Dear Friends,

We’re contacting you today with some unfortunate news – we will be closing The PhotoShelter Collection, effective October 10, 2008. Going forward, our team will refocus heavily on enhancing our original product, The PhotoShelter Personal Archive, which several thousand photographers use for bulletproof storage and online image sales directly to their own clients. Our financial position remains solid and we look forward to working with the photography community for years to come.

More details about timing and the implications for contributors can be found in a personal statement on our corporate blog, and this FAQ document.

Just one year ago, we started the Collection with a mission to “change the image marketplace for good.” Since then, we’ve amassed a remarkable global community. We’ve built a unique position in the industry fueled by integrity and a true passion for photography. We’ve held our commitment to fair treatment of photographers with a 70/30 split of every transaction, opened up your access to information through our School of Stock and symposium events, and gave every photographer – regardless of one’s network, location, or level of expertise – a fair shot at selling your work to the industry’s top buyers.

However, our approach was insufficient to change buyer behavior on a grand scale and generate revenues quickly enough to satisfy our goals for this product line. While image buyers worldwide appreciated our new approach, the size of our image selection and the incumbent player’s entrenched subscription relationships were a persistent challenge. As a result, we saw few strategic options for the Collection that would allow us to stay true to our commitment to a better deal for photographers and our desire to change the industry.

Despite today’s decision, we remain committed to using technology to advance both the art and business of photography. Our team’s energy and innovative resources will ensure that the Personal Archive remains the best online solution to help independent photographers write their own success stories. If you are not yet a Personal Archive subscriber, we hope you will continue your relationship with the PhotoShelter community through that product.

We want to express our deepest gratitude to our global community of contributors. We’ve enjoyed a full year of seeing your exceptional images cross our desks, developed warm relationships with many of you through PhotoShelter events, and shared in your excitement when you’ve achieved sales through our marketplace.

We’re looking forward to chatting more with you in person and demonstrating some new Personal Archive enhancements at October’s PhotoPlus International Conference.

With gratitude,

Allen Murabayashi

CEO
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It is not worthless to recall that Photoshelter was first designed for professional photographers in a similar but more affordable away as digitalrailroad …
From what I’ve seen so far, there’s quiet a big difference between the editor’s pick on the « Photoshelter collection », and what can be found in the « microstock » market. If you get a sens of that difference then you may have some critical skills to analyze what aesthetic has to do with.
The « photoshelter collection » (vocabulary choice here is critical opposite to « stock » imagery) because the microstock agencies prices are so low that a large part of contemporary photographers CAN’T deal with them.

If the 1000 top sellers photographers from microstocks removed their portfolio from microstock agencies and switched to photoshelter for their higher income (not only they sell the picture at higher price, but also you get honest %), then wouldn’t microstock raise to more descent shares between the company and the photographers ?
I’d have no problem with microstock if they had serious remunerations for their photographers : the lowest price around 10$ and straight 70/50% income would be more honest … if we compare to the price of editing a book, a magazine, a cd/dvd, or even building a website … 10$ to 50$ to buy a picture still isn’t that much, and they’d make more money this way than taking us 75% off of 1$. … the designer using our picture is charging several hundreds for the job he’s doing …

Microstock market for now is mostly for stand alone illustrations, and half of the time the designer “downloading” it – cause at 1$/picture we can’t even seriously say he’s « buying » it- will crop or mess with our picture to integrate it in his own composition. We all know isolated object for the white/black background are meant for this. So I don’t understand what kind of satisfaction we can get as photographers … ?

Aren’t the photographers that sell the most on microstock market those who cover the most comon topics, the most demanded illustration ? In the so called portfolios on this market, I haven’t seen yet a full body of pictures that would make sens and stand alone … just great, very nice pictures sometimes. Actualy, microstock agencies will reject some of our work when it becomes too personnal.
But WHAT MAKES A PHOTOGRAPHER ? The fact that he makes money from taking pictures, or the fact that his work reflects/builds a singular perception of reality ?

In fact, from the beginning of history photography, back in the 19th century amateurs have always been central in the history of photography being the first photographers, later looking up at the proffessionnal photographers as masters to imitate, and what’s happening now is quiet interesting from this point of view. But there’s plenty of ways to practice photography as an amateur and to get exhibited and published, which can provide enough satisfaction, and lead to a professional career. You’d actualy know who is getting your work and what it’s used for … (Photoshelter allows you to do so… ). But, as a professionnal, microstock really is a pain in the ass right now.

I suggest instead of reinvesting the money from microstock incomes into high quality lenses or brand new digital SLR body, we could buy books about photography history, cultural studies, art, or simply get an oldschool polaroid, a second hand 4×5 field camera, an old brownie, or even some 120 film and a Lomo. But that’s just not how things work, right … ? At least, I’m glad to enjoy some great portfolios on Photoshelter, and try to figure out what these photographers work are about, and how they elaborate their own language …