I was making like $200/month in 2019 and my monthly sales have been growing steadily. Then COVID happened, SS changed the royalty structure, Alamy not performing as good as used to be. So I'm still averaging about $200/month despite my port being bigger now.
 
Obviously I don't do this full-time and I mostly upload stuff from my travels.

Does anyone here do stock photography full-time? Which country do you live in?

2020 average income per month: 755$
2021: 690$
2022: 574$
2023: 730$

Edit: not full time, I just upload part of the clips that we shoot for our documentaries, I didn't have time to upload any new content for the last 6 months.

My earnings reports dating back to February 2019 can be found here:

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/category/earnings-reports/

In summary, 2019 was my best year and now I'm earning about half of what I did then, on average, despite having many more images/clips on sale. It's been tough going but always the optimistic that at least my investments in drone aerials and book cover will start paying off.

I used to be full-time, but not anymore. I used to make around $30,000+ per annum from stock photography & video. Now that's fallen to a little over $20K per annum and, based on the first 3 months of this year, possibly falling. My biggest losses have been caused by video subscriptions, and lately by SS's photo rates and reduction in DLs. AS is doing OK photo-wise, and with a couple of exceptions, the mid-tier agencies are holding their own. For the past year or two, I have been making up for losses in other related areas (PODs, Direct Selling, Designer Resources). Video has become almost worthless compared to the amount of work that goes into production.  With the exception of mainly AS, I have largely stop uploading to stock agencies. I live in Australia.

$20k (USD?) is still impressive though I can imagine it's not possible to live on that in Australia. That'll be more than enough for me to go full-time in South East Asia. Did you build up your portfolio all by yourself?

Not much. But I go to places anyway and only spend 5 hours a week on checking photos and later uploading. So not much effort for stock photography and if it pays anything it's good.

Quote from: Annie on April 08, 2023, 17:03

I used to be full-time, but not anymore. I used to make around $30,000+ per annum from stock photography & video. Now that's fallen to a little over $20K per annum and, based on the first 3 months of this year, possibly falling. My biggest losses have been caused by video subscriptions, and lately by SS's photo rates and reduction in DLs. AS is doing OK photo-wise, and with a couple of exceptions, the mid-tier agencies are holding their own. For the past year or two, I have been making up for losses in other related areas (PODs, Direct Selling, Designer Resources). Video has become almost worthless compared to the amount of work that goes into production.  With the exception of mainly AS, I have largely stop uploading to stock agencies. I live in Australia.

$20k (USD?) is still impressive though I can imagine it's not possible to live on that in Australia. That'll be more than enough for me to go full-time in South East Asia. Did you build up your portfolio all by yourself?

It's a secondary income. I use USD because it provides a consistent base for comparison over the years, as currency conversion rates fluctuate too much.  It pays the mortgage and some other essentials. But essentially, I don't do it for the money. I love the whole business side of things. I love the whole creative side of things. I love being able to set new goals and to stretch myself by trying new things. I started in 2013 and didn't know a thing. First came the photography and finding what sells, always looking for something different than what everyone else shoots. Then in 2016 I learnt video, got a drone, went 4k, all that stuff, and in 2018/2019 I taught myself how to create stop motion animated video. I also have my graphic design qualifications to fall back on.

Over the years, I have met some really great operators, many of whom have taught me so much, but yes, I built my port up by myself. Came up with my own ideas and shot everything myself. But there are many others here who earn more than me.

I just like doing my own thing and finding ways to improve. The money is feedback to me on how well I'm doing. If the money dries up then I move on to something else to try.


...

(Congratulations @justanotherphotographer on an outstanding result).

The two contributors below claim to be full-time stock photographers who make a living from their stock photography portfolios:

Luka Azman

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/LukaAzman

iStock Port:

Photos - https://www.istockphoto.com/portfolio/azmanl?assettype=image&phrase=&mediatype=photography
Videos - https://www.istockphoto.com/portfolio/azmanl?assettype=film&phrase=


Blokhin Films (Husband and Wife Team)

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BlokhinFilms

Shutterstock Ports:

Kristina�s Shutterstock Photography - https://www.shutterstock.com/g/Kristi+Blokhin

Andriy�s Shutterstock Photography - https://www.shutterstock.com/g/Kristi+Blokhin/video

Kristina�s Shutterstock Videography - https://www.shutterstock.com/g/Kristi+Blokhin/video

Andriy�s Shutterstock Videography - https://www.shutterstock.com/video/search?contributor=Andriy+Blokhin


Evidently large quality portfolios.

I did stock full time for 12 years and yes I would do it again, oh I still shoot but I am now working in business and video production for companies. On average over the 12 years I earned 60k a year.

jjneff have you seen much of a earnings decline since leaving stock full-time?

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on April 09, 2023, 06:13

Things are now sliding quick. I attribute my drop so far largely to Canva. I am making sales volumes comparable to my lifetime sales at SS every month for a tiny fraction of a cent each. Anyone who thinks at least a few of those aren�t coming from customers who would have purchased on other sites (if Canva wasn�t there) is crazy. It only takes a tiny percentage to make a big difference thanks to the massive volumes involved.

AI is the nail in the coffin. March looks likely to be $3000 or more down on last March. I can only see thing accelerating from here. Take a look at Adobe insights, most of the big selling ports are almost exclusively AI already and it has only been a matter of weeks..

Canva - very interesting point, I was thinking it just took away many graphic design jobs. But if it sells such a high volume of images that's bad. How nice it would be if they could pay us properly and keep everyone happy instead of killing this business.

AI - let's see if Ai portfolios will stay as bestsellers now that AS introduced limits for uploading. I believe most of them were so successful because they uploaded hundreds images in short time which gives them better position in search.

It looks like Canva reduced payment per DL by nearly a factor of 10 since they started. It is outrageous given their promises about increasing our cut in line with company growth. Just awful.

I didn't know AS introduced upload limits. Did they send an email?

Thanks Lina. Doubt it will have much effect, I assume it's more for their side as they are getting overwhelmed.

Quote from: Wilm on April 09, 2023, 11:45

This is more than impressing! How many images and videos do you have?

Thanks Wilm. I don�t get too specific. My total portfolio is in the (very) low 10s of thousands. I have photos, illustrations and video. I never shifted to too much video; I saw from close to the outset that returns per DL were dropping far too quickly to make informed investment decisions.

At this portfolio size, your numbers are even more impressive. You seem to have good files. And in all modesty, you might want to think about whether "notjustanotherphotographer" would be a better fit. Maybe the untalented one will follow suit and rename himself "Alittlebitoftalent".

Quote from: Wilm on April 10, 2023, 04:50

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on April 10, 2023, 02:48

Quote from: Wilm on April 09, 2023, 11:45

This is more than impressing! How many images and videos do you have?

Thanks Wilm. I don�t get too specific. My total portfolio is in the (very) low 10s of thousands. I have photos, illustrations and video. I never shifted to too much video; I saw from close to the outset that returns per DL were dropping far too quickly to make informed investment decisions.

At this portfolio size, your numbers are even more impressive. You seem to have good files. And in all modesty, you might want to think about whether "notjustanotherphotographer" would be a better fit. Maybe the untalented one will follow suit and rename himself "Alittlebitoftalent".

I love all these new nicknames you think up, Wilm! Very clever. The first time I saw you post "the untalented one" I burst out laughing.

Yes. NotJustAnotherPhotographer, indeed. 

 

Yes. I have seen a decline of about 15k

Looks like a drop of about 25 percent going by your figures above, consistent with Annie's reported declines.