May Sales Updates:

Rua Augusta Arch, Lisbon

Late posting this month as I have been travelling. One old regular took top place and Alamy went from hero to zero.

First place then was Shutterstock. This placement was down to no less than 9 On Demand sales backed up by 6 modest Single sales. I'll have more of those On Demands please.

Second place went to Istock with 33 downloads. Usual suspects did well here as they do every month.

Redbubble took third place with 2 good T Shirt sales.

Fourth place went to Adobe with 7 downloads including an editorial of a Woolworth store. Two of the downloads were of an electric vehicle charging point sign. This is becoming a regular seller both at Adobe and elsewhere. Nice because it was literally a five minute walk from home to get the picture. I also did images of the charger unit itself and of the icon painted on the tarmac to indicate the space.

Anne Bancroft - new archive scan

Fifth place was taken by FineArtAmerica with another T Shirt sale.

Dreamstime came in sixth place with 3 downloads. Getting very close to payout there so I'm just
willing those sales to come.

Last in seventh place were Bigstock with just a single download. No sign of the Bridge programme returning and various people have reported mixed messages from it being broken to having been discontinued. As I have said many times before, the number of sales on Bigstock doesn't warrant the time involved in uploading them directly so I guess my portfolio there will be static from now on.

As mentioned at the start, I didn't get a single sale at Alamy. I cannot remember the last time that happened as I seem to have been getting some sales every month for a long time now. On the plus side I came top in the monthly forum contest with an image of the poll tax riots and got to set the June challenge choosing the theme of Transport. There have been some great entrants and in July I will have the pleasure/headache of choosing eight finalists for people to vote on. These contests are just a bit of fun really but as the Alamy forum is viewable to the public It's also a bit of extra exposure.

EV charging point - getting regular sales

Uploading in May was a mix of my Lisbon trip plus I have been having another trawl through my archives and came up with a number of images to scan including a different one of actress Anne Bancroft and actress Deborah Barrymore (daughter of Roger Moore).

Back to the travelling (and the late posting) I have just returned from two weeks on the small Greek island of Ithaca. It was great getting back to Greece for the first time since 2019. Contrary to the horror stories on the news of massive queues at the airports, flight cancellations and luggage going missing both my outward and return flights went like clockwork and on time. School holidays are coming up fast and that's when all the trip prices go up in price so I might be leaving a while before my next one. Regards, David.

March Sales Updates:

Vintage tram in Lisbon

 A line up of nine agents to report on for March. Only Picfair and Pond5 fail to feature.

Redbubble took first place with 5 product sales including T shirts, poster and baby clothes.

Second place went to Shutterstock. An uplift in On Demand sales over February helped pull up the earnings here. Now closing in on Level Three which while it doesn't help much with many of the subscription sales will help increase the value of On Demand and Single sales.

Alamy came in third place with 7 downloads. Four of these were from my b/w archives with Sarah Owen MP and a Lidl supermarket making up the rest.

Fourth place went to Istock with 33 downloads. A low RPD this month dragged them down the rankings.

Fifth place was taken by an improved Dreamstime with 8 downloads. Two of these were the better $2 subscriptions. These were both from my WW2 rationing book series which I am pleased to say are starting to gain some traction across most sites. It's nice to see sales from something my parents used to keep tucked away in a drawer (perhaps they thought rationing might come back?).

Sixth place went to FineArtAmerica for another baby clothes product. Good to hear from them again after a bit of a gap.

Adobe slowed with 3 downloads. One of these was an editorial of a Monsoon fashion store sign.

Tenterden supporting Ukraine

Eighth place went to Bigstock with just a single download. Could be interesting to see how long Shutterstock keep this going as a separate agency. Still, with my SS uploads just automatically transferring over the odd sale or two here is just a bonus for no extra effort.

Finally, in ninth place we had a rare appearance from Mostphotos with a single subscription sale. I did opt out of subs for quite a long time but as my sales dropped to zero I thought I may as well get something out of them.

WW2 rationing books -gaining sales

At last I got back to travelling in March with an eight day trip to Lisbon. After over two years staying at home it felt strange to be getting on a plane again. Lisbon is certainly as charming as I expected and the vintage trams were my personal highlight. All very photogenic except for the fact that, though warm, the sun spent most of my time there behind clouds - making all the buildings and trams look dull and grey. It required a lot of patience and time just waiting for the odd moments the clouds cleared. Still, even if I didn't get nearly as many images as I had hoped for, at least I've actually been somewhere and seen a new place.

Other recent shooting (much nearer home) was more images of my home town of Tenterden including some more store signs and topically the historic Town Hall with a Ukraine flag draped over the balcony as a sign of support.

I'm already starting to think about my next trip but I think it is very likely to be a Greek island (either an old favourite or maybe somewhere new). I just hope all the easing of travel restrictions remains in place. We'll see. Regards, David.