New stock photo opportunity for New Zealand’s young photographers

A leading organisation in the stock photo industry is set to launch a new youth-focused project that will give talented young photographers the chance to make money producing fresh images of New Zealand.
The Shutter Club is an initiative from leading local stock image library, Photonewzealand, which aims to compile a new image collection featuring aspects of New Zealand life and culture as seen through the lenses of the country’s younger professional photographers.

Applications to be a part of The Shutter Club are open now; successful applicants will contribute “expressive, emotive, spontaneous and genuine” images to a final collection of mid-to-high priced images, rather than a low-cost ‘microstock’ library, that will be launched to clients in early 2015.

Photonewzealand already represents some of New Zealand’s leading photographers – Craig Potton, Mike Langford, Peter Quinn, Becky Nunes, Arno Gasteiger, to name a few – and the organisations says The Shutter Club represents an ideal way for emerging pros to earn a revenue stream while continuing to explore creatively.

D-Photo catches up with Kathryn Edwards from Photonewzealand to a get a few more details on The Shutter Club:

D-Photo: How will the Shutter Club photo collection differ to that already offered by Photonewzealand?

Kathryn Edwards: The Shutter Club is a new stock collection aimed specifically at a younger creative target market.  It will be solely royalty-free with three tiers of pricing ranging from $100 -$500 according to file size. Our vision is that through the eyes of these younger photographers the collection will evolve and capture the ‘new New Zealand’ in a fresh and current way, with the content more spontaneous, edgy and reflective of our target audience.

What sort of photographers are you looking for in terms of age and experience?

We are looking for emerging photographers, perhaps still working towards completing their studies, working in other creative areas, assisting more established photographers or perhaps not yet experienced enough to establish themselves as a full-time professional. We are wanting to attract young photographers who are creatively competent but who perhaps need more support from a technical, licensing point of view or that simply want to maximise revenue from this additional stream whilst pursuing their other creative interests.

How big will The Shutter Club be, both in terms of photographers and image library?

We have no limit to how many photographers, although we won’t be taking on large numbers and applicants will have to apply and be accepted based upon the quality and relevance of their work. We plan to launch the collection with between 3000-5000 images early in 2015.

What sort of payment scheme should those joining the Club expect?

Photographers that are successful in their applications will earn a 40 per-cent return per image sale from The Shutter Club, paid monthly into their accounts.

What sort of clients will the Shutter Club collection be aimed at? 

The Shutter Club will be available to all of our clients but we expect the most interest to come from the advertising and design sector particularly from the younger creative market.

Head to The Shutter Club website for more information

Image: Julie Cooper