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This dude:
https://depositphotos.com/portfolio-4447003.html?sh=d2cc707a5da02720b38834ffdc3d79c9
Now, his stuff on this first page ("Best Match" sorting) doesn't seem too terribly bad. It's not good, but it's not terrible
Keep looking. He has badly-lit photos of dead mice, lots of badly-lit photos of insects, close-up photos of what is either cowshit or horseshit, mating cats, badly cropped photos of random houses, out-of-focus pictures of Christmas ornaments and terrible, terrible, terrible art.
I'd say it was a bot account--there's 33K+ photos in there--but there seems to be too much consistency. Also, HE'S ON SHUTTERSTOCK. Also on ALAMY
This actually gives me hope: I have long-term plans of pumping out a bunch of partial artworks--i.e., not a full scene of a landscape with dragon and castle and knight, but one of just the landscape, and one of just the dragon, etc.--and uploading those to microstock sites and OH GOD I AM SO MUCH BETTER THAN HIM.
(It's possible Shutterstock, Alamy, and Depositphotos are all owned by the same people, and dude is one of the owners, admittedly...)
edit So Toby and I have discussed, and noted that the account has only been active for a few months, and we also recalled that Dr Neal Krawetz, of FotoForensics, has written about Russian drug runners using his photo tool as a way to pass coded messages about drug drops (post 1, post 2), and it makes us wonder if they're doing the same thing here.
https://depositphotos.com/portfolio-4447003.html?sh=d2cc707a5da02720b38834ffdc3d79c9
Now, his stuff on this first page ("Best Match" sorting) doesn't seem too terribly bad. It's not good, but it's not terrible
Keep looking. He has badly-lit photos of dead mice, lots of badly-lit photos of insects, close-up photos of what is either cowshit or horseshit, mating cats, badly cropped photos of random houses, out-of-focus pictures of Christmas ornaments and terrible, terrible, terrible art.
I'd say it was a bot account--there's 33K+ photos in there--but there seems to be too much consistency. Also, HE'S ON SHUTTERSTOCK. Also on ALAMY
This actually gives me hope: I have long-term plans of pumping out a bunch of partial artworks--i.e., not a full scene of a landscape with dragon and castle and knight, but one of just the landscape, and one of just the dragon, etc.--and uploading those to microstock sites and OH GOD I AM SO MUCH BETTER THAN HIM.
(It's possible Shutterstock, Alamy, and Depositphotos are all owned by the same people, and dude is one of the owners, admittedly...)
edit So Toby and I have discussed, and noted that the account has only been active for a few months, and we also recalled that Dr Neal Krawetz, of FotoForensics, has written about Russian drug runners using his photo tool as a way to pass coded messages about drug drops (post 1, post 2), and it makes us wonder if they're doing the same thing here.
