A note about my reaction to Getty
The news about Getty (One of the largest stock photo libraries) opening up their imagery for free to the public came suddenly but also exactly when it should.
Yesterday had been an important day for many reasons. Ironically, I saw the article while I was hand writing thank-you cards to ship to some of our premium subscribers.
Since last July, photographer/designer friend Allie and I have been sharing high quality lifestyle imagery with designers, developers, bloggers and creatives through Death to The Stock Photo.
We had just hit a milestone of 50k subscribers to our free Death to The Stock Photo list, and had been working on switching over our hosting for a final piece before testing our new web-app we had spent the last month (and our money) building.
People call these “pivotal moments.” Shifts that happen in your life when the world conspires to throw something you way and see how you respond.
Upon gut reaction to reading the news about this massive change to their policy, I slumped in my seat. That same feeling you get when you realize there’s a siren in your rear view because you’ve been speeding, but magnified. It’s an instinctual response, something your body turns on in an act of fight or flight without your actual approval.
The first phase of my reaction was to seek understanding. I went on to Getty’s live chat to inquire more about the change and try out the service for myself. I wanted to know the “why” and “how” and “what does this mean?”
While there are a few interesting caveats, (these photos are non-commercial, will show advertising on your site, and aren’t responsive…), you can now embed a large portion of their images into non-commercial work for free.
I don’t want to sound like a victim here. It was unexpected, but the market does not give a shit about you. And blaming things on services improving for everyone is an argument against innovation. *see cabs, angry at Uber/Lyft
Like it or not, this is now the piece of the puzzle that I’m thrown and I can arrange it however I please.
On a personal level, I have no idea how this change by Getty will be helping me in the future. Maybe I will look back and say, “man I’m glad Getty stepped in so I could go do x instead” or “thank goodness we weren’t a huge clunky website so we couldn’t adapt to that change.”
This is a chance for us to be confident building our own path in an ever-changing landscape online.
The brand Death to The Stock Photo was never just about photos on a server. It’s been about quality and authenticity. It’s about making something special for creatives to be a part of.
There’s an incredible back-and-forth dynamic where we share a photo and our community responds by making something amazing and unique with it.
We intend to lead by making products and stories that move you. What has always excited us is building relationships and helping people grow and create. We’ll continue doing what we do because we are here to offer above and beyond just a product of utility.
If this resonates, we hope to keep growing along side you, create more with you, host photo parties, send letters, fund photographer’s adventures and much more, following any path but the one that’s stock.
