Essexps Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Curious to know people on the forum decide on where to go for stock trips - is it on the basis of careful cost/benefit analysis, or is it more based on opportunity and/or personal desire to visit? Nowadays, with the cost of transport and parking etc, even a day trip in the UK needs some consideration as to cost vs likely sales. A couple of days abroad is a significant call against my limited stock budget and I recall a trip to Athens a couple of years ago that was blighted by wet weather and few good images. When I was in full time employment, often my employer would be factor in where I was going as I was often able to tack stock taking opportunities on to business trips. However, now I'm retired, all trips are fully at my expense. This has had the effect of causing me to re-evaluate opportunities in my local area, but I still feel the urge to get away a few times a year exclusively for Stock. Nowadays, for stock specific trips I look to visit places where I can feel confident of getting 80-100 usable images per day (weather permitting), which keeps me pretty well on the well beaten track with the obvious downside of knowing that these areas are pretty well covered already. Can getting off the beaten track as a deliberate policy pay dividends - perhaps fewer usable images but more chances of a sale? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Morgan Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 I don't do stock specific trips, but I'm not retired (yet). I take my camera with me at all times (the benefit of the RX100M2) and take opportunities as they come along. There just isn't enough money for someone with a small port to start spending on stock trips. I'll certainly never get rich, especially with the really low stock prices of today, but certainly look to supplement my income while I enjoy shooting. Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hdh Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 I had that thought recently and then found myself looking at how many pictures the locations had. Having said this, noted the number of pictures on Aberystwyth - soon it dawned on me that the number of pictures (available on Alamy) may not be a sophisticated measure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Anywhere and everywhere Kumar (the Doc one) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vpics Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 When Ryanair had incredibly cheap fares and early morning and late night flights I would go on day trips. This way I've been to Dublin, Cork, Florence, Venice and Valencia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSnapper Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 nowhere km Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 I don't seem to be able to get out of my village these days. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 6 minutes ago, arterra said: Look from your comfy chair at a BBC nature documentary about Alaskan grizzly bears. Think "How nice! I would like to see that in real life." Go to your local travel agency. Book a trip to Anchorage And then, Allan ...... only then ......... think "Oh God, what have I done But then it's already too late and you HAVE to go. Now that, Allan, is DISCIPLINE Cheers, Philippe Thanks Philippe but there is a serious underlying reason why I am travel limited and if we still had PM's I would tell you what it is but I am not going into it on the forum. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Morrison Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 It (kind of) doesn't matter whether you travel the world for your pix... or stay local... as long as you have an eye for a saleable pic... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 I'm over 65, which means I'm of retirement age. However, I won't really be "retiring" until mother nature decides it's time. Like Jill (see above), I now take my camera with me most places that I go, including on holidays (such as they are). My slim budget no longer allows for international travel, so I stay close to home for the most part. Once upon a time, I wrote travel articles for newspapers (Remember them?) and magazines. Tourism boards would sometimes invite me on press trips and pay most of my expenses. They were terrific opportunities for photography. But those days are over... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hdh Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 1 hour ago, arterra said: Anyone wondering what travel will be like when we'll be forced to drive only electric cars with a range of a measly 300-400 km (in good flat conditions) and a charging time of 4-6 hours That'll be fun when the holiday seasons starts and everyone is heading to the south of France or Spain ......... on the same day. Now THAT keeps me awake at night Jeremy Clarkson, where are you? Cheers, Philippe For me might be an improvement. Currently I use trains, public transport, bicycle and also my legs at times. The bicycle is 100% muscle powered. That decision was made consciously, as I have to travel between most of the main cities quite often. Using a car, driving myself, was not really an option and trains being much faster between metropolitan areas. When it comes to more rural areas, say volcanic eifel (eifel volcanique, vulkaan eifel, vulkan eifel), the bicycle is the best but not fastest method of transport. At that point an electric car may at times come in handy, but for me not an own one. Going with the bike has also the "advantage of slowliness" to me, being able to see the place before it passed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Robinson Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Day trips to London (1hr each way, £17.20 on the train). Most of my recent sales have been from London. If I really need a holiday, I go somewhere photogenic and do a lot of research, take my cameras and hope the trip will pay for itself at least in part, eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 1 hour ago, arterra said: Anyone wondering what travel will be like when we'll be forced to drive only electric cars with a range of a measly 300-400 km (in good flat conditions) and a charging time of 4-6 hours That'll be fun when the holiday seasons starts and everyone is heading to the south of France or Spain ......... on the same day. Now THAT keeps me awake at night Jeremy Clarkson, where are you? Cheers, Philippe Didn't you watch The Flintstones when you were a kid? Fred's car is the future of transportation IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Clemson Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Guilt at my emissions (the car, not me), and the cost of diesel, means I tend to shoot in places where I have cause to visit for other reasons too (family days out etc). Only rarely do I travel exclusively for shooting stock (always within the UK and usually in the northern half of England) and when I do I try to arrange to stay in the area for a few days where possible. I am really looking forward to getting my bus pass in three years time. Then the world will be my oyster, at least as far as the world is encompassed by walking distance from any bus stop or railway station within the bounds of the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Where you are now is exotic for 99.99% of the world's population. So as John said, work to develop an eye for saleable pictures - I might manage that one day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 50 minutes ago, arterra said: As long as the roads don't go uphill Cheers, Philippe In that case, all you will have to do is take the bus (about halfway thru clip). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Ashmore Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 90% of the time, the places I take pictures of are places that I happen to be rather than places that I go to specifically to take pictures. For example, I quite often (maybe every 3 or 4 months) go into London at a weekend when my wife has a social appointment there.. I end up driving her there (she doesn't drive.. and it's much cheaper to drive and park in London on a weekend than take the train). She meets her friends and I walk round a random part of London taking pictures. I take a lot of pictures at home both inside and in the garden... a picture taken in my kitchen sold for good money this month. My two young children are usually willing models too. It's rare for me to go somewhere just to take pictures.. and when I do, it's not more than 20 minutes away from home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reimar Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Even before my "freedom 56", 5 years ago, I make a point of going on one international trip a year. It keeps me busy processing pictures for 3 months and I need the deductions to minimize my tax bite. Trip expenses and new stuff like the D850 means I get several thousand dollars back from the tax man rather paying that in. So even though the raw business income doesn't justify travel, overall I need it. And just to try to answer the OP: I look for something that interests me, has stock potential, and if it's slightly off the beaten track (China, Kazakhstan, Slovenia, Turkey...) all the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 I take advantage when traveling to see family. I drive around my city for opportunities. Lots of storefronts/shopfronts. I usually try to get some farmland/crop/harvest images every year. Go to a lake area 5 miles away that has great trails and shoot people walking, running, biking, canoeing, paddleboarding. I shoot food that I cook. And some tabletop. Betty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 34 minutes ago, Reimar said: Even before my "freedom 56", 5 years ago, I make a point of going on one international trip a year. It keeps me busy processing pictures for 3 months and I need the deductions to minimize my tax bite. Trip expenses and new stuff like the D850 means I get several thousand dollars back from the tax man rather paying that in. So even though the raw business income doesn't justify travel, overall I need it. And just to try to answer the OP: I look for something that interests me, has stock potential, and if it's slightly off the beaten track (China, Kazakhstan, Slovenia, Turkey...) all the better. The thing is that there are now lots of photographers in those 'off the beaten track' places to compete with, and they know their countries really well. Just sayin' -- not trying to spoil your travel plans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thyrsis Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Looking at our sales for the last year, 5 were images taken in our home studio, 1 in our garden and 3 in our town....no need to go far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Ashmore Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Just now, geogphotos said: 9 sales locally is enough for you to live on? I suspect you are comparing a hobbyist with a professional.. Thyrsis has 1631 images whereas you have 53187. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thyrsis Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 9 hours ago, geogphotos said: 9 sales locally is enough for you to live on? 9 sales locally and also sales from several places we have been for work/holiday! No, we could not live off our Alamy income....luckily we also run a successful print business that keeps us quite well. Alamy just pays towards our holidays! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Ashmore Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Just now, geogphotos said: I am not a professional. In which case you probably don't need to 'live on' whatever you make here then. Either way, hypothetically if you were to scale Thyrsis's portfolio to be the same kind of size as your own, that would equate to ~400 sales of locally taken pictures sold. So i guess that although travelling is fun, for those who can't or don't want to go far, salable pictures can be taken very locally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thyrsis Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 2 minutes ago, geogphotos said: I am not a professional. Sure, no argument pics taken locally are just the same as pics taken far away. The photographer in my case is a professional and has been for 40+ years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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