Stock Photography Agencies

[Wes]

I'm thinking of submitting a few images to some stock photography agencies. Can anyone offer some advice on what to look for? Any recommendations? Thanks.

[lscottpht]

Depends on what type of images you have. Also, the best way to earn money with stock agencies (and the good ones require it) is that you submit an intitial 500-700 and then produce a large volume monthly or quarterly. They also keep your images for a time limit. I was accepted with Lonely Planet for my travel photography, and I think their contract was anywhere from 3-5 years. This was pretty typical at the time, and I decided I didn't want all my images tied up in one place. Also, I was doing slides at the time, and they had to be labeled just right, with the exact name of each location, name of the dzongs (monasteries), and so on. They will probably require something similar with digital embedded in the image. Depending on your work, now days, I would go with Corbis or Getty.

[Wes]

Thanks, Leslie! I've heard of Corbis and Getty in the past. From what I understand, they're pretty much the 800lb. gorillas in this market, right?

[lscottpht]

Yes, they are! I have a friend with Getty, and he gets tons of assignments from them, including Nike, CNN and more. I also have a friend in Haiti that used to be in Corbis. For a full year, he only made around $2000. He switched to Reuters and made an actual living. Of course, Reuters is not what your looking for, but in order to make it in the stock biz, you really have to hussle and shoot consistently. Both of these giants have a variety of "agencies" so to speak within them. They handle stock, photojournalism, entertainment, sports and so on. If you get on with them, though, that puts you in a whole other league b/c it's tough to get in with them. I notice you have a motorcycle in your avatar. If you are looking at getting into the sports end, then you might also check out Zuma. They bought one of the biggest sports agencies around. It's under a different name, don't recall the name, but they are amazing! You can probably find it on their site. For travel, I can definitely give you some names. But, I say start big and go for Corbis and Getty. Can't hurt.

[JohnT]

I'll be interested in seeing how this pans out for you, Wes. I've considered the same but had some folks dissuade me due to stock photography not being what it used to be (whatever that means; maybe highly competitive and hard to make a living at). I, too, have heard that you have to be consistently shooting and submitting in order for an agency to work with you. Author and pro photog, Bryan Peterson, seems to do very well in the stock business.