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Anyone interested in a career as a photographer – as well as those photographers in mid-career -- needs to carefully consider how the business is changing. If we look at image use on the Internet it is undeniable that more images are being made available for viewing. However, for professionals this is not good news.
More image use does not mean more demand for professionally produced images. It does not mean that there will be more opportunities for photographers to earn their living taking pictures. In fact, the opportunities to earn a living as a photographer are declining. Here’s why.
If you are a young person who wants a career in visual communications where are the opportunities likely to be? They are least likely to be in print publishing. This article presents statistics that explain why and gives some insights into the potential for video.
Pond5 Inc. has acquired the assets of Pixmac, a leading stock imagery network based in the Czech Republic. With millions of stock photos and illustrations distributed in 17 languages and in multiple currencies, the acquisition of Pixmac accelerates Pond5’s strategy to offer a global marketplace where media makers can connect with fellow artists.
Over two million preview clips from over forty top footage collections are now available through Footage.net (
www.footage.net). By partnering with many of the world’s most prestigious footage companies, including Getty Images, FootageBank, Framepool, CNN ImageSource and Shutterstock, Footage.net has grown rapidly to become one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive online stock footage databases, and a powerful production resource.
The Global Stock Image Market Research Group (GSIMRG) in Heidelberg, Germany has just released a
report on the extensive study of the stock photo industry that it conducted in 2012. They concluded that the stock photo industry generated $2.88 billion in revenue in 2012. Based on their figures I think image licensing is much less. Their report, and my commentary in this article, is a must read for anyone engaged in the stock photo business.
Pond5 has announced today its public release of the new version “v2” of its website. The site offers a dramatically improved experience for both customers and contributors, giving filmmakers, photographers, musicians, 3D artists, and all kinds of media makers a place to connect with fellow artists, sell their stock media, and purchase high-quality content for their productions.
One of the programs at the recent PACA International Conference asked five industry visionaries to explore emerging trends and predict what the stock photo business will be like in 2022. There was general agreement that the current business model of licensing based on usage is
broken and that in a few years (probably a lot less than 10) it will be necessary to develop a completely different approach to licensing.
Novus Select announced today the formation of
Tectonic Media Group (TMG), a New York-based talent management and media consulting firm. TMG represents the top talent in action and adventure sports photography and filmmaking. The firm will look after each artist in all aspects of their career, from print advertising and editorial work, to directing commercials, branded content, and feature length documentaries, as well as content licensing, book publishing, speaking engagements, and brand endorsements.
ABC News VideoSource has
upgraded and expanded its website delivering greater and easier online access to ABC News’ vast archival footage collection spanning from 1896 to the present day. Producers and researchers can browse, license and, in some cases, immediately access tens of thousands of video assets from ABC News’ expansive archives with the click of a mouse.
With video it is all about the story. Still photographer Charles Gupton talks about the importance of focusing on the story first rather than just looking for great visuals and hoping that they will hang together later.
In the future, will it be possible for more photographers to earn a
better living than they are currently earning producing stock images? More and
more photographers are jumping into the stock photo business every day
and many hope to make it a career. Here’s
a dozen reasons why future
revenue growth for this industry seems unlikely. I’ve discussed all
these issues before, but it seems useful to briefly itemize them all in
one place.
StockPhotosforFree.com has launched an initial archive of 100,000 free images mostly comprised of still frames pulled from HD videos that are available on
VideoBlocks.com.
Pond5 and Adobe have teamed up to develop a one-of-a-kind plug-in that gives video editors seamless access to the largest collection of over 1.1 million royalty-free stock videos, including 330,000 royalty-free music tracks and sound effects, all exclusively within Adobe Premiere Pro CS6.
We are rapidly moving toward a time when consumers will get more of their news via YouTube rather than from commercial television. On average 22 million people watch the evening news on the three U.S. broadcast channels each night. But, when there is a major event YouTube views regularly eclipse that number. During Japan’s tsumani disaster in March 2011 the 20 most viewed news-related videos on YouTube that focused on the tragedy were viewed more than 96 million times.
ABC News VideoSource has upgraded and expanded its website to provide greater and easier access to ABC News’ vast archival footage online. Producers and researchers will now be able to browse, license and, in some cases, immediately access tens of thousands of video assets from ABC News’ expansive archives with the click of a mouse. It offers customers, including documentary filmmakers, educators or anyone with an interest in archival video footage, historically-rich news video from a vast collection spanning from 1896 to the present.
Following its acquisition of
Specialist Stock and its move into the footage side of the stock image business
Robert Harding World Imagery has created its Comprehensive Research Facility (CRF) which not only offers research of its own collections but will also research a range of satellite suppliers including BBC Motion Gallery, NHNZ, Footage Search and SKYWORKS amongst others.
T3Media, Inc. (formerly Thought Equity Motion), a leading provider of cloud-based video management and licensing services, has announced the launch of a new licensing offering—
Paya ™ (Pay-ya), the world's index of licensable content™. To watch a short video that explains how Paya works, click
here.
Since 2005 MediaStorm has produced 30 powerful,
issue-driven video stories about real life people and problems. All this work has been available for free on their
website. Most of these stories have been viewed a million or more times and they tend to draw large audiences outside the photo industry.
123RF has launched 123RF Stock Footage. Clients can choose from over 75,000 high definition video clips at
www.123rf.com/stock-footage/ in addition to Royalty-Free Stock Photo and Illustrations.
StockFood, the leading food media agency, is adding a new product to its extensive visual collection: instructional Recipe Videos, offered with a package of additional complementary information services. The Recipe Video collection is targeted at the food, retail and hospitality industries, as well as a broad user group of online media.
In March it was reported by Moody’s and Standard & Poors that the
gross revenue for Getty Images in calendar 2011 was $945 million. This
figure, and how the various lines of business break out, provide some interesting insights into the state of the stock
photography business.
The winners of APA’s (American Photographic Artist) 2012 Short Video Contest have been announced. Those interested in seeing the winning videos should click
here.
Alamy reported this week that it is moving into stock video with an initial offering of over 100,000 video clips from some of the most respected stock video agencies and videographers around the world including: Corbis, Blend, Image Source, Rubberball, Specialist Stock, DV Archive, Spotmatik, Wave Break Media and Aqua Geo Graphic.
Footage.net has added over 30,000 preview clips from the archives of NBC News to its search platform of over 1.8 million stock footage clips. Through this developing alliance, Footage.net users will be able to screen preview clips from NBCUniversalArchives.com stock footage collection, and NBC News will reach a new and growing user base worldwide for its stock footage licensing business.
If your goal is to earn a full-time living from photography -- and
particularly stock photography -- you need to read this series of 14
articles. They were originally written in the summer of 2010. Since then
the general state of the photographic industry has continued to go
downhill. These articles discuss key aspects of the business and issues
that those who want to earn their living taking pictures must consider.