In these last couple of months I already started submitting images to the Moodboard photo library – Moodboard is a UK stock agency – but I now have the contract at my table. That feels good !!
Some months ago I got an email from one of the Art Directors of Moodboard, they liked my beauty images and they asked if I was interested in shooting for the Moodboard collection. It appeared that Moodboard is a new company of Mike Watson, creator of award winning Royalty Free Agency Digital Vision, sold in 2005 to Getty Images for $165 million. The main collection of Moodboard is a collection of premium royalty free images. Moodboard is a general stock agency, not a boutique.
Since I am quite new in the stock business it is very important for me to have an opportunity to “grow”. So I was happy to learn that the creative team of Moodboard, a team of Art Directors headed by a Creative Director, are the “keepers” of the Moodboard collection !! They are not an Alamy where everybody can submit their images. Moodboard wants a contract with selected photographers and once you have a contract you get an Art Director appointed to you. This Art Director works with you on new projects and accepts the images you submit (or does not accept and gives you good feedback). In recent months I have worked like that and I am very very pleased that I get this opportunity. I am not at my own but I can work with an Art Director who really understands the stock business and who does some real hands-on coaching.
The other thing I like is that the Moodboard images are distributed by many stock agencies and also the big ones !! Last but not least is their focus on quality images. In this market with a strong price pressure there is only one way … to go for quality (most experienced stock shooters are stopping with shooting volume and are now focusing on producing quality images, images that stand out from the crowd). I don’t mind my agency accepting only the very best images of a shoot, in fact I want them to stimulate me to only work on promising projects.
When I made up my mind – to join Moodboard or not – I was happy to say yes because this agency really has a lot to offer: strong background, focus on quality images, creative team, strong distribution network and last but not least they had asked me. I am now working on beauty imagery and also gradually taking up some lifestyle work. I still do studio work but shooting on location is becoming a new love of me !!
Currently I shoot micro stock for my own beauty archive, royalty free images for the Moodboard collection and I submit editorial work to Alamy. That’s OK for the moment. After summer I want to start looking for a stock agency where I can also work on rights-managed images.
