November Sales Updates:

Margaret Thatcher: Single download on Shutterstock

Another variable month in November with one agency going from hero to zero and another moving right up from the lower ranks.

No surprise in first place were Shutterstock. Downloads were down with not many On Demand sales but a Single sale of Margaret Thatcher (for Enhanced Download type $$) brought them to the top.

Second place went to Adobe Stock with 2 downloads with an Extended license for a speed camera sign in Folkestone pulling them up from the lower ranks.

Istock took third place with 27 downloads. Thomas Cook and Tentertainment music festival images continued to do well here.

In fourth place Dreamstime produced 5 downloads with a reasonable credit sale bumping them up the

Plaza de Toros, Valencia

list. Credit sales on DT are, sadly, infrequent but when they occur can produce decent levels of $. In this case a credit sale of former boxer Frank Bruno from my archives did the business.

Redbubble made fifth place with two product sales of army parachute display team The Tigers going to the same buyer. A sticker and a T shirt were the products in this case.

Bringing up the rear in sixth place were Bigstock with 4 downloads. They seem to have slowed down again after a few months where they looked to be picking up a bit. It's always a bit surprising that Bigstock do not do better given the marketing resources of parent company Shutterstock behind them.

Hero to zero? That was Alamy. Not a single download in November!

Extended License on Adobe: Speed camera sign in Folkestone

New uploads in November were very limited with some of the fortified Rhodes Old Town and the Plaza de Toros in Valencia amongst the few. Limited for two good reasons. Firstly I had a trip to the Spanish island of Majorca. I took a chance of some late Mediterranean sun but ended up with pouring rain and overcast skies for most of my stay. The sun did come out for one day when I went to the medieval town of Alcudia but otherwise I didn't get to shoot many new images.

Secondly, I am about to move home. I'm swapping the seaside location of Hastings for the quaint market town of Tenterden in Kent. Anybody who has experience of moving home will understand the work involved and I write this post surrounded by packing boxes (even after a massive exercise in de-cluttering!). My December updates will be the first from Tenterden so until then....Regards, David.

October Sales Updates:

City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia

A positive month in October overall with a strong showing from one agency and a slightly lacklustre one from another.

Straight into first place were Alamy with 2 downloads. Yet again, these were substantial $$ sales of my archive B/W images (Journalist Eve Pollard and Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott). These sales alone would have put Alamy at the top but a worthwhile DACS payment also came in to push the earnings even higher. I am certainly feeling vindicated for spending a lot of time getting my back catalogue loaded up to Alamy though I am still hoping for more sales from my recent travel images.

Reduced to second place were Shutterstock. Overall, the number of downloads was good but with only two On Demand sales and two small Single downloads the earnings were down. It's those On Demands that normally push up the totals often to 50% of my earnings.

Istock took third place with 36 downloads and a reasonable RPD (pushed up by one image of the

Shoot it then drink it: lager above Valencia

Soundwaves Community Choir which netted me over $9 in commission). Reviews at Istock remain fast for Editorial but Commercial images seem to be running at several days at the moment.

Fourth place went to my favourite print site Redbubble with 4 product sales (T shirt, phone case, sticker and a zipper pouch featuring the University of Barcelona -quite probably for somebody attending there). I'm looking forward to seeing if the Christmas rush I saw here last year repeats itself.

Down at the lower end in fifth place Bigstock saw 6 downloads with Seville and Barcelona images selling.

Church of the Virgin of The Burgh, Rhodes

Dreamstime managed sixth place with just 4 downloads. All subscriptions at that.

Finally in seventh place were Adobe with just a single subscription download.

Recent uploading saw me continuing with Valencia images including more of the stunning City of Arts and Sciences and for something different my glass of lager with the Valencia skyline in the background. My Rhodes and Tilos trip also saw a number of uploads including the medieval Church of the Virgin of The Burgh in Rhodes Old Town. Recent shooting should have seen a whole stack of new images from the Spanish island of Majorca. Sadly, the weather was against me and heavy rain saw me only shooting for one day out of six. That will probably teach me to book so late in the year but I had hoped for some late season sun which, mainly, didn't happen. Too early to judge November yet but there are already a few highlights. More next month. Regards, David.

September Sales Updates:

Science Museum, Valencia

A stable month in September with various signs of life and a flurry of sales created by the national news.

Shutterstock were in first place. A worthwhile Single sale boosted things at the start of the month and the sad news of the Thomas Cook travel company going into administration led to a whole bunch of sales of my signage outside the Hastings branch. The fact that these were taken in 2009 and featured their old logo didn't seem to deter buyers -such is the nature of stock imagery. Pleased to hear in the last few days that the chain of UK stores has been bought by Hays Travel and that many former employees will be offered jobs by the new owners.

Second place went to Istock with 37 downloads. An improved RPD this month brought the earnings up. My Thomas Cook images also featured here.

Alamy took third place with 2 downloads once again from my archive material. Conservative party leader Michael Howard and Mirror newspapers owner Robert Maxwell delivering sales here.

Fourth place went to Redbubble with 3 product sales. This month two T shirts and a laptop sleeve

The Umbracle sculpture gardens, Valencia

(the latter with my image of Barcelona University).

Fifth place went to Dreamstime with an improved 10 downloads. Thomas Cook again plus several of my archive celebrity images.

Adobe perked up with 4 downloads to make sixth place. Just waiting for Illustrative Editorial to be rolled out to bronze level now (and then, hopefully, general editorial).

Eighth place went to Bigstock with just 4 downloads (three of which were -guess what).

Thomas Cook branch -selling well in September

I posted in May how Yaymicro had added on Depositphotos as a new partner and automatically signed me into the deal. I had another surprise recently when I spotted a whole bunch of new partners including the dubious sounding Darius at Yay. I opted out of these right away but decided there was really only one sure way to stop this keep happening so deleted all my K2.4 images. One by one -several clicks per deletion. It took a long time but at least they are now gone. It's a shame because Yay started off with a lot of hope and were getting reasonable sales up until 2013 when it all went downhill.

New uploads continued with my Valencia images -in particular the futuristic buildings of the City of Arts and Sciences. Accepted everywhere except by Shutterstock who say they cannot take any images of these buildings for commercial OR editorial use. Why their policy is different to everyone else I have no idea but it's disappointing to not be able to upload to my top selling agancy. A fairly slow start to October so far but more next month. Regards, David.

August Sales Updates:

Poll Tax Riots -sold on Alamy

Not a bad month in August considering it is the height of the annual Summer Slowdown but as usual the best agencies did the business and the others did what they do as well.

First up we had Shutterstock with a respectable number of downloads pushed up by (as mentioned previously) an Enhanced Download on the first day of the month. This was, yet again, from my local Tentertainment music festival images which continue to sell pretty much every day.

Istock took second place with 45 downloads. A lower RPD (rate per download) dragged the dollars down here but Istock continues to be a worthwhile agency notwithstanding their paltry 15% commission rate and a few very low paying sales each month. Luckily the higher paying sales continue to dominate here.

Alamy made third place with a single sale for a modest $$ figure. Once again this was from my old B/W archive images -in this case the 1991 Poll Tax Riots in London.

Fourth place went to Redbubble with two product sales. I really like the way this site continues to tick away each month.

Fishing boats on Aegina island, Greece

Dreamstime made fifth place with just 2 downloads. Luckily one of those was a higher paying credit sale which pulled them up my rankings.

Sixth place went to Bigstock with 6 downloads. As I have said many times, Bigstock takes no effort
on my part as my Shutterstock images get mirrored automatically (via the now closed Bridge to Bigstock scheme) so I am happy to collect the small amounts they rack up each month.

Seventh place went to FineArtAmerica with the sale of a coffee mug featuring one of my airshow images. Nice to see something from them again.

City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia

Bringing up the rear in eighth place were Adobe with 2 downloads. Given my tiny portfolio there  (just over 300) I'm always quite surprised to get anything much from them. Adobe are now, finally, taking a very limited approach to Editorial with so called Illustrative Editorial being accepted. Still no general editorial (e.g. street scenes, parades, celebrities -anything with unreleased  people in) allowed. Whether that will follow later they haven't said but I have my doubts. Even the Illustrative Editorial is currently limited to high level contributors though I do expect that to be opened up in due course.

Uploading in August included backtracking to my 2017 trips to Aegina island in Greece and the Spanish island of Majorca. I do like to revisit old sets from time to time as, being human, I often move on to my latest images before fully working the older ones.

The end of August saw me making my first ever trip to the Spanish City of Valencia. The photographic highlight of Valencia was the stunning City of Arts and Sciences with a bunch of modern architecture on display. I made two visits during my time there to take advantage of different light and perspectives. More on Valencia next month no doubt. Regards, David.

***Edited on Oct 13 to add in the FineArtAmerica sale***

July Sales Updates:

Puente del Alamillo in Seville

Highs and lows in July as we enter the Summer Slowdown period with four agencies making a good contribution and three others barely making a showing.

Starting at the top Shutterstock continued to hold their first place with a good number of subscription sales, plenty of On Demand sales and three modest Single sales. I had a flurry of sales of Dutch actor Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner) who, sadly, died recently. Jumping ahead,  SS got off to a great start in August with an Enhanced Download on the first day of the month.

Alamy took second place with 2 downloads (both from my B/W political archives). These old images seem to have done especially well on Alamy rather than my much bigger library of travel images which I had expected to get more interest.

Third place went to Redbubble with 3 product sales ( T shirt, greetings card, phone case). Redbubble

Blue Star 2 ferry boat in Rhodes

have a useful and time saving new Copy facility for when you have a number of images of the same subject. Just go to Manage Portfolio and select Copy on the image you want to replicate. Then click on Replace Image to drop in your new image. All the information and settings for the various products are carried over to the new image (this doesn't effect your original upload in any way). Do check that all the products look how you want them and make any adjustments before hitting Save. This is a real time saver for batch uploads.

Rutger Hauer, actor

In fourth place were Istock with 37 downloads. A lower RPD this month pulled them down in earnings and in my ranking. Reviews continue to be fast at Istock with many getting accepted within an hour or two of submission -editorial especially.

Dropping down to the also rans we had Bigstock in fifth place with 6 downloads. Three of these were of Margaret Thatcher - a subject that just keeps on selling in my portfolio.

Sixth place went to Dreamstime with just 3 downloads. Two subscription sales and a small credit sale. This on a portfolio that matches my Shutterstock one. Such a difference in sales.

Finally in seventh place were Adobe with just a single subscription sale.

Recent uploads spanned my trips to Seville and Rhodes/Tilos with a set of the Alamillo suspension bridge in Seville and the Blue Star ferry boat Blue Star 2 moored at Rhodes.The impressive looking bridge was opened in 1992 for the Universal Exposition.

August should really see the Slowdown cutting in so more details next month. Regards, David.