Posted October 7 Ladies and Gents, I'm proud to have published an interview recently on my blog with Aaron Amat, who is considered as the new Yuri Arcurs with a total of 1.4million stock images currently for sale at various agencies. He has provided some great tips on producing in-demand lifestyle (model-released) images, which I trust you'll find useful even at a much smaller scale of production. Alex 8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 7 "New Yuri Arcurs" Hahaha, sounds good... 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 7 Great article. Thank you for sharing. I was interested that @Krakenimages.com prefers natural light and uses that where possible. Super images and an inspiring story. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 7 8 minutes ago, Studio 2 said: Great article. Thank you for sharing. I was interested that @Krakenimages.com prefers natural light and uses that where possible. Super images and an inspiring story. Thank you! Here in Spain we have many sunny days a year. The sun is a great source of free light. 😊 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 7 5 minutes ago, Deni Williams said: What is a "microSTROCKER"? 🤨 Typo! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 7 You can fix the title, Alex, it's editable 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 7 I think the title Microstroker has more impact 😂 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 7 1 minute ago, Krakenimages.com said: I think the title Microstroker has more impact 😂 Some ideas for your next shoot! 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 7 4 hours ago, Deni Williams said: What is a "microSTROCKER"? 🤨 MacroSpamer 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 7 It's a great interview @Alexandre Rotenberg, the right questions were asked, thank you so much for sharing with us. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 7 Microstrocker sums up the current state of micro stock 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 7 I understand that this is a team, but I'm still surprised by the productivity of the microstocker. Good interview 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8 I bet he gets 2000 images a week randomly rejected for "noise" and "focus" now. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8 That’s a great interview @Alexandre Rotenberg ! And you can tell from the images there is a great vibe in the studio and the models seem to be enjoying the theatrical shoots. Fun is the key ! 😄 Impressive portfolio @Krakenimages.com 👍😄 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8 5 hours ago, Former_Poster said: I bet he gets 2000 images a week randomly rejected for "noise" and "focus" now. Great interview! I rather curious on how many images get downloaded per week in SS alone... Is 20000 dls per week for portfolio with such high quality and quantity an understatement? 🥶 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8 A question @Krakenimages.com (which you may not want to answer). Have the Sstock price changes had a discernible adverse affect on your earnings? I know this may be hard to evaluate during Covid times but I am curious as you are the sort of contributor that Sstock appears to be positively focussed on. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8 38 minutes ago, Studio 2 said: A question @Krakenimages.com (which you may not want to answer). Have the Sstock price changes had a discernible adverse affect on your earnings? I know this may be hard to evaluate during Covid times but I am curious as you are the sort of contributor that Sstock appears to be positively focussed on. How has Shutterstock’s new earnings structure implemented in June directly impacted your earnings? Would you consider boycotting Shutterstock? It is still early to jump to conclusions. The change was not supposed to affect level 6 contributors like us, but it has. Our profit per sale has decreased by approximately 8%. We are not planning any kind of boycott. You have to understand that in Shutterstock they are marketing geniuses. Maybe this decrease will allow them to spend more money on advertising and that will result in a higher number of sales. But as I said, it’s still too early to know the real result. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8 1 hour ago, chyworks said: Great interview! I rather curious on how many images get downloaded per week in SS alone... Is 20000 dls per week for portfolio with such high quality and quantity an understatement? 🥶 Hi, Chy, if I haven't missed anything, Krakenimages has 40.000 downloads per month at all stock agencies together where they offer. I estimate that there are 20.000 to 25.000 downloads per month at shutterstock, not per week. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8 31 minutes ago, Wilm Ihlenfeld said: Hi, Chy, if I haven't missed anything, Krakenimages has 40.000 downloads per month at all stock agencies together where they offer. I estimate that there are 20.000 to 25.000 downloads per month at shutterstock, not per week. Thanks Wilm. 20k-25k per month is still a very amazing and exceptional feat!! 🙌 👏 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8 Let's also not forget the big studios have bespoke agreements with Shutterstock so he might not be on the new commission structures, January reset and so on. He also wouldn't be allowed to say if thats the case. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8 3 hours ago, Former_Poster said: Let's also not forget the big studios have bespoke agreements with Shutterstock so he might not be on the new commission structures, January reset and so on. He also wouldn't be allowed to say if thats the case. Really, could you quote one of these agreements or show how they work? Someone claims that Africa Studio has one, but I see nothing to confirm that? So is the big studio agreement a theory, conjecture or is there anything to show that's a fact? Oh right, none of these people are allowed to say they have an agreement, that's convenient. Personally I can not confirm nor deny that I have any special agreement with Shutterstock. 😁 But KrakenImages could deny the special contract, would you and some of the others, believe them? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8 On 10/7/2020 at 7:09 AM, Krakenimages.com said: "New Yuri Arcurs" Hahaha, sounds good... Question: "Each image we process must be perfectly described and must have 50 keywords in English." what about Adobe? Can you give a rough estimate of what the models cost you for a shoot, is that hourly and do they vary in fees? Interesting interview, nice reading and positive attitude. What name did you use in 2017? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8 Wow! I see that this post has had a lot of comments since I went online last time! I'll try to answer all of them. Sorry if my English is not perfect. First of all thank you all for your kind words. Approximately 45% - 50% of our downloads come from Shutterstock, the rest come from the other agencies. The percentage has been falling over time, not because Shutterstock has gone down, but because the rest has gone up. With respect to the "bespoke agreements", I can assure you categorically that we have nothing like that. We are level 6, so our commission is 40%. I tell you something else in that respect, I doubt very much that there are any contributors who have it. Think that Shutterstock is infinitely bigger than us. Even with 1M images we are insignificant. To be honest, I have always felt that we are in a position of inferiority, not only with respect to Shutterstock, but to the rest of the large agencies. I may be wrong, but it is my opinion. If you remember the agencies let go of Yuri Arcurs, who was by far the best contributor in history. Right now our images have the same keywords in all agencies. Right now we are spending about $4,000 a month just to pay model fees. We have fixed fees. At least at this moment we are not paying more to any model than to any other. @Ackab Photography @HodagMedia @Former_Poster @chyworks @Wilm Ihlenfeld @Studio 2 @Repelsteeltje @Evgeniia Ozerkina 11 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8 Inspiring story and very impressive achievement! I clicked on the Krakrnimages link. "5 royalty free stock videos" (here at SS): Ok, so you're almost entirely into still images (here at SS). Same at other agencies and your own website? Why not more videos? Imagine the revenue 1 million video clips could bring in! Thanks. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
