Calendar Girls

Meet calendar girls Luka and Olivia from the nearby city farm. They are girls (sisters, in fact) and they are on a calendar. The calendar is sold by a Brittish publisher called Avonside. This particular picture was on a 2008 calendar on pigs.

Of course it´s pretty cool if people use your pics to put it on a calendar that is actually sold. Some people had 'my' pigs on their walls for an entire month! But there was a catch here. Avonside bought the picture (and many others) from Shutterstock at the lowest available rate. These rates are very low, but they do not allow for reselling. Which is basically what you do when you put a picture on a calendar and sell the calendar. So Shutterstock send out their legal people to defend the rights of their submitters (and their own of course, microstock is no charity). Shutterstock and Avonside setteld the case and each photographer was paid properly for the use of their pictures.

That's what I like about microstock agencies, such as Shutterstock. Yes, they get a substantial percentage of sales, but they take care of all the hassle. They provide the marketing so their subscribers get a much larger audience than they would through their own website. And if something goes wrong, they provide the legal support. Thanks guys!