A Lawyer Who Makes His Living Selling Travel Stock Photos

Just read an article in microstock diaries about an Australian lawyer who gave up his law practice a few years ago to travel around the world shooting travel photographs - a dream for many. It was of particular interest as I left the practice of law here in the states some time ago to spend more time with my daughter, first working as a freelance writer and eventually as a freelance writer and photographer.

I'm not in a position to leave my family behind,  hit the road with my D700 and travel like Holger Mette but I found his story encouraging. The article says that in the last 6-12 months he's been able to fund travel costs of roughly $18,000/year with a portfolio of 2000 photos in microstock. (He also has an editorial portfolio at macrostock agency Alamy- I searched the site and as of today he has around 750 photos there).  It seems that 2000 photos online is the magic number at which returns per photo start to inch toward $1/month.

Alamy has traditionally been a good outlet for travel photographers--both for emerging photographers as well as seasoned pros. I found it interesting to note that the micros were working for travel too as they are often seen as an outlet for slick commercial images and lifestyle photos. Mette says that he plans his travel "around what I want to shoot and when... I try to avoid shooting what I think will sell rather than what I would like to creatively or editorially." Like many photographers, especially those who have left other jobs to follow their muse, he values the freedom that shooting stock photography gives him and does not expect his income from photography to replace what he made as an attorney.

What I found particularly encouraging is that he shoots what he wants and shoots travel rather than lifestyle and still gets a respectable return per image. In fact, it appears that his people photos (unreleased) end up on Alamy as RM editorial images, so his photos on the micros are mostly of places--again not exactly the type of photos that are supposed to do well on the micros, and yet apparently they do.

The stock photography market has been in a state of flux since well before I entered it in late 2008 and the general wisdom seems to be that you should have some photos in both camps--macro and micro--especially if you are new to the business. Mette's experience seems to bear that out. Something to think about. Here's a link to the article:

Lee Torrens' Article about Holger Mette

Photo Copyright © Marianne A. Campolongo.

New Online Profile and Portfolio: ArtsWestchester

I just posted an artist profile and portfolio on the ArtsWestchester site. For all artists in Westchester County, New York, ArtsWestchester.org lets you set up an online profile and portfolio as your directory entry on their site.
Local arts organizations are a great resource for professional photographers, aspiring pros an amateurs.
Please check out my profile and portfolio and let me know what you think:

Marianne Campolongo Photography

Turn your vacation photos into fun and funky postcards

Continuing with the California theme this month, here are some of my vacation photos that I turned into fun and funky illustrations. 

California on my mind

The cookbook I worked on out in LA last May (2009), Giada at Home by Giada De Laurentiis is out. I got my copy from the publisher yesterday. I encourage everyone to buy it-the food is wonderful-as scrumptious as Jonelle Weaver's photos. I even got a nice mention from Giada in the acknowledgements-she’s great. The timing was apt as I just flew back from LA Sunday. Busy catching up this week but plan to post photos to my website, on Alamy, Nature of Travel and on FB soon!

Working as Jonelle's assistant on the book was a fabulous learning experience. And everyone was great to work with both on the set in California and Marysarah back at the publisher's in NYC.

Giada at Home by Giada De Laurentiis with photos by Jonelle Weaver