Hi, Fred - I'm a RM only photographer and am hanging in there. Prices are definitely down but, in some ways, the extra reach of the internet is making up for lower prices. I've sold photos all over the world that I would never have been able to sell 10 years ago. MicroStock doesn't affect many of my sales because I'm a documentary photographer specializing in indigenous people in developing countries. Not many Micro photographers are willing to haul their cameras through mud and over mountains and live in tents to get their photos. I am not at all interested in "lifestyle" photography, thank goodness. I would love to go back to the prices I was getting 10 years ago, but I don't want to give up my sales to China and Japan and Greece!
While Rights Managed licensing has taken a beating over the past few years it is not totally dead. So far this month we have had a number of sales for $300 and above, including one for almost $1,400.
BTW, none of the photos are especially unique or special at first glance. One of the photos, seen here, http://www.acclaimimages.com/_gallery/_pages/0480-0908-1215-0642.html is probably unique enough that the buyer may not have had many other choices but some of the other sales were of cell phones and other common images.
Of course just 4-5 years ago we made such sales on a much more regular basis so the news is really not that good when viewed from the long term perspective.
I would love to hear from other RM sellers about your experiences and how you are adapting to the MicroStock dominated environment.
Fred Voetsch
--
Tina Manley, ASMP
www.tinamanley.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment