Taking Stock

It’s been only 14 short years since I first found myself with the lofty title of Art Director, but the business is almost unrecognizable from how it was back then. Of course in many ways it’s for the better, but equally so for the worse, and it’s no secret that I have passionate moans about the direction the communications industry is taking. I don’t know whether this will become a regular whinge column but certainly for now I’m happy to tell you about what I perceive to be the death of photography and in some cases as a knock on effect the death of the idea!

Stock libraries have been with us for many years, in the early days it was run by the likes of Tony Stone, Corbis and Getty which are reputable companies who understand the value of great photography and as such were always very expensive. So back then even if you really loved a photo it was much cheaper to have it shot professionally and make the appropriate changes and have a unique shot for your client. But you very rarely did this, because you had freedom in every idea that you presented, big or small, if it involved a photo you commissioned it and achieved a shot that fit the idea. I’m seeing a lot of work now where the image is found first and the idea is then retro-fitted to it (Don’t think I’m talking small agency mentality here either because I’m seeing some of the north west’s big boys doing the same.) The major reason for this problem is that libraries started cropping up who were offering shots for as little as £xx and clients started to find out about these and realize that their budgets were suddenly going much further, but remember, you really do get what you pay for. 90% of shots on these sites are of poor quality because with the advent of digital everyone thinks that they are a photographer without having to go through the technical and artistic learning followed by the tough years of assisting professional photographers. How do I know this? Because a lot of my friends are submitting shots because they think you can put a camera into auto mode and you’re suddenly David Bailey!

We’re in this business to sell whichever product or service we’re briefed on to the best of our ability and achieve amazing results, and I feel that if a client is adamant on using a cheap stock shot which Barry’s Plumbers down the road can just as easily get access to, they will never achieve these results. It’s no coincidence that the big brands out there have got to their place in the market by using original ideas and photography for every project they do. How many stock shots do you think Coca Cola, Mercedes, Orange or Nike use?

I was remembering my first photo assignment as an Art Director and it was for a Savile Row tailors called Chester Barry. It was an inset shot on a press ad of a fob watch, such a simple shot which I’m sure on the cheap stock libraries are ten a penny (literally!!!) But the photographer spent half a day just lighting it, sat on a piece of their suit cloth, and then the next half shooting it. And the quality I got back was startling, it oozed class and set the client apart from his competition, it shouted to the world that if they could spend this amount of time and money on this little shot, just imagine the time and money they would spend on producing your suit? And I suppose this is the point, all your advertising and marketing is a true reflection of your business values and standards, invest that little bit of time and money and it will pay you back substantially.

I suppose as a final thought, if all we had to work from were stock libraries we would never have been moved or influenced by shots like these:

A selection of influential ads from around the world