Moving Pictures

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Stock was once a reliable sideline for many photographers subsidizing their commissioned work, but Getty's cutthroat marketplace doesn't favor part-timers. "Getty has been getting much more selective, focusing on the most productive relationships that provide the greatest return," says Betsy Reid, executive director of Stock Artists Alliance, a nonprofit group that represents stock photographers. And yet even for committed shooters, the company's mammoth database makes for daunting competition. "There are so many pictures that your work becomes a needle in a haystack," says one longtime photographer for Getty's 2005 acquisition, Photonica. Jim Pickerell, publisher of the trade magazine Selling Stock, adds, "The collections will likely grow larger and larger, so the odds of any images being licensed have become less and less."

That process is self-perpetuating: Fresh photos that appear in the first pages of search results on Getty's site become all-important, and photographers must shoot new images to stay visible. Though many buyers and photographers (even among those not enamored of the company) note that Getty's keyword system is useful and fast—the site is searchable both by content and by conceptual themes tagged by editors—the flood of images has meant that the useful life of stock images has declined drastically. Pickerell gives the example of a stock photographer he knows who made more than $200,000 in 2005 through Getty. In 2006, says Pickerell, "He added 400 new pictures, at great cost, and almost doubled his collection. But his income stayed the same."

As it becomes harder for photographers to make a living, the industry's vitality may be sapped. "We see seasoned photographers leaving stock because of reduced opportunity, but also because of reduced enthusiasm. They're unlikely to be replaced by a new generation of pros, nor will their level of imagery be replicated by amateurs," says Reid. "Those photographers who stay had better be delivering high-value imagery." David Walker, who has covered Getty extensively for Photo District News, concurs: "Getty's about volume and efficiency. That naturally drives their collection toward images that are going to sell the best."

It's debatable whether this state of affairs necessarily leads to blandness in photos' style and subject matter, though it's a belief a few hold dear. "There was a time in the '80s and '90s when there were lots of young, new stock agencies interested in unconventional stock," notes Stephen Frailey, chair of the photography department at New York's School of Visual Arts. "Some people think those have been consolidated and diluted." Among those critics is Joe Marianek, a New York-based graphic designer whose former job at a large design firm often entailed visits to the Getty website. "With Getty I'd tend to find a certain tone of voice," he says. "There's a Pleasantville aspect. If you look for a young group, it'll be biracial, and they'll be kind of doing something together and laughing about it and they'll all be beautiful. You can almost see the big-idea tagline. Getty caters to an American East Coast design culture that's attempting to describe the world for a lot of national corporations." Getty's Andrew Saunders thinks that logic is a bit too simple. "I think it's fair to say we've worked hard to avoid homogenization," he says. "Perhaps demand for pre-shot imagery has at times outpaced the producers' ability to innovate. Trying to persuade photographers to evolve when they've had financial success is difficult. It's our biggest challenge. Getty Images has always championed—and, I would argue, enhanced—the creative direction of the agencies and collections it has acquired."

Photographers and art buyers who don't agree are finding increasingly varied ways to avoid working with Getty. Says Reid, "A lot of photographers have gone back to marketing themselves directly, discovering other ways to put their images onto the market." One such option is Digital Railroad, a website founded four years ago that allows agencies and photographers to self-publish work.