Author Topic: Zack Arias on unsplash (Read 17774 times)

jonbull · « **on:** February 06, 2018, 09:25 »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M_OZWtpokc

i'd say.spot on.

EmberMike · « **Reply #1 on:** February 06, 2018, 09:57 »

Zack is the man. I got hooked on his whole vibe towards creativity, art, photography, etc., from some videos he did a bunch of years back and an interview he did with Chase Jarvis. Super cool guy, and right on with his views on Unsplash.

How long do you think it will be before some opportunistic model figures out that they can troll photographers just like copyright trolls? Find a local photographer on Unsplash, offer free modeling services, agree to have photos posted on Unsplash (just make sure you don't sign a release), wait until the photos get used commercially, then sue photographer and the end user.

angelawaye · « **Reply #2 on:** February 06, 2018, 10:16 »

It is absolutely crazy. The lawsuits will be rolling in ...

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #3 on:** February 06, 2018, 10:19 »

Good video. Really too long if the point is to change the mind of any unsplash contributor or user though. Definitely covers all the main issues.

jonbull · « **Reply #4 on:** February 06, 2018, 12:21 »

the scary thing is that content on unsplash are really really good...years ahead micro stock and bordering stocksy as far as quality.

jonbull · « **Reply #5 on:** February 06, 2018, 13:20 »

without considering that all photo can even be resold:)
it would be a good idea to create a fake account in ss or stock and upload 30000 images in month...do tons of dollar till ss will close it.

unbielevable.

everest · « **Reply #6 on:** February 06, 2018, 14:39 »

Great video of Zack. People giving their images away for free. Nothing we can do about it. People uploading images of people and properties without releases and granting a "use the image for what you want" license. This guys will face some serious trouble sooner than later. They will be splashing for air when the million pot lawsuit hits them.

rinderart · « **Reply #7 on:** February 06, 2018, 15:15 »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M_OZWtpokc

Zach is for sure the man.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #8 on:** February 07, 2018, 05:31 »

Zach is great. I also watched his interview with one of the founders of Unsplashed, Mikael Cho.

The best bit was when he told the story of the photographer that kept getting gushing praise from a designer who had used his work for free extensively from unsplashed. Then the photog needed a bit of design work and the designer asked "What's your budget?"

You see the Mikael almost click, then he gets back on message. If designers get so rightly but hurt about being asked to work for free, for exposure or on spec then why is it okay to found a business on shafting photographers in the same way?

There are a couple of things that were missed in the discussions and follow ups I think. The major one is that this is not new, IStock had the exact same set up in the beginning. Community of designers giving away their photos for free. Only difference is the Uber like setup where Unsplashed can swallow their costs and run at a loss because it is * up cash from angel investors/ is an ad site for the founders' other projects.

On a related note the "race to the bottom" phrase that keeps being used, particularly by Mikael Cho to try and justify his business model. "There's a race to the bottom so we need to interrupt that by giving stuff away for free (?)". Return to photographers per download has been pretty stable for a good few years and is infinitely higher than the zero return IStock started out offering. The problems now are largely to do with oversupply, so diminishing returns per image rather than returns per download.

jonbull · « **Reply #9 on:** February 07, 2018, 05:53 »

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on February 07, 2018, 05:31

Zach is great. I also watched his interview with one of the founders of Unsplashed, Mikael Cho.

The best bit was when he told the story of the photographer that kept getting gushing praise from a designer who had used his work for free extensively from unsplashed. Then the photog needed a bit of design work and the designer asked "What's your budget?"

You see the Mikael almost click, then he gets back on message. If designers get so rightly but hurt about being asked to work for free, for exposure or on spec then why is it okay to found a business on shafting photographers in the same way?

There are a couple of things that were missed in the discussions and follow ups I think. The major one is that this is not new, IStock had the exact same set up in the beginning. Community of designers giving away their photos for free. Only difference is the Uber like setup where Unsplashed can swallow their costs and run at a loss because it is * up cash from angel investors/ is an ad site for the founders' other projects.

On a related note the "race to the bottom" phrase that keeps being used, particularly by Mikael Cho to try and justify his business model. "There's a race to the bottom so we need to interrupt that by giving stuff away for free (?)". Return to photographers per download has been pretty stable for a good few years and is infinitely higher than the zero return IStock started out offering. The problems now are largely to do with oversupply, so diminishing returns per image rather than returns per download.

those who give the photo free in my opinion are the most idiot person i have ever met in my life.
from any side you see this story you cannot but think how stupid those instagrma related generation is.
everybody is earning from their photo apart them. people use them for their portfolio for example, they can be sold as stock by anybody used for campaign, and they think this will generate more paid work:)...because a puppet from geneva wrote how good unsplash was for his career....i went to the website of this guy and i saw in the commercial tab 3 work, then editorial two publication, and one book sold out that cost 25 euro so he take 3 4 euro, for 200 300 copy.
in 2 years of career.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #10 on:** February 07, 2018, 06:19 »

Quote from: jonbull on February 07, 2018, 05:53

those who give the photo free in my opinion are the most idiot person i have ever met in my life.
from any side you see this story you cannot but think how stupid those instagrma related generation is...

Agree. Zack does a great job getting this across. There isn't some kind of free exchange going on. Everyone is making bank except the photographer. Crew/Unsplashed who have built a 30 million dollar business, the designers/ publications making thousands of pounds selling ads and their projects, everyone but the photographer.

jonbull · « **Reply #11 on:** February 07, 2018, 06:37 »

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on February 07, 2018, 06:19

Quote from: jonbull on February 07, 2018, 05:53
those who give the photo free in my opinion are the most idiot person i have ever met in my life.
from any side you see this story you cannot but think how stupid those instagrma related generation is...

Agree. Zack does a great job getting this across. There isn't some kind of free exchange going on. Everyone is making bank except the photographer. Crew/Unsplashed who have built a 30 million dollar business, the designers/ publications making thousands of pounds selling ads and their projects, everyone but the photographer.

unbielevable...the world created by all those genius like Facebook steve jobs instagram...a prostitution giant world where everybody sell him/herself just for have a second of popularity...instagram is the WORST stuff ever appeared in the world...this is the real weapon of mass destruction...thousand of young girl and woman showing everyday ass boobs just to find somebody who pay their vices....thousand of idiot food and blog photographer sho shoot the same boring dish and spend thousand of dollars earned by their parents/ husband in idiot kitchen utensil.....idiot girl/young puppet who give away free the photos cause stock photography is cheap but unsplash is so COOOOOLLLLLL...
i have more respect for porn actress than this idiot people.

everest · « **Reply #12 on:** February 07, 2018, 07:08 »

Maybe you should go again on the site and watch carefully the video to get some proper manners. You might learn something........Zack not only gives an insightful lesson on why this sites are not the best idea for a photographer but also stays civil and behaves like an educated person even in strong disagreement. Moaning around with insults and bad attitude is not going to take your arguments very far.

Quote from: jonbull on February 07, 2018, 06:37

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on February 07, 2018, 06:19
Quote from: jonbull on February 07, 2018, 05:53
those who give the photo free in my opinion are the most idiot person i have ever met in my life.
from any side you see this story you cannot but think how stupid those instagrma related generation is...

Agree. Zack does a great job getting this across. There isn't some kind of free exchange going on. Everyone is making bank except the photographer. Crew/Unsplashed who have built a 30 million dollar business, the designers/ publications making thousands of pounds selling ads and their projects, everyone but the photographer.

unbielevable...the world created by all those genius like Facebook steve jobs instagram...a prostitution giant world where everybody sell him/herself just for have a second of popularity...instagram is the WORST stuff ever appeared in the world...this is the real weapon of mass destruction...thousand of young girl and woman showing everyday ass boobs just to find somebody who pay their vices....thousand of idiot food and blog photographer sho shoot the same boring dish and spend thousand of dollars earned by their parents/ husband in idiot kitchen utensil.....idiot girl/young puppet who give away free the photos cause stock photography is cheap but unsplash is so COOOOOLLLLLL...
i have more respect for porn actress than this idiot people.

Noedelhap · « **Reply #13 on:** February 07, 2018, 07:08 »

I've seen the interview with Zack and Cho

The blah-blah about building a community, creating connections and giving back to the community is just meaningless. Giving away for free is only okay if it's for charity, or if you get something in return (other than virtual download numbers and views). Well, the commercial design industry doesn't need charity and the designers apparently don't give back all that much (no free services). So in the end, it's unsustainable for the photographers because they'll not be able to make a living that way. In the meantime, Unsplash and designers enjoy their free stuff or ad revenue.

The photography/licensing industry may be changing, sure. Maybe old-school photographers are like the silent era movie actors who objected to rise of the talkies. However, eventually there needs to be a symbiotic balance so everyone (photographer, agency and customer) can profit, and currently the balance is off.

OM · « **Reply #14 on:** February 07, 2018, 07:23 »

Some people appear to use the site to their advantage but you have no idea whether 'the advantage' is truly profitable. At least this food photographer has no problems with model releases etc.

https://unsplash.com/@brookelark
http://brookelark.com/about/

"A Little About Lark

Brooke Lark hails from a 100-year old food photography studio located in the heart of Salt Lake City. A professional food photographer and videographer since 2006, her client list includes General Mills, Disney, World Kitchen, Int'l Housewares Association, kitchenware giant GoodCook, NYTimes Bestselling nutritionist YuriElkaim.com, FitMenCook, Simple Green Smoothies, and NatureNates.com, she is the author of 10+ cookbooks, and her work appears in digital and paper publications around the globe. Her Food Photography and Videography FB Group has grown to be one of the largest gatherings of food creators in the industry, with more than 5000+ members and growing.

And early contributor to Unsplash (the very idea of generously giving away her photography struck a chord and she was immediately hooked), her photos viewed and downloaded millions of times monthly. Work uploaded to this site is free to download, use and share. Please feel free to capture Brooke's work there and use it wherever you like. If, however, you're looking for custom work for your brand, click here to schedule a customized client shoot."

She has photos there viewed 7 million times and downloaded 60,000 times. No wonder the bottom has dropped out of microstock.

jonbull · « **Reply #15 on:** February 07, 2018, 08:21 »

Quote from: everest on February 07, 2018, 07:08

Maybe you should go again on the site and watch carefully the video to get some proper manners. You might learn something........Zack not only gives an insightful lesson on why this sites are not the best idea for a photographer but also stays civil and behaves like an educated person even in strong disagreement. Moaning around with insults and bad attitude is not going to take your arguments very far.

Quote from: jonbull on February 07, 2018, 06:37
Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on February 07, 2018, 06:19
Quote from: jonbull on February 07, 2018, 05:53
those who give the photo free in my opinion are the most idiot person i have ever met in my life.
from any side you see this story you cannot but think how stupid those instagrma related generation is...

Agree. Zack does a great job getting this across. There isn't some kind of free exchange going on. Everyone is making bank except the photographer. Crew/Unsplashed who have built a 30 million dollar business, the designers/ publications making thousands of pounds selling ads and their projects, everyone but the photographer.

unbielevable...the world created by all those genius like Facebook steve jobs instagram...a prostitution giant world where everybody sell him/herself just for have a second of popularity...instagram is the WORST stuff ever appeared in the world...this is the real weapon of mass destruction...thousand of young girl and woman showing everyday ass boobs just to find somebody who pay their vices....thousand of idiot food and blog photographer sho shoot the same boring dish and spend thousand of dollars earned by their parents/ husband in idiot kitchen utensil.....idiot girl/young puppet who give away free the photos cause stock photography is cheap but unsplash is so COOOOOLLLLLL...
i have more respect for porn actress than this idiot people.

if u ask zack privately what he thinks you will see his moderation:)...these people are idiots and you wanna change idiots mind. even if they realized they are completely wrong they will keep on uploading to unsplash.
the best part is that they cannot even cancel the file cause after they upload they lose any copyright warranty.

MysteryShot · « **Reply #16 on:** February 07, 2018, 09:50 »

Someone needs to DDoS all the cc0 sites

MilanStojanovic · « **Reply #17 on:** February 07, 2018, 19:51 »

Quote from: jonbull on February 06, 2018, 12:21

the scary thing is that content on unsplash are really really good...years ahead micro stock and bordering stocksy as far as quality.

sure, that's why nothing sells on microstock, lol

cobalt · « **Reply #18 on:** February 07, 2018, 21:14 »

Photography is one of the most popular hobbies on the planet and now with digital and even mobile phones everyone can get in.

Many hobbyists are excellent photographers and they can do with their work whatever they want, including giving it away for free.

Any serious stock artists who does it as a business to feed his or her family knows that if you shoot „artsy“ photography, travel, pet images, babies, portraits and food you are competing with millions and millions of people who do this every single day just for fun. Including people who love to model for free or love to act for free.

Just like you can sing,record yourself and offer it to te entire world for free download.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Nothing at all.

If you want to make reliable money...focus on all the badly needed content that the artsy fan groups don’t shoot.

Caring for the elderly. Complex professional business images with production value and cost,including renting locations. Open heart surgery, extracting teeth or the five different ways to unplug a toilet...

Anything that has a useful, real world application, but simply is not on the radar of the hobbyist.

Suddenly the millions of people or gone. You are now competing with a much, much smaller group and your files have a much longer shelf life, because they don’t have to fight the daily flood of photos.

Anything that is „popular“ on instagram...can probably be easily found on a free site.

Anything that is fun to do. Might be entered into an online art competition. Looks great as a print on a wall.

If you instead focus on the millions of professions of the world, things that are just „useful“ and maybe messy, uncomfortable and will NEVER win an art prize...well then you have found yourself a niche to make a reliable living from.

Obviously you can go out and try to teach people that what they love to do as a hobby, can also earn them money...but I don’t believe it is right to attack people who want to share their creations with the world.

As a stock artist, it is my job to find a niche that works for te customers and me, not complain about the obvious since the 8nternet and mobile phones will not go away.

GraniteCove · « **Reply #19 on:** February 07, 2018, 22:09 »

Quite possibly the most constructive and germane post I've ever read on this forum. Kudos.

leaf · « **Reply #20 on:** February 08, 2018, 08:23 »

Quote from: cobalt on February 07, 2018, 21:14

Photography is one of the most popular hobbies on the planet and now with digital and even mobile phones everyone can get in.

Many hobbyists are excellent photographers and they can do with their work whatever they want, including giving it away for free.
...

Great post!

jonbull · « **Reply #21 on:** February 08, 2018, 08:34 »

Quote from: cobalt on February 07, 2018, 21:14

Photography is one of the most popular hobbies on the planet and now with digital and even mobile phones everyone can get in.

Many hobbyists are excellent photographers and they can do with their work whatever they want, including giving it away for free.

Any serious stock artists who does it as a business to feed his or her family knows that if you shoot „artsy“ photography, travel, pet images, babies, portraits and food you are competing with millions and millions of people who do this every single day just for fun. Including people who love to model for free or love to act for free.

Just like you can sing,record yourself and offer it to te entire world for free download.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Nothing at all.

If you want to make reliable money...focus on all the badly needed content that the artsy fan groups don’t shoot.

Caring for the elderly. Complex professional business images with production value and cost,including renting locations. Open heart surgery, extracting teeth or the five different ways to unplug a toilet...

Anything that has a useful, real world application, but simply is not on the radar of the hobbyist.

Suddenly the millions of people or gone. You are now competing with a much, much smaller group and your files have a much longer shelf life, because they don’t have to fight the daily flood of photos.

Anything that is „popular“ on instagram...can probably be easily found on a free site.

Anything that is fun to do. Might be entered into an online art competition. Looks great as a print on a wall.

If you instead focus on the millions of professions of the world, things that are just „useful“ and maybe messy, uncomfortable and will NEVER win an art prize...well then you have found yourself a niche to make a reliable living from.

Obviously you can go out and try to teach people that what they love to do as a hobby, can also earn them money...but I don’t believe it is right to attack people who want to share their creations with the world.

As a stock artist, it is my job to find a niche that works for te customers and me, not complain about the obvious since the 8nternet and mobile phones will not go away.

is your vision is not correct....nobody is going to attack anybody who shares...but if you give free images you are killing the industry. let aside that they are growing, so now they have 70 thousand but they will have a lot more covering every needs.

as far as niche concept...elderly caring give 1230000 results in ss....just the first terms you said.
niche concept is overused...if there were so many niche everybody will shoot them. nowadays stock cover everything and
the competition is about quality, good production and good model, also god concept for sure.

by the way i looked your stock agency and don't see any niche. what is your niche?

memakephoto · « **Reply #22 on:** February 08, 2018, 08:46 »

Zack Arias's video was just about the dangers of using photos with recognizable faces in commercial work without a model release. He rambled on a bit and went off on tangents too much, 42 minutes worth, but the point wasn't to attack unsplash or it's contributors for giving away free photos. That's the pet peeve of so many here and therefore what they choose to focus on.

You would have to be an idiot to use an unreleased photo of a person in an ad campaign. There have been some high profile news stories about lawsuits against companies for doing just that. The real value of using a stock photo from a reliable agency is in the assurance that the images are safe to use. It doesn't matter how many millions of free, high quality images there are out there, designers and ad agencies will continue to buy stock rather than use free for the peace of mind.

jonbull · « **Reply #23 on:** February 08, 2018, 08:52 »

Quote from: memakephoto on February 08, 2018, 08:46

Zack Arias's video was just about the dangers of using photos with recognizable faces in commercial work without a model release. He rambled on a bit and went off on tangents too much, 42 minutes worth, but the point wasn't to attack unsplash or it's contributors for giving away free photos. That's the pet peeve of so many here and therefore what they choose to focus on.

You would have to be an idiot to use an unreleased photo of a person in an ad campaign. There have been some high profile news stories about lawsuits against companies for doing just that. The real value of using a stock photo from a reliable agency is in the assurance that the images are safe to use. It doesn't matter how many millions of free, high quality images there are out there, designers and ad agencies will continue to buy stock rather than use free for the peace of mind.

in addiction they are giving away the copyright...in practice the photo don't have any copyright....the owner cannot even cancel them from unsplash in case. it's unbelievable. a suicide. the day somebody so idiot will be fined thousand of dollars will be a great day for photo industry. i hope that guy Zeller from geneva...if it happens i will open a bottle of dom perignon.
and this has nothing to do with SHARING.

cobalt · « **Reply #24 on:** February 08, 2018, 08:56 »

- as far as niche concept...elderly caring give 1230000 results in ss....just the first terms you said.

1,2 million is not many files, SS gets 1.5 million a week, so this is a small group.

Think of how many different ethnic elderly people in how many different cultures and in how many different countries and cities across the world. I just have to look at elder care Germany to see that for my country there is very little localized content. Also inside Germany with a huge mix of different ethnic and cultural trends, the same for France or Italy and obviously for the USA. people from New York look different to those living in Florida etc...

How many elderly care images with proper model releases do you find on free sites or with a creative commons license??

The point is to compare with what amateurs do for free on free sites with what customers can buy on stock agencies.

- by the way i looked your stock agency and don't see any niche. what is your niche?

I use a mix of different themes for different agencies. It works for me. If you can´t see my niche, then I am happy, as you won´t copy it.

But overall anything with seniors does really well. It is a huge market and there is really very little content once you dig into it. But if the subject doesn´t interest you and you cannot see how incredible much is missing, then just don´t do it.

I still upload flowers, because they are fun and sometimes they sell. And it helps for distraction.

If you don´t know how to research trends and what is needed for the customers, then maybe doing stock is not your thing. Nobody is forced to do stock, plenty of other ways to make money.

ETA: I like the video.

I just don´t think it will change anything. Lawsuits with heavy fines might help, like they did with music sharing. But the basic issue of people offering anything online will never go away.

So if you want to make money, it might be wise to focus on subjects the artsy hobby crowd don´t enjoy.

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Author Topic: Zack Arias on unsplash (Read 17774 times)

jonbull

EmberMike

angelawaye

Sean Locke Photography

jonbull

jonbull

everest

rinderart

Justanotherphotographer

jonbull

Justanotherphotographer

jonbull

everest

Noedelhap

OM

jonbull

MysteryShot

MilanStojanovic

cobalt

GraniteCove

leaf

jonbull

memakephoto

jonbull

cobalt

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