Quote from: ManicBlu on December 21, 2007, 22:10
June 2005 and although I enjoy it at times more often than not I find it boring.

hey there, i just looked at your shutterstock portfolio and realized you were the photographer with that man picture that got caught up in the istock kerfluffel and that edited picture putting the man in a strip club.  did anything ever come of that discussion or did it just slow down to a stop?

Tried to pass inspection at IS in August 2004... failed and came back a year later and passed with flying colors and have been uploading since August 2005, but haven't been able to give it my full attention so I still have relatively small portfolio, but have been giving it way more attention lately.

Quote from: sharply_done on December 21, 2007, 08:04
January 07 - almost one year. I wish I had started years ago!

AMEN!!!    Aug '06 on IS, then later SS and gradually 6 others.

I hope micro grows greatly & lasts for a long time to come.  It's great to be in such a wide open field where your success is determined 100% by what you put into it and not by whom you know.

Nov 04 submitted my first 2 pics onto SS ..

but actual decent income starts coming in Feb 04

I started with BigStockPhoto in Sept, 2007. I just achieved my 2nd download on Dreamstime just this morning

I plan to give stock photography a two year trial dedicating 20+ hours a week outside of my day job.

Mark

Quote from: leaf on December 22, 2007, 01:48

Quote from: ManicBlu on December 21, 2007, 22:10
June 2005 and although I enjoy it at times more often than not I find it boring.

hey there, i just looked at your shutterstock portfolio and realized you were the photographer with that man picture that got caught up in the istock kerfluffel and that edited picture putting the man in a strip club.  did anything ever come of that discussion or did it just slow down to a stop?

Yes, it caused quite a stir. I look back at it as a real mistake on the part of the person who allowed the design to go through in the first place. I think the thread must hold a record as it grew to over 300 replies in 24 hrs. But, it also hurt me. That little old man sells for me everywhere and will no doubt continue to do so over the years. My removal of him from my iStock port was symbolic only. The thread was finally locked after iStocks legal response wasn't being accepted by many of the photographers.

When I do the occasional people photography now I make sure to tell them although they do have some protection via the microstock contract I cannot assure them positively of the way their image might be used especially as we're dealing with the internet.

iStock remains my favorite micro and again I look at it as a slipup that might not have happened if someone else with more insight had reviewed the design.

I started at Lucky Oliver in January of this year.  By May I was pretty discouraged with only 3 downloads and nearly just gave up MS but then I registered with Bigstockphoto, DreamsTime and iStockphoto.  Rather quickly had sales at all three and now realize the problem wasn't me it was LuckyOliver.  Took me 4 tries to get accepted by Shutterstock but I'm there now and doing ok.  Sales are the best measure of success and they have contributed greatly to improving my skills.  Plan to keep uploading and hopefully will pay for some new equipment this year.  fred

Just began today with registering on several sites and loading some pictures on Shutterstock. Hope to do more in the coming days, and have a significant portfolio by the end of 2008.
Best wishes to all.

Doing it?.. a very long time.  Contributing to it...hmm..  Like Sharply_Done, Jan 2007.   Though I was I had the time and discipline he has.   Better luck in 2008... 

Best wishes to everyone this holiday season.  Cheers,  JC

Contributing, among other things for 3 years.

This year, I quit my day job to go full time with stock.

I started in the last week of July 2006.  I also wish I had started earlier

read about it in August 2006, signed up to Istock same month, bought digital camera in November 2006, started submitting (after reading this forum) in February 2007, sold my first picture 9 days later... . 

Feb. 2006 for me.  Like many others have mentioned, I'm wishing I had learned about it sooner.  Shooting stock has really changed my life and I hope I can make this my full time gig in the coming year(s).

@ Leaf and ManicBlu... wow, I remember the brouhaha back then over that design and was completely stunned by the IS legal team's decision on that one.  That clearly should not have been allowed.

Started with Istock in November 2005. Added a few other sites since then. I  agree that the sense of community is great.