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.

Which micro stock agencies are worth it?

I have a portfolio on a few micro stock agencies.  There are small, medium and large agencies.  Here is my list of all my portfolios:

• Canstockphoto.com
• Bigstockphoto.com
• Depositphoto.com
• Dreamstime.com
• Pond5.com
• Shutterstock.com
• Storyblocks.com

Are they all the same?  Do all perform the same way?  The answer is of course no.  The first four on my list are not worth your time.  I make 90%+ of my sales on Pond5, Shutterstock and Storyblocks.  Shutterstock also has a referral program where if in this case I sign up a photographer or a videographer, I get a bit of a payback from Shutterstock.  Granted, it's not a whole lot but could turn into a bigger paycheque if I sign up a lot of people.

Photography and using my camcorder to crate footage is an awesome hobby for me.  I also make a few bucks with it every month.  I really, really enjoy doing it and I wish I could do it full time.  With 4 plus years experience with microstock agencies I'm only uploading to 3 agencies now where the return is half descent.  With Pond5, I'm able to set my own price where with the others it's a set price set by the agencies.  I may say 1-4 videos a month on Pond5 and generally it's a good return.  Currently I sell my videos for $299US per clip.  I get half of that.  With Shutterstock, I sell my photos starting at $0.36US a photo and videos start anywhere from $12US to $120US.  The clips are generally 5-60 seconds in length.  I only shoot 1080p/60fps so it takes a few minutes to edit my footage and about 10-20 minutes to upload my videos to each agency.  Of course this depends on how many clips I have and how fast my internet speed is.

Overall it's a really good passive income for me.  It's something I enjoy and wish I could do full time.  So if you're looking for a photographer who does photos and videos, hit me up.  I'm sure we can work well together.

FInally, I see ads!!!!

Well it took forever but I got all my Google accounts cleaned up.  Closed a myriad of accounts and services.  Forwarding my domain to the blogger site.  Correctly setup Google Adsense on the blog.  Correctly set up Google Adsense account, Google Analytics etc and for the first time, the website is able to display ads on my own, personal website.

From now on I hope to post daily or every other day and raise traffic to the site and all my various photo and video portfolios so that I can expand my photography business.  I live and breathe photography.  I am constantly thinking of what I want to photograph next.  It's an amazing hobby that gets you out into your city and local nature around the area you live in.  It's a great experience to explore and capture memories.

Finally

Finally got my domain name pointed to Blogger.  Finally got Adsense to work with Blogger and my own domain.  I've had so much trouble with setting this up.  So many errors.  So many issues.  I haven't posted here in over a year because I've been so busy with work.  My girlfriend has had both her knees replaced in the past year so I've been helping her a lot this past year.  Driving her to physiotherapy, doctor's appointment etc.  But I am back and I'm looking to do more blogging and more photography.  I've wanted to have my own domain name pointed to the site for so long and have Adwords run on my site.  I finally had the time to sit down and do this.  

I am finally back.  Now I wish it would stop raining so I can fly my new drone.

It's been a while

Well 2017 is here and what a year.  Got a new girl in my life, work is going well and finally doing more photography.  Finally.  Busy, busy, busy.

It's been a while

Sometime, life gets in the way.  I've been doing a lot of photography but haven't been posting to the blog.  I wish I could post daily but I've been uploading my fall photos to Shutterstock, Bigstock etc.  Just trying to get more money.  I recently booked a vacation to Arizona.  I'm going to the Grand Canyon, the horse shoe bend near Bend and Monument Valley.  

The above picture is from Mud Lake located here in Ottawa.  I've been there a lot this fall doing video work.  I was able to get a juvenile egret up close which is awesome.  

Photo & Video

Lately, I've been doing shooting a lot of video as I have had plenty of photos on the various micro stock agencies.  I'm just trying to build up my video portfolio.  It's time consuming doing both but I do love doing both.  Video clips sell for a much higher price but they are far and between what I typically sell.  I do still sell a lot of photography.  Not as much during the summer as most people are on vacations.  I'm hoping sales of both video and photos pick up again in September.

Baby woodpeckers!

Just got home from taking some videos and am editing them now.  Got some cute, little Pileated Woodpeckers being fed by both parents.  Videos to follow.

Shooting editorial photography and videos

I've been shooting a lot of editorial photography and video.  A lot more video than photography.  It's a lot of fun.  I'm selling the photography as well.  Shutterstock is a great platform to sell your photography and videography along with Bigstockphoto.