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  2. USA, Smithsonian magazine, June 2019 issue Pg. 1 and Pg. 14, Abacus, Settaphan Rummanee (Alamy credit only) Pg. 12, Photo of Katherine Thomas but can't tell from which contributor, multiple identical photo from various contributors (Alamy credit only) Pg. 14, A Khipu (cut out), Heritage Image partnership LTD (Alamy credit only) Pg. 14, Photo of a sector measuring instrument that I cannot find (Alamy credit only) Pg. 14, A Napier's Bones calculating machine, Science History Images (Alamy credit only) Pg. 14, A Canon calculator from the 1970's, Chris Wilson (Alamy credit only) Pg. 14, An Amazon Echo device (cut out), Russell Hart (Alamy credit only)
  3. The answer is simple, the market is imperfect. No buyers have all the information, not all buyers use the same economic or pricing model. The pricing, discounting and subscription models make trying to rationalise prices and sales at more than a consolidated level pointless. Buyers do not, normally, make one purchase. They will make different purchases at different price points at different times. You have no way of measuring this so your statement is unsound. There is also the marginal cost for buyers where if it costs more to find a lower price than the difference in price then it is rational to pay the higher price. I can buy cheaper food at the next town but the time and travel costs make the difference close to zero so I stay with the higher priced food. My wife tells me off for not hunting for bargains - but I point out that the extra time I have to spend hunting is not worth, to me, the marginal cost saving. Alamy is very good, I believe, in differentiating,, segmenting and adding value to their product so buyer decisions may not just made on the pricing That is why, as an example, some people ate willing to pay more for higher octane petrol. Buyers are human agents with informational asymmetry most of the time: they are not always rational from the viewpoint of observer: but may be rational from the viewpoint of the actor. There is also the potential for second order effects. Companies often sell items at a loss - but it is rational if the price contributes towards the fixed costs of the business allowing for more items to be sold at the margin to cover variable costs. Buyers operate in the same way. I would rather sell a few items at cost “A” each month provided that every so often I make a sale (10XA) every so often. Why is is the fact that other agencies are allegedly selling better than Alamy at specific price points an issue for you? (In passing, I do not believe you have sufficient data to make that statement) Rationally, if you believe that you should go to the other agency.... as I have noted before, as individual contributors we do not have anything like sufficient information to make a judgement on the highly segmented market with non transparent demand and pricing. As individual economic actors we make choices. If I decide to shop at Sainsbury’s it is pointless to complain about their prices, I either accept them or shop at Tesco. Complaining about prices is really a pointless activity: the market has no ears. Alamy has a common economic interest with contributors and buyers to make the optimum price for the product. I trust Alamy to do that for me. Simples
  4. Today
  5. Young Starbucks barista serving a virtual customer.
  6. Yes, Lake Chapala reportedly has serious pollution problems. Also, the lake has been shrinking for decades. It's not a healthy scenario. Thanks for the Orizaba tip. I've seen snow-covered Orizaba Volcano looming in the distance during travels in the state of Veracruz. It's an inspiring sight. However, I've never visited the town of Orizaba. No plans to move to Mexico at the moment. Canadian healthcare is too precious to lose at this stage of the game. Maybe I'll get to Orizaba one day, though. Now back to all things green and Irish...
  7. Hi DJ Myford, I appreciate your feedback, it is very helpful, I understand more clearly now, thank you.
  8. Thank you both for your input and experiences. KHA, I experienced a similar problem which seems to be rectified now. Not sure whether the pending Windows update or VPN or another problem caused this, and may never know. As this problem does not seem to be widespread I presume it to be a local issue so you could be correct KHA. thanks again Joe
  9. I've decided on Sligo. Sorry if I have not been clear.
  10. Looks like there's a regular bus service from Oranmore town centre to Galway and a rail station. Might be an answer?
  11. The market may well set the prices. The issue for me is as the prices the market appears to be setting other agencies are selling a lot better than Alamy. When a market sets a price of $x and one agency sells 10 items while the other sells 1 from the same amount of stock then questions need to be asked as to why the second is only managing 1 sale.
  12. Lots of pride of place with the Irish, it seems. I like that. But you sound as if you are talking about car country, John R. I'm on foot. Yeah, Andy -- a PPS number! Marianne, thanks for the Columbus tip.
  13. Having been in business all my life I cannot see how a $1.50 gross sale can be cost-effective unless it is fully automatic without human involvement.
  14. Got two of them. One with 10-18 W/A zoom and the other with 18-135 zoom. Gives me 15-200mm in 35mm speak w/o lens change. Great for 99% of what I do. Got 55-210 zoom as well to give me reach to 315mm. A gear stored out of reach. RX100M3 for pocket and walk about. Never any fails with these cameras. All processing in Adobe Cloud Raw and PS. Don't see a need to upgrade now.
  15. A Web site for Sony users Sonyalpharumors has an article about Topaz AI software. https://www.sonyalpharumors.com/150-off-on-the-topaz-ai-software-superbundle/ 'Now you can get all of the best-selling Topaz AI Products for one low price. Get DeNoise AI, Sharpen AI, Gigapixel AI, and JPEG to RAW AI for just $199 for a limited time! Get the superbundle here at TopazLabs.' Sounds expensive to me and I doubt the need of it for my purposes. I am quite happy with Adobe Cloud with LR and PS. Anyone with experience in using this software? Looks to me they are reducing the price because of a lack of customers.
  16. 25/05/2019 Daily Telegraph (print) Theresa May in tears at the end of her resignation speech, London Downing Street. TACH38 Dinendra Haria/Live News A cosplayer attending the opening day of the MCM Comic Con event, London Docklands. TACKDM Stephen Chung/Live News
  17. Hi Ed, A lot of places rent out via word of mouth in Ireland as the tax is very high on rentals income. There is a decent enough Hospital in Oranmore and it really doesn't rain as much as people think, although on saying that the odd summer can be cold and miserable. Not sure about editorial but in regards to general photography the Maamturks and that whole area is one of the most beautiful spots in the world. I have lived in the UK and a few places in the USA and while Ireland certainly has its problems there is no other country in the world I would rather live.
  18. Spring has sprung, the grass has ris, I wonder where the herbicide is.
  19. No worries Ed One of the bits of paper you will need and cannot apply until your in country is PPS card and PPS number. That card and number will be asked for when ever you are interacting with any state agency. Its a bit of a bind of form filling etc but essential for you.
  20. Edo & Allan hope you are both feeling better soon. Edo, three bits of advice - first, see a doctor, if bronchitis goes into pneumonia, not only do you risk your life, but you will feel exhausted for months after you recover. The first time I had it at age 9, I still remember being wiped out after missing an entire month of school. I had been the fastest bike-rider among my friends, and turned into the slowest for what seemed like forever. For all of you over 65s (or those like me with compromised health who are younger), there are two pneumonia vaccines that you get a year apart. One is Prevnar, forget the name of the other. I had the first 3 years ago, the second 2 years ago, and my health insurance here in the US covered it at 100% (needed pre-cert from my MD since I was in my late 50s then). Second, I used to suffer from terrible hay fever beginning in my teens. In my 30s I was seeing an acupuncturist after losing the hearing in one ear for the resulting pain, and he suggested that he could help my allergies too. 2-3 treatments and I was allergy-free for 4-5 years. Since then, when it starts to aggravate me, every 4-5 years, I get two treatments and I am good to go for another half decade. I am squeamish and am petrified of needles, but acupuncture has been a life-saver for me for so many ailments. The Chinese knew what they were doing millennia ago. I've read articles that said that it shouldn't be considered "alternative medicine," since it has the highest success rate of any kind of treatment. Also, the needles barely pinch. When I go for my back, neck and shoulder every 3-8 months depending on how things are going, I fall asleep and wake up refreshed. Third, think about Columbus, Ohio. My daughter ,whom you were trying to help find an apartment for back when she was at NYU, moved there from Brooklyn 4 years ago, after 5 years in NYC, so I've spent quite a bit of time there. Ohio State is the largest university in the country, healthcare there is top-notch, the people are very friendly, it is a very liberal and well-run city, has one of the best-educated populations in the US, all the benefits of a university town, a vibrant arts community (and their ASMP section has a monthly pub night), and most important for you, has awesome restaurants (and this is coming from an Italian who grew up in NYC, so you know you can trust me where food is concerned). She was living on a fellowship from the University in a great part of town called Clintonville. You could walk everywhere from there - she was renting half of a two-family house (which she could easily afford on her own on that small stipend - and there were lots of places she could have found for a lot less) and right down the block you were in the city with restaurants and buildings mostly only about 4-5 stories higher so kind of like parts of the upper East Side before the white brick buildings took over (there's a downtown with high-rises, but much of the city is more like the outer boroughs only you are still in the city so everything is close by) . (There was also a great camera store on her corner). The busses run frequently. It is so much less expensive than New York. In fact, about 6 months before she got married, she was considering buying a house with the money she had managed to save up. She's now out in a suburban area with baby and hubby and still just a short way from the University (I miss her old neighborhood, and if my husband ever retires, I'd move to her old one). There's also an area called Dublin that is quite nice (and one called German Village - lots of wonderful breweries). I'm sure she'd be happy to give you advice on areas and recommend her favorite restaurants. It has a lovely small-city vibe (everywhere seems like a small city when you come from NYC like we do). And it has a micro-climate, so the tornadoes don't hit them. She's a very liberal young New Yorker and she loves it there.
  21. I went for the original one! Works fine but I'm sure the newer ones are even better! :-)
  22. Interesting. I was considering that; perhaps I should give that a try. I've taken a few photos of the US embassy; they always have guards outside, and it generally appears quite forbidding, so I tried to be quick about it – no tripod and tilt-shift lens – and not get too close.
  24. Thanks Starsphinx, I was there to shoot a summer(actually Spring) concert and saw the swans and geese in the pond at the venue. I was not going to use this particular photo but others to upload and knew there are some good wildlife photographers on here that know certain species. I was pretty sure of the name but wanted to make sure.....
  25. Thanks, Andy. That's what I thought -- local control. I've never worked or lived in Ireland. I lived in Oxfordshire in the '80s on my Irish passport. I didn't but I could have voted. 😀
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