Author Topic: 2025 - personal goals and industry predictions (Read 4769 times)

Big Money · « **Reply #25 on:** December 08, 2024, 15:44 »

Quote from: stoker2014 on December 08, 2024, 12:13

Quote from: Big Money on December 08, 2024, 10:21
Close down my indoor studio, sell my 50mp d SLR equipment and only shoot vids or images when I feel it with my iPhone and fish more often. Maybe put in a few hours a week processing when I cannot not fish due to poor weather. I put in my 15 years in the is business thus done with it. Time to enjoy my life now...
Where do you catch fish and what kind?

Washington state--cascade mountains. Steelhead and salmon

cascoly · « **Reply #26 on:** December 08, 2024, 20:42 »

ai will continue to increase, but won't eliminate other images for specific niches & SS will succumb to the ai memes

--- goals

continue to add metadata to 15K+ images from last 5 years
continue to add 500+ images to agencies each month
lead a group tour of xmas markets on the rhine or danube in Nov
continue to lead tours to Turkey & the Balkans with many photo opportunities - next year i'll take groups to Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria & Türkiye
organize other discounted river cruises that offer multiple locations over a short period of time

cobalt · « **Reply #27 on:** December 11, 2024, 00:11 »

500 a month is a very good number. I hope I can reach that one day.

Do you also teach a class an optional? class on stock photography on these cruises?

Would there be interest in that?

Pacesetter · « **Reply #28 on:** December 13, 2024, 03:26 »

Have to say I am not as optimistic about 2025 as I have been in previous years looking forward to the new year. That said, I have not given up and am continuing to upload.

Just generally, compared to 2023, this year 2024 has seen a big fall in earnings on Shutterstock and a smaller fall in earnings on Pond5. iStock has shown a modest rise in earnings in 2024 while Adobe Stock has seen a huge rise in earnings. The end-of-year fall off in terms of earnings has been earlier, faster and further.

Still I did reach some goals with every month since February to November achieving >$1k per month. I just passed my total 2023 earnings earlier this month but must be considered in light of uploading over 500 videos to each 4 portfolios this year, and over 2000 to 2500 to each 4 ports since November 2021.

I just hope 2025 doesn't see a greater fall in contributor earnings overall though I do acknowledged the exceptional performance of Adobe Stock many of us seen this year.

cascoly · « **Reply #29 on:** December 13, 2024, 16:23 »

Quote from: cobalt on December 11, 2024, 00:11

500 a month is a very good number. I hope I can reach that one day.

Do you also teach a class an optional? class on stock photography on these cruises?

Would there be interest in that?

none of my tours are described as photography, but we do spend more time in less visited places, and stay in central areas so there's time for exploring. many folk come to Istanbul a day or 2 early & i offer suggestions based on their interests.

https://cascoly-images.com/the-rest-of-istanbul-what-you-missed-on-your-1st-days-tour/

https://cascoly-images.com/exploring-the-other-mosques-of-istanbul/

We set up independent tours and also give free advice on traveling in Turkey on your own.

The river cruises are more expensive but enable you to visit many places in a short period of time, with both included walking tours and free time to explore/photograph

these travels are symbiotic - travel provides a varied portfolio and sales pay for more travel.

as far as stock photography, the general level of photography is selfies & snapshots and few know about stock - the few who do are buyers (most commonly known are 'Getty' and Shutterstock )

5stock5 · « **Reply #30 on:** **Today** at 03:53 »

So Far this year, I upgraded my camera to Nikon Z50 II which is doing great for videos and images. I like this hybrid camera. I am uploading 100 videos every week now. One trip provides at least 250 videos including editorials and commercial ones. I contribute to only Adobe, Istock, SS and DepositPhoto. I have an account on Alamy but seems like it is not accepting videos. I quit dreamstime and RF123 because I saw no growth there. My biggest disappointment is with SS thats where It sells almost nothing. Adobe has been nice.

This year I travelled to Himalayan Region, Mumbai, Tehri, Rishikesh, Hardwar, Mathura, Vrindavan and next on my list is Kerala or Moscow or Something in between. I like to go to places which either have mountains, river or both. Now Next in India, it will be monsoon season, there are great places to go to and capture amazing videos.

As of now, I have around 8000 images and 1200 videos on sale. My goal is build the post retirement income. Besides a day job, I edit and color grade films for a Hollywood producer. The editing and color grading income is keeping me happy for now. Built some skills on Davinci Resolve and now have its studio version.

stoker2014 · « **Reply #31 on:** **Today** at 13:30 »

Quote from: 5stock5 on Today at 03:53

So Far this year, I upgraded my camera to Nikon Z50 II which is doing great for videos and images.

This camera is bad for video. No 120 fps in 4K and no 240 fps in HD.

5stock5 · « **Reply #32 on:** **Today** at 14:03 »

Quote from: stoker2014 on Today at 13:30

Quote from: 5stock5 on Today at 03:53
So Far this year, I upgraded my camera to Nikon Z50 II which is doing great for videos and images.
This camera is bad for video. No 120 fps in 4K and no 240 fps in HD.

You are right about camera specs. Movie - 3840 x 2160 (4K UHD): 60p/50p/30p/25p/24p ・1920 x 1080: 120p/100p/60p/50p/30p/25p/24p.
This is the best what I could afford for now and it shoots in 10 bit Log. Nothing at this price was even closest to the specs. For all speed related stuff I can manage with Davinci well. I keep my camera at 24fps and 4K and then little zoom in DR to match DCI size. Acceptance rate at agencies is awesome. Only 1% Rejection at max.