stock photography: where to begin?

[pai]

hi guys,

like many other hobbyists, the thought of making my gear pay for itself has crossed my mind. most of the posts in this forum seem to be about event/freelance work. how about stock photography?

hope those with experience in this area can share their thoughts.

which agencies (preferably not the microstock kind) are a good option for newer photographers to try?

what recommendations do you have for people who want to start/build a portfolio?

any other tips?

basically looking for a way in. thanks in advance :thumbsup:

p.s. not expecting to make huge bucks out of this, but it'd be nice to get a little cashback from hours spent behind the camera....

 

[Sion]

In stock photography you need to look at long-term and spend a few years seriously building up your collection with a focus.

 

[wildstallion]

Do a search, ive discussed this before, several times.

 

[pai]

ah, so sorry, didn't realise there were a number of threads on this already...

shall do some reader service and relink them here. thx wildstallion.

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=228345
http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=176353
http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=163834
http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=216905

most of them do still deal with microstock or RF sales... how about RM agencies?

getty, alamy are way out of my league, so are there agencies with lower barriers to entry? i'm probably still not good enough, but it would be nice to have something to aim for (something achievable).

Sion, appreciate your advice. would you care to elaborate a little about what you mean by building collection with a focus? thanks...

 

[Sion]

ah, so sorry, didn't realise there were a number of threads on this already...

shall do some reader service and relink them here. thx wildstallion.

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=228345
http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=176353
http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=163834
http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=216905

most of them do still deal with microstock or RF sales... how about RM agencies?

getty, alamy are way out of my league, so are there agencies with lower barriers to entry? i'm probably still not good enough, but it would be nice to have something to aim for (something achievable).

Sion, appreciate your advice. would you care to elaborate a little about what you mean by building collection with a focus? thanks...

You should be able to contribute to Alamy. But whether you are going to make any money out of it is another thing.

When I say building collection with a focus, I mean shoot with the market for stock photography in mind. It takes a lightly different mindset to shoot for stock. Before you press the exposure button ask yourself would a buyer want to buy such a photo. Unfortunately if you want to make a success of stock photography you need to have such a discipline. You're not shooting photos to be hang in an comtemporary art museum.