studios using stock photos

Anonyma started this discussion · 10/2/2014

what do you think about studios using stock pictures. The thing is there is a lady with no experience opening a studio near mine, wich she send her employee to sneak on my classes (i posted this not long ago) She s advertising and using random photo from stock photos on internet What do you think about that, do you think people see the difference or they don t . Personally I find it ridiculous to post pictures of random people who are not even you, showing stuff that you can t even do , but thats just me I guess!

11 replies

AllysonKendal · 10/2/2014
Hm... Nice food for thought! In my field (dentistry) there is A LOT of that and it's very accepted. You see big beautiful smiles on billboards and websites. Are they actual patients? No. (Of course the "before" and "after" pics on webpages should be actual patients... Usually those are mouth only pics). But really, it's just easier for people to hire a web design company and marketing firm that uses stock images than it is to find patients who want to agree to that, and it's maybe a little weird to use a real patient, who may one day want to go somewhere else, or move away. Growing up (high school age) I was in my orthodontist's newspaper ads (we now work together). And people still recognize me from them, and it's a little weird now because patients still expect me to be that 17 year old. I think it could go either way here. If the instructors wanted to be in the ads that would be nice... If they are attractive/friendly looking people. But truth be told the owner is not the instructor so she may not want someone else "being the face of her business". If the instructor quits or gets fired that would be weird. And they have no students yet... So they can't put up a pic of someone they taught to pole. I don't really see an issue with it, but I'm curious to see what people think.
Anonyma · 10/2/2014
you are right for sure but on the other side, i like to see pictures of what the actual instructor can do , stock photos (and no other photos ) is a no go for me but i respect everyones opinions :P
Webmaster · 10/2/2014
Coming from a marketing background I can say that this is one of the questions you always face when starting a new project. The stock photography question is usually centered around budget, time and the message you are trying to portray. If you are trying to sell someone on the convenience of a new website and so you want to show someone using a computer on a bed, stock photography is usually adequate and the least expensive and most time efficient way to get the image. When you consider a dentists office, generally you just want to show someone who is happy and who has white teeth so certainly stock photography is great there. For something like a studio I think there are several considerations: Do you want to show someone healthy and happy enjoying their new body? Stock photography is great for that. Do you want to show someone teaching a class? Its probably best to use and actual photo of one of your teachers in your studio so there is not possible misrepresentation. On StudioVeena.Com we use very little stock photography. Definitely nothing pole related. Even the pole dancer sillouhette that you see next to our logo is of Veena. Occasionally I use stock photography for the background on a sale but overall I like the idea of original artwork and original photography. That however is mostly a personal preference, I think it feels more authentic.
AllysonKendal · 10/2/2014
Yeah, I should add that our office does not use any stock images of people.... but it would be very accepted (in the industry) if we did. We don't have many images anywhere... maybe clipart type images of a mouth mirror on the business cards and thats it. We don't really advertise much (I'm still in the process of trying to make our webpage). Word of mouth and happy patients are the best advertisement. Just for Ortho we have an ad in the local paper (still). I don't know if I even paid much notice to the images when deciding what studio I would attend. I chose mainly on location (is it far? is it in a nice area?) and times. The times were an issue for me. For some studios beginner classes were at a good time.. but if I progressed out of beginner, the intermediate would be impossible for me to get to... So those studios were out. I ended up choosing one that works out of a girls house and is very accommodating and has small mixed level classes and I'm happy I did. I suppose now that I look all the pictures are of her, and graphics that she personally made (I've since discovered thats her day job) but going into it a true pole-virgin I probably didn't pay it too much attention.
I polekat I · 10/3/2014
Hmm yeah interesting point! My regular studio doesn't have any signs at all, it's just a pole & kettlebell studio above a sex shop hehehe u would never guess there was a studio there at all ! We get some funny looks waiting outside in the evening i can tell you .... =) But another studio i occasionally go to has loads of huge posters (like life-size!!) of their top instructor (she is also an X-pole girl) - thing is she has left recently and doesn't teach or train there any more...!! so i was wondering if they would take them down as or leave them as just 'X-pole posters' .. i havent been for a while so i dont know what they have done about it! Oo
I polekat I · 10/3/2014
yeah i agree with Allyson, i dont think people pay all that much attention to whether the model is a pole dancer from that studio or not - i could only tell because the instructor has a big distinctive tattoo! =) Whether there are photos or not i think is just purely an aesthetics point, especially for beginners; possibly more advanced polers might look to the photos as an indication of the level of teaching they could receive but i dont know that anyone would base their selection of studio purely on the basis of photos used (i'm referring specifically to 'photoshoot' style shots as opposed to actual classes/teaching photos - these of course should be authentic to give a true representation of that studio)
Lina Spiralyne · 10/3/2014
I don't think using stock pics would give a bad impression on me, and the newer the studio, the more understandable it is that they do. With that said, I do think it looks very professional and serious (in a good way) if the pics are of the people working at the place. It kind of tells that they have invested (money, time, effort) in their business and are not "making things easy" for themselves.
Krista Bocko · 10/3/2014
I prefer real pics.
dustbunny · 10/3/2014
I am in the process of making my own set of pole move cards with photos and descriptions. I am using all my own pictures so far.
tacha666 · 10/13/2014
Well I feel like using stock photos is a little bit cheating. I mean, I know a studio and they advertise with an image on Anastasia Shuktorova in a rainbow marchenko...! I bet no one of the instructures can do that move (otherwise they probably would have taken a picture of that pose themselves) so I think this is taking credits for someone else's achievments! For our studio we use photos of ourselves, because we want to keep it personal and want to show what we can do and what we can teach.
Anonyma · 10/13/2014
exatly tacha 666