My Rant: While I am exclusive and feel iStock is doing some good things I feel like a test dummy!!! Why do we need a classic view if the new ADP is better? There are more clicks on the new search as you have to click to open the options instead of having them justified to the LT. There is a ton of research on what is a good design online already! I can't see the constant changes to ADP as a positive move as the customer wants stability and the info they need to buy and descriptions is a part of that! Why would a moderator say you can talk about bugs on the new search but we don't want your input! Since when is input a bad thing? If you have all the answers then why do you keep changing things? While a lot of these changes are a good thing it won't drive sales because of design alone! Customers liked having the option on the old system to buy an image for a few bucks, that was taken away from them and subs where the answer. I disagree because subs only profitable on scale and hurt the artist. People I run into use to tell me the reason they used iStock is because SS was to expensive! I was confused at first but then realized they just want to be able to purchase images as need for a few dollars and not have to buy a package. Now iStock, get proper testing of your site like Getty does and roll out the changes instead of using the buyers as test dummies as to what works or not. You have enough data to do this!!

It's just naive!!!

Yes My regular photo sales are the highest ever this month and my video is at least decent. March was a train wreck so it just goes to show we all have our highs and lows no matter what agency you sell on.

My numbers are strong for April in photo and video 

On a more positive note my video sales were horrible last month! The value I find in iStock is the Getty connection, I do not have to do any extra work for my files to go over to Getty. Yes they are slow getting there but they make it eventually. My iStock/Getty income is paying the bills so I see no need to jump out of the boat yet. 

While they blew a little to much smoke I do see things improving at iStock. I feel that a lot of these changes are needed and will help. Interesting times ahead and now back to stick my head in the sand :-)

It has literally taken me years to do this. You have to plan in advance for the lighting. You can not do it on all shoots but you can on many. Like my keys shoots I used large reflectors which worked for both photo and video. You need to shoot video of the scene first then focus on photos of the same scene. Always capture what you need the most first and then get the other if you can. 

Thanks all, yes the boys are usually happy to help me out now but time is running out on that soon! My wife,  well after a few shoots it's back to models which I am setting up now. It was a great relaxing vacation the they sun baked out the infection.

Got me to thinking about the horrid music so I made a version to dedicate to my wife and kids. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjekgT6g9iE&feature=youtu.be

Take the family on vacation!! Best way to invest in happiness and enjoy life!

Winter dullness set in in early March so we decided to head for the Keys. I made up my mind this year that I was going to turn it into a full scale stock production and my family would be the actors. Four days before we were supposed to go my wife spiked a fever at 102.5 for 3 days straight then it went down a bit but she still felt miserable. We put off the vacation for a few days and then she said lets just go. She was still running a fever so I drove the 14 hours with her and the two boys which were sick as well. Needless to say we were all tired but I am undaunted to get the footage I wanted. They were really good sports and walked miles for me to get to where I wanted to shoot. They only rebeled a little so I had to back off of my aggressive shooting schedule. I am blessed to have a loving and beautiful family. I did a lot of planning for this trip and we all worked hard. Hope it pays off  Here is a small sample from our trip   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZGc2LeZEas&feature=youtu.be

Special Thanks to my beautiful wife and Boys!!

Just spent 12 days shooting in the Florida Keys Now I kick back listen to music and podcasts and do the editing and uploading. Like all the other great stories we can say just keep at it and push yourself to do better and learn more.