Your Best Oldest Picture Never Sold Submitted in October

[Betty LaRue]

Sometimes I look back at the early months/years of image uploads. So this is the image I thought for sure would sell back when I wore rose-colored glasses in OCTOBER (year was 2007). I joined in Aug. 2006 but only uploaded twice, both failures. Discouraged, I didn’t bother again until 2007.

Post something from your first October after joining Alamy. One that kind of excited you at the time, but never sold, ever. Submit two or three for this month. When November comes, we’ll do the one you had greatest hopes for your earliest November. 

I think it would be cool for us to look at each other’s keywords & if you think of some not used that you think are applicable, suggest them.

Here is three from me. I want to see your never sold best from your oldest October.

What. Was. I. Thinking!! Concepts, I guess. Pretty Pitiful, but I was excited at the time.

 

 

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by Betty LaRue
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[wiskerke]

October 2007. Concepts were all the rage apparently. Like so many times, not with the clients.

It seemed such a good idea at the time. Brand new minivan + pumpkin wearing a safety belt: what could go wrong.

It was a rental btw. The car not the pumpkin.

 

wim

[Mr Standfast]

 

Lovely idea Betty, this will make me revisit old key words again.

 

I'll just put the one up. Busy checking October 2007 key words, again....shocking!!

 

Sony A700 12MP so  images were resized for Alamy's 48MP. And all before ALAMY put a size checker in the upload machine, failing QC for size was a thing then!

 

[Roadrunner]

The official car of my midlife crisis, Banff Alberta

Good times 😉

Uploaded in 2011, I thought it was going to be a bestseller.

 

 

 

 

[Steve F]

I didn't upload in my first October, but here's from my 2nd October, 2016:

 

A couple looking across Rhossili Bay to the Old Rectory

 

Austrian visitors to Dover's Hill looking at the Gloucestershire countryside

 

Ditto bad keywording and captions....

[Phil Robinson]

These are the first two pics I submitted to Alamy that I haven't since deleted (which I have done to a LOT) from October 2004 - my Interrailing days.

Both taken on that old 'film' stuff and scanned.

 

 

Lake Bled, Slovenia

 

 

Bergamo

 

Neither has sold on Alamy, though the first brought me my biggest ever payout from my previous agent. Over £300 because the slide came back from a potential client with a tiny scratch on it, rendering it unusable (at the time, ha ha!)

Edited October 18, 2023 by Phil Robinson

[Betty LaRue]

1 minute ago, Phil Robinson said:

These are the first two pic I submitted to Alamy that I haven't since deleted (which I have done to a LOT) from October 2004

Bot taken on that old 'film' stuff and scanned.

 

 

 

Neither has sold on Alamy, though the first brought me my biggest ever payout from my previous agent. Over £300 because it came back from a potential client with a tiny scratch on it, rendering it unusable (at the time, ha ha!)

Does anyone remember when submitting by CD ended? When I began, yes the upsizing & CDs were required. Umm, & weren’t they Tiffs? I can’t quite seem to clear out the cobwebs from my brain to fetch that information.  I do remember when we were able to submit online that that’s when the Alamy catalog exploded. If I remember correctly, it seems it was around 60 million when I began. Mailing the CDs off, especially from the US, the turnaround took a long time. Then, if one had a failure, you did it all over again so it took a long time to get your numbers up.

[Phil Robinson]

4 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said:

Does anyone remember when submitting by CD ended? 

My last submission involving a disc and a stamp was July 2007. Yes, they were TIFFs.
The only time I ever featured in a press release was at the end 2007 when I submitted Alamy's 10 millionth image.
That one never sold either.

[Betty LaRue]

1 minute ago, Phil Robinson said:

My last submission involving a disc and a stamp was July 2007. Yes, they were TIFFs.
The only time I ever featured in a press release was at the end 2007 when I submitted Alamy's 10 millionth image.
That one never sold either.

Great! I know that when I joined, I didn’t have to submit from CD for too long. Just long enough to hate the process! 

[Allan Bell]

 

28th Oct 2009

 

Thatched cottage Milton 

 

 

31st Oct 2009

 

Avebury stone circle and village Wiltshire England

 

 

garden privy cum potting shed store Littlecote Berkshire England 

 

 

Allan

 

[Michael Ventura]

I made a trip up to the Finger Lakes region of New York State, back in 2010, in late September and very few have sold.  I really liked a bunch I shot at an apple orchard.  This one of a few kids playing on a tire (tyre) swing, I liked a lot.

 

[Cecile Marion]

Nice idea, Betty.

 

Maybe not the sharpest photo, but I’ve always liked this picture of a live fox in front of a mural. It was taken at Homosassa Springs Florida State Park, where all the animals have been rescued and cannot be released back into the wild. 
 

[Betty LaRue]

I do find it enlightening to see where my photographic mind was after I joined. I really didn’t understand the concept of stock well at all, and even less about keywords. Not that I wasn’t reading everything I could find about it. Revisiting these images for this thread was fun.

Remember…post images from your first October after joining. The ones you just knew would sell but never did.
 

Cecile, I can’t understand why your fox never sold!

Looking at your keywords, they look good. Although I didn’t see “captive fox” or “captive wild fox”. You used “captivity” in your phrases.

If anyone has time, you’re welcome to look at my keywords & tell me what I missed.

Edited October 18, 2023 by Betty LaRue

[Cecile Marion]

Thanks, Betty. I’ll add those phrases, too. I don’t think the image has ever been zoomed either, though that doesn’t seem to make much difference these days. 

[John Mitchell]

Interesting idea, Betty. I uploaded this image in Oct. 2021. Thought it might attract some attention, but none so far. Anyway, I like it. My opinion is that our best pictures are the ones we take for ourselves.

 

Edited October 19, 2023 by John Mitchell

[Ed Rooney]

 

You want old? This one of an old fisherman on the Italian island of Giglio was shot on film in the 1960s.

 

 

This one in Rome was shot with my first digital Nikon in 2008.

 

 

And here we have an amazing little Dutch boy in Vondelpark Amsterdam who had very good English.

 

 

 

[Betty LaRue]

It’s amazing to see so many excellent images that go unsold. We know what sells in our ports. For me, the best ones are botanical & storefronts/interiors. Other subjects here & there. BTW, Ed, I do sell signs also!! They are included roughly in the storefront category because they are connected by a thin thread. I thought my travel would do better than it has. I’m pleasantly surprised when one sells.

And the people doing things? Hah!

[Steve Hyde]

I joined Alamy in 2010 and this was one, of only a few images I uploaded at that time., I didn't really upload much at all until 2015. I'd been concentrating on wedding photography through those years and didn't have the time or inclination to try shooting stock images as well.

 

Anyway here's an image uploaded in October 2010 that's never sold. Its Carew Castle in Pembrokeshire, Wales. I've done a lot better with processing this image since. That was probably worked on pre my Eizo monitor and before I got it bit better with photoshop. 

 

[Avpics]

One from just a small number added in October 2013, continuing much of my early months of stock uploads from files on my hard drives of airshow photography.

 

 

[Bryan]

Interesting idea ! This one dates back to October 2008, I can't recall it having sold. An angler fishing in Tunstall Reservoir, Co. Durham, England

 

[ReeRay]

Waiting for Thomas the Tank Engine (2012)

 

 

Twins x 2 (2013)

 

 

Bamboo Bowls (2014)

 

 

[Betty LaRue]

So many great images unsold, but who knows what the future holds. Although it’s been a long time since anything from my first year has been licensed.

[Betty LaRue]

On 19/10/2023 at 00:13, John Mitchell said:

Interesting idea, Betty. I uploaded this image in Oct. 2021. Thought it might attract some attention, but none so far. Anyway, I like it. My opinion is that our best pictures are the ones we take for ourselves.

 

I agree. I do imagine that photographers are drawn to the autumn leaves, they are so beautiful. As a result, there (without my checking) must be thousand of them on Alamy. I have some really beautiful autumn landscapes my portfolio. I have sold a small few, but expected they would be better received than they have been. I submitted a bunch to the POTM for October.

I plan to paint a watercolor using one for a reference.

Edited to add:

Checking my port, I have licensed 17 autumn images. Two were closeup similars to yours, so hang in there.

I license way, way more spring blooming images.

Edited October 26, 2023 by Betty LaRue

[John Mitchell]

On 26/10/2023 at 07:12, Betty LaRue said:

I agree. I do imagine that photographers are drawn to the autumn leaves, they are so beautiful. As a result, there (without my checking) must be thousand of them on Alamy. I have some really beautiful autumn landscapes my portfolio. I have sold a small few, but expected they would be better received than they have been. I submitted a bunch to the POTM for October.

I plan to paint a watercolor using one for a reference.

Edited to add:

Checking my port, I have licensed 17 autumn images. Two were closeup similars to yours, so hang in there.

I license way, way more spring blooming images.

 

Thanks for the encouraging words. You've done well to license that many autumn images. As we know, images like this typically don't do well on Alamy, so I'm not really surprised this one hasn't licensed. Actually, I tend not to submit most pictures that I take mainly for my own enjoyment. These days, I find myself moving away from "stock" and concentrating on having more fun with photography. Life is too short to worry about passing QC. 😉

[Betty LaRue]

YOUR BEST OLDEST PICTURE SUBMITTED IN NOVEMBER NEVER SOLD 

I was so filled with optimism. Letting Echo watch birds on my iMac. November, 2007. I was shooting with a Nikon 6.1 MP camera & upsizing then as required by Alamy.

 

Echo watching birds on my iMac until I distracted her with my camera.

 

 

Crabapples

 

BEFORE A CENTENNIAL PARADE

Edited November 4, 2023 by Betty LaRue
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