Fair Trade Photographer: Microstock: why would a reputable company do this to themselves?
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, this one has a lot to say. It says microstock. It says perfect-people perfect-world lowest-common-denominator cookie-cutter pile-them-high sell-them-cheap image.Why would a reputable company want to be associated with those words?
And from the comments:
This is another technology game-changer... it is always impossible to know what will come along and how it may turn an industry on it's head. This is something that I believe will turn microstock on its head and put it in its place - which is on the websites of micro-companies and fly-by-nighters, and not on the website of any company which values its image.
Picture buyers (and designers) who think they can get away with using microstock images have now got to contend with the fact that with one click of their mouse, anyone can find many many examples of the same image being used across the web. And that just makes it far too easy for a company's reputation to be ridiculed.
Major corporations are already aware of this and that is why you will no longer find microstock images on their websites.
Say hello to the era of the Poisonous Picture....
Good write up if you ever have to sell a better image to a client.
Thanks Charlie!