Interviewed by the Breakfast Stock Club

Grunge heart on turquoise blue background. Available from Dreamstime through link below. Happy Valentine's Day!

See this on Dreamstime

I've been submitting stock photos for a while now but didn't really start adding to my portfolio until late last year. As I grow my stock portfolio, I've found it helpful to join a few forums, including those on the various sites I submit to such as Dreamstime, Shutterstock, and Alamy Images.  Most forums have a great community and it's been a big help to get advice from others, both those starting out and those who have been selling stock photos for many years.

Last week, I was interviewed about my stock photo sales by the Breakfast Stock Club. I've been getting their emails for a while and just joined their group on Facebook. The idea behind the article was to encourage new stock photographers. Since I'm a freelance writer as well as a photographer, I found it especially fun to be the interviewee instead of the interviewer. 

Conventional wisdom these days is that you need to license both RM and higher end RF on the macros as well as more generic RF on the micros. My images are split between microstock and macrostock, so I can experiment with backgrounds such as the one above that I made with my lensbaby and my wacom tablet, licensing a few 100 photos on the micros quickly, or licensing photos on Alamy for $100 or more a pop.

My portfolio is still very small, but  I'm encouraged to keep uploading. Here's the article - I hope you find it helpful. And here's to everyone's continued success!

 (The image above was made with my lensbaby composer and the macro filter attachment. I then drew the  heart using my wacom tablet. When I have more images to share, I plan to blog about the lensbaby. Here's one of my  favorites from my website. It's so much fun and the images I've made with it have nearly recouped my cost already).

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.