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Question:
Thanks very much for taking some time out of your day to get back to
me. I
appreciate you comments about my work. I currently have a submission in
Spectrum Stock. I have spoken to them a few times and I am confused.
They mentioned they wanted to see my work because they have some wildlife
calendars coming up and they wanted to include my work, if it was acceptable.
I like to think if they didn't like what they saw on my web site they
wouldn't have bothered contacting me. When I contact them they said, your
work is great however we already have similar images on file.
What gives?
They want people, people, and more people images. I don't like
"people" photography it's not my strong side. I did one wedding in
B&W and it came out good, a little nerve racking for my liking.
One last question about stock photography. What is expected from you once you
are signed. Do you have to submit images on a regular basis? and how many?
Thanks again very, very, very much...
I really appreciate it the time you took to get back to me.
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Answer:
I have no idea of what Spectrum is up to. How many images did you send
them? Maybe they were looking for more (quantity), or more varied subjects.
Every stock agency wants people, it is one of the hardest subjects to shoot,
one of the most expensive to shoot, the images have a short shelf life, but
they also are in top demand and fetch top dollars.
When I started in photography I was a nature/landscape photographer, I
started with "The Stock Market" photo agency in Toronto (they are
no longer in business). I was with them for five years, during that time I
built up my stock files and honed my photographic skills. When my contract
was over I submitted my portfolio to all the other stock agencies, all of
them except for Masterfile offered me a contract. But I really wanted to get
into Masterfile. I had photographed a few people but they thought that
material was not as good as my scenics. They said if I wanted to try
photographing people some more, they would look at my portfolio again. So I
photographed people, submitted my portfolio again and they said that my
technique was better, but the models weren't very good. So I tried again,
still not good enough. Tried again - almost there this time. Tried again,
this time they offered me a contract. Once I was in Masterfile, they took all
my scenics and people images. I continued to shoot scenics and people for the
next 5 years. At that time my scenics were far outselling my people images so
they said just do scenics. BTW - I earn more now in one month at Masterfile
than I did during my entire five years at The Stock Market.
When I started at Masterfile I had to supply them with 1000 images per year
that they would accept for their files. Over the years this number has
dropped.
I don't know whether this has helped you or just confused you more.
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