November Sales Updates:

Navy patrol ship Antipliarchos Mykonios departs Halki island

A steady month in November with neither great excitements or big disappointments. Starting in first place we, of course, find Shutterstock (by the usual huge margin). A good flow of On Demand sales and a couple of modest Single downloads contributing to the totals here. Shutterstock recently caused some comment when they changed their entry exam requirements -you now only have to get one image approved out of your initial ten sample images to be accepted (it was previously seven of of the ten). I do not see this move as especially good or bad -individual images uploaded will still get reviewed and either accepted/rejected (rightly or wrongly). The prediction by some that this will lead to a poorer quality collection of images doesn't work for me as Shutterstock have stated that they are not lowering their review standards. What probaly will not change either is the inconsistency in reviewing -where perfectly good stock images (accepted elsewhere) get rejected for spurious focus/lighting/white balance issues. For me, that is the most depressing thing about uploading to SS. It's the top selling agency and to have a good image rejected is just money lost -for me and them.

Nissos Halki ferry in Emborio harbour, Halki island

Climbing to second place were 123rf with a strong month of 15 (mainly editorial) downloads. Also, on a positive note, my backlog of pending images finally got reviewed and accepted. I have posted previously that some of these dated back to August. Once again, it took an email to support to get them reviewed. I really shouldn't have had to do that but there it is.

Istock came in at third place with 2 credit sales but a healthy 28 sub/PP downloads.

Stone pile on Ftenagia beach, Halki

In fourth place were Dreamstime with 13 (mainly sub) downloads. As one of the major agencies, they really should be performing better than this. What I am not seeing much of recently are the big credit sales on higher level images which used to push up the sales at DT.

Bigstock took fifth place with 10 downloads -again pretty much all subs.

Finally in sixth place were Fotolia with 2 downloads.

Recent uploading concentrated on my June trip to the Greek island of Halki. The Nissos Halki is one of several ferries making the crossing between the island and Rhodes. This image was taken on the morning of my departure. The stone piles I found on Ftenagia beach were a great photo opportunity and provided a host of images. This one cried out for a B/W version which, luckily most agencies (even Shutterstock!) accepted.  The Hellenic Navy warship Antipliarchos Mykonios took me by surprise when I opened my shutters one morning to find it moored in Emborio harbour. They later gave tours round the ship for groups of locals. I'm told that last year a submarine turned up and did the same. You never know what you will find in the Greek islands :) Regards, David.

August Sales Updates:

Prevelis ferry docked at Halki island

As with every other month there are no prizes for guessing that Shutterstock took top place in August. Sales were slightly down from recent months and this is one instance in which I would have narrowly missed payout under the old payout limit. Luckily I had changed mine to the new $35 level in my account settings. On Demand sales were good but I only received a couple of small Single Downloads which brought the total down.

Istock came in second with 5 credit sales and 36 sub/PP downloads.

In third place were Picfair with, at last, my second sale there! An image of the Red Arrows was purchased by a design agency to use in a clients project. They had originally gone to Istock but found the editorial restrictions prevented the use they needed. Picfairs license (which allows for some commercial uses) fitted the bill. I know this because the purchaser contacted me directly and, pleasingly, said they would certainly look at Picfair for future projects.

Photogenic pile of stones on Ftenegia beach, Halki

123RF achieved fourth place with 13 downloads. I am still awaiting review of all my editorial images uploaded in August although two commercial images were reviewed and accepted. This is strange as 123
used to have lightning fast reviews for editorial (often within minutes) so I am not sure what has changed.

Dreamstime disappointed with 9 downloads all of which were subs. Especially frustrating as I am only a fraction off payout level :(

Bigstock ranked sixth with 10 downloads (mainly subs). Once again, six of those images were related to my local area of Hastings.

Kent Air Ambulance at St.Leonards-on-Sea

Bringing up the rear in seventh place were Fotolia with 5 downloads. However, the good news there is that all 5 were in the last few days of the month suggesting an uptick in activity on my small portfolio there. This may well be due to parent company Adobe launching their new Adobe Stock site which mirrors Fotolia images. That will certainly be one to watch in coming months.

Shooting and uploading in August included further images from my June trip to Halki island in Greece as well as the awful events at Shoreham detailed in my last post. An unexpected photo opportunity arose when the Kent Air Ambulance landed in the public park in front of my flat. This was the second time this has happened but what made it especially strange was that I had literally just edited and uploaded my image from Shoreham -with the same Kent Air Ambulance pictured landing at the tragedy. Weird or what? Regards, David.