Matthew (Photographer)
We like to get in touch with our contributors on a regular basis to get their thoughts and feelings on images, their inspiration, and the stock photography industry. This week, we spoke to Matthew, who has contributed to Ingimage for over 4 years.
1 – Can you tell us a little about your background and how you got into stock photography?
My background has always been in corporate management in the City. Following major spine surgery about 10 years ago, I took up hiking and photography as hobbies as a means to aid recovery, thoroughly enjoyed both and it went from there. I became a full-time landscape photographer about six years ago.
2 – Could you please tell us about your working process?
I probably spend more time researching locations, sun times, tide times, etc than I actually spend on location. I will go through RAW files and select images to work on and then spend as much, or as little, time as needed on each image. I am not precious about taking too long on an image if I feel it is worth it. Just because the images are being sold for dollars and cents doesn’t mean the quality or standard should be less.
3 – Where do you get your inspiration from?
The outdoors, nature, 1X, 500PX, and generally browsing the web. I read a lot of books as well and collect photography books so a lot of locations I was not previously aware of are found in their pages.
4 – Where do see the future of stock photography going?
Honestly? Getting harder and harder. The sheer volume of images is making it impossible for a single man operation to survive, let alone prosper. There are so many sub-standard images being accepted which in the industry as a whole, that good quality images are drowned and lost. Carving out a niche is fine, but how big will the niche be? Enough to cover the lost income?
5 – How do you find working with us?
IngImage are a strong, supportive and contributor friendly team. Uploading is easy and quick with no technical problems. I like the smaller library compared to the huge stock agencies as it allows loyal customers to return to specific portfolios easier, and having a tightly curated library ensures the quality standards are maintained.
If you are interested in potentially contributing to Ingimage, please email us at production@ingrampublishing.com.
