How shitty stock became great
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I work in a digital agency in Dublin Ireland. About four weeks ago a few of us were complaining how bad a certain large stock website had become (we had nicknamed it ‘shittystock’) — full of kid’s drawings, terrible vector illustrations and awful photographs. Unfortunately, our company had an account with them, so we had no choice but to wade through the shite to find what we needed.
I had an idea. I would spend a week, build a parody site, upload photos I had taken around the studio that would be ok stock photos but unusable because there was something wrong with them. It might have been a can of Coke in a reflection, a weird blur or over-enthusiastic post processing. It would be laugh, allow me to improve my Wordpress skills, and fill up the time it takes me to get home on the bus.
Two weeks later, shittystock was born, but it was good. Too good to waste on bad images, and with all the time spent thinking about it while it was being built, the more I saw the benefit of doing it properly. I mean, there are plenty of free and subscription stock photography websites out there, but how many can boast to have images taken in Dublin, Ireland and Europe, by an avid photographer who works as an Senior Art Director in an award-winning digital agency?
I’d like to think I know what makes a good photo, what is considered useful subject matter and what size and kind of photos I’d like to use in our clients posts and websites. And as a bonus, Dublin is a mecca of aesthetics. Almost everywhere you look is something beautiful. Classic architecture houses modern retail stores, cafes and bars. Art, design and literature is everywhere. Students and business people from around the world make it their home. I have unlimited, amazing subject matter to capture, and I do every chance I get.
But that name… It had to be changed.
Within a one and a half hour bus ride home from Dublin to Wicklow, a new url was bought, the domain was backed up and migrated to it’s new home, and the database was updated. Shittystock became Dubstock. Now, the arduous task of marketing begins…
Pay us a visit… Download some free stock photos… Share us with someone who might be looking for some stock photos with a difference… Say hello in the chat box. If you're Irish (isn't everybody?), show us some love.
I've decided to limit subscriptions to the paid monthly photo pack to just 2,000 people. I figure that makes Dubstock exclusive and in turn will create some demand. I'm also giving more than 10 images in each pack, probably closer to 20. As a result we are already reaching 100 subs and it’s only been two weeks. If it gets to capacity I plan on commissioning local Irish photographers to produce subject specific image packs as a bonus.
Even though I really love my job, I’d love it even more to make this my full time occupation. There’s so much to see, so many people to meet, so much to share.
