Become a Shutterstock contributor

Want to earn a passive income with your photography, sign up to be a Shutterstock photographer.  I signed up to Shutterstock back in May 2014.  I started off with 7 out of 10 photos being accepted.  Trying to get accepted was a lot harder back then, than it is now.  Currently you have have to have 1 out of 10 photos accepted.  I had to get 7 out of 10.  It took me a while to get accepted.  Back then I thought my photography was great.  In focus with no noise at all.  It took me a while to figure out what Shutterstock wanted.  Almost six years later, I have over 15,500 photos accepted and over 1,500 footage clips accepted.  I regularly make payout which is not hard to do.  Just sell $35 worth of photography or footage.  If you sell one clip a month, you'll make payout easily.  I think I haven't make payout once in the last 4 years or so.  You can sign up by clicking on this link https://submit.shutterstock.com/?ref=1070795.  It will take you to the Shutterstock website and all you have to do is create an account, upload some ID and then start uploading.  I've submitted photos from various cameras including my old Samsung Galaxy s7 Edge, my current Apple iPhone 8 Plus.  I also have pictures taken with a Canon EOS 350D which is an old camera by todays standards.  Equipment does not matter anymore it seems.  Just start.

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.

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.

Shooting video for stock.

I've started to shoot video for uploads to the various micro stock agencies that I deal with.  If you asked me 2 years ago or even 18 months ago, I'd say you'd be crazy saying I'd be shooting video as well.  I was all photography, all the time.  I knew Photoshop and Apple Aperture 3.0 inside out.  That's all I wanted to know and do.  Now I just use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC to edit my photos and Apple Final Cut Pro X to edit my videos.  I am learning Photoshop CC again to get my certification.

As far as shooting video I just use a Canon Vixia HF R62 to shoot 1080p 60fps video that I upload to sites like Pond5, Videoblocks, Fotolia and Shutterstock.  I mostly edit the video on my early 2013 Macbook Pro which has enough horse power to edit 1080p video.  Last year I bought a 2015 iMac with a 27" 5k monitor to do 4k videos.  After shooting with the Sony FDR AX33 4k camera and uploading to the various websites, I only sold 1080p video.  Nothing 4k.  So I sold the Sony FDR AX33 4k camcorder earlier this year.  Since my early 2013 Macbook Pro has the horsepower to edit 1080p 60fps video, I'm looking to trade or sell my 2015 iMac for a Canon Vixia HF G40 video camera which is more of a prosumer camcorder than the Canon Vixia HF R62.  Mind you the R62 is a great little camera which does what I want.  Another reason I want to sell the iMac is that I want to be portable.  My 2013 Macbook Pro allows me to do that.  I just add an external hard drive to my laptop for off line storage and I'm ready to go anywhere at anytime.  

So if you're looking to buy a mint 2015 iMac with a 27" 5k monitor with upgraded RAM, let me know.