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What is
today's market? Where is it going? Can I make money in it? Which stock
agency is for me? According to Allen Russell, former head of PACA (Picture
Agency council of America), "there are not a lot of common denominators
anymore. The former industry standards are out the window." Within the
last decade, you could judge how many of your images would be accepted
by your agency. You could measure your expected income, and you could
plan timing around their marketing program, or how many images you might
get into their printed catalog within a year. It all seemed pretty straight
forward and measurable. Now the former "high rollers" are seeing their
revenue shrink and their images endure heavy edits. Some are being dropped
from the agencies all together. So, where does this leave you? It leaves
you with a lot more homework to do, if you are going to play in the stock
industry. I believe that stock photography, illustration and film footage
is a bigger global industry than ever before. There is plenty of room
for opportunity and plenty of opportunity to make money. You need to investigate
all the agencies, and decide what is right for you. Consider what is your
specialty and subject matter. What is your production level? Are you a
full time assignment artist doing stock on the side, or can you be a full
time stock producer? How much marketing money are you willing to allot
to the project, and how much time? Can you market yourself or do you need
an agent? Lots of questions! Start to
look around and analyze your position. Do some web research. Study the
big "acquisitions and mergers" – the sorting out of what became absorbed
into Corbis, Getty Images and Index Stock Imagery. There's lots of good
information on www.pacaoffice.org. - The Picture Agency Council of America.
They are an excellent organization for stock agencies and all their members
are listed with their web sites. As you study these, you will see that
some promote exclusive types of subject matter (sports, food, etc.); some
represent only a few named photographers; some are small and some are
very large. Some don't have web sites and some do. Study the
web sites and request contributor guidelines. Study the PACA "Code of
Ethics". It will guide you in what questions to ask the agencies about
their mode of doing business. Most agencies are open to new talent, but
are highly selective and often accept only about 10% of the new submissions.
This means you have to be severe in judging how your own work will fit.
Know what the agency needs before you submit. Most likely they won't need
pretty sunsets, lots of sun flowers, or your grab shots of vacations and
family photos. In general they will need stylish concepts, model released
life style, active sports, unique locations, images representing such
industries as financial, electronics, telecommunications, pharmaceutical,
health and beauty, travel and business. Decide if
the assignment work you do fits in the stock world. Many successful photographers
make the cross-over work. It's not for the person who won't make the extra
effort. It concerns saving the rights to use the images with other clients.
It requires model and property releases that are yours, not your clients.
It requires removing client logos and fitting the image into a new concept.
I've seen this done successfully with everything from table top product
photography to fashion photography, but it requires time and expense. Consider
how you file your work and how you caption it. A closet full of old chromes
is not necessarily a gold mind you haven't tapped. Keep your selections
and filing up to date and current. In a year's time your work is old –
hair and clothing styles change; film types change; sports, computer and
medical equipment get updated; buildings get built and torn down. Unless
your work is vintage, it may be useless for stock if over a year old. Don't ever
try to submit work to an agent without proper captions. It's a waste of
time for them and downright annoying. Get a captioning program for speed
and neatness. Besides your copyright, include the "what, when, where,
and why" of the image. A caption can sell the image. If it's a location,
give the exact street, city, country, beach, park, etc. Agents are not
interested in just pretty pictures of palm trees, unless they know where
the palm trees are. Having come
from years of selling stock and 2 intense years of selling it on line
at Index Stock, I can tell you, an Account Executive's biggest nightmares
are lack of comprehensive keywording (especially with locations), insufficient
property and model releases, lack of updated equipment (cell phones, computers,
medical, etc.) and lack of updated events. Other areas
to consider – does your work fit into the advertising market of the
editorial market? Is it slick, clean and conceptual, or does it represent
a current sociological issue of our times? Each requires a different style
and serves a different need. Each earns different amounts of money on
different time schedules. Consider
the issue of selling "on line". The image industry has fully developed
into an on line industry. This trend is led by the big agencies with the
big money. It's not cost efficient for Corbis, Getty or Index to sell
any way other way than on line, and they take every effort never to send
out a chrome. Clients can download low res comps immediately, design their
ad and order a high res web page to go to press, all in one day. All clients
now have sophisticated equipment and savvy computer programs to accomplish
this. The large stock agencies have computer "help desk" staff to aid
with download problems. Account Executives are taught how to handle client
technical issues all in a day's work. This is where the volume and the
money is. However this is where the start up cost is so high that the
agent has to function as large and corporate. This is what
brings us back to why it is difficult to understand the industry and its
changes today; why it is difficult to find large agents to spend the money
it takes to edit, barcode, library, keyword, scan and get your images
up on line. It requires a large staff to do it on a timely basis. It also
requires your ability to produce images that read well as small scans
on a client's computer screen. Also understanding
the new world markets takes some reeducation. Your work now may not only
be represented to pro accounts (ad agencies, publishers, graphic designers,
marketing departments), it is being make available to SOHO markets (small
office, home office), consumer markets and royalty free markets. Describing
all of those is yet another article! These markets are often not presented
to you until you reach the contract stage, and then not well enough to
understand. Try to decide how you want to be placed in this industry and go after it. Devote the time and effort it takes to run a business and "be flexible" in your thinking. If you don't you will never float with the tide and go into the future understanding the new markets and how you fit into the picture. Pat Hunt Pat Hunt,
Stock Photography Consultant for Port Authority, Inc. has spent the last
20 years in the photography industry. Fifteen of them in stock photography,
as the owner of Light Sources. She later merged her company with industry
giant, Index Stock Imagery. Pat became VP and Sales Director of Index
Stock Boston. It was there that she had the opportunity to work with some
of the world's best shooters, helping them to define their vision, understand
the industry and become successful in the art of selling stock photography.
Her commitment to photographers and her extensive experience in the field
of stock photography are a bonus to any photographer. She can be reached
at pat@1portauthority.com
Who is Port
Authority...the marketing resource At the fundamental
core of Port Authority is a commitment to delivering informative support
and to encourage the vision of creatives with integrity and with heart.
Officially
established in 1995 by Selina Oppenheim, Port Authority represents the
culmination of over 20 years of Selina's dedication to professionalism
in the creative industry. Her focus on the needs unique to talent along
with her experience in matching both the need and the talent, to marketplace
expectations, has yielded many success stories. Through consultations,
lectures, and continual research, Selina and the Port Authority team have
honed that focus to a strategic system that is clear, with predictable
results, yet is malleable to the nature of each client. It's all
about business smarts teamed with the soul of the individual. Selina Oppenheim
Biography Having begun
her professional career as a representative for some of Boston's leading
photographers, Selina has spent the last 20 years as a consultant to creative
professionals, as a nationally acclaimed lecturer and as the developer
of several professional workshops, the most popular being "CREATING YOUR
OWN DESTINY." She has served on the Board of Directors of the Boston Graphic
Artists' Guild and is a former correspondent for Photo District News.
She has been profiled by Boston Magazine, ADWEEK, The Boston Globe Magazine,
Photo District News, ADCOM, and Capital District Business Review. Port Authority,
Inc. Archive #7 Marketing News #2PHOTO
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