Author Topic: What is happening to SS? (Read 29125 times)

JimP · « **Reply #50 on:** October 20, 2017, 11:04 »

Your friends gave up travel and hooked up with the dying and flooded news area. Doesn't sound very smart. Every time another magazine or newspaper goes under, more experienced people from the top, are looking for work. You talk about trads and forget that news photographers have been out of work since the 70s. 35mm and SLRs brought much of that glut of qualified photographers into the market. We're just seeing much of the same with digital, and the world connected by computers.

derek · « **Reply #51 on:** October 20, 2017, 12:06 »

^ I am far from a travel photography but I should imagine that Travel is one of the most competitive fields of them all. There must be hundreds of thousands of amateurs and whatnots with a dslr or a compact running around on hollidays taking pictures.
A friend of my son went to south-america Machu-pichu and all that and came back with thousands of shots. He pulled over some shots on a CD and sold the lot to a huge PR agency!...must have been over 100 pics and sold it all for $100. He was only too pleased to get his name as a byeline.

Some wanabees are even getting into my own highly niched market which for many years I thought was totally impossible.

Quasarphoto · « **Reply #52 on:** October 20, 2017, 13:10 »

Quote from: derek on October 20, 2017, 12:06

^ I am far from a travel photography but I should imagine that Travel is one of the most competitive fields of them all. There must be hundreds of thousands of amateurs and whatnots with a dslr or a compact running around on hollidays taking pictures.
A friend of my son went to south-america Machu-pichu and all that and came back with thousands of shots. He pulled over some shots on a CD and sold the lot to a huge PR agency!...must have been over 100 pics and sold it all for $100. He was only too pleased to get his name as a byeline.

Some wanabees are even getting into my own highly niched market which for many years I thought was totally impossible.

It's the least competitive field. I wouldn't call travel photographer who went to few obvious places or all-inclusive resorts. Even in USA there are plenty of uncharted places. Look : Machu Pichu 15,000 potos, Slab City: 100 photos.

Mantis · « **Reply #53 on:** October 20, 2017, 18:22 »

Quote from: Quasarphoto on October 20, 2017, 13:10

Quote from: derek on October 20, 2017, 12:06
^ I am far from a travel photography but I should imagine that Travel is one of the most competitive fields of them all. There must be hundreds of thousands of amateurs and whatnots with a dslr or a compact running around on hollidays taking pictures.
A friend of my son went to south-america Machu-pichu and all that and came back with thousands of shots. He pulled over some shots on a CD and sold the lot to a huge PR agency!...must have been over 100 pics and sold it all for $100. He was only too pleased to get his name as a byeline.

Some wanabees are even getting into my own highly niched market which for many years I thought was totally impossible.
It's the least competitive field. I wouldn't call travel photographer who went to few obvious places or all-inclusive resorts. Even in USA there are plenty of uncharted places. Look : Machu Pichu 15,000 potos, Slab City: 100 photos.

And the demand is probably equally weighted.

Thomas from France · « **Reply #54 on:** October 21, 2017, 00:40 »

Quote from: Mantis on October 20, 2017, 18:22

Quote from: Quasarphoto on October 20, 2017, 13:10
Quote from: derek on October 20, 2017, 12:06
^ I am far from a travel photography but I should imagine that Travel is one of the most competitive fields of them all. There must be hundreds of thousands of amateurs and whatnots with a dslr or a compact running around on hollidays taking pictures.
A friend of my son went to south-america Machu-pichu and all that and came back with thousands of shots. He pulled over some shots on a CD and sold the lot to a huge PR agency!...must have been over 100 pics and sold it all for $100. He was only too pleased to get his name as a byeline.

Some wanabees are even getting into my own highly niched market which for many years I thought was totally impossible.
It's the least competitive field. I wouldn't call travel photographer who went to few obvious places or all-inclusive resorts. Even in USA there are plenty of uncharted places. Look : Machu Pichu 15,000 potos, Slab City: 100 photos.

And the demand is probably equally weighted.

Good point.

pancaketom · « **Reply #55 on:** October 21, 2017, 11:43 »

Quote from: Thomas from France on October 21, 2017, 00:40

Quote from: Mantis on October 20, 2017, 18:22
Quote from: Quasarphoto on October 20, 2017, 13:10
Quote from: derek on October 20, 2017, 12:06
^ I am far from a travel photography but I should imagine that Travel is one of the most competitive fields of them all. There must be hundreds of thousands of amateurs and whatnots with a dslr or a compact running around on hollidays taking pictures.
A friend of my son went to south-america Machu-pichu and all that and came back with thousands of shots. He pulled over some shots on a CD and sold the lot to a huge PR agency!...must have been over 100 pics and sold it all for $100. He was only too pleased to get his name as a byeline.

Some wanabees are even getting into my own highly niched market which for many years I thought was totally impossible.
It's the least competitive field. I wouldn't call travel photographer who went to few obvious places or all-inclusive resorts. Even in USA there are plenty of uncharted places. Look : Machu Pichu 15,000 potos, Slab City: 100 photos.

And the demand is probably equally weighted.

Good point.

It is also not entirely clear if you need a property release for Slab City or not or who you could get to sign one if you tried.

trek · « **Reply #56 on:** October 21, 2017, 15:33 »

Slab City is know for it's folk art and graffiti. Architecturally it's mostly old motorhomes on slabs. Releases from artists would be needed for commercial use of the art.

Desintegrator · « **Reply #57 on:** October 21, 2017, 21:34 »

Number of downloads is pretty low compared to the "good old times", but October is on the way for having record RPD.
Counting only photos it's $1.24 per download so far.
Together with the 17 video sales $1.66 per download.

Dumc · « **Reply #58 on:** October 22, 2017, 00:29 »

Yep, same here, 1,33 with video, 1,2 without video. So earnings are actually good, but number of downloads very poor.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #59 on:** October 30, 2017, 12:54 »

Quote from: Quasarphoto on October 20, 2017, 13:10

Quote from: derek on October 20, 2017, 12:06
^ I am far from a travel photography but I should imagine that Travel is one of the most competitive fields of them all. There must be hundreds of thousands of amateurs and whatnots with a dslr or a compact running around on hollidays taking pictures.
A friend of my son went to south-america Machu-pichu and all that and came back with thousands of shots. He pulled over some shots on a CD and sold the lot to a huge PR agency!...must have been over 100 pics and sold it all for $100. He was only too pleased to get his name as a byeline.

Some wanabees are even getting into my own highly niched market which for many years I thought was totally impossible.
It's the least competitive field. I wouldn't call travel photographer who went to few obvious places or all-inclusive resorts. Even in USA there are plenty of uncharted places. Look : Machu Pichu 15,000 potos, Slab City: 100 photos.

Galapagos Islands Stock Photos, Illustrations, and Vector Art (21,240)
Galapagos Stock Photos, Illustrations, and Vector Art (26,559)

Easter Island Stock Photos, Illustrations, and Vector Art (12,902)

Hebrides Stock Photos, Illustrations, and Vector Art (6,871)

Some pretty out of the way places, I wouldn't pay to go to any of them in hopes of making money, and the point about demand for lesser known is a good one. But if someone needs a shot and there are only 100, the chances are better to make a sale with a well produced work.

Skara Brae Stock Photos, Illustrations, and Vector Art (103)

increasingdifficulty · « **Reply #60 on:** October 30, 2017, 13:07 »

Quote from: Uncle Pete on October 30, 2017, 12:54

Some pretty out of the way places

Well, that would depend quite heavily on where you live.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #61 on:** October 30, 2017, 13:50 »

Out of the way but huge number of visitors many of whom can afford very expensive equipment

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #62 on:** October 30, 2017, 14:59 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on October 30, 2017, 13:50

Out of the way but huge number of visitors many of whom can afford very expensive equipment

Right and how much demand is there for Easter Island photos? Over covered. 63 Sq Miles but over 800 statues? Galapagos, how much demand? Yet 26,000 images. Someplace really out of the way and obscure, may draw a better income, from far fewer files and can be found closer to home. I think that was the point? I just found one that has, zero returns for a search. I'm going to upload as soon as I find a suitable version.

ShadySue · « **Reply #63 on:** October 30, 2017, 15:03 »

Quote from: Uncle Pete on October 30, 2017, 14:59

Quote from: Pauws99 on October 30, 2017, 13:50
Out of the way but huge number of visitors many of whom can afford very expensive equipment

Right and how much demand is there for Easter Island photos? Over covered. 63 Sq Miles but over 800 statues? Galapagos, how much demand? Yet 26,000 images. Someplace really out of the way and obscure, may draw a better income, from far fewer files and can be found closer to home. I think that was the point? I just found one that has, zero returns for a search. I'm going to upload as soon as I find a suitable version.

Hmmmm. If you have somewhere unique, why would you send them to somewhere like SS where the few buyers would almost certainly pay subs prices for them?

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #64 on:** October 30, 2017, 15:22 »

Quote from: ShadySue on October 30, 2017, 15:03

Quote from: Uncle Pete on October 30, 2017, 14:59
Quote from: Pauws99 on October 30, 2017, 13:50
Out of the way but huge number of visitors many of whom can afford very expensive equipment

Right and how much demand is there for Easter Island photos? Over covered. 63 Sq Miles but over 800 statues? Galapagos, how much demand? Yet 26,000 images. Someplace really out of the way and obscure, may draw a better income, from far fewer files and can be found closer to home. I think that was the point? I just found one that has, zero returns for a search. I'm going to upload as soon as I find a suitable version.
Hmmmm. If you have somewhere unique, why would you send them to somewhere like SS where the few buyers would almost certainly pay subs prices for them?

Well, true, except travel, buy expensive gear, hire models, have studios, buy props, pay for all kinds of expensive equipment and then upload to Microstock. I think maybe it's lost the way I wrote that but Easter Island, Galapagos, and many other exotic or far away places are not that unique in the world of Microstock, so it could be a bad investment to go, just for travel photos to sell as stock. That's the point, where the whole thread people have been pointing out that travel isn't such a good area.

I'll add that finding places that aren't covered, like right around the corner or within a road trip there and back, in the same day, might be a better idea.

My no hits for the search I already have photos, it's not exotic or extreme, just that there are no photos on SS for that search. I'll hope to have the only one and someday, someone will say, I need a picture of... and I'm making that sub sale, for something I already took in 2007 on a family vacation.

I should include another area that people should be advised "don't quit your day job" is news and sports. Since I work media all Summer, on and off, for hire for news sources, websites and some for stock, I can say for a fact, it doesn't cover my equipment or travel expenses.

Quasarphoto · « **Reply #65 on:** October 30, 2017, 17:06 »

Actually there are 'only' 7,400 photos of Easter Islands on SS and 500 on Dreamstime. I wouldn't call too many of them a great photo, mostly snapshots. I have not seen a nice HDR or a long lens compression, maybe a few. People travel with expensive equipment (maybe), but they use it like point and shoot. Never mind and off-camera flash or at least an eTTL. There is certainly room for new photos.

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Author Topic: What is happening to SS? (Read 29125 times)

JimP

derek

Quasarphoto

Mantis

Thomas from France

pancaketom

trek

Desintegrator

Dumc

Uncle Pete

increasingdifficulty

Pauws99

Uncle Pete

ShadySue

Uncle Pete

Quasarphoto

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