People Shots that Sell: How to Succeed in Stock Photography

At the
The actual business of selling
stock photography has been
around since the American
Civil War， when Matthew
Brandy sold images he and
other photographers had
made of the war for use in
stereoviewers.
n France. the famous
postcard market had taken
off when erotic images of
models were duplicated and
distributed for sale. However
it was the printed piece that
sold - and not the actual
images that were distributed
Later， hoards of beautiful
hopefuls landed in Hollywood
and they all took the required
screen test. These images
were then quietly sold through
the newly growing stock
industry for use in the new
field of advertising. Until then，
illustrations - often photo-
realistic in nature - were
used for this growing media
In general， at this point，
advertisers still preferred
to arrange their own
commissioned shoots.
Stock photography libraries
continued to conduct
business for most of the
20th century， b~t it wasn t
really until the 1~80s that
the business of:stock gained
ground in popul~ty. Prior
to that it was never regarded
very seriously by advertising，
editorial and design companies.
They still continued to
commission shoots as a way
of controlling results and
getting larger project margins.
Part of the problem was
that stock library collections
before this time were often
built on outtakes from
commissioned shoots.
In the 1980s， libraries realised
that if they wanted people
within the creative industry
to purchase their images，
they had to commission
shoots specifically around
the needs of the market. As
with all businesses there was
no blueprint for coming to the
industry. Some libraries built
their businesses on being
photographers themselves，
as in the example of Tony
Stone (UK). Others have
founded businesses following
an evolution of events.
for example The Telegraph
Colour Library (UK).