Tag Archives: #stock photography

Stock Photography

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I’ve been stuck at home since my last job got cut short (again). I get antsy when I’m not working for months at a time. I start freaking out about money and bills, then start feeling trapped and depressed and don’t feel like doing much of anything at all. Since October, I’ve only had 5 weeks of work and it’s looking pretty slim for the next few weeks as well. 🙁

I’ve been trying to keep busy. I go see a movie to cheer up if there’s anything decent playing. I’ve stopped going to my usual (entertaining and interesting) Tuesday night political meetings since they’re just so frustrating now. I go to art class on Tuesdays (this morning was the last one for a while- the teacher is taking a break). I may start going to ‘open studio’ instead. It’s on Wednesdays, or Monday nights.

I’m getting around to doing things I’ve been putting off: I was working in the yard til it got too hot, working on my taxes, re-reading books I’ve been saving before deciding if I can now bear to get rid of them, uploading some photos to the stock agencies.

Here are a few examples…

Herd of buffalo in the Serengeti
Lilac breasted roller
Palace of Versailles from the rear
Pair of pink tulips
Fresh, organic vegetables at a farmers market

Stock photography- like the blogging, was supposed to be a side gig. A way to earn some income when I wasn’t able to get offshore. I hate to say it, but neither one has worked out that way. Both take a hell of a lot of work to keep up with. So far, I’ve earned a grand total of $7.83 on Bigstock and $6.46 on Dreamstime. A big, fat $0.00 from the blogs.

My thought was to sidestep the editors. To get my work out in front of the public where I figured at least some people would like it enough to buy something. I know it’s possible to earn an income from both blogging and from photography. I know people personally who are doing both.

I wish I knew their secrets. It seems the main issue is how to attract attention? How to be found among the 81 million on Bigstock alone? Or the 500 million ++ blogs in the world?

Just curious, does anyone you know earn anything from either stock photography or blogging? If so, do you know how?

Y is for Yarn- #AtoZChallenge

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“Y” is for Yarn. Nice that I can use this post for both the A to Z Challenge and the Daily Post, especially since I am behind again on the AtoZ (it’s actually finished already). I don’t know why, it seems like I’m busy all day every day, but I never seem to get caught up!

Here’s my yarn…

I took these photos during a photography workshop with Great Escape Publishing in Washington DC a few years ago. I had just bought a new camera (Canon EOS Rebel T3). I was there to learn how to use it.

I’ve been trying for years to figure out a way to earn an income without having to be out on  a ship. I’ve spent my whole life working at sea, but it’s a very cyclical industry and lately has been getting much, much harder to keep working out there.

I could see my future unemployment and really wanted to find some way to be able to support myself while not having to be somewhere specific. I really wanted to move outside the USA. Somewhere more affordable and less stressful.

I had heard about stock photography. It seemed to be a way to possibly earn enough to get by on. I started trying to get accepted onto Bigstock, I-stock, Alamy, Canstock, etc. I didn’t have much luck. I was constantly rejected and had no idea why. Some of them told me why, but at that point I didn’t understand what they were telling me.

So, I went to take the course. I learned a lot. One thing I learned was that I really didn’t need that fancy new camera! I almost never use it now. It’s too big and bulky for me. I have had quite a few photos accepted taken with my favorite little Olympus Tough (it fits in my pocket and it’s even waterproof). 🙂

Computers!

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I’ve been having so much trouble with my computers! It’s unbelievable!

All I really want to do with them is write and work on my photography. And, of course, to check email and do a little bit of surfing. Is that so much to ask?

Since I got back from Mexico (end of February), I’ve had nothing but problems! I don’t usually get pissed off that easily, but after days and days of doing everything I know how, calling (on hold for hours), dealing with repairmen, turning everything off and leaving for hours, it finally got to where I was screaming at the computer in total frustration. It got so annoying I actually broke 2 computers. Broke the screen on one, dented one up pretty badly. Of course that did not help.

I’ve already bought 2 new computers. First I bought a new windows (forced to buy a windows 10, which I did NOT want- I HATE IT). Hoping that would solve the problem. But I guess I got a lemon! First problem was- something wrong with the screen. The size of the writing would change for no reason. I would be typing something (or even just trying to read an article) and it would zoom up to 300% and the next second down to 5%.

They fixed the screen, but it still doesn’t work right. It’s soooooooo sloooooow. And, it does the same thing all the other computers around here have been doing. Not just my computers (and iPod and kindle), but my 2 friends computers too. Freezing up constantly, randomly, can’t do anything about it but wait till it decides to go back to work! It’s brand new! I still can’t use it for anything!!

So, I bought another Apple computer. To replace the one I banged up so badly. Looking at it, I’m not sure how long I can expect it to last. Besides, it’s stuffed FULL already!

I had them add extra storage on the new apple, since I really don’t have that much on the old one yet. I finally got it the other day and tried to install my photography programs on it. I use Adobe Lightroom to edit my photos. I’ve been trying to find ways to earn some income. One way is to upload photos onto stock photography sites. They MUST be edited first!

On my old windows computer I had Lightroom, Photoshop, and Portrait Professional. I had tons of photos on there, thousands and thousands of them. I never had any problem with it being ‘full’.

On the apple, I don’t even have a quarter of my photos on there. I only have Lightroom on it. It’s stuffed full. Constantly telling me I need to remove items! That might be OK, if I could figure out HOW to remove items that I don’t really need!

Windows computers are so much better in that regard. I can clearly see which are programs, which are apps, which are simply files- written or photos. On the apples, I can’t tell a damn thing about anything! I don’t want to just randomly start deleting things! I can’t even tell how large the files are! At least on windows, you can tell the size of a file and can get some idea of what they are that way.

So, now I have another new apple, with more memory. I don’t have anything on it but what it came with. I’m trying tonight to put Lightroom on it. I’ve been having a lot of trouble with that too. It seems I have put it onto too many computers already. I went and bought another copy, just so I could put it on this new computer. I’ve tried for 4 days now to get it to download.

Tonight I tried again with customer service (online chat) and after having to give them remote control of my computer (which I REALLY don’t like to do), they finally got it working for me. Apparently, there was a ‘block’ from their end!

I hope, now, finally, I will be able to get some work done around here!

A to Z: Dreamstime

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Yesterday’s post for the A to Z Challenge is “Dreamstime” (I skipped it yesterday cause I was just too busy and too tired by the time I got home after midnight). For the challenge, I’m posting every day in April (except Sundays), one for each letter of the alphabet.

Some bloggers have chosen themes. I haven’t. I’m just doing what I normally do- mostly maritime, travel, and photography- but also anything that interests me. That includes food, drinks, philosophy, history, religion, politics, culture, art, music, science, astronomy, jokes, etc. You might find anything here. I hope you like surprises. 😉

Anyway, today’s post (which should have been done yesterday) is on Dreamstime. If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know I’ve been trying to find ways to earn income other than just working at a regular job.

One way I’ve been trying to do that is to break into ‘stock photography’. Dreamstime is one of the places to do that. I’ve been accepted on there for about a year.

Check out my Dreamstime portfolio- here.

I’ve only managed to get 26 photos uploaded and accepted. My acceptance ratio is over 95% which I think is excellent. I’ve only tried uploading photos already accepted at Bigstock on Dreamstime, that helps.

So far, I’ve earned a grand total of $4.11!

I need to work on getting more photos on there. The last couple of weeks would have been perfect. The only problem has been that my computer with all of my photos has been in the shop and the internet has been giving me fits! I have my computer back now, but I have to download the programs back onto it. Now just have to wait for the new modem to show up so I can get proper internet access again.

It should get here by Friday. 🙂

Sixty-three Cents

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I just happened to check my Bigstock account today and found out I sold another photo (below) since the last time I looked. Woo-woo!! 🙂

This is what I saw today at Bigstock…

Date Time Description Type Amount
Jan 30, 2016 1:07 am Offshore Yellow on Blue Bigstock Partner – Single Web Use $0.63

So, I’ve now made a total of $5.33. I only have 40 photos approved and online with Bigstock. My approval rating is only 43%. I need to get better at figuring out why they reject my photos and I need to get more photos uploaded and approved.

My goal this year is to get 5 photos edited and uploaded to Bigstock, Canstock and Dreamstime each week. So far, I have not been doing very well with that.

I do know some people who have managed to do very well with this stock photography. They started from scratch, like me, but they’ve uploaded a lot more photos than I have, and so they’ve sold a lot more than I have. I need to make the time to do it too!

Accepted!

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I’ve been trying for a few years to get started in a second (or 3rd) career as a writer/photographer. I’ve been reading International Living magazine for a long time now (decades). I usually glance over the ads, but eventually I was tempted to sign on for their travel writing course.

I did it and over the years since, I’ve taken a few other courses through IL and what is now called GEP (Great Escape Publishing). I started this blog at the Boston workshop they put on back in August 2013. I figured the blog would be a good way to get my work out to the public without having to go through an editor. I was getting so frustrated at having my photos rejected and I couldn’t even understand what they were telling me when they told me WHY they rejected them.

All along the way, I’ve still been trying to come up with something that I could sell to someone. I do enjoy writing and photography, but I am also really looking for some way to earn an income without having to be out on a ship so much of the time. I really want to find a way to travel more and spend more time doing the things I want to do instead of what other people want me to be doing. 😉

I have somehow managed to have a couple of articles published online (here, here, and here), but that came about only because someone happened to see my blog and liked what I had written on here. I had never been able to get up the nerve to actually send in a formal query to a real magazine editor.

Until last trip home. I FINALLY got around to sending in an article to International Living! I had high hopes. I was really anxious too. I had written a short article (they say short is much better to start with), but I had written it about Singapore. Singapore is not one of the countries IL usually features. I thought they might like it since it was about how to eat cheap there. They DO like articles about how to save money. 🙂

I’m still waiting to hear back from them. I HOPE they willl let me know something one way or another. In the meantime, I’ve been working on trying again to get my photographs accepted on some of the stock photo sites. I’m happy to say, I’ve managed to get some accepted!

I still don’t really understand why they accept some and they refuse others. I do understand what they’re telling me now, I just don’t SEE what they’re telling me about in the photos I’ve sent. So far, my acceptance level is 40% at Bigstock, 0% at Canstock and Fotolia. I’m getting better, at first my acceptance level was only 26%. 🙂

Here are 2 of the photos I submitted. Can you tell which ones they accepted? The first one is of a temple on a lake in Bali, Indonesia. The second one is of the beach in Cancun, Mexico.

Which one do YOU like best? Why?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Fray

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For this weekly photo challenge (the idea is “fray”), I chose this photo I took at the photography workshop in Washington DC I went to a couple of years ago.

We spent some time wandering around some of the famous monuments like the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. We had some free time to wander around and take pictures of different things.

One day they had set up a bunch of different items in a big room at the hotel we were staying in. The idea was to practice getting shots from all different angles. Different viewpoints, different subjects, different focus, different light, different effects…

I had just bought this camera (Canon) and was trying to figure out how to use it. I usually just use a point and shoot. I can’t usually carry around a nice, big camera with the fancy lenses. I just don’t have the space in my carry on. 🙁

I got this camera to try and learn how to take pictures good enough to get my photos accepted on some of the stock photography sites. One more attempt to find SOME way to support myself without having to stay out on a boat for half the year or more.

I am still trying to do that. I am still trying to learn how to use that camera. I am still trying to figure out how to get my photos accepted onto a stock photography site. I am still trying to figure out how to make the TIME to do that.

I think that last one may be the key. 🙂