Colorado Photography by Chester Bullock

Yesterday I talked about part of a conversation I observed recently. This is how the second part of it went.

The altruistic one starting to talk about stock photography and what it takes to get accepted, etc. as she is having problems getting accepted. The veteran then started on about how microstock is killing the industry, and that, by taking part in it, submitters to microstock sites are thereby killing the industry.

Being someone who has photos available on microstock sites, I cannot say that I agree with him.

I saw part of an interview with Moby the other day. He said several things I agreed with (bear with me, I am getting to the point). One was a response to a question about commercializing music (putting it out there in the equivalent of stock photography for anyone to use as they see fit). The response was one that I have thought in regards to my own attempts at microstock – it is far easier for new artists (and photographers are artists) to get noticed on sites like this than for the traditional methods.

I don’t know any art directors, I barely even know anyone at an ad agency. I also know that a lot of businesses out there don’t use an ad agency, and microstock sites are an effective means for them to get images for advertising, websites, brochures, etc. Heck, we use art from microstock sites where I work for my day job. My microstock budget for the whole year would be destroyed if I paid for one or two pictures the traditional way. That just isn’t going to work.

I am happy to go the microstock route for images that fit into the “stock” category. That said, I have other images that I consider to not be stock. These would be more in the vein of “fine art” types of images. These are the ones I will put into my “Prints for Sale” category and hope that someone buys one. Or perhaps I’ll print a collection of them and see about having them put on display in a local coffee shop. They are my images, and I can market them as I see fit. I have never been one to follow the norm anyway.

One last thought from that Moby interview. Someone asked how he feels about non-Vegans. His answer might sound PC, but I think it was genuine. He essentially said that being Vegan works for him, but he recognizes it doesn’t work for everyone. I think this debate about microstock really is the same. Can’t we all get along?