Understanding the
Microstock Revolution
About Stock Photography
Don’t panic. This is not a lecture on the history of stock photography,
but a few words of explanation may help set the scene for what hap-
pened in April 2000 when the fi rst microstock image library was born,
signaling the beginning of a revolution in the stock photography
industry.
You don’t need to be told that we live in an image-intensive world.
Just step in to any newdealer’s offi ce and fl ick through a few magazines
and books. Nearly every modern written publication is fi lled with
images—and in the past few years, the Internet has added a whole
new dimension to this insatiable demand for pictures of every kind
(Figure 1.1).
Most of the photos you see in books, magazines, and on the Internet
were not shot specifi cally for a particular publication but were selected
by picture editors or designers from available photographs that were
in stock and ready for purchase. Of course, some images are shot to
order. High-end advertising campaigns use photographers working
under the direction of advertising agencies. Newspapers need news-
worthy images to fi ll their pages.
But what if you need an image of a happy couple on a beach, and
it happens to be midwinter? Well, the answer is simple! Just spend
megabucks on fl ying the photographer, his or her kit, an assistant, the
happy couple, and an art director and assistant to a tropical paradise.
Will the community magazine that needs that beach shot be happy to
pay the cost? I don’t think so!
Or perhaps you are Web designer and you want a picture of a group
of businesspeople in a boardroom. I doubt that you will be fi lled with
joy at the prospect of hiring the models and the photographer, renting
a boardroom, and arranging for lighting. But even assuming you can
stretch to the considerable expense of doing so, you still might not get
the shot you have in mind.