The Most Valuable Thing I Own As A Photographer.
Starting in early December of 2007, right before the holidays, I started preparing photographs for submission to an online photography marketplace called the PhotoShelter Collection.
I spent ALOT of time on my computer in programs called Lightroom and Photoshop editing and “cleaning up” photographs by removing noise and taking out scratches and dust spots. After cleaning up the pictures I then had to create files to meet the technical specifications for submission to the PhotoShelter Collection.
After years of being frustrated and unenthusiastic about the way the business of photography has been going,because of the PhotoShelter Collection and places like it, I’ve become hopeful and enthusiastic again.
In 1997, after working over a decade as a photographer, I decided to get out of the business. I found the working terms intolerable and frustrating. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed photography but not as a way to make a living and, when considering my finances, it’s too expensive to be a hobby.
In 2002 I moved to Washington DC and began working as a photography instructor. One of the courses that I began to teach was the “business of photography”. As a way to inform students on current business trends I started reading about what was going on in the business. Although things were still getting pretty dismal, there was one thing that never changed; those that owned the copyrights were making money.
Although I own a scanner, a computer, cameras and a bunch of photography related software, the most valuable thing that I own by far is the copyright to my photographs.
If i did not own the copyright to my work, I would need to start all over again. The only way I could even consider getting back into this business is because, beyond the work I created as a staff photographer, I NEVER relinquished the copyright to ANY of my work. As a result I’m sitting on a photo library that I’ve created over a 20 year span AND I own the copyright to each photograph. It’s only because of this, and places like PhotoShelter that I’m able to immediately start working as a photographer again.
Time to get back to work.
This entry was posted on Saturday, August 9th, 2008 at 8:54 pm. It is filed under Learn Photography.
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Hi Sam,
Just checked out PhotoShelter… have you had any sales on it? I set up a Pro SmugMug account for printing (free for non-profits) for school photos, which helps pay for the FotoFest. It’s $149/yr otherwise, much cheaper than Collage etc. I’m curious as to how much one can make on PhotoShelter or the other otherline stock sites.
Thanks for pushing out new ideas!
Dave
Hi Dave,
Although photographers have made licensing income via PhotoShelter, I have not.
Why haven’t I made sales? I’m not sure.
Here are my thoughts on why I’ve made no sales;
I like PhotoShelter because they treat photographers fairly. They have leveled the playing field for individual photographers who don’t want to deal with the big machines like Corbis and Getty. Read how Getty is killing the stock photo industry.
Since PhotoShelter does not require photographer or image exclusivity, I’ll soon be submitting work to another outlet.
If you do decide to get your work into an outlet, I’d recommend outlets that do not require exclusivity of any sort.
How much can one make? That depends on your licensing model and how the licensee uses the picture.
In brief, a royalty free (RF) or micro stock licensing model is based on volume and leaves little money for the photographer. While a rights managed (RM) licensing model is based on less frequent licensing but more, MUCH MORE, money per license.
Here are a couple of links.
http://www.asmp.org/commerce/royaltyfree.php
http://www.acclaimimages.com/resources/rf_rm.html
I hope this helps Dave.
Best Regards,
Sam
Interesting to know.