At 04:55 PM 4/7/00 -0500, you wrote:
Would you please explain me what is stock photography/photographer ?
Is it some sort of 'free lance' photographer ?
Sort of. 'Stock' is a word for 'inventory'. So you are shooting for yours
or an agency's inventory. Let's say you are designing a catalog and want to
put a photo of an oil tanker on the front cover. You can hire a pro, have
him hire a boat, and spend a lot of money getting him into just the right
position to take a nice photo of an oil tanker. Cost; several thousand
dollars. Or, you can go to a 'stock agency' and tell them what you need.
They will research thru the millions of images they have available and most
likely can offer you dozens of images to choose from. Since you are not
hiring a boat and a photographer, you will pay only a few hundred $ or less
for the photograph. Of course, the agency has the right to re-sell the
image over and over again. So, a large company might hire the boat and
photographer so that the image they end up with is unique to them. A small
company is more interested in producing an inexpensive piece of literature.
The stock agency will pay the photog a percentage of each sale.
If you are good enough and smart enough to know how to shoot marketable
photos you can make a living at it, especially if you have access to things
out of the ordinary. For example, not many people are good enough climbers
to take shots from the top of Mt. Everest, so the number of photographers
who can fill that demand is limited.
Like Ken pointed out, it is harder and harder to make a living as a stock
photographer as images become cheaper, more people are capable of making
them, and as folks like me put their stuff on the net, making it possible
for end users of photography to cut out the agencies altogether and deal
directly with the photographer. An example: I just sold a NYC Marathon
photo from my website to a biology textbook publisher looking to show leg
extentions!
> BTW, I consider myself a pro, and so does the IRS.
Do you mean by Internal Revenu Service ? If so, why IRS comes
into this thread ? Sorry, I do not understand.
If you make money that fits a definition of 'pro' and if you make money the
IRS wants to know about it :-)
I am neither a pro nor expert. I am just a happy OM user and a Zuikoholic
outside of my profession - different field pro, so the family won't become
hungry.
Probably the best way to live as it becomes harder and harder to put
together a decent income from photography!
________________________________
Regards,
Denton Taylor
Photogallery at www.dentontaylor.com.
Panoramas and Immersive Imaging at
www.threehundredsixty.com
Join the RolleiSLR list at www.rolleislr.com
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|