This stupid funk

I honestly have to get myself out of this funk that I’ve been in for the last seven months.  I have been so emotionally damaged since May of this year.  I’ve never had my heart broken like this before.  I have my good days but those are really rare.  I get up every morning and go to work.  I come home to an empty place and you h do nothing.  I try and go do some photography after work but it’s dark half an hour after I leave work.  Winters absolutely suck in Canada.  You have really short days and long nights.  The days are cold and the nights are even colder.  My heart is just charcoal.  It’s essentially dead.  Every date I’ve had was essentially a disaster.  The women online that I meet through the dating sites are total and complete unreliable flakes.

The only things that keep me going now are just 2 or 3 friends that I hang out with regularly, my job and my photography.  I have to find a side gig to pay off my crippling debt that the ex girlfriend left me with.  I now have to pay for the whole rent for the apartment.  I have to pay for all my food.  Internet, phone, car insurance, hydro, rent.  All on me.  I get that I’m an adult and I don’t want to be a parasite on someone, let alone society.  I just feel very alone and isolated.  The thing I miss the most is coming home to someone and going to bed alone.  

In the spring of 2023, I’ll be moving myself to Calgary, Alberta.  I just can’t stay here in Ottawa anymore.  I’m just done.  I’m so bored with the city, with everything.  I’m just going to find a room in a house somewhere and pay my $600 a month.  I literally have no one to rely on.  Just myself.  I know I’m not the only one in this situation.  And I know most people have it worse than myself.

I think, from now on, I’m going to spend the rest of my life alone.  That is quite sad to say at the age of 47.  But the way things are going right now with society, with women who want to act like and be men, it’s just not worth dating anymore.  All you have is miserable single mothers who have unbelievably high standards that for most guys are unattainable.  95% of women now go after the 1% of guys who make $100,000, are over 6 feet tall and whatever else.  I hope things change in the coming months.  I’m 47.  I don’t go to clubs, bars.  I spend the majority of my time alone.  

I need to change my location.  I need to change me.  I need to be in the mountains.  I was there in 2017 for 4 months and I was happy.  Driving and seeing the mountains.  Walking in the mountains and breathing the fresh air.  Taking pictures and videos.  That was the best time of my life.  I have to recapture that.

Video only

So there have been a few changes in the past two weeks.  I got my new 2021 Apple iPad Pro with the M1 based processor, 1TB of storage and 16GB of RAM.  I also got a Sony FDR AX700b camcorder which shoots amazing 4K HDR videos.  I am all setup to do great video work.  The weather has fantastic today and should remain so for the next 4-6 days.  No humidity and no heat.  No rain.  Just clear skies with a few big, puffy clouds.  Tonight after work, I will be going out and shoot a video for YouTube and get some stock for Pond5.  I am doing less and less photography and more video.  There is just more money in shooting video then there is in photography.  I’m still going to do photos for Adobe Stock but I’ll be focusing more on video production.

Now if you asked me 10 years ago, I’d laugh at you if you told me I’d be doing video as well as photography.  I actually look forward to getting outside with the camera and camcorder.  I hate being stuck inside behind a computer.  I’d rather be shooting.  Don’t get me wrong, I love to edit videos and photos but I just enjoy setting up a camera and camcorder.  I still hate being in front of a camcorder.  I just hate being on video as a I do not like how l look and sound.

I think this weekend, we’ll be going up to Algonquin Park.  Not the highway 60 route, but we’ll go up to the northern part of the park.  Who knows.  It’s always a last minute decision.

I've been only shooting with the iPhone 11 Pro Max (64GB)

 The weather has been miserable here in Ottawa for the past 2 weeks or so.  We've gotten another dump of snow this week. I haven't touched my Sony a7R Mark II or any of my camcorders in about 2 weeks.  I've been using my Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max (64GB) for all of my photography in the past two weeks.  I carry my iPhone with me everywhere I go.  I use to obviously keep contact with my family, my fiancee and work.  I'm currently listening to some music via my phone and my brand new AirPods Pro earphones.  That is another story for another day.  I don't know yet how I feel about the AirPods Pro.  They sound great in the ear.  The noise cancellation is fantastically amazing.  But back to photography.

There are multiple reasons why I upgraded to the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max with the 512GB of internal storage.  First, is the storage.  My current phone has on 64GB of internal storage.  For a Pro designated phone, it should come with a minimum of 256GB of storage and have the options of 512GB and 1TB of storage.  My new phone will have 512GB of storage which is enough storage to store all my music, documents, photos and videos that I plan on shooting.  Eventually I will run out of space on my phone, iPad and iCloud.  But not if I manage the storage with some logical thought.  For vlogs, I'm going to be deleting whatever footage I get after the vlog is updated to YouTube.  I will also be uploading the B roll to Pond5 or Adobe Stock for sale, if they get accepted.  

The phone will shoot 4K/60fps video.  On my current phone, I'd shoot for 30 minutes and I'd run out of storage.  Yes 30 minutes is a long time for video but when you don't have access to Wi-Fi or external storage, 30 minutes is not a long time.  512GB should be good enough to get the shot or video.  I'll be editing everything on my 2018 Apple iPad Pro with 512GB of storage.

I've been looking at videos of Apples own M1 based laptops and computers.  They seem to be very impressive.  Even the Macbook Air.  I want portability and all day battery life.  I get that with my current iPad Pro and I'll get it with the new iPhone 12 Pro Max.  

I think within the next 2-3 iterations of the iPhone, most DSLR and Point and Shoot cameras will be obsolete.  Most Point and Shoot cameras are obsolete now.  Along with P&S cameras, most camcorders are obsolete for public consumption.  99% of kids and adults have either an iPhone or an Android phone.  The phone operating system and hardware will just keep getting better and better.  As a photographer myself, I keep changing equipment every couple of years.  My current equipment will stay with me for quite a while I think just because it's so capable to meet my needs as a photographer and videographer.  

The iPhone 12 Pro Max with iOS 14.3 will give me the ability to shoot in ProRaw which will give me 25MB files.  That's more than enough information in the photo to play around with.  I just wish the phone came with a 70-200MM type lens for those close up shots.  Eventually I think Apple will be able to do that through software and hardware.  By then, mirrorless and DSLR cameras will not be needed and everyone will just carry around a phone with them.  

You can pretty much do 99% of stuff you need to do on a phone and a tablet.  Soon you'll be able to properly code on an iPad.  Laptops and desktops will eventually not be needed and everyone will be walking around with just a phone and iPad type tablet.  With 5G added to all new devices, we won't even need Wi-FI.  That's if the data plans increase and prices continue to fall.  Unless you're in Canada where cell phone plans continue to increase in price.

I’ve had enough with laptops/desktops

So I do my photography with a Sony a7R II, a 42.4 megapixel beast.  I shoot my footage with a Canon Vixia HF G50, a 4K/30fps camcorder and I edit everything on a 2018 Apple iPad Pro with the 512GB hard drive, the 12.9” screen and 4GB of memory.  I was thinking of upgrading the iPad Pro to the 2020 iPad Pro with the 1TB hard drive and 6GB of RAM.  From what I have read, the new 2020 Apple iPad Pro is only 1% faster than the 2018 Apple iPad Pro.  Is it worth upgrading?  Hell no.  Not for $1949 plus tax.  I did get the new Apple keyboard though for the iPad.  It should be here in a few weeks.  I have absolutely no need for a laptop or a desktop to edit my photography or my footage.  The iPad Pro is just a beast of a powerhouse.  Maybe I will upgrade in 2021 when they bring out the A14X chip.  The 12.9” screen is just fine.  I can edit fine detail in my photography in Affinity Photo or Pixelmator Photo.  Apple Photos is just fine for my video editing I believe.  I don’t do heavy edits in any app.  I just shoot in RAW for photography.  File sizes are about 85 megabytes and the iPad Pro has no problem handling these types of file sizes.  The Canon Vixia HF G50 outputs 500-600 megabyte files for a minute of 4K footage which is all I use to upload to Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, Pond5 and Storyblocks.

The only problem I can foresee for myself is file storage.  I may need to upgrade in a year or two for the 1TB hard drive.  If Apple puts a 2TB, 4TB or an 8TB hard drive into future iPads, there will be no reason to buy a laptop or a desktop.  Apple will just need to upgrade their online storage.  With the current 2TB cap for $12 a month is just not enough.  I’d probably need 4-8TB of online storage.  I would be willing to pay $20-25 a month for 4-8TB of online storage.

I have decided

I started a new job this week that pays really well.  I mean really well.  Enough that I can save my photography money and put away some money into my TFSA account.  I'm making enough money to pay off my credit card debt and save some money.  

July 2019 has been off to a good start so far.  In the first 7 days, I've sold roughly $200US of photos and footage.  The drone I want is roughly $2030 before tax.  So I'm looking at about $2333.00 with tax for the drone.  Hopefully, if sales are going the way they are now, I'll have the money in about six months.  So, by my estimates, I think I'll have a new drone in December.  And if things go well as well, I'll have my credit card debt paid off by then so I can buy the Sony a7R III body.  I want to do my landscape, wildlife photography on a more serious basis so I need a higher resolution camera body.  If anyone at Sony reads this, I switched to Sony last year from Canon.  The technology in a Sony camera is so much better than in a Canon camera.

I love the high megapixel count on the full frame sensor in the Sony a7R III.  I also love Affinity Photo on my 2018 iPad Pro.  Once iPadOS comes out in September I am ditching my Windows and Mac laptops and sticking with the iPad Pro.

Podcasts

Spring is finally here in Ottawa.  Doesn't feel like it today with a windy, cold day.  Had to run around and get stuff done today.  I start a new contract on this coming Monday.  It's a long one.  Till March 31, 2020 with the possibility of two one year contract extensions.  I don't think I have to worry about a job looking for a job anytime soon.  Which is a good thing.  I need this.  It pays well too.  Above sixty five thousand dollars a year which is fantastic.  I'll be able to pay off some credit card debt and maybe go on a vacation or two.

To help out, I am thinking of creating some podcasts and doing photo reviews as a YouTube channel to earn some other money on the side.  I of course am not getting any support from family or the girlfriend.  They do not support my photography career.  But luckily I am not here to make everybody else happy.  I have to do what I enjoy doing.  And that is spending time with the camera.  

The good thing working in downtown Ottawa is I can bring my Sony RX100 Mark VI with me.  If you've read any of my previous posts, this is by far THE best pocket camera out there.  So after work, I can go walk around downtown Ottawa and take photos incognito with the Sony RX100 Mark VI and no one will notice.  During the summers, every Wednesday, there a lot of people doing yoga on Parliament Hill.  A few years back, I was on the hill with my Canon EOS 6D and a Canon f2.8 16-35mm lens.  I of course got stopped by the RCMP and told to show them what pictures I had taken because there were complaints about photographers "peeping" women with the spandex pants on.  I showed the RCMP my shots which were all wide angle shots of people on Parliament Hill.  With the Sony RX100 Mark VI, I can take those peeper shots and put the camera in my jean pocket and no one will be the wiser.  Except for me of course.  Now, I upload pretty much all my shots to Shutterstock, Pond5 and Storyblocks, so those peeper shots won't make it onto those sites.  This would of course make an excellent podcast about peeper photographers and the RCMP.

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. 

Finally getting some help at work. Maybe!

It's been a month and half since I came back to my employer.  I was supposed to get some help a month ago but that didn't pan out.  Then I was supposed to get some help two weeks ago.  That din't pan out either.  Then I was supposed to get some help this week.  I was supposed to get help this week but that is not happening.  Again.  I.T. is becoming a total crap show.  Working for government is a waste.  So much red tape, they have meetings about meetings about meetings.  People are so oblivious of what's happening inside the government, they're too blind to see it or wilfully ignorant of the facts.  It has gotten worse since the election of twinkle toes back in 2015.  

I want to start and run a streamlined and transparent photography business.  I haven't shot a wedding in years.  I try and stay away from weddings.  I'm thinking of running a travel photography type business.  Of course there are positive and negatives to that.  

I am getting really tired.  I haven't been on a vacation in months.  I haven't taken a day off in months because I'm the only guy here working.  I haven't gotten help in the last 6 weeks.  It's pretty much all on me here and I'm making mistakes because I'm being pulled in different directions.  I just need a few days off and recoup.  I want to do what I enjoy and do some photography.

It's mid month

I've sold 1 video for roughly $260.  I got about $130 for that.  Other than that, I've sold maybe 40 photos for roughly $0.36 each on Shutterstock.  Shutterstock is somewhat disappointing this month.  I think there's been one or two months where I haven't sold a video on Shutterstock and it really hinders sales and payouts.  I'm not losing hope yet as we're only half way through the month.  After Fine Art America and Pond5 pay out what they owe me, I'll be about a third of the way there to get the new Sony RX100 Mark VI.  If a the Sony RX100 Mark VII comes out in April or May, I'll wait to buy that camera if it's worth it.

I am still editing photos from the trip to Parc Omega this past weekend.  Took a lot of phots and videos so it takes time.  I'm using ON1 Capture Raw 2019 to edit the photos.  It's a new program for me so I'm learning the ins and outs of the program.  So far so god.

I am getting the Sony RX100 Mark V fixed tomorrow.  The latch that holds the battery in the camera broke on me a few months ago while I was doing some astrophotography with it.  It's about time I get it fixed.  I'm conflicted somewhat about getting the Sony RX100 Mark VI as I do have the Sony RX100 Mark V.  The only new feature would be the 24-200MM lens.  It would mean I'd carry around one less camera as the Mark VI would be good enough to shoot stills and footage.  I'd just have to carry around a light tripod with the RX100 Mark VI and that's pretty much it.  I don't shoot headshots for people.  I focus mainly on landscapes and wildlife.  I'd like to get the Sony RX10 Mark IV for wildlife as it does have a 24-600MM lens on it.  It would mean I could sit back at a good distance and not disturb the wildlife.  That I think will be my next purchase with my photography money.

I wish...

...Google Ad Sense was explained better as far as earnings go.  How you earn money?  How you earn more money?  Questions like that.

I have no patience. Not a photography related post.

I'm supposed to find out about a job tomorrow with Global Affairs Canada tomorrow.  I also have a meeting with a pimp tomorrow to talk about possible job opportunities with them.  These meetings I find are a complete waste of time as you meet with them and in my experience never hear from them again.  I'm 90% sure I have the job with Global Affairs Canada because I've worked with them a few times in the past.  I've pretty much given up going back to CMHC for phase two of the project.  They are going to lose all three of us that basically ran the project and did 90% of the work.  

I'm wanting to get another drone so bad.  I don't know what DJI will do for me with my last one that disconnected from my remote and I lost it in some deep brush.  I want to go buy another one.  But without a job, I'm unwilling to spend money on a drone I could get back for free.  I'm supposed to find out either tomorrow or Thursday.  If I get a new one from DJI, that would be so awesome.  I want to be flying again.  I think having a drone for my photography/footage business is an amazing opportunity which could make my business grow and give me some awesome opportunity.

I have a PayPal button on my blog and I'm not one to beg.  I've always worked for what I have.  I don't depend on the charity of others.  When I was fighting cancer (I won), I never wanted material things or money.  I wanted to work and no one gave me a chance.  Luckily I survived and I'm back in good health.  The only way people could support me is if they buy my photography or footage from one of the sites I upload to daily.  You can find it on my main blog on the right hand side.  Just sign up and buy.  If you're a photographer or videographer, you can sign up to Shutterstock here and become a contributor as well.  If you get others to be contributors as well, than you can make more money as well.  It's a win win for all.

Passive income from photography

I primarily sell on 3 microstock agencies that are actually worth the time.  They include:

• Shutterstock
• Pond5
• Storyblocks

Granted, I sell more photos than I do footage but when I sell footage, it makes me a lot more money. If you asked me 4 or 5 years ago if I would ever do footage, I'd tell you you're crazy.  I remember being at my favorite location to photograph animals.  I had taken the day off from work.  The light was just amazing.  At that time I was using a Canon EOS 6D and a Sigma f5-6.3 150-500MM lens.  I shot the video just to see if I could and see if it would actually sell.

I got home.  Dumped all my files onto my computer.  Edited and uploaded everything to Shutterstock and luckily it got accepted.  I believe it was a few weeks later that it actually sold.  And it has been my best selling video since.  You can view it here.

So now I only upload to the above mentioned sites and it's been great ever since.  You too can sell photos and videos as well.  Shutterstock is by far my best website where I sell my photos and videos.  You can sign up here and start today.

Image theft in the age of Google.

As a photographer who sells his product on several micro stock sites and thru my own website, image theft and unauthorized image reproduction is the biggest threat to my business, my livelihood and my number one income online.  

One has to ask themselves.  Why do people steal someone else' photography?  The answer is quite simple.  Because they can.  People will steal and claim it as their own.  They bought the camera, they went to school and got an education in Photography and image editing.  They bought the computer, learnt Photoshop.  They're the one that took and edited that really good photograph.  

When I see one of my images being used by someone else who claims it as their own, it hurts me more financially than emotionally.  Of course I get insulted and mad that someone takes credit for my work and makes money off of my hard work.  I do a lot of nature and landscape photography.  On a regular trip to take animal photos, I travel at least an hour out of the city to see if I can try and get a photo of a moose or a bear or a deer or some bird I've never seen before.  Before I even enter my vehicle, I have to make sure my batteries are charged for my camera and camcorder.  I have to verify all my equipment works.  I have to pack it up and make sure I have all of it before I go.  Then there's the gas to get to where I'm going. Wear and tare on my vehicle, gas for the car.  If I go out, I'm probably eating breakfast, snacks during the day.  There's also my time.  That is exactly what you're stealing.  Image thieves can be high school students to multi-billion, multi-national corporations.  They are in fact one and the same.

Google and other search engines are the greatest threat to online piracy of pretty much anything and everything.  I can google my own name and hundreds of my own photographs and videos come up and all I have to do is right click on the image and I get a high definition image downloaded right to my computer hard drive.

As I upload to places like Shutterstock, Pond5 and Storyblocks, these agencies have or should have a legal departments to protect themselves and their contributors like myself from image theft.  But what if you post to your own website like I occasionally do.  There is code out there you can place on your website that will disable the Right click functionality of a users mouse so they cannot Right Click on your image and download it.  I've placed it on my website.  

What legal recourse do you, as an individual have to fight image thieves?  Litigate, email campaigns?  All take time and money right?  You can start a take down notice through the DMCA.  I haven't used it yet but I'm pretty sure it's the fastest and easiest way to start besides emailing the company, user or school using your work for financial gain.  

Value your work and go after the people and business' who steal from you.  It is your livelihood.  It is your passion.  Take care of it.

My experience with micro stock agencies

For the most part, my experience has been rock solid dealing with micro stock agencies such as Shutterstock, Bigstockphoto, Fotolia, Alamy, Pond5 and Videoblocks.  There are agencies that I will not work with again such as Dreamstime, Canstockphoto and 123RF.  While having portfolios on those last three agencies, the work is just not worth the return.  In 2+ years of having portfolios on those agencies, I've gotten one payout between the three of them totalling $51.00USD.  Uploading, keywording and submitting your photos or videos is just not worth the time and effort.

By far, Shutterstock is where the action is.  That's where I have my biggest portfolio and that's where I make the majority of my sales.  I've just start shooting video in the past 9 months and have had a great success with it on Shutterstock, Fotolia, Pond5 and Videoblocks.  I suggest doing both video and photo work.  Doing video as well gives clients potential options as well.  

As you can see on my blog I have links to my various portfolios.  If you want to sign up, please use the necessary links provided and sign up that way.  I spend about an hour or two a week just uploading to the various websites including editing, keywording and uploading.  It's a great return on investment and time.

First to 2500!

I always thought that Fotolia or iStockphoto would be the first to 2500 images and/or videos to 2500 files available for sale.  Today at about 14:00 I reached 2519 files on Shutterstock.  Shutterstock accepts Editorial shots along with videos and that's what put me over the 2500 mark.

I only started micro stock just about 2 years ago.  I had a pretty good go at Fotolia and I have 2352 files available for sale.  Fotolia was pretty much outpacing Shutterstock until about a few months ago when I bought the Canon EF f2.8 70-200MM L series lens.  After that, pretty much everything I photographed was accepted on both sites.  

I absolutely love photography and videography.

Shutterstock continues to impress

Now I know photography wouldn't make me rich.  It's a hobby for me that I make some money from. I'm more of a semi-professional as I make some money from selling my photos and videos on stock photography sites.  I sell on about 7 sites from 123RF to Videoblocks.  But my best site is Shutterstock.  In the last 8 months, my acceptance rate at Shutterstock has been incredibly high as I've added over a thousand images and videos to my portfolio.  Sales have been steady with my last month being my worst since October of 2015.  

Fotolia continues to be my second best site as far as acceptance and sales.  They unfortunately do not accept editorial shots or footage so they're losing out on a great number of photographs and stock footage.  

Shutterstock and Fotolia continue to impress me both.  I think they're the top of the top of micro stock sites.

My Shutterstock and Fotolia portfolios are available to view here by just following the previous links.  My own website is here if you are interested in any of my photography.

If you're interested in selling with either Shutterstock or Fotolia, just click on the respective links.