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« on: September 01, 2024, 03:31 »
I'm in a good situation where I have my full time job -remote plus traveling for meetings once every 2 months).
So for me, my salary pay the bills, and stock pays traveling and new equipment.
I'm officially based in Berlin(Germany) but I have been traveling almost 24/7. I mostly spend a month traveling and then ca a week home. And yes, it is not traveling 24/7 when you have 'normal work'. I do my work, and then in the afternoons I go out do some sightseeing, take photos, enjoy the life and then spend the nights editing them and putting into stock.
Not a ideal for everyone (I'm single, no responsibilities at home etc).
But this is all thanks to stock. As I said - my job pays my bills, food etc. But traveling and all those extras in life are thanks to stock photography.
And yes, as some of you already said - it brings money if you treat it as a business and not as a hobby.
You might be laughing but every time I travel I make an extra list on google maps where do I want to go (exactly with street etc) where do I want to take photos, I research what has been already posted, what is missing - i have been doing this for years, so the process is not time consuming (maybe one evening before the trip).
Plus AI -again, you might be laughing - I have an excel sheet with all the key holidays but as well some funny celebrations, and I try to produce some AI for those occasions. But this is for me a fun time to spend an evening with calendar and AI and see what I can create.
To sum it up - if I wanted to stay at home, not travel, eat basic food then yeah stock money would be enough. But thats just exiting - if that's enough for some then OK.
Luckily, I have a job that I like, that doesn't collide with stock (and thanks to traveling is kind of supporting and adding to my stock journey) I enjoy this lifestyle.
Before 2020 I have been working in retail and for 8 years I couldn't see my family for Christmas (they are in Poland and I emigrated to Berlin) so I really enjoy and appreciate the freedom i have right now. And that's thanks to stock as well.
I have been on Adobe since 2016. Started with photos of my dogs and trees and sky and flowers in my parents garden in the middle of nowhere. So yes, going from lame photos to good income is possible if you treat it as a business (I don't say you have to travel the world, but do the research, upload the right photos, good titles, good keywords etc)