If he is selling other people photos as his own there must be legal action that can be taken on that front?

 

Yah I've heard that mentioned as I lurked. Thanks for the heads up though, hopefully I can overcome.

Good point... I guess if I upload 75 business style shots with smiling models it will get me a lot closer to my goal than 75 landscape photos.

I think thats probably an easier opinion to have when you are already highly sucessful.

Wow quick input.

On the bit about having time for school, school is out until September and I should be able to find time to party now and again. The plan is to work Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, and upload in the evening for a couple of hours.

On the bit about not quitting my day job, I'll still be working one shift a week (sunday afternoons) plus I average a couple of paid events each month and sell the occasional print. So I won't be relying on stock alone. And if I fail miserably I can always pick up more shifts at the old job.

Great idea about the shorter term goals, I'm sure I'll do that to challenge myself to get faster and better as things progress. I guess what I'm looking for here is a very broad baseline so that I can have some reasonable goals and expectations to start with.

And I was thinking of adding up all accepted files and dividing by 7 (number of sites) to try and get an average of 75 but the more I think of it the more that seems like a poor idea. I'll have to think about that a little harder.

Hey all,

I've been lurking for about 3 months now and I've finally gotten up up the courage to dive in to this (slightly wacky) industry. My goal is to replace my part time job with stock over the next three months (I don't really make all that much currently).

I'm in the process of setting goals (this experiment kicks off at the start of June) and I am looking for some input from some more experienced shooters.

If I am working 8-10 hours a day, 5 days a week shooting, editing and uploading ( to the big 6 + BigStock) what can I reasonably expect to get done? How many images can I reasonably expect to shoot each day? What can I reasonably expect to be making after three months?

Obviously these questions have different answers for different photographers, I'm just looking for a baseline of other peoples experiences and opinions so I can set good goals for myself.

I'm starting from ground zero more or less. I've got all my accounts set up but no more than 12 images accepted at any site and no more than $5 in sales anywhere. I am well equipped   which I suppose gives me a leg up.

Anxious to hear some opinions and thoughts!

Sounds good 

I just got 3 rejection notices from Fotolia. First response from any site. Not exactly suprised but a little startled that the reasons are so vauge and broad. Oh well, two of them were deemed white background issues which I think I may be able to salvage. back to work!

Now my question is, given the rather large number of sites out there... is there an efficient or "best" way to meet that goal?

Should I start a profile on all nine of the sites that seem popular or is it more productive to target a certain number of sites?

My "gut feeling" is that more portfolios on more sites equals more sales. But if it would be more profitable to spend more time shooting and less time uploading I'd welcome that. So I figured I'd ask some of you stock photography veterans for advice.

I currently have uploaded twenty-five "feeler" images on the Big 6 and the 3 sites listed as Up and Coming. But I'd love to hear opinions and advice from some established photographers.

Hi everyone, first, post and I'm brand new to stock photography. I was glad to find this forum as it seems like a very informative and interesting place.

Anyhow, as the topic states I am a little bit dazed by the number of options out there right now. My goal is to replace my current part time job with stock photography over the next year or so because I am entering a very intensive two year commercial photography program and it wont be possible to retain a conventional job during that time period.

I already have all of the requisite equipment (D300, lenses, flash, studio setup, etc.) so thats no issue. My issue is what direction to focus on?

With so many sites and options and the current (rather fluid) state of the market I thought I'd ask around and see if some of the more experienced shooters had an opinion?

So if you were starting out fresh today which direction would you go in? What to focus on? What to forget?

Any help is appreciated. Look forward to hanging around this forum and learning a lot hopefully.


Cheers.