Selling photos online, any money to be made?
I've had a quick look through this thread, obviously some strong views. Some points have not made sense, here's my bit.
Internet based stock photos / image selling has transformed the economics of certain areas of photography and illustration (my area of work, trained and worked as a graphic designer, now an illustrator).
It's fairly simple. Most designs are made to a tight budget, if that's small (which it can be now in a recession) so is the fee for an image. If some image can be found that fits the brief for $1 that's great for the designer, his fee may be fixed so cost cutting like this is his/her profit.
Some people never understand how much to charge for using their work, any number of reasons for that. Some simply don't care because they can live on peanuts, or because they like to undercut to get an advantage, very irritating. I say some undercharge because their work is below par and are rich dilettantes.
For a massive fashion based multi million pound ad campaign, an ad agency won't use stock images. A photographer or illustrator who can sell a $1 image 250,000 times has been lucky. If it was more they may not sell any, because there's another one just as 'good' for $1 somewhere i the world, that's the internet for you.
Internship (how did that crop up?) sounds crazy to me. It's usually in the 'professions' not on the factory floor. If it's a short term foot in the door and is a good experience, well, that's their choice, might be good. It could be a good way of deciding if that job is for them, not easy. If it takes away a real job that already exists, that should be outlawed, if it were possible.
It's not slavery as nobody is forcing them. If they are forced to get the coffee and dry cleaning, it's a poor boss in charge and a waste of everyones time, that's all and that may be an education for some.
In the film and TV industry there are huge numbers of interns. In PR there were always loads of rich kids, they used to be called 'friends of the boss' and were young inexperienced relatives of a somebody who was loaded and could do a few things around an office. They would usually end up licking envelopes if they were rubbish. The best got a job, in TV.
Most of these modern interns don't have a mortgage, a family. It's their life choice and as long as it doesn't affect the job market for experienced workers it shouldn't be an issue. I don't know if it has, yet?
I bet half the entourage behind the top fashion shooters are unpaid dilettantes. If they were paid well, the job wouldn't exist, who wins there? I was lucky, when I left college nobody worked for nothing, and few could get work - it was the last big recession. Now, there are much bigger numbers of students leaving college and no jobs, how did that happen? Crazy!
Thousands want to be TV cooks, film makers, TV researchers, work for fashion labels or magazines. If it's not fixed term or under contract I suppose it's a fact of the economic situation the mad bankers have got us all in. I don't see unpaid nurses doctors or engineers though. Underpaid maybe - it's seems to be okay for some - not others. In the ideal world we would all get paid a fair wage for the hours we work, unfortunately it's not fair all the time, will it ever be? I live with it, do my best and hope it's better in the future for my kid, that's all I can do. Deep.
