In the summer of 2006 it hit me: what goes up eventually comes down, sometimes falls and once in a blue moon crashes.
As far as our core business was concerned – CG Architectural Visualization – we were on the upswing. Judging by the volume of work (40% in new home ads only) there were no hints of what we now know to be the worst downturn in the housing market …and marketing. At AND Inc. mid 2006, we had a significant amount of renderings and animations, and it was hard to believe things would even slow down anytime soon. Still, it seemed too good to be true. It was time to reinvent our work model or at least reevaluate its direction.
Success lays at the intersection of knowledge and passion for one’s trade. When adding hobby and a happy accident to the mix, the search for new ways gains perspective.
In our case the hobbies Adrian and I share are travel and photography. The happy accident happened earlier. In 1997 we entered the “Assignment Earth” competition organized by the Santa Fe Center for Visual Arts (now known as the CENTER). Our photo titled “Flower Power “(at the top of this post) won the digital category. It was a labor of love on higher levels than the professional one and a story in itself, however for a different blog format. The win was nonetheless a serious boost in one’s artistic merits beyond architectural visualization. The five hundred dollars first prize was motivation enough to start considering Photoshop as alternative to the traditional hand illustration and painting. Recognition and financial award were not enough though, and in 1997 we were not ready to convert a hobby in a full-time day-job.
They say it’s good to contemplate the valley while you are still on higher grounds.
Nine years later, in 2006 and at the top of the game we were ready. It took several Google searches with the keywords: “photos, digital art, illustration” preceded by the ubiquitous: “sell” and “how to” to stumble upon the magic word: “microstock”.
Armed with a few days of roaming, reading and browsing portfolios I found our niche: travel photos and 3d illustrations. (At that time video/footage was not mainstream.) Photography was sustained by passion, 3d modeling by expertise. How hard can it be to make it work, right? I was convinced we’ll be fine and did not bother myself with the pages long guidelines on submission and key wording. Who was going to refuse content ultimately being sold at $0.25 (yes, 25 cents) a pop?
I put together the contributor batches – what I considered to be best in our photos and 3d work– and submitted them for review to the three largest agencies at that time. When the decision came back, out of three agencies, all rejected ALL images submitted, and with that my application for a contributor/seller account. It took several laments in forums and the luck to meet the right people with the best advice: “Don’t give up”, “RTFM and follow the rules”… “Long-term it’s worth the trouble!”
I am in debt to them and the forums they so benevolently post in.
Microstock selling is not an easy process. The learning curve for submission, key wording and what actually sells is frustrating. Competition is fierce within an offer volume that already traversed seven figures. Combined, the painstaking submission process and its monetary finality per/unit, makes one wonder many times: why bother?
Four years after starting, in 2010 I can vow that the benefits of selling/buying content through microstock agencies justify the sustained and disciplined effort to become a “microstocker”. For our business, the most relevant are: opportunities to find out about trends, to learn from and have access to professional advice in a very tight knit community; time-saving purchases that make our own product better and not in the least the chance to meet clients, subsequently developing business relationships with unexpected benefits.
All the above and more make microstock trading worthwile.
In a future post I will expand our microstock experience from photography and 3d illustration to video/footage and our latest Eureka moment: Adobe AfterEffects.
Until then, be well.