Welcome Ellen Boughn, author of Microstock Money Shots

I first met Steve Pigeon, the new Chairman of Crestock way back--well, over twenty years ago. We were colleagues in the rights-managed stock photo business. I owned a company in Los Angeles called After-Image and he was (still is) the CEO of Masterfile, an already respected international stock agency.

I'd gotten into the business without knowing much about it and after three years was getting cold feet. I sought out Steve about selling my company to Masterfile because I thought he would be honest and fair with the photographers and with me as well. We chatted a few times on the phone. We hit it off but ultimately decided that my business needed to be a bit bigger before he was willing to buy it... and so we passed on the idea of a merger and have stayed solid colleagues ever since. 

During my career I've worked with and for many of the biggest companies in the stock photo industry. It has long been my wish to work with Masterfile as I hold the company and its employees in the highest regard. But as the years passed, the timing was never right for us to get together. 

Thus it was with great pleasure that I began discussions with Steve about writing for Crestock, which was acquired by Masterfile in July 2010. Steve had read my new book, Microstock Money Shots - Turning Downloads into Dollars, and wondered if I could continue the themes for the benefit of Crestock’s members. With not a second’s hesitation, I responded, "Count me in!"

I'll be writing weekly posts discussing all manner of issues of interest to photographers concerning microstock and stock photography in general. We'll discuss the importance of quantity over quality, shooting for the advertising market, keywording and issues surrounding copyright - and much, much more. I welcome your suggestions and ideas as well. 

Crestock has tremendous potential for both contributors and buyers as Steve and his team take their years of experience and meld it with the knowledge they are gaining about what it takes to build a premier microstock company. The fact that they cleared the backlog of images and payments as the first order of business and did it in record time, should reassure any doubters that the company is on the fast track to growth!

Thanks, Steve, for asking me to be involved in this exciting project.