Steve Vidler

Steve Vidler has a unique position in photography, but one that because of its very nature is unheralded, even practically anonymous. In the days when stock photography was almost exclusively professional, and when images of places were actually in limited supply, Vidler was the most prolific and the most sold travel stock photographer, bar none. Stock photography has since changed into a commodity market supplied by anyone and everyone, but despite this, Vidler’s huge collection, fuelled by 40 years of non-stop travelling, means that he remains a significant contributor.

Born in Hove, England, in 1949, he ran away from school at the age of 15 to travel the world (however much anyone talked about that at school, I never knew anyone else who actually did it). As much as anywhere can be called home (two weeks seems to be the longest period he has spent anywhere), he moves between Hong Kong and London, but really considers himself a nomad. We met, just as I met Mike Yamashita, on the series of ‘week in the life’ books on Southeast Asian countries published by Editions Didier Millet. For this website, Vidler’s story has a very particular value. He bypassed all the usual routes towards earning a living in photography and carved out his own niche. That particular route — stock photography — may be neither as reliable or lucrative as it once was, during the 30 to 40 years when few people travelled along it professionally, but the possibilities of being an independent photographer are instructive.

Steve Vidler

Asia

Chinese dragon dance

Mae Hong Son, Thailand

MF: One of the remarkable things about the way you work is that you’re totally independent. You generate all your own work, your own assignments, and always have. How did you start?

SV: Like many, as a keen amateur. I‘d run away from school at the age of 15 in the mid 1960s and spent three years travelling around the world, doing over 60 jobs in almost as many different countries, all the while shooting Kodachromes with a small Canon rangefinder camera.

The thought of actually selling anything was just a distant dream. Until, that was, back in England in 1969, I came across the “Writers and Artists Year Book” in the local reference library. I was intrigued by a small section titled Stock Photography. Here, apparently, was a way to have somebody else market pictures (albeit for a 50% commission), and that would leave me free to travel and take photos.  At age 19 it seemed a far more pleasing prospect than having to do a real job for a living.  A few days later I took off for London with a suitcase full of 35mm slides and half a dozen addresses of agencies copied from the year book. Nothing ventured nothing gained. I bowled up unannounced, and received a fairly warm and positive reception everywhere. Unbeknown to me at the time, stock photography was in its infancy, and agencies were hungry for images, especially of distant destinations.

Cormorant fisherman, China

The City, London

MF: Of course, at that time, long-haul tourism had not yet begun, right?

SV: Right. My fourth visit was to Pictor International, then one of the leading stock agencies.  I left an hour later minus the suitcase (a great relief as the thing was damn heavy and my arms were just about dropping off), with the promise that they would go through the material and put on file anything they thought would be of use. The parting words of Alberto Sciama, the owner, I remember well to this day: “Steve, this is a long-term investment, and if you want to make money you will have to shoot medium or large format” – very prophetic as it turned out.

Three months later I arrived by ship in Kobe Japan where I’d heard that it was reasonably easy to make a living teaching English part-time, and where secondhand camera equipment was inexpensive. I’d soon made enough to buy a Mamiya C220 camera and spent my spare time photographing the sights and festivals of Japan.  Six months later a small cheque came from Pictor – I was on my way!

MF: Those must have been the golden days of stock photography.

SV: Yes, they certainly were.  It didn’t take a lot of business sense to realize that the more agencies that you could supply, the more money you could make.  In 1970 Pentax brought out their 6×7 camera – this was to become the workhorse of the serious travel stock photographers for the next 20 years. Within 3 years I was supplying about 40 agencies worldwide with original 6×7 size transparencies.(usually shooting at least 3 rolls of 220 film of the same scene). Purists might be shocked, but it really was a case of producing as many images as I could for as little investment on my behalf as possible.  Iconic sights under perfect conditions and people in national costumes were the shots to go for.  By 1980 I was averaging about 2000 sales a month worldwide.

Indonesian market

Tower block housing

Vietnam

MF: And it’s true that you did all this without bothering to get a single editorial or commercial assignment?

SV: Yes, this is true, although in the early days I did sell some images directly to  publishers and made a deal with Thai International Airlines to supply them with images of their destinations in exchange for air travel.  I also did some books supplying all the images from my own stock rather than working on an assignment basis.

MF: I get the impression from many photographers who these days contribute to stock agencies that they see this business as a way of offloading images that they’ve already shot. . But it’s not quite like that if you set out with the intention of meeting the demands of stock clients, is it?

SV: To be honest, this has always been the case, and you might wonder why not more photographers went the stock route. Several reasons I can think of – it was not regarded as “real” photography. Most aspiring travel photographers preferred the glamour of assignment work where somebody else covered the costs and to see their names credited on double-page spreads.  Of course, 35mm allowed for much more artistic freedom and the equipment was much lighter. To many it didn’t make business sense to invest one’s own money in a product that might or might not give you some returns in the distant future.
The flip side of stock is that basically you remain anonymous, except to those within the industry.  You need an awful lot of self motivation, but of course the reward (as well as financial) is to be able to make a living from a hobby and have the freedom to go where you want, when you want, and be answerable to nobody.

MF: I remember very well arriving in Tokyo one afternoon and staying with you. You announced that the weather the following day would be unusually fine and so you were planning to drive a long loop around Mt. Fuji, and would I like to come along. Certainly, I said, but hadn’t realised that this meant a five o’clock start and not returning until the following night. In particular, perched on a hillside at sunrise with a temple in the foreground and snow-covered Fuji behind, I realised how much planning you normally put into your shoots. There was nothing casual or vague about the way you worked.

Mount Fuji and pagoda

SV: I must admit, though, that I’ve never really done a lot of planning.  Obviously you need to try and visit places when the weather is at its best; even better if you can combine it with a local festival. In the old days, travel brochures and postcards were the basic research tools, but of course these days everything can be found on the internet.

MF: In travel stock photography, you’re obviously trying to maximise your sales by making images that appeal to a wide audience. That means concentrating a lot of your effort on well-known sites and places. What interests me is that this is exactly where you have the maximum competition from others, so that you’re often shooting heavily photographed locations and yet yours have to be that much better. Is there a list of things you do to ensure that?

Trooping the Colour, Horseguards’ Parade

SV: It’s certainly become increasingly difficult to get a different slant on the iconic subjects, mostly because of the sheer volume of imagery, and the choice now available to image buyers. To give you an example I just keyworded “Eiffel Tower” in Alamy’s searchbox and got 12,766 hits.(www.alamy.com) It’s no secret that most professionals will have a quick look at several stock agencies’ websites before embarking on a trip, either just to see possible angles and check out the competition, or to blatantly copy an image or concept.
It’s easy do despair and think “it’s been shot a million times already, so why bother”.To me this is the wrong attitude as I enjoy the challenge to get something a little different. For me, it’s rather like a treasure hunt.

With a subject such as the Eiffel Tower, I always get there just before dawn — but only in good weather — and spend the whole day in the local area.Coming from the old school, I rely more on composition and  light rather than Photoshop manipulation at a later stage. I’ll look for an extra element such as a reflection or flowers, small details of the structure itself, a road with a cafe and the Eiffel Tower in the background. I also look for small details, even in the souvenir vendors’ stands. I might find a young tourist couple willing to be in the shot. It’s not a bad idea if you see someone struggling to take self-portraits at arm’s length to offer to take their picture with their camera. This breaks the ice and I might convert this into asking them to act as models. Many people quite like the idea of seeing themselves in print, and you can always make a joke of it — “give me a nice smile and I’ll make you famous”. I always ask for an address and send them prints along with a simple model release, which more often than not is returned signed.

Tourists in front of the Eiffel Tower, how boring or naff, you might think. Bear in mind, though, that this type of image is one of the most sought-after, particularly in the travel industry. Now go back to that Alamy website and have another look at those Eiffel Tower pictures and think “What don’t they have here?”

The Taj Mahal, Agra, from the other side

MF: but the world of stock has changed completely now, hasn’t it?

SV: Without a doubt ! For better or worse, the internet has changed everything. The world is awash with imagery, much of it of a very poor quality (I call it internet graffiti). Alamy now has over 16 million images on their site, probably 15 million of which have very little chance of selling. Many traditional agencies are struggling to stay afloat. Microstock sites, and larger agencies offering Royalty Free images and Subscription selling, have resulted in a dramatic drop in the value of photographic images in general. With some agencies paying as little as 20% or 30% commission, or worse still even charging the photographer to put images on their sites, it’s almost a case of you working for the agency rather than the agency representing you.

MF: One of the things that I imagine many readers and students here will be drawn to is the idea that you can actually generate your own work as a photographer. There are a lot of people out there worried about the decline in magazine and newspaper assignments, and whether or not they can make a living. Yet recently you decided to start publishing your own books. How did you work that out?

SV: Not only in the assignment world; the same is true of the stock industry. Many photographers now question whether it’s worth doing trips, as the returns are no longer the same. However, it’s not all doom and gloom. One positive side of the Internet is that it has given the opportunity for everybody to get their images on websites and generate some income, but it would be very difficult now to make a living completely out of travel stock photography.

Partly for these reasons I decided to try my hand at publishing. Three years ago I was in London and despite the huge variety of guide books there seemed to be very little in the way of well-produced, general pictorial books on what is one of the most visited cities in the world.

MF: Yes, I remember you telling me that, and I found it hard to believe that in one of the world’s great tourist capitals there wasn’t already a whole slew of books.

London

Tower Bridge and fireworks

SV: Not only London, but Great Britain in general. Believe it or not, there are more pictorial books on Thailand and New Zealand than there are on Great Britain.

MF: Why do you think this is?

SV: I think that for mainstream publishers there’s just not enough profit margin – their conventional thinking is that there is not a huge demand for these types of books. To a degree they are right – profit only really comes with the second and subsequent printings.

MF:You knew nothing about the business of illustrated book publishing when you started. How easy or difficult was it to get to grips with it?

SV: Not as difficult as you might imagine, providing you have the funds to make the initial investment. Over the years I’ve made friends with various writers, printers and designers and concluded that with a few combined talents it wouldn’t be too difficult to put a book together. The hardest part is actually the distribution side of the business.

Performer, Covent Garden

MF: And how did the first book do?

SV: I’m happy to say that “Portrait of London” has been on sale now for two years  and does very well and we are just about to do a third printing.

MF: So now you’ve turned it into a series?

SV: Yes. The other titles are “Portrait of England”, “Portrait of Asia” and “Portrait of Hong Kong and Macau”.  I’m currently working on “Portrait of Great Britain” which will be out early next year.

Great Britain

The Seven Sisters, Sussex coast

Windmill, the Broads

MF: I know that the expression ‘re-inventing oneself’ is hackneyed, but it seems to be highly relevant to photography these days. At the least, we all need to adapt to changing circumstances, and that’s exactly what you’re doing. Thank you, Steve.

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