State of the Industry

robbins.photo · Mar 8, 2014

pixmedic said:
come on guys...lets keep it nice.
don't make me start putting people in a corner to hug it out.
after that, I will have to resort to a "kiss and make up" strategy.

Well I'm onboard as long as it's with the understanding that what happens on TPF stays on TPF. Lol

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runnah · Mar 8, 2014

robbins.photo said:
Well I'm onboard as long as it's with the understanding that what happens on TPF stays on TPF. Lol Sent from my LG-LG730 using Tapatalk

All my hugs involve limited but purposeful hip thrusting.

Steve5D · Mar 8, 2014

Derrel said:
I'll put it to you simply: the once-lucrative stock, then micro-stock cash cows that many professionals used to make money off of by shooting images during "down-time"? You know, for people who were in business 6,7,8,10,15,20 years ago? THOSE markets have dried up for the majority of shooters, as Getty has become the 800-lb gorilla, and negotiated sales and licensing fees that are very disadvantageous for individual single proprietors who wanted/hope/needed to shoot stock, and then later, even less-lurative micro-stock images...you know...to help keep cash coming in in between higher-paying client-based jobs.

MORE information, about what MILLIONS of photographers have seen happen is a good thing,

But all you're doing is discussing only another single segment of photography.

Not all pros have done, or do, stock photography. Not even close. What you've said about stock photography isn't evidence of the sad state of the photography industry at all. It's simply evidence of the sad state of stock photography.

Anyone whose business fails because of what Getty Images has done has no business being in business. Period. I've never shot stock. Ever. Somehow, though, I've managed to keep a regular shooting schedule, with regular clients, making regular income. I've not had to rely on stock photography to "help keep cash coming in in between higher-paying client-based jobs". "Higher paying client-based jobs" is all I do and, from what the OP said, all he plans to do, as well.

It's kind of silly to talk about stock photography as though it's all-encompassing of the industry, and the barometer by which the industry should be measured...