When to sell low?... this would not be one of those times

Got this from another site

In April, Time magazine used a stock photo of coins in a jar on its cover to illustrate a story about "the new frugality."

Last week, the photographer who took the picture, Robert Lam, proudly pointed out his achievement in the Photography Talk forum on the Web site Model Mayhem.

The first reply to Lam's post asked if Time paid for the image, and Lam replied, "yes only 30.00 from Istock," meaning iStockphoto, an online agency. Stock photographs are existing images that can be licensed for various uses for a one-time fee. They're used a lot in marketing, packaging, advertising and journalism.



Photog thrilled to get peanuts from Time - The Future of Journalism - Open Salon


Makes for some interesting reading.

[ericw]

Yeah, interesting reading. I still don't think I have an opinion on the situation but the author makes sense to me, especially when stating "Wishing it were otherwise, as the photographers are doing in that online forum and as opponents of free content do in Future of Journalism nerdland, will not make it otherwise." Maybe I have an opinion but recognize the futility of the whole thing so I just don't bother worrying about it - kind of how I feel about politics...

I think I'm more entertained that the controversy is about how little TIME paid and that the cover story involved was about frugality.

Originally Posted by ericw

I think I'm more entertained that the controversy is about how little TIME paid and that the cover story involved was about frugality.

The irony isn't lost on me

[RexK_Cozumel]

What a train wreck that thread was on the MM forums.

[fletch]

If he hadn't sold for $30 someone else would have done. That just microstock.

I'd be deligheted if some picture I allowed to be licenced in that way got used by Time.

[vandergus]

If he hadn't sold for $30 someone else would have done. That just microstock.

What do you mean? Pictures of coin jars are hard to come by these days.

[Jim Bryant]

Wow.............I got a Time Magazine cover in 1996 and they paid me $1700.00. Time got a good deal for only paying $30.00.

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

Wow.............I got a Time Magazine cover in 1996 and they paid me $1700.00. Time got a good deal for only paying $30.00.

Really? what cover?

[Jim Bryant]

The Time magazine cover was actually in 1994, but I had shot the photo of the cherry blossoms taken at the Hirosaki Cherry Blossom festival sometime between 1984 and 1987. The Time artists dropped the of Hosokawa into the waters of the castle moat.

[Jim Bryant]

I wish I could say this is the worst microstock story I've ever heard, but a couple years back Time actually paid just THREE bucks for an iStock cover photo, so thirty bucks is isn't even the worst of it. Bear in mind that Time's standard cover rate is $3,000 today.