Take more pictures
No march this week but a rally at City Hall.
Attracting a crowd of a few hundred and becoming a weekly event this, obviously, is important to a lot of people.
I waited until I got different placards framed by the two guys standing in front of me.
Despite a temperature of around 7C and a sharp breeze the cyclists were out and touring the slipways in Titanic Quarter.
The vaccinations are rolling out as quickly as we could have hoped and in April it’s expected that up to 40000 people a week will be vaccinated. The infection rate is dropping with less people catching the virus and hospital admissions falling.
Our government has published a plan for exiting lockdown and getting back to normal. Anyone familiar with Northern Irish politics will know this should be taken as a positive sign for the future – they have all managed to agree on something. We are critical of our leaders, often with good reason, but looking at the way some European politicians have acted during the pandemic we should probably try to complain yes in future. That’s as close as I come to commenting on politics.
I’m looking forward to being able to travel again, Not necessarily abroad but just around the country. I was in Carrickfergus recently and it’s the farthest from home I have been for two months or more. Sometimes I still have difficulty believing that this lockdown is actually happening. I know it has all been necessary but governments having power to tell us who we can spend time with and where we can go should always be a concern.
On the photography front my experiments with images from my iPhone continue. I’m not sure if I mentioned it previously but I’ve bought a Gopro so I’m experimenting with that as well. I said previously that I’ve been mostly using Hipstamatic and wouldn’t be distracted with the many other apps available. I should’ve known better. I’ve rediscovered Snapseed. I had installed it on my phone some time ago and forgotten it was there. I continue to send images off but no sales so far. I’m enjoying creating images on my phone so no pressure.
When things get back to normal I’ll probably start shooting some images for stock again but on a more casual basis than in the past.
In the last post I said that we were in lock down again but it was not quite as strict as the last time. Although accurate at the time things have changed somewhat.
That lock down has been relaxed for a week with cafes, restaurants and bars permitted to open. From 27th November however a more severe lock down is being introduced for two weeks. All non essential retailers will have to close as well as the aforementioned cafes, restaurants and bars.
The business community are not happy, in fact some are livid with the decisions made by the politicians, or perhaps more precisely with the way the politicians are implementing the decisions they have made.
Although I will continue to take images recording the pandemic these are the last I intend to place here unless something momentous happens.
We’re back in lock down again. It’s not quite as strict as the last time but lock down all the same. Restrictions on meeting people and visiting other households have been tightened as have restrictions on selling alcohol. Restaurants, bars and coffee shops are permitted to sell only takeaway food. Some have simply closed.
The Coronavirus infection rate, the R rate, is over one as I think it is in most countries in Europe. The news bulletins carry information on rising hospital admissions and more worryingly, sadly some deaths. People are beginning to realise this may go on much longer than was originally expected. Thoughts are turning to Christmas with possible travel restrictions and social distancing preventing family and friends gathering.
These images with the exception of the last one, are from Cathedral Quarter on a Saturday afternoon. Usually a busy time with bars and restaurants crowded with both locals and visitors to the city. There were few people about. A guy with his young son, seeing me taking photographs, stopped to say how strange it felt. Autumn leaves on the outside tables at 2Taps, a usually busy restaurant and bar tell it all without words.
I’ve reduced my output for stock even further over the past month. I’ve sent a few images to Alamy but that’s about it. I’ve been taking photographs of things, people and events that attract my attention with no aim in mind other than improving my processing skills and enjoying the images.
The government is introducing another lock down because of the pandemic although it’s being called a circuit breaker this time. It doesn’t sound to be as severe as the first lock down and hopefully it won’t last too long.
The weather recently has been much better than we expect for this time of year and this helps to keep peoples spirits up.
These photographs are from one of the not so good days although as you can see people still manage to get into the water and enjoy themselves.
It doesn’t seem like six years ago but the Royal Hotel closed in 2014. I sometimes had lunch there and coffee when it wasn’t lunch time. I didn’t know it then but the hotel dated from 1773 although it had been rebuilt in 1932. When people said it had old world charm they weren’t making it up.
Rumours talk of it being developed into apartments but then that’s often the case when a large building such as a hotel closes. There’s a ‘To Let’ sign above it offering four restaurant/cafe units but unfortunately with the current Coronavirus pandemic and the expected economic consequences things don’t look good for the near future.
The small fenced off area in front of the hotel with tables and umbrellas is for patrons from the Rabbit Rooms restaurant nearby. The pavement outside the Rabbit Rooms is fairly narrow and many diners, sensibly with the threat of Covid 19, feel more comfortable outside so they’re using the space outside the Royal. Outside dining of course depends on the weather – always risky in Ireland.
Shutterstock, an Image licensing platform has drastically reduced the commission rates paid to photographers from 1st June to as little as 15 percent. Contributors can increase commission rates depending on sales but the sting comes every January when everyone resets to the 15 percent base rate and has to start climbing the commission ladder all over again.
It would be fair to say that this decision was never going to be received well. Contributors were told by email on 26th May that the changes would take place just five days later on 1 June. That they had to tell contributors again as the first email contained errors, hinted that more care could have been taken over a decision that may well impact some people’s livelihoods.
The emails were not a happy read for contributors who vented their fury on the forum. One of the staff, giving an undertaking that commissions would not be less than 10 cents, didn’t do much to calm things down.
A petition was organised asking Shutterstock to reconsider and a Facebook group formed to resist the changes. There was little or no further explanation or engagement from the company.
I jumped on the microstock treadmill in the days of Istock many years ago. Istock was the dominant force in those days but I joined others including Shutterstock.
I stopped contributing after a few years and shortly afterwards removed my images because of the poor commission rates for photographers. For whatever reason I didn’t remove my images from Shutterstock.
A couple of years ago I started to dabble in video. Alamy, where I was now submitting images, didn’t do video so I returned to Shutterstock where my account was still open. I happily licensed a few video clips through them and as Alamy had reduced commission rates I uploaded some images as well to see what would happen. Commissions even then were derisory but sales volume made it worthwhile.
I think it was shortly after I started to submit video clips complaints started to appear on the Shutterstock forum about clips being licensed for very low amounts with the contributor often receiving as little as 60 cents. As usual there was little response from Shutterstock in the way of explanation.
The complaints didn’t really register with me until I was on the receiving end of a 60 cent sale then another for $1.80.
The future does not look bright. There are reports on the Shutterstock forum of many sales at 10 cents and most of my sales are at 10, 11 and 12 cents. This is not economically viable. I would have to licence up to 20 images to buy the newspaper in the photograph above.
There is also much talk on the forum and elsewhere of portfolios being removed and content withdrawn from sale. Some chose to sell their content solely or mostly through Shutterstock. The new rates will hit them disproportionately hard. Having said this Shutterstock did licence a lot of work and was the main earner for a lot of contributors. Indeed even with these commission cuts they may well still generate more cash, through volume of sales, than some competitors.
I have no issue with Shutterstock’s rates. They provide a service and It is for contributors to assess whether that service is worth the cost. It is simply a platform to licence images and there are other places that will offer better terms. I think they should take less, as the middle man pocketing up to 85% seems excessive, but new content is still being submitted so others either don’t think so or don’t care. Management must run the business as they see fit and they are answerable to shareholders not contributors. Shutterstock doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Adobe Stock, taking market share and well thought of by contributors, looms large. Its integration with Photoshop is a convenience that should not be overlooked.
Where I think some people would take issue is the lack of consideration shown or sliver of support offered by Shutterstock in giving a mere five days notice to contributors of commission cuts, that may well cause financial difficulty, during a worldwide Corona virus pandemic.
While I was drafting this post Shutterstock licensed some of my video clips for 26 cents and some for 34 cents. I have stopped submitting both images and video and have removed my video clips from sale.
On a more positive note lock down is being relaxed week by week. There is talk of bars, hotels and even hairdressers being allowed to open early in July and social distancing is being reduced to one metre.
Bangor is still very quiet but getting busier every day.
