March Totals

Record moth with total commissions at $60.61, helped by a sale on Alamy. Dreamstime is my best site apart from Alamy, although 123reg has started to pick up. Also had a few sales from isign.

I found out that my images are not for sale with extended license on Fotolia, I'm stuck on an asking price. I'll have to ask in the forums and see what the going rate is.

I'm consistently missing my upload targets. I'm just going to try and get as many as possible so as not to get too down hearted. I have to be realistic with work and other responsibilities. On Dreamstime, which is pretty average as far as acceptance goes, I'm averaging 21 uploads a month. Well below my 80 target. I'm going to stay positive and as long as the commissions are increasing I'm at least happy.

New Years Resolutions!

Following slack uploading and picture taking in the last couple of months of last year, I have made some New Years targets. Armed with a diary and plan of 20 shots per week uploaded, I am going to try to get a 1000 images by the end of the year.

I've learnt the need to be more systematic and to plan the shoots before had. I'm going to list 52 subjects to shoot twice a week, uploading, hopefully, 10 from each session. I'll plan these a few weeks in advance to give time to get props and learn the techniques needed, and try to keep the pace throughout the year.

So far this year, having a couple of weeks off of the day job, I have been able to complete three shoots uploading around 30 images, all of a decent standard.

I also have the goal of joining Shutterstock, so far I have been refused 3 times. With the new shooting schedule I'm hoping to have enough new and quality pictures to be accepted by them.

Lets see what happens.......

October Summary

This month my total earnings were $6.55 with 1069 pictures online across 11 sites. Up on last month. Still very modest but in the right direction I suppose.

I set myself a loose goal to upload 10 images a week. I kept to this for 2 weeks, but I'm struggling to keep this rate up. A busy couple of weeks at work and a lack of inspiration have been my biggest problems. I purchased a new flash this month to help with some studio shots but a delay in delivery and me not being able to work out how to get both my flashes working together has slowed me down. 

Looking to November, I'm going to try to upload a total of 20 good images this month, but more importantly work out a shoot list and do the research needed to take the pictures. I'm finding I'm really limited by my technical capabilities at the moment. I need to try to divide my time between coming up with concepts, researching shooting techniques, shooting, key wording and uploading. 

These are my graphs:

Introduction: My Background....

After reading Steve Heaps blog, where he describes his progress in microstock, I was inspired to try the same thing. The rewards are modest and the work hard, but the freedom of this type of work is very appealing. In short I think its worth a go.

I'm an amateur photographer so this will be done in my spare time. This isn't a guide as such, but a record of my learning. I'll share the fruits of my research, my workflow, and a truthful record of the amount of time I've put in and the results I get.

It would be great for people to join in and share their experience.