selling images though agencies

[adrian tyler]

through a "portfolio review" session i met some people setting up a stock photo site (interior archive) and it dawned on me that i have quite an archive of "commercial" images that i was thinking of giving to them.

here are some examples of work:

http://www.adriantyler.net/print02.c...1&idseccion=11
http://www.adriantyler.net/print02.c...0&idseccion=11

as i have no experience whatsoever in this business, i'd just like to ask if anyone knows good reputable agencies that could help out, possible pitfalls and most importantly about copyrights, should i contact all of the places that i have worked? i presently assume that they would be glad to be published which is probably naieve...

many many thanks

[QT Luong]

Do not expect too much of such a venture. Most start-up and/or small stock agencies do not license in any significant volume.

As for the subject of property releases, there are differing schools of thought, even among lawyers. For instance Ed Greenberg (a well-respected IP lawyer) insists that you should always get one, while Carolyn Wright (of photoattorney.com) thinks there is no situation in which they are actually legally required. Dan Heller has a whole book about the subject http://danheller.com/model-release-book.html. Usually his analysis are one the most cogent I have seen.

[Frank Petronio]

It's like investing - you put your images up with a good agency and wait, over time decent revenue comes in.

Oh wait.... that was before GETTY totally screwed everybody.

Now you're almost better off making your site search engine friendly and selling it yourself. You will probably sell less but at higher prices to better clients.

[adrian tyler]

is it normal to get charged a fee for an agenct to upload your work?

[QT Luong]

No. From a new agency, this is not acceptable.

The only reputable agency that does this is Getty, and only for the photographer-selected images (agency-selected images are not subject to a fee). It used to be that the average annual return per image was much higher than the fee.

[Frank Petronio]

FWIW, the several of the few interior architecture photos I listed sold multiple times as there is a good demand from home builders, developers, etc. for contemporary work.

I never had property releases or a problem.

[adrian tyler]

aye, my worry here is that they a all images of ground breaking, top name architect buildings, gehry, siza, calatrava, rodgers, you name it...

i mean they are going to make a nice feature, but not if i'm gonna take a hammering...

[GPS]

...
as i have no experience whatsoever in this business, i'd just like to ask if anyone knows good reputable agencies that could help out, possible pitfalls and most importantly about copyrights, should i contact all of the places that i have worked? i presently assume that they would be glad to be published which is probably naieve...

many many thanks

It would be naive to think that posters could give you answers to these questions in some general way. There are differences specific to the agencies. Once again, take a copy of "The Photographer's Market) 2008 and you will find all the info you need to start whenever you chose.

[adrian tyler]

thanks "GPS" (whatever that means) as is stated above very clearly, am know nothing about stock agencies, however frank's advice about "selling it yourself" previously was not something that clicked but is now very interesting as a couple of month ago sold 12 pages to spain's most presigious sunday magazine...

so not all is lost, i trust the advice on this forum, and it's worth running things over the people here, even the ones that are going to vote McCain:-)

[QT Luong]

> know nothing about stock agencies

Then instead of getting "Photographer's Market" that won't help you much, read on-line
Dan Heller's book and blog (one link up from the one I posted).