Decline Of Images Requiring Production Planning And Costs

Posted on 1/29/2019 by Jim Pickerell | Printable Version | Comments (3)

In the not too distant future there will be few, if any, new professional images created that require pre-planning, paying for models, renting locations, building sets, acquiring props, or anything that adds to the cost of producing such images. Currently the costs of producing a large segment of images in demand far exceeds the revenue generated from licensing such images. Producers trying to earn their living from such production will find it necessary to drop out of the market.

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Comments

Bas van Beek Posted Jan 30, 2019
Here is the stock photo agency of the future Jim:
www.eyeem.com

Mr I J Philpott Posted Feb 3, 2019
If Eyeem is the future of stock photography I'll eat my hat............ there is nothing 'planned' there that costs money, or if it does it's peanuts. There is no future in that model for a lot of clients. It's cheap yes but it's pretty low quality. In the end the price wars by micro stock will even kill each other and everything else that is at the low end. I actually think the only possible future is in the high end truly specialist market place.

Thomas Wear Posted Feb 6, 2019
Here's a scenario that seems likely to me: As you've said, photographers will no longer be able to afford to produce the commercial-quality lifestyle/business scenarios that are still needed in stock. And amateurs will not provide those, or at least not in any quantity or quality. So where will the agencies get the images they need? (Well, besides Eastern Europe...)
I think agencies will, by necessity, have to start hiring professional photographers on work-for-hire assignments to produce the high-end shoots they need. The photographers who will get those jobs will have to prove themselves to be capable of high-quality, high-volume shoots under direction. There won't be too many of those photographers, but the ones that are capable should be able to command assignment fees appropriate to their abilities.
I know many will be aghast at the thought of doing WFH assignments, but what's actually better: getting a decent amount of cash in hand for little or no initial outlay, or to self-finance to the tune of several hundred (or thousand) dollars and then sit back and wait for the pennies to trickle in?
I'm not sure if many agencies are quite ready to go that route yet, as nobody wants to spend any money, but once they start running out of fresh, in-demand images they will have to re-think.

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