November Sales Updates:

Leslie Nielsen -print sale on Redbubble

 A strong month in November boosted in part by the upcoming Christmas holidays.

Way out in first place were Redbubble with no less than 12 product sales. Items ranged from framed prints, mugs, t shirts and cushions. I have no doubt that many of these were destined to be Christmas presents (though the rush has come a little later this year). So, if you have always wanted a cushion with Margaret Thatcher on it your luck could in this year.

Istock took second place with 36 downloads and a good RPD (highest commission being just over $6). As is normal for Istock most sales were either travel images or my Tentertainment music festival images (a sure sign of some return to normality ahead despite the new variant).

Third place went to FineArtAmerica with a framed print sale of a vintage Hawker Hunter jet fighter. As a paid up member not only do you get unlimited uploads but also a commission on frames etc which helps push up the earnings.

Alamy came in fourth place with (sadly) no downloads but a worthwhile DACS payment which I always count as "earnings from stock" so they make the rankings.

Fifth place went to Shutterstock but a dearth of On Demand sales and zero Single sales pulled them down the earnings league.

Adobe made sixth place with 7 downloads (not bad given my small portfolio there). None of these were editorials this month.

Moving down to the minnows we had Bigstock in seventh place with 3 downloads and finally one time

Hawker Hunter - print sale on FAA

top tier agency Dreamstime in eighth place with just 2 subscription sales.

As two POD (print on demand) sites did well this month it might be worth mentioning that I did try US print/poster site Image Kind for a while. Hundreds of images uploaded but not a single sale. It may just be that my images just aren't what their buyers want so might be worth a look for others. Their near dead forum doesn't inspire much confidence though. Other sites that some report sales from are Society6 and British site Photos4Me. I might give these a try in the future -maybe.

Music festival -selling well at Istock

Another non selling (for me) site is Picfair. I love the ethos of the site (set your own fee and get 100% of that) but with a grand total of five sales (the last in 2017) and a portfolio of over 2.5k it doesn't seem to work for me. I suspect that sales there come from the photographer having their own buyer contacts and directing them to  Picfair. I also wonder if they are concentrating on selling Stores to photographers rather than images to buyers. I see an awful lot of Google ads for Picfair but they are never about buying from their great collection of images. That said my Store fee came up for renewal this month and I have signed up for another year. I think this be my final year with them unless I start seeing sales.

November saw the thirtieth anniversary of the death of media tycoon Robert Maxwell (see my post on the twentieth anniversary) but I didn't see the big flurry of sales I was hoping for. Perhaps the forthcoming BBC documentary and also a drama series about him will stir up some interest when they eventually air.

Very limited uploading in November (Christmas preps etc) and no new shooting. That said, I have just applied to renew my passport and hope to actually use it in 2022. We will see. Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas. Kind regards, David. 

October Sales Updates:

 A steady month in October with no great surprises -good or bad.

WW2 ration book -sold on Dreamstime

A well deserved first place for Alamy with 3 downloads. a high $$ magazine sale of my archive shot of Jimmy Knapp (then General Secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen) and a couple of small travel image sales to web site The Culture Trip. There are sometimes grumblings on the Alamy forum about low value sales to this travel site but you only have to look at it to see the vast number of Alamy images they download. Hardly a mystery why they have a good (for them) bulk deal in place. I just take the view that the higher value sales elsewhere more than make up for the odd low ones. No different really to how it has always been in stock. Back in the seventies/eighties you could easily be seeing £40 sales from a National Daily newspaper whilst some of the Regional ones thought they were being generous paying £5. It all adds up.

Second place went to Shutterstock with a good sprinkling of On Demand sales pulling up the total.

Istock took third place with 31 downloads. As always here travel and music festival images were well to the fore - a sure sign that some degree of normality is starting to return.

Fourth place went to Redbubble with 2 product sales (both throw pillows featuring the Greek island of

Small boat on Halki island, Greece

Symi). I'm hoping there will be a late Christmas gift rush here as in previous years.

Adobe took fifth place with 5 downloads including two editorial ones - a Shell petrol station and my image of a Government letter giving information on Covid.

In sixth place were Dreamstime with 6 downloads. I was pleased to see that one of them was from my recent set of WW2 ration books/identity cards. These are starting to gain some traction with several downloads of late.

Finally we had Bigstock with just 2 downloads. Still, as I always say, my images just go there automatically after being accepted at Shutterstock so there is zero effort involved. Whether or not they keep that scheme going forever remains to be seen. I doubt that I would bother with Bigstock if I had to upload directly.

Bar sign at Mikro Chorio on Tilos island, Greece

Recent uploading had me firing up my Epsom film scanner again to work on some London buildings from 1991. These archive images have done well on Alamy. They also do well on Shutterstock but in this case they all just got rejected for being grainy. Really? Archive film images with grain? Who would have thought that? Their loss.

In the absence of new travel I also revisited my back catalogue for some new images from my trips to the Greek islands of Halki and Tilos. These included a little fishing boat which always seems to be moored in the same place on Halki and a sign pointing to the late night music bar in the mainly abandoned village of Mikro Chorio on Tilos.

November hasn't got off to a stellar start but we'll see how the rest of the month pans out. Regards, David.

September Sales Updates:

 

Blair and Brown: New Labour, new print sale

A near full house of results in September with only Picfair and Mostphotos (as usual ) failing to make an appearance.

Back in first place were Shutterstock with a good crop of On Demand sales pushing up the results. Two of these  paid way more than under the old structure so more of those please :)

Second place went to FineArtAmerica with two sales including a print of Lech Walesa the former President of Poland.  

Alamy made third place with a record 6 downloads. Sadly, none of these were very high value hence their ranking. 

Fourth place went to Redbubble with 3 product sales. Two prints including an archive shot of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and yet another greeting card. I'm hoping that the Christmas build up will start soon as in previous years.

Fifth place went to Istock with a disappointing 15 downloads. I keep adding to my portfolio there but

Petrol queues: traditional UK panic buying

never seem to see a big growth in sales.

Adobe perked up to make sixth place with 8 downloads (including three editorials).

Seventh place went to Pond 5 with a single download of the Tentertainment music festival. After my super month there a few weeks back it was nice to see another regular sale. I'm still continuing to upload my back catalogue to them so we'll see what they can do going forward. Still, given that you can set your own prices and get 50% royalties there really is nothing to lose by uploading to them.

Bringing up the rear were Bigstock in eighth place with just 2 downloads and, sadly, Dreamstime in ninth place with just one download. A subscription sale at that :(

Lech Walesa: print sale on FineArtAmerica

New shooting included a visit to the postponed Tenterden Food and Drink Festival (back properly for the first time since 2019). I also visited my local petrol station as the UK went into panic buying mode due to fears of shortages caused by lack of delivery drivers. The resultant queues backing up down the road were too good a subject to miss.

New uploading in addition to the events mentioned above included, as I said, pumping more into Pond 5 (as well as filling in some gaps in my Picfair portfolio and POD sites at the same time). I also revisited my 2013 trip to the Greek island of Alonissos for a few additional shots. Luckily, most of the small Greek islands tend to be pretty timeless so even older images are still valid.

October so far has started off fairly slowly but there's time yet. More next month. Regards, David.

August Sales Updates:

 

Poll tax riots: biggest Alamy sale to date

A slow month in general as you might expect from August (the height of the annual Summer Slowdown). However a couple of bright spots kept things interesting.

Alamy jumped straight into first place with 3 downloads. One of these was my biggest ever ($$$) sale there - a poll tax riots image used for a corporate video. I did have this set for Editorial Use Only but Alamy telephoned me and asked if I was prepared to waive this restriction for this particular usage. The buyer accepted all responsibility for use of the image so I was happy to grant this with a nice payout in return.

Second place went to Istock with 29 downloads. What boosted this was that one of my images of the Greek island of Meganissi was clearly some sort of Extended License judging my the larger amount I got. This, of course, pushed the RPD for the month to a very respectable figure.

Shutterstock could only manage third place this month not least because of only a single On Demand

Meganissi island: extended license on Istock

sale and two tiny Single and Other sales. As I have said before, it is the number and value of these non subscription sales which makes or breaks the month. On a plus note I have now moved up to Level 4 so any of those sales will pay out at a higher rate for the remainder of the year.

Adobe took fourth place but only by a upfront payment for adding some images to their free collection for one year. They actually had zero regular downloads in August which was a bit disappointing.

Fifth place went to Redbubble with 2 product sales (T shirt and poster). Looking forward here to the Christmas boost that I have seen in recent years. 

Dreamstime came in sixth place with 5 downloads. It seems a long time since I saw a big credit sale at DT.

Tom Robinson Band: archives now all on Pond 5

Finally in seventh place we had Bigstock with 4 downloads. My massive aviation inspired boost of a few months back seems like a distance memory now.

Nothing interesting to report in new shooting but in terms of uploading I continued to get my back catalogue onto Pond 5. I have completed uploading all my archival (politics etc) material to them and am now working through modern travel/music festival etc images. Let's see what they can do with them! Meanwhile, they have just launched a new customisable Artist Page. As well as your avatar image you can now add a cover photo (or logo). There is also a 500 character space to write a bio about yourself and your work as well as space to add social media links. I especially liked the Featured items section at the top of the page where you can add six photos/footage clips that you wish to highlight. You can change the sequence of these and change the chosen items as often as you want. For now I've gone with featuring my archive material (Robert Maxwell/Margaret Thatcher/Boris Yeltsin etc) most of which is pretty unique on Pond. Check out the link on the right of the page to see what it looks like. 

September has started slowly so far so we'll see what the rest of the month brings. Regards, David.

July Sales Updates:

 

Pond5 sales: Robert Maxwell

A lively month in July in what should have been the height of the usual Summer Slowdown.

Straight in at number one (as they used to say on the music chart shows) was Pond5 making their sales debut here. Four custom license downloads of the late media tycoon Robert Maxwell brought me close to $30 each (50% of the total license). For anyone who hasn't sold on Pond5 before you might like to know that they send you a sales email. That was quite an exciting email to receive. Even better, this was their payout day (15th) for balances over $25.00 and within hours I had actually received payment. Can't complain about that.  

Why Robert Maxwell? Hard to believe that it is ten years ago that I posted on this blog about it being the twentieth anniversary of his death at sea. Here we are then coming up to the thirtieth anniversary so I would expect some more activity around that. Not surprisingly I am now pushing the remainder of my back catalogue to Pond5.

Second place went to Shutterstock with a decent month for downloads. On Demand sales made up around 40% of the total along with a couple of modest Single sales.

Istock took third place with 31 downloads. Music festival and travel images again reflecting the gradual

Second World War identity cards

return to normality.

In fourth place FineArtAmerica surprised with no less than three T Shirt sales (all to the same buyer).

Alamy came in fifth place with 3 modest sales. I was especially pleased to see my image of long defunct newspaper Today getting used.

Sixth went to Redbubble with 4 product sales ( 2 greetings cards, a poster, child clothing).

Dreamstime managed seventh place with 4 downloads.

Eighth place went to Adobe with 4 downloads  (two of which were editorial - John Lewis and Laura Ashley store fronts).

Post war ration books

Finally in ninth place we had Bigstock with just 2 downloads (returning to form after the extremes of a few months ago!).

Uploading in July continued with my archive material to Pond5 and also filling in gaps in my Picfair catalogue at the same time. 

New material consisted of a series of post Second World War ration books and identity cards. These all came from my family memorabilia and certainly made for something a bit different to upload. 

Already a few positive things in August, so more next month. Regards, David.

June Sales Updates:

 

Catalonia: In the news

A steady month in June with first signs of the Summer Slowdown balancing with a coming out of pandemic upturn.

First place went to Shutterstock as in the old days. An uptick of On Demand sales making up almost 50% of the dollars earned.

Istock took second place with 24 downloads. An improved RPD brought the figures up here. Interesting that no less than fourteen of these were music festival images (a sure sign that some normality is starting to return).

Third place went to Alamy with 3 downloads. An archival b/w shot of theatre director Sir Trevor Nunn and two images of a Lidl supermarket.

Adobe rose to take fourth place with 8 downloads. Good to see two more of my editorials sell here - Tesco trolleys and a Laura Ashley store.

Fifth place went to Redbubble with 2 product sales ( a T shirt and a greeting card).

Soundwaves community choir: June sales

 Dreamstime took sixth place with 10 downloads. My recently uploaded John Lewis store image got an early sale here.

FineArtAmerica made seventh place with a T Shirt sale.

Finally, in eight place were Bigstock with 5 downloads. My big aviation uplift of the last couple of months seems to have come to an end.

Tentertainment music festival: Picking up sales

Overall in June there was an uplift in music festival images across the board. I also had a number of sales of my community choir images across several agencies. Barcelona protest images also sold as the Catalonian politicians jailed after the 2017 declaration of independence were pardoned.

Still no overseas travel lined up yet. I'm just waiting for things to stabilise a bit more (which will be helped by the proposed lifting of Covid restrictions in the UK on July 19). I'm missing the Greek islands and Spain so hope to be there in the not too distant future. Regards, David.

May Sales Updates:

 

Wing Walkers - soaring sales on Bigstock

A different line up in the rankings for May.

First place went to Alamy with 4 downloads. Three from my B/W archives and a Lidl supermarket exterior. Alamy also caused some reaction when they announced forthcoming contract changes. Chief among these was the dropping of the 50% royalty rate for exclusive images down to 40% (which non exclusive such as myself have been on for some time now). Cue a furore in the forums with a thread now running to 105 pages. According to Alamy only around 6% of their image database is exclusive anyway so I don't expect any reversal of that one. New is that anyone not generating $250.00 a year (in gross licensing fees -not in royalties earned) will drop to a new rate of 20% but not until after a year of sales up to July 2022. New contributors will start on 40% and have a year to clock up some sales. I do not expect this to affect me but anyone with a very small portfolio or not very in demand images have cause to worry. Further concerns were raised around changes to the contract wording emphasising that photographers take legal responsibility for the images they upload. This, in reality, was nothing new and I have always assumed this was the case with all agencies. A number of risk adverse contributors have given in their notice at Alamy rather than agree to the new contract - I'll be sorry to see some of them no longer posting in the forum there.

Redbubble took second place with 7 product sales ranging from T shirts to mugs to greeting cards.

Catkins - close to hand

Good to see them pick up after a slower April.

Third place went to Shutterstock. Biggest factor here was the almost total lack of On Demand and Single sales which are crucial to rack up the income.

Fourth place was taken by Istock with 26 downloads. A low RPD pulled them down here. On the plus side it was good to see music festival and travel images selling - a sure sign that some degree of normality is starting to return.

Fifth place was interesting as Bigstock had 17 downloads - all of the Breitling Wing Walking team. This was a smaller scale reprise of the Red Arrows event in April. Day after day somebody downloaded a few more images until they had the lot (sadly I have a much smaller number of images than of the Arrows!).

Adobe made sixth place with 7 downloads including two from my Illustrative Editorial uploads (Tesco shopping trolleys and newsagent WH Smith). Looking forward to getting more of these uploaded going forward.

WH Smith - Editorial sale at Adobe

Seventh place went to Dreamstime with 7 downloads. Interesting that four of these were also of the Wing Walkers which left me wondering if this was the same buyer.

New uploads included some of a John Lewis department store (which, sadly, was permanently closed this year) and some Silver Birch tree catkins which involved the great effort of opening my kitchen window and sticking my camera out :)

Real travel photography is still on the horizon as I now am fully vaccinated and good to go medically. I just need the UK Government to start green lighting more countries. I mean, I am sure the Falkland islands are very interesting but are not exactly a short hop on EasyJet. Portugal was a blow as I had already started researching that when they bounced it back to amber status after just a few short weeks as green.

Lets keep hoping for July. Regards, David.

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.