How was your January 2020?

[woofit]

Zero for Zero!

I am not sure what is happening with Alamy for my port (Small though it is), as for the last 3 months both my other 2 MS sites beat it quite handsomely. I am so glad I did not put all my eggs in one basket (after Alamy reduced our commission), and went over to the dark side last year. Last sale here was for a miserly $ as well, of which I get 40%! so maybe I should now consider Alamy a MS site these days....

[chris_rabe]

22 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

Chris, when I started out, birds were my thing. Secondary, butterflies. I threw in other things when they presented themselves. I was competing with top wildlife shooters with the most expensive equipment, which mine wasn’t. Actually my first sale was of a hummingbird, and I had a few more of birds early on that licensed. Then that has pretty much dried up.

I can’t remember the last time I sold a bird image. Or a butterfly!
A bit over a year ago, I had the opportunity to photograph an owl pair with a fledgling. I got a few good ones. Not even one zoom, let alone a sale.  
I know these types of images sell, but I think the market is flooded, the competition too stiff. I’ll not turn down a shot when presented, but I’m no longer pursuing wildlife shoots, making them my purpose. That said, if somebody should tell me where a bald eagle is accessible, I will be off like a rocket. Because that’s what makes my heart pound and my hands tremble.

It takes awhile to figure out what’s wanted. And often those subjects aren’t  what excites you to shoot. That’s when you decide how you think about what direction to go, and whether you want to think of photography as a job, shooting dull things that stand a better chance of selling, or only scratching the itch of what you love.

I am shooting the dull things now, but when the opportunity to shoot what I love presents itself, I do that, or I’d just have to slit my throat.

The hardest thing to fight is when shooting the dull things is to try to get an inspired shot of it. Because it doesn’t excite you, that’s hard to do.

Betty

 

Wildlife is for my pleasure. I would like to venture away from that a bit to hopefully find some better way of subsidising my income, but wildlife will always be something I shoot.

 

One of the few pics I have sold here is a goldcrest - and not a great pic.

 

And I do sell wildlife on MS sites - but at MS prices... but strangely, its never what I consider by better photos that do sell - it's normally those that show a more natural representation of particular animal.

 

Will I be able to compete with the best? Not now, maybe never - but i'm getting better, and not going to stop trying

 

I'm severely limited by not having a car (or licence) , and hope to have that rectified in next couple of years.

 

Anyway, that's enough off topic from me - sorry guys!

[meanderingemu]

14 minutes ago, chris_rabe said:

 

yeah, I very rarely include for wildlife:

Counts, unless seems relevant to me, like a pair mating.

Precise location - this was richmond park, but I leave royal parks out of my wildlife photos, because some places won't even accept them if those are included. Same for some other places I shoot.

 

I never considered things like "side view", etc. I can't see the relevance for a pic like this. Or most pics. I couldn't say for certain they are "young" either. 

 

As for "stag",  yeah, a lot of my images went through bulk/hasty processing, and I do have a few mistakes from that such as this.

 

definitely "winter" is omission  - possibly "landscape". 

 

And I do normally include plurals - I didn't realise "deers" was actually one

 

I know my keywording isn't perfect, and the more recent my photo was taken or processed, the better it will tend to be, as I am doing them more and more on a photo by photo basis now. Appearing in searches isn't my problem though - getting sales when I do is

 

 

 

 

 

i don't know if side view is important, but it was important enough for one person doing a search

 

as for deers the issue, is that 12 people have used it in their search, even if it's improper (actually it seems "allowable")....  on related notes, there is quite a few searches for Sheeps, have to go update my KW. 

 

most of my sales from searches that i see have been for images that were in low count searches...

 

 

 

as for forgetting KW, once a month i go through review mode looking for related i miss, doing search with derivative and related.  things like search "folklore NOT folkloric" so i can find the ones i missed

Edited February 4, 2020 by meanderingemu