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How I'm building a stock photography factory
Happens this opportunity and I now have a warehouse in my hands, as well as some money to invest. Building a pretty big photography set, w/ 12x6m cyclorama, portable walls and windows and I'm only utilizing 1/8th of the warehouse. The place is also half full of unsold furniture products to use as I wish (as this was a furniture business warehouse) so it's pretty easy to design a whole lot of different sets like a business or like a home. It's also in the middle of an industrial area so there should be some clients around wanting me to shoot their products, my networking in the city is notch. Getting a quality lighting kit with 4 heads and 15 modifiers, two pcs with adobe suits, hiring two assistant photographers / retouchers to put to work. What budget is left will be invested on models and my first idea is to build a stock photography library with several thousand images so that the income gets to a solid place, keeping the expenses covered and the business viable. My background is a Bachelor degree in management from Kingston UK, American high school, experience as quality manager, outsourcing, procuring, research and development manager. I've worked the previous positions in a company that made train parts so I can handle a production of quality products as if lives can depend on it. Stock photography experience also, photographer for Shutterstock, Istock and retouching for Corbis. Is anyone experienced enough in this type of work to give me a solid opinion about this plan? I would be interested to read ideas about other by-products. Thanks in advance Jul 26 14 02:51 pm Link I think it's a bad idea, stock is a very unpredictable, very close-to-dead industry. Most photographers that do it do it on the side, to supplement their other stuff. That big of an operation for a stock photo factory may work have had potential in 1990 but not now, definitely not now. I wouldn't call this a "plan"; it barely qualifies as an executive statement (sorry) If you are a commercial photographer, outsourcing the studio to freelancing creatives, with a wedding business on the side and a half dozen corporate contracts in the city, teaching workshops and retouching to kids coming up in the local community...then it probably would make a bit more sense to start up something like that, in addition to everything else. Jul 26 14 03:12 pm Link redacted. I don't care anymore. Jul 26 14 06:33 pm Link First step in starting any business is to determine who is buying your product and what volume they will require. So, who's buying stock photography? How much can you sell? Jul 26 14 06:38 pm Link Thomas Andreas wrote: Great idea, unfortunately you are at least 5 years too late to the game. It seems like you want to become the next Yuri Acurs, but I'm not sure there is room in the game for another and he isn't exactly going anywhere soon. The profit has been sucked out of microstock steadily for the past 10 years. Jul 26 14 07:09 pm Link I agree with Dan, although I suspect that even Yuri isn't making money with stock or at least not much. If you are producing content for other reasons and want to send some to stock sites, you may make a little money. But the window where a stock factory could be profitable has already closed. Agencies are squeezing suppliers, a definite sign that they don't believe they can grow their businesses. Microstock is fine as a hobby, but as a business I don't know too many suppliers who aren't feeling the pain. Jul 26 14 07:27 pm Link A large investment in time, money and energy for little return. Jul 26 14 07:40 pm Link We are also friends on facebook  I think it is a great opportunity. But! Think of your profits vs. cost. I don't know much a bout stock, but to support such a big operation ONLY via selling stock photography... I think you'd need either a special arrangement with an already established stock selling site or to make your own, but I don't see that as being easily manageable. Stock is about volume, so you would need a retouching team to clean up all those images, and that is an additional expense. What I would consider doing is combining a stock operation, your fashion/portrait shoots that you do so well, commercial photography and education. I would most definitely rent the studio, and split it into two or more, both for the sake of lowering the energy usage, and being able to rent and work at the same time. Also: you MUST invest in video. That means climate control and some continuous lighting. So all of the above but also including video. Renting to both other photographers, and to video shooters is a great way to earn some cash. Education: think about packages, Tessaloniki is very tourist oriented, many people would love to learn about photography abroad, make it an experience. Jul 26 14 07:46 pm Link Hank Shiffman wrote: I believe he only sold something like 400k images last year, so he is doing just fine. Jul 26 14 08:06 pm Link Jakov Markovic wrote: actually...if the OP can't be dissuaded, that is excellent advice. I don't have experience with it myself, but it seems as though stock footage still has growth potential. Jul 26 14 08:10 pm Link Thanks everybody! My original idea about stock is similar to what most guys say... something on the side, a by product, a place for all of the images that hang in our hard drives. But as time passed and I saw some examples of guys that take it to a next level, not just Yuri Arcus, actually there are several businesses in Europe working in a smaller scale and still make it. Some months ago I gave aid on a model friend of mine, for her to make some income out of modeling by creating and managing her account on model mayhem. She had many requests for art/tf etc, but as for solid income bookings, the ones that she got were two stock photography shootings. The guys booked her from abroad, they appeared, had an easy shoot, paid her, bye bye. So my decision was to train her as a stock model even if she was made for high fashion. Looking at today's stock photo agencies someone can easily come to the conclusion that stock photography is the largest market for models today, far larger than fashion, so it's no wonder that she started out like that. The above hint, had me reconsider. Yes I am late by 5 years or so, but I do believe that there is still room for quality content to be delivered. As for by products you guys very well mentioned: studio rentals, stock footage, education & workshops, I would add a retouching business for other stock photographers maybe. Not weddings, not fashion. Both are saturated markets in a country that is in a very bad shape. Jul 27 14 02:53 am Link Thomas Andreas wrote: I don't know how you can come to that conclusion. I personally think the opposite is true both in terms of shoots and $$$. The fact that you can browse stock websites to see the quantity and spectrum of images might be clouding your judgement compared to all of the magazine editorial, web content, catalog and advertising images globally that you don't get a chance to see. Jul 27 14 05:47 am Link Yes, Dan, my opinion is subjective... I do speak on what I see. And I have read many helpful things in that thread by you and by others, thank you. Jul 27 14 06:25 am Link Stock is very lucrative for those who understand the business, know what sells, know what subjects haven't been covered well, and know how to process images for stock. I wouldn't expect to make a decent side income from it overnight to pay for up front expenses. The biggest problem you're going to have if you can produce quality in quantity is the work it takes to process images, upload, keyword, etc. Chances are you're going to be one of the 98% who fail in stock because you won't catch on. It's my experience that people who do not do well in stock just do not understand the industry. I am going to be flamed badly for saying that but stock is making my mortgage payments. Consistently. Every month. Jul 27 14 09:10 am Link There have been some great articles written by full-time stock photographers such a Yuri Arcurs that address how the costs of production related to total sales and profit, especially as most photographers see lower returns on Stock over the past few years. Yuri took an approach very similar to yours, building a great studio full of many props, and sets. (again, he did so when returns were higher) Others have stated their success comes from having almost no overhead at all, shooting models on a trade basis, using photos leftover from other shoot purposes, etc. I've only dabbled in stock a little, but one thing I find is that higher sales doesn't necessarily correlated to higher profit. One needs to look at the cost of and time as well. My model shots sell best overall, but they are not my highest profit for example, once I factor in the headache and time of getting releases, paying models, etc. Certainly investing in a good studio, can bring the cost of production down, but it can also mean you have an overhead cost to cover that other contributors may not. Jul 27 14 10:43 am Link I'd say shoot stock now and test the waters before you rely on a stock library to cover your expenses. Although from my very limited experience in stock I'm pretty sure it takes a very large inventory to develop a steady stream of income. No idea what the climate in the stock industry is like nowadays. Jul 27 14 12:28 pm Link Personally I would deck that warehouse out with all that unused furniture, create several sets, and make a killing in the boudoir business. Jul 27 14 08:31 pm Link Peter House wrote: read the OP. He's located in one of the toughest economic climates in Europe. Do you really think that the boudoir business is booming there? Jul 27 14 09:20 pm Link Thomas Andreas wrote: a warehouse with multiple sets, great lighting, and huge potential. Jul 28 14 01:34 am Link If you have a warehouse and you have down time where the warehouse is unused and not making you any money, you might as well shoot some stock and earn some money and hopefully cover some of your fixed expenses. Jul 28 14 09:23 am Link |
