Putting Microstock on the Back Burner
I’ve been heavily involved with microstock for several years now, and before I say anything else, let me make one thing clear: It’s been an awesome, life-altering experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. Look at it: I’ve said goodbye to 9-5 working, I’ve met a wonderful woman and started a new life in a new country, I’ve learned more than I can put to words and met some incredible people along the way. It’s no exaggeration to say, that microstock has been at the root of my career as a photographer and an artist. That said, I’ve decided to put microstock on the back burner for a while.
By that I don’t mean to imply, that I won’t be uploading anything or not keeping up to speed. It just means that other aspects of photography will recieve first priority. More specifically, I want to focus on more artistic efforts, such as my “12 Seattleites” project. I’m already working on a few of these personal projects, but the difference is that I am now allowing myself to do so, without feeling guilty about ignoring my stock portfolio.
So I’m calling it “taking a break” mostly for the sake of my own conscience, but there is at least one good reason beyond that: I sometimes feel that working intensely with microstock for so long, has limited my artistic vision. I tend to look at all my own photos with the question: Would this work as stock? And that is not the right mentality, for someone working on an art project. I must unlearn the standards, I am so used to enforcing, that I may grow as an artist.
The coffee-sign photo used with this post, is an example of a shot that would never work for stock. I shot it while experimenting with cross processing and Holgas. I want to do more stuff like that.
Because I work best with time-frames and deadlines, I have given myself the rest of 2008 and all of 2009 to do this. It happens to fit with my Seattle project, which I’ve already budgetted a year’s time for, but I’m hoping to do a lot more than just this one project. I want to do a similar project about my first home, Copenhagen, and I have several other ideas as well.
I have already taken a few baby steps in this new direction. First, I set up a photo blog, where I can post single pictures. This really wasn’t needed, since I also use Flickr, but I like having a more personal, limited outlet. Besides, I put all sorts of snapshots on Flickr, which I am not doing on the blog. Secondly, I have set up an Etsy-store. I’ll be experimenting with selling prints through there, and already, I’m astounded at the influence that has had on my Twitter account (about ten new fellow etsy-sellers added me in just a few hours). Let’s hope some of that spills over into sales.
Microstock has given me freedom to do these things. I am definitely not quitting microstock. It just so happens, that right now, I have a lot of other things, I want to try. Among these is also having a go at selling pictures through Getty, rather than iStock. Something I have yet to try, but my contributor account is already set up, so whatever I do shoot, I’ll probably be uploading there (though my current camera, a Canon 20D, is too crappy for Getty, but that’s a different issue). I will still be keeping up with everything microstock, still inspect thousands of photos every month on iStockphoto, offer portfolio consultations and all that good stuff.
But first and foremost, I’m going to focus on telling stories and exploring techniques in my photographic work, in the year to come. It will be an exciting journey, no matter where I end up.
