Photoshelter Collection Shuts Down

Well, my first foray into stock photography didn’t last long. Just a few weeks after I was accepted as a contributor to the Photoshelter Collection, the company has decided to close down it’s stock photography sales division to focus on it’s Personal Archive and storage options. As a contributor I received an email shortly before the announcement was posted on the site:

“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. “

It is a shame that all we’re left with is the mega-stock companies like Getty and Corbis which totally bone you on profits and the microstock companies like iStockphoto which devalue the industry as a whole. Photoshelter’s 70/30 deal was attractive. I guess they just couldn’t get the buyers to take them seriously.

Either way, I hope they keep their School of Stock content online, as well as Shoot, The Blog, which is great. And I hope this isn’t a first step to shutting down completely. Their personal archive has been a great way for me to put content online for clients in an easy and secure way.

Update: Well, Shoot, The Blog has closed down as well. Sux. But Rachel has opened a new blog around the corner. Good luck!