Author Topic: just fun chat: what's the most unlikely thing you've sold? (Read 7229 times)

gillian vann · « **on:** December 20, 2012, 05:49 »

I did an A-Z book for a charity recently so many of the shoots have also joined my stock portfolio. the Q is for Quilt was quite tricky and not a fun shoot. to my surprise i've sold 3 pics in the first week of uploading these pics - very boring quilt on bed, quilt on chair. Perhaps this will be their only sale?

similarly, on the way back home from the beach last week i leaned out and shot one of my dogs hanging out of the side of the car (our Defender ute), much to husband's concern (not for my camera; the dogs have fallen out a few times now). I've sold 2 pics in the first 2 days on SS. admittedly that 50c isnt' going to cover fuel costs but it's pretty neat to see sales so quickly.

What have you uploaded just because you had it, and then been shocked to have sold them (more than once)

ClaridgeJ · « **Reply #1 on:** December 20, 2012, 06:44 »

An Aston martin! the Bond model. No tires, no engine or exhaust just a great chassi. still it fetched me 20K pounds. A collector.

gostwyck · « **Reply #2 on:** December 20, 2012, 07:48 »

In 2006 I had a 2-night stopover in a south-east Asian city. Whilst there I took a couple of stock shots of an apartment block that was directly opposite my hotel room, one in daylight and then a long-exposure at night. It was one of those 'useful stock' opportunities that had to be taken advantage of even though the images were never going to be best-sellers.

Until recently the daylight image had sold about 60 times on SS, slightly less than one per month, and the night image about 95x. Then, about 2 weeks ago, I noticed that the daylight image suddenly sold 4x in one day __ very unusual for a 2006 image. Then it sold 5x the next day, more in the days after that and even had 7 sales on a Sunday (I've never had 7 sales of any image on a Sunday before). Weird. Out of the blue this particular image became the best-selling image in my portfolio and has added about 40-odd extra sales. The night image wasn't selling any more though.

I've no idea why. The apartment block is not famous, named or newsworthy and could hardly be more anonymous. There are plenty of similar images on SS too. From the SS map the image appears to be selling all over Europe, from Norway to Spain, but nowhere else that I've noticed. The image isn't selling on any other agency either. Very weird!

click_click · « **Reply #3 on:** December 20, 2012, 09:53 »

Quote from: vannphoto on December 20, 2012, 05:49

... much to husband's concern (not for my camera; the dogs have fallen out a few times now). ...

Well at least with the 50 cents you made (or let it be $5 in a few months) you can pay for an emergency visit to the vet when it happens again, but hey

Quote

... it's pretty neat to see sales so quickly.

WOW.

WarrenPrice · « **Reply #4 on:** December 20, 2012, 10:26 »

The replacement flapper for my commode. Isolated on white before fixing the commode.
No big bucks but does sell fairly frequently.

Oh... or a plastic zip tie in locked position on white background.

etienjones · « **Reply #5 on:** December 20, 2012, 10:56 »

Inside of a circus tent. Not only is it a strange subject, believe it or not, one of my best selling images.

That's why I don't try to figure out what people might want . . . . . . I have absolutely no idea.

aeonf · « **Reply #6 on:** December 20, 2012, 11:59 »

A picture of myself in my underwear on IS

JPSDK · « **Reply #7 on:** December 20, 2012, 13:08 »

wings of a dead swan, to a wedding dress designer.
500 dollars.

RacePhoto · « **Reply #8 on:** December 20, 2012, 15:42 »

This old funny drum, which I was given when I played at a party for free. The guy said, "I have an old drum in the basement, want it?" That was sometime maybe 1978? I was going to find more and make a "funny" old set. One day I was surfing and went to the vintage drum forum, asked about these. Turns out it's the "Holy Grail" of vintage drums. Was valued at maybe $1400 in past auctions and sales. Someone offered me $1000 and I snapped it up. I can always use more camera stuff?

Here's part of the ID key, just in case you have some old drums. Ludwig 1930s white enamel drum badge:

Karimala · « **Reply #9 on:** December 20, 2012, 16:03 »

Someone at IS bought a print of a wrinkled brown paper bag background. God only knows why!

And who knew two photos of black mold on shower tile would turn into best sellers? They have sold nearly everyday, several times a day, for over two years. I guess it's because there aren't many like it.

Karimala · « **Reply #10 on:** December 20, 2012, 16:06 »

Quote from: JPSDK on December 20, 2012, 13:08

wings of a dead swan, to a wedding dress designer.
500 dollars.

Did you ever upload that photo to the micros? Because on my very first day at LuckyOliver, I reviewed a photo of bloody, formerly white wings on grass...and nearly wanted to throw up. LOL

JPSDK · « **Reply #11 on:** December 20, 2012, 16:14 »

Quote from: Karimala on December 20, 2012, 16:06

Quote from: JPSDK on December 20, 2012, 13:08
wings of a dead swan, to a wedding dress designer.
500 dollars.

Did you ever upload that photo to the micros? Because on my very first day at LuckyOliver, I reviewed a photo of bloody, formerly white wings on grass...and nearly wanted to throw up. LOL

No I never photographed the wings. Also I prepared and dried them and everything, so they were nice and pure like angle wings.
+ when I upload disgusting things, I usually warn the reviewer with a note, like when I uploaded this tongue, with a notice of "Beware of graphic content":

Karimala · « **Reply #12 on:** December 20, 2012, 16:23 »

Quote from: JPSDK on December 20, 2012, 16:14

Quote from: Karimala on December 20, 2012, 16:06
Quote from: JPSDK on December 20, 2012, 13:08
wings of a dead swan, to a wedding dress designer.
500 dollars.

Did you ever upload that photo to the micros? Because on my very first day at LuckyOliver, I reviewed a photo of bloody, formerly white wings on grass...and nearly wanted to throw up. LOL

No I never photographed the wings. Also I prepared and dried them and everything, so they were nice and pure like angle wings.
+ when I upload disgusting things, I usually warn the reviewer with a note, like when I uploaded this tongue, with a notice of "Beware of graphic content":

Good idea! I know I would have appreciated a warning! LOL I always wondered who on earth would photograph wings that had been literally ripped off a bird and then pose them. Eww.

I didn't accept it, because the content was too graphic and disturbing.

JPSDK · « **Reply #13 on:** December 20, 2012, 16:31 »

Thanks,

But that might be wrong. There is a market for those things. Warzones, fallen angels and not to mention gothic claire obscure art, of which the net is full.
Horror sells.
However, it is the reviewer who decides and the picture may have been lousy.
Once I had a picture of a dead (and shot to pieces) fox, rejected all over the agencies, aestetics and such. SS took it, it didnt sell much though I thought it was a suitable for animal wellfare and the like.

JPSDK · « **Reply #14 on:** December 20, 2012, 16:35 »

BTW. One of my cheapest and yet most expensive photoshoots was when I photographed a pile of paper, which included a lot of bills and bank papers and other "unpleasant" letters. It sells.

bad to the bone · « **Reply #15 on:** December 20, 2012, 18:12 »

I start my microstock career by illustrations, then after 20 years of no foto taken i bought a Nikon 300 D from my earnings to test my foto skills. I got that camera at januar and it was cold and snowy outside. I run out as mad and tried to take a usefull picture. There where no sun, only cloudy sky, i don't know nothing about the camera handling, nothing about RAW-picture format.
I took 5 pictures at the end, in .tiff format, from a non remarkable tree without leaves, 50m away from my office. I spend an hour in PS to develop out of this crap an image. But you can't make gold out of crap …
Meanwhile this first "foto" sold over 20 times in three years. I'm laughing out loud at any sale.

Second:
Ten month later i take a picture of an appletree, meanwhile in Raw, but the sky was also cloudy, no light, no colours ... just a snapshot. Meanwhile i had upgraded from PS10 to CS5.1 (without any experiences). The appletreepicture got a total renovation with any feature i found at the new PS. It looked horrible overfiltered...only SS accepted it - by failure i think. It sells and sells since then. Inbetween i tried to stop this phenomenon by uploading a lot of appletreeimages what are much nicer … none of them sell at SS - only this really bad first appletree (66 times meanwhile)
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=69150568

gillian vann · « **Reply #16 on:** December 20, 2012, 18:44 »

Quote from: click_click on December 20, 2012, 09:53

Quote from: vannphoto on December 20, 2012, 05:49
... much to husband's concern (not for my camera; the dogs have fallen out a few times now). ...

Well at least with the 50 cents you made (or let it be $5 in a few months) you can pay for an emergency visit to the vet when it happens again, but hey

actually we've bought proper harnesses for them so when they fall out they kind of hang there safely. sort of. they are still very young and stupid, hopefully they'll get the hang of riding in the car at some point. that shot "owes" me @$60 for the harnesses.

click_click · « **Reply #17 on:** December 20, 2012, 19:31 »

Quote from: vannphoto on December 20, 2012, 18:44

Quote from: click_click on December 20, 2012, 09:53
Quote from: vannphoto on December 20, 2012, 05:49
... much to husband's concern (not for my camera; the dogs have fallen out a few times now). ...

Well at least with the 50 cents you made (or let it be $5 in a few months) you can pay for an emergency visit to the vet when it happens again, but hey
actually we've bought proper harnesses for them so when they fall out they kind of hang there safely. sort of. they are still very young and stupid, hopefully they'll get the hang of riding in the car at some point. that shot "owes" me @$60 for the harnesses.

Good to hear that you took safety precautions instead of letting them jump straight out of the moving vehicle.

Surely they're not born smart and have to learn. Hope they grow up to be happy and smart doggies!

Nice shot btw.

Karimala · « **Reply #18 on:** December 21, 2012, 15:35 »

Just had an unexpected sale at Zazzle (I put my photos on everything possible there, because you never know what will sell!)........

An iPad case with a whole wheat bread background.
http://www.zazzle.com/whole_grain_bread_ipad_folio_case-222875980993112745

Karimala · « **Reply #19 on:** December 21, 2012, 15:38 »

Quote from: JPSDK on December 20, 2012, 16:31

Thanks,

But that might be wrong. There is a market for those things. Warzones, fallen angels and not to mention gothic claire obscure art, of which the net is full.
Horror sells.
However, it is the reviewer who decides and the picture may have been lousy.
Once I had a picture of a dead (and shot to pieces) fox, rejected all over the agencies, aestetics and such. SS took it, it didnt sell much though I thought it was a suitable for animal wellfare and the like.

I thought it was best suited for RM, which is where I sent a photo of blood in the street from a dead animal.

gillian vann · « **Reply #20 on:** December 21, 2012, 20:45 »

Quote from: etienjones on December 20, 2012, 10:56

Inside of a circus tent. Not only is it a strange subject, believe it or not, one of my best selling images.

That's why I don't try to figure out what people might want . . . . . . I have absolutely no idea.

that is such a cool pic, I agree - no idea what use it has, but perhaps people just have to have it!

gillian vann · « **Reply #21 on:** January 03, 2013, 04:18 »

my doggie pic keeps on selling, 6 sales since the 20th. I've now scrambled through the rest of them looking for any others that might be as good.

gillian vann · « **Reply #22 on:** January 03, 2013, 04:20 »

Quote from: Karimala on December 21, 2012, 15:35

Just had an unexpected sale at Zazzle (I put my photos on everything possible there, because you never know what will sell!)........

An iPad case with a whole wheat bread background.
http://www.zazzle.com/whole_grain_bread_ipad_folio_case-222875980993112745

are you serious? someone bought that for their ipad case? maybe they were an organic baker?

shotupdave · « **Reply #23 on:** January 03, 2013, 05:26 »

two chili dogs from pinks

RacePhoto · « **Reply #24 on:** January 03, 2013, 09:50 »

No sir, that's not a phone, it's my lunch.

Quote from: Karimala on December 21, 2012, 15:35

Just had an unexpected sale at Zazzle (I put my photos on everything possible there, because you never know what will sell!)........

An iPad case with a whole wheat bread background.
http://www.zazzle.com/whole_grain_bread_ipad_folio_case-222875980993112745

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Author Topic: just fun chat: what's the most unlikely thing you've sold? (Read 7229 times)

gillian vann

ClaridgeJ

gostwyck

click_click

WarrenPrice

etienjones

aeonf

JPSDK

RacePhoto

Karimala

Karimala

JPSDK

Karimala

JPSDK

JPSDK

bad to the bone

gillian vann

click_click

Karimala

Karimala

gillian vann

gillian vann

gillian vann

shotupdave

RacePhoto

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