Living large off of Google Ad Sense

Nope.  Not really.  Can't even buy a coffee for what I earn with Google Ad Sense.  I earn maybe $0.01 to $0.10 a day depending on if I get a click on one of the ads that are featured on my site.  I wish I was running a bigger site but it's been up only a few months.  I'm just a one man band that runs the site and I blog a few times a week.  I work full time and do this part time with my photography.  I wanted to run this focusing more on photography.  I think in the future when I move to Calgary later this year, I will focus this more on photography.  I'm not a gear reviewer or a travel photographer.  I just do this for fun as an amateur photographer.  I photograph landscapes and wildlife and sell my stuff on sites like Shutterstock, Pond5 and Storyblocks.  I've shot about a half a dozen weddings in my lifetime but they are a pain in the back.  I don't have the space to do headshots so I stay away from them.

I enjoy being outside and being with animals.  They are way more relaxing than being stuck inside with a camera.  Anyways, Google Ad Words.  I'm glad I'm getting some money from it but it's not a get rich quick scheme.  Hopefully in a few months, while I work on the site and do more blog entries, my income will grow.  I don't know about doing YouTube with YouTube demonetizing people for using the "wrong" words and thoughts in their videos.

I need to move

It's going to be Parc Omega time again on Saturday.  Whether I go alone or not is not my choice.  But I need to spend time with the animals.  Especially the wolves.  After the month I've had on Shutterstock, I need to shoot more videos of animals.  I'll take my Canon Vixia HF G40 camcorder with me this time.  I've been using the Sony RX100 Mark VI for video but it doesn't have quite the reach of the Canon Vixia HF G40 as far as digital reach.

With the polar vortex weather we've been having, going outside to do photography is just plain nuts.  I need warmer weather.  Maybe I'll take a day off during the week and just spend the day by myself.  I need a rest.

BME on Shutterstock

The month of January 2019 is not even over and it's by far the best month ever for me on Shutterstock.  Today I sold 3 pics for a whopping $1.08 and a video for a whopping $180US.  The video in question is of a male wood duck shot in 1080p/60fps.  You can view the clip here.  This sure makes up for the two lousy video clips I sold for $1.50 each.

Sales like this keep me motivated to stick with photography and using my camcorder to film our natural world that we live in.  A few years back I sold a video where I profited $120US and I thought that was amazing.  I've sold a few footage clips on sites like Pond5 and Videoblocks but they are very inconsistent.  I can sell 2-3 clips on the same day and then go months without selling anything.  But with Shutterstock, it's far more consistent. 

I've linked my portfolios so if you're interested, you can purchase some of my photography or footage.  If you're not a client yet, here's a link to become a Shutterstock customer.  This is a great way for you to help out a small time photographer.

Sony RX100 Mark VI - The perfect pocket camera

I've had the Sony RX100 Mark VI for a couple of weeks now.  And it's been the perfect little pocket camera packing a 24-200MM lens.  No more need for any DSLR camera.  You have one that fits in the palm of your hand.

The pros of the little pocket camera definitely out way the cons which there aren't many.  The internal ND filter is gone.  No problem.  Still had an external ND filter which I can easily attach to the new Sony RX100 Mark VI.  There is still no mic jack on the camera.  It's actually ok for me as I don't do YouTube videos.  And if I did, I can use my Canon Vixia HF G40.  Since I do not do podcasts or add voice over to any of my footage clips, I really do not need an audio out on the Sony RX100 Mark VI.

Footage wise, the camera is amazing.  Color reproduction is fantastic and the footage is tact sharp from 24mm to 200mm.  Photos are sharp as well and color accurate.  I am so glad the lens goes out to 200mm as well.  No more carrying around heavy lenses such as the Canon L f2.8 70-200MM.  That was such a heavy lens to carry on your back.  Especially when hiking in the mountains.

I can do long exposure photography with the Sony RX100 Mark VI.  One downside of the Sony RX100 Mark VI is that it only goes to f11.  Not f22 or higher like most lenses.  But you cannot expect that from such a small camera.  I can carry around my Sony RX10 Mark II with its 24-200MM lens which does go to f16 so I can get the star effect on street lights at night.

I've yet to test the camera for astrophotography.  With it's 1 inch sensor, which is relatively small, I figure it's going to be fairly noisy beyond ISO 1600.  I only do astrophotography in the summers, on weekends which isn't too often. 

Are stock agencies worth it?

For me?  The only one that sells daily is Shutterstock.  Of course in small amounts unless I sell a video.  Unless that video sells for a whopping $1.50.  Video sales are rare.  Higher prices photos are rare as well.  I think it's time I start printing again and start selling my prints at art shows located here in Ottawa.  But we'll be moving soon to Calgary so we'll see what the photography scene is like in Calgary.  I know once I get out there, I'll be in the mountains pretty much every weekend.

Weather here in Ottawa sucks this week and will continue to suck for the rest of the month.  Time to take out the camera and go for a winter drive on the weekend.

On the topic of other agencies such as Bigstock, Canstock, Dreamstime etc.  I never really did well there to justify uploading more content.  It takes forever to upload, keyword and submit content for a sale here and there.  I do make the odd sale but not enough to justify the constant uploading.  That's why I just upload to Shutterstock, Pond5 and Storyblocks.  At least with the sales I do make there, I make payout.  Other sites, I wait and wait for payouts.  So not worth it.

I wanted to

I wanted to go to Parc Omega every Saturday till April.  But I've been sick since last week and I just had no energy or will power to get out of bed this weekend.  The cold definitely kicked my ass this weekend.  So just stayed in bed, watched some Youtube and football and relaxed.  Today I am feeling much better.  Although I think I'm at about 90% back to being normal.  I'm back at work for the week and this coming weekend I will definitely be going to Parc Omega with the girlfriend or alone.  Whichever it is.  

We're in our typical Canadian January deep freeze this week with lows in the minus thirties celsius during the night.  It's too damn cold to do any photography in that kind of weather.  Just looked at the weather forecast for the weekend.  High of minus thirteen celsius and 30% chance of snow.  So good enough weather to go to Parc Omega and use the Sony RX100 Mark VI.

And another lousy $1.50 footage sale

Yesterday I sold another footage clip for a whopping $1.50US.  It's the second such sale and I find it pretty much insulting that I get a sale like that.  I'd rather not sell my footage if it's going to sell for a price I can't even buy a coffee for.  Thankfully I had a video sale for almost $94US earlier this month which makes up for this lousy sale.  I'm selling a lot of photography this month as well.  Weekends suck big time on every micro stock site.  Can't seem to sell anything anymore on Shutterstock on weekends.

I think today after work I'm gonna go do some photography.  Right now it's warm and sunny.  By warm, I mean +1 degree Celsius.  Which is warm for Ottawa in January.

I got extended at work till the end of February which is fantastic.  I'm hoping to get extended till the end of March so that my girlfriend and I can get the hell out of dodge and move to Calgary.  Neither of us can stand Ottawa anymore.  Neither of us are bilingual and I can't seem to get a full time job here in Ottawa.  It's always contract work.

When we do move out west I want to focus more on photography and being outdoors in the mountains.  That is my dream for now.

Although they lost.

It was still a fun game to watch.  Ottawa has not been doing well at all in the NHL the last few years.  But we still support the team.  I wanted to test the Sony RX100 Mark VI inside.  It is quite noisy shooting at ISO 1600 and above.  It is a small one inch sensor.  Not quite full frame.  I can't sell these pictures anyways on Shutterstock, Pond5 or Storyblocks because apparently when you buy tickets to an event, you cannot sell any of the photography.  Which is fine.  I can sell them on my own website though.  So you can check out my website here.  These pictures were taken at the Minnesota Wild and Ottawa Senators game at the Canadian Tire Center on January 5, 2019.

 

13,434 and 1,515

13,434 is how many photos I have up on Shutterstock.  1,515 is how many footage clips I have up on Shutterstock as of January 1, 2019.  Let's see how many more I can add in 2019.  Hope I get to at least 17,500 this year.  And about 2,000 footage clips.

Review of the Sony RX100 Mark VI - Just the photos

I went to one of our local trails today to test out the Sony RX100 Mark VI point and shoot camera.  It was somewhat warm out today so I did a quick walk around Jack Pine Trail located here in Ottawa, ON - Canada.  It was a balmy plus two degrees Celsius with a slight wind.  It was a quick two kilometer walk with a few stops to take some photos to test the camera.  Today was photo testing.  Tomorrow will be photos and videos as the girlfriend and I are headed to the Ottawa Senators - Minnesota  Wild NHL hockey game.  Below you can see the photographs I took on my walk today.  They've been submitted to Shutterstock so hopefully they'll be approved soon and available for sale.  I will also add them to my own personal site where you can download them as prints and other merchandise. 

Patreon

I don't have an account on Patreon.  I go to work every day.  Photography is an awesome hobby and I wish I could it as my full time job.  I was actually thinking this year, I'll start doing YouTube full time and subsidize my income on Patreon.  But with the purge on Patreon and YouTube demonetizing videos at their whim, it's not financially feasible to just quit my job and try and survive on Shutterstock money.

What Patreon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook are doing is basically what the Communists did in the USSR and Eastern Europe.  I think it's crony capitalism/socialism/communism.  And I of course blame the politically correct social justice warriors who get offended by everything and everyone.

Year in review of Micro stock sales

So last year I had 72 downloads for a whopping $64 on Shutterstock in January.  In January 2019, I've had 4 downloads for a whopping $94.68.  So far, 2019 has been much better.  I hope it continues this way for the rest of the month and rest of the year.  2018 sucked as far as sales.  I sold $1178.76 worth of photography and footage just on Shutterstock alone last year.  I had 741 downloads alone on Shutterstock.  In 2017 I had 1153 downloads for total sales of $1638.17.

In 2018 I had a rough a 28% decrease in dollar value sales and downloads were down roughly 36%.  So I made $460.31 less on Shutterstock last year with 412 less downloads last year.  I increased my portfolio by about 3000 photographs and clips.

In 2017 I was selling on average of $136.51 a month of footage and photography.  In 2018, it dropped to $98.24.  An average loss of $38.28 a month or roughly 28% drop in revenue per month.  This I think is due to me not shooting as much as last year and the increase in competition since Shutterstock now accepts 1 out of 10 photographs rather than 7 out of 10 photographs when I first joined in 2014.

This is just one site that I use.  Pond5 and Storyblocks are two of my other sites.  It's much harder to sell on those two sites as I think they're much smaller stock sites and sales are less frequent.

On Pond5 I had $618.63 worth of sales with 7 sales all year.  On Storyblocks I had 3 sales worth a total of $99.03.  All sales are in U.S dollars so I get a slight conversion bonus when I convert to Canadian dollars which helps.

	2017 Sales	2018 Sales
Shutterstock	1639.17	1178.86
Pond5	587	618.83
Storyblocks	330.1	99.03

	2017 downloads	2018 downloads
Shutterstock	1153	741
Pond5	7	8
Storyblock	10	3

So as you can see, the only place sales and downloads increased is on Pond5.  Basically I only photograph and take footage of wild animals and landscapes.  99% of my portfolio is editorial free.  I don't like photographing people much.  I think for this year I will go to the Ottawa market more often and start photography people more.  Do some more editorial work in black and white and see if that starts selling more.  Thankfully I can be more inconspicuous with the Sony RX100 Mark Vi and its 24-200MM lens since the Sony RX100 Mark VI is an awesome pocket camera. 

Another month. Another year.

December 2018 was my third best month of all time on Shutterstock.  A lot of video sales propelled me to having the best month of the year as well.  Although the end of the month was a real disappointment with no sales for three days, I was happy with the month over all.

I hope 2019 is a lot better for photo and footage sales.  Pond5 and Storyblocks were down in sales.  Especially Storyblocks.  I have not sold anything there in months and I've more than tripled my inventory there in 2018 by adding more footage and adding photos there.  Pond5 was OK.  Sold a few hundred dollars worth of footage.  No photo sales, but that is to be expected.

April 2019 is coming up fast which is kind of scary considering I'll be moving permanently to Calgary.  At least I hope.  I need to find a job there first.  I only have two weeks left on this contract but I'm being told I'll be extended again.  I don't know for how long.  We shall see.  I'm hoping to get a permanent job in Calgary.