April Sales Updates:

 

Red Arrows - still flying out at bigstock

An uncommon line up in the rankings in April due to some (one off) variations in sales.

Istock improved to take first place with 23 downloads and an increased RPD. Music festival images started to make a comeback as some of the World starts to head back to normal life due to the Covid vaccination rollout.

Second place went to Shutterstock but a scarcity of On Demand and Single sales pulled them down in dollar earnings.

Third place went to Bigstock with a staggering 50 downloads -all of RAF aerobatic team The Red Arrows (as I mentioned last month). This run did eventually come to a halt but only, I suspect, because I didn't have any more Red Arrows images to download! Probaly one of those events that I'll never have an explanation for. At least there have been no refunds to date. Anyway that was a BME for Bigstock.

Alamy took fourth place  with 2 downloads. Fairly modest $$ sales which were both from my B/W

Stan Newens - archive sale at Alamy

archives (Bill McCall, trade unionist and the late Labour MP Stan Newens. The latter was used in obituary reports in both The Guardian and Daily Telegraph newspapers, though only one of those sales has been reported as yet).

Fifth place went to Redbubble with 3 product sales. Two greetings cards and a mug. Things are a bit slow there recently.

Adobe came in at sixth place with 4 downloads. These included another Illustrative Editorial sale of an Esso petrol station. Actually starting to see a bit more activity here now though I still only have just over 400 images online.

Esso - Illustrative Editorial sale at Adobe

Dreamstime finishes off the rankings with seventh place with 3 downloads (all subs).

I am still awaiting my first sale from Pond 5 and have taken a bit of a break from uploading my back portfolio there. Even a single sale would be some encouragement.

Not a lot to report on the shooting front this month as the UK weather took a downturn (snow in April?!) but I did get out to do a set of a local Electric Vehicle charging point which is an ongoing story in the media. Still, it looks like (some) overseas travel restrictions will be lifted in the coming weeks and I have already started researching a few destinations. We will see. Regards, David.

March Sales Updates:

Tesco: largest supermarket in the UK

 As Spring starts to arrive (though we saw a bit of snow here this week!), vaccines continue to roll out and outdoor events and travel start to seem more possible, I'm hoping to see an upturn in the stock photograph market - especially for my kind of travel/editorial portfolio. March wasn't it, however :(

Back in their old first place were Shutterstock. A good number of On Demand and Single sales made up most of the income here and with the plethora of 10c subscription sales I expect this to be the pattern for the future. Months where it is mainly subs will be poor and months where the non subs prevail will do better. The new normal.

Redbubble took second place with 4 product sales from a T shirt, a mug and two greeting cards featuring the Greek island of Tilos.

Pleasingly, Adobe moved up to third place with 5 downloads. It was good to see that four of these came

Donkey track on Symi island, Greece

from my recent Illustrative Editorial uploads. My port here may be tiny but these editorials seem to be gaining a bit of traction.

Fourth place went to Alamy with 2 modest fee downloads. On the plus side I did spot a couple of uses in Daily newspapers which have yet to be officially reported as sales.

Istock made a disappointing fifth place with 14 (poor RPD) downloads. Still awaiting a return to form here.

Sixth place went to Bigstock with an improved 9 downloads. Interesting that five of these were of the RAF aerobatic team The Red Arrows. This was just the start as throughout the early days of April I have had a further 46 (yes 46!) downloads of the Reds. Multiple downloads every day (even Sunday). No idea why the buyer wants all these but unless they all get refunded for some reason April promises to be a BME on  Bigstock. The phrase Too Good To Be True comes to mind. We'll see.

Red Arrows flying high at Bigstock

Dreamstime completes the line up in seventh place with 6 downloads. All subs.

Lack of travel opportunity meant Staying Local (as per Government guidance) so I took the chance to get shots of rows of Tesco supermarket trolleys (good for financial reports) and a closed down branch of fashion chain Monsoon (decline of the High Street). Delving back into my older files I found a few to upload of my 2011 trip to the Greek island of Symi including the steep Kataraktis donkey track which leads from the harbour up to the village of Chorio above.

More on April results (including Red Arrows updates) next month. Regards, David. 

February Sales Updates:

Turia river park, Valencia

Not only a short month in February but in most cases short on sales as well.

Shutterstock took first place (even with their new commission structure). A worthwhile Single sale plus an Enhanced download and a number of On Demand sales pushed them into top place. As predicted, I moved onto Level 2 during the month.

Second place went to Alamy with 4 downloads. None of them massive sales but welcome all the same. Three were from my B/W archives and the fourth was another use of my Lidl supermarket images.

Third place went to FineArtAmerica with a T shirt sale.

Dreamstime made fourth place with 5 downloads. 

Istock reached a new low in fifth place with just 8 downloads. How a major agency can sell so few I

Museu de Belle Arts, Valencia

don't know. Of course, these were essentially January sales which was bad all over, so we'll see how the February sales go when we reach the 20th.

Redbubble came in sixth place with just a single sticker sale. A far cry from their usual excellent performance.

Seventh place went to Bigstock with 4 downloads. About average for them.

And finally in eighth place were Adobe with just a single download. On the plus side this was my Illustrative Editorial image of the Covid guidance letter sent out by the UK Government. I fear that Adobe might never open up to normal Editorial (i.e. that have people in them) but, at least, the Illustrative route means I have more images to build my little Adobe portfolio (think I am approaching the dizzy heights of some 400 images soon!).

Obviously, shooting new travel images is out of the question at this time but with vaccines rolling out it's starting to look like foreign travel may be possible later in the year. That said I am building up a target list of UK shots as, all being well, travel restrictions within the UK look like being lifted fairly soon.

Montjuic castle Howitzer, Barcelona

With no choice but to trawl past images recent uploads included some from Valencia including the Museum of Fine Arts and the Turia river park. Barcelona also got revisited for an image of a 1898 vintage Howitzer mounted outside Montjuic castle.

Travel companies are going into overdrive in the UK tempting people to book for later in the year so I hope to see an upturn in image sales as the year goes on as well as my other outdoor images such as music festivals. Let's see how March goes. Regards, David.

January Sales Updates:

Poll Tax Riots - poster sale on Redbubble

A pretty slow month in January overall with some highlights here and there.

Leading the field in first place was Alamy with 3 downloads. Two small sales of a Lidl supermarket and a good $$ for my archive shot of tv mogul Lord Lew Grade. There was also a modest payment for ASCRL (the US counterpart to DACS) fees.

Second place went to good old Redbubble with 4 product sales. Three T shirts and a poster print from the 1990 Poll Tax Riots in London.

Lord Lew Grade - archive sale on Alamy

Shutterstock could only manage third place with only one paltry Single download and one On Demand. Being bounced back to Level 1 didn't help matters here though I expect to be up to Level 2 during February.

Istock had another slow month with 20 downloads and a low RPD.

Fifth place went to Dreamstime with 5 downloads. Their new upload interface went live for me this month and so far I seem to have made it work. It didn't seem to have made the process any easier and the changes seem mainly cosmetic. 

Bigstock scraped into sixth place with 2 downloads.

Back to life (just) were Adobe in seventh place, also with 2 downloads. My hoped for surge of Illustrative Editorial downloads is yet to happen here.

Medieval windmills in Rhodes Old Town

Apart from getting my back portfolio onto Pond 5 (still no sales as yet) uploads were limited to a set from my 2019 trip to the Greek islands Rhodes and Tilos, including the medieval windmills in Rhodes Old Town.

Some early good sign in February but, then again, I said that about January. We'll see. Regards, David.   

December Sales Updates:

Ferry boat Prevelis at Halki island, Greece

An uninspiring month in December as you might expect in a year of pandemic and lockdowns combined with the usual lengthy Christmas and New Year holidays. However, it is what it is and my own plan is just to carry on until we get to better times - hopefully later in 2021.

In top place were Alamy with 2 downloads both from my archives. John Major, former Prime Minister and the late Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop retail chain. Both decent $$ sales.

Redbubble were just behind in second place with 7 product sales. The usual mix of products and images here from prints through to T shirts.

Third place was the best Shutterstock could manage with a low number of downloads overall, no Single

Quality but short lived Sunday Correspondent

sales at all and a limited number of On Demand sales. On a more positive note my short lived Level 4 status brought me a sub sale paying $1.16 - the highest I have seen yet. Obviously we all crash back to level 1 from the start of January. Happy New Year SS!

Fourth place went to Istock with 19 downloads and a poor RPD. What I am really noticing here (as everywhere) is the lack of sales of my music and food festival images which previously sold on a daily basis. The cancellation of almost all events in 2020 meant little demand to illustrate forthcoming outdoor events. This may not improve much in 2021 as Summer events (on this side of the World) are needing to be planned and booked right now and it is a brave person who lays out money without any certainty.

Historic old White Lion, Tenterden

Fifth place went to Dreamstime with 6 downloads. On the plus side, reviews at DT are lightning fast -often just a few minutes after submission.

Finally in sixth place was a welcome back to Bigstock with 5 downloads. No idea why sales just stopped there for months and then suddenly restarted again. 

Nothing from Adobe at all in December which was disappointing after my first three illustrative editorial sales in November. I had hoped to see that continue.

Uploading recently saw me going back to my 2016 Halki island trip for a set of ferry boat Prevelis as well as a more recent images of my local Oasis fashion store (now closed down for good) and the historic old White Lion Hotel. My main emphasis was, as before, getting my back catalogue up to Pond 5 and filling in gaps in my Picfair and print on demand sites at the same time. These included images of the short lived Sunday Correspondent which was an excellent quality UK Sunday newspaper. Launched in 1989 it closed down in 1990. I still have the first issue.

January has started off slowly for myself and others on the forums are reporting the same but, as the month goes on I'm detecting a small glimmer of an upturn. More next month. Regards, David.