The weird science of stock photography. – By Seth Stevenson – Slate Magazine Slate magazine has an interesting write up on the recent past and future demand for stock photography images. As part of the article they interview Denise Waggoner, vice president of creative research at Getty.
No mention of the recent upcoming Flickr/Getty deal, but the article does provide some insight into what some of the hot search terms are for stock photography. Business, people, woman all have been top search terms in the past 3 years. Other hot terms? Christmas, love, family.
From the article:
“Certain individual images, though, can have a curious staying power, an appeal that’s hard to explain. Among those Waggoner singles out: 1) A particularly dramatic photo of a midocean oil rig in a storm, taken way back in 2000, that was licensed 107 times in the past year (perhaps because it nicely captures the idea of oil in turmoil—a major story line in recent months). 2) A black-and-white shot of a woman doing yoga—with top quality production values and art direction—that went for $65,000 in a single sale guaranteeing exclusivity to the client. 3) An image of a smiling girl wearing headphones that became one of Getty’s top performers, selling 636 separate times in one year.”