are listed.  Don't go to the Partner Program page listed in the left column.  That page only shows the overall sales, but in order to see individual sales, you have to enter through the regular sales page on My Uploads.  Click on either Royalties, DLs/mo, or DLs for a particular image.  There you will see the list of all your regular sales.  Along the top of the list, there's a row of links to various types of sales (EL, PP, Old Credits), and at the end is a link called Partner Program.  Click on it, and that's where you can see each individual sale for a particular image.  

oh.. that's dumb.  I have to do it image by image.  what a pain!  Jakob Nielsen (father of "Designing Web USability") would be proud -- NOT!

Quote from: jamirae on January 13, 2012, 14:07

oh.. and now I see the finally came out with the new minilypse program that they told me they were working on back in 2007: http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=339193&page=1

so apparently now they offer funding and even more assistance.

I read over all the information about the 'new' minilypse program a few days ago. Frankly, I didn't see how much different it is from the old program except perhaps to try to add some visibility to an almost dead program by starting a "sis - boom - bah" thread. Nobody had announced any new minilypses in months except for the two super-minilypses iStock themselves put on. There wasn't even a 2011 Toronto or a 2011 RedRock minilypse two events that had been held annually for years. I guess the cheerleading worked. Since the January 5 announcement three new lypses have been proposed (Switzerland, Sacramento & Minneapolis) and interest has been revived in two others (Orlando & South Africa).

In particular, I didn't see where they offered any financial assistance. Basically all they ever did was offer swag in return for exclusive photos. That doesn't appear to have changed.

Or did I miss something?

actually the Sacramento one has been in early planning stages for a few months now - I only know this because I know the organizers and they contacted me offline regarding some of the details on running a 'lypse. 

and they do offer financial support.. under the "What's in it for me" heading - I bolded the part about financial support:

What you (the Organizer of a Minilypse) get:
- Step-by-Step guidance including access to planning resources including a Organizer's Guidebook with all sorts of papers and checklists and stuff like that.
- Access to technical and logistical resources at HQ to help plan
- Lighting and technical suggestions, setup diagrams and resources
- Creative briefs and regionally relevant shooting concepts
- Financial support to help cover event costs (hiring models, equipment rentals, facilities costs). This is based on the size of your event and the current state of our sponsorship budget.
- Custom suggestions for improving your event; such as potentially including workshops, live inspections or lighting discussions
- Glory and bragging rights when it's all done with

and I might add that none of those other things were offered previously (except maybe the last one)

Great info on lypses Jami.  For the ones where they provide all that assistance and swag it makes sense to insist on exclusivity.  For the more recent ones where they didn't provide any assistance it seems a lot to ask. 

true, but most attendees are exclusive anyway.  back when I was attending these I didn't think twice about it because I always expected to be exclusive there.  My how things have changed.

Quote from: traveler1116 on January 12, 2012, 18:26

They are different things but for the minilypses IS doesn't charge, the organizers (contributors) put a price on them to cover costs of studio space, models, muas, etc..  The regular lypses are sometimes free I think although the one I went to in London was not free.  I only attended one of the minilypses but other than t-shirts I'm not sure what part IS played in it, unless they offer more than that I won't be attending a minilypse especially when you can do the same thing by just meeting up with a few people and do it on your own if you want.

Thanks for the clarification.  Makes sense.

okay.. for those who've never been involved in a minilypse, thought I'd add a bit more details based on my own experience.  I have helped organized 5 or 6 of them, one of which I was the lead organizer.  For each one istock supplied "swag" which varied, but included things like t-shirts, lanyards, mousepads, and a handy lens cleaning cloth (the one thing I still use all the time ).  The first one was in 2006 (Desert'lypse in Phoenix) and iStock provided some funding along with the swag.  We didn't have official minilypse forms back then (model releases and photographer release form) from what I recall as the program was still early in its infancy.  The lead organizer was Emyerson (Ethan - now an istock admin and moderator, but he wasn't all that back then ). The next year I helped out with RedRock 1 in Utah and they also got some funding from iStock to help with fees (location fees, paying models, etc).  We also paid to attend as well.  oh, and iStock now had some streamlined forms - releases- for us to use that helped out a lot.

Then in the fall of 2007 I organized the 2nd Desert'lypse in Phoenix.  When I contacted iStock about financial assistance and sponsoring the event, they told me that they were no longer funding minilypses but would be coming out with a whole new program for these events.  However, because I had contacted them at the beginning of the year when I was planning the event and they said they would provide funding, I did end up getting a small amount that helped to pay for the costs involved.  Attendees also paid but I think i ended up shilling out an additional $300 out of my pocket to cover models and location costs.  

So as far as I know iStock may still provide some swag, but the last one I attended in November 2010, I dont think we got much (if any) swag from iStock and I dont think there was any funding provided from them either.  We created our own t-shirts through Cafepress for most of the ones I helped with.  Really, all the work is done by the organizers - all photographers/contributors and iStock makes it easy with the forms and quick approval of the releases.  

I would say that those events were all worth it to me, i learned a lot and most importantly got to know so many other stock contributors to share ideas with and just chat.  Now, though, I have a shooting buddy here in town and we get together about once a quarter and plan a shoot with models and a specific theme/location.  it's about the same as a half day at a minilypse but less photographers and the chaos involved with such a big event.  

what an arse.  You know even if he believes it will just turn into a rant a good moderator would be more polite and say something like "we don't have any plans to do that at this time, but things could always change.  I'll pass on your request to the higher-ups and perhaps a generic statement about upcoming plans for istock can be made.  For now I'm going to lock this thread to avoid a mass amount of speculation, both positive and negative." 

really... something like that provides a response with a non-answer answer, yes, but at least it doesnt say "you're an idiot and just trying to stir up trouble because that's what everyone does so I'm locking this now" 

really, iStock, hire someone with class and get rid of that assclown known as lobo.

wow!  big step but I know you'll be successful!