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Messages - grsphoto
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426
« on: February 04, 2013, 13:16 »
This again!  A few points which come up every time this comes up which is most months ...
- What country is your co-op going to be based given that all different countries have all different rules around the way in which co-ops can be formed or incorporate including many different rules about stock holdings ? Different rules about what even is a co-op.
- Most co-ops involve profit sharing.
- RF stock is about having thousands of contributors. Thousands of people could never practically reach agreement over the sort of issues which running a co-op would demand. Photographers are notoriously bad at getting along with each other in business.
- A manageably sized co-op would need to make distribution deals with Getty. Boutique collections can be great. They already exist.
- Huge resources are needed (millions $) annually to operate the sort of site which would get traffic adequate to compete as a standalone RF site. Even a small site is going to need to spend a significant amount on international accounting, legal fees, security, merchant services etc
- Most people would rather take photos than run an agency. It would be like wanting to be a farmer and ending up running a supermarket.
The change, if change comes which I doubt, will be about smaller groups working together by using common platforms to present a united front end. Some have postulated an Open Source platform. I doubt that the economics make this a viable Open Source project.
The co-op can be anywhere... Panama or some other tax haven, since it really doesn't have to be anywhere... As for shear numbers... if a democracy like the USA can work then I am sure we can work with the numbers needed here. The trick would be to hire professionals to run the orgainization, not to run it ourselves... we set the guidelines and set it in motion. And as for farmers running a supermarket...I am looking at farmers co-ops as an example... some of the bigfood distrubtion companies are farmers co-ops. Since it has been suggested before, then it might be really worth exploring. Otherwise we will be at the mercy of the Gettys of the world.
427
« on: February 04, 2013, 12:04 »
I have been reading a lot of the forums and started thinking about how to improve our lives as Micro Stock Submitters. The only answer I could come up with is a Co-op, type agency. This is how I see it working. Submitters have to be a member of the Co-op. To be a member you need to buy at least one share ( $50? a share) Commission would be set by the members ( 40%? ) and dividends paid based on shares. Dividends would NOT be a proirity, with most of the funds being re-invested into marketing, technology, marketing, search optiimization and marketing. There would be no "reviewers" but paid photo editors. All images will be accepted, but rated and "placed" by the editors Image submission will be charged per image submitted ( .01? .10?) to pay for the editors Your will work with the same editor for all submissions unless you ask for a change, so you can converse with them. For this to work buyers are needed, so the systems have to set up to make it easy for them, which may mean strict controlled vocabulary, and  Anyone interested in pursuing this? Glenn --- admin edit: edited the title to be more descriptive.
428
« on: January 31, 2013, 21:58 »
Thanks for all the comments, they make me think and it is helping me refine my approach.
Just as a bit of defense about my actions, I am not throwing any old file at SS, my Hardrives that I have with me have about 150,000 images.
According to my ( incomplete) records I have submitted about 204 images... and 20 of these were rejected multiple times due to my stupidity in figuring out the rules for editorial.
I am capable of creating great "handshake" photographs in studio to look like the many other "handshake" photos on all the sites.... but I am looking for the niche that i can slide into.
One niche I was exploring fell flat... images didn't get past the gatekeepers. Another unexpected niche has appeared and is selling that I would not have known about if I hadn't tried different image.
if you search SS for user grsphoto you can see what has been accepted ( I don't think I can show you what has been rejected.)
429
« on: January 30, 2013, 14:00 »
The days of mining a hard drive are over. Shoot for stock. Dont mine your harddrive looking for crapstock. With a 25% acceptance at SS you are perfect for DP and CanStockPhoto.
To get any significant income you need to get a much higher acceptance rate. 25% is terribly low.
Start creating stock images, stop scraping your HD
But before you shoot for stock you have to know what is acceptable and what sells. By mining my hard drive I have learned that, at no expense. And some of the images that have been accepted and selling would cost a lot to reshoot. I agree that my ratio is low, and it will have to increase for my income to increase, but I think I am in a much better position to shoot then I was when I started ( a little over 2 months ago)
430
« on: January 30, 2013, 08:44 »
25% acceptance is awfully low. I looked back at my early months at Shutterstock (mid-2005) and see that I was running between 75 and 100% acceptance. <snip>
I am not too worried about my acceptance rate... yet. I am still trying to figure out what works at different agencies, and I am still mining my hard drives. It took me a few tries to figure out what they really want for Editorial. A lot of my rejections ( besides Editorial) are for lighting. I really like shadows in images. SS doesn't seem to like them. Once I start shooting for stock, and invest in models and props, then I want to have a clear idea of what, technically, is acceptable. Glenn
431
« on: January 29, 2013, 22:11 »
Does SS care about what my acceptance ratio is? ( Right now it is about 25%)
Is there any penalty for this?
Is resubmitting ( after fixing) worthwhile? Should I flag resubmissions or just slide them in?
Thanks
Glenn
432
« on: January 26, 2013, 20:41 »
Cool Idea.
Question.... Why wordpress? there are some open source galleries ( Gallery 3) that would just need a decent payment moduale?
433
« on: January 24, 2013, 09:13 »
You didn't dare to have a shadow on your pics did you?
That's my problem!!!! thanks for pointing it out.
434
« on: January 24, 2013, 09:08 »
What I like about the istock release is, it is in multiple languages. I am thinking of using it and keeping the logo on top for submission to all agencies
435
« on: January 23, 2013, 13:56 »
Does anyone have a boilerplate end user license available?
Thought of approaching a lawyer about this, but trying to find an english speaking one who understands IP in this part of the world would be very difficult.
436
« on: January 23, 2013, 12:23 »
Focus is fixed... now it is poor lighting....  Just had a batch rejected for poor lighting.... oh well
437
« on: January 19, 2013, 12:26 »
<snip>
You don't meet our standards for rights, commissions, and treatment or you don't get any photos or images. Nice big carrot. 
<snip>
Why would I, as a contributor, join... or more to the point why would I as Shutter Stock care....unless you have a major portion of contributors on side you are doomed to failure. I would like to see some type of organization but it has to serve a purpose... Glenn
438
« on: January 18, 2013, 21:55 »
The union or Artists Coalition (Micro Stock Artists Coalition...MSAC) is an interesting idea, but it can't be set up just as a group who welds a stick.
There has to be some reason for agencies, contributors and buyers to want to join in.... you need a big carrot.
I can't figure out what carrot would be big enough to get enough people to want to join in.
439
« on: January 18, 2013, 12:19 »
I am not sure of their numbers level...but I am sure that my 100 gets me less respect.... which isn't a problem for me. I KNOW I have to "pay my dues".
What I like about this is they are up front and truthful. Which makes me think that other sites do this as well.... they just don't mention it.
I know if I ran a site I would help the 2000 image person over the 20 image person.
440
« on: January 18, 2013, 12:14 »
In order to make sales your images have to be seen.
In order to be seen they have to show up in the search results of the sites.
What can you do to improve your ranking in the search results? Keywords are an obvious answer, but are there other things that can improve your profile?
Glenn
441
« on: January 18, 2013, 12:03 »
At least they are truthful about their inspection process...
Alternatively, you could provide us links to your portfolio at other stock sites. The larger your portfolio at other sites, the higher your rating will be on our site. A high rating at our site grants certain privileges, including: the option to participate in the Promotion Program; quicker approval of your files; greater respect from our inspectors; individualized help uploading files at our site; higher search result positions, and many others.
As a newbie I know with this company I will be at a disadvantage over seasoned Pros....
442
« on: January 15, 2013, 12:59 »
I have been looking around for a solution to sell my own stock One option I found was Picsell http://vm.xmlswf.com/picsellIt will take a bit of work to get it working... anyone using it? First downside I noticed is the lack of keywording in the search...
443
« on: January 11, 2013, 08:31 »
I think that going through the Canadian Legal system would be expensive, with a low chance of any real action.
I think A social media campaign, combined with take down notices to iStock customers would be the most effective, and likely to gain the most traction.
444
« on: January 10, 2013, 13:44 »
<snip>The big question will be on understanding the needs of the buyers<snip>
Tom
Thanks for the welcome Tom I was hoping that the review process would help me learn to focus on the buyers needs... getting my images critiqued by "professionals" would help me grow..... This fallacy lasted about a week......  Glenn
445
« on: January 10, 2013, 13:21 »
<snip>Firstly, royalties earned but not paid out are never profit. They are liabilities and thus are listed on that side of the balance sheet. The money is not owned by the agency but is simply a debt yet to be paid.
<snip>
On a balance sheet it may be listed as a Liability, but in any business cash flow is king, and having a large liability helps you avoid having a profit.... on which you have to pay tax. Not a bad situation at all. I don't think iStock and the other biggies works on this model, but other sites? I don't know. This is just musing while I wait for uploads... Glenn
446
« on: January 10, 2013, 12:39 »
I have been at this for about 5 weeks, have about 100 + images on the submit anything sites, about 25 on iStock and have made about $2 in sales. A real newbie.
I am not a newbie when it comes to photography, having made a living from it ( on and off) for 10+ years.
Here are some thoughts ( if anyone cares.)
I see complaints on this forum about the sites not being interested in treating their contributors properly. Thinking about this a bit, my answer is, Why should they?
They get new contributors and images every minute. I am sure some bean counter has pointed out that they make more money if the large experienced contributors don't get any payouts. The newbies usually don't have a large enough or deep enough collection to get a payout for months or years, by which point they have moved on to something else and don't really care....what a great way to make a profit, the material you sell you get for free.
What I think has to happen is some way to make experienced contributors more valuable to the sites than newbies.
What do you think? Am I talking out of my A$$ or am I close to being right.
Glenn
447
« on: January 09, 2013, 21:34 »
I was just sent an acceptance today..8 out of 10..... and I have already started to upload.
Glenn
448
« on: January 07, 2013, 13:12 »
And to add a complication, I need it in Latin American Spanish....
449
« on: January 06, 2013, 13:04 »
Hi
I have a couple of questions about release.
All the sites seem to have forms, but which is the best to use... ie simplest and least scary language? I don't want to scare off potential models with long complicated forms.
Also how do you upload the forms? I don't have a scanner, so is a photograph of the form OK?
Glenn
450
« on: January 05, 2013, 17:34 »
Just did a quick calculation... If I make a RPI of .10 at iStock, I would need 1000 images to make $100.
If I load my 18 images a week at my present 60% acceptance ratio... it would be 93 weeks before I was there....
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