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Author Topic: Call to Artists 2015  (Read 56271 times)

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« Reply #25 on: August 11, 2015, 02:03 »
0
...
Now I can see that others have been denied! Does that mean that some gets denied right away and others gets in a "pool" of maybes?

I'm still waiting for a reply too and I was wondering the same: if there is a "maybe" waiting list. Still I wish I had read what was needed prior to submitting my application...


« Reply #26 on: August 11, 2015, 08:03 »
+4
...
Now I can see that others have been denied! Does that mean that some gets denied right away and others gets in a "pool" of maybes?

I'm still waiting for a reply too and I was wondering the same: if there is a "maybe" waiting list. Still I wish I had read what was needed prior to submitting my application...

Every one is different.  The editors take their time to research applicants before deciding.

« Reply #27 on: August 11, 2015, 09:47 »
+1
I applied back in 2013 and got rejected 2 weeks after submitting my application :) So not getting rejected in the first possible moment seems like a small improvement.  Though I agree no conclusion could be drawn from it:)

MxR

« Reply #28 on: August 12, 2015, 04:24 »
0
Cobalt... if i were you i will upload more photos to stocky!!
You are lucky to be in stocksy, today apply is very dificult with common candid photos.
do not waste your opportunity to work with the fairest agency.
I heard that they will close inactive user accounts.


« Reply #29 on: August 12, 2015, 04:34 »
+3
I am trying to upload more, but I dont always have the right level of quality for them. Its a very high quality site and I am not a top level producer. Maybe I should just send them everything and let their editors decide, but I also dont want to waste their time, it is a very small team.

I also now do a lot of smartphonestock, which really doest work with the very beautiful stocksy aesthetics. I live in the ugly and dirty city and not the great outdoors or on an organic farm or something similar.  Nature and beautiful surroundings is something I see on holidays. I do go to a Nature reserve several times a year and always try to do something for stocksy by the sea. But I dont live there, unfortunately.

The talk about inactive accounts I think refers to people who dont upload at all. I am sure they would let me know if they were concerned. They wont just close your account without talking to you.

I have uploaded much more than the 97 files of course...but the files they decline sell elsewhere, so it really isnt a problem.

My other issue is that the people I work with are not on stocksy, or have been rejected, so I dont have anyone here that I could team up with. And I like working with the people I know, so unless one of them makes it into stocksy at a later date, I could only travel to other cities to organize shootings. So whatever content we produce together will have to go elsewhere, either micros or a macro were we are both a member.
« Last Edit: August 12, 2015, 04:55 by cobalt »

« Reply #30 on: August 12, 2015, 05:36 »
+1
Is it worth giving exclusive images to Stocksy instead of uploading to all the micros and alamy?  Their sales would have to be good to make me want to join.  I never got a response to my initial application and I'm not sure I can be bothered now.

nope, very low sales... and they pretty much from the start denied to ever have any "utility type" pics like stuff / people on white, as if they wanted to ensure the sales stay low. weird

MxR

« Reply #31 on: August 12, 2015, 06:07 »
+2
The two active stocksy contributors who i know have a rpi of 1,5- 1.8 dollars per image and month, average download around 12 $.

Stocksy ...Open more your doors!!

« Reply #32 on: August 12, 2015, 06:17 »
+8
Well, I send objects on white to both macro and micro, it is still the most useful image type for designers and sells and sells and sells for many years.

But stocksy is a niche agency not a generalist. So if you have a still life shoot where you do something for stocksy, then you have to send the design elements images elsewhere.

I dont know why there is this fear of the color white. They take everything on wood or on solid black.

But it is their choice and they sell well, so maybe focussing on wood backgrounds and black and grey works for them.

It isnt a problem, what they dont like can make money somewhere else. It is just that the customer cant find everything in one place, but if the stocksy customers wanted that, they would probably go to getty or corbis.

stocksy is niche, it is their biggest strength and also their biggest disadvantage. But they are very successful and there are many other niche agencies out there that are doing very well.

So for the customer the advantage that they can mix and match anything from that niche seems to be what they want.

As an artist you just have to find several niche agencies or stick to the generalists. stocksy is not a version of photoshelter. So it doest have to change, instead you just need to find a few more agencies to work with.

Just look at how many agencies the stocksy artists work with, you find them all over the macro world, offset,getty and also many micros.

For me as a single artist, not a studio, this means my portfolios will grow very slowly everywhere. But I simply cannot generate hundreds of files a month.

I would love to work with only one marketplace, it really is so much easier, but after all that happened I also dont want to be dependent on a single site ever again. My portfolios will grow, but slowly. And I know that my work sells, so I just have to find the right home for it.
« Last Edit: August 12, 2015, 06:24 by cobalt »

« Reply #33 on: August 13, 2015, 04:25 »
+5
I dont know why there is this fear of the color white. They take everything on wood or on solid black.

There is no fear of white - images shot on white are accepted on Stocksy - just it looks different. Not bright textureless white, but neutral white. Shadows allowed. But why would they accept "on white" in the typical microstock manner - it exists a million times, is sold for cheaper than what Stocksy's prices are - so how could they argue that buyers pay more for image styles they can get on the micros.

Anyways, I've said it several times - Stocksy is performing well for me. With now close to identical portfolio sizes Stocksy "out-earns" SS 4:1 (and SS is my strongest microstock agency; Stocksy out earns FT 30:1 for instance)

« Reply #34 on: August 13, 2015, 05:52 »
+3
white has absolutely nothing to do with microstock. Repeating that doesnt make it true. Just look at all the macro agencies that sell on white for hundreds of dollars including offset. Working with white has been around long before microstock existed.

It is extremly useful for designers and sells for years and years and years.

That is why it is a very strange decision, because they accept all other solid colours, solid pink,black etc...without shadows.

the micros also have millions of images on wood, on black, people outdoors and beautiful food and landscape photography.

You can find anything stocksy or any macro or niche agency has cheaper elsewhere. The difference is the time spent in going over a huge pool of files.

the editing for that specific look is very good. But I also dont understand why anyone compares stocksy to the micros, because stocksy is a professional macro agency, I dont see any amateur content there. The competition for stocksy is getty,offset,corbis,masterfile,tetra,blend etc...which is where you see a lot of stocksy artists contributing.

It is not a crowd sourced, community driven plattform with thousands of people from everywhere on all levels of photo expertise.

But all agencies have great artists, no agency has a monopoly on them.

ETA: your files on stocksy have hardly any competition, so by comparison with 50 million images on SS your files are outselling stocksy in that environment. In absolute money at the moment stocksy has the advantage. I hope it stays like this for you, but you are obviously doing very,very well on SS and your files are holding up against all the competition. Congratulations.
« Last Edit: August 13, 2015, 06:10 by cobalt »

« Reply #35 on: August 28, 2015, 17:10 »
0
Hi Everybody,

I plan to apply to Stocksy. I'd appreciate some feedback on this portfolio -- what I should throw out, etc?

https://flic.kr/s/aHskiCcQTk

Currently I just shoot video, but on a few recent shoots I brought my DSLR to catch some stills too.  I also included some travel & family shots.

Thanks!

Mark

« Reply #36 on: August 29, 2015, 02:23 »
+3
I think its a mistake judging an agency by their size or income. No agency will ever come close to the Getty and Shutterstock levels of revenue, simple as that.
Agencies like Stocksy, Arcangel, Blend and many more fill a gap in the market. They provide quality and niched content for a specific market and doing it rather well I suppose.
Magnum is an example, today it's but a shadow of its glorious past and working with them is more of an honor then even thinking in terms of money.
Said above, they do not want a flood of people dumping all sorts of portfolios or they would lose their identity.

« Reply #37 on: August 29, 2015, 09:51 »
+2
white has absolutely nothing to do with microstock. Repeating that doesnt make it true. Just look at all the macro agencies that sell on white for hundreds of dollars including offset. Working with white has been around long before microstock existed.

It is extremly useful for designers and sells for years and years and years.

That is why it is a very strange decision, because they accept all other solid colours, solid pink,black etc...without shadows.

the micros also have millions of images on wood, on black, people outdoors and beautiful food and landscape photography.

You can find anything stocksy or any macro or niche agency has cheaper elsewhere. The difference is the time spent in going over a huge pool of files.

the editing for that specific look is very good. But I also dont understand why anyone compares stocksy to the micros, because stocksy is a professional macro agency, I dont see any amateur content there. The competition for stocksy is getty,offset,corbis,masterfile,tetra,blend etc...which is where you see a lot of stocksy artists contributing.

It is not a crowd sourced, community driven plattform with thousands of people from everywhere on all levels of photo expertise.

But all agencies have great artists, no agency has a monopoly on them.

ETA: your files on stocksy have hardly any competition, so by comparison with 50 million images on SS your files are outselling stocksy in that environment. In absolute money at the moment stocksy has the advantage. I hope it stays like this for you, but you are obviously doing very,very well on SS and your files are holding up against all the competition. Congratulations.

This is just my guess. Pictures with solid white background are very useful to designers because they can easily be clipped out and used in conjunction with other design elements to make a new design. So this is more like clip art. I guess other colors don't really convey clip art as much as white. Maybe stocksy doesn't want to sell clip art and want to sell photos that stand on their own as a whole image with maybe subtle text overlay. This way the image is still the prominent portion of the design rather than an add on. This might be the message that stocksy is saying to their customers.

« Reply #38 on: August 31, 2015, 11:50 »
0
Hi Everybody, two posts up ^^ I asked for a portfolio review for my Stocksy application.  No feedback yet, so It occurred to me that this is not the appropriate thread, or it's a case of "if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all." 

Either way, I want to improve and I'm fine with brutal criticism, shall I start an independent thread, maybe there's a different venue?  Thanks Mark

« Reply #39 on: August 31, 2015, 13:09 »
0
Hi Everybody, two posts up ^^ I asked for a portfolio review for my Stocksy application.  No feedback yet, so It occurred to me that this is not the appropriate thread, or it's a case of "if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all." 

Either way, I want to improve and I'm fine with brutal criticism, shall I start an independent thread, maybe there's a different venue?  Thanks Mark
Cut down what you're showing.  People looking directly at the camera probably aren't good, as in this image https://www.flickr.com/photos/98445126@N02/20772995849/in/album-72157657468527289/ focus is missed too.  Add a watermark.  Some of your people shots (candid ones) are good but the VW toy, bridge with grass, metro station aren't so great.  For me the best are business man in hotel, bouzouki player, and eggs.
« Last Edit: August 31, 2015, 13:12 by tickstock »

« Reply #40 on: August 31, 2015, 13:36 »
+1
... and watch the lighting like this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/98445126@N02/20772995029/in/album-72157657468527289/

That looks like 2002 iStock... :)

Eye level shots of random things probably won't work too well: https://www.flickr.com/photos/98445126@N02/20959753315/in/album-72157657468527289/

I think this one nails it: https://www.flickr.com/photos/98445126@N02/20772999789/in/album-72157657468527289/  Subject-wise, anyways.  The vignette is too much.

« Reply #41 on: August 31, 2015, 13:39 »
0
I think this one nails it: https://www.flickr.com/photos/98445126@N02/20772999789/in/album-72157657468527289/  Subject-wise, anyways.  The vignette is too much.
The noise reduction and super blown highlights probably make it unusable except in small sizes.

« Reply #42 on: August 31, 2015, 19:23 »
0
Tickstock & Sean - Thank you for your input!  It helps me see where I need to improve.  Cheers, Mark

« Reply #43 on: September 01, 2015, 04:01 »
0
Well ... I allready apply, I am in the "hands of stocksy curator gods" :D

But, to all Stocksy contributors, please give me your oppinion/criticism to my selection

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nphotospt/albums/72157655947776632

« Reply #44 on: September 01, 2015, 04:11 »
0
I got rejected. Maybe I'll try again after 2-3 years:)

« Reply #45 on: September 01, 2015, 08:58 »
0
I'd love to work with Stocksy. Hope I get in.

« Reply #46 on: September 29, 2015, 20:35 »
+2
Anyone else still waiting to hear back from Stocksy for 2015 CTA? The wait is nuts. I applied in June and still nothing. Am I the only one???

« Reply #47 on: September 29, 2015, 21:39 »
+1
They sent out rejections almost in the same week. So no news is good news mostly

« Reply #48 on: September 30, 2015, 08:34 »
0
I applied a few months back and just got the email this past week that I didn't get in.

« Reply #49 on: September 30, 2015, 18:07 »
+2
Anyone else still waiting to hear back from Stocksy for 2015 CTA? The wait is nuts. I applied in June and still nothing. Am I the only one???

You are not alone. I tried last year and got rejected 2-3 weeks later. Now I'm waiting... I applied in June like you. It's not good :D


 

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