A 1000000000000 photos on sale

Can you stand this Mavericks like wave of images for sale? It is all about selling and buying. Good photos are used by the industry to sell their things every day. The new instagram-killer eyeem.com has a business-model that is based on licensing your photos to companies around the world. That sounds good in the first place. But it kills the prices for people who live from photography. And big players adapt every fresh style from the streets to sell their (sometimes disgusting) stuff. Would you like to see the work of Henry Catier Bresson on a Volkswagen ad in the streets? And think about the money the instagram-founders got from facebook in relation the money you can ear by selling your photos (maybe to Mercedes).

The same goes with other successful platforms. And your photo will cost just 20-200 dollars for stock customers? Every image. For a little business or a giant campaign!

I believe that a well produced photo is a hundred (million) times better than stock. Imagine all that smiling faces with a headset attached beside every hotline number. There is no relation to your company and what you are doing. There is no linked creativity. It is the same thing like going to a cheap fast food restaurant without any soul and eating in a good restaurant with a personal touch enjoying good service. If your photos are good, customers will appreciate that and pay for them. Don´t offer stock photos. Try to help your customer in developing or following a visual language. Show how good craftmanship and art can produce great results.

Don´t let serious photography go the wrong way and stay out of this mass business...

Photograph Rebekka & Albertina by Nils Kuelper (robvisual) on 500px
organic barber & tailor in one shop

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why should you buy the new X-PRO2?

Image
I wrote some articles about the X-PRO1/2 in the past. I mentioned there that you don´t need to upgrade your camera if you're happy with it. Maybe you spend the money on travel, prints or some more lenses. If you are starting from the scratch or need a faster and better camera I will tell you why this camera is perfect for you: the rangefinder style - if you shooting street or reportage etc. it is great to use a camera that won't cover your whole face to maintain eye contact with your subject (this is not the case with the X-T1) faster auto focus even in near dark environments - I often missed a shot because of this with my X100s, X-PRO1 (but you can also use an X-T1) weather sealing - in conjunction with a water proof lens you can now do some shots without fearing a malfunction inside your precious camera more responsive - the faster cpu will make this camera more like an analog one where everything happens when you press a button without too many lagging ISO dial -...
More information »

Yesterday I sold my Ricoh GR III and traded it for a X100F

Image
Disclaimer: This is my personal opinion and the camera might work for you. This is not a Fuji is better than everything post :-) I've tried to love the Ricoh and have a little list with pros and cons: The good Size - If you need an APS-C sensor pocket camera, this is the one! The lens is superb and walks back into the body making it a super duper small camera! Image quality - the files have a great range and a neutral color reproduction. Nothing to complain. Craftmanship - the camera body is sturdy. Even the moving lens works flawless. The bad Menu - the menu system is not as easy as I know it from my Fuji gear. There are some nice ideas like the custom settings that can be tied to the mode-wheel, but overall I was not satisfied. Shutter button - a soft mess for me. It failed for me when it comes to a half press lock many times. It doesn't feel right for me. Display - in bright sunlight you are lost. I've also missed the possibility to review a photo through the EVF in brig...
More information »

The GF 100-200m - first impressions

Image
  I did it. After selling my whole Fuji rig last year in trade for a GFX50r combined with the 62mm 2.8 it was followed by the 50mm 3.5 and now the 100-200mm 5.6. Without a telephoto lens something is missing for me. Sometimes you need the compression and the depth of field provided by such a lens for portraits, architecture, landscapes and for things far away. In future I also want to buy the teleconverter to beef up the focal length a bit more. There are so many scenes that cry for a telephoto lens. Believe me! :-) My first impression was like expected for a Fuji lens in that price range, the resulting images are sharp with lots of detail without any compromise in color rendition. The bokeh is pleasing and the lens just does the job. There is no tube sticking out of the lens body wich makes the whole thing a bit heavy (but weather sealed) and bulky, but the quality of the results are worth the cramps and muscle pain. This is the hard work that photography was always about with hea...
More information »