PDN - August 2011

pdn stock photography guide 2011

Continued from page 91

[trends]

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Tandem offering 50/50 split with
contributors on their images. “If
you refer a sale to us,” Shive adds,
“we only take 25 percent and the
contributor gets 75 percent. We
want lasting relationships that
develop careers or help people at
the far end of a successful career
achieve their goals.”
Another innovation here is the
branding of the licensing model;
one that simplifies the buying
process for clients. “We call it
Rights Specific (tm),” Shive ex-
plains. “It eliminates negotiation
from the buying process.” Appar-
ently, research shows that most
buyers can’t stand haggling over
the price of anything. “No one likes
buying a car,” Shive says. “Buying a
photo shouldn’t be the same.”
He has plenty of solid practi-
cal advice to offer potential stock
photographers, too. Remem-
ber that every potential shoot
has countless subsidiary possi-
bilities. For example, going rock
climbing in Peru? Don’t just pho-
tograph the climb. “Document
the entire journey like a story-
teller,” he says, beginning with
the airport. Photograph the cities
passed through, meals enjoyed
and people met on the way to the
rocks, and then photograph the
rocks. And when looking for the
right agency, Shive advises, “Do
your homework and read the fine
print! A lot of agencies are super
sneaky. They claim to take a cer-
tain percentage but then have a
hidden service fee on top of it.”
Shive speaks for many in ac-
knowledging the tough busi-
ness that stock photography
is, in flux along with the roller-
coaster economy. “Buyers need
to realize there are families and
people on the other end of the
photo, that making great photos
is expensive and they can’t get
them for free,” he says. “Pho-
tographers need to realize that
budgets are also very tight and
compromise. It’s a balance.”