Hello Rolf,
Thanks for getting back with me. I appreciate your feedback, I am always interested in learning more from individuals who have worked on the editing, directing and producing stock imagery.
So far my experience with Getty has been good, but at the same time I've only been with them for less then a year. I've been successful with my submission rate which I think is contributed to keeping production cost low, and keeping the number of images submitted low. The editors seem very tight with little to no room for similar images. I do feel positive about working with Getty as I have I have built a successful system of producing, shooting, retouching and submitting. I have heard nightmares from other stock shooters who have spend a lot of money producing work, only getting a couple images accepted. This can be extremely frustrating as there is a lot of up front work without any promise of getting images accepted. For example I've had a friend put together a $15,000 production for a two day shoot to only get 4 images accepted. Those are tough numbers and can kill one's ambition to work with Getty very quickly. On the other hand I have found great talent to work with me for free on a half day shoot working with natural light and have had 17 images accepted. The success comes from testing the waters with talent in previous submissions, keeping my overhead very low, and keeping my time in production very low as well. The less time and energy I put out, the less I'm disappointed when I don't get the numbers I'm looking for.
One very frustrating aspect is I feel like Getty is one big machine with no one to speak with, bounce ideas off of, or ask for guidance. Maybe this type of relationship will develop over time as my library grows, and my sales increase. If I had someone that I could speak with or email in order to receive guidance I think I would be more motivated to produce more work. Another extremely frustrating aspect is receiving only 20% on royalty free sales. As you know if a photographer wants to choose what type of licensing an image receives he is charged $50 per image, but if you leave it to the editors there is no charge. Most of my images as of late have been licensed as RF. From my perspective I would rather leave this decision to the editors who have a better feel for how and where images should be placed. In the end I would prefer an RF image that sells cheap, but sells often over an RM image that doesn't sell at all.
Currently my "feeding the machine" consists of 2 to 3 shoots a month keeping over head as low as possible. Shoots consist or one or two talent, on location for a full or half day. With a half day shoot I do my best to knock out 1000 frames. Out of that 1000 I edit it down to 50-75. Out of that I retouch 25-35. Out of that I get accepted 8-15 images. That puts me close to getting 20-45 images accepted a month. With 12 months in a year I"m looking at maybe 300 plus images accepted a year. When I began to think of my stock shoots in these terms I started to see my acceptance rate increase, and I was able to be realistic about my acceptance numbers with the production cost I was putting behind it. Its too soon to see if it has financially worked out. What will 300 to 400 new images a year equal to in sales and profit, I don't know yet. I have committed to this schedule for the year, in hopes that I will see my statements build consistency and build sales. Time will tell and I plan on adjusting my work flow accordingly.
There's a catch. I took four years off from photography full time and worked as an Art Director at a large advertising agency to learn more about photography from the client's side. This was an amazing experience that gave me a lot of insight on what AD's are looking for, how they think, and the over all hurtles they go through on a day to day basis in order to sell in their concepts and produce their artwork. From this vantage point I produce my stock work thinking more about the end game and less about my vision as a photographer. Both perspectives are there, but having an AD's knowledge base has allow me to be more successful in producing, shooting and submitting in the long run. Another advantage is that I'm currently located in Colorado. Talent is cheap, natural light and weather is great, and locations are easy to come by. I also have the ability to hit both coasts when I need to get of town and change things up.
Another important perspective I have taken about working within stock photography is that it is a long term investment. I have had many photographers contact me about shooting stock looking for a quick turn on their money. I clearly state that is not the case, unless you have a significant amount of money to put behind it. But even then it will take 9 months to a year to get a return on your investment if you're lucky, let alone make a profit. As you can imagine photographers don't like to hear that.
I hope I have not been to wordy in my response, but as you can tell I am hungry to hear from someone who as extensive experience in this field. I am very interested in collaborating with you developing strategy for long term shooting and maximizing stock potential. I would also be interested in seeking your advice about getting my work in front of more buyers, art directors and producers. Or if you are interested I could pull together a package of images that you could put in front of individuals in the industry.
I look forward to the opportunity to work with you in the future.
cheers,
~Q
S C O T T Q U I N N
310.344.1643
Photography // www.scottquinnphoto.com
http://scottquinnphotography.blogspot.com/
On Mar 25, 2010, at 11:17 AM, Rolf Sjogren wrote:
Hi Scott -
Thanks for your feedback on my website.
I've reviewed your work on the Getty site and your own site and I can see why you're keen on making more stock imagery - your look has a natural fit to that arena - great light, colors, freshness and good facial expressions.
How have you fared with sales since your work has been on the Getty site? Photographers I know (such as Dave Nagel) with many years experience with Getty, and great, saleable imagery, lately have had a very mixed experience there. But most of them have not really been, as I put it, "feeding the machine" - continuing to shoot a lot, replenishing and updating their portfolio with Getty, despite the effects of the recession and the downward pressure on prices due to the ubiquity of high quality imagery available on line. So I'm interested to hear from someone who sounds more positively motivated, to know what experience is behind that.
My entire career has been about consulting, but I had always done it as a full-time employee at a stock agency - with the title Photo Editor or Art Director or Director of Photography. All those roles are fundamentally about working with photographers to mine great images out of collections, create great new shoots, bodies of work and collections of innovative and saleable imagery. I love doing it and I'm great at it. So, to answer your query, yes I'm available to consult about creating stock imagery, and that includes video.
As you can imagine, how it works varies a great deal to match with a photographer's needs and abilities. What I can contribute ranges from writing a simple, one-time shot-list for a shoot, to creating a story-board/look-book for a shoot and creative research to inform your shot choices, to editing your existing library, to pre-production art direction (i.e., advising on selecting models, locations, etc.), to on-set art direction, editing a shoot after it's processed, advising on re-touching, and so on. I have a lot of nuts-and-bolts shoot production-supervising experience, augmenting the art direction. In preparing for a shoot, I can meet with a photographer just once to draft and fine-tune a shoot brief, or collaborate with full time for many days, or on an occasional-consulting basis: meeting a few times at key points before, during and/or after a shoot. Apart from shoots and editing, I can help develop a photographer's strategy for long-term shooting plans and maximizing the stock potential of personal work and even assignments for other customers. The possibilities of how I could work with a photographer are wide and very much customized to the needs of the project at hand and the photographer's needs.
Let me know if you're interested in working with me in any of the ways I've described (or other ways that address your needs). Where are you located now? I'm based in New York City.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Rolf
On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 3:41 PM, Scott Quinn
I just saw your post through Linkedin for comments on your new site so I thought I would take a look at your work. Overall I think the site looks good and is easy to navigate, but I was most impress will your overall portfolio and your work experience. I've just signed with Getty last year through Jupiter Images and I have committed to developing more content this year.
I noticed on you site you work with Dave Nagel. Dave was a friend of my years ago when I lived in LA in the early 2000's. I'll have to drop him a line and say hello.
I am currently looking for more creative minds to work with in developing more stock imagery. Are you doing any consulting at this time?
I look forward to the opportunity to work with you in the future.
Cheers,
~Q
My current Getty Library.
http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?assettype=image&artist=Scott%20Quinn%20Photography
S C O T T Q U I N N
310.344.1643
Photography // www.scottquinnphoto.com
http://scottquinnphotography.blogspot.com/
