Leading music and entertainment photographer, Frank Micelotta, has launched PictureGroup, a digital-media production company.
Some photographers want to continue to shoot and produce in the same way as they did in 2007. They have the "think positive" mindset that if they continue to produce new and better images in a higher volume than they produced in 2007, sales will go up, or at least they won't decline a whole lot.
This list of the world's major stock agencies is divided into three different groups based on my estimates of the gross revenue generated by each of these companies. Group A lists companies with revenue greater than $20 million Groups B is companies with revenues between $5 and $20 million and Group C has revenues between $1 and $5 million.
In the
previous story
we discussed four major trends in the stock photo industry and listed
eleven other related issues that photographers should consider
carefully as they try to determine the future prospects of their stock
photo business. Below I have discussed each one of these eleven in some
detail.
Leading stock shooter Jonathan Ross has released a 48-minute online video that duplicates his recent presentation at a PACA event. The video offers interesting insights into where the business is today and where Ross believes it is headed.
In most industries the manufacturer sets the price for his products
based on his manufacturing costs. Of course if he sets his price too
high consumers won't buy. Therefore, he certainly has to be sensitive
to consumer demand.
This story offers a number of negotiating times that are useful for anyone who needs to establish a price for an image based on how it will be used.
It is time to revise previous estimates of industry revenues based on what has happened in the past year. For several years, we have estimated the size of the worldwide market for still images and illustrations at about $1.8 billion.
We recently covered creating online magazines that have a similar look and function to print magazines, and how easy and inexpensive it has become to create such digital publications with currently available technologies. Stock Index publisher Robert Prior offered a perspective that adds balance to these stories. Prior has some experience in this area, and his very thoughtful comment on "The Backcast Concept" suggests that some of the points made in the article need additional discussion.
While the transition from still photographer to television commercial producer is difficult, David Scott Smith's odyssey illustrates that an image creator and storyteller can find satisfaction in shooting and producing video.