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The return of the blog comments!

Permalink Comments (41)12 March 2007 at 10:23 by James Allsworth
Posted under Boring but necessary announcements

We are pleased to announce that the comments feature of the blog has once again been enabled. We’re sorry we had to turn it off for a week, but we are far less likely now to receive so much spam, which is good for everyone.

Should you wish to comment on any of the news or features we post be sure to keep your remarks on topic, fact based and free from any sort of insult.

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Add your own commentComments (41)

  1. 12 March 2007 at 19:04 Paul mayall

    So lets get blogging! hopefully the team at Alamy have fixed those very anoying and stupid spam mails.Hmmm so where do we start? How about the 25% discount offered until end of April when a Client buys 5 or more images, sounds like good business for the client/Alamy and for the photographer if someone buys 5 images from the same photographer, otherwise the photographer who sells 1 to 4 images is losing out on giving a discount on his/her images, or have I missed something where Alamy pays the discount from their own purse and the photographers receive the full 65% commission, it would be interesting to know. Thanks Alamy, C'mon Folks lets get some info going here. Cheeeeers all, Paul.

  2. 12 March 2007 at 20:00 anon

    What if I offer my own contacts 25% off any of my images that they find on Alamy, deliver the file myself, and then pay Alamy the required 10% fee for using their system?

    Would this be pretty much in the same spirit as the Alamy discount offer to customers using my images?

  3. 12 March 2007 at 20:58 peter davey

    I'd like to know why it takes so long for funds to clear, surely it should be 30 day then it hit my account, but 3 months on and funds aint cleared and i bet i'll hvae to wait a further month for a payment date - things need to tighten, please. Peter

  4. 12 March 2007 at 22:20 Howard Sayer

    Don't want to depress you Peter but I have been waiting for a sale from July 2005 to clear. A bit shoddy to say the least.

  5. 12 March 2007 at 23:08 Paul mayall

    #3 I'd like to know why it takes so long for funds to clear.

    Some publishers will not pay until the image is published, would be a good idea if Alamy told it's photographers about the conditions and agreements that are reached with buyers, I am sure that once Alamy receives the funds it would be passed on, as for Peter Sayer, I would have to agree it is a very long time and some questions should be asked, I have sold 100's of images directly to clients without waiting more than 3 months average is 30 days, it should be the same with Alamy, as yet I don't have any sales with Alamy so I cannot comment about Alamy's efficiency in this matter, Cheeeers all, Paul.

  6. 13 March 2007 at 07:20 anon

    Further to #2.

    Under this photographer run system there may sometimes be delays, or under the self billing system, some complete non reporting of sales to Alamy. But it is hoped that it is understand that this is the industry standard and that everything possible is being done, given severely limited resources, to monitor the situation. Sometimes it simply proves uneconomic to recover all payments. There, after all, is a balance in seeking to recover all payments and not wanting to eat into Alamy's 10% through over use of staff time and effort.

  7. 13 March 2007 at 09:08 Jock strapp

    Has anyone else noticed a sharp decline in sales this month ? My sales have fallen so dramatically that I feel Alamy are concentrating on this blog and uploading images(if one can call them that) instead of selling. Alamy seems to have degenerated into an agency for amateurs ,part timers and people who have nothing better to do than upload inferior material. I joined Alamy in the hope that it might be a rival to Getty and/or Corbis - no hope. Another gripe is keywording, yesterday I did a search for Durham, one of the early images displayed was of Lindisfarne. I rest my case.

  8. 13 March 2007 at 09:37 colin

    Re Howard blog 4
    A bit longer for me Feb 2005.
    A distributor in Poland so they are getting deselected on March 31st !!

  9. 13 March 2007 at 09:59 peter davey

    just checked my details again - uncleared funds on a credit card sale - come on guys this is instant money whay not pass it on to me?

  10. 13 March 2007 at 10:03 ronnie

    Don't have a lot of time to write in blog, got more to do with my time!
    However! Quantity not Quality! As Alamy get over the 8 million image mark, I wonder if they have Quantity over Quality. All picture agencies work by editing material for Saleable images, except Alamy they work on Quantity. I have spoken to a number of amatuers who think Alamy is great... They have a free website! So the poor buyer must troll through masses of un-usable pictures to get to the ones revelent to their request. By the time they get to over 10 million images all sellable shots will be lost in the piles of .... . I know several professional who have brought this up with the powers that be in Alamy... the reply... Our buyers are quite happy with the quantity!!!
    As far as keywording goes No 7 has a point spamming in the keywording is rife!!!!
    Your comments please from PROFESSIONALS ONLY.

  11. 13 March 2007 at 10:29 James Allsworth - Alamy content team

    If you do wish to comment on our blog posts, please keep them on topic. We really don’t want to have to start removing comments that are of no relevance to the blog title, but we will if necessary.

    This is a blog post to inform you that the comments are available again, not a message board to discuss declining sales, discounts and payments. As a general note here though, FYI, credit card sales will take 45 days to clear to ensure the sale is not fraudulent and that the usage isn't cancelled. We currently offer discounts on bulk sales in order to sell more of your images and if there is ever a large delay in sales clearing we will look into each specific case and chase the client on your behalf.

    Again, can I please remind everyone that this is not a forum and specific questions will not be answered on these pages. Please contact us by emailing memeberservices@alamy.com and we will be more than happy to answer your questions and explain any situations in an appropriate place and manner.

  12. 13 March 2007 at 10:32 Vincenzo Dragani

    I think it is time for Alamy to make more aestethic quality selection during the photo submission.
    Near wonderful and very professional shoots you can find really bad amatorial images.
    And this is not a good presentation for the Agency.

  13. 13 March 2007 at 10:59 Paul mayall

    #10 ronnie Quantity not Quality!

    I only have a few images on Alamy and waiting for QC on another 100 plus images it seems to be taking a very long time, whitch means that I cannot really make a serious comment on Alamy however I do agree with Ronnie, I have been in this game as a pro since 1995, have had dealings with many publishers on a personal basis and was recently asked by a graphic designer if I work with Corbis/ Getty or any of the large online Agency's my answer was NO his reply was I am glad now let's get down to business. The message that I am getting is that publishers are getting tired of searching through piles of rubbish to find what they are looking for, the way I see online archives is that they are good for publishers who are looking for fast food type photography, it's cheap, it's instant, and when we photographers really stop and think about it there is really no control once that image ends up in a data base somewhere in the world. I have many images with conventional archives that carefully edit what is saleable, yes it is frustrating to send of a 500 image submission and only 50 are selected, but I can be sure that 10 of that 50 will sell in one year and at a good fee also knowing that I will be paid within a reasonable time. Don't blame Alamy or other online archives for lack of sales or slow payment, it's a mass market especially online, we are the farmers that supply images to online archives so they can play the numbers game, I think that most REAL Pro photographers put images on these sites to generate a little beer money and would only put up images that do not have a great value meaning that if they are stolen or misused it's not a train smash, Cheeeers All, Paul

  14. 13 March 2007 at 13:07 Pete jenkins

    James,

    This is a blog and as such surely the onus is on the writer to decide what to write?

    If this is a forum then surely it should be presented as such?

    Perhaps you could consider sending all contributors/potemtial contributors a set of rules or guidelines as to how ou want this to work?

    Curently I feel it is less than useful to most of Alamys' contributors in its present form. I would prefer to see the old newsletter of a derivation of that return.

    Kind regards

    Pete Jenkins

  15. 13 March 2007 at 13:58 Baron

    I'm begining to wonder about the wisdom of these blogs. All they seem to be attracting is spam or off topic whinges and comments from contibutors that could and should be dealt with via private email.

    Perhaps some fresh blog entries like an updated wants list of images would help get things back on track

  16. 13 March 2007 at 14:32 Cristina fumi

    What looks beautiful to a photographer's eyes, may not look the same to a buyer with a special idea in mind. I was looking myself for some summer images for a pamphlet and searched all over the web agencies, I finally found it here on Alamy and guess what? I could find it quickly among 20000 pictures! As oon as my customer gives the ok I'll buy it...

  17. 13 March 2007 at 18:35 Ladi Kirn

    The irritating in this "blog" of ours is that anyone can post and everyone can be ANONYMOUS.
    Waist of time to read and waist of time to write.

  18. 13 March 2007 at 19:12 Jeff greenberg

    With the return of blog comments & the reality that contributors are not policing themselves & will continue forum-like behavior, a suggestion:

    pressure contributors to limit comments to one per topic by auto-rejecting a second appearance of the same name or email address in "Add your own comment"

  19. 14 March 2007 at 10:42 Ian M Butterfield

    Re: Colin comment #8
    I know this isn't the right place to post this (but without a surname I've no other way to contact you).

    Colin,
    I too have an uncleared Poland sale from Feb 2005. (See: http://www.imb.biz/page.php?pg=diary&d=06-02-11">http://www.imb.biz/page.php?pg=diary&d=06-02-11). Without going into details, I believe Alamy now use a different sub-agent/distributor for Poland, I've had sales through the new agent and have been paid, so you might want to reconsider your decision to deselect Poland from the distributor scheme.

    Regards
    Ian
    http://forum.iphotos.co.uk
    http://www.imb.biz

  20. 14 March 2007 at 11:40 shel

    I am more important than Alamy. Alamy should change what it is and what it does to suit MY view of the world. MY pics should always come out first in my pathetic one-word searches. And buyers should stop using Search expertly and instead revert to stupid, ignorant one-word searches, like I do. That way my whining won't look quite as childish, ignorant and self-centred as it currently does . . .

  21. 14 March 2007 at 12:58 Christine webb

    I am glad the blog is back. I have learnt alot from people's comments, sales good and bad. I search the site to see what photos people are taking who are responding to the blog and thereby rewarding them with an Alamy Search credit. The range of images is astonishing. All those that have made valuable contributions to the blog tend to really care about their work.

    I also feel that although I work far from any city centre where I may meet other photographers, I can get a sense of community from the blog.

  22. 14 March 2007 at 13:31 Paul mayall

    #21 Christine webb.
    I am glad the blog is back. I have learnt alot from people's comments.

    Well said Christine, yes one can learn a lot from the blogs, good and bad. It's best to read between the lines and take what seems useful information.
    RE:Blog #19 I too have an uncleared Poland sale from Feb 2005.
    Does anybody agree with me that if a image is not paid for over a reasonable amount of time e.g. 6 months, the photographer should be able to blacklist future sales of his work to the agent/ publisher. I would like to read some comments on this. Cheeeers All.

  23. 14 March 2007 at 14:06 Christine webb

    I agree that bad debts are the pits and that a mechanism, if not already in place, should prevent more sales down a dud road, it's only logical and I am sure the sales team have a carfully guarded black list.

    This is the blog about the return of the blog

  24. 14 March 2007 at 22:46 peter davey

    While this is not a forum as has been clearly pointed out and Alamy have clarified a point for me - on reading this there does seem to be a lot of un happy contributors - I think their needs should be addressed.

    But Alamy is in the middle between two demanding customer types with different needs.

    The Alamy Source, I find, is a good hints and tips section and a view on the future = one section of which I already work in so - big smug grin on face.

  25. 15 March 2007 at 06:40 doug steley

    There is a fine line on the quality question. I have submitted several photos I would consider well below my usual standard that have sold for a good sum of money, while shots I consider great have not sold.

    Alamy is about giving choice to the buyer, sadly a lot of buyers don't seem to want a choice they prefer to have something safe and that looks like a stock photo.

    I am not sure of the answer, but it is a good question.

  26. 15 March 2007 at 07:20 Paul Mayall

    #25 doug steley:
    Alamy is about giving choice to the buyer, sadly a lot of buyers don't seem to want a choice they prefer to have something safe and that looks like a stock photo.

    Good point Doug, I would like to know the difference from a nice photo to a stock photo, can anybody make this clear, my idea of a stock image is still life/cut out white background etc, Cheeers to all, Paul.

  27. 15 March 2007 at 11:47 Chris elsdale

    Try looking at:

    http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AlamyPro/

    You can share info and winge if you want to.

    Just don't do it here because that's not what this blog is for.

    Regards

    Chris Elsdale
    www.bobelsdale.com

  28. 15 March 2007 at 12:29 Prufrock

    It's good that auto spam has been blocked. Is there anything else to say? Is it likely that anyone will express a different view in response to this blog post?

    The trouble is that with the Newsletter gone contributors need to come here to see if there is any important new news. Has there been anything important or new announced since the blog has been going? In my view the answere is a clear 'no'. And that is probably why responses wander off all over the place.

    The blog needs more focus and direction (IMHO) and then it would be more reasonable to insist that people stick to the point. Attracting people here for no clear purpose is going to encourage forum like posting.

    Maybe it's too easy to blame people for writing inappropriately when what is actually an appropriate reponse isn't all that obvious.

    What sort of responses were expected to this announcement?

  29. 15 March 2007 at 22:27 Phil Robinson

    I agree that contributors should stick to the blog topic. But what did Alamy expect when they started a topic under "The return of the blog comments"? There isn't that much to comment on, is there? Perhaps this news could have been in the form of an anouncement, rather than a new blog?

  30. 19 March 2007 at 13:49 Dennis

    I would liek to see a blog and/or a forum on the distribution schemes.

  31. 22 March 2007 at 22:39 Carol and mike werner

    We've been in the stock photography business over twenty-five years and with alamy a little over two. We seemed to be making pretty good progress. Submissions increasing, sales every month and increasing. Everything looking good. Then all of a sudden our sales stopped. Period. More than a little worried about this we decided to take a closer look at the search engine. In the area of business where we have 273 images we found none of them appearing, no matter how far out we searched. The first image to appear on the first page of that subject had no keywords whatsoever. Nor anything else connecting it to business. One search yielded eight hangman's nooses on the first two pages. Information technology, another of our areas. We typed in IT, a keyword we've frequently used and found "none". To get really specific we typed in eyechart. We have several such images with the science agency Phototake on alamy. None came up. Nor was there any reference to Phototake. We tried several other areas in which we have large numbers of images and the same things occurred. We are very concerned about a search engine that seems to have lost us.

  32. 22 March 2007 at 23:24 Paul Mayall

    RE:31 Carol and mike werner and many others.
    OK Alamy what is going on with your new AlamyRank system? I am very new to Alamy with just over 100 images on with the ability to upload aprox 10,000 images within 12 months. I have been reading over the last 2 weeks on these pages how your photographers are losing out on sales since this new system of yours came into force, it does not look good, I like many photographers new and old members would like to be encouraged to upload more images, however due to less sales of your photographers work I or we photographers make have to think about it! come on Alamy if it is true that the new Alamyrank system is not working just simply change it back to what it was and keep your suppliers happy. Cheeers all, Paul.

  33. 23 March 2007 at 09:23 James Allsworth - Alamy Content Team

    Carol and Mike - Your eye chart images do not have the keyword "Eyechart" associated with them. You have "eye" and "chart" but not as one word, so this is why they are not returned in your results. If you search "Eye Chart" you will see that your images start to appear on page one, starting with AFPDA6. The results are here:

    http://tinyurl.com/328ufa

    A quick reminder to all - If you want to ask us specific questions about search results, AlamyRank or anything else this is not the ideal place to do it. I have answered this question here as a one off to put a halt to the confusion.

    Please direct your questions to memberservices@alamy.com and we will be more than happy to help.

  34. 23 March 2007 at 17:30 Dennis

    Like to see a summary list, one line per blog, of all blogs with dates of last blog entry. These can be ordered for display either by the last entry date or the date of blog creation.

    Thanks

  35. 26 March 2007 at 00:32 Dennis

    The new security code feature may be working OK in tackling spam, but often code picture either does not exist, or has to be entered several times or crashes with application errors. Only once did I managed to post an entry with one attempt.

  36. 26 March 2007 at 18:01 @l@in

    Hello viewfinder folks,
    I'm just a new guy here , and today decided to get on board. I am already very dicouraged after reading the recent blog comments ...seems , at least with Alamy , that you must spend long hours preparing your gems and then getting only a few accepted to then find very few buyers , even if you are a pro !! Well , I will at least send a batch of my best photographies and hope for the best ..but won't hold my breath
    Cheers to you all !
    Alain in Vancouver.

  37. 27 March 2007 at 02:21 curious

    One might have thought Carol and mike werner would have the grace to respond. Just goes to show that even "over 25 years" in the game is no guarantee of total expertise re: keywords and/or using a search-engine.

  38. 27 March 2007 at 03:03 Carol and mike werner

    To Curious:

    We did respond. As directed. To member services. Mr. Allsworth was absolutely correct. Phototake is a great agency but we don't always agree on keywords. As for us, we're planning to stay as far away from this blog as possible.

  39. 03 April 2007 at 15:49 Dennis

    How about a blog/forum to report bugs and problems, and another for requesting new features?

    :-)

  40. 11 April 2007 at 19:01 Kevin bailey

    To Alamy,

    Have you considered creating a separate category for the search for illustrations? I'm a user as well as contributor, however, I get tired of having to peruse through a bunch of illustrations when I'm looking for a photograph, or the other way around. Doing this would add to an already highly efficient and quick search engine.

    The less I have to search through, the quicker I can find what I want. There's no need to pile everything into one search in my opinion.

  41. 18 April 2007 at 02:54 texas

    wut it do

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