Hi - I'm thinking of submitting some images to a stock photo agency. Knowing virtually nothing about it I don’t see much difference between the agencies and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to which agency would be a good starting point for landscapes? Many thanks, Tristan
Posted by Sean Bolton on November 2, 2007 at 9:34 AM
Thanks Sean, that sounds like a good starting place, I've ordered the latest copy of that book.
Posted by Sean Bolton on November 2, 2007 at 10:03 AM
Hi Tristan
Yes you can get the 2008 edition now.
It is well worth researching the various agencies before approaching them with an initial submission or portfolio. Check out their requirements, wants, style, size of their business, their client base, etc.
Many agencies already have enough contributors so it is often difficult to get accepted, certainly with the 'better' agencies.
i was quite impressed by what getty images had to say at wildphotos last week. they might not seem a first choice for landscape images but i think they would be quite a good home for the right stylish type of image. they have a rather long submission criteria but a PS script can speed that up a lot.
i think there is a risk with smaller homegrown agencies that they might not be pushing your material as hard as they might do, and a few have gone by the wayside over the past few years. having said that, some more specialist libraries seem a good bet also. the easier to enter internationals are a little too easy (not mentioning any names) and your work gets lost in amongst a lot of chaff.
I`ve sold quite a few pics with Alamy these last few weeks, mainly landscapes. (I even sold a shot of a dead sheep for over $600 dollars!) If they can sell my junk, I`m sure your far superior landscape shots would sell. From what I gather, Peter Barritt does pretty well with Alamy. Worth considering them as one possible outlet for sales, anyway, perhaps along with a more specialist agency.
Eeerm, Getty's (US) stock is on a hiding to nothing at the minute as they've been screwing their own revenue streams in the last few months - they've just released 3Q results and they're down again. FWIW, their cheapy microstock agency is doing well in comparison! I don't think I'd be going anywhere near them for a while - at least until they sort themselves out!
Discussion
7 repliesI would start with this book
Freelance Photographers Handbook
This will list the main UK stock agencies. Research the agencies to find the ones that best fit your work.
Lots of agencies are very picky about subjects, submission rates (images per month), image quality, etc.
cheers
Sean
Yes you can get the 2008 edition now.
It is well worth researching the various agencies before approaching them with an initial submission or portfolio. Check out their requirements, wants, style, size of their business, their client base, etc.
Many agencies already have enough contributors so it is often difficult to get accepted, certainly with the 'better' agencies.
cheers
Sean
hi tristan,
i was quite impressed by what getty images had to say at wildphotos last week. they might not seem a first choice for landscape images but i think they would be quite a good home for the right stylish type of image. they have a rather long submission criteria but a PS script can speed that up a lot.
i think there is a risk with smaller homegrown agencies that they might not be pushing your material as hard as they might do, and a few have gone by the wayside over the past few years. having said that, some more specialist libraries seem a good bet also. the easier to enter internationals are a little too easy (not mentioning any names) and your work gets lost in amongst a lot of chaff.
hope this is some help.
mark