Jack Hollingsworth is a top commercial image producer and Content Creation Partner. He plays a key role, both day-by-day as well as strategically for this changing era of Stock Photography. We recently spent some time with Jack to discuss the emerging picture of Stock 2.0.

MacTribe: You have spoken about the traditional Stock industry being on 'the verge of extinction'? Can you explain that concept in some detail?

JH: Yes, thanks for asking. That has received a lot of press. My basic quote was: "The traditional Stock photography model of doing business, as we know it, is on the verge of extinction. This industry, good or bad, like it or not...is painfully making way for the new guard and a Web 2.0 world. That is moving at the speed of light. The industry is broken. Few would disagree. It doesn't need a tune-up. It needs a major overhaul. A complete rebuild. From the ground up. From top to bottom. Every screw, nut and bolt. From how an agency is staffed, to how it talks with customers. And everything in between."

Basically I am saying that doing the same ole things in the same ole ways is only going to net us the same ole results. Our community doesn't need day surgery. We need an intense, under the scope, quadruple bypass. No exception! All of us, creator and distributor alike, need to get with the program. Or there won't be a program. The challenges and opportunities have never been more seismic.

Ironically, never before in the industry of photography has there been a more insatiable appetite for pictures. So there is still plenty of money to be made. And opportunities to exploit. But the spoils will go to the new heroes, not necessarily the old guard. Those who have ears to hear and eyes to see. Those who can adapt, reinvent, change, and challenge the conventional wisdom of how images are brought to the world.

Going forward, I strongly believe that one's success, whether you are an independent photographer or a big box retailer...will be principally determined not by your past, but where you go from here. Not what you've shot, but what you will shoot and how you will shoot it. And certainly and most importantly, not by your business acumen from legacy education and experience...but in your ability to enter swiftly and decidedly into a viral conversation with the hyper-connected, hyper-interactive, hyper-transparent and hyper-involved photo buying community of today. Your future depends on it! Our industry waits in the balance."

I was not suggesting that Stock photography, client-side, is collapsing. Heavens, no. The need for creative images, at all levels, is at an all time high. Print and electronic.

According to the American Writers and Artists Inc, Travel Division…”More than six million photographs are published every year in the U.S. – print and media alone. That’s more than 16,000 per day. And more than 40,000 photos are published a day worldwide.” Again, this is print only. Add Web and electronic usages…and we’re talking 4-5 times this amount. Probably higher. No one really knows. Point is…the picture market is virtually exploding.

Take David Sifry’s (CEO of Technorati) musings about the state of live Web:

- Technorati is now tracking over 70 million blogs, over 230 million posts using tags or categories.

- 120,000 Weblogs each day, or…

- 1.4 new blogs every second.

No matter how you slice and dice it, commercial or non-commercial, the planet is growing. The picture market is growing. Picture usage is growing. So Stock photography isn’t going away anytime soon.

What stands on the verge of extinction and obsolescence is all that other stuff, agency-side. How we engage customers. How we develop a fan base. How we develop stickiness. How we serve up content. How we price our content. How we deliver uncluttered search. How we create unique imagery. How we staff our agencies. How we develop technology and community. And how we begin to have transparent, authentic conversations with the people licensing our imagery. The list goes on and on.

Next generation agencies will start with the Web as their centerpiece. And build out from there. Not treat the Web as an ‘add on’ or afterthought to a marketing budget. Internet as platform. This is Web 2.0. And this is what we need to be doing in order to survive.

Open brand thinking today requires dialogue, not monologue. Conversation, not presentation. Pull, not push. Full disclosure, not scripted communication. Networking, not grandstanding. Media rich content, not just stills. Join the Stock 2.0 world.

If ‘Web 2.0’ was coined after the technology crash, then ‘Stock 2.0’ was officially introduced through microStock.

MacTribe: Does today's Stock landscape favor creatives, retailers (resellers) or customers?

JH: For decades now, the pendulum has favored creators and resellers. But not any more. This is the age of the consumer empowerment. The age of a convergence culture. It’s a buyers market, to be sure. Consumers today, more than any time in history, want to be heard. They want to influence and help co-create product (content). They want to influence and shape the very imagery they are using and licensing. Content, for all of these icitizens, needs to be more relevant. Less fungible. More unique. More passionate. More problem solving. More convenience. More repurposeable.

The Web’s ubiquity has most definitely leveled the playing field – for both the big and small guys. But it’s not about size. It’s about trusted, transparent, credible conversation and communication with our customers. Plain and simple. And it’s also not about content, per se. But about the context in which the content is served up to customers.

As an industry, we’re a little upside down right now. But that is not always such a bad thing. A shake up was bound to happen. Evolution and revolution have been inevitable trajectories. Buyers are in control. They have more choices than ever. And they’re loving it!

But not all that micro gives birth to is good. Fact is, a lot of it is crap. But there’s more than a few gems in these micro piles that deserve applause. In some cases, stunning collaboration between creator and customer. And this is exactly my point… collaboration. A two way street. Mano y mano. A conversation. A dialogue. A true blue communication. A mash-up of creative and user intelligence. Wow… welcome Stock 2.0.

And don’t confused ‘amateur’ with ‘amateurish’. The former usually refers to occupational status. The latter to quality of work. There are pros that create amateurish content. And there are amateurs who create pro content. Fact of life. Get used to it. It’s here to stay. There’s room for everybody. Let’s make it work.

MacTribe: How has JackHollingsworth.com diversified its portfolio in order to survive in the current landscape?

JH: JackHollingsworth.com, just like everyone else in this business, has felt the sting of a recessed economy and a flat market. We’ve seen record highs in 2006-2007. And record lows in 2008. Our portfolio has always been supported by three tripod legs. One, traditional royalties from RM and RF content (mostly RF). Two, brand equity in collections that we participate in as a ‘player-coach’ such as 40260.com, Blendimages.com Photosindia.com and Redchopticks.com. And three, wholly-owned (work for hire) contract and commission work for agency partners – big and small.

This is how we have traditionally operated. But because of our need to evolve and reinvent, we are completely rebranding ourselves. Not only in the kind of content we create. But how we plan on serving it up to the market. Stay tuned.

Going forward, we’ll most likely spend a lot less time in providing wholly-owned content services. And spend more time with our own brands in direct sales. Diversification is the key. We need to rinse and repeat. Often. Test, test, test. Diversify the kind of pictures you make. Diversify the licensing models you participate in. Diversify the key agencies you work with. Diversify your staff. Diversify your shoot locations. Diversify everything.

MacTribe: How is Web 2.0 and the democratization of content challenging traditional business norms?

JH: If you are in the Stock photography business today, then I would assume that you know what these terms mean. More importantly, why they are relevant to the survival of your Stock business.

UGC. Googling. Viral marketing. Social networks. Open source. Blogs. PHP, Customer forums. Viral identity. Social bookmarking. Twitter. Myspace. Facebook. Linked-in. Cross platform production. Variable data printing. Database marketing. RSS. Wikis. Peer to peer support. Ajax. Flex. Podcasting. Webinars. Google analytics. SEO. Tagging. Longtail. WOM. Web 2.0. Democratization of content. Live Web. Vlogs. Streaming. Mash-ups.

If you’re scratching your head…run, don’t walk, to the nearest bookstore or browser and get educated. Immediately. There is a global conversation going on that you should be a part of. And need to be a part of. You must not only learn this new lexicon, but also the people behind it. How to provide picture solutions to them. How to speak in their language. And how to engage them in what you have to offer. Your livelihood depends on it.

MacTribe: How has microStock impacted the Stock photo business? And where do you see micro going?

JH: As I have said publicly before, JackHollingsworth.com has not played in the micro space. Not yet anyway. But we have intention and resources to do so. As a matter of fact, we will be launching a small, personal micro brand sometime in 08. With an emphasis on personal content and marketing the content outside traditional channels. Enough said for now.

MicroStock has significantly impacted the traditional Stock photography model – mostly in royalty-free.

A recent post on PDNonline by Daryl Long said…”If counted separately from Getty Images, iStockphoto would probably be the world’s third largest Stock agency this year.” Yes, micro is having an impact on our landscape! Where it’s all going, I have no idea. But I’ve got a hunch that micro will continue to see stellar performance and revenue increases for the next 2-3 years…steadily! As a business entrepreneur, I have always admired and appreciated what microStock has brought to the traditional Stock model. It has shaken things up. For the better. And unquestionably…forever. Life will never be the same. Some say…good. Some say…bad. I say both.

Most micro companies and sites are completely Web 2.0 savvy. And have brilliantly built their business models around technology, community and user-generated content (UGC). These critical missions and initiatives, I might add, are ones that traditional agencies have paid little-to-no attention to. And it’s coming back to haunt us.

I see microStock continuing to grow. Continuing to challenge high-priced RF. Continuing to build a fan base and expand the Stock-user pie. Yet also facing some critical challenges like cluttered search, too many images, a declining contributor base of pros (more amateurs), and ‘me-too, –look-alike’ content. Perhaps we’ll eventually see a day, in the soon future, where there will be less differentiation between micro and high-end RF content. And that there will be a happy meeting in the middle. Who knows.

I do not see us moving toward midStock.