The Stock Photo Guy - John Lund Stock Photographer

Hackers, Web Sites And Stock Photography

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Fri, 25 May 2012 05:57:00 +0000

I've been hacked...and not for the first time either! Hey, maybe I should make cyber crime images!

I’ve Been Hacked!

Something weird happened on my website today. All of the file names on my site, all 6,000 plus of them, suddenly are the same: Hacked By Wosera. My webmaster (actually my twin brother) spent a good number of hours trying to figure out how we were being hacked. We have been hacked before several times and it has been a major pain in the butt. At any rate, my brother is currently working on the problem. In the meantime, thank god our hosting company backs our site up every day. Just an aside, cyber crime is going to be an increasingly important stock photo subject!

Hackers, Google “Tweaks” and Ground Zero

However, this latest little hiccup got me thinking. The amount of time and effort that has gone into my web site I still find a bit staggering. You put all of this work into something so important and in an instant a hacker, a change in Google’s algorithm, who knows what…and its back to ground zero!

Time, Resources And Good Returns

Don’t get me wrong, I still believe in getting one’s work up on the net and building traffic. My efforts in doing that have certainly earned me some good returns, but at this point the return on my Internet investment could not possibly have matched what I would have earned if I had put all of those time and resources into creating more images.

Selling Your Own Stock

That brings me to another point. I know that there are photographers who do well selling their own stock. In my own case though, I can’t imagine trying to deal with the volume of sales I get through agencies. There is simply no way I could negotiate, track the rights, deliver the files and do all the other functions that the agencies do for me. I wouldn’t have time to create images…heck, I might not even have time to sleep! As it is, if I didn’t have my twin brother working on my site almost for free I’d be tearing my hair out…oh wait, I’m already bald!

Time, Resources And A Web Presence

I guess what I am trying to say is that I believe it is important for stock photographers to have a web presence, but at the same time it is really important to understand how your web site is going to work for you, and how much of your time and resources are going to be needed to maintain it. In my experience my web site, blogging, and social media require far more time than I ever imagined. Heck, it even requires time and energy to try and maintain a reasonable balance between my online efforts and my production of stock photos.

Kicking Back On The Couch

Right now, however, I have to end this blog post and kick back on the couch, watch a little mindless TV, and not think about stock photography, facebook, twitter, tumblr or blogging.

Creating Stock Photos: Weakness Into Strength

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Fri, 11 May 2012 06:22:00 +0000

To speed up my career I need to speed up my production by turning weaknesses into strengths.

Increase Earnings And Continuing Challenges

There was a time; a few years ago, when it was pretty easy for me to just cruise along at half speed in my stock photography career. But those years have passed and my desire to continue having what I consider to be adequate financial success requires that I step things up a bit. Actually, in 2011 I earned more in stock income than in 2010, and that is a good sign, but in the face of all the continuing challenges to the stock photography industry, I feel a need to grow my business even more.

Turn Weaknesses Into Strengths

One way that seems to me to be a foolproof way to boost any career is to determine what your biggest weakness is and turn that weakness into a strength. When I look at my own situation it seems to me that my biggest weakness, at least as far as stock photography is concerned, is a lack of production. That is, I simply don’t produce enough images.

Unproductive Time And Scheduling Shoots

Early in my stock photo career I used to think of a single idea and execute it. When the recession hit, and teamed up with the digital effects of oversupply and dropping prices, I began to shoot the raw materials for multiple images and then get to work creating my concept stock photos. While an improvement, I still end up with too much unproductive time, time that is unproductive because I am working with the "dregs" of a given photo shoot with the least exciting ideas and a shortage of quality raw material (images) for my composites. What I finally realized is that I need to start scheduling my next shoot before I finish creating the images from the last shoot.

Troublesome Ideas And More Enjoyment

Tom Grill and his staff plan out his shoots up to a year in advance…and now I am starting to realize why he is so successful. In my own case, having a constant supply of raw materials for the creation of my images will allow me to skip over ideas that are turning out to be troublesome and time-wasting, and will allow me to not only increase my production, but actually enjoy my work more.

More And Better Stock Photos

Right now, despite all the industry problems, I am having more fun making images than I ever have, and I am now additionally fired-up to turn that weakness, an ill-organized and almost reticent approach to shooting, into a strength through improved planning and scheduling. Again, that will give me a more continuous stream of high-quality raw materials from which to make more and better stock photos. Now excuse me, I have a shoot to plan!

Tigers, Business And Key Words

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Tue, 01 May 2012 06:05:00 +0000

This tiger, ready to be ridden in a business setting, has little chance of success without proper key wording.

Tigers And Business

Every once-in-a-while I go to the site of one of the agencies that represent me and search for things that I know I have. I do this for two reasons. First, to get a sense of how long it might take someone to find my images, and secondly (and more importantly) to make sure that the keywords that I need on my images are there. What is prompting this post is that I just searched “business and tiger” on Getty and one of my tiger images, one that I created specifically for the business market, doesn’t show up. Time to get on the horn to Getty!

Key Words And Taxes

Checking the keywords on my stock photos is not my favorite activity. Actually, it is right down there with doing my taxes. But it is also a vitally important activity even for us “traditional” shooters whose agencies do the key wording for us. Here is the caption on the Getty site that goes with this image “The phrase 'Riding The Tiger' can be applied to my photo of a Tiger wearing a saddle in an office setting.”. But it doesn’t show up under “Tiger and business”? Strange!

Corbis And Slow Motion

Two weeks ago I was searching Corbis Motion for some of my slow motion clips. Get this. The key words “Slow Motion” are not on any of my hundred plus slow motion clips! In fact, if you insert the words slow motion into a search you specifically don’t get my clips in the results. We are working on that little problem now. It will get resolved, but it is another important reminder that with out the right keywords you aren’t going to make any sales!

The Overriding Challenge To Stock Photographers

In my mind visibility is the overriding challenge to stock photographers. Key words are biggest influencer of visibility. But once we have dealt with that aspect, what else can we do to get our images seen? Some of my microstock friends tell me that it helps to create light boxes, and to participate in the forums to get favorable reviews on your images. There are probably other strategies as well, but as I haven’t participated in microstock I am not familiar with them.

Aggregator Agencies

I do think it is important to have some work with an aggregator agency, such as Blend, Tetra or others (disclaimer…I am part owner of Blend Images). By having work with an aggregator it gets seen in far more places. With Blend RM, for example, your work is seen on Getty, Corbis, Superstock, Masterfile and countless agencies throughout the world. As I have mention before, you can also get work into the TAC (The Agency Collection) with aggregators…something you can’t do even if you have a Getty contract (go figure).

Blog, Share And Feature

Finally, you can put your work up on your on site with links to where they can be licensed. Then (ahem) blog about them, share them on social media sites, feature them on sites like 500 pixels and oneyeland.com / and such. It is all a lot of work. But then, back in college when I tried to earn money selling life insurance it was a lot of work as well…and I didn’t enjoy it as much (at all actually), or make nearly as much money!

A Classic Butler Stock Photo...With A Twist

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 06:19:00 +0000

A classic butler image with a "twist" illustrating service, success, creativity and ideas.

A Classic Butler Stock Photo...And No Model Fee!
Just had to share my latest stock photo. What I really like is the model…yes, the butler is me, or I am the butler…or something like that. I can’t take all the credit (or blame) though…the idea of having a burst of light beneath the serving dome belongs to the senior art director at BlendImages, Jim Doherty.

Success, Service, Creativity And Inspiration
I think it is a brilliant idea (okay, pun intended). While the butler is indicative of such concepts as success, service and all things upscale, the burst of light beneath the dome of the silver tray can be a metaphor for everything from creativity to energy to inspiration to possibility.

A "Snooty" Butler And A Dozen Stock Shots
Not sure if the butler is a little too snooty or not, but I do think it adds an element of humor which can’t be a bad thing. My partner Stephanie did the shooting (with my brand spanking new Nikon D800) while I went through a range of poses and expressions. We shot enough variety to create at least a dozen different stock shots.

A Palace In India, An Office In Marin, And An Inverted Salad Bowl
The background is a lobby in an office building, though the marble floor is actually from a palace floor I photographed in Jodhpur, India. You never know when you’re going to need a marble floor! The silver (okay…chrome) dome is an inverted salad bowl that I hot-glued a cabinet knob onto. We bought the tray from Create & Barrel for $19.00. The Tux rental cost me $146.00. Oh yeah, $9.95 for the white gloves too. The office-building lobby I actually got to shoot for free, with a property release, as a favor by another photographer who offered me the chance to join her in a gang shoot.

Flexible Cropping And Room For Copy
As usual I tried to create an image that can be cropped as either a vertical or horizontal. The background is simple so the image is a quick read at thumbnail sizes, and there is plenty of room for headlines and copy.

Production Costs And Profit
I often hear stock photographers talk about keeping their production costs down to under $50.00 per image, or even considerably less. I probably will have managed to keep the costs very low when I amortize them over the ten or twelve images I can get from this shoot. But I firmly believe that even if the image cost me $200.00 I will make many times that over the next few years…as either an RF or RM image (a determination I have not yet made). The total Photoshop time I have in the image is about three hours.

One Benefit Of Age And A Pretty Good Butler

Hey, I make a pretty good butler, don’t I? At least there is one thing good about getting older!

Getting Your Stock Images Distributed

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 05:25:00 +0000

Trying to figure out effective stock photo distribution can make you feel like a deer in the headlights!

Distributing Stock Photography

There is no single “right” way to distribute ones’ stock photography. There are a number of photographers who distribute their own stock quite successfully. There are also photographers who run small agencies that distribute their own work and that of a few other photographers. Despite the successes of such photographers I have always preferred to let an agency handle the tasks of negotiating, collecting fees, keeping track of rights and all the other myriad of minutiae that selling stock requires. Then there is that herculean task of getting eyeballs on one’s work…but that is a whole story in itself.

I Just Want To Make Images

From the get-go I wanted to just make images. I recognized that, while I am pretty good at creating stock imagery, I am not particularly good at the rest of it, nor did I even want to be. But even in the early 1990’s I recognized the need for multiple agencies. Getty was taking most of my work, but rejecting images that I thought deserved representation. Back then it was standard to be agency exclusive. I approached Getty about sending my “rejects” to The Stock Market, one of the top agencies at the time. They eventually said to go ahead, but not to use my name. Within a few years things had changed to the point where agencies became “Image exclusive” and I got to use my name again.

Getty And The 900-Pound Gorilla

Now days Getty owns something like 65% of the traditional stock market…and as such I think it is important that anyone going the agency route tries to get at least some of their imagery with Getty. It just makes sense. I am also a big believer in diversifying. Image Bank was once the 900-pound gorilla, but Tony Stone leap frogged it, was bought by Getty which then bought Image Bank. Now you have iStockphoto, though owned by Getty, as the premier place to begin a stock photo search. The point is, you never know what is going to happen. Corbis bought The Stock Market and within months my revenue had dropped by fifty percent…along with every other Stock Market Photographer I knew. Diversifying one’s distribution may mean slightly lower revenues over the near term, but it might also mean a lot more success in the long term.

Blend Images

I have images with Getty Images, SuperStock, Corbis and Blend Images. Corbis is second to Getty in terms of size and distribution and is working hard to get it right. SuperStock is under new management, management that I trust. They are succeeding in growing their business in these difficult times and can also be a good choice to include in your mix. Blend Images is currently where I send most of my stock photos. This is for two reasons. First, I am a part owner there. Secondly, they are succeeding in getting my images into a vast network of distribution. Not only do the images appear on Getty, but also on Corbis, Masterfile, and hundreds of other outlets, and they are making progress in getting my images onto micro sites as well…while keeping the prices at standard RF rates. In a strange twist, I can get images onto iStockphoto.com, as well as on Getty and it’s sub-distribution network, through “The Agency Collection” with Blend Images, when as a Getty photographer there is no way to do that! As an aside, I remember for years Getty told me I could not participate in RF because I was art directed out of the Los Angeles office…while photographers with editors in the Seattle office could. Geez…what an industry!

“Eyeballs Are Going To Microstock First”

I don’t pretend to know which agencies are the best. There are so many factors that go into such decisions. Do the agencies have specialties that fit with your work? Do they reach the audience best suited for your work? SuperStock, for example, has a sales staff with strong relationships in the publishing world. The world of microstock is still pretty foreign to me…though I am aware that the “eyeballs” are increasingly going to microstock first, something that makes Blend’s ability to get my traditional images on those sites important (I am sure Getty will get there eventually…but they aren’t there yet).

Support And Attention

I know one photographer, who makes his living entirely from stock, who has all but quit submitting to Getty because he has such a good working relationship with his editor at one of the aggregator agencies (like Blend Images, OJO, Tetra etc.). That is another factor to consider. In my own case, hopefully not just because I am an owner, I love working with the staff at Blend. I get a lot more support and attention there than I do at Getty or Corbis. That too, can be worth a lot.

Supplementing The Agencies

Another part of my own strategy for distribution is to get my stock images up on my own website (johnlund.com)…with links to the agency where they can be licensed. This makes my images more visible and supplements the agencies marketing efforts, and paves the way for selling my own stock if that ever becomes necessary. I also have a limited number of images I do license myself which reinforces in me the fact that I don’t like dealing with clients. Oh, I almost forgot. I have a very small collection of images at Photoshelter, an experiment to see the possibilities for some personal use licensing…which I don’t put enough effort in to really see if it works. Oh well….

Diversification, Microstock Sites, And Strong Relationships

So there you have it…my approach to stock photo distribution. I still believe in agencies, I believe in diversification, and I believe in getting additional exposure through my own site. I believe in getting my images seen on microsites at traditional rates, and I believe, when and where possible, in building a strong relationship with your stock agencies.

The Secret Of Successful Stock Photographers

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 03:37:00 +0000

The key to earning the big bucks in stock photography lies in consistent and prolific image production...though "prolific" can mean different things to different shooters.

The Secret To Successful Stock Photography

What is the secret to successful stock photography? Create a lot of photos. Okay, maybe I should add that the stock photos need to be appropriate for the market place (meaning pictures that are needed and of a sufficiently high quality). But still, when I recently took a look at the half-dozen most successful stock photographers I personally know, the one thing they all have in common is that they are prolific. They consistently produce a lot of stock imagery.

What Kind Of Photos

Well, come to think of it, they also understand what kind of photos to make. They all vary a bit in the kind of images they produce. One of them does a lot of compositing work creating sophisticated concept photos. He actually shoots the photos himself and has a full-time in house Photoshop jockey who handles the post. Another of these successful stock photographers shoots primarily in the studio using sets, and yet another makes extensive use of her surrounding area for location lifestyle shoots. But they all study and understand what kinds of images the market wants.

Everyone Has Their Own Twist

It is interesting that everyone has their own twist on things and yet can still be very successful. Interesting and encouraging! But again, the one constant is that they all produce consistently…and produce a lot of work. When I asked one of them about how he dealt with the problem of cannibalizing his own work he responded that he’d rather cannibalize it than have someone else do it. He then went on to say that in this new stock photo paradigm where one’s work is so quickly “buried” by the unceasing flow of new imagery, it is necessary to continuously re-do ones own work. While that seems somehow wrong to me…this guy earns a lot more than I do in stock photography.

A New Goal: Four Images A Week

We all know that guys like Yuri Arcurs produces massive amounts of imagery for microstock, but the shooters I am referring to are producing for the traditional RM and RF markets and not for micro. I might add that after giving this all a lot of thought my own reaction is to increase the number of images I produce. Just to give you an idea, I think my new goal will be to average four images a week. Keeping in mind that I frequently spend more than one day on a given image even this seemingly modest goal could be a stretch for me. One of the above stock shooters plans on adding a thousand images this year…what “consistent” production means to different shooters depends on the kind of images they make…and what their career goals are.

The Right Distribution Is Fine Tuning

The secret to a successful stock photo career? Do your research to understand what the market wants, then consistently produce those images. Getting those images into the right distribution channels is obviously important, but I see that more as fine-tuning. Knowing that there are many shooters who are actually doing very well in stock means that you can do it too.

Blend Images Annual Spring Creative Meeting

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 23:49:00 +0000

John Lund raises his trophy in celebration of winning "Smallest Sale of 2011" at the Blend Images Annual Spring Creative meeting. BTW, I am taking a risk here...I pulled this image from facebook without permission and not knowing who shot it!

“Back in the day” the big agencies such as Getty and Corbis used to put on various events for their contributing photographers. It was always fun and informative and such events were always very well attended. It was great to get to know one’s fellow photographers, catch up on industry gossip, learn a few things and get a better handle on what was going on in the business of stock photography. Those big agencies don’t really do that anymore, but I just returned from the BlendImages annual creative meeting held in Palm Springs just prior to the Palm Springs Photo Festival. Now, keeping in mind that I am a Blend owner, I thought the event was fabulous!

It was great to have speakers such as Matt Harrison, a motion director and UCLA Film Instructor who talked on directing talent, story boarding, and various other things motion, Don Picard (of TCP Insurance) who provided some eye-opening information on insurance (Don will be doing a series of blog guests posts on that very important topic soon), and Wilson Standish, a market researcher with Trendera (during Wilson’s presentation I was kept very busy scribbling down ideas).

We also had both Canon and Nikon reps providing info on the latest cameras. Karen McHugh of Samy’s Camera in LA was there and ready and willing to answer all kinds of equipment questions. For most of us at Blend Images Karen is our go-to-person whether we have a mundane purchase to make or an emergency replacement need. She gets it done.

Rick Becker-Leckrone, Blend CEO brought us up to date on the “State of Blend” and the industry in general, and Scott Redinger-Libolt (Blend editor), Jim Doherty (Senior Art Director), and Sarah Fix (VP Creative) helped lay out strategies for growth including the ins and outs of shooting RM, RF, and for TAC (The Agency Collection carried by both Getty and iStockphoto). Jasmine Hartsook (VP of Operations) and Stewart Cohen (Blend Photographer, and Co-Founder and film director) brought us up to speed on the Blend Motion Collection. Sarah Fix also provided a special little presentation on what content ISN’T selling and why…and I noticed that I had a few representative samples in that collection. Oh well….

Jon Feingersh (Blend photographer and co-founder) moderated a panel on “Investing In Stock During A Recession” that included Hill Street Studios (Blend photographer and co-founders Lawrence and Betty Manning), Mike Kemp (Blend contributing photographer), Jose Pelaez (Blend photographer and co-founder), Tom Grill (Blend photographer, co-founder and owner of Tetra Images) and John Fedele (Blend contributing photographer). We also had a panel (myself included) of shooters who have begun to shoot motion along with stills. Chris Gramly, Rick Gomez, Walter Hodges, Lawrence Manning and Eric Raptosh participated in that one.

We had a silent auction of prints donated by Blend Photographers the proceeds of which went to the International Rescue Organization. There was ample time for mingling among shooters and staff as well as a sponsored cocktail party and such. My head was swimming by the end so I may have forgotten a thing or two, but suffice it to say it was a wonderful time full of information, fun and a huge sense of community. We even had two photographers come from as far away as Columbia! Oh yeah, among other things trophies were awarded for highest selling RM image (which made a $28,000.00 and an $11,000.00 sale), highest selling RF image, and the one I actually won…the lowest sale of 2011. Hey, it still felt good hoisting that trophy!

A Big Sale And A Case For Diversification

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 06:16:00 +0000

A negative stock photo, treated with humor, can often prove to be a successful image.

A Negative Image For Rights Managed

My best selling image last month has been online for two years with barely a sale. It is a perfect example of the strength, and weakness, of a Rights Managed image. The picture, a piano about to fall on the head of an unsuspecting businessman, is clearly a negative one, and we all know that negative images do not sell as well as positive ones. Nonetheless, I was pretty sure it would sell often. It can be used to advertise a number of concepts from preparedness, to risk, to the future, to the need for insurance. On the positive side this image also employs humor, a quality that I have found to be a very positive attribute in terms of sales potential.

Optimism And A Comfortable Living

Yet after two years it has only been licensed twice, and each time for very small amounts, until this last month when Getty Images licensed it to a client for over $7,000.00. My share was 40%. Not bad…and hopefully not the last license either. Actually, my experience tells me that I will wake up one day and see that the fees I have earned will be quite considerable. Keeping in mind that I am a hopeless optimist, I fully expect these types of concept images to earn fees in the $10,000 range over a period of seven to ten years. Of course, that is probably mostly wishful thinking…but hey, it is that kind of thinking that keeps me going…and here I am after all these years still earning a comfortable living off of stock photography.

Winning The Lottery

This is one of a number of images that I have created that linger for years without any significant earnings until, out of the blue, they earn a bunch of money. Rights Managed images are like the lottery in that respect. But do you want to count on the lottery for making a living? I sure don’t. But I sure like it when I win.

Lower Prices And Bigger Audiences

Rights Managed images have a smaller audience, a much smaller audience. When one looks at the big picture of stock photography it is painfully obvious where things are headed. Lower prices for a bigger audience are the order of the day. And yet, in the case of this particular image, the potential licensing audience is relatively small. Just because rights managed images have a small audience doesn’t mean they can’t sell multiple times…they often do. In fact, for some uses, Rights Managed images can cost less than Royalty Free images. The fact that this image has not sold numerous times, in fact only three times in two years, indicates that the wider audience of RF images would still not have resulted in financial success (I am guessing here). It would seem that putting this particular image into the Rights Managed category was the right thing to do.

Appropriate Licensing Models And Diversification

My conclusion here is that though imperfect, a strategy of placing appropriate images into appropriate licensing models is a good one. I might add that when I mine my royalty reports for useful information it always seems to me that whether a great image will sell well in either category…but some do better in one or the other. If I were a microstock shooter I would try and add some RM imagery into my business. I believe that in the stock photography business, as in the stock investment business, diversification is a good thing…and strategic diversification is even better. As it is, I hope that more of my RM and RF images get placed in front of microstock audiences. Ultimately the formula for success in stock photography is to have great images, at appropriate prices, in front of everyone.

A Husky, A Wolf, And An RM Image

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 04:45:00 +0000

Hopefully humor sets this wolf picture apart from its competition.

Of Huskies And Wolves

A friend of mine has a Husky that looks a lot like a wolf. That got me to thinking…could I create some wolf images that weren’t like everything already out there? I checked Getty and, I have to say, there are a lot of great wolf images! But it still looked to me as if there was room for a few more “interpretations”. I put together a list of images I wanted to create ranging from an iconic version of a wolf howling at the moon to a portrait to a wolf huffing and puffing and, well, you know.

A Struggle From Start To Finish

I have photographed a lot of animals, and the shoots seldom go as planned. This shoot was no exception. I had an extensive list of poses I needed (Think Little Red Riding Hood, Huffing, Puffing And Blowing, etc.), but the Husky would have none of it! Every time the strobes popped off she started. Normally after the first couple of flashes the animals don’t pay any attention, but this little doggy never did get over her nervousness. All she wanted to do was lie on the floor and look forlorn. Sure, she enjoyed the dog treats, but preferred to eat them from her prone position. The shoot was a struggle from start to finish, and after an hour we decided to call it a day. I didn’t get what I wanted, but I felt like I got enough material to make some cool images anyway.

An Element Of Humor

Today I sat down to see if I could make some of the captures work. This "Evil Portrait" is the first image I came up with. Now there are no shortages of wolf portraits out there, but as far as I know this is the only one that brings in the element of humor with an over-the-top sinister expression combined with having the wolf lick her chops. Hopefully the humor will make this image stand out.

A Rights Managed Image

I combined three different images to complete this wolf portrait. One shot was the body, one the head and face, and one was the tongue. I also made a variation with a forest of trees in the background. I am submitting both to Getty, but I prefer the wolf on black. We will see what my editor prefers, or even if he is interested at all. One never knows! I see this image as a Rights Managed one because I don’t envision a lot of sales, but I see it as being perfect for a few applications. Also, I prefer the higher royalty rate I get from RM images (though from experience I know that I can make just as much total revenue form RF images as I can for RM...and RF tends to be more consistent).

Having Fun!

At any rate, there is no question that the shoot will be successful financially…it cost me next to nothing to shoot and I have enough material to create at least half a dozen images. Hey, and most importantly, I am having fun!

Your Photo Business: Awareness, Opportunity And Choice

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 22:20:00 +0000

Maximizing opportunities requires more than just keeping an ear to the tracks!

An Ear To The Tracks

I constantly have my ear to the tracks…that is; I am trying to stay aware of what is coming. Is that rumbling I hear an opportunity approaching, or is it a locomotive about to run over me?

New Developments And A Huge Boost

I know from experience that being one of the first to take advantage of a new development can be a huge boost. I started using Photoshop for clients (and stock photography) back in 1990…and it changed everything for me. I was using digital capture (with a Leaf Digital Back on a Hasselblad) in 1994 and it provided yet another boost. Those who jumped on Royalty Free imagery made a mint. Photographers who early on recognized the value of the Internet benefited immensely…and so it goes.

What Is Truly Important

But the danger is in not seeing the forest for the trees, of getting so caught up in the latest thing that you don’t pay attention to what is truly important. Further, what is important for one person might not be right for another. Social media, for example, can be a huge boon for one photographer and a wasteful time suck for another.

Time Well Spent

How do you make sure that the time you spend staying alert for what’s coming is time well spent? I am not sure I have the ultimate answer, but I do think it is important to keep your goals in mind. For example, my primary goal is to get my stock images in front of as many potential buyers as possible. A secondary goal is to expand my sources of revenue. When I look at a site like Pinterest I judge it by my own goals. Is it a good source to get my images seen by people who might buy them? Can Pinterest provide links to my site that will move it up in the search engine rankings? Can Pinterest provide enough of a boost to warrant the participation?

Weighing Potential Benefits

For me the potential reward of Pinterest, at this point, has lead me to adding “Pin It” buttons on my website picture pages. But as far as spending my time “pinning” things…I am not convinced of the value (Jim Goldstein has an interesting blog post on Pinterest). In my own situation I have to constantly weigh potential benefits of my time spent with the benefits of spending that time creating new images. Of course, it gets far more complicated when I add in factors such as enjoyment . On the whole I would rather be making images. While at home, watching TV, I can be participating in social media. At any rate, consciously contrasting new developments with my goals helps me to at least make educated decisions on how to spend my time and other resources.

Keeping Your Goals In Mind

By keeping your goals in mind it makes it far more likely that your efforts at keeping tabs on the various advances in technology, social media and whatever else that is happening, are much more likely to benefit you and not just have you spinning your wheels. So if you haven’t done so in a while, check in on your list of goals, see if they are still in line with what you want out of your life, and use them to help clarify your choices.

Josh Wattles, Advisor In Chief To deviantART Interviewed

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 07:17:00 +0000

We talk with Josh Wattles of deviantArt about the soical netowrkng site and its new collection of photos now available through Fotolia.

Josh Wattles brings a unique and learned perspective to the world of photography in his role as Advisor in Chief to deviantART. Josh has a distinguished career as a lawyer, executive and academic. Josh headed up a staff of 60 lawyers at Paramount Pictures. As a senior intellectual property lawyer for Paramount Communications, Josh advised Paramount on film, book publishing, sports and cable television matters, and was a key player in the music industry’s anti-piracy programs. He helped to create the industry’s collective licensing organization for cable and satellite retransmissions of television programs and films in the EU.

Josh has also been an in-house litigator for the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and at Paramount he ran all of its music operations, including the production of numerous award-winning multi-platinum soundtracks and management of its significant music publishing interests: The Famous Music Publishing Companies. Josh was the founding president of Mixonic.com, an active online CD and DVD replication company, and he created and developed both the strategy and technology for Xingtone.

Josh’s private clients have in addition to motion picture studios; music companies and new media properties have included the World Monuments Fund, Dorothy Hamill, Televisa, and J.K. Rowling. Josh is a professor in copyright law at Southwestern University Law School and at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. He is a former president of the Los Angeles Copyright Society.

Josh, so you were headed into a photography career and ended up as Chief Advisor to one of the most visited sites on the Internet. Can you give us a brief history of how you originally got into photography and your journey to where you are now?

At 15 I started as an intern and then as an assistant for fashion photographers in Manhattan. This was in the ‘60’s. I got some good jobs shooting reportage and thought I should work instead of going to college. A mentor at the time told me to get educated. I did and after a period as a fine artist went on to law school. I wanted to practice “art law.” I feel like some 30 or so years later I finally ended up where I thought I was headed.

Your title is “Advisor in Chief”. What kind of advice does a Chief Advisor give…and to whom?

I advise the deviantART on legal and business matters including strategy and execution. I am available to everyone on the staff and a surprising number of them take advantage of having me around. Some actually listen to the advice and few might even follow it from time to time.

DeviantART, is reported to have over 18.5 million members, nearly 200 million submissions, and gets over 140,000 new submissions per day. DeviantART users upload over 1.4 million "favorites" and 1.5 million comments every day! The domain deviantart.com pulls in something like 50 million unique visitors monthly. It is the largest social networking art site in the world. That all seems overwhelming to me. How on earth does someone get a handle on all of that…I mean, you couldn’t see all the art in a lifetime even if you dedicated your whole life to it! For those wishing to dive into deviantART, where do you begin? How should one approach it?

The way deviantART reaches those numbers is in aggregating thousands of interest groups each of which may be quite small. But in your area, photography, we have millions of members who identify themselves as working in that medium. DeviantART is a community set around a grouping of tools that allows them to interact and share their work with like-minded folks. The beauty in that is that they get their own handles around each other. Our job as staff is to make sure the tools are working correctly.

I come from the world of commercial photography where earning money is a primary concern. In the deviantART world how important is earning money?

Some members of the site are working artists, some are collectors and fans, some are amateurs – we really have every kind on the platform all of whom use it in very different ways and for different reasons. There are photographers soliciting and obtaining work off of the site and there are art directors using the site to find photographers. There are others who use it for creative feedback. Some use the site for inspiration on how to handle their next assignment or to take advantage of the thousands of tutorials. All of these relate to earning money. But the primary focus is on a community of support for the art that you produce or that you enjoy.

I see that there are several moneymaking ventures available on deviantART including prints sales and T-shirts. Is there money to be made through those and other deviantART offerings?

T-shirts are made by deviantART and sold as deviantART merchandise. Any member of the site can offer their work in the form of prints that we can manufacture for them and ship worldwide. Premium members of the site can also set their own prices and royalties for the prints.

DeviantArt is now moving into the world of commercial stock photography with a micro offering through Fotolia. What took so long?

Actually, there is vast amount of stock photography, images, brushes and digital materials already available on deviantART and shared by the members. This has been true since the beginning. Thousands of photographers on deviantART participate in other web-based stock offerings like Fotolia, iStockPhoto, and so forth. DeviantART itself is not moving into stock photography as a business. The deviantART Collection by Fotolia http://www.fotolia.com/dacollection was created for the benefit of our members, and Fotolia has been a great partner in this because they are completely dedicated to the stock business. We do think that users will be attracted to the deviantART brand in the context of a formal stock offering. The images in the collection are quirky, more leaning towards editorial use and artistic in intent rather than illustrative.

Is the deviantART community showing much interest in this new stock photo project?

Those who are in the collection are absolutely delighted and others are following its progress. It is still very early to tell how we are doing and to decide how we will expand the collection to include many more participants.

What does deviantART bring to stock photography that isn’t found elsewhere?

We hope to bring an overarching attitude and aesthetic in the images that get distributed under the brand. It is hard to place in words what deviantART’s collection “looks like” because it deviates from the norm. That’s what the name deviantART means.

What are deviantART’s plans, if any, for expanding further into the world of stock photography?

This first venture was an experiment between both parties involved (deviantART and Fotolia) and the success of this collection will be a large part of the decision making process. At this point it’s too early to tell what direction we would take, although the initial uptake is very promising.

I have been pretty heavily involved in the professional photography world for over thirty years, yet deviantART has barely been on my radar. Does deviantART have something to offer professional photographers?

The core value of deviantART to professionals is audience. And this audience is comprised of art-centric viewers who are happy to provide constructive critique. To give you an example: I had a one-man show of photographic works at a strong gallery in San Franciso several years’ back. If you discount the people there more for the drinks and less for the art, at the opening party, my work was seen by maybe 200 interested people. If I sold a monograph through a real publisher, maybe I could move 4,000 copies and it would be a big hit. Now compare that to deviantART, where in two years my work has been seen more than 180,000 times and I am not a particularly popular artist on the site.

I believe that the biggest challenge facing photographers today is getting their work seen. From your perspective what are the challenges that face artists in general and photographers in particular, and how can deviantART help with those challenges?

Getting your work seen has never been an automatic proposition and it isn’t on deviantART either. But the social tools provided on deviantART are very useful for building audience. Within a short time you can find compatible members who in turn provide exposure to other members. You can use the Groups system to find affinity groups for particular genres and types of work. Then the members of those groups will expand the audience further. People can share links to your work on other social networks. Professionals have an obligation to get themselves out there. Connection with an audience is an end goal because you can never tell who sits in the audience and what they will contribute to the advancement of your work. No other site provides access to an audience interested in art on its own. Photographers on deviantART gain adjacency to other works of art and to artists in over 2,500 categories and media. That expanse and the opportunities it presents for growth and exploration are simply not available elsewhere. DeviantART like any social environment requires that you apply yourself within the social circle. You need to reach out to people. But the value is that the people are there 24/7. It’s never an empty space. It is always populated.

The deviantART stock offering is being billed as a truly unique collection yet is being priced at the microstock level. Has deviantART considered a higher price point? Is there a possibility of a higher priced collection in the future?

Yes and Yes.

Will deviantART be offering stock collections through other distributors?

Certainly not in the near term. Fotolia has proven itself. It is the only stock company out there that genuinely understands deviantART and that is committed to our unique blend of community and commerce.

Does deviantART have plans for a similar motion or video offering?

Not at this time.

It is still early with the deviantART collection on Fotolia, but do you have indications yet on how it is performing?

It is doing quite well but we will not be releasing public numbers.

Is a similar project for illustration a possibility?

Certainly a possibility and an excellent proposition; but not a current priority.

You have quite a strong background in the music industry. Has that background given you any insights into how photographers, and other artists, might be able to weather the threats of online copyright infringements, plummeting prices and image inundation?

While you mention three big challenges to the photography business, we should also keep in mind that the use of photographic content has exploded with the Internet and the Web. Among other things, online businesses have produced a multi-billion grossing micro stock industry. I hope the next major step for monetizing photography will be streams of visual content delivered to screen displays at both commercial locations and to the home. It would be like a form of visual radio broadcast. This is quite different than television where the viewer is essentially forced to attend. Like radio, visual streams would occur in the foreground or the background depending on what the consumer pays attention to and would be “dialed-in” to a type and style of visual stream that the user is interested in for the moment. Just like ASCAP and BMI for music, collective organizations could monitor image uses, collect licensing fees and distribute royalties to artists. The cost of a 24” x 36” digital display is now the equivalent of a single photograph in the same size by a middle level photographer in a well-made custom frame.

Is there much of a problem on the deviantART site with people claiming others work as their own? How is that policed?

DeviantART has a very robust copyright policy. It takes down infringing content when properly requested. Since the community is made up of co-creators presenting their own work, we are policed by the community with a level of attention that’s pretty intense. In addition, there is a culture of mutual respect at work among peers. This is quite different than other sites that aggregate content just for the sake of the aggregation.

Josh, do you have a favorite image or your own work, and the story behind it that you can share with us?

One of the features we provide on deviantART for members is the ability to create collections from all of the works on the site. These are called “favorites” a term used by deviantART long before Facebook and others adopted it. This is a link to my favorites gallery: http://makepictures.deviantart.com/favourites/

I have found that looking at an artist’s “favorites” gallery on deviantART frequently says more about their worldview, taste, philosophy, attitude and state of mind than looking at the artist’s own work. When someone chooses your work as a “favorite” you get a notice sent to you in your internal messaging center on deviantART to that effect. You can then see how your work is being considered by its adjacency to other choices and preferences of the viewer. This kind of feedback loop is gold in terms of gaining an understanding of how your work is perceived by others.

Josh, what have I forgotten to ask, or what else would you like to share with us?

You can’t ask a professor a question like that without risking an endless boring lecture. Haha.

New Work: Woman Riding A Galloping Elephant

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 22:04:00 +0000

Impossible, "cartoonish", and yet fun to look at and full of concepts. I predict this will be a successful stock photo.

New Work

In the continuing evolution of my photography blog I am going to start sharing more of my new work here. When I create an image that especially pleases me, or has some sort of quality that I think is worth mentioning, whether it is artistic in nature or something that enhances the images value in the market place, I will post the image here on this blog along with my reasons for doing so.

Elephant Ride

In this case the image is another of my “funny elephant pictures”, one of a young woman galloping at speed on an elephant. Now I will be the first to admit that this is kind of a strange image. It is almost cartoonish…and we all know that elephants don’t gallop when they run, and even if they did, it wouldn’t look like this one! Nonetheless, I believe it will be a successful stock photo.

A Feeling Of Freedom And Adventure

This image won’t work for everyone, but it works for me. First and foremost, it makes me smile when I look at it. We all know that photographers are terrible editors of their own work…and that maybe the case here, but the fact is I just plain enjoy looking at this picture. I love the way the woman looks joyful, the feeling of freedom and adventure I get from her with her dress and hair flowing in the wind. I love the contrast between her delicate form and the massiveness of the elephant. I can almost feel the thud as the elephant's feet pound into the earth with each huge leap. I believe that others will fee the same way and equally enjoy looking at this photo. Hopefully that will make the image a great stock photo…time will tell.

Elephants In Thailand, Backgrounds In Mongolia

I photographed the woman in my studio. She was sitting on moving blankets covering apple crates. Stephanie pulled out on her dress and, when she let go I would fire off a shot capturing the movement of the material as it snapped back. We did additional shots in which Stephanie would perform a gentle toss of the model’s hair giving that its movement as well. The elephant I photographed in Thailand. It was actually standing still. I used six different elephant shots to composite this one together. The background was near the Gobi desert in Mongolia, of all places! Actually, it was two different shots in Mongolia, one with just the grass and one with the mountains and sky.

Elephants, Nature and Symbolism

On a conceptual level this image has a lot going for it. Elephants are very positive symbols for us including the representation of strength, power, memory, loyalty and even nobility. The green environment offers a positive view of nature. The woman wears a white dress indicating purity. That she wears no jewelry or shoes indicates closeness to nature, and the fact that she is riding an elephant indicates confidence, skill and even mastery. What I would call ancillary symbolism includes speed, accomplishing the impossible, and even teamwork (the woman and the elephant are both enjoying themselves in a co-operative effort). Another possibility is that this is a photograph of creativity. There is room for even more symbolic meanings that can easily be tapped into through the right headlines and copy. And yes, I purposely left plenty of room for the inclusion of headlines and body copy or inset photos.

Tired Of Social Media

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Social media can be a boon to business, or it can steal your time.

An Endless Stream Of Shared Photos

I’m fading fast…at least with social media. I checked facebook tonight for the first time in a week (and realized someone had sent me an important message five days ago…). I have no desire to peruse Pinterest…not to mention that I have some doubts about their terms of use. My eyes start to glaze over at just the thought of that endless stream of shared photos on Google+. My only Linked In participation seems to be confirming people who want to link to me…people I either barely know or don’t know at all. And speaking of not knowing people, my twitter followers just keep increasing whether I tweet or not, and lately it has been mostly not.

Social Media…And No Significant Effect

My primary interest in social media has always been to increase the traffic to my site. Google analytics indicates that just isn’t happening. Out of approximately 1500 unique visitors a day to my site, less than a dozen come from social media sources. While I am hoping social media can provide me with more link juice, that doesn’t seem to be having a significant effect either.

Tired Of Social Media

I guess I am just tired of social media. I seldom get tired of photography. I spent today prepping for a stock shoot I am doing on Friday. That was fun. Friday’s shoot will be fun. I would much rather be creating images that posting them on a social media site. Of course I love it when people enjoy my photography, but not as much as when I enjoy my photography!

Creating Stand Out Stock Photos

I got into stock photography so I could really focus on what I enjoy doing, creating photos that I want to create and that can earn me a good living. Social media has been creeping up on me, stealing time away from what I truly enjoy doing…making those stock images. I am not going to quit social media, but I will be doing just a bit less of it…and a bit more of creating what I hope are stand out stock photos. Stock photos that are needed in the market place, and stock photos that hopefully can stand up to the intense competition that is the stock photo world.

Evolve Images...A New Approach

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 05:41:00 +0000

A new stock agency with a new approach, Evolve Images offers an innovative route to the business of stock photography.

A new stock agency with the intriguing name “Evolve Images” has opened its doors. The three founders of Evolve , Mark Ippolito, Robert Henson, and Jonothan Solomon certainly have a ton of experience between them having held numerous positions at such leading stock agencies as Getty Images, Corbis, Blend Images, Photodisc, and Comstock. What they are offering is a highly curated collection, a new method of pricing that seems sort of a RF and RM hybrid, and the promise of “Sustaining A Creative Economy”.

Their pricing model is simple. They claim that with three clicks you’ll have your price. You just choose editorial or commercial, choose digital, print, or both, choose one year, two years, or three years, and finally, choose an industry from their pull-down menu. There is also the option of “Requesting a quotation”. Those of us used to more criteria for Rights Managed pricing are at once pleased with the ease of use and left wondering if the pricing might be too general. I guess the only way to judge that is in the performance. If Evolve Images licenses enough photos who is going to argue? Evolve also emphasizes that they will pay the photographer (or copyright holder) at least 50% of the licensing fee. For images that Evolve represents exclusively the royalty paid to the creator is 65%. No argument there for sure! Another innovative approach includes price adjustments for more “valuable” images (though exactly how that value is determined is unclear to me).

On the submission side it is interesting to note that Evolve is willing to take on images captured on camera phones, stills edited from digital video capture, consumer-level digital cameras, etc. Evolve offers image exclusive distribution for one (1) year or non-exclusive image distribution for three (3) years, with auto-renewal at the end of the term unless notified 90 days prior to the contrary. Also of note, they are not planning on using any sub-agents. Another cool point is that they pay within two weeks of receiving fees.

After spending a fair amount of time on the Evolve Images site it certainly appears to me as if they are a photographer friendly outfit. In addition to rapid payment and high royalty percentages, they are also stressing image protection with a proactive enforcement policy. Evolve Images seems very transparent and are encouraging feedback through their blog. All-in-all, Evolve Images has a very interesting approach and I hope they succeed. I will be watching with interest!

What I Know About The Stock Photo Industry

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:06:00 +0000

As demonstrated by this stock photo interpretation of the fable of three blind men and an elephant, it is almost impossible to gain a full understanding of the stock photo industry as a contributing photographer.

The Difficulty Of Understanding The Stock Photo Industry

Like the fabled three blind men who happened upon an elephant and each came away with a vastly different impression of what an elephant was, we stock photographers have a very difficult time truly comprehending the stock photo industry. Each of us has a very small window to view things from, a window defined by our style, the number of images in the marketplace, the agencies that represent us, our own prejudices, and the element of “art”, that indefinable quality, that can make one image so much more popular than a close similar.

Sales Statistics

I have been told more than once that unless you have a thousand images in the market you can’t really get a reliable interpretation of sales statistics…the sample is just too small. I don’t know if that holds true in every case, but I do know that as I constantly look over my own sales reports it is exceedingly difficult to come up with any universal truths! In my own case I keep coming up with the conclusion that pretty much everything sells and some things sell far more than others. What use is that information? I suppose it means that I just need to keep producing.

A Predominance Of Concept Stock Photo

Of course, my own sales reports reflect a predominance of concept stock photos that are “post” intensive, in many cases requiring multiple days to complete just one image. I would guess that my conclusions would not be relevant to, for example, a travel shooter or a high-producing lifestyle shooter. In short, my sales reports do not give me an accurate window into the stock photo industry as a whole.

Microstock vs. Traditional Stock Photography

Another problem I have in attempting to understand the overall industry is my lack of experience in microstock. Microstock is dominating the industry, and yet, other than a dozen or so images in the TAC program through Blend (The Agency Collection which consists of RF priced images that appear on both the Getty site and iStockphoto.com) I have no first hand knowledge. Sure, I hear from friends who shot for micro…but some say things are going great, others say that micro is on the decline, and others say something in between. Oh well….

The Benefits of Licensing Images For Higher Royalties

Microstock shooters certainly don’t have the whole picture without understanding the benefits of licensing images for higher royalties. I am pretty certain that some of my images have brought far more revenues in as Rights Managed images than they ever would have as Royalty Free…and I have other images in which I am relatively sure of the reverse. Of course, I still can’t know entirely for sure because I don’t have the opportunity to see the sales results of a single image that is available in each category. In the few situations where I do have fairly similar images in the different licensing models, including TAC, a case can be made either way.

Selling Your Own Stock Photos Online

Then there is that whole selling your own stock photography online thing. While I have been vigorously pursuing my own version of this for the last three years a case can be made that my own experience actually clouds my ability to see the whole. While there are doubtless many photographers who successfully support themselves through selling their own stock, my experience is that after a significant amount of time and effort it is hard to see how I could ever fully support my self with such an endeavor. I make close to two thousand licenses a month through agencies and only a handful through my own efforts. I can’t imagine how I could deal with the volume of transactions that would be necessary to support myself! That no doubt clouds my perception of the stock industry as a whole.

What I know About The Stock Photography Business

So even though I have this totally distorted view of the stock photo business I will go ahead and share what I believe I know at this point:

1. Most people are not making significant money in stock photography, but a few are doing quite well. Success therefore is possible.

2. There are many different ways of achieving success as a stock photographer. Some photographers achieve success through massive production, some shooters through amazing images, and others through niches or even a mastery of the Internet.

3. The biggest challenge for a stock photographer is to get one’s work seen.

4. The future will see a merging of different license models and price points (as in micro and traditional images available side by side).

5. Shooting the same thing you have always shot actually does seem to work for some people!

6. The key to success, if there is such a thing, is attitude.

7. If I do know anything about achieving success in stock photography, it is subject to change at a moments notice!

Successful Stock Photo Checklist

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:54:00 +0000

This image of a hang gliding pig (When Pigs Fly) has a clear concept, is timeless, easily readable even in thumbnail sizes, has an attractive model and has an authentic expression...yet has never sold!

I put together the following checklist of criteria that I use to determine if an image will make a successful stock photo. Of course, you don't need to meet all of these criteria for an image to be a best seller, but it certainly helps to have as many of them as possible. On the other hand, even having all of the attributes listed below does not guarantee a successful stock photo. But you don't need every image to be a hit to have a great career in stock!

Successful Stock Photo Checklist:

Are the models attractive AND appropriate for the situation?

Is the wardrobe upscale and appropriate for the situation?

Are the expressions authentic?

Is the setting appropriate?

Are the DETAILS perfect?

Does EVERYTHING contribute to a clear, concise and quickly readable message?

Is the image a quick read even at thumbnail size?

Is the concept needed in the marketplace?

Is there room for a variety of crops?

Is there an emotional connection with the image?

Is there space for copy and headlines?

Does the image have staying power?

Does the image feel “real”?

Where have you compromised?

Photography And Dealing With Change

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 04:55:00 +0000

Sometimes the best way to deal with change is to take a deep breath and relax.

The Only Constant Is Change

I had an epiphany last night. It relates to that old adage “the only constant is change”. I have been feeling relieved lately that most of the change facing the photography industry, and the stock photo industry in particular, is behind us. My epiphany, however, is that most of the change is still ahead of us, and will be coming at an ever faster pace! Yikes!

New Cameras, iPhone photos, And Copyright Issues

In just the last month some stock agencies are starting to take iPhone photos, Canon and Nikon have each announced new cameras with ISO ratings of 200,000+, and Le Corbusier, the French furniture company, has won a lawsuit claiming that use of their products in stock photos is a copyright violation. Geez. The change affecting our industry is coming from all directions!

A Strategy To Deal With Change

Whether it is real or perceived, the need to keep up with rapidly proliferating social media developments, technology advancements in both stills and motion, the endless struggle with copyright issues on and offline, the ever increasing influx of imagery, as well as all the other coming changes that I cannot even imagine, is threatening to overwhelm me! The realization that such an onslaught is not going to abate, but rather accelerate, makes me realize that I need some sort of strategy to deal with all this change. Trying blindly to keep up with it isn’t working and is actually cutting into my productiveness, and more importantly, my satisfaction with life!

Google + And Flailing

When I first took up rock climbing (indoors only…I am actually a bit of a coward), my instructor-and girl friend, Stephanie, lovingly demonstrated what I looked like during my climb. She called it flailing. Thrashing wildly about is what it looked like to me. That is how I started to feel last night trying to figure out Google +. I added 500 photographers to my circle, I think. I dunno…but I do know I was flailing! It wasn’t pretty, and flailing is never good.

Less Can Be More

When it comes to dealing with change less can often be more. For example, rather than diving full-bore into social media efforts, and possibly getting sucked into a bottomless pool of plus ones, likes and links, something that can easily consume all the hours I have in a day, I am better off just dipping a toe in the water and watching the relentless current swirl around me without having to thrash wildly about. Most of those hours will be far better spent making cool images and enjoying my life. That seems to me pretty much true of all these changes. It seems to me that it is better to embrace change with caution rather than abandon.

A New Mantra

So my new strategy for dealing with change is simply a mantra: No flailing! When that anxiousness starts to well up, I will just remind myself to keep enjoying the moment and remember not to flail!

Photos For Blogs, Student Use And Photo Products

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:07:00 +0000

This funny cat sitting on a bed wearing slippers is now available for personal use licenses.

Creating Photography Revenue Through The Internet

In my endless effort to create additional photography revenue through the Internet I have taken another step. I have created a limited gallery of images on Photoshelter to take advantage of their “Personal Use Licenses” and photo imprinted products. I am using my Animal Antics collection of funny pet pictures, and only ones that are not currently handled by stock agencies. My initial gallery can be viewed here.

SEO For Photographers

Photoshelter does an admirable job of conveying information about SEO and other topics important to photographers. But I am not expecting Photoshelter to bring in much traffic. I suspect that search engines such as Google see them as a “content farm” and therefore do not rank them highly in image searches. I could be wrong, and as much as I have learned about search engine optimization over the last three years, I still don’t comprehend the whole process of how Google and others determine the search engine results. I don’t believe anyone outside of the search engine companies really know all of the ins and outs of ranking highly for web or image searches.

Photos For Blogs, Student Work And Photo Imprinted Products

My plan is to use the traffic I generate from my own site and offer those who find the images concerned (my Photoshelter collection) the opportunity for personal use such as non-commercial blogs and websites, student uses and so forth as well as photo imprinted products, by providing links to the Photoshelter collection. The solution isn’t terribly elegant, but it is better than nothing at all…a lot better! It is also important that I have the system work without my being involved. I get quite a few emails from students and others who wish to use my images for a variety of purposes that do not justify enough of a licensing fee to even pay for my time to read the emails! Hopefully this can relieve me of some of that problem while still generating additional income.

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

Since I am paying something like $29.00 a month for the Photoshelter account I view this as a one-year $350.00 experiment. Actually, just putting up the images takes up more of my time than $350.00 would pay for…by a considerable amount. But as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained! Hopefully that money (and time) will be rewarded sufficiently by a combination of personal use licenses and products including mouse pads (with cat pictures), coffee mugs decorated with silly dog photos, and t-Shirts for animal lovers. We will see. I might add that this effort is supplemental to my ongoing CafePress.com experiment which also offers funny cat and dog pictures on a wide variety of gifts and photo-imprinted products.

Funny Animal Pictures For Advertising, Editorial And Personal Uses

I have started with 30 funny animal pictures; cats, dogs and other animals in human-poses and situations virtually all of which were created originally for greeting card use, but that can also be used for advertising and editorial purposes. I would love to see stock agencies offer personal use licenses as well. Perhaps some do and I am just not aware of it. Microstock agencies perhaps? However, with these images, because I have an exclusive contract with one greeting card company, I cannot offer them in the Royalty Free and Microstock venues, they have to be Rights Managed stock photos.

The New Cameras...The Coming Thing, or Dinosaurs?

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

What will the future of high-end digital cameras look like?

The following is a forum post by Lanny Ziering, CEO of SuperStock and a stock photographer himself. Lanny brings an interesting perspective on the new crop of digital cameras....

I've been following the discussions about the new Nikon D4 and Fuji X-Pro-1 with great interest. There are so many new, appealing cameras that have been announced: Canon 1Dx, Panasonic GX1, Sony NEX-7, and, of course, the Nikon D4 and Fuji X-Pro-1. It got me thinking. What are all these cameras telling us about where photography and cameras are headed? What will the top-of-the-line professional camera look like 3-5 years from now?

The Nikon D4 or Canon 1Dx are undeniably the state of the art in tools for professional photographers. But, I can't help but feel they are the camera of today and not the camera of tomorrow. They remind me of a Porsche Panamera Turbo S, which in my book is the most amazing, state of the art sedan made today. But, in all honesty, that Porsche tells us more about the cars of yesterday than tomorrow. On the other hand, there is the Toyota Prius. Ugly, boring to drive, but the Prius tells us a lot more about where automobiles are headed than the Panamera. That said, I've driven the Prius and hate it. I've driven a Panamera and loved it. But truth be told, the Panamera is a dinosaur.

I think that Nikon D4 is like that Panamera Turbo S--a dinosaur. So what is the Prius of cameras? The new Fuji? The new Panasonic? All interesting cameras, but I think the model of the camera of the future is the Sony NEX-7. I'm not crazy. I realize there is no comparison between a Nikon D4 and a Sony NEX-7 as a professional tool. But it is hard to believe that high-end professional cameras 3-5 years from now will continue to have mirrors and prisms. I also think mechanical shutters will be phased out over the next 3-5 years. Mirrors, prisms, and shutters add bulk, weight, noise, vibration, and complexity and all in the name of solving yesterday's problems. The Sony NEX-7 is the first camera to move substantially in the direction of the future. I think its form and feature set are the prototype of what is to come. It has no mirror, no prism, and the first curtain of the shutter is not needed to begin the exposure. It has a viewfinder that probably gives a more accurate representation of what the final image will look like than anything you can see on ground glass sitting inside a mirror/prism box. The NEX-7 body weighs 353 grams versus the Nikon weighing 1340 grams. Even a plastic digital Canon Rebel body weighs 570 grams.

Like the Red One was totally disruptive to video cameras, the Sony NEX-7--or probably the camera that Sony introduces in the next year or two to replace it--will be as disruptive as the Red. An interesting questions is whether Nikon and Canon will effectively make the switch away from mirrors, prisms, and mechanical shutters. Neither has a serious mirrorless offering yet for enthusiasts, let alone pros. It will be interesting to watch.

Just wanted to share my thoughts.

Lanny Ziering
Lanny@SuperStock.com
SuperStock

Busines Is Great!

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:06:00 +0000

Photography businesses, like most businesses are marathons and succeed as a result of the continuous execution numerous, and endless, small tasks.

How Is Business?

People often ask me, as small talk of course, how business is, or if I am staying busy. As a self-employed person I am as busy as I want to be. As someone trying to maintain a successful photography career there is no shortage of work to do! As for how business is, its great! I am certainly not making as much as I was a couple of years ago, but my income appears to be stable and I still believe there is ample opportunity for growth.

The Photography Business Is A Marathon

Achieving growth in a photography business, at least in my photography business isn’t easy. But I keep in mind that my business is a marathon, not a sprint. I need to be the tortoise, not the hare! My goal this year is to do everything just a little bit better. Learn a bit more about social media (especially Google+ and possibly Tumblr), keep adding content to Cafepress.com, adding content to Imagekind.com, adding content to my website, blogging, and most importantly, creating a wide variety of stock imagery. Ultimately, everything is important and doubly so now when competition in the photography industry has reached such astounding proportions!

Forecasting Winners

As I mentioned, this business is a marathon. A lot of those things that I want to do a little bit better are things that may take years to provide a reasonable payoff, and I understand and accept that many things I do may never pay off. But just like with stock photos, some will payoff, some won’t, and it is very hard to forecast which ones will be the winners. It is helpful to remember that there are photographers (and others) who are employing pretty much all of these processes successfully, whether it is selling fine art prints online, successfully employing social media to attract new clients, or earning significant revenue through online ads.

Increasing Visibility

I do believe that core to the future of my business is building traffic to my site. As I increase the visibility of my images I increase my revenue from all of my sources…and from sources I have yet to begin participating in. With an increase in visibility and traffic more people license my stock photos, more people buy greeting cards and other photo imprinted merchandise, more people buy fine art prints, and more people click on Google ads. I make more revenue from more sources.

Business Is Great

So, like a tortoise in the fabled race with the hare, I plug along testing the social media waters, adding new sources of revenue, improving and refining my business activities and work flow, making stock photos, and possibly most important of all, enjoying my business. How is business? Business is great!

Weird Stock Photos That Sell!

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:56:00 +0000

Weird Stock Photos That Sell
I thought it might be fun to look at some really weird stock photos that actually sell reasonably well. Fairly often I come up with stock photo ideas that, after execution, actually strike me as weird, ill conceived, or just plain dumb. Yet some of these less than stellar images actually end up selling. In this blog post we will look at three such examples of weird stock photos that have sold multiple times resulting in over a thousand dollars in royalties each into my hot little hands. I will speculate on why these images are selling, as well as delve into what made me create the image in the first place.

A super hero costumed model standing on a conference table in an office in Bangkok has actually sold quite well!

A Super Hero, A Tight Crop, And Eighteen-hundred dollars
At a photo shoot in Bangkok I somehow got the idea of having one of the models dress up in a superhero outfit. I shot the model standing on a conference table cropping at mid thigh. I shot that crop as a alternative to the full length shot of the model because the full length version just wasn't working for me. The upward angle seemed to severe and the ceiling didn't make for a great background. I hesitated to send this image in because I couldn't for the life of me figure out what anybody would use it for! Lo and behold, in the last three years the image has been licensed over ten times for a total (to me) of over eighteen-hundred dollars. Go figure!

In impromptu pose results in a new perspective and a stock photo that sells well.

A New Perspective And Thinking Outside The Box
My friend Paula Zacharias and I were photographing models in Buenos Aires. We had completed all the usual stuff, people in meetings, at outdoor cafes, using cell phones, you get the idea. I don't recall why I asked them to undertake this pose, and to this day I can't figure out what people use it for, but it has brought in over a thousand dollars in the last three years. Perhaps it is being used to advocate a new perspective, thinking outside the box, or maybe it is advertising a product that makes business less arduous. Hey, if any of you ever see it used let me know!

Clouds form the shape of a hand point a finger in an unusual stock photo that can be used for concepts such as cloud computing or religion issues.

Cloud Computing Or A Message From God?
I think I saved the best for last. Yes, I am a little embarrassed that i created this odd image, but hey, it sells! For what? Again, I just don't know. Perhaps it points to cloud computing, or has some sort of use in the realm of religion. What ever it is used for, I just can't put my finger on. But sell it does and has also earned me over a thousand dollars in the last several years. Perhaps the message here is that it isn't a bad idea, when shooting stock photos, to stretch into the realm of the silly, the oddball or even the outright weird. In the long run a little bit of "coloring outside the lines" can really pay off!

Advice to Photographers From Industry Leaders

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 17:40:00 +0000

Eleven photographers and industry luminaries offer advice for photographers in the upcoming year.

I hire fun people. It has to be fun. If it’s not fun, I can’t do it. I do get nervous and that’s not fun. The work usually suffers for it though, so if I feel the nerves coming on I over prepare. Then, it all works out OK.
Annabelle Breakey Interview (Photographer)

The popular advice tells us to choose one thing and to do it well and to do it for the rest of your career. Come on folks. Most of you came into this business wanting to make pictures of a wide variety of subjects. Yet photographers choose to do this OR that. I believe it is time to do this AND that AND that AND… To manifest love by encompassing and manifesting your many passions.
Ian Summers Interview (Creative Consultant)

“Doom and gloom” have been words used to describe our industry for the longest times. And every creative field echoes the same sentiment. We have been and still are a huge financial industry in all areas of photography and we will continue. I believe that photography, as an art form, will never die. As technology advances in our industry, new opportunities are being created. More people enjoy photography and more institutions display photography. As for all creative fields, it is a difficult road, but we should be optimistic that we are in such a great profession. Our artists should remain enthusiastic and optimistic because they are doing what they love, which to is the essence of life
Jerry Tavin Interview (Founder, Young Photographers Alliance)

After all these years, the most precious thing we own is the potential that at any moment something incredible might happen. It’s the potential that drives the bus. Thomas Edison said everything he ever found he found while he was looking for something else. Stay alert. It’ll be fun. You’ll see.
Walter Hodges Interview (Photographer)

There are a lot of shooters cranking out quantity and sites are increasingly seeking to get out from under this inundation of content. It is not good for customers, or agencies, to be hosed down with endless images of a high-production but low-creativity nature. And while ‘more unique images’ appeals to the creative in me, if your few gems are hard to find or positioned out-of-place then they will not sell and you will starve. So you need to know your market and get better exposure than the competition.
Lewis Blackwell Interview (Director of Strategy, Image Source)

To me, there is no better way to get ideas on style, body language and trends than to sit at the mall and people watch. Authenticity is king at your local mall! You can observe the body language of people using their hand held devices, what people are wearing and how they are wearing it. Are you doing a shoot involving teens? - hang out by the food court. Are you having trouble picking wardrobe? - hang out by the banana republic. Are you doing a baby boomer fitness shoot? - go early and check out the mall walkers. Are you doing a mother / child shoot?- hang out by baby gap.
Jim Doherty Interview, (Senior Art Director, Blend Images)

The thing that makes the best stock photos in my mind is a connection between the subject and viewer, easy read, and clear concept. People aren’t just smiling in front of the camera but they are living in front of the camera and the photographer is just documenting that. It is not as easy as it sounds though. A stock photographer needs to be able to look at the scene they are shooting and ask themselves “What is the point? What is the Moment to capture in this set up?”
Siri Berting Interview (Photographer)

Keep your photos fresh, if you don’t have assignment work, work on personal projects.
Jessica Mirolla Interview (Freelance Art Buyer)

I had burned out of managing disinterested parties on photo shoots for production outlays that were taking longer than I felt was wise to break even. I found that I could not cut costs further and still forecast an adequate income; nor could I maintain a happy and healthy lifestyle as I squeezed the expenses whilst raising my crews’ stress to unnecessary levels. I chose to stop, take profit on my royalties, and change what I was doing.
Shannof Fagan Interview (Photographer)

It is very hard to speculate where tomorrows stock industry will be showing it's strongest returns so staying involved and on top of our research for all the models of stock is a daily investment of our time.
Jonathan Ross Interview (Photographer, Founder of Spaces Images)

I believe we, in the future, will see buyers getting bored by the microstock look. And this will probably make personal branding more important, if not necessary, if you want to succeed in the industry.
Yuri Arcurs Interview (Photographer)

What Has Social Media Done For Me?

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 22:23:00 +0000

A woman pauses to examine her world of social media, a sphere of portraits ranging from friends and family to business associates.

Checking My Facebook Page

This morning I began checking my Facebook page to see what was new and I realized that at least 80% of the posts were by people who I didn’t even know. I have the habit of saying yes to whomever sends a friend request. Now I have posts in Russian, Dutch, Thai, Spanish and languages that I can’t even guess at. Posts from close friends, people I barely know, and people that I don’t know at all.

Feeling A Little Left Out

I have mentioned before that when I peruse Facebook I sometimes start feeling a little left out…though oddly enough the things I feel left out of are things I am not really very interested in anyway. What does that say about me?

Keeping Up On Cool Images

For me Facebook seems to be primarily a way to keep up to date on the cool images that Colin Anderson makes…which of course makes me wonder why I don’t come up with cool images (okay…I do come up with some cool images…but certainly not with the style and romance of Colin’s work). My friend Shalom Ormsby shares his benevolent perspectives on life, Shannon Fagan shares his humorous adventures in China, David Sanger (and many others) share their cool iPhone pix (hey, how come my iPhone pix don’t look cool?), and everyday is somebody’s birthday…which since I only check every couple of days I am usually just finding out I missed someone’s birthday.

Two Thousand Followers And Irrelevant Tweets

Then there is twitter. I have over 2,600 followers, hardly any of which I suspect ever see the once-a-week tweets that I make. I follow over two thousand twitterers (is that what they are called?), and how can you possibly stay on top of all those tweets? I sure can’t…and most of the tweets are totally irrelevant to me. Once-in-a-while I do hang in there, scrolling down all those tweets till I find one that looks like it may lead to something interesting…though most the time what they lead to turns out to be something written by someone for whom English is their second, or third, language.

Goolge +, Klout and Linked In

I have a Google + account too. I visit that religiously…ever few weeks. I have no idea what do with it except make circles…but I already go round and round enough already! Klout sends me emails to let me know how influential I am…but I have no idea what the scores mean. I get requests everyday to link to people on Linked In, though mostly they are people I don’t know. I think I read somewhere that you actually are supposed to know the people you link to…of course, I say yes anyway because it seems like the polite thing to do.

Spam, YouTube and Vimeo

The first thing I do every morning is throw away the fifty-odd spam emails I get during the night, the ones my spam filter doesn’t catch. I have three email accounts two of which I haven’t looked at in months. YouTube comments on my video channel of mostly slow motion videos go to one of those accounts…last time I looked at it I just felt overwhelmed…and haven’t gone back since. That reminds me…I started to put some stuff up on Vimeo, but never followed up with a second submission. Oh Well.

What Has Social Media Done For Me?

What has social media done for me? Well, if nothing else, it gives me something to do while I eat breakfast, something to do every few minutes at work, something to do while I watch TV in the evenings, and something to blog about!

The Equation For Success In Stock Photography

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 06:44:00 +0000

The secret ingredients in the formula for success are copius amounts of hard work and an appropriate gestation period (i.e. a lot of time!).

Exploring The Work of Photographers

Earlier this week I spent some time exploring the work of other photographers. Man, there are a lot of great shooters out there! I also spent time looking at work in stock agencies. Again, some of the photography that is being produced is amazing. Sure, there is a ton of bad photography, and mountains of mediocre imagery, but there is also a copious amount of fantastic work flooding into the market…work that is adding to the already staggering glut of stock photography.

The Equation For Success In Stock Photography

Every once-in-a-while, when I do that kind of searching, I am amazed that I am still successful in stock photography. I mean, with all of that truly great work out there, how does anyone ever find my work let alone choose to license it? I don’t have an answer to that question. But it is a question that continues to concern me, and that leads to the question of what I can do to make sure that I can continue to do well in stock photography. I believe that there is an equation for success in stock photography:

Quality Images + visibility = Success x Quantity + Variety

Of course, this doesn't include the necessity of a ton of hard work and a huge investment of time!

No Magic Bullet

There is no one answer, no magic bullet. The formula for success lies in having great images with high visibility. Of course, the more of those images the greater the success as well, though the quantity requires variety to avoid cannibalization. So on the one hand it is simple: create great images and get them seen. On the other hand, it isn’t easy. It is a ton of work, and one that requires tremendous passion for success. You need the passion or you’ll never get the work done.

Great Work And Visibility

That begs the questions of how to create great work, how do get visibility for your images, and how to be able to produce the quantity of work needed to meet your financial goals. But it can be done and a lot of people are doing it. Some are doing it by themselves, some with plenty of staff, some using video and some using stills. Again, to succeed you need to find the combination that works for you, the combination that works with the passion you have.

Making The Numbers Work And Work Flow Interruption

Actually, it gets even more complicated. You have to make the numbers work as well. You need to be sure that you are paying attention to your expenses, being realistic in your accounting and planning, and dealing, effectively, with all the pain-in-the-neck details that running a successful business takes. For example, I spent most of the day today getting a new server up and running. Who among us budgets accurately for such work flow interruptions? That is just one example of too many for me to even think about right now.

Images Online And Building Traffic

I will say that one thing I am certain is a good move in relation to insuring that my stock photo career flourishes in the long term is in getting my images online and building the traffic of my site to increase the visibility of my images. I began the process three years ago. What I have come to believe through these efforts is that the strategy is a sound one, but that the process is almost unbelievably time-intensive and an insanely long-term undertaking. I do believe that someday I will wake up and say “Man, I am glad I did that work!” which is what I have also said many times about my efforts to build my stock photography business in the first place.

A Transitioning Stock Photo Market

noreply@blogger.com (John Lund) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 19:04:00 +0000

A transitioning industry such as stock photography business results in a wild roller-coaster ride!

Stock Photographers, Agencies, And Clients Are Missing Out

Both stock photographers and stock agencies everywhere are missing out. Traditional stock photographers are missing out on the huge audiences of the microstock agencies. Microstockers are missing out on the higher prices of traditional stock. Clients are missing out by not having access to a full range of visual solutions. While a lot of “solutions” have been offered up, the real solution, the only viable solution, is happening slowly but inevitably.

Higher Priced Content On Microstock Sites

Microstock agencies are slowly bringing higher priced content onto their sites whether through the addition of content from traditional agencies, or through the addition of higher priced content. In the case of iStockphoto.com, their higher-priced content offering, Vetta, has also been migrated onto the Getty site.

The Difference Is Price

As far as I can figure out, at this point, the biggest difference between high-priced stock photos and low-priced stock photography is the price. It may be that traditional and microstock agencies can successfully create different price brands that hold up…time will tell. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the lower prices climb a bit and the higher prices continue to fall…though I hope not.

Cleaning Up Rights Managed Collections

It also seems that traditional agencies are starting to clean out material that hasn’t sold well, or at all, and are moving that work either into lower priced collections. Getty is culling out material from its RM collections that hasn’t sold in three years and moving it into RF collections. Getty is also running a campaign pointing out the value of RM material by the work and resources that go into the images. I do think that RM will continue to exist, but primarily for high-end advertising use.

Volume Sales, Or Higher Priced Sales

Someday, probably sooner rather than later, all the different collections will be available to all audiences at various price points. Hopefully photographers will see the wisdom of putting better images into the higher priced collections, though it is inevitable that the lines will remain blurred as photographers struggle with the decision to go for the volume sales or to go for fewer but higher priced sales. My own strategy is to go for both while avoiding the very lowest price points.

Higher Priced Collections Are Where The Money Is

Right now I would advise all photographers contributing to stock photography to do their best to get images into higher priced collections. From what I have heard from the photographers I know who participate in microstock (hearsay only…), the higher price collections are where the real money is. I also know from my own experience that the images I have in TAC (The Agency Collection) that are on both the Getty site and the iStockphoto.com site, are earning extremely well. I can’t say yet whether images will earn more than similar images in RF or RM, but it does look promising. Keep in mind though, that those TAC images are being licensed at traditional RF prices, not microstock prices.

Traditional Stock Agencies And Non Commercial Use

There is another area in which we are missing out as well. I get contacted several times a week by individuals wanting to use one of my images on their blogs or for some other personal and non-commercial use. Unfortunately there is no provision for such uses by the traditional stock agencies…at least not at rates that make sense for those individuals.

Production, Improvement And Distribution

It is my belief that the market is in transition to sorting itself out. The bummer is that we don’t know what it will eventually look like…or how long it will take. In the meantime we just have to keep producing, improving our work, and doing our best to get the work distributed as effectively as possible.