Flickr okay for professional photgraphers?

September 11, 2007 11:00 AM

Can a professional photographer upload his work to flickr to showcase his work for commercial purposes?

I know a professional photographer with a 20+ year collection of nature and art photography. He wants to put his work on the Internet to advertise it and potentially sell prints of it. However, he is under the impression that this is not allowed on flickr. I have read the terms of service to him but he thinks that flickr will ban him for advertising his work. He claims he read something to that effect but can't remember where so he can't show me it. Can you do this or is it not allowed?

Also, can you disable comments on flickr?

posted by clockworkjoe to media & arts (20 comments total)

'Don't use flickr for commercial purposes' is on the Guidelines page - scroll down.
posted by iconomy at 11:04 AM on September 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

You may disable comments.

I think if it was an informal portfolio - that is, if contact info were on his profile page but he wasn't actively selling himself through info on the photo pages themselves - you'd have no problem. I have seen dozens of pro users do this over the years with no ill effect.
posted by luriete at 11:19 AM on September 11, 2007

You can use flickr to showcase your photography. There are quite a few professional photographers on flickr. And lots of backroom sales going on.

But you can't use flickr to sell your photos. Like putting "This photo available for only $$$$. Contact me for more info." or stuff like that.
posted by vacapinta at 11:22 AM on September 11, 2007

You need SmugMug.

Flickr is for amateurs.
posted by nineRED at 11:23 AM on September 11, 2007

It's kind of odd their paid account level is called "Pro" if you really aren't supposed to be using it as a professional image organizing service.
posted by zackola at 11:25 AM on September 11, 2007 [2 favorites]

Can you post some links to these pros on flickr? I'd like to see them.
posted by clockworkjoe at 11:26 AM on September 11, 2007

This guy is a professional food photographer. To my knowledge his shots on flickr are for fun - extras from his contracted work for other businesses, plus anything else he feels like showing.
posted by dendrite at 11:31 AM on September 11, 2007

Actually, Flickr has the option to sell photographs. You can activate that - it's one of their partner services, I think.
posted by luriete at 11:32 AM on September 11, 2007

My impression of the commercial use thing has always basically been that they're not designed to serve pictures for commercial sites -- you can't use their bandwith. This is (one reason) why photos also have to always link back to them.
posted by bonaldi at 11:33 AM on September 11, 2007

For a professional photographer who is interesting in selling and licensing their work, I would reccommend Photoshelter.
posted by seymour.skinner at 11:37 AM on September 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

6 months or so ago, Stewart Butterfield said something during an interview on one of the cable news channels that strongly suggested that Flickr was working on ways for people to sell their photos via Flickr (and Flickr would get a cut)

If it were me, I'd probably set up a full gallery on SmugMug or Digital Railroad or something like that from which I sold prints.

Then I'd have a portfolio of images on Flickr with a link to my main site from the profile. I'd also be active in some groups, and submit to photo pools to try and get exposure. I would not make direct appears to sell the photos in the portfolio. But I'd make it clear in my profile that I sell my work.

If Flickr has a problem with that, then I'd have a major problem with Flickr.
posted by Good Brain at 11:37 AM on September 11, 2007

There are several photographers that we work with who use informal Flickr portfolios to preview sets to us without the hassle of a formal submission, or to sell copies of their pieces that have been printed in other places.
posted by klangklangston at 11:40 AM on September 11, 2007

You can definitely sell your prints online using Flickr! Flickr has integrated with ImageKind to allow its users to sell their online.

ImageKind takes care of all inventory (it's print on demand) and fulfillment (they make out the prints). You set your pricing; ImageKind, of course, takes a cut. They have a free account and also a paid account option with more bells and whistles and storage space.

But, on Flickr, you may post a link to your ImageKind gallery from your Flickr profile; you may not post a link to your ImageKind gallery from an individual Flickr photo page.
posted by kathryn at 12:14 PM on September 11, 2007

Marcelo Montecino has crap loads of photos online. He is fucking awesome.

James Duncan Davidson also posts his photos online. He takes photos at tech conferences.
posted by chunking express at 12:25 PM on September 11, 2007

many professional photographers have flickr pages as showcases; they just don't mention prices. go to their profile page and it includes their professional website/domain name.
posted by matteo at 1:07 PM on September 11, 2007

If you decide not to go with Flicker, you could try deviantart. I don't know whether officially you can use it for commercial purposes, but I've seen people doing so.
posted by letahl at 1:28 PM on September 11, 2007

Thirding Smugmug.
posted by LuckySeven~ at 2:14 PM on September 11, 2007

Flickr is a great place to get exposure but for a good showcase of high quality photography your friend is better off hiring a Flash designer and setting up his own website. All the online services are too restrictive for an actual professional photography business.
posted by JJ86 at 2:26 PM on September 11, 2007

Just post his photos and fill out the profile page with all of his contact info and links to his online portfolio / agent / gallery / site selling his prints / whatever. That's what every pro (and I am one) I have seen on Flickr does.

(Flickr is not a replacement for an online portfolio, obviously).
posted by bradbane at 3:31 PM on September 11, 2007

I know a pro photographer who does this. I'm not sure if she sells the photos directly, but you can see all her work on her Flickr album.
posted by divabat at 7:27 AM on September 12, 2007