Dennis Frates, Alex Segre and Bettina Strenske all have one thing in common – they are members of Alamy’s $100,000+ club. Over the years this prestigious collective has uploaded tens of thousands of images to the stock site, covering topics ranging from plumbing and ice cream to butterflies and the effects of climate change – and their efforts have clearly paid off.
It’s no secret that selling stock was once a great way to earn a living, but with the price of individual images plummeting in recent years, is it still possible to earn serious money this way? To find out AP quizzed Matthew Horwood, a professional photographer, and stock library contributor, about what he shoots, how he maximizes sales, and what he believes are the current and future trends in stock.Why did you decide to supply a stock agency?
I turned my attention to a stock when I left the Western Mail and South Wales Echo in 2014. One of the downsides of being a staff photographer is that very often the company owns all of your images – you sign it all away on day one. I think, in hindsight, I would have preferred to have been a contracted freelancer who fully owned all the images I produced. As soon as I left the paper I started building a library and contributing editorial stock images to agencies.
Which agencies do you supply, and why did you choose these specifically?
I supply Alamy and Getty. I chose Alamy when I first went freelance because it was the most accessible. I now concentrate most of my efforts on Getty – it’s a great company to work with, and has good reach. [Before choosing a library take a look at the British Association of Picture Libraries & Agencies website, www.bapla. org.uk, which lists more than 100 agencies.] I have a small collection compared to many of my colleagues: about 11,000 with Alamy and 8,000 with Getty.
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