ShootingStock

January updates:

2012-02-02T15:40:00.004Z

A good start to the year in January.

Shutterstock saw a BME for quantity with 95 downloads ($37.87). 36 of these were from my B/W archives including one of the late Phil Lynott (pictured). January also marked my 2000th download at Shutterstock.

Dreamstime produced a healthy 17 downloads ($7.15) though a large number of subscription sales helped keep the actual revenue down.

Istock achieved 7 downloads ($10.01) with a further $1.68 from 6 partner sales. My portfolio continued to climb -now reaching 426 images.

123RF saw 12 downloads ($6.20). Again, subs sales to the fore. Eleven of the sales were Editorial.

Bigstock produced 3 downloads ($4.20). The Bridge connector continued to push my new Shutterstock approvals over without any further effort on my part. I also identified a number of images that got missed in the initial transfer and uploaded those direct.

Yaymicro saw 1 download but paying a very nice 7.5 euros. Enough to earn me another payout.

Fotalia got 2 dowloads (0.45 credits).

Mostphotos saw another subscription sale at just 0.12 euros. As I have said before, previous sub sales have paid out good amounts, so I won't complain about that.

Uploading in January saw the previously posted Rock and Roll pictures as well as a set of a 1992 anti fox hunting demonstration in Tenterden, Kent.

Though these are January updates I have to jump ahead to say I was delighted yesterday to hear from http://www.dreamstime.com/that I am their featured photographer of the week. It commenced today with a selection of my portfolio appearing on their home page. I have also answered some interview questions about my photography which should be published in the next day or so (with some images of my choice). And I even get a T shirt! So thanks to Dreamstime for the great exposure my port will get. Regards, David.

Rock and Roll time

2012-01-28T15:12:00.010Z

Digging back through my negative archives I recently came across these images from May 15, 1976 when music fans held a fun march through the West End of London as part of the Rock and Roll Radio Campaign. The campaign aimed to get more vintage Rock and roll music played on British radio. At that time there were far fewer radio stations available and, of course, the internet didn't exist. Assembling in Hyde Park the march proceeded along Oxford Street ending at BBC Broadcasting House (home to BBC radio). The whole thing was very colourful (if I can use that word for B/W images) with many dressed in fifties "teddy boy" style, a vintage car on hand and Rockabilly band The Flying Saucers playing on the back of a truck.

From three rolls of 35mm negatives I selected 12 images to work with and uploaded these to all my editorial sites over the last couple of weeks. Pleased to report that they all got accepted 100% so far.

Shutterstock came up trumps when 6 of the images were downloaded within a couple of days of going online (along with 20 or so more varied images from the same era -somebody is obviously working on a 1970's related project!).

It was good to see these images which I took 36 years ago getting a whole new lease of life on the internet. Regards, David.

December updates:

2012-01-12T11:56:00.002Z

A steady end to 2011 with sales continuing up to the Christmas holidays and, in a first for me, three sales on Christmas Day itself.

Shutterstock, as ever, led the pack with 70 downloads ($30.69) and another payout reached.

123rf carried on in great form with 20 downloads ($21.18) pushed up by two XLTiff sales paying $4.50 and $4.70.

Dreamstime continued to improve with 8 downloads ($9.21) and my third payout from them.

Istock produced 7 downloads ($7.69) with a further 5 PP downloads ($2.32). My portfolio broke through the 400 barrier and now stands at 412 with both Editorial and Commercial images being accepted.

Bigstock had 2 downloads ($4.00) and, as previously posted, a big boost to my portfolio size.

Fotalia produced I download (0.20 credits) and a continuing bunch of rejections of new uploads! (Needless to say these were images accepted elsewhere -this is going to be a long haul to build much of a portfolio there).

New uploads in December included an image of the charming Elizabethan houses at Sinnock Square in the Old Town area of Hastings (pictured).

Well, that's another year over -now onto 2012. Regards, David.

Bridge to Bigstock -Crossed:

2011-12-31T10:26:00.006Z

Unlike some top flight contributors I didn't receive a Christmas card from Shutterstock or Bigstock this year (unless it is still in the post) but I did receive an excellent Christmas present, literally on Christmas Day, when I had an email from Bigstock confirming that they had transferred my images over from Shutterstock under the Bridge to Bigstock program.

Over 300 images were added taking my Bigstock port to some 1066. As previously posted, most of these were my B/W archive celebrity/politician images which do well on Shutterstock but were originally rejected at Bigstock for being grainy.

The transfer didn't work 100% perfectly as there are still some images missing on Bigstock (which I estimate at around 109 in number). My understanding is that this was mainly a manual rather than fully automated process so I guess there was scope for error on such a large number. Going forward, I'll try and identify the missing images and re-upload directly to Bigstock to fully complete my portfolio there.

Bigstock have been pulling in increased sales of late and this transfer can only help boost that. For the future, the other benefit gained is that all new acceptances at Shutterstock automatically appear in my Bigstock portfolio as well -thus saving uploading time. I have already put this to the test and all worked as it should. Sadly, there isn't a "Shuttle to Shutterstock" option as there are a number of images in my Bigstock port which got rejected at the parent site.

It will be interesting to see how my sales go at Bigstock in 2012. On that note, I'll wish everyone a happy and great selling New Year. Kind regards, David.

November updates:

2011-12-03T16:15:00.007Z

November proved stronger than last month with some slower sites pulling in sales.

Shutterstock produced 67 downloads ($35.56) with just under 50% of that revenue coming from On Demand sales. My friends at http://www.microstockposts.com/ are currently running a poll on just that subject -check it out. Sadly, the month saw me just 20cents short of my $75 payout. On the plus side it will be an even better payout in January.

Dreamstime picked up with 9 downloads ($6.17) -though still far from their best performance.

Istockphoto continued to power up for me with 12 downloads ($14.79) and $0.56 in partner sales. Editorial is still doing well here and my total portfolio rose to 372 (with both editorial and commercial images being accepted).

123RF produced 13 downloads ($10.73). Sales seemed to lift towards the end of the month. A possible cause being that I changed a number of my "faved" images. For anyone not familiar with this useful feature it allows you to nominate 5% of your portfolio as favourites. These then get better exposure in search results. You can remove and add to these (up to your limit) at will.

Bigstock had a good November with 7 downloads ($5.50). Many of these from my celebrity archives. Still waiting on my invite to the "Bridge to Bigstock" program though.

Picturenation had one medium resolution sale (£4).

Yaymicro surprised with a sale paying a healthy 5 euros in commission. An archive image of former Chancellor Lord Denis Healey.

Mostphotos also surprised with a subscription sale paying 1.87 euros. Some contributors there are reluctant to allow subs (its optional) because potentially you can get a low rate per download if the buyer uses their full allowance. The three sales I had have all paid out worthwhile amounts.

Fotalia produced my third sale -a sub download (0.25 credits). Encouraging given that I still have less than 40 images online there.

Still awaiting those elusive first sales at Cutcaster and Canstockphoto and some more from Veer to take me over the payout level.

New uploads in November included images of the Sound Waves Community Choir (pictured) performing in Hastings. These had early success with downloads at Bigstock and 123RF. Choirs seem to be attracting quite a bit of interest these days so I have hopes for these images. Regards, David.

October updates:

2011-11-19T11:39:00.005Z

A bit late updating this month -usually a good sign that the previous month wasn't much to get excited about. October was no exception to this rule.

Starting at the top, Shutterstock pulled in a healthy 72 downloads ($38.21) with the revenue there helped by 10 On Demand sales.

Istock saw 5 downloads ($4.82) with an additional $1.40 from 5 partner program sales. My portfolio at Istock continues to build and has now reached 339 images including a growing Editorial collection.

123RF netted 7 downloads ($3.97) with a mix of Editorial and Commercial images sold.

Dreamstime proved the biggest dissapointment with just 6 downloads ($3.13) mainly all subscriptions. No idea what happened there but my worst month on DT for a very long time.

Bigstock still showing life with 4 downloads ($2.50) all from my archive celebrity collection.

Fotalia saw my first ever sale. A subscription sale of the Greek island of Meganissi netting 0.25 credits. If my calculations are correct this amounts to around $0.30 -about average for a sub sale. My portfolio there has grown to 30 images now with the growth rate slowed by numerous "technical" rejections. A far cry from my initial 10/10 acceptance (they really were being nice to a newbie then!). The shame is that I had intended to get my portfolio up there really quickly but am now just submitting a few at a time for fear of mass rejections.

Nothing elsewhere in October.

Images sold in October saw a few of Robert Maxwell as I had expected -but nothing like I had hoped for on the 2oth anniversary of his death. Margaret Thatcher sales started to pick up as well, possibly due to the new film about her life starring Meryl Streep. That could be interesting to watch as the film gets released around the world. The film looks pretty interesting too from the clips I've seen.

Recent uploads saw a whole series taken around the Old Town Carnival Week here in Hastings. A very local event but a good opportunity for generic Editorial images such as drumming bands, dancers, a traditional Town Crier and a Tug of War competion (pictured). These were received well by the agencies with 30 accepted at Shutterstock in just one day.

November, so far, is showings signs of improvement over last month and hopefully the new uploads will start to generate sales. Regards, David.

Robert Maxwell - Twentieth anniversary of his death

2011-10-31T18:27:00.004Z

On the 5th November it will be the twentieth anniversary of the death of British media tycoon Robert Maxwell.

Born Jan Ludvick Hoch in Czechoslovakia he later became a Captain in the British army adopting the name Ian Robert Maxwell. The nickname "Captain Bob" derives from that. Postwar saw him building up a business empire mainly based in the printing and publishing area.

He also served as a Labour party Member of Parliament for Buckingham for several years.

By the time of his death he had built up or aquired a wealth of media interests spanning newspapers, books, cable etc and was an arch (business) rival to Rupert Murdoch. Here in Britain he was best known as owner of Mirror Group Newspapers -publishers of numerous National and Regional newspapers, most obviously the Daily Mirror itself. New publications he launched included the weekly European newspaper and London evening newspaper the London Daily News (neither still exist).

I only met him once, a few months before his death, at a photo call in London (pictured) though "met" is probaly a bit off the mark as I recall the conversation consisted of "This way Mr. Maxwell!".

On the day his death (found floating in the Atlantic off the Canary Islands after supposedly falling off his yacht) was announced I knew something was up when I walked past the Holborn headquarters of Mirror Group to find it surrounded by hundreds of journalists and film crews.

In the following days it emerged that his empire was heavily in debt and that Maxwell had taken millions from the pension fund of Mirror Group employees to try and prop up the falling share price.

The past twenty years have thrown up a whole host of conspiracy theories about his death -leading to numerous books, a BBC television drama and even a stage play.

Whatever his wrongs, he was certainly a fascinating and powerful figure in the British media and I am glad to have had the opportunity to photograph him. Regards, David.

September updates:

2011-10-04T10:55:00.009+01:00

September saw a climb out of the Summer slowdown, pushed up by a further two Extended Licence sales.

At Shutterstock I had 63 downloads ($62.84) making it my BME there. This was achieved with the help of an EL on my Tentertainment music festival image and a good number of On Demand sales.

Dreamstime achieved 10 downloads ($21.71) including $12.71 for a print EL of a Folkestone harbour image.

Istock saw 9 downloads ($13.52) plus just one partner sale at $0.28. Editorial continues to do well there and a lot of new material has been accepted (including an almost unbelievable 18/18 on one batch). My portfolio there is approaching 300 files now.

123RF saw 9 downloads ($4.50) with my portfolio there now over 1000 images (mainly editorial).

Bigstock had a resurgence with 4 downloads ($4.50). The more exciting news there is that, following correspondence with one of their executives, Bigstock are now accepting my archive celebrity images (the ones previously rejected for "grain") and my portfolio has now moved beyond 600. I should also be joining the "Bridge to Bigstock" program which will see all my additional files accepted at Shutterstock (but not at Bigstock) moved over. Just waiting on the official invite for that.

Yaymicro produced 2 downloads (3euro) and finally posted the third party sales for the second quarter of 2011 (a dissapointing 4.7 euro).

Mostphotos surprised with a second subsciption sale (0.77 euro).

Picturenation had one web resolution sale (£0.40) -my 'pigs head with an apple in its mouth' image.

Over at Canstockphoto my portfolio rose to over 100 (no sales as yet) and I cleared up the keyword rejection issue. Duncan at CSP was most helpful in giving me examples of what they do and don't want in keywords. Best summarised as only keywording what you can Physically see in the image without adding related keywords. They've now been re-submitted and accepted.

Cutcaster continues to build but I must admit some dissapointment in not having any sales yet. All the same, they are easy to upload to and will remain part of my workflow. This could prove a good site in the long term.

Fotolia hasn't had much of my attention yet but I did submit a handful more taking my port to 16 images. A long way to go there.

September saw a big push on uploading -mainly concentrating on my archive celebrity images. For contrast I also uploaded a set of images of a 1928 vintage Hastings trolley bus named Happy Harold (pictured). Well Harold made me happy by getting virtual 100% acceptance and a sale within hours on Shutterstock.

Regards, David.

August updates:

2011-09-01T11:28:00.006+01:00

August was a month of highs and lows. The Summer slowdown really showed in my overall quantity of downloads but some unexpected sales boosted the month.

Starting over in Sweden with Mostphotos, I finally had my first sale. An image of a solar heating panel in Greece sold as a subscription sale netting Euro 2.48 (about as much or more than you get for a regular sale on most sites). It's hard to not like a site that lets you upload your images without reviews. At least you know that images you believe in are getting online somewhere. Sales are a welcome bonus.

Over at Shutterstock downloads fell to just 55 with a number of days returning no sales at all. As previously posted though a $28 EL took my August earnings there to $50.44 (ironically making it my BME there).

Dreamstime produced 11 downloads ($5.16). The fact that they were virtually all subscription sales dragging the earnings down further.

123RF netted 9 downloads ($4.99) enough to take me over the $50 payout level.

Veer surprised with two sales including my second EL ($19.60). My Romanian flag image (pictured) taking me close to payout at Veer.

Istock slowed as well with just 3 downloads ($3.96) with an additional $1.68 from 6 partner program sales. On the plus side there I have continued to get high acceptance of my Editorial images pushing my portfolio to 254 images. (Edit to add: Forgot to mention that I also reached my first ever $100 payout in August! Pushed there by Editorial sales).

Bigstock managed just 1 download ($1), another dissapointing month from them.

Yaymicro also proved dissapointing when the anticipated Third Party sales (2nd Quarter) failed to be posted. Uploading has been down for a couple of weeks now -just to make things worse.

Uploading saw a further push of my portfolio to Canstockphoto taking it to over 70 images. Very quick reviews and a good acceptance rate with (strangely) a batch of 6 or so rejected for "invalid keywords". Didn't understand that one so I have queried those.

I also, finally, signed up to the last of the "big four" sites -Fotalia. I had always been a bit put off them by many on Microstockgroup saying that Fotalia do not like landscape and travel images. Well that's what I submitted and got 10/10 accepted from my first batch! Will see how that one goes (perhaps they were being nice to a newbie?). Regards, David.

What? Another Extended Licence!

2011-08-18T18:30:00.004+01:00

Just a couple of weeks after reporting my first ever EL, I just had my second one. Not exactly from an expected source either but from a site I hardly mention anymore -Veer.
The long established Veer agency opened to Microstock a couple of years ago when parent company Corbis closed down the amusingly named Snapvillage. I had one sale (of two Jack Russell dogs) in the first few weeks then nothing at all till now. Hardly surprising with only 231 images on the site. My images do not meet the "aesthetic quality required by Veer buyers" it seems. And, of course, they do not take Editorial.
I do not often upload to them these days and check the site even less so it was a nice surprise yesterday to find a regular sale ($2.10) followed by a Multi User EL ($17.50). Both of the same image -a Romanian flag flying on the Greek island of Nisyros (don't ask). Added to the $75 I made last year in their "Dash for Cash" upload promotion I am now just $7 away from their $100 payout level.
Of course, it could be a long time before I get that $7. It is a shame that Corbis ended their policy of paying out all outstanding commission at the end of each business year. Something that, in my opinion, all agents should do. Still, well done Veer. Regards, David.

Shutterstock sales!

2011-08-03T13:02:00.005+01:00

Well as I just posted earlier I only had a couple of dollars to go before reaching my $500. Sales at Shutterstock have been painfully slow for the first two days of the month (1 download) so I wondered when I would make it. Wonder no more -I just had 4 regular sales and my first ever Enhanced Download (paying $28). The image (pictured) was of a little seafront chapel that I took on my trip to the Greek island of Halki last Summer. Three of the other downloads were from the same trip as well. So a big well done to Shutterstock and thank you to the buyer! Regards, David (now in the 33cent club).

July updates:

2011-08-03T10:41:00.004+01:00

Well never mind the Summer slowdown, it was actually a rather good month in July.

Shutterstock produced 88 downloads ($30.25) which was just a few cents short of my BME there. I also passed the payout level again and better still now have less than $2 to go to reach $500 commission -triggering a pay rise on my downloads. Sales were helped this month by (probaly) one buyer purchasing about 21 of my archive politician images. Higher paying On Demand sales were also strong in July.

Dreamstime saw 12 downloads ($14.25) with a frustrating two week period with zero sales in the middle of the month. I cannot remember ever going that long without any sale at all there.

Istock produced a BME for me with 7 downloads ($10.64). Partner Program sales (for June) are yet to be fully reported due to technical problems -so I'm not able to add those to my July report. As previously, it's mainly my Editorial images that are selling there.

123RF saw 9 downloads ($7.41). Again, Editorial images selling.

Picturenation got two sales -a web resolution one paying £0.40 and a high res of Tony Blair paying a pleasing £6 in commission. Interesting that the web one was of the Greek island of Meganissi. That's the first sale I've had on PN with an overseas travel image.

Yaymicro produced no sales but did payout the first quarter Third Party sales which amounted to just under 7 euros.

Nothing elsewhere in July.

Uploading saw new images of Amber Rudd (Member of Parliament for Hastings) accepted at all my agents. I also started to push some of my back images to Cutcaster and Canstockphoto taking my ports there to around 650 and 50 respectively. Still waiting for sales though.

Regards, David.

June updates:

2011-07-20T14:09:00.007+01:00

Rather late, but here are my results for June 2011. Certainly there were signs of the famed Summer Slowdown with a slight fall in sales in most cases.

Shutterstock produced 73 downloads ($22.07) pushing me ever closer to the $500 sales (all time) required to get an increase in commission rate. I would expect this to happen within the next month or so.

Dreamstime had a respectable 18 downloads ($15.34) with the usual mix of editorial and commercial images.

Istockphoto continued to prove interesting with 8 dowloads ($4.46) and a further 5 partner programme downloads ($1.40). My portfolio there has now passed the 200 mark compared to the miserable 56 I had prior to them accepting editorial images.

123RF also proved worthwhile with 10 downloads ($6.40) again with editorial images to the fore.

Bigstock proved dissapointing again with only 2 downloads ($2.00) though I did have some potentially exciting news from them following various communications (future post!).

Yaymicro pulled in 1 regular sale (0.50 euro) but still not the long awaited 3rd party payment. Yay have recently announced a whole raft of re-seller/API deals -some now live and some to come in due course. This easy to upload to agency could certainly have good potential in the future.

Nothing from my other agencies in June.

Uploads during June were very limited as I spent two weeks on the beautiful little Greek island of Symi (pictured). Needless to say I returned with a mass of images which I'll be editing and uploading in due course. Regards, David.

May Updates:

2011-06-09T15:42:00.014+01:00

May saw another strong month.

Shutterstock had 88 downloads ($29.08) making it another BME for sales, though not quite there on actual revenue.

Dreamstime produced 12 downloads ($10.56) with the usual mix of Editorial and commercial sales.

123RF continued to please with 10 downloads ($6.27).

Istock produced a further 5 regular downloads ($2.84) with 5 partner program sales making an additional $1.40. The regular sales were, again, mainly Editorial and with ten new images accepted my portfolio rose to 198 there.

Picturenation got one medium res sale netting £4.00 in commission. Better still I received my second payout from them -just under £60.

Bigstock proved dissapointing this month after the recent upsurge in sales. Just 2 downloads ($1.50).

Yaymicro came up with a regular sale netting 0.50 euros. June should see them posting the first quarter Third Party sales report.

Nothing in May on Cutcaster, Veer, Canstock or Mostphotos.

Uploading in May saw some more archive political images going online and some new images of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. Comprising a Lancaster bomber flanked by Spitfire and Hurricane fighters the BBMF gave a twenty minute display over the Kent town of Tenterden to tie in with the local steam railway holding a "Fourties" weekend. It was an impressive sight and much enjoyed by the many locals who came out to watch. I went with a monochrome version of one of the images to give a vintage feel. Aircraft images have done well in the past so I have high hopes for these. Regards, David.

Portfolios hit 1000 at Shutterstock and Dreamstime:

2011-05-11T13:04:00.003+01:00

Quantity isn't everything I know but I'm pleased to say that my portfolios at Shutterstock and Dreamstime both reached 1000 in the last week. Dreamstime slightly overshot when a batch of six images took me to 1003 there. I was at 999 at Shutterstock so just submitted one image of John Major, former British prime Minister, to neatly take me to a precise 1000.

It was really just chance they they both reached this point at the same time as many images have only been accepted at one or other of the agencies. Now I have to get working on the next 1000! Regards, David.

April Updates:

2011-05-04T11:44:00.003+01:00

April saw a Royal Wedding and continuing Summer like weather here in the UK. Both driving sales of my Westminster Abbey images and the Tentertainment music festival throughout the month.
At Shutterstock it was another BME with 84 downloads ($30.78) of which six were welcome On Demand sales paying $1.88 each. I passed the payout level again in April and continue to progress towards $500 total earings when my commission rate will go up.

Dreamstime also had a good month with 16 downloads ($19.87). This figure was buoyed up by several Level 2 and 3 sales paying a good amount of commission.

123RF produced a BME there with 25 downloads ($10.91) many of which were subscription sales of my archive pop music images. I am experimenting with making a handful of images available for their free (web resolution) download section. The beauty with 123 is that you can donate them for as little as just one day and it is not a permanent arrangement. I took a selection from across my portfolio(e.g. politics, pop music, travel, etc) and am viewing this as an advertisement for all my images. By donating for a day at a time you also ensure that the images rise to the front page as they reach expiry. In a new development, parent company Inmagine.com are now also including Editorial as well as Commercial images from 123 on their site.

Istockphoto, as previously posted, also had a BME with 8 dowloads ($7.26) and three Partner Program sales ($0.84). Editorial images continue to attract interest (and sales) there.

Bigstock looked like being a slow month until right at the last it produced 7 downloads ($4.50). All Editorial this time (mainly of the annual Jack In The Green festival in Hastings).

Yaymicro had no site sales but finally posted the Third Party sales for the last quarter of 2010. At 6.71 euros it was a bit dissapointing compared to previous ones but, netherless, enough to bring me my second payout from Yay.

Uploading in April saw a return to my Editorial archives with a number of negatives being scanned and submitted. These got pretty much 100% acceptance at most sites but I got unlucky at Bigstock when I got the inspector that doesn't like grainy B/W photos. Three batches rejected 100% despite all having been accepted within a few hours at parent company Shutterstock. So it goes... Regards, David.

Istock Editorial Update:

2011-04-27T13:25:00.004+01:00

The Editorial collection at Istock has now been live to buyers for some weeks now so time for an update on how it's going for me.
To date I have had 26 images accepted. It could have been more but, to be honest, I rarely use all my 18 upload slots per week -the slow upload process and dis-ambiguation tend to try my patience. Of those rejected most failed on technical reasons (though they were good enough for other sites). Three failed because the date on my camera was set incorrectly causing a conflict between my caption and the (incorrect) Exif data. I have re-submitted those with an explanatory note to the reviewer. My best selling images of the 2009 Tentertainment music festival were rejected because the reviewer felt that photographic permission was required for the event. For the first time I have used the Scout appeal system for those -pointing out that it is a free local event held in a public park (and not a commercial event like Glastonbury) though some weeks later I have yet to hear back from them.

Total Editorial sales so far stand at 8 (netting $9.13 in commission) and in fact April is my BME at Istock because of this with, finally, the prospect of a payout in the not too distant future. Despite the low commission most of the sales have pulled in between $1.50 and $2.00 for me.
Best seller so far is my Estate Agents signs (shown in the previous post) with 4 sales to date.

So, despite all the negativity around towards Istock, it does look like their Editorial collection is attracting buyers and that it is worth my time uploading there (not something I could have really said in the past). Regards, David.

March 2011 updates:

2011-04-04T11:25:00.007+01:00

March saw some positive results with a BME at Shutterstock -80 downloads ($28.20) bounced up by the presence of five On Demand sales.

Picturenation showed what it can do with a high res sale of Labour politician Brian Sedgemore netting £6 in commission.

Dreamstime pulled in a respectable 12 downloads ($16.22).

Bigstock produced 2 downloads ($4) with, for the second month running, a $3 commission for one of them (Hastings pier fire).

123RF pulled in 5 downloads ($3.23) which, as usual, were mainly Editorial images.

Yaymicro produced one regular sale (0.50euro) but still no sign of the Third Party sales for the last quarter of 2010.

Meanwhile at Istock there were 3 Editorial sales ($2.98) and 3 Partner Program sales ($0.84). I now have a growing selection of Editorial images accepted and the three sales in March suggest these could do well as my portfolio gets bigger. Two were of the same image - Estate Agent signs in Hastings and the third was an image of a Shell petrol station.

No sales yet at Cutcaster but I continued to upload and now have circa 650 images online there.

Nothing in March for Veer, Mostphotos or Canstock (though, as previously stated, I have yet to upload much to Canstock).

Recent uploads include some images of Westminster Abbey which I am hoping will get some interest because of the forthcoming Royal wedding there. Regards, David.

February updates:

2011-03-16T09:32:00.011Z

February saw a strong month at Shutterstock with a total of 83 downloads ($21.31) helped by one buyer scooping up 17 of my archive b/w images of various celebrities (Anne Bancroft etc). I also had a number of sales of the Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore who, sadly, died in February (likewise on Dreamstime). They also rolled out a Beta version of a great new feature in which you can see the total all time sales and income from each image. No great surprise to find my image of the 2009 Tentertainment local music festival (see earlier posting) at the top position with over 80 downloads. Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister, comes a close second for a single image (or top if you combine the sales of all my images of her).

Dreamtime produced 19 downloads ($7.82). A higher than usual number of subscription sales pulled the income down there but was boosted by a (level three) sale of Margaret Thatcher - paying $3.70 in commission.

Bigstock made 3 downloads ($4.50) including one of my Shell petrol station images which paid a pleasing $3 in commission. The really good news here this month was their announcement that their payout limit has reverted to $30 (from $50). In their announcement they stated that this was so contributors could get more regular payments. What a refreshing attitude compared to the agencies that set high payouts (probaly hoping that many will never make it and they can just keep the money). My balance was already over $40 so I applied for payment and received it a couple of days later. All credit to Bigstock for this move. Now, if only Shutterstock would just include me in the "Bridge to Bigstock" programme I could double my portfolio and hopefully see a good increase in sales.

Also hitting payout was British agency Picturenation with a medium res sale of Anita Roddick (founder of the Body Shop chain of cosmetic stores) which paid £4 in commission, taking me above the magic £50 required. In contrast to Bigstock though PN only payout once every 8 weeks and I just missed the deadline for the next one. That's certainly one area of improvement Picturenation could work on in the future. If Yaymicro can pay within two minutes of request (via Paypal) I don't see why others cannot.

123RF continued its climb with 7 downloads ($3.50) -virtually all Editorial images. Many of my images there now also feature on parent company site Inmagine.com (but, sadly, as yet they are still not taking Editorial images).

Istock produced 1 regular download ($0.20) and 3 partner program sales at the newly improved rate of $0.28 each. On the plus side there the Editorial collection is now live. With ten images accepted so far and more pending I have already had my first Editorial sale. Istock could potentially (finally) prove a worthwhile site for my images.

Nothing at Cutcaster yet but I continued uploading my celebrity archives and now have over 400 images online there. I haven't had time, as yet, to start further uploads to Canstockphoto so nothing there yet either.

February also saw nothing at Veer, Mostphotos or Yaymicro, though at the latter the 4th quarter (2010) third party sales must now be imminent. Wishing you all good sales in March. Regards, David.

Signed up to two new sites:

2011-02-26T13:40:00.002Z

I recently signed up to two further sites -Cutcaster.com and Canstockphoto.com. I'd been looking at Cutcaster for some time but the recent launch of a new revamped site tipped the balance.
They take Editorial images and one contributor I know of has done well with some of his archive images so they seemed a natural fit for my celebrity archives. Uploading and editing have proved easy and so far I have a good acceptance rate. The really appealing thing about Cutcaster is that you can set your own prices. You decided the price for a medium resolution file and they automatically fill the rates for all the other sizes. I've gone for $5 for now to see how that goes. It may be that this turns out to be too high and that potential buyers seek out cheaper options on my other sites. I well remember my experience at (now closed) Snapvillage where I naively set everything at $25 to start with and just ended up with $.30 subscription sales. I'll see how it goes. Commission (for non exclusive material) is a pleasing 40% (50% for exclusive). My referral link is on the left for anyone interested in signing up.

Canstockphoto isn't a site that I had really considered much but there have been a lot of positive postings about them on http://www.microstockgroup.com so I thought I would give them a try. They don't take Editorial (yet!) though I did see requests for this on their contributors forum so it could happen in the future. A key selling point is their fast review times (you can see the current approximate review time when you upload -which is often just an hour or so). I was a bit surprised to find I had to pass a test to be approved as a new contributor. Not something you normally find outside of the major sites. Anyway, I got approval within a couple of hours or so after uploading my sample images. I haven't uploaded much else there yet but will try and make some time to upload my portfolio in due course.

As ever, I'll update in the future how progress goes with these sites. Regards, David.

January Updates:

2011-02-18T11:28:00.003Z

Slightly late -but here are my stats for January.

Shutterstock pulled in an impressive 69 downloads ($23.87) with 5 on demand downloads bolsting up the total revenue to reach another payout.
Dreamstime produced 13 downloads ($13.55) with a varied mix of commercial and editorial images.
Bigstock continued to show life with 3 downloads ($4.00) with $3 of that coming from one of my previously mentioned ("not newsworthy") snow pictures! BTW, I did query their complete rejection at Shutterstock and after a very helpful response I re-submitted, with half of them getting accepted.
Istock managed one regular sale ($0.51) and four partner programme sales ($1.00). I'm expecting my sales here to increase once I have Editorial images online.
Over in Norway, Yaymicro finally posted the third party sales for the 3rd quarter of 2010. At Euro 9.22 it was pretty much in line with previous quarters. Hopefully the 4th quarter sales will be quicker in coming and should take me over the Euro 30 payout level.

Once again 123RF showed promise with 9 downloads ($5.65). All editorial images. Editorial reviews there continue to be fast (usually within a couple of hours) but commercial reviews have become backlogged at the moment due to a large number of submissions (according to their post on microstockgroup.com).

Another zero month at Picturenation, Veer and Mostphotos.
Picturenation is still just a pound or so off their £50 payout level so I am just willing someone to buy something soon. Veer is where I have my lowest acceptance rate so I cannot expect much from my 200 or so portfolio. My $74 "Dash For Cash" earnings are sitting there out of reach for now. Mostphotos have revised their pricing with lower rates for small and medium uses and the introduction of subscription packages -so there might be some action to come in the future. Regards, David.

Istock Editorial Underway:

2011-02-12T19:47:00.002Z

Istock finally opened the door to Editorial submissions on February 2nd. I got my first ten in right away to see how it went. It didn't take long (about three days) to have the lot rejected. Somehow, I had missed that you have to put the caption in an exact format (as with Shutterstock, 123RF etc). On the plus side all the images were invited for re-submission (with no technical problems mentioned) so I have high hopes that they will, eventually, be accepted. So far I have just re-submitted two images to make sure I'm getting it right and am currently waiting on the review of those.
Checking the forums, it seems I am not alone in getting caption rejections and there does seem to be a degree of confusion on everyones part as to what precisely is required. There especially seems to be an issue about how to punctuate the date. The caption examples on the Istock forum give this: December 25, 2010. That seems right to me (and follows how other sites lay it out). However the rejection notes say it should be: December, 25 2010 (I'm sure that is wrong). For my re-subs I went with the first version, but you can see why I'm waiting for them to be reviewed before re-submitting more. Frustrating because I am losing upload slots whilst waiting.

Istock say that the Editorial images will be going live very soon - it would be nice to actually have some on there by then. I'll update on this later. Regards, David.

December updates:

2011-01-01T16:02:00.008Z

December saw a solid month at Shutterstock with 61 downloads ($20.70) with the total figure being helped by 4, higher paying, "On Demand" sales. Dreamstime was going well but stalled as we approached Christmas resulting in a total of 11 downloads ($12.37). However, December did bring a milestone there as I had my 200th sale.

Bigstock had a surprise flurry of 6 (all Editorial) downloads ($3.00).(EDIT: That should have been $4 but I had an adjustment of -$1. It appears my best Margaret Thatcher image was a victim of the fraudulent downloads that took place over Christmas at Istock and BS). While at 123RF the sales continue to grow with a further 6 downloads ($3.15). This brings my total sales there to 11 (8 Editorial) since having my first ever downloads on October 31. This is starting to look like an interesting agency.

Istock, once again, produced no regular sales but managed 6 partner programme sub sales ($1.50). The lack of sales there probaly a result of stopping uploading after their commission cuts announcement. Well, I made my point (not that they would ever have noticed) and have decided to re-start uploads this year. The deciding factor was the forthcoming launch of their Editorial image collection. My whole portfolio is mainly Editorial and I do not feel I can miss out on what could be a good opportunity. The downside is they are not taking Celebrity images which is dissapointing given my archives. I am hoping that might change in the future.

Finally no sales in December at Mostphotos, Veer, Picturenation and Yaymicro (not even the latters long overdue Third Party sales report, which they had hoped to have out by Christmas).

Uploads for December included further Greek island images (Halki) and some snowy uk street images. Dreamstime (and others) approved the latter (minus a few for "similarity") but Shutterstock and Bigstock both declared they were "Not Editorial.Not Newsworthy" (Britain is having the coldest Winter for 100 years by the way!). (EDIT: To be fair to BS I hadn't submitted all of them for review when posting. They have since accepted some of the set -so snow is newsworthy again!). Oh well, that's how Microstock goes......

Wishing all readers, agencies and fellow contributors (and, yes, even reviewers) a happy and prosperous New Year. Regards, David.

November updates:

2010-12-09T16:34:00.004Z

A solid month on Shutterstock with 63 downloads ($19.01). Dreamstime produced 12 downloads ($10.13) -both these sites getting sales on my archive image of actor Leslie Nielsen who, sadly, died last month.
123RF continued it's new phase of activity with 3 Editorial sales ($1.27) so, as previously posted, it looks like these are starting to take off at last.
Picturenation managed a single web resolution sale of Olympic games chief Sebastian Coe netting £0.40. Still just painfully short of the £50 payout level. Next month?

BigStock produced one editorial sale ($0.50) but on the plus side there, my acceptance rate seems to have improved in recent weeks. A good selection of Editorial images of the Hastings Jack In The Green festival being accepted -rather than deemed "Not Newsworthy" as they have in the past.
One interesting thing here is that they (or some reviewers) now require a Shutterstock style "dateline" caption. Some images got put back in my edit section for that reason but were then accepted with the revised caption. The strange thing is that I have yet to see an official announcement that this is now a requirement. Maybe it's when you get a reviewer used to SS?

Istock couldn't manage a single regular sale but I did get 5 partner program sales ($1.25).
Nothing from Veer or Mostphotos in November. Mostphotos, however, have just started selling subcription packages (to which I am currently opted in) so I will be interested to see if this starts producing sales. Regards, David.

Sales milestone -1000 downloads at Shutterstock:

2010-12-04T12:16:00.007Z

December 2, 2010 saw a major milestone on Shutterstock when I had my 1000th download with this image of the Tentertainment music festival.

Since being accepted in June 2009, Shutterstock has always delivered strong sales. I still get the odd day with no sales (usually a Sunday) each month but in general I have sales every day.

That is way different to when I started this journey and my only agency was the (now closed) Snapvillage. Days, weeks and even months would go past before I could get excited over a 30cent subscription sale!

So on to the next big milestone at Shutterstock when my earnings hit $500 and I get a raise in my commission per download. I still have a way to go for that one but expect to reach it next year. Regards, David.

First Editorial sale at 123RF:

2010-11-24T09:55:00.005Z

Having posted a number of times about the lack of Editorial sales as 123RF, I can finally report my first one (Edit: make that two now!). Hot on the heels of my first two sales (ever) there at the end of October I had my first Editorial sale this month. The image was of a steam locomotive on the Bluebell Line here in Sussex, England. I was about 14 when I took that (on a 120 format Kershaw folding camera, for those interested in the technical stuff). Better still, they have now integrated search results for Editorial and Commercial images (see my last post). Now when you search for Margaret Thatcher you get images of Margaret Thatcher right away -you no longer have to second click on the "Editorial" tab. This is a big advance and can only help to boost Editorial sales there.

I'd love to claim credit for pushing this along but I'm sure this is something they were working towards anyway. Now for that home page: it still doesn't mention that they have Editorial images available in their list of categories. Hopefully, that is coming soon but meanwhile a big thumbs up to 123. Regards, David.

October updates:

2010-11-06T12:02:00.003Z

October saw a good month at Dreamstime with a total of 22 downloads ($21.49). The total earnings there were boosted by two TIFF file sales paying $4.88 each. These were both of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher -whose recent stay in hospital prompted a number of sales in the past few weeks.
Over on Shutterstock I had 55 downloads ($15.94), again including a flurry of Margaret Thatcher images.
Picturenation did well with two medium res sales paying £4 each in commission -both of the recent Hastings pier fire images. This brings me to less than £1.50 away from their £50 payout, so one more med res sale will do it.
Istock managed one regular sale (pebbles on Hastings beach!) netting $2.80 plus a further $2.25 from 9 partner program sales. I haven't felt inclined to upload any new images to Istock since their commission cuts were announced but that's one I am keeping under review.

Bigstock produced 2 Editorial sales ($1.00) in October. The problem there is my small portfolio (less than 400 images). Compare that to nearly 900 images on parent company Shutterstock (which I joined much later). Editorial images get declined for not being "newsworthy" even when images of the same event have previously been accepted. Archive celebrity images get rejected for "grain" (that would be film grain then) even when they do not have any other images of that celeb in their collection. That said, approvals seem to have been a bit better of late there so I'll stick with them. I live in hope that in the future they might link the two collections so that Bigstock buyers get access to my Shutterstock portfolio. I'm sure that must be possible somehow.

Over at 123RF I finally had my first ever sales. Two subscription downloads netting $0.72. It's a start anyway. I no longer have an earnings page full of zeros. Interestingly these sales came from my 48 commercial images (Halki island, Greece) and not my 593 Editorial images. I think two things would help here. Firstly mention Editorial images on their home page. They went live with the collection in May but there is still no mention of it there. Secondly, integrate the search results with the commercial images. By that I mean that if a buyer searches for Margaret Thatcher they get told that there are zero results for that search. Only when (or if) they then click the "Editorial" tab do the images come up. I wonder how many buyers just give up after that "zero results" message? Still, this is only their first year with Editorial so plenty of time for improvements yet.

Nothing in October from Veer, Yay or Mostphotos.
Regards, David

Hastings pier destroyed (A landmark lost):

2010-10-24T18:19:00.004+01:00

October saw a sad event here in Hastings when the Victorian pier was largely destroyed by fire in the early hours of the 5th. Opened in 1872 it was designed and built by Eugenius Birch who was also responsible for a number of other piers including the West Pier in Brighton (also destroyed by fire a few years back). It had been closed for several years due to safety concerns but, nethertheless, continued to be an elegant landmark on the coastline here.

Since moving to Hastings last year I have taken countless images of the pier throughout the seasons -including a whole series taken underneath, showing the metal sub-structure (ignoring the warning signs that it wasn't safe to walk under it). I missed photographing the main blaze itself but was able to get down there in the afternoon when it was still smouldering and being hosed down by the fire service.

There was already an active local campaign to get the pier restored and reopened and this continues despite the fire. The key is the stability of the metal sub-structure. This is the original (listed) Victorian part of the pier -the wooden buildings on top were added to and changed throughout its 138 year history. I am just hoping the survey goes well and our landmark can be restored. Walking along the seafront now just isn't the same with only a burnt out wreck to look at. Regards, David.

September updates:

2010-10-04T12:18:00.006+01:00

After the dull performance that was August, things started to look up in September. At least at Shutterstock where 69 downloads netted a very precise $20. I passed the $75 payout threshold at the start of September (having failed in August by just 90cents!). A $94 payout is now on its way.

Dreamstime produced 11 downloads ($9.49) and Istock had two regular sales ($1.32) and three partner program sales ($0.75). Bigstock only managed a single sale at $0.50.

Yaymicro posted their second quarter third party re-seller results netting 10.42 euros. Combined with the 5 euro sale last month I am already over half way to the next 30 euro payout threshold. Yay are planning to add a number of other re-sellers in the future, which can only help sales there. Unfourtunately, one of their current partners -German owned Polylooks -has just announced that it is closing at the end of the year.

No sales at Veer but they get the star prize this time as my $74.20 upload bonus from the "Dash For Cash" promotion was added to my account. Views are increasing there as well and they have a lot of marketing going on right now (their ads frequently popping up on the left of this blog). It's starting to look like Corbis are getting their Micro offering right this time (after the dissapointing Snapvillage venture).

Nothing in September from Picturenation or Mostphotos and still zero sales at 123RF (after five months of having my images online there).

Meanwhile, I am continuing to upload images from my Greek island trip in June so any image buyers looking for images of Halki, Nisyros and Tilos check out my various ports on the left. I must admit, as I work with those images, it would be nice to be in the sun again. The weather here on the coast is steadily growing colder and wetter!

Finally, check out a new photo blog by London based Rob Ewen at http://www.photocritical.co.uk/ . He is fairly new to Microstock but already seems to be doing rather well -especially with his images of neon signs. And he was kind enough to give Shootingstock a link there.

Regards, David.

August updates:

2010-09-24T18:06:00.005+01:00

Well, August was really slow for me (and many others, judging by the forums) so I haven't rushed to post my figures. Vacation time, Summer Slowdown, call it what you will but this is what I scraped in:
Shutterstock produced 46 downloads ($11.50). Dreamstime 10 downloads ($9.85). Istock had 1 regular sale at $ 1.77 and 3 partner sales totalling $0.75.
Bigstock showed some life with 2 downloads ($3). And, finally, a pleasing high res sale at Yaymicro netted 5euros.
Nothing in August from Picturenation, Mostphotos or 123RF.

I have had images live at 123 for nearly five months now and not even a little subscription sale. I really hope they can build the marketing for their Editorial images as I know many (non editorial) contributors get regular sales there. One was kind enough to send me a screen shot of his earnings page recently. It was nice to see something other than a page of zeros.

However, not all bad news - I had the last of my "Dash For Cash" submissions reviewed at Veer and was pleased to find I had earned $74 bonus from them. This was double what I was expecting as I had forgotten that the bonus went up from $0.35 to $0.70 if you got more than 100 images accepted. I'd had 106! Now I just need $26 in actual sales to reach payout.
Regards, David.

From Woohaying to No Waying (Istock in turmoil):

2010-09-12T14:05:00.002+01:00

Well, I was about to post some stats for August when Microstock events overtook me. Istockphoto announced major commission changes (cuts) from next January. Instead of your commission rate being set by your "cannister" level (based on all time sales) it will now be based only on sales from the previous year. For small and independent contributors (like myself) commission will drop from an already poor 20% to what I believe to be an industry low of 15%. Even many of the successful exclusive contributors are anticipating a drop in earnings. Not surprisingly this has led to an outcry on the forums (link here:http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=252322) with the main thread now running to over 3336 (mainly hostile) postings. Several statements by IS chief Kelly Thompson to justify the move seem, if anything, to have made matters worse with many posters cancelling their exclusive status and halting new uploads. Others are calling on image buyers to boycott IS. This is where it gets interesting because IS seems to have overlooked the fact that many contributors are also buyers in their "day job". An increasing number are now posting that they and their companies will not buy images from IS again.
Istock are part of Getty images who are owned by equity group Hellman & Friedman. This whole move looks like an attempt to up profits (possibly before a sell off, as some have speculated) and seems to have been done with complete disregard for loyal contributors. The so called Istock Community is fast looking like a thing of the past with many now posting four letter word abuse in the forums.
I should say, that none of this has much impact on me financially. I only have a small portfolio there and not many sales. But I do feel really sorry for those who rely on IS for a big part (or all) of their earnings and especially those making a full time living from stock. It remains to be seen how this all pans out in the coming weeks. Regards, David.

Bagging a Banksy:

2010-08-29T10:31:00.005+01:00

I've posted before about picture opportunities on your doorstep. Well there was a good one here this week in St.Leonards-on-Sea when a new mural by cult British street artist "Banksy" appeared overnight on the seafront. I didn't have much trouble finding the location due to the number of people congregating to take photographs of it and photographing their children next to it! It took a bit of patience to get a clear shot of it but the images are now uploaded and awaiting approval (as Editorial images, obviously).

British agency PictureNation got them online within a couple of hours (I emailed them to let them know they were in the approval queue). I have no idea what the sales potential is here, but I do know that, in the art world, Banksy is a big name and new works arouse a lot of interest, so we'll see.

Hastings council have said that despite their zero tolerance policy on graffiti they are regarding this as Art and allowing it to stay. Certainly the interest being shown by the public yesterday would suggest this is the right decision. Edit: Just for clarification -the black lettering at the top isn't part of the mural but everyday graffiti (which I'm sure will be removed by the council).

Regards (from the "centre of the art world" as the local newspaper coined it), David.

July Updates:

2010-08-01T11:28:00.005+01:00

July saw Dreamstime powering up to an excellent 26 downloads ($18.29) making this my BME there. My portfolio there also hit the 800 milestone in July. Best of all, I am only $1.45 short of my first $100 payout so that should happen very soon.

Over at Shutterstock I had 57 downloads ($16.44) and I am on course to hit my third $75 payout in August.

British agency Picturenation did well with two high res sales (archive shots of Margaret Thatcher and Lord Peter Mandelson) netting £6.00 each in commission.

Bigstock produced 1 editorial sale ($2) and bringing up the rear Istock with one regular sale ($0.29) and 3 partner program sales ($0.75).

Nothing in July at Yay, Most, Veer or 123.

On a more positive note at Istock, I had 11 new images accepted (all from my recent Greek trip). That might not sound a lot, but for me very unusual. I've finally managed to produce some images they couldn't find any artifacts in, it seems! Also announced in July, their basic upload limit is raised from 15 a week to 18, giving a better chance of building a reasonable sized portfolio there.

Finally a bit of Summer success. My images of the crowd at the 2009 "Tentertainment" local music festival (in Tenterden, Kent) seem to have become my current best sellers. Almost daily downloads at Shutterstock and a rise to Level 2 on Dreamstime. One buyer at DT searched for "music, festival, grass" . I tried the same search at SS (under Editorial images) and there it was: Page 1, Image 1 in the results. That's why it keeps selling! I only spent a few minutes taking these images but with an excellent payback. I guess you just never know. Regard, David.

Useful source of information:

2010-07-26T14:01:00.004+01:00

In stock photography, like all walks of life, knowledge and information are essential. One source that I frequently mention is the microstock forum site http://www.microstockgroup.com/ , where you can find a wealth of information, views, debate and sometimes just entertainment. If you are serious about stock photography this site is a must read!

A new service which I recently signed up to is http://www.microstock-news.com/ . Founded by stock veterans Roberto Marinello and Amos Struck, this service provides you with regular (usually daily) emails with a digest of all the latest microstock news. Everything from photo blogs to stock agency news/press releases etc. You just get a taster of each one and click on the link to read more. You can also choose only those areas that interest you (e.g. photo tools and software). This valuable and Free service has given me loads of good information over the past few months. The only downside is having to resist the temptation to read everything! Regards, David.

June updates:

2010-07-17T13:26:00.003+01:00

Another steady month in June. Shutterstock produced 59 downloads ($18.57). Dreamstime netted 11 dls ($10.12). Bigstock had another (little) flurry of 4 sales ($4.50). Istock produced 2 regular sales and 4 partner program sales totalling $3.64. Picturenation brings up the rear with a pleasing £6.00 for one sale. That's why I like PN -they do not yet get me volume sales but the commission is considerably higher than micro sites. That £6 is about the equivalent of around 40 regular 25c downloads on Shutterstock! Nothing in June from Veer, Yay, Mostphotos or 123RF.

The lack of sales at 123RF is dissapointing. I now have over 500 images online (mainly Editorial but I also now have 17 or so non-editorial accepted). The images went live at the start of May so that's a couple of months now with zero sales. I had hoped that some of my good sellers -Margaret Thatcher etc would have picked up some sales. That said, they have only recently started marketing their Editorial collection so I guess it is early days. Indeed their home page categories list still doesn't even mention Editorial. On a more positive note I eventually queried the 40 images I had pending since April/May. Turned out to be a server glitch and they had dropped off the revue radar. Showing very good contributor service they sorted it within a day or so and all were reviewed (and appoved) promptly.

June saw a big drop in uploads from me as I was on holiday (aka photoshoot) in Greece for the first two weeks. Making full use of my new monopod I now have stacks of new images to edit and upload. They are mainly of the tiny Dodecanese island of Halki (population 300!) but also a lot of the volcano crater on nearby Nisyros island. Uploading of these has begun but I still have a long way to go.

Meanwhile the Veer "Dash for Cash" has now closed. I still have 143 pending so I should know in the next few weeks how much I made from this. Views continue to rise at Veer but still only the one sale to date. I am hoping their forthcoming new marketing campaign will change that. Regards, David.

May Updates:

2010-06-20T15:31:00.002+01:00

A steady, rather than exciting, month in May. Shutterstock, as ever, led the way with 42 downloads ($12.69). Dreamstime produced 11 dls ($7.87). Istock achieved 2 partner programme sales ($0.50) and 1 regular sale ($1.56). 2 dls on Bigstock ($1.00) and as previously posted 1 regular sale at Yaymicro (1 euro) and a further 9.70 euro from their 3rd party seller. Nothing this month at Picturenation, VeerMarketplace and Mostphotos.

123RF went live with their Editorial collection at the start of May. I have around 470 live there with a further 40 pending review (in fact, some have been pending since April -which seems a bit slow by anyones standards!). Sadly, no sales there yet but they are only now just starting to market and promote the Editorial collection. I am also hoping that some editorial might also be added to their parent company site Inmagine.com in time. A note in the FAQ there says that they are considering taking Editorial. Certainly some 123RF commercial images already appear in the Inmagine "value images" section.

May also saw a new bit of photo kit. A Giottos aluminum monopod (Model: MML 3270B). Light enough to carry around easily it provides a really sturdy shooting platform (after a bit of practise). I did look at some cheaper options but decided the £40 price (from Jessops in the UK) was a worthwhile investment. I can also combine it with the pan & tilt head from my Giottos tripod for greater flexibility -for example shooting portrait format images.

Regular readers will notice a new image of the late footballer George Best on the left. This has had a flurry of sales in the last few weeks. I believe there is some sort of football competition going on which may explain that!

Meanwhile the Veer "Dash For Cash" payment for uploads continues. To date I have about 30 accepted (the same low acceptance rate that I have always had at Veer!). The promotion goes on until the end of June so I'll see where I am then. What is interesting (and encouraging) is that my views there have shot up in the past few weeks. Will update further on that later. Regards, David.

First Payout At Yaymicro:

2010-05-26T13:31:00.003+01:00

Yaymicro.com yesterday posted our "third party" sales for the first quarter of 2010. It always takes a few weeks after the end of the quarter to get all the results collated and payment received by Yay from their re-seller.
This time my share came to just under 10 euros. That, and a co-incidental Editorial sale yesterday (Guinot wing walking display team at the 2009 Eastbourne airshow) took my Yay sales to 39 euros -well above the 30 euro payout level. I'd heard they were fast but after clicking the request payout tab the money was in my Paypal account within two minutes! That's impressive. Yay also announced two new re-seller arrangements (the first of a number of deals they hope to do this year). Best known amongst these is German owned agency Polylooks which has been getting quite a bit of attention lately.
Yay has been a slow site to build but things seem to be starting to move now. In addition, this has got to be one of the easiest and fastest sites to upload to and editing is fast using their bulk edit feature for similar images. I am certainly sticking with them for now. Regards, David.

April Updates (finally):

2010-05-23T12:12:00.005+01:00

A rather late update on my stats for April. Blame that on Veer as I have been busy "dashing for cash" (no results on that one yet but 121 pending).
Meanwhile over at Shutterstock (where my portfolio passed the 800 mark) I totalled 53 downloads in April ($14.88). The hoped for General Election boom for my archive political images didn't happen there (or anywhere for that matter). Certainly there were some sales but probaly no more than average. A Conservative party election poster on SS and a polling station sign at Dreamstime being the only specific election related sales. Staying on Dreamstime, April brought 15 sales (netting a healthy $12.04). Istockphoto produced no regular sales but 7 partner program downloads at 25cents each ($1.75). British agency PictureNation produced another 3 web resolution sales at £0.40 each (£1.20). Bringing up the rear in April, Bigstock had one editorial sale at 50cents.
No action last month for Veer, Yaymicro, or Mostphotos. Nothing at 123RF as none of my editorial images were live in April. As for BritishImages -who knows. They do not have a views/download counter and I am still unable to change my contact details for payment on the site.
April also saw a return to my editorial archives as I finally got round to scanning and uploading more of my B/W negatives. Highlights included Ted Heath, former British Prime Minister, and a new (old) one of Gordon Brown (now, of course, also a former Prime Minister). Regards, David.

Veer launch "Dash for Cash" incentive:

2010-05-05T11:07:00.003+01:00

Not often I have much to say about Veer Marketplace but there's an interesting announcement today. From May 5 until June 30 they will be paying from 30c to $1.40 for each accepted image uploaded during this period. The amount depends on the quantity you get accepted. Full details via this link http://bit.ly/dflggq. After initially having high hopes for Veer, I soon found the high rejection rate and low views (and sales) off putting and have had them firmly on the back burner in recent months. I was always going to get round to uploading the rest of my portfolio eventually but this is certainly an incentive to do it sooner rather than later! Aside from the cash incentive what is interesting here is that parent company Corbis are clearly showing their committment to building Veer. There had always been a slight feeling that Corbis weren't really that interested in their Microstock side, but with a Veer re-launch coming soon and this new promotion it looks like Veer might start to get interesting. Certainly my views there have risen of late (sadly, not sales as yet). If you are not already a contributor to Veer you need to submit an initial 10 images for review and get 7/10 accepted before you are in. Good luck to anyone taking part in this promotion. Regards, David.

March Updates:

2010-04-11T15:57:00.004+01:00

March saw a good month on Shutterstock with a total of 71 downloads ($23.81). This took me over the payout threshold for the second time resulting in an $82 payment. I also had my BDE in March with 24 downloads (23 from my 70's pop music archives and 1 of the Hastings "Jack In The Green" festival).
Dreamstime slowed a bit with 10 downloads ($5.56). Yaymicro finally paid out the Third Party royalties from the last quarter 0f 2009 (Euro 10.68). This took me tantalisingly close to their E30 payout level. Just E1.60 to go. One sale could do it!
As posted earlier Picturenation produced 3 sales (£4.80). Since the announcement of the forthcoming General Election (May 6) PN have been using a number of my archive politician shots on their homepage, which I'm hoping might generate further sales.
Bigstock bring up the rear in sales with just 1 (50cents). Mostphotos/Istock/Veer all produced zero sales in March.
Meanwhile at 123RF I continued to upload Editorial images ahead of the launch of their Editorial section. I emailed them about this and they say they are looking at May for launch, though I think that will depend on them having enough images to make a worthwhile offer. My first attempt at getting some non-editorial online there resulted in all 20 being rejected (poor lighting/composition). They'd pretty much all been approved elsewhere.
Finally, still nothing back from Britishimages in response to my letter and the site still has my old contact details (and no way to change them). I'll just leave that one well alone for now. Regards, David.

Britishimages showing signs of life:

2010-04-04T15:41:00.004+01:00

Well here is a surprise. British image library http://www.britishimages.co.uk/ seems to have been re-activated (in part anyway). I joined them at launch (2007?) and have 445 images online there. Not a single sale to date. When I tried to update my email and address details over a year ago I just kept getting "internal server error" messages. Soon after that it became impossible to access the site at all and I assumed that was it. However, the site seems to be back up. Still cannot change my details -which is important because their payment method is to post a cheque (remember them?) to the address on file. Emails to the site just get bounced back and a written letter asking them to change my info at their end received no response. I did try uploading a test photo and that worked fine. Plus points of the site? they do have a nice collection of British landscapes and architecture and the commission is high at £25 (hi res) & £10 (low res). Minus points: well no good to me if I can't get paid, no views or sales counts, and most importantly -they do not appear to contactable or responding to post. The site also still states that they are members of BAPLA (British Association of Picture Libraries & Agencies) even though BAPLA told me last year that they (BAPLA) had cancelled their membership. I'm holding off uploading any further images at this stage. Obviously, other photographers may have a different experience of them and I can only speak for myself. Anyone else tried this site or got any sales? Regards, David.

Going green for Spring:

2010-03-28T15:44:00.004+01:00

It's getting warmer. The clocks have gone forward and the seagulls on my window ledge are preparing to nest. Yes, Spring is here at last in the UK (though there's a threat of snow next week!). To mark this I've gone for a slight visual change on this blog. Out goes the headache inducing Orange header and in comes a fresh Spring like green. Not quite the radical changes that Bigstock and 123RF made to their sites recently but I hope it gives it a bit of a refresh.
Any opinions welcome. Regards, David.

PictureNation sales

2010-03-13T09:58:00.003Z

Since their return online I have been busy uploading my backlog of images and, of course, hoping for some sales. Pleased to report three Editorial sales in the last week. A Medium resolution of the ever reliable Margaret Thatcher (netting £4 commission) and two Small web resolution sales of La Toya Jackson and Mohamed Al Fayed (netting £0.40 each). Hopefully, this is a start to more regular sales here as PN push their marketing now that they are back. I have a lot of archive British politicians images online with them and I'm hoping the forthcoming General Election here will generate some sales as commentators look back to previous elections (as they tend to do). PN's new lower rates (which they brought in shortly before going offline) make them much more competitive with the Micro sites whilst still offering photographers a better than Micro commission. At 40% they pay £0.40/£4/£6 for small, medium & large res sales. They also now offer Extended Licences which pay £14/£20/£30 respectively. They also have a referral programme but (rather dissapointingly) only for referring buyers and not new contributors as most of the Micro sites offer. I'm hoping that they'll look at that in the future. Regards, David.

February Updates

2010-03-08T12:54:00.004Z

The shorter month of February proved a touch dissapointing with a drop to 62 downloads on Shutterstock ($20.39) despite new uploads. This is still my first year on Shutterstock so I don't know if February is normally a slower month for everyone or it's just me. It was certainly worrying to see a number of zero sales days throughout the month. Barring the odd Sunday I had got used to seeing some sales each day.

Dreamstime continued nicely with 11 downloads ($10.24) and it was pleasing to see a mix of both Editorial and Commercial sales (and also that the majority were credit sales and not subscriptions).

Yaymicro produced another Editorial sale, Margaret Thatcher (1 euro). Bringing up the rear was the ever dissapointing (for me) Istockphoto (3 downloads netting just 74cents!). Not even any subscription sales from their Partner Program. Clearly my images are not a good fit with the type of buyers Istock have, as many photographers achieve huge numbers of sales there. I cling to the hope that one day they might start taking Editorial images, which seems to be the trend with other Micro sites.

Bigstockphoto, Picturenation, Veer and Mostphoto all a zero for me in February. 123RF have yet to launch their Editorial collection online so nothing there yet either.

Meanwhile, PictureNation have added a link to this blog on their site. They had looked at ShootingStock when I was in touch with them whilst their site was down. They felt it would be of interest to some of their members so asked if they could link. Any extra traffic through this is very welcome, though I certainly won't feel obliged to just say nice things about them! My Google Adscence earnings have jumped up a bit since this link went on -so it looks like it has helped. Regards, David

January Updates:

2010-02-11T16:40:00.006Z

After the Christmas slowdown, the new year got off to a flying start. Best month ever on Shutterstock with 72 downloads ($22.94) and a BDE of 14 downloads. Meanwhile, another milestone as my SS portfolio passed 700 images.

Over at Dreamstime I had 13 downloads ($9.64) bringing my total sales there to 52 since joining.

Bigstockphoto continued its flurry of sales with a further 5 downloads (most of which were my archive politician images -the General Election is coming soon in the UK so I am expecting my political images to show an increase in sales).

Istockphoto brought 4 downloads ($3.10) of which two were my first sales on "Partner Programme" site Photos.com.

And Yay! Finally had another sale at Yaymicro (o.5 Euros). Well it all helps! What was pleasing was that it was one of my Editorial images (Poll Tax riots in London). So hopefully my Editorial there is starting to get some attention.

Nothing yet from Mostphoto, but I've only uploaded 23 images to them so far so no surpise there. British site Picturenation also zero but they have only been back online for a couple of weeks. However, lots of new images accepted on PN with some lightning quick reviews (including my fastest ever approval -about 30 seconds after submission! They were obviously reviewing my batch as I was adding captions and submitting. It started to feel like a bit of a race at one point).

Meanwhile at 123RF my trial Editorial submission got reviewed and all were accepted (11). There was a delay there as I wasn't previously signed up to them. Turned out that they were not set up for people joining with just Editorial images. One of their people was posting on the Microstockgroup.com forum so I queried why mine were still waiting approval. Pleased to say that they dealt with it within a day or so. Looking forward to uploading a load more ahead of their forthcoming Editorial launch. Regards, David.

Picturenation:

2010-01-30T15:29:00.003Z

Delighted to report that British site http://www.picturenation.co.uk has finally made it back online today! I've already made my first upload and everything seems to be working fine. My images and commission are all still showing correctly as well. A lot of people were quick to write off this site when they first went offline, but I always remained confident that they would return. Now I have several months worth of images to get uploading. Regards, David

And Another:

2010-01-25T09:43:00.003Z

Signed up to another new agency last week. 123RF hovers around the bottom of the so called "big six" microstock agencies (according to the rankings on http://www.microstockgroup.com ). I would have gotten around to them at some point but what prompted this now was their announcement that they are going to start taking Editorial images. They are in a gathering stage at the moment with a launch scheduled for the end of February. With my celebrity and political archive images doing well on most other agencies that take Editorial this was too good an opportunity to miss. With 123 you have to submit (a minimum) of 10 images for initial approval before you can contribute freely. I just went for the usual "big guns" from my portfolio (Margaret Thatcher/Boris Yeltsin/Gordon Brown etc) for my initial batch - with a recent shot of The Red Arrows in action at the Eastbourne airshow added (just to prove I know what a colour photograph looks like!). Still waiting for approval nearly a week later but I'm hoping this is because they have been inundated by Editorial images and not because they are not interested in mine. I'll update in due course. Regards, David.

New Year, New Agency:

2010-01-17T16:45:00.003Z

Signed up today at Mostphotos.com. This Swedish based agency sells all images at a fixed 25euro price and pays 50% commission -so that's a pleasing 12.5 euros for every sale. Better still, you can request payout of your commission after just one sale. No waiting months/years/forever to reach the minimum payout. You can also download your own images free of charge -making it a useful back-up. My thanks to http://www.microstockposts.com for making me aware of that! Too good to be true? Well the downside is that many people find sales are few there. They take Editorial images so I'm hoping my archive political and celebrity images get some sales there. Uploading is lightning fast and your images do not have to be reviewed -My first image (Boris Yeltsin) was online and on sale within a few minutes. My referral link is on the left of the screen should you wish to check them out.

Meanwhile, Shutterstock picking up nicely this month with 39 dowloads to date, with my BDE this week when I had 14. Thirteen of those were Seventies pop stars Thin Lizzy/Motors/Flamin' Groovies/Radio Stars and the other one was from last years Hastings Half Marathon (so probaly different buyers then!).

Finally, delighted to hear from http://www.picturenation.co.uk this week. I cannot go into details here but what I was told left me in no doubt they are coming back online and are currently working full out to make it happen. Regards, David

December Update:

2010-01-06T12:34:00.004Z

A not unexpected slow down in sales during December due to the Christmas and New Year holiday period. From having sales virtually every day on Shutterstock, I had a whole run of zero days over the holiday. A total for the month of 41 downloads (netting $13.56). Still, sales are starting to pick up this week (with 6 in one day yesterday). Also a slowdown at Dreamtime for a couple of weeks. Total sales to date there have reached 38 (netting just over $25). I uploaded heavily to DT last month, bringing my online portfolio to 619 -so I hope to see the benefits of that in the coming weeks.
A couple of sales on Istock and an amazing 5 on Bigstockphoto. I say amazing because prior to December my all time sales on BSP amounted to 1o downloads and $10 commission. It rapidly went to 15 and 15 in a few days. BSP always puzzle me -they want Editorial images, but then reject my archive images for being "grainy". That's why I only have 200 images on BSP, wheras parent company Shutterstock has approved nearly 700! What would be ideal would be some linking of the two libraries, so that BSP buyers could access SS images.

Nothing to report for Yaymicro and Veer marketplace for December, so no change there then!

Returning to Istock, the November sales figures for their "Partner Program" with Photos.com
came out in December (they had previously intended to merge November and December results). Sadly, nothing for me there but it is still early days. Next results due any day now.

Meanwhile the Picturenation.co.uk saga rolls on. Still not back online after some three months. They have updated the message on their site (today) saying that they hope to be back very soon. At the same time a new UK micro site Workingtitleimages.com is set to launch in February. Other than that they are based in Sheffield nobody seems to know anything about them (I have wondered if this is some sort of Picturenation breakaway). They are a subscription site and will pay photographers 15pence (about 24cents) per download. That sort of payment is one thing from a well established site like Shutterstock, but certainly isn't appealing from a new start up with no customer base. Still, it will be interesting to see how they do (whoever they are). Regards, David.

November updates:

2009-12-05T12:57:00.004Z

November saw a slight drop in sales at Shutterstock. 49 downloads compared to 67 in October. However, thanks to three On Demand sales income remained virtually the same at $16 odd. Considering I have uploaded few new images to them recently I was quite happy with this. More importantly I hit my first payout at the end of the month and now have $82 on its way to me!

Over at Dreamstime (which I have been concentrating on) my portfolio has reached 547 images, netting 23 sales in November and an all time figure of 34 sales. This amounts to nearly $23 in earnings in just a few weeks (nearly as much as I have ever earned on Istock!). I have now started uploading my non editorial images with (as I expected) a lower acceptance rate than my editorial ones. All the same, I am getting plenty accepted and had my first non-ed sale this week (a landscape shot of Hastings beach).

One or two sales at Istock and Bigstockphoto and a pleasing 11 euros from the Yaymicro "third party sales" scheme (basically, selected images are going to a third party seller and contributors get a quarterly payout). Veer marketplace sales remain at just 1, though my portfolio there has now reached 98. Still getting lots of rejections there ("not quite Veer") and very few views.

Istocks "partner program" with Photos.com is now underway and first results/sales should be available on our Istock page at the end of December. They will normally be updated monthly but because it was mid November before the scheme launched they are merging November/December results. I'm pleased to say my images show up well in searches on Photos.com so I am optimistic about getting some sales there.

Meanwhile British site Picturenation.co.uk remains offline in mysterious circumstances (see earlier posting). Their last Twitter update was on November 1 "back next week". Well that didn't happen. On November 24 they updated the apology notice on their site, again saying they would be back up "next week". They have long weeks in Staffordshire it seems. Just don't know what to make of the situation but I am still keeping my fingers crossed for this site.

Finally, much fun to be had at http://microstockgroup.com/ this week, after they moved to a new server. Most of us have been bounced back and forth from the new server to the old one where founder Tyler Olson (Leaf) has set up a "graveyard chat" page. It's been like being in a parellel universe all week and quite weird. I expect Picturenation would be glad to just have one version of their site up, yet alone two. Regards, David.

Istock Partner Program goes live:

2009-11-11T13:27:00.003Z

Istock have just announced that their long awaited "Partner Program" will go live tomorrow (November 12). Announced many months ago, this program allows Istock contributors to also have their images for sale on Getty owned subscription sites Photos.com and Jupiter Unlimited. You only have to submit once (to Istock) and tick any that you want to be available on the other sites. You can opt out totally if you want or put all or just selected images on. I've opted in my entire (small -138 ) portfolio on the basis that it is potential extra sales for no extra work. I'm looking forward to seeing how many extra sales this brings. The losers here are the contributors who have portfolios on micro site Stockexpert (also owned by Getty). Their images are being pulled off the two other sites in favour of Istock contributors. Regards, David.

ShootingStock goes viral:

2009-10-25T16:57:00.003Z

Decided this weekend to start using more technology to promote this site and (hopefully) my various portfolios. So you will now find a ShootingStock page on Facebook and on Twitter. The links are further down on the left of the screen. Twitter is really easy to set up but, I must admit, I struggled with Facebook. Way too many settings and options to contend with. Still it's done and I have linked the pages up with my photo agency sites and other photo related sites. Now let the "viral marketing" get going!

Meanwhile September (that seems a long time ago) saw a total of 71 downloads on Shutterstock despite hardly any new uploads, whilst I concentrated in building up my Dreamstime portfolio. My port on Dreamstime has grown to about 480, with 17 downloads to date, so a good start there I think. So far I have only uploaded Editorial images, with an acceptance rate of about 96%. I expect that rate to drop (fast!) once I start sending my landscape and cat images. We'll see.

British image agency Picturenation is having a bad month. They went offline on October 9, and are still not back. This obviously caused the usual speculation about their future. However, as best as I can piece together from their Twitter and Facebook pages there has been some kind of legal dispute going which locked them out of their own site. They have moved to a new host and say they should be back in the next few days. Probaly best not to go into further detail here but you can read it on their pages. Ironically, I had my first sale there in a while, just before they vanished. Anyway, fingers crossed for a swift return online. Regards, David.

Now at Dreamstime:

2009-09-26T18:11:00.002+01:00

Last week I extended my roster of agents by joining http://dreamstime.com. This agency is generally listed in the top two or three earners by most photographers, so it seemed time to check it out. Of most interest to me was that they take Editorial images, so they looked like another possible outlet for my celebrity photo archive. I really didn't know if they would be interested in old B/W shots of Margaret Thatcher etc , but of my first 41 archive shots submitted all have been accepted. They even put three of them on their home page today. Best of all, I have already had six sales in just a few days of being online. I'm sure I will get my fair share of rejections in time but certainly a great start. There is also no application test to endure on this site. Just sign up and upload! Regards, David.

First sale at Veer Marketplace:

2009-09-08T19:25:00.002+01:00

Having said just yesterday that I hadn't had any sales at Veer yet I logged in today to find my first sale! A pleasing $1.75 for a shot of two Jack Russell dogs that I had grabbed in the street in Hastings (grabbed the shot, not the dogs, obviously). Suddenly all those pretty little graphs Veer provide on their "dashboard" page looked much more interesting. They'd been flatlining up to now. The first sale on a new site is always the most exciting and this had been a few weeks coming. I am still concerned about their rather erratic review process (see earlier posting) but hopeful this could turn out to be a good earning site. Regards, David

August update:

2009-09-07T11:33:00.003+01:00

August was another cracking month on Shutterstock. A total of 64 downloads with my Best Day Ever (BDE) netting six downloads. Grand totals to date are 135 downloads with $35 commission earned. So well on the way to my first $75 payout. A few sales on Istock and two on Bigstockphoto helped boost the month. Over at Veer Marketplace, my very small portfolio of 60 images has had a few views but no sales as yet. I am currently uploading a lot more images to them so (hopefully) might see that first sale soon. Nothing last month at Yaymicro or at British agency Picturenation. Picturenation introduced a new (lower) pricing structure in August with hi resolution sales dropping from £75 to £15. Commission remains at 40% of this amount. My hope (and theirs!) is that their much more competitive prices will now boost sales there. With over 1200 images online with them this could make a real difference to my sales.

Meanwhile, for a very interesting read check out Milan Keser's blog at http://photogress.blogspot.com . This San Diego based photographer is, like me, at the early stages of his stock career and charts his ups and downs along the way. Unlike me, Milan has one big advantage -a very photogenic young daughter who features in a lot of his stock images. I've just got my seagulls on hand to photograph! Regards, David

Shutterstock going well:

2009-08-02T10:50:00.002+01:00

July was my first full month on Shutterstock. Downloads totalled a respectable 40 for the month on a portfolio of circa 124 images. I also had one "On Demand" download which paid out a welcome $1.88 in commission. It is certainly exciting to be with a site that gets you daily sales (5 in one day being my best so far) and this is with (in microstock terms) a tiny online portfolio. Acceptance rates on my editorial archive images remain around 99% ( presumably for the simple reason that Shutterstock do not have any, or very few, of these subjects on file already. For example, I have the only images of Margaret Thatcher there). Non editorial images have a lower acceptance rate but I'm pleased to say that those that do get on sell just as well as the others. I didn't realise there was such a demand for pictures of seagulls but having had some accepted last week they have been flying out (so to speak). A word of caution, however, many photographers believe that the Shutterstock search engine favours new contributors and that things slow down after a bit. I am hoping that I can counter balance that by continuing to upload on a regular basis. I'll report back in due course. Regards, David.

Veer Marketplace opens, Snapvillage closes:

2009-07-30T20:12:00.002+01:00

The new Veer Marketplace went live last Sunday (having been in Beta with transferred Snapvillage images for a few months). I only have 52 images live so far (with more pending review) so I am not expecting too much yet! Meanwhile, Corbis announced that their Snapvillage site will shut this Saturday (August 1st). Whilst never giving me many sales (or income) there is a tinge of sadness as this was the first site I contributed to. That said, it provided me with valuable training in the Microstock world which I can take forward. Veer Marketplace certainly has much greater prospects and could turn out to be a very exciting outlet. That said, at present their review process seems very erratic. Good images that sell well elsewhere get rejected whilst some of the less exciting ones get approved. My initial strategy had been to try and upload as much as possible asap, but I am now keeping it to regular small batches until things settle down! Another factor in the "feed the beast" conundrum is that I am also trying to fatten up my Shutterstock portfolio at the same time -and that one is certainly paying off! More to follow... Regards, David

And three days later....

2009-07-24T19:50:00.003+01:00

Got my second sale on Yaymicro! Not the donkey though but another archive shot of a steam locomotive on the Bluebell Railway that I took about 35 years ago. Of course, I don't know if the IOTD feature led to the sale or not but it is quite possible. This was a Medium resolution sale which pays a healthy 2.5 euro in commission. I'm hoping this site will gather momentum in the coming months. As I have said before, uploading and captioning (using their bulk edit feature) is so quick and easy that I am quite happy to give Yay more time. Regards, David

Made "Image of the Day" on Yaymicro:

2009-07-20T19:50:00.003+01:00

http://www.yaymicro.com have a new Image of the Day feature on their blog. One of mine was chosen today! A reluctant donkey resisting being pulled up a ramp into its trailer. "A case of the Monday's" as they captioned it. The strapline says "One of many historical images from Newsfocus1", with a valuable link direct to my portfolio there. Must admit, I would have thought that my archive shots of Margaret Thatcher or Gordon Brown would qualify more for the "historic" tag, but anything that directs buyers to my portfolio is more than welcome! Regards, David.

Accepted At Veer Marketplace:

2009-06-22T19:01:00.003+01:00

Have just been accepted as a contributor at Veer Marketplace. They required a test submission of 10 images. From mine 7 were approved for the site so I am in. I can now upload up to 100 images per week. Those images that are approved will go into the Veer database but will not be available to buyers until the full launch (scheduled for mid Summer). Currently Marketplace is in Beta using images transferred over from the Snapvillage site. As you will see from earlier postings, mine weren't included in this. As I expected, I have been approved for Veer on a set of images which were already on SV! On the plus side Veer is being more selective in what it takes which can only make for a stronger offering and (hopefully) better sales. As a general rule, sites that take just about every image you throw at them tend to be poorest selling sites. They are generally the new sites which are trying to amass a large number of images quickly to make themselves attractive to buyers. Snapvillage was a classic example of this approach. By being more selective and with their well established reputation Veer are looking like a very good proposition for contributors. As with Shutterstock, I now just have to "feed the beast"! Regards, David

In at Shutterstock!

2009-06-10T09:00:00.003+01:00

An exciting step forward this week when (at second attempt) I got accepted as a contributor at Shutterstock. This New York based image library specialises in subscription sales, paying contributors from 25c per download (the amount goes up once you reach a certain sales level). This may not sound a lot but Shutterstock gets high volume sales. Some new photographers I know have had loads of downloads in just a few weeks with just a few files online. Many Microstock photographers give this as their top earning agency. So my hopes are high. Now I just need to "feed the beast" to borrow a quote from the http://www.microstockgroup.com/ forum. Photographers wanting to sign up to Shutterstock can follow my link on the left hand column of this blog. Picture buyers can use the link below (in both cases I get income under Shutterstocks referral program). Regards, David

http://www.shutterstock.com/?rid=370843

Istock milestone:

2009-05-13T18:05:00.002+01:00

Moving swiftly on from the Veer news, I today passed my first personal milestone at istockphoto.com when my online portfolio increased to 101 images. Small, compared to istock veterans, but a good start given their 15 a week upload limit and stringent reviews. I guess 250 is the next one to aim for. Latest images accepted were of Hastings beach and pier. Regards, David

Progress Veers off course:

2009-05-12T18:52:00.002+01:00

A very dissapointing set back yesterday. Having waited in anticipation for my Snapvillage portfolio to be moved over to the new Veer Marketplace site I (and many others) got an email saying our portfolio hadn't been selected for Veer. That's 883 photographs uploaded and keyworded over the last couple of years. What a waste of time Snapvillage has now proved. My photos will remain available on SV until they wind it up later in the year so I might get a few more 30c subscription sales but that's it. On a cheery note the Veer email invites me to start uploading direct when their contributors site goes live on June 8th. Right, so I just start uploading my SV portfolio all over again then? Thanks. Needless to say the forum at http://microstockgroup.com is buzzing with both those delighted at being accepted and even more from us who received the "loser email" as one poster amusingly described it. Bitter? Me? Yup! Regards, David P.S. How many days to June 8th?

Forum Found:

2009-05-10T19:43:00.003+01:00

Call me stupid (well, actually please don't) but despite contributing to http://bigstockphoto.com since last year I have only just discovered that they have a members forum after all. I'd always wondered why they had "Members Forum" on the home page followed by "for photographers", "for buyers" etc. Clicking on the "for photographers" (as I always tried) brings up some information but no sign of a forum. What I hadn't realised is that you need to click the main "members forum" heading -and there it is! You need to register again to post there but that takes seconds. A lot of good info and advice to be found there. I mentioned in my first postings that I had only just found the forum and was relieved to get a response from another photographer who had been with BSP for ages without finding it. Not just me then. Check it out. Regards, David

Yay! First sale on Yaymicro

2009-05-01T20:25:00.003+01:00

I have spent the last few weeks uploading a lot of my portfolio to http://yaymicro.com/ as I have a feeling this site could start to lift off this year. They only launched last year so are still really new in business terms. They have a number of new developments including the all important views counter and say they have new funding which they are putting towards marketing. Uploading and editing is fast and easy so I have been readily able to up my online portfolio from the 38 files I had to nearly 700. Was it worth it? Well I had my first sale yesterday, netting commisssion of 2.5 euros. Hopefully, the start of good things to come! The picture? A Tamworth pig. Quite possibly purchased in connection to the Swine flu epidemic. Regards, David

Another local photo sale!

2009-04-19T18:40:00.003+01:00

Following on from my last post, I have just had another sale of a photo taken (virtually) on my doorstep. This time it was on http://bigstockphoto.com/ and was an editorial shot of the signage outside the Designer Outlet in Ashford, Kent. At the time I shot it you could see the sign from my front door (though I have since moved). So pick up your camera, walk outside and see what you can find! Regards, David

Local photo sale at PictureNation

2009-04-08T19:36:00.005+01:00

After a bit of a slow period, I was pleased to get a medium res sale on PN this week (which pays £14.00 commission). On checking, I was amused to see that the picture sold was of the High Street in Hastings (about 10 minutes walk from where I live!). PN always say in their "pictures we want" section to get pictures of where you live (as boring as this sounds -to use their own words). Certainly not boring if it gets a sale! Seriously, we can all plan trips to exotic locations and exciting cities to get great photos but don't forget to photograph what is on your doorstep as well. Regards, David

Picturenation forum offline

2009-03-17T20:16:00.002Z

The members forum at http://picturenation.co.uk has gone offline (for now at least). I was a bit concerned when it vanished and emailed founder Jane-Louise Green. As ever, Jane-Louise got right back to me. It seems that running and moderating the forum is quite time consuming and at the moment they are just too busy reviewing and marketing photographs to keep it going. I think that in the present economic climate we all understand that getting sales is the only priority! The forum will hopefully be back in the future. Meanwhile they do have a page on Facebook where you can leave comments. On the plus side a batch of around 30 new photos which I uploaded at the weekend were reviewed and (thankfully) mostly approved within a couple of days. And that, let's be honest, is what matters most. That doesn't mean that I don't miss adding my views on the forum! Regards, David

Recommended Blog Site

2009-03-17T20:06:00.003Z

For a witty and entertaining take on the microstock market check out Komar Uddin's blog at http://microstockposts.com. I came across this site from a posting on the excellent http://microstockgroup.com and was glad I did. You can subscribe for free email updates, which I did right away! Regards, David

Full price sale at Snapvillage

2009-03-09T19:29:00.004Z

On an ironic note given that Snapvillage is being merged into Veer (see earlier posting ) I have just had my first full price ($5) sale there, netting me $1.50 in commission. Up to now all I have had are 30c subscription sales! Looking forward to a big sales increase when my portfolio is transferred over to the Veer site. Regards, David

Clickfree photo backup

2009-03-07T18:56:00.003Z

As I said in my last post I have just moved and got a new computer. In order to transfer my photos I used the Clickfree photo back up dvd's mentioned in my earlier posting. They are readily available by mail order from sites such as Amazon. However I found them going at half price in my local Boots chemists. They really are amazingly simple to use. Just insert the first disk from the pack and watch the screen. It will ask you to click and agree the software user agreement but that is all you have to do. It then searches your computer for all your photographs (you can get ones for different types of file such as music). Once it has finished searching it will tell you how many discs you will need. I needed three disks for about 4000 photos. It then just automatically backs them up to the dvd and you get a progress report on screen. Once the disk is full it then verifies the data has transferred properly before telling you to insert the next disk and off it goes again. It took less than an hour to complete this. My concern had been that if I needed more than one disc how would it know what had already been transferred but the inbuilt software (on the dvd) takes care of all this. To transfer the photos to a new computer just insert the dvd and it does the rest. I can highly reccomend these clever (and cheap) discs. Regards, David

As I was saying....

2009-03-06T19:56:00.002Z

Apologies to any readers of this blog for the long gap since my last posting. I have moved home from Ashford (Kent) to Hastings (East Sussex) and now have a sea view (well if you stand on a chair anyway!). I have also been sorting out a new broadband/computer set up so have been unable to post (or do anything much photographic really). The big news on the stock front is that Snapvillage is being phased out. Parent company Corbis (owned by Microsoft founder Bill Gates) is moving the SV content over to well established image agency Veer which they purchased a couple of years ago. Snapvillage has been a learning experience for Corbis (and indeed contributors like me) but has not really established a big enough market place. Personally I think the name did not help, conjuring up images of snapshots when in fact there is a mass of top quality photography on it. Veer is well established and has a good market base so I see this as a very positive move. Portfolios will be transferred over the next few months so I look forward to increased sales from my SV portfolio in the future. Regards, David

Backing up your precious photos:

2009-01-17T13:35:00.002Z

Something we should all do on a regular basis is back up our valuable photographs on our computers. This is especially true if you are hoping to make money from them. I have always found this a time consuming and fiddly task, selecting individual files and burning them to a CD. As a result I am as guilty as the next person of not keeping on top of this. Cue a new product on the market. Photo back up DVD from www.goclickfree.com. A pack of three sells for around £6 and they can hold up to 6000 photos. The best part here is that you do not have to do anything yourself (hence the "clickfree" name). Just insert the discs in your computer and it will automatically find and back up your photos. If they work as well as claimed (and they have had good reviews) this will be an easy and cheap method. Looking forward to buying a pack and giving them a trial. I'll report back on my experience. Regards, David

Christmas presents:

2008-12-26T15:16:00.004Z

In keeping with the Christmas tradition of online shopping I used Christmas Eve to order a new Giotto's tripod. I made the mistake of buying a cheap tripod in the past but found it was just too flimsy to hold my Nikon D80 steady. Giotto's are running a special Christmas offer on their GTMTL9251B model complete with a MH5001 head. Normal price would be about £129 for the two but they are doing it at £99 for a limited period. Even better, when I came to order it from http://www.morrisphoto.co.uk it was only £87. We all like a bargain at Christmas. Continuing the savings I took advantage of a heavily reduced annual subscription on my two favourite photography magazines Photography Monthly and Professional Photographer. I'm now looking forward to receiving the new tripod and monthly issues of the magazines. Regards, David

Picture Nation fees:

2008-12-14T13:03:00.002Z

British image library Picture Nation caused some excitement amongst contributors this week when they announced a new £10 per year membership fee. After a couple of days of heated postings on the Picture Nation forum http://picturenation.co.uk including from myself, PN posted a long explanation explaining their position. They built a well put and convincing case for the new fee and I have paid up. Interestingly, my latest batch of uploaded photographs got reviewed and approved in record time. Still on Picture Nation, I suggested on the forum recently that photos of Woolworths stores would be in demand now. Result? Their images of Woolworths stores has risen from just one to sixteen (including four of mine). Regards, David

Sources of information and news:

2008-12-06T17:48:00.003Z

Here is a list of sites which aspiring stock photographers may find useful. Apart from Microstockgroup, all the others offer a free regular newsletter by email. They all have lots of interesting news, views and help with problems relating to stock photography. Try them out. Regards, David

http://pdnonline.com/

http://epuk.org/

http://microstockdiaries.com/

http://microstockgroup.com/

http://arcurs.com/

Picture opportunities (missed):

2008-11-30T14:53:00.003Z

Back to pictures you can get on your doorstep (if you get round to it). I have been meaning to get some portraits of Ashford's M.P. Damien Green for ages. It wouldn't have been hard as he has a web site telling everyone what he's doing. To be honest I never got round to it since I knew it would be easy to get him any time. Then, of course, he gets arrested this week and his photo is in every paper and every TV news bulletin. I'm kicking myself for this lost sales opportunity! David

Signed up to Yay Micro

2008-11-28T20:05:00.003Z

After some consideration I have picked Yay Micro as my next outlet. Signed up today and uploaded my first batch of photos. Very well laid out site and easy to upload. Top feature is the bulk editing tool which enables you to caption a batch of similar photographs in one hit rather than inputting the info one by one. Based in Norway this agency only launched this Summer so will probaly take time to build sales. They take Editorial images as well which suits my portfolio -and they pay in Euros! Regards, David

Jamie Staff photos approved

2008-11-28T10:15:00.003Z

Had another thirteen photos approved by Bigstockphoto.com today including the Jamie Staff photo shown on my previous posting. Also a set of archive photos from 1978 of the Tom Robinson Band playing live in London. My portfolio on BSP now stands at 92. Check it out using the link on the left of the page. Regards, David

Nikon training:

2008-11-26T14:53:00.003Z

Did you know that Nikon UK ( http://www.nikon.co.uk ) run a whole series of training courses for their various models of cameras and other things like flash photography? I've just been on a one day course especially for my Nikon D80. No doubt, unlike me, you have all read the manual from start to finish but if you haven't got round to it, these one day courses are a great way to get to grips with your gear. I certainly found out about features I hadn't realised existed! Regards, David

Picture opportunities:

2008-11-26T14:37:00.000Z

It might not be as glamerous as a James Bond movie premiere but don't overlook local events. At this time of year most towns are having a "celebrity" christmas lights switch on. Last weekend was Ashfords event and I got some good shots of Olympic gold medallist (complete with medal) Jamie Staff and some of Emma Barton (Honey Mitchell in Eastenders). Two useful shots for libraries that take celebrity pictures. Get checking your local events guide now! Regards, David

Seeking Steve Hill:

2008-11-26T12:45:00.001Z

I am trying to get in touch with a press photographer that I used to know but have lost contact with. Steve is probaly in his fourties now and was from Huntingdon, England. If you know Steve please ask him to get in touch! Thanks, David

First blog, First post

2008-11-24T16:44:00.000Z

Well here it is then, my first posting on my first blog. I'm still working out how it all works so will probaly look a bit amateur for now! This is a blog for anyone interested in stock photography and possibly, like me, you are working towards photography as a full time career. Or maybe you haven't got started yet and want to give it a go. I'll be passing on tips, reporting on my progress and hopefully provide some useful and interesting information along the way. Thanks for reading this and do come back again, regards, David