PhotoShelter’s School of Stock / SAA

For a photographer, the “stock market” does not refer to Wall Street. Rather, it’s the place that photo editors, graphic designers and kids working on term papers go for images - either because they have no budget to hire a photographer or because they have no time. In the golden era, which began to crumble six or so years ago, many pro photographers made very nice incomes through stock photography. Today, the rise of the internet and microstock has eroded the foundations upon which the stock titans, like Getty and Corbis, were built. As their margins get thinner, the amount paid through to the photographer continues to evaporate. Still, for the agile and the astute, there are many opportunities in today’s stock market. So where to start learning about stock photography?

PhotoShelter’s School of Stock is a great place. Originally conceived as an online archive for photographers, PhotoShelter continues to evolve with the stock market. Last year PhotoShelter launched the Collection as an online market for photo buyers. With School of Stock, PhotoShelter continues to gain momentum as an equitable meeting point between photographers and buyers. Check out their free tutorials - especially the Buyer Survey 2008. School of Stock is a blog - so use your favorite reader to subscribe to the frequently produced updates.

Another great resource for learning how stock photography works is the Stock Artists Alliance. SAA is the only trade association dedicated exclusively to the business of stock photography. There are many free resources on SAA’s site. Issue #1 of SAA’s [Key]Words contains over 50 pages of terms, experiences and business practices of stock photographers. Click here to get it for free.

One final thought: your photography has value… so don’t give it away.