Share This

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

New York Times writer Stephanie Clifford presented another interesting take at how stock photography is again changing the industry. As assignment photographers, we’ve always downplayed the stock industry by saying, “clients want original work”.

Ms. Clifford quotes Jonathan Klein, chief executive of Getty Images, “When we began, stock photography or licensed images, preshot images being licensed, was perceived as the armpit of the photo industry. No self-respecting art director or creative director would use a preshot image, because it wasn’t original, it hadn’t been commissioned by them, it wasn’t their creativity.”

Then the stock business really took off as our economy turned downward, marketing budgets shrunk and advertisers began looking towards stock to decrease their advertising cost.

I’ve heard the question before, and I’m sure other photographers have as well, “If I can get a similar photo on a stock website for $500, why should I pay you $5,000 to produce it?” Convincing clients that they should spend significantly more is a challenge, even when we know how important it is to provide them with a consistent brand image. The freelance news shooters market has been hit particularly hard, Joe Smith with a cheap camera can easily upload his photo of a major accident in I-95 to a microstock site and now the news outlets are getting the photo for $1 instead of the $250 (which is low to begin with) day rate they used to pay their freelancers.

In the business of fashion photography, we’re not necessarily seeing the same issue. Each season the designers that I work with have entirely new lines. There aren’t any stock photos.

Ms. Cliffords article brings up the point, how do we compete with amateurs with digital cameras who are glad to make a couple extra bucks per month? Professionals produce consistent work, over and over again — but you have to admit, it has to be pretty enticing for a client when Joe Smith walks in with his Blurb portfolio (that took 50 shoots to get 20 good images), his DSLR, and offers to do the job for $9,000 less than a pro.