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Ellen Boughner and the future of stock photography
John, Ellen, who has been at the forefront of the world as far back securities as I recall. I met the late 80's. You property after the image, the first brokerage to carry my work. You sold a picture Tony Stone post. Since then it has expanded its range of expertise in a number of ways. Can you take us up to the date on which the diversity of experiences?
Ellen: One of my earliest memories of you, John, Sarah Stone is bringing his office in San Francisco in late 1980. You had a baby and were Mac starting to play around with Photoshop. I remember I asked if I knew where you could get some pictures of the clocks to put in your photos. Free or inexpensive photos … what they were at the forefront of the need for microstock and do not even know. Neither do I
Since the days I worked at Corbis as Executive Editor, was the first employee Artville photo collection after it was acquired by Bank of images, some of the initial team that started Workbookstock, was the first employee Uppercut Images and had a brief and unsatisfactory accurate in SuperStock. Since 2006 I have worked as a sole proprietor of services offered by the evaluation (assessment future revenue streams from the collections of photographs), as an expert witness and consultant on photography in general issues Dreamstime (microstock) and different emerging and veteran photographers of values. I am currently writing a book based on the 100 blogs I wrote on Dreamstime.
I spent rights achieved for microstock royalty-free. I guess you could say I've seen everything.
Juan: Years ago I heard a speech Tony Stone in which he said that "someday a huge meteor struck the earth is and photography, as we know it will cease to exist." Is it close to achieving this meteorite? Could Micro?
Ellen: Instead of a large meteorite hit and the explosion of world destruction Stock photo, as Tony knew back before leaving the industry, change is more like a benign growth. As it grows and becomes larger in invasive and can be as deadly as a malignant tumor.
The industry has made the mistake of creating many of the same pictures over and over again. This is because instead of feeding photographers who have a vision to combine art and commerce to produce unique images in standard salable items, which allow decisions previous creative results-driven sales and creative research based all on the same sources. This has led to an excess of images that all look alike. I like to call the image of jour … everyone runs out and shoot the same style and theme with the same on the same day, it seems.
I think that one reason which exponential growth microstock aside from the price point is that users find pictures of one of its kind. Now that the major production companies are putting the same old, same age, but the "new" micro images in large volumes, the same problem could arise there.
Juan: I'm predicting that Google is the search mechanism of action as a last resort, and that someday all will search in the search Google Image … even including the collections of the Agency. Can you comment on that?
Ellen: I do not know the answer. As I do know is that Google has taught us all to do a search. I no longer look longer for anything with just one or two words. The vast amount of information on the web forces us to be more and more specific in the use of search terms and use more words in a search. This knowledge is shed on how that the image search. I think the photographers with specific themes and collections that have implemented best practices in SEO can be found they can make more money by selling direct action with a corporation in the near future.
Today I am excited about the prospect that we could be a convergence of technology and user behavior would soon allow photographers to license existing images.
Juan: I've heard estimates that non-traditional market for stock photography, made up of those who buy and / or license photos out of the traditional infra-structure action, is as big as $ 20 billion a year. Even if that market, consisting of mother and family businesses that need an image for a newspaper advertisement students who need a photograph of a task, or a church group who need an image for a traveler is only a fraction of that size, it is still an enormous market. Buyers may end up in a Micro site, or perhaps with Google search, which may result in the site of a photographer. Do you think this is a segment market worth going after by individual photographers? How big do you think that market is?
Ellen: I disagree with the figure of $ 20 billion. Is that Dan Heller? I think it is and when I read your logic (which may not remember correctly what Dan does not get on your high horse!) I felt it was defective. For now I recommend that photographers who have general collections of average quality … ok I admit that … always average in all areas … since work on microstock. I'm not comfortable recommending the world trying to get users high school blogger on the website of the church through direct sales unless the workflow is completely transparent. Still, I do not think that most professional photographers will want to deal with traffic that opening the doors entirely the case. Price expectations are so low that they could encounter always answering emails and phone calls regarding the reduction in license fees. The aim should be to get some kind of work on microstock, other types of rights management in a high-end collection or license directly.
In fact, I recommend you go a few images on flickr under the Creative Commons copyright. I have some compelling research showing For some, this is a way to build reputation and actually make money. I hope to be able to present this and other information about unusual places to license the pictures at a seminar in the fall in PhotoExpo.
Juan: In order to monetize effectively and other markets as individuals, outside of the traditional agencies, photographers need tools, web tools specifically to address the distribution of their images, managing licensing and sales, and abuse monitoring. One possible response to this need is ImageSpan. Do you know if a solution could be ImageSpan viable, and do you know of any others on the horizon?
Ellen: ImageSpan just announced version 2.0. I had an early preview ImageSpan by staff and was impressed. They thought of everything, apparently. Of course, photographers still have to do their own marketing to attract traffic the site, but the services provided by Imagespan are sensitive to SEO.
John: traditional handles fear the death of the industry due to the Micro. Micro shooters are starting to feel the loss of their world for the entry of traditional shooters Micro. Do you think traditional shooters need to be in Micro? Do you think that the entry of traditional shooters Micro stock is going to "ruin" the shooters Micro?
Ellen: I think it is a traditional error RM / RF images for shooters have high production value in microstock. It is very hard to make new investment in a session expensive even if the resulting images are in multiple microstock sites. Furthermore, if the higher paying customers can get the same material in micro, why Why pay more? Now the toothpaste is out of the tube and there is no turning back. Clean simple images in all popular genres do very well in the micro and that is where they belong.
John: What do you see the securities industry looking like two years from now? Five years from now?
Ellen: The direct selling. In five years? Perhaps the only securities firms are businesses that add value trawling the web for the best work within a genre …. Species back to the photo research services.
Juan: What advice would you give to any shooter who wants to make a living shooting of values in these turbulent times?
Ellen: Think of your business as a multi-layered cake. Get your work at all levels of the company. Developed a special and be the best in the world. Even photographers microstock sites need to build their brands in the site in order to perform the peak discharges.
John: Is there anything else you want to share with us?
Ellen: Buy my book to be published by Watson Guptill (Random House) next year.
About the Author
Visit John’s website for an amazing array of stock photos, and interviews with leading stock photogrpahers: Stock Photographer Interviews Fine Art Prints, and printed gift merchandise.
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