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Messages - Lee Torrens
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26
« on: January 07, 2011, 23:45 »
glad to see Lee hasn't been sleeping like microstockdiaries has.
Lots of interesting stuff in there, thanks for posting.
Can't believe I missed this thread. Thanks everybody for the kind feedback. I thought John did an awesome job with the questions. Some let me vent - which I obviously love - and others forced me to get my view clear on the topic, which is always helpful. I enjoyed that interview more than any others I've done, and obviously it's a massive honor to be there alongside so many industry greats in John's interview series. Yes, Microstock Diaries was neglected for the last few months (maybe more) of 2010 while I worked on a separate project. It was something I needed to get finished and it wasn't getting there while blogging and traveling, so I had to knuckle down. The product of the project isn't for microstock contributors, so I didn't promote it on my blog or here, which is why it seems like I've been sleeping too. Anyway, I'm back to blogging now with lots of interesting stuff lined up for 2011. My topic theme for January is 'distribution'.
27
« on: January 04, 2011, 14:55 »
There's lots of sharks in this industry but Vita (zager) is not one of them. I've spent time with him in person and had many long email discussions over the past two years. It's understandable given what's happened recently, but it's also unfortunate that someone with honorable intentions is treated with such suspicion, especially when there are others in this industry that deserve more suspicion than they get.
Pixmac may not be a good fit for you. I wrote a review that concluded that it's probably not in the best interests of most contributors to submit there (although that was before the recent commission changes). But if it carries any weight for you, I vouch for Vita.
And just for the record, I think this "fair" stuff is pure BS, and Vita knows that, but he seems to have more empathy for us contributors than I do.
28
« on: November 04, 2010, 23:17 »
Ann, thanks (again) for your writeup of the seminar, and for the photos. And, of course, for attending! Great to see you there again. The reason there was only one stock session this year is that the stock 'track' was poorly attended last year, so they contracted it down. Just supply and demand. Though I did notice that the expo floor was about half the size of the last year I went (2008) and the seminars were considerably more empty too. People were saying that it was the economy, which was certainly a factor, though stock isn't the only branch of photography being affected by massive changes in technology. I wasn't there in 2009 (that was when my daughter was born) but I was on that session with Kelly Cline, Andres and Yuri in 2008, and the previous one in 2007 with Kelly Thompson, Ellen and Adam Brotman (Corbis/SnapVillage). There were a few jabs about microstock both times from displaced traditional stock photographers, but the attitude overall was very positive. It's interesting for me to hear that it was different in 2009. Incidentally, I find the atmosphere toward microstock much more hostile at CEPIC and PACA events - which is understandable. PhotoPlus Expo is much more about tech than business. Maybe that's why. Also, the reason I put "stock" rather than "microstock" in the title was because the speakers (excluding me as moderator) all had experience in traditional stock. Obviously Ellen and Jonathan also had experience in microstock as well, but the point was to make it clear we were covering all branches of stock. We actually spent quite a bit of time discussing the differences and how to maximize effectiveness in each one. If anyone is interested, the presentation is online here. We spent a good 30 minutes dissecting top selling traditional and microstock photos (I loved that part!) but they're not included in the presentation. The photo on the opening slide is a tribute to Andres (it's his shot) who was scheduled to be there but couldn't make it due to issues beyond his control. As for next year, we all had a very positive experience this year, so we'll be hoping to come back next year too. The feedback forms I read were all very positive (I read about 50%) but I'm not sure if there were enough attendees to justify another session next year. The official count was 72. We'll see.
29
« on: September 20, 2010, 11:34 »
The ads are most likely served to specific geographic regions. If you can't see them Holgs, then they're not showing them in Thailand. I can't see them here in Argentina either.
30
« on: September 20, 2010, 11:17 »
Looking at the poll results so far, 16 to 2 in favor of selling anonymous, combined stats, we're thinking we'll go that way.
However, we value the participation of everyone, including those who aren't comfortable with their stats being combined and anonymously sold to fund development. Given that, we are looking into making the participation optional so those who contribute their data get access to the new functions.
This will compromise the value of the data, but at least it will allow us to move forward with the project without upsetting anyone. Then in the future we can look at opening up the new functionality to everyone, once it has been fully funded.
We'll look into the development costs of all this and let everyone know what's possible.
Please also keep in mind that the service enables you to be fully anonymous, and that the sold statistics will always be combined (no data of any individual account) and totally anonymous (no usernames included).
31
« on: September 20, 2010, 11:07 »
Bump.
I think the initiative for microstockcharts.com should be rewarded and expanded. With a newsletter and a post on MSG, how come only 13 people out of 450+ users so far have responded?
I suspect with so little functionality most people are 'invested' in the tool yet. It's still a disappointingly low response, but thanks for your vote and the bump. if i have to pay, i guess i will just use excel files..neither i feel comfortable to have my statistic sold for a chart service like that.. unless the upgraded version gave more analysis tool to user like lookstats
That's exactly the purpose of these options - to finance the building of new features. Our hope is that the new features will be useful enough that you'll feel comfortable contributing your stats anonymously, or paying. I support the concept behind microstockcharts, but I was hoping those contributing the stats would get to see some aggregate data, rather than have it sold. I think providing this information will massively increase the traffic and advertising potential.
The second new feature we would provide will be the benchmarking, so those contributing the stats would definitely get to see some of the aggregate data. The first is the data backup facility - taken from the votes in the feedback forum: http://microstockcharts.uservoice.comIt's true that providing these features will increase traffic and subsequently the advertising potential, but that's revenue coming after expense. We were hoping to do it the other way around with these options.
32
« on: September 16, 2010, 15:53 »
Thanks to you, our 450+ registered users, the Microstock Charts project is going great so far. What's not going so great is our plan to build new features while maintaining the service for free. We have two great advertisers who are giving us great financial support - thankyou to BigStock and CandyBox Photography. But it's not enough. We want to earn enough to pay for the new features as quickly as possible, but so far we haven't even earned enough to pay for the initial build of the system. So, while the current site is in no danger of being discontinued, we're looking at two changes to fund version 2 and all the great featured you've suggested: Option 1 - Charge for the ServiceMaking Microstock Charts free for you, the end users, has been part of our planned business model from the start. We'd really prefer not to have to charge, though we realize this is often what it takes to keep projects like this moving forward and increasing their usefulness. Option 2 - Sell Anonymous and Combined StatisticsWe've had expressions of interest from some agencies and industry people about getting access to the statistics behind Microstock Charts. As we've made very clear on the home page, the Terms & Conditions page, and the About page, we've build this system so it can be completely anonymous for you, the end user. Besides that, we would never sell or publish or reveal in any way the data without first combining it and making it 100% anonymous. And finally, if we do decide to sell anonymous and combined data, we would emphasize the data of the Trusted Accounts, which is only a small portion of the total user base. But this is another option we're considering. Tell us What You Think We've setup a this poll and thread to get your feedback on these two ideas. Of course if you have a different idea, we're open to suggestions. Thanks, Lee & Amos
33
« on: September 01, 2010, 14:47 »
Many agencies, probably most of them, submit to all other agencies to stay familiar with their competitors' websites and compare the sales performance. It's not above board, but it's widely practiced. Some agencies even have staff who are inspectors at other agencies.
34
« on: June 06, 2010, 06:51 »
Have fun there tonight guys. See you tomorrow.
Tyler, I'm with you on the idea of canceling the shoots if it's raining.
35
« on: June 01, 2010, 09:23 »
You can view it in Firefox if you don't want to use IE8.
its so hard to teach an old dog new tricks . . . . but doesn't this limit the client base a tad?
I used to be a web developer and I offered my clients an 80% discount if I could block IE7 and earlier on their site.
36
« on: June 01, 2010, 09:16 »
I'm with Sean on this one (again). There's nothing new or different to attract buyers, as I said at the bottom of my review. Let's hope that Peter can put his knowledge from marketing StockXpert and his money from selling StockXpert to effective use.
Given they take hard drives and DVD submission, uploading can be a very cheap task. In that regard, with the high commissions, there's little downside for contributors. High commissions don't mean much without sales, but when submission is that easy it doesn't take many sales to recoup the postage costs and an hour of packaging time.
37
« on: June 01, 2010, 07:49 »
I interpreted it as you did...that currently the referral fees are coming out of DT's share, but in the future all fees will be deducted before royalties are paid. Which means a smaller cut for contributors. They don't really define what at some point means.
That's what I was afraid of. This is not positive news unless there is some sweetener that will be added when the new royalty scheme is unveiled.
As I understand it, this is how it works in the traditional part of the industry. When there are multiple levels of distribution, the commissions add up and the contributor can be left with a tiny fraction of the original sale price, even though they're still getting the same percentage they signed up for with their agency. This is something I personally like about microstock compared to the traditional market and I expect I'm not alone. While photos are in oversupply, I don't expect we'll be hanging on to all of our benefits, but I certainly won't be supporting such a move. I would expect this type of move from iStock (via Getty's hand) long before Dreamstime.
38
« on: June 01, 2010, 07:41 »
Well it will be certainly interesting to see how they do. They have proven themselves before but it is considerably harder to get in the game now. Thanks for the link and info Lee. I just jumped over here to post the news and a link to your blog and you beat me to it 
I figure it's time to stop being shy. 
39
« on: June 01, 2010, 07:15 »
Launched today: http://www.stockfresh.comThey gave me a lot of notice, but I was still rushed in putting together a quick review: http://www.microstockdiaries.com/stockfresh.htmlHighlights if you're not into reading too much: - 50% commission, can rise to 62.5% - 35c subscription credits, and subscriptions are limited to Medium size and below - Upload process is smooth and smart, model release management, FTP, IPTC, all that you'd expect - Nothing overly new on the buyer side yet
40
« on: May 23, 2010, 04:29 »
Hmmm.... I'm about to switch from Nikon to Canon and Tyler has been giving me some great advice and food for thought on lenses. What an awesome way to find out what everyone else things, and fast! Thanks for posting this thread Tyler.
Tyler has been trying to talk me out of starting with the 85mm 1.2L prime as my first Canon lens, and it wasn't difficult for him to convince me that this lens alone would be quite limiting. Both he and Andres cite the 70-200 2.8 as their favorite lens for shooting stock (that's right, right Tyler?) so I had added that to my mental shopping cart, but now Tyler is suggesting the 24-70 2.8 would provide more flexibility than not having anything under 70. I'd pretty much resolved to follow that advice, and now I get everyone speaking highly about the 24-105 4L. Decisions, decisions...
As someone who's new to this photography thing, I'm trying to understand why the 24-105 is cheaper than the 24-70. For reference, B&H have them at $1059 and $1309 respectively. Does the wider 2.8 only make a difference if you're shooting low light or want a razor thin DOF? Does a wider aperture generally indicate higher lens quality?
41
« on: May 21, 2010, 00:51 »
Ok, so Tyler, Holgs, Opla, Micheal and myself. Hmm... there's something familiar about that lineup! Paha_L and Mikhail, you'll have to excuse the in-jokes about swimming for reflectors. I had intentions of playing a more active role in sourcing models, but Tyler has generously agreed to pick up the slack. I propose we all buy Tyler a pint of Guinness after the shoot to express our gratitude! ...sorry, another in-joke. Looks like we're getting a healthy crowd together for this one. Andres is also currently booked to be there in time for the shoot, but there's a high chance he'll have to change his plans and arrive the day after. I'll keep you all posted. Regarding hotels, the Burlington isn't too far from the city center. It's either a healthy walk or a cheap taxi ride. We haven't planned locations yet anyway, so I wouldn't hold off booking a hotel just to be close to the shoot. Holgs, it's my understanding that hotels and flights are cheapest when you book well in advance, then get more expensive closer to the date, then drop down at the last minute if there's still availability. As the professional traveler, I'll take your advice if you tell me otherwise, but isn't it better to book as far in advance as you can? I seem to be on a roll convincing people to attend events, raise ad rates and go exclusive lately, so I'm now going to focus my attention on having you (Holgs) put 190 towards the conference. Given your income is about to shoot to a new level, I think it's an easy investment. Ok, I'll stop with the in-jokes now, I promise. Nobody else is reading this thread anyway, right?
42
« on: April 03, 2010, 22:22 »
i've always been skeptic about workshops : why someone would teach you his secrets instead of being in the field shooting
more photos ?
Those who can't do, "teach" (or blog).
Completely agree, and thanks for separating "teach *or* blog". Not all blogs pretend to teach.
43
« on: April 03, 2010, 15:59 »
Don't drag Lee through the mud, he's not aware of this.
Christian, you rock.
44
« on: April 02, 2010, 12:51 »
We figured there would be more competition for activities on the 8th<...>
I wonder what will be the activities on the 8th - perhaps I could join some...
There's nothing specific that I know of yet but people tend to organize business meetings for the day prior. If I hear of anything open I'll be sure to post it here.
45
« on: April 02, 2010, 12:48 »
Hi Lee,
I'm there as you know, and if it doesn't conflict with business I would be super excited to join in the fun. Let me know the schedule as soon as it's set. Look forward to seeing you there.
Best,
Jonathan
Awesome! We'd be delighted to have you partake. I'll keep you updated.
46
« on: March 30, 2010, 23:50 »
Are you guys buying tickets to the awards ceremony as well or just the photographers program?
http://www.worldphotographyawards.org/festival/default.aspx
I bought for both. The awards ceremony is Black Tie, but given it's Cannes I'm sure tux' rental is not an issue.
47
« on: March 30, 2010, 12:29 »
Just noticed the GTG is on tuesday while the 'lypse ends on sunday, any particular reason for that?
Yes, to put some space between the late night parties of the weekend and the shoot. It'll also be easier if we end up shooting in Nice instead of Cannes or need preparation. The fact that it extends our stay in this beautiful part of the world may also have been a factor. The date is not locked in, so feel free to make a case to have it on the Monday. I don't think exclusives will get in trouble as iStock lets non-exclusives participate in their shoots.
It's more a matter of having exclusive contributors upload photos that are similar (same shoot) to photos that other photographers upload to other agencies. That defeats the purpose of exclusivity, so it's not cool with iStock. If iStock exclusives want to participate in this shoot they're as welcome as anyone else, but they need to be aware of this issue.
48
« on: March 30, 2010, 00:57 »
Will appreciate if you share your experience/learnings about that shoot after it will be completed. I can't join you but I will be in that area in the summer...
The site http://en.book.fr seems to be helpful for French models (though I didn't use it myself).
Awesome tip Mikhail, thanks!
49
« on: March 30, 2010, 00:46 »
any chance to do it on the 8th ?
We figured there would be more competition for activities on the 8th, plus I'll need to spend some time at the venue on the day prior. Any chance you can change your flight date? Surely the extra revenue will quickly cover the fee to change flight dates. ..and hotel reservation.
50
« on: March 26, 2010, 17:22 »
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