We’re bombarded with facts about photos and the increasing numbers taken and shared. In fact in 2014 the number of photos taken passed 1 trillion, so now we’ve exceeded a number we can sort of comprehend isn’t it time to realise it’s not slowing down and not just live with it but rejoice in it?
So why are there so many photos? Many blame the narcissistic ‘’ but come on, only vampires don’t sneak a look in mirrors so what’s the problem? And if we’re being picky, vampires do look, they just don’t see themselves, the mythological equivalent of not having the camera facing you when in selfie mode.
But ultimately isn’t it technology that’s to blame? The evil invention of ‘digital’ flooding us with low cost to produce imagery. The world is getting more diverse, more complex and many aspects of life simply more ubiquitous. The same evil technology that has spawned , more life saving medical equipment, more and more websites and more smartphones in peoples hands taking more god damn photos. The vicious(?) circle continues.
So if we reassure ourselves that too many photos in the world isn’t cause for concern, what about stock photos?
Well in the stock photography world it does seem to matter to some.
“There are too many images around these days and you guys are the worst”. At 17³Ô¹ÏÔÚÏß we’ve heard this a few times. But why is having so many sometimes seen as so bad?
17³Ô¹ÏÔÚÏß has approaching 60 Million photos for sale. Against a trillion that’s small fry, a small percentage of all photos taken are actually available to licence and use.
Yes the number of photos for sale has grown but there has also been massive diversity:
- Archives have been discovered, dusted down and digitised, what’s so bad about that?
- Travel is easier, the world is smaller, even more fascinating and wondrous locations are photographed.
- Mobile photography has emerged and is growing, it’s fresh, and exciting and addresses the need for realism that customers clamour for.
- are boldly going where no cameras have gone before.
- We’ve seen growth in illustrations and vector graphics, these aren’t even ‘photographs’ as such, yet get included in any totting up of damaging numbers of photography.
Who should worry about this increasing amount of stock photos?
Photographers worried about increasing competition? Understandable maybe, but what about the customers. Ultimately in the stock world it’s their opinion that really matters.
Some image buyers will invest more time than others in searching for the right image, but they all want it to be a fruitful experience.
Have you ever heard anyone complain about their being too many results in Google? Users love that Google can read their mind and deliver the right results at the top of the first page, the actual number of results is redundant. That’s the challenge for agencies such as 17³Ô¹ÏÔÚÏß who have fantastically diverse collections of imagery. When it comes to what the customer wants, they want imagery, choice is important for variety, freshness and for inspiration, but photo buyers need the right stuff up top and in front of them.
So are there too many stock photos? We don’t think so, but maybe the problem is there are too many similar photos for sale. The stock photography world can become drenched in clichés and new ideas and new approaches are a risk some photographers won’t take. The best photographers break new ground, embrace technology and change (it’s not so bad after all) and continue to wow us with cool creativity and undiscovered views of our ever diversifying world.