Sell photos, buy photos

Purple haze, Chicago skyline seen from the west.  One of my photographs I featured in my ClusterShot site.

 I’ve been a serious amateur photographer for about five years now and have big dreams of being a successful commercial photographer.    As such, I have amassed tens of thousands of photographs, both film and digital.  Over the years, my photography has improved in leaps and bounds  - just from sheer shooting and shooting a lot and learning what works and what doesn’t and also from taking online classes.  The better photographs (or what I think are the better ones), I usually upload to Flickr for posterity and comments.  I have had some success in selling images through the site.  Photo editors do scour Flickr for pictures that they need.  I’ve also submitted pictures to a few microstock agencies (my favorite is Dreamstime) and lately, I have had a few pictures accepted to high-end stock photography sites such as Getty Images and Corbis.  

Dance Frenzy, SummerDance, Chicago

But over 98% of my photos are just sitting in the hard drives that I have also amassed (maybe about 2 terabytes worth of space by now) not to mention the boxes and boxes of prints – I am such a pack rat.  I always think that I may need the photos some other time (and sometimes I do), so no matter how crappy most of them are, I just store them.   I’m getting better though, I am now learning to delete the crapola photos (with much trepidation) on camera before downloading to the hard drive.

Summer dusk, Lake Michigan, Chicago

So what should I do with these photographs?  I toyed with the idea of establishing my own online stock photo site (which I attempted actually, at filipinostock.com) but the maintenance and marketing of the site is too much work for me right now.  At anyrate, I have many pictures that I and a lot of people like, but most of them are not appropriate for stock or microstock - many of them have actually been rejected by the stock agencies to which I submit.  Besides, the approval process of stock agencies is tough and sometimes may take a long while.  It is sooo frustrating.  As I have said, I do sell some on my own, somehow people find my images through search engines, but these sales are few and far between.  

After every sale, I’m always left wishing for a site out there where I can upload pictures without the difficult vetting process of stock agencies and where people can have a look and buy my pictures to their satisfaction.  

Chicago! Sweet Home Chicago! Summer, 2009

Guess what?  Wishes do come true.

I recently discovered a site called ClusterShot (clustershot.com) that exactly does what I wish for.  Their model is a little bit different from stock/microstock agencies – theirs is more like e-Bay – you upload pictures, people look and buy.  You can upload any type of pictures (except for pornography and other exploitative images).  They don’t even screen for image quality, focus, size etc.  According to them, “You can post as many crappy photos of your dog as you like. Why wouldn’t you? Someone might buy one.”  And best of all - you pick your price for the photos you want to sell and they will take a very small 12% administrative fee.  That’s incredible.  Other sites take as much as 80% cut!

Fog over Chicago, May 2009

I've uploaded several photographs (which are seen in this article) to test the waters of ClusterShot.  So far so good.  Uploading is very easy and simple.  IPTC keywording (the ones that you embed in your photos yourself) is supported.  Uploading single photos seem to be the best way to post to the site (for me) although uploading a several photos in a zip file is also supported. ClusterShot will then extract and add each photo.  If your photos are already online, you can upload these photos to ClusterShot easily through RSS/Atom Feeds (if available) or if your photos are on Flickr, you can link your Flickr account and choose the photos or sets you want to sell in ClusterShot.  I managed to display several of my photos on Flickr on ClusterShot without any hitch.

Managing your photos in ClusterShot is also very easy.  You can sell photos with a fixed price (and price them whatever you want) or you can accept offers from buyers or both.  If you price them with a fixed price, the site will automatically show how much you can earn for that particular sale.  You can also easily tag your pictures with keywords and also delete them if you no longer want them displayed in the site.

Ferris Wheel, Navy Pier

As for payment, ClusterShot basically is the intermediary between you and the buyer.  They will take their 12% cut off the price and will send you your earnings through PayPal once your account balance reaches $100. 

Clustershot is currently licensing photos as royalty free.  This is, I think a downside, the reason being it is up to you as a photographer or your buyer to determine whether model and/or property releases are needed for your pictures.  So you have to be ready with these if requested (if you are the photographer) or if you are a buyer, be ready to do additional work in securing the releases.   However, there is a two-part agreement that the buyer has to agree when licensing an image - with the photographer and with ClusterShot.  The agreement outlines how photos are used and offers protection by granting the buyer a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the image on the terms and conditions explained in the agreement.

Sunset, Streeterville, Chicago

It remains to be seen how successful this kind of model of selling photographs will be.  ClusterShot is usually compared to microstock but, really, they are not, because here, the photographer has the final decision what to sell and how much.  Upload and upkeep is easy and the administrative fee is very small. 

Buck's Place, Chicago

I'm kind of liking it.  I haven't sold anything through the site yet (ClusterShot claims that they ARE selling photos - there are about a thousand photographers who have signed up with 160,000 plus for sale)  but that's ok for now.  This is a young site, and it will take time for them to publicize and market the site.  Also, it is really up to the photographer to market his/her work and this site is the perfect site to feature and promote work.  They have big plans for the site and hopefully those plans will be realized to make this site successful.  I am praying and hoping that it will be.

For more information, go to ClusterShot.  To see my photos in Cluster shot, go here.