Author Topic: Will I ever get in? (Read 16578 times)

sam100 · « **Reply #50 on:** September 20, 2008, 21:34 »

Quote from: patrick1958 on August 08, 2008, 15:32

Quote from: noam on August 08, 2008, 15:01
I got accepted on my fourth try, and it is my best selling site since. DON'T GIVE UP!!!

I've been guiding tutoring 3 photogs in the past year.. they all got in on first try.

Patrick H.

My fourth one got in on first try...:-)

Patrick H.

Seren · « **Reply #51 on:** September 21, 2008, 03:08 »

Quote from: lisafx on September 20, 2008, 18:03

I guess to me it is an issue of putting the cart before the horse. Knowing the basics is essential to any undertaking, be it microstock or something else.

Thank you Lisa! You said what I wanted to say. Words don't come easily to me, and I find it even harder to express what I mean on paper.

It struck me again yesterday. I went to a furniture market where there were artisan cabinet makers. Now, most of these guys were awesome. They lovingly created the most beautiful pieces of furniture that were to die for. Their stalls were busy all the time with loads of money changing hands.

Then there was the guy who somehow managed to get in on a limb... His work was shoddy and looked like it might have fallen apart in a few months! He had no one around his stall...

I suppose I come from a family of traditionalists where you have to be accomplished at your craft before saying believing you're any good. Hard work and study has always been something that has always been encouraged. I spoke to a girl I went to school with recently, and she said she was looking for work as an interior designer and could I do some pictures for her. I asked her if she had been to university / college / self studied, since there are all sorts of building regs you need to know before doing that sort of work (my father had wanted me to be an architect!). She said no, she was just going to blag her first few clients and go from there.

Which just feels like the attitude of so many people in microstock, in the shutterstock forums especially. If you show them the ten photos you failed with, then will then teach you TO PASS THE TEST. It's like a major complaint about driving instructors in the UK. They don't really teach you how to drive, they teach you how to pass your driving test. We should be encouraging people to be better photographers, not just pass some arbitrary test which doesn't mean anything. If someone fails, then the best thing they can do, is go away for a few months, study books, hit up some exhibitions, talk to other photographers outside of microstock, critique their own work etc. THEN they will come back a better, more rounded photographer.

We should be encouraging others in our industry to improve their craft, not just pass a test.

Susan S. · « **Reply #52 on:** September 21, 2008, 21:57 »

I think part of this conversation is due to the fact that microstock attracts two very different groups of photographers. One is the set that regards themselves as professional photographers. They often have microstock as a only part of their photographic income, and/or make a large slab of their total income from microstock. They have worked hard and got good at it.

Another large group are the amateur photographers for whom it's a hobby. They have all these images on their hard drive looking for a home and only a small percent will be suitable for stock, but they throw everything into the air and hope that some of it will fly. As long as the agencies are happy to go on inspecting their images and rejecting a large proportion of them but accepting the few half decent ones, and the photographers continue to submit despite the rejection rates, then it's a viable source of material for microstock. I think there's nothing wrong with the second group trying microstock, as long as they realise they aren't professional photographers, and aren't likely to get either good acceptance rates or decent dollar income, unless they actually learn a bit about both photography and the market they are trying to access.
(I'm in the middle - I learned my lesson quickly about what's acceptable for stock, but decided that I didn't want to spend all my time shooting that, and just submit the more or less stock able shots from my general photography.)

The wedding photographers who haven't a clue are another thing entirely - once off photography like that requires training of some sort - either college or an apprenticeship with a pro or best still a combination of the two. There's no harm done to anything except the photographer's ego and the inspector's sanity if they get rejects from a microstock site. But fouling up people's special day because you are clueless is unforgiveable. I've been asked (quite frequently) to do event and portrait photography on a paid basis, and I've always said no as I don't have either the training or the experience to be 100 per cent sure in my own mind that I could deliver what the client is expecting. I think that's my definition of a professional photographer. Someone who can take on a client's brief and deliver what is expected for the going market rate.

a.k.a.-tom · « **Reply #53 on:** September 22, 2008, 16:42 »

Quote from: Susan S. on September 21, 2008, 21:57

I think that's my definition of a professional photographer. Someone who can take on a client's brief and deliver what is expected for the going market rate.

Susan, a superb definition!!

It's all in the eye of the client. I have had many photos rejected in microstock for technical flaws (by the reviewers decision based on the guidelines they have been given to work with) ...that now have graced the pages of thousands of magazines in articles that were written around those very pictures... And I'd be willing to bet there are plenty of my brothers and sisters here that can say the same or a similar story.

that's my point in all this thread. SS, IS, DT, ABCDEFGHIJKLMONO-STOCK.. WHATEVER... a reviewer of a microstock agency is not the end all, be all evaluator of your photgraphic skills. That is the reason I encourage newbies to keep trying. In the final analysis, if they have no talent, they will realize it. On the other hand, they may turn out to be the next Elvis of the Camera.

=tom

A point to my reviewer friends. My comments are not to be taken that I think all reviewers have no talent. Much to the contrary. Many are skillful, professional photographers themselves. The rejection is usually based upon the parameters set out by the agency that employs them, and not by their sole personal opinion.

Dirk Diggler · « **Reply #54 on:** September 23, 2008, 10:21 »

Your a regular Diva of photography HONEY...

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Author Topic: Will I ever get in? (Read 16578 times)

sam100

Seren

Susan S.

a.k.a.-tom

Dirk Diggler

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