Gabbro Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Two sales in morning pushed my total gross over 10K USD. I have been dreaming about this day for long time, figured I'd share the moment with my fellow contributors. Only you know how much work, agonies involved, and joy of a sale, of course pay checks. For new comers want to see a "career path" in Alamy, I started late 2007, had my first sale about a year later. Gradually build a portfolio over 5k photos, mostly travel (highly competative subject), during vacations and field trips on business (a bonus being a professional geologist). Over the last few years, sales climbed as number of photos increased, while $ per sale declined. 2012 total gross was over 4K USD. Hope the trend continues. Cheers, everyone, I'll drink for you all:~) Gabbro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Allsopp Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Well done you, (I am just about to post about the other end of this pendulum.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Thanks for sharing that. Glancing at your portfiolio, you've been to some great places that I'd love to visit at some point, particularly in the USA (like Hawaii and the Californian volcanic areas). I'm a geologist too, retired (early) from geology a few years back, and really enjoying the opportunity now to visit and photograph various geologically interesting places. When I was actually working in geology, I never really got a lot of decent photography done, at least the sort of stuff I do now where I visit and revisit localities in the hope of getting the right light and so on. I rarely get anything very good when I go on geological field trips but I do discover localities and I learn. Geology is aways fascinating - intellectually and aesthetically. There are so many amazing places, geological and geomorphological - too many for one lifetime in fact. I can't keep up with myself in terms of processing all the images I have. Only one thing to do - keep on truckin'. Best of luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losdemas Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Many congrats Gabbro! With $4K of the total coming in the last 12 months, and a nice-looking curve on your sales graph, I'll look forward to you reporting your $20K mark in another 12 months time ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidC Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Now there's a thing Gabbro - I spent fiftyplus year as a pro photographer and always felt that I was keen on geology - really enjoyed my career, but was fascinated by rocks, stones and pebbles wherever my photography took me - around my garden are lumps of the world which returned tucked in my camera bags ! (Bet that will throw a future geologist who chances upon volcanic rocks in leafy West Sussex in Southern England) Well done with your income - may it continue ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabbro Posted June 6, 2013 Author Share Posted June 6, 2013 Thanks you all! I did a quick math. For the 5K plus photo I have on Alamy, say I spent average 10 minutes on each photo from taking, editing, uploading, keywording, divide the total payments to me ~$5800, I got paid at an hourly rate of less than $7 from Alamy. That is below the minimum wage of $7.25/hr in US. So I have to ask, why am I doing this...? Truth be told, if I thought I was good enough to make a living in photgraphy, I'd have "turned pro", as one of my geologist friend did a few years ago. As far as I know, he is still supplimenting his "profession" in photography with income from his geologist "hobby". So I guess I'll keep my day job. In fact, many of my geologist friends and I share the same thought. We get to walk around on the mountains, look at the rocks, talk some fantacy, and get paid. That is hard to beat:~) MDM, saw your pictures from County Clare, Ireland. I've been to there, at Kilkee, to see Ross sandstone. Beautiful place! DavidC, we do that too, put fossils in rocks of different age, just to confuse the heck of geologist 5 million years from now:~) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 So I have to ask, why am I doing this...? Truth be told, if I thought I was good enough to make a living in photgraphy, I'd have "turned pro", as one of my geologist friend did a few years ago. As far as I know, he is still supplimenting his "profession" in photography with income from his geologist "hobby". So I guess I'll keep my day job. In fact, many of my geologist friends and I share the same thought. We get to walk around on the mountains, look at the rocks, talk some fantacy, and get paid. That is hard to beat:~) MDM, saw your pictures from County Clare, Ireland. I've been to there, at Kilkee, to see Ross sandstone. Beautiful place! DavidC, we do that too, put fossils in rocks of different age, just to confuse the heck of geologist 5 million years from now:~) For me the primary reason for doing photography is not money, it's LOVE. I love the whole process from packing my gear for a trip, the trip itself, discovering new places etc - but most of all the buzz of getting the picture I was looking for when or if it all comes together. And then seeing what I've got when I get back home on the big screen and putting the finishing touches. It's incredibly fulfilling for me. I feel really fortunate that I am enjoying my photography (and geology) so much. If I was doing it purely for the money then I would probably be incredibly stressed out. That is part of the human condition really - a bit of catch 22 - we all want to work at something we love doing but the fact of having to do it often takes the love out of it and it can end up being drudgery. I studied geology out of love for the subject as well but that lost the gloss at times when I found myself doing stuff I had to do rather than what I really wanted to do - I specialised in volcanology but eventually found myself doing something completely different when it came to survival. I've now rediscovered my enthusiasm for it all. And I'm physically fit enough to do it still. Bring it on! And talking of Clare - the upper Carboniferous of South Clare where you are talking about represents a big gap in my coverage . I've not been there for over 20 years but I'm meaning to get back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabbro Posted June 6, 2013 Author Share Posted June 6, 2013 Maybe I didn't state clear enough in my last post. I am in this not because the ~$7/hr pay rate, or $8, $9... Most of us understand you don't ever get paid enough for the time you spent, not to mention money you spent on gears and travel. Com'n let's fess up, we are in this because we are addicted:~). But, like my wife said, there are worse hobbies than this. So I'll keep doing it as long as I can get away. MDM, the last time I was at Kilkee, it was cold and windy most of the time. But the few minutes the sun peeked out BELOW the dark clouds, it was glorious! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabbro Posted June 6, 2013 Author Share Posted June 6, 2013 100K images would currently take you 8.0 yrs of 40hr weeks...? ADD: Ok, I saw JG's post on other thread. I see what you meant. It took me 5+ years to get to 5+K images. I thought I was doing good at 1K images per year. In this pace, it'll take me another 95 years to reach 100k. Conclusion, I'll NEVER have 100K images. So JG, your throne as the King of Alamy is safe, from me anyway. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Most of geologists are math challenged, admit or not. So show me the math, starts from kindergarten. Here is how I did mine. 5000 photos x 10 mins = 50,000 mins = 833 hrs, then X $7 = ~$5,800, roughly what I got paid. 833 hrs in 5.5 years is roughly 150 hrs per year. So, at current pace, I'll reach 10K images in roughly another 5-6 years, at 150 hrs per year. Do I pass the math test? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kilpatrick Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 Not going to give out the details, but yesterday a search popped up for me which reminded I need sometimes to update images. So I dug into my wallet to find the means to shoot a new version of a previous seller which had been searched (unlikely to sell, as the info was no longer current). I created three small still life arrangements on my desk, opened the shutters on the window, picked up the camera which sits next to me and made three shots. I spent minute or so on each of two, just setting clarity and exposure etc for a good impact, and ten minutes on one with detailed retouching. Uploaded. Just checked, and from April to now (actually, a period of about six weeks) I've added over 140 new images which are not a result of any specific planned shooting. They are just images taken during other activities, or in the studio of objects, or as with these instant desktop shots. I would probably be adding 1000 new Alamy images a year without any travel shoots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 Most of geologists are math challenged, admit or not. So show me the math, starts from kindergarten. MDM, the last time I was at Kilkee, it was cold and windy most of the time. But the few minutes the sun peeked out BELOW the dark clouds, it was glorious! In my experience, most geologists are very aesthetically challenged when it comes to taking pictures - hammers and lens caps being prime offenders - not to mention complete absence of any knowledge of photographic techinique. That should in theory leave a gap in the market except the market is probably extremely small as most scientific publications do not purchase images. As far as the Irish (and British) Atlantic weather goes, when the light is good, it can be very good. One needs to be on the ball and eternally optimistic. However, I've spent nearly 5 weeks in Ireland this spring and I've had good sunshine for landscapes on about 90% of days. It's not usually that good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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