Pixiq

First of all, let me be open and honest. I haven't read Nicole's book, although from the quality of the imagery above, it looks very well produced. The issue of Microstock destroying the livelihood of full time photographers is only part of the picture. I'm sure it has made a tremendous dent in the earning power of the middle tier full time photographers (perhaps the top tier will continue to command a premium?), but it has opened up an enormous market for part time (dare I say amateur?) photographers who had no access to the market in the past. Are all their images as good as the traditional stock market - absolutely not, but there are many high quality images being produced and sold, hopefully some of mine count among them!

Most of these new photographers won't make a full time living from microstock. But, in many parts of the world, the $800 a month that I make from my images is probably a pretty good income, and microstock is a global opportunity. I for one am very grateful for the opportunity I now have to take more images, improve my technique, and get paid for my efforts.

Unlike many of the books about microstock, I have also written a book aimed at a different market - what are the simple tips and tricks to are needed to get started in the industry. Most of us aren't going to produce the high production value images shown above, but we can still produce saleable shots and I aim to explain how to get the best out of them in my eBook - Getting Started in Stock

Steve

The issue here isn't micro stock.

It is what a lot of westerners with their heads in the sand about the 1960's living on forever.

This is about the fact that some jobs should NOT be done by westerners and are a waste of money if done so. They are the realm now of developing economies.

We can list beside photography for commercial purposes;

- Base IT/Desktop Support/ Programming
- Car manufacturer
- Clerical Duties
- Dentistry/Xray/Medical imaging
- Banking
- General factory production

Instead of fighting change - much like previous industrial revolutions people just need to move onto different endeavours. Like building knowledge economies, developing new IP be it in tech, medicine, pharmacology, space, whatever.

We are better equipped in the west with our education and health systems and opportunities that we should be doing more with those advantage - opportunity wise that doing what is comparatively low or middle skilled work as a few I detailed above.

Some may not agree with what I am saying - but it is the truth. I lived in China for 10 years and own a startup there. I know what the pointy end of the stick looks like for educated white people facing the reality of natural selection in this era of technology and shrinking gaps between the developed and developing countries of the world.

Cheers,
RF.

Richard

Wow - I didn't see that coming!

However, I think you are right. The rise of digitalization and the connectivity provided by the Internet pretty much means that jobs that were once physically based can be carried out anywhere in the world. In a previous post somewhere I mentioned the traditional way of getting great photos in Patagonia - fly a photographer there for a few weeks and get back some great, but expensive images. What happens now - someone in Patagonia with a reasonable camera captures images that are not just as good, but acceptable for the need, and uploads them for the buyers to use.

I don't think we are disagreeing though - I think it is extremely hard for someone to start now in Microstock and generate the high incomes that are reported in the book we started commenting on. I do think it is possible to start now and build a paying hobby (at least in US income terms) and a passable salary (in many countries of the world). That is the objective of my book.

Steve