DTCOP Loc: Camarillo, CA

I'm been bumming around the stock photography biz for a few years (more than a decade) and I am seeing it decline in profitability. I am looking for other sources of sales,,,, other than sitting in a tent at art shows... and maybe even get a good web page. One Hog I spoke to over the years about another subject had a page that listed his works and also gave prices and shipping info. Anyone want to throw their educated and experienced hat into the ring. Blessed are the poor for they shall work in stock photography... at least some will. I need suggestions on good web pages hosting and operations.
Thanks
Don Treadwell

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Don, maybe you just need to revamp your stock portfolio or diversify it.
Pick a specialized field, like automotive, or medical or insurance........
Anyway, just an idea. Good luck. ;-)
SS

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

It was probably Fine Art America

Wendy2 Loc: California

As far as websites, I use Zenfolio. It is clean, crisp and once you get past the learning curve, pretty easy to use. You can sell products on it, but I have not done that yet.

If you use the code below, you will get a discount (if you decide to purchase a website from them) and I get a credit.

Code D62-2K6-RVV

Anyone who wants to use this welcome to do so.

TheDman Loc: USA

I was doing well with istockphoto back in the day, but their management decisions have long since killed them off. Now I sit in a tent at art shows. It's a lot of work, but has been profitable.

As for web sites, you can't just throw a web site out there and sit back and wait for the sales to roll in. They won't. Web sites are "sales support". They are a way for people who have already found you elsewhere (art shows, etsy, etc) to reconnect with you once they've decided to buy. They're necessary, but not a source of sales by themselves.

Capture48 Loc: Arizona

I understand your comment about stock photography. I have a friend that shoots stock. he claims to make 30K per year, but it took 5 years of making nothing to get there. It costs him 2 cameras a year, he shoots more than 300K photos per year and gets a very small percentage of those uploaded. Of the ones that sells he makes a few dollars off some, not a lot of money for the time he puts in. Hours per day, plus travel expenses, cameras sets etc. He has to add at a minimum 50 keywords per image, people don't realize how much work it really is. Processing time is long, can't even have a single spot anywhere in the photo. The time alone needed to post process is incredible. My guess is my friend barely breaks even each year. The problem with stock photography is that it has been around long enough to store tons of material. I just downloaded some backgrounds from a stock site I will use on some Christmas shoots. I paid about $10 for 4 background in medium resolution. The photographer most likely only got $1 of that money. But if you've been around the stock photo business for a while, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. Would love to hear your experiences around stock sometime!

The problem is there is no free lunch, anytime you want to make money, you will have to work a lot. You just don't put up a website and customers flock to it, doesn't work that way. Even using Zenfolio, or SmugMug you have to manage the website, build price lists, manage products, market yourself, shoot, Post process, and upload photos etc. You need to spend time blogging, building and maintaining a digital footprint, Facebook, Blogs, Twitter, it's all a ton of work. Brick & mortar stores just don't work for Photogs anymore.

If you find a better formula for success, bottle it and sell it for a ton of $$$$

Good luck.

Jcmarino

I love Fine Art America and have done well there. I also use Smugmug but there just more for portraits. Check out Fine Art America.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Al Beatty Loc: Boise, Idaho

Hi Don,

Making dollars out of photography can be difficult especially if you are like me, a person who is not a particularly great photographer. That said I am pretty good at getting the 5 basic shots needed to illustrate books and magazine articles. For me writing about fly fishing is what ended up working for me but almost everyone is an expert at something and there are magazines for just about EVERY profession. I got my start as a writer in telephone technology magazines back in the 80's (my day job in those days was for a major telephone company). I can not think of a profession that doesn't have a magazine or two that covers its discipline. They are a great place to start because you are already skilled in that particular subject.

I do sell a few pictures, but the bulk of my for-profit photography is taking pictures to support magazine articles. An article I sent to an editor a couple of weeks ago was about 3000 words long and used 42 photographs to illustrate it. I'm not getting rich but do get some "stuff" published from time to time. Take care & ...

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

Don,

Check out my page here: http://3-michael-gordon.artistwebsites.com/

If you like it, browse around: http://fineartamerica.com/ Fine Art America. They print multiple products and ship worldwide.

Michael G

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

I have a friend that had some success in mostly Getty stock photography. She has told me of similar declines and she has stopped dealing with them. I don't think she has found any other sources of revenue except that she has been dabbling in some kind of overlays for photo enhancements.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Don, I have my own web site, set up way before any of the photosharing sites existed. I've managed to sell works from that site on occasion. Outside of the few dollars per month hosting and service fee, I keep the entire sale price.

Additionally, I find that having your own personal domain name appears a bit more professional. I know you can do that with some photo sites.

The concept of having a web site, with a domain name, and an email address linked to that site seems to have a good bit of appeal to the clients I have.
--Bob

Wendy2 Loc: California

You can have your own domain name with Zenfolio. You also have a choice of selling products through their system, which costs money, or sell them through their web site in another way in which you are not charged. I have not done it so I don't know how it works.