The New Photo Agencies
Abele Beardsley
Is anyone here shooting for a wire service like Retna or Getty/WireImage?
How have your experiences been working with an agency for syndication in contrast (or in addition) to freelancing with bands, labels, or magazines?
Pros?
Cons?
Thanks,
Todd
1:07PM, 24 October 2007 PDT(permalink)
I was thinking of submitting a portfolio to these places as well. I need to get more exposure and my website isn't cutting it anymore. I think my stuff is good but how hard is it to get concert assignments from agencies?
ages ago(permalink)
I recently started contributing to an agency, and from what I've seen and experienced before joining agency, freelancers (contributors) don't that much (if at all) get assignments from agencies, they just shoot what ever they think would sell and submit their photos to agencies.
Agencies have no time or need to give assignments if you aren't their staff and top-shooter.
Feel free to correct me.
Originally posted ages ago. (permalink)
Jussi Sallinen edited this topic ages ago.
alrighty then.
wire are keen to get all the gigs i arrange myself, and assign me the bigger gigs. they're good at instore signings and big gig assignments like foo fighters and elton john etc. smaller gigs i sort myself.
make more sense?
ages ago(permalink)
I've shot several events for an agency. It's good because it's a much wider market to sell to than just your regular contacts.
But I didn't make much money from it, plus it takes months for the money to trickle down to the photographer. It'd be a tough way to make a living if you weren't on staff.
Like Shirlaine says, the music shots aren't big sellers, celebs and paparazzi stuff is where the money is. But i've got no interest in that.
You also need to be very quick to file your images, they need to be fully captioned and uploaded within an hour or so of the event. So no sticking around and getting drunk after the show.
ages ago(permalink)
Great topic. I'm interested in doing this eventually (when I feel my portfolio is up to scratch and I am more organised).
One thing I wondered; is there a standard ratio that agencies want your shots to be in? I capture everything in 3:2 but sometimes I like to do square crops and that sort of thing. Now and then the image just looks a lot better that way. Would you still be able to submit something like that or only the original framing? I notice newspapers/mags tend to crop people's shots quite a lot afterwards anyway.
ages ago(permalink)
I'd suggest cropping square isn't a good idea. As you say, newspapers/mags tend to crop anyway. They like to choose the way the shot is cropped rather than be limited by what the photographer thought was the best crop.
Sometimes you might crop out some space which you think doesn't work well for the photograph, but an art director may find that very handy to overlay some text or a headline.
ages ago(permalink)
From what I know from friends that shoot for agency's, most of them shoot something on the side cause live photos do not sell well. (like every one mentioned) Most of my friends shoot sports on the side.
Also some agency's want full rights or partial rights to your images. As for live concerts and assignments, most agency's will only send their better photogs that have seniority to like big events like MTV awards, big festivals, reunions, and then for just like the first date of Tours.
and then in the long run, you always hear people complaining about being paid and how long it takes or how they got hardly nothing cause certain company's like AOL and stuff pay a monthly fee for unlimited online usage.
the upside is that you do get a wider audience. lol.
Originally posted ages ago. (permalink)
ishotyourband edited this topic ages ago.
Thanks for all the thoughtful responses to this thread, it's given me a few things to think about for the future. I'm in the process of gaining syndication, so all this input has been great.
ages ago(permalink)
I see you submit to Brave too Shirlaine... and Getty have your Pigeon Detectives stuff up.. that's through Wire though right?
I'm trying to look for a decent agency to submit my stuff too, but it seems I do not have enough experience yet to meet most's requirements
Originally posted ages ago. (permalink)
giddy rail edited this topic ages ago.
Hey Jussi -- you know, I've been so busy lately, I've nearly forgotten about the contracts. I just followed up with my friend, though since he's doing it pro bono, I don't want to rush him.
In the meantime, it seems like the one-year contract would be perfectly fine to try out the system. The language of the one and three-year contracts is different (with the latter being much more involved), so I'm just waiting to hear from an educated eye whether one or the other might be more advantageous.
ages ago(permalink)
I've just looked at your portfolio posted above Todd, every single one of those images is solid. Cant fault any of them!! Only now are you looking at contributing to an agency??! Madness
ages ago(permalink)
Josh and In the Muck, thanks very much for checking out my portfolio, and for the support.
I've been shooting concerts for about a year and a half but I'm just now getting my stuff together to submit.
Thanks again. Will be hearing back from my friend on the contracts by the end of the week, so I can probably post an update then.
ages ago(permalink)
I chatted with a friend of mine who shoots for Getty -- he mentioned that adding all of the captions and metadata was a pain/time-consuming, especially since you need to file your photos ASAP. He usually files in high resolution, via FTP.
ages ago(permalink)
I've been shooting for WENN.com for a year or so now....like was said above, agencies do not get many music sales, it's all in Celeb Red Carpet/Pap images
I'd love to do the rugby shot each week....300mm just won't cut it though :)
plus the fact that getty/wire hold the ranks in that scene....constant shots through out the papers/rugby league week mag
unfortunately I had to pass up shooting the Gucci Spring show for Big Pictures Australia due to the facts above also, you have to had the shots edited/uploaded/metadata all within hours post event
I have a day job to get up for each morning >.<
ages ago(permalink)
Ollie I did about 6/7 weeks work experience with Redferns helping out round the office during the day and shooting gigs in the evenings. Most of which was stuff I wanted to shoot and I still get asked to do the occasional more local show.
Anyway real friendly bunch of guys so dont be shy. I cant say much more than that as I have never shot for them in professional capacity. What I can tell you is they have a gig list of stuff they specifically want covered and will shoot it out to their togs and get people to cover them most of this was for London gigs.
They have never sold any of my stuff but I think that was to do more with the bands I was shooting. Also from stuffing invoices into envelopes one day it appeared they sell a lot more of their vintage shoots of older bands this seems to make up a large chunk of their sales. Like I said this is from very limited experience with them so take this as you will.
Good luck like I said nice bunch of people I learnt a hell of a lot from them.
Originally posted ages ago. (permalink)
Kieran Ross edited this topic ages ago.
Does anyone know if an agency can sell/syndicate specific photos that they are interested in without signing someone on-board? I recently had some interest from Retna in a few of my images, and they mentioned that they'd like to cherry pick some because they know what will sell, but this would be on a continuous basis. But so far I haven't received any contract or anything of the sort, just a short document with basic info.
Any idea on how this sounds? I'd rather be able to load up photos to them often...
ages ago(permalink)
watch out with Retna. They have a huge turnover in personnel and string you along and only pay 50/50 and it can take over 6 months to get a check. I declined their offer once I checked out their operation in NYC in a small loft in mid-town. They want you to shoot and then if they sell the photo, you get paid. You also have to get your pass to shoot at the venues as they don't want to get involved with the requests.
They are very bad with responses and often you have to call constantly to get a live person otherwise it's voice mail and they almost never answer email. NOt worth it...pass on them.
Getty, depends on the location you hook up with it. They are inconsistent with responses and tough to actually get to the right person. Good Luck.
ages ago(permalink)
@snowpak2001
"They want you to shoot and then if they sell the photo, you get paid. You also have to get your pass to shoot at the venues as they don't want to get involved with the requests."
That's the way photo agencies work! you only get payed if you sell! i don't understand what your complaint about them is. getty has so many shooters and people that you would be lost when starting to shoot for them. i didn't see anything wrong with their operation. it's professional. just about every pr company in nyc has an office just like that. it shouldn't reflect poorly on the organization, space is expensive in manhattan!
ages ago(permalink)
Does anyone know the differences between the regular Retna and Retna UK? I am potentially going to be signing up with Retna UK, but would like to know the difference between the two. Do they share the same image galleries?
And also does anyone know how many agencies one can be in at the same time? Or does that not really matter as long as you follow any exclusivity/etc guidelines?
ages ago(permalink)