Tempted by stock photography

[London Headshots]

I keep using the word challenge. Now I'm sure you know what that word means, but just to remind you it's "a test of one's abilities or resources in a demanding but stimulating undertaking".

That's exactly what I'm doing, testing my abilities in the demanding task of getting accepted as a stock photography contributor. I'm not suggesting I'm able to get accepted to go and make a heap of money, I'm challenging myself in order to improve my photography.

I've fed up of a small bunch of people that post cynical comments on here. It may be you personal opinion but what do you expect to gain from that comment? If I had said it's my dream to do stock photography and I'd be disappointed if I didn't meet the standard then I'd find your comment perfectly acceptable, but I haven't. I don't expect to be accepted, I know I'm not the best of photographers and I'm just looking to improve my work. It's people like you that discourage people from taking up this hobby.

Go post pointless comments in another thread.

But your Flickr account is full of tree stumps and ducks. Don't get me wrong, EVERYONE goes through the trees and ducks stage, but it's a big jump to stock, and actually quite a weird one.

People take stock photography very seriously, and I personally think it's not entirely decent to essentially say "Hey guys, been walking around with my camera shooting stuff at random, now I'm going to see if I can make some money off my work!"

Because although you say it's not to make money, that's exactly what stock photography is about. Nobody is going to accept your work and then not pay you. You're essentially a novice photographer who has challenged himself to earn money from photography.

If you are really about challenging yourself, then CHALLENGE yourself. Wake up at the crack of dawn to catch a sunset, or experiment with long exposure, reportage, street portraiture, extreme depth of field, still life, night photography, architecture, or any of the disciplines that actually require discipline.

Stock photography isn't "something", it's "anything". You'll shoot random stuff and then something will be accepted, because it's the law of averages, and then suddenly you'll think you've challenged yourself and walked out victorious. You'll probably know just as much as every time your picture got denied.

There. There's a more verbose response.

I wasn't trying to belittle you, but look at it from a professional's point of view. It's essentially the same as buying a set of cheap spanners and then saying to a bunch of mechanics that you're going to apply for a bunch of jobs and see if you can get one of them "just to challenge yourself".

 

[London Headshots]

Hopefully he will give some sort of suggestion

My guess is that will either be the end of it or his best suggestion will be to give up trying...

Not gonna happen

No, I would implore you to keep on trying, then gain skill to the point where you will look back and say "Damn, I kind of see what he meant now..".

Because if you keep plugging away, in six months to a year, you will say it, I promise you.

 

[James J]

But your Flickr account is full of tree stumps and ducks. Don't get me wrong, EVERYONE goes through the trees and ducks stage, but it's a big jump to stock, and actually quite a weird one.

People take stock photography very seriously, and I personally think it's not entirely decent to essentially say "Hey guys, been walking around with my camera shooting stuff at random, now I'm going to see if I can make some money off my work!"

Because although you say it's not to make money, that's exactly what stock photography is about. Nobody is going to accept your work and then not pay you. You're essentially a novice photographer who has challenged himself to earn money from photography.

If you are really about challenging yourself, then CHALLENGE yourself. Wake up at the crack of dawn to catch a sunset, or experiment with long exposure, reportage, street portraiture, extreme depth of field, still life, night photography, architecture, or any of the disciplines that actually require discipline.

Stock photography isn't "something", it's "anything". You'll shoot random stuff and then something will be accepted, because it's the law of averages, and then suddenly you'll think you've challenged yourself and walked out victorious. You'll probably know just as much as every time your picture got denied.

There. There's a more verbose response.

I wasn't trying to belittle you, but look at it from a professional's point of view. It's essentially the same as buying a set of cheap spanners and then saying to a bunch of mechanics that you're going to apply for a bunch of jobs and see if you can get one of them "just to challenge yourself".

Don't forget that you was once a novice with a camera, as we all are to start with. I'm sure you challenged yourself to improve your skills with various different methods to become a portrait photographer and have your own business. Applying double standards is just daft. He can do whatever he wants and if all he gets out of it is a better understanding of technically perfect photography, he's still learnt something, regardless of if he earns money from it or not.

I don't see why you have to put the guy down though as encouragement leads to success, whilst the opposite to that often doesn't.

 

[Merc]

My opinion for what it's worth. John is spot on Josh.

If there's one thing i'm really glad I did in the early years it was to keep my work away from stock agencies. People were always telling me "you should sell your work on stock agencies" but in my opinion I didn't have enough. I'm glad I did because now looking back, a lot of those shots weren't good enough anyway. I'm glad I waited til I had 100 decent shots before taking the plunge. I am adding to them monthly and now the money from stock contributes to my monthly income quite nicely.

Again this is just my opinion. Keep plugging away and shoot with future stock sales in mind but I don't think you're quite there yet.

 

[Joshwain]

That makes much more sense, it's not just in more words

I'm still going to disagree with a few things though, respectively of course

I personally think it's not entirely decent to essentially say "Hey guys, been walking around with my camera shooting stuff at random, now I'm going to see if I can make some money off my work!"

Because although you say it's not to make money, that's exactly what stock photography is about. Nobody is going to accept your work and then not pay you. You're essentially a novice photographer who has challenged himself to earn money from photography.

I think either I didn't initially explain properly or you didn't understand my intentions. I agree, the content on my Flickr account is pretty terrible but that's what I want to improve. Stock photography is about making money but I'm not planning on making a profit from content similar to the junk I've previously produced or in fact any content at all. All I'm trying to do is get 3 sample photos accepted and that's it, I will have done what I intended. If I get rejected then I'll happily accept that and move on knowing my attempts made me think more technically and could potentially improve my photography, moving me away from trees and ducks

I know it's easy to say "I'm going to think more technically" but unless you're forced to do it then it's not going to happen. That's what I'm like anyway, it's usually the same with my exams and revision (Geography exam tomorrow, woops)

If you are really about challenging yourself, then CHALLENGE yourself. Wake up at the crack of dawn to catch a sunset, or experiment with long exposure, reportage, street portraiture, extreme depth of field, still life, night photography, architecture, or any of the disciplines that actually require discipline.

Truthfully, I don't have the motivation to for example get up at 6am to capture a decent sunrise. I probably should, just nothing near where I live seems interesting to photograph. Really, I should change that and find a way to look at my surroundings differently. I guess it's just the fact that I'm so used to them that I don't notice what someone else would. Some would say that suggests I'm not really interested in photography but when I do get out (which isn't as often as it should be), I love it!

That's more of a thought typed out than a disagreement

Stock photography isn't "something", it's "anything". You'll shoot random stuff and then something will be accepted, because it's the law of averages, and then suddenly you'll think you've challenged yourself and walked out victorious. You'll probably know just as much as every time your picture got denied.

I understand where you're coming with this but I'm not just shooting anything and then deciding to upload what I think are 3 decent shots as samples. I'm shooting with stock in mind and that's making me think about my shots more technically. I don't just think I'm challenging myself, I am challenging myself by doing something that I usually wouldn't and hopefully will without thought in the future.

I wasn't trying to belittle you, but look at it from a professional's point of view.

I understand that and respect your professional opinion. You say what you think and think what you say, more people should be like that sometimes... in moderation

It's essentially the same as buying a set of cheap spanners and then saying to a bunch of mechanics that you're going to apply for a bunch of jobs and see if you can get one of them "just to challenge yourself".

I almost agree Although the spanners would technically limit you while in this instance it's more about ability, I have alright spanners I may not currently have the ability but from just one day of trying I've learnt quite a lot and have enjoyed doing so

Anyway, thanks for proving me wrong with your response! I was expecting some blunt reply suggesting I stop trying.

I better get to bed before the Geography exam I have tomorrow, getting decent grades for university needs to come before debating

 

[James J]

My opinion for what it's worth. John is spot on Josh.

If there's one thing i'm really glad I did in the early years it was to keep my work away from stock agencies. People were always telling me "you should sell your work on stock agencies" but in my opinion I didn't have enough. I'm glad I did because now looking back, a lot of those shots weren't good enough anyway. I'm glad I waited til I had 100 decent shots before taking the plunge. I am adding to them monthly and now the money from stock contributes to my monthly income quite nicely.

Again this is just my opinion. Keep plugging away and shoot with future stock sales in mind but I don't think you're quite there yet.

Thats exactly what hes doing though. Hes already said he wants to learn how to do stock photography so he can get into it at some point, not for the financial gain (which is limited anyway on small portfolios) but to further his skills. Like you said, you submit more shots monthly, if he goes with istock hes bound by that anyway seen as bronze level contributors can only submit 18 images every 168 hours.

 

[TCR4x4]

But your Flickr account is full of tree stumps and ducks. Don't get me wrong, EVERYONE goes through the trees and ducks stage, but it's a big jump to stock, and actually quite a weird one.

My 2 top selling images on Alamy are..

1. Chicken eating feed in snow.

2. Ducks standing

There is money to be made from poultry.

Havent sold any tree stumps yet though.

 

[tiler65]

Customers want many things from stock...

This one has sold for me and it was a snap shot trying out a new lens on a beach on holiday!