December Sales Updates:

Lech Walesa - sold on FAA

Given the slow days of Christmas and New Year holidays it was a pleasant surprise to have a strong month in December. It was also good to see an unusual front runner this month.

FineArtAmerica took first place with a good value print sale of former Polish president Lech Walesa. A tote bag sale also helped them to top place. I never seem to get as many sales on FAA as I would like but it is certainly worth paying the modest $30 fee each year (which gives you unlimited upload numbers).

Second place went to Shutterstock including three On Demand and four Single downloads. What helped this month was an additional sum from the new Contributor Fund (basically a pool of money in return for AI programmes using SS images to train on. I'm hoping this could prove a useful extra revenue stream going forward).

Alamy made third place with 5 downloads. Four archive images and my recent WW2 food ration book again. It's good to see sales from the latter which my parents kept safe in drawer for all those years.

Fourth place went to my other POD site Redbubble with 6 product sales including mugs, stickers and greeting cards. Bit of a last minute Christmas flurry there I assume.

Istock made fifth place with 28 downloads. My Tentertainment music festival images continuing to

New upload - Ithaca bound ferry

come out on top as always. One curious detail was a sale of the abandoned village of Mikro Chorio on the Greek island of Tilos. For some reason it has been renamed Mikro Chorio, Forbidden island. I checked my Istock portfolio and it has that new title as well. Tilos isn't a forbidden island nor have I ever said that it was! No idea at all how that came about but there is no way of editing accepted images on Istock so that's how it will be staying. 

Sixth place went to Dreamstime with 5 downloads including one of those rare $2 subscription sales. Maybe 2023 is the year we will see a turn around for DT.

Seventh place was taken by Adobe with 5 downloads including two editorial store front images of Monsoon and Woolworths - both taken here in Tenterden (and both now gone as well).

London Daily News launch issue 1987

Finally in eighth place was Bigstock with just a single download. It's now been many months since I had any new images added there since the ending of the Bridge to Bigstock connector. As I have said before, the sales volume at Bigstock doesn't warrant uploading direct (at this time).

Recent uploading included starting to look at my Ithaca island images from my 2022 trip including one of Levante Ferries ferry boat Andreas Kalvos loading in Sami harbour on Kefalonia prior to departing for Ithaca. I have also continued with my collection of old newspapers including the launch issue of the London Daily News from February 1987. Sadly, though it was an excellent newspaper, it only survived for a few months before closing down.

Though it is early days yet my thoughts are turning to trip destinations in 2023. I can safely say there will be a Greek island in the mix and who knows where else. Barcelona has to be high on my list not having been there since 2018.

January has started off very slowly but we'll see where it ends up in due course. Regards, David. 

August Sales Updates:

Mickey Jupp - Alamy sale to The Guardian

Coming to the end of the Summer Slowdown (I hope) August proved to be a slow month.

In first place again Shutterstock was the exception with a good number of downloads. On Demand and Single downloads made up 40% of the earnings here and as posted last month I am continuing to get a number of higher paying subscription sales and these seem to be on the increase.

Istock took second place with a reduced 20 downloads but a higher RPD pulled them up the rankings.

Third place went to Alamy with 3 modest paying downloads. Two were archive images - David Mellor (former politician) and Seventies musician Mickey Jupp. I got a bit concerned when the same image of Mickey sold elsewhere but tracking my Alamy sale down to The Guardian (with full name credit) it turned out that, now aged 78, he has got a new album out of previously unreleased songs. So a good news story then. The third image was of Puerto Pollensa beach on Majorca. Always good to see something other than my archive stuff sell here.

Dreamstime took fourth place with 5 downloads.

Fifth place went to Redbubble with 2 product sales - a greeting card and a fridge magnet featuring the

Puerto Pollensa - Alamy travel image sale

Greek island of Skiathos.

Adobe came in sixth place with 3 downloads including an editorial one of the disused Strand underground station in London. Quite a lot of history to this station which opened in 1907 and closed for good in 1994. It was, unusually, the end of a little branch of the Picadilly Line from Holborn Station. At various times it was known as Aldwych station (and was when I used to use it back in the Seventies). These days it sometimes gets used as a set for films and television.

Seventh place went to FineArtAmerica with a mug sale featuring the same image of Skiathos that Redbubble sold as a fridge magnet!

Strand Station - editorial sale at Adobe

Bigstock came back to life to take eighth place with 4 downloads including one I shot last year of vehicles queuing to get into a petrol station during temporary shortages (AKA public panic buying).

Finally, in ninth place were our Swedish friends Mostphotos with a single small download. Still nice to hear from them again. For those that don't know this is one of few (only?) agencies that let you download your own images for free. Handy bit of extra back up for your files though I would totally not recommend using them as your only back up.

Nothing much to report in both uploading and shooting. I'm still considering a late Summer trip somewhere but repeated strikes and flight cancellations and other disruptions are making me a bit cautious to commit.

Early days of September but I am seeing a few good signs. Regards, David. 

June Sales Updates:

Gordon Brown - good sale on Pond5

 Just as May saw Alamy going from hero to zero June saw Pond5 going from zero to hero!

So, straight into first place were Pond5 with 5 custom licence sales of archive images of former British Prime Ministers. Margaret Thatcher, Ted Heath, John Major, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. These were all for decent amounts and I got the usual 50% commission for each. Whilst photo sales on Pond are not frequent when they do happen they are for reasonable amounts (though whether that will last now they are owned by Shutterstock we will see).

Shutterstock took second place with a big increase in downloads and 8 On Demand sales plus 3 modest Single sales making up over 50% of the total. They would have been an easy winner but for that nice Pond surprise.

Third place went to Istock with 37 downloads. A low RPD this month pulled them down a bit.

Fourth place went to FineArtAmerica with a T shirt sale. FAA never seem to break through in mass

Tony Blair - sticker sale on Redbubble

sales for me but always do enough each year overall to make them worthwhile.

Dreamstime took fifth place with 6 downloads including two rare credit sales of my former home town of Hastings. Just a few cents until payout now.

Alamy made a small comeback in sixth place with a $ sale. This was another from my set of WW2 ration books and Identity cards. I'm really pleased with how this series is doing as they seem to be getting regular sales across all my agencies.

Seventh place went to Bigstock with 4 downloads. No sign of the Bridge returning.

Redbubble disappointed in eighth place with a single sticker sale of Tony Blair (making another outing this month. Not sure what you do with a sticker of a former Prime Minister but there you go.

Bringing up the rear in ninth place was a very rare appearance from Mostphotos with a single subscription sale. I don't know if anyone does well with this site but it certainly has never worked well for me. The big plus is that you can download your own images for free so it's another form of backup.

Food Ration book - gathering sales

Missing from the rankings list above is Adobe where I didn't get a single sale during June. I still hope for the day when they take proper editorial images and not just the limited (no people) Illustrative Editorial. Hard to figure why they are so adverse to this when just about every other agency going accepts them.

As mentioned in my last post shooting was concentrated on my Greek islands trip to Ithaca. I have yet to start editing and uploading these. I'm still continuing to go through my archives looking for further images to scan and upload.

July now takes us into the famous Summer Slowdown so we'll see what the month brings. Regards, David.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

November Sales Updates:

Tenterden town hall -editorial sale at Adobe

A fairly strong month in November with a nice boost at one agency.

Down to business we had Shutterstock taking a strong first place. A reasonable Single sale and a slew of On Demand sales (making up circa 50% of earnings) pushing things up here.

Second place went to Redbubble with 5 product sales. The usual range from prints to T.shirts here. As last month, I would expect some of these are destined to be Christmas gifts.

Dreamstime gave a pleasant surprise by coming in third place with no less than 31 downloads. This was another of those unusual events where the same buyer bought a whole load of semi related images (Hastings pier fire, Eastbourne pier fire etc). This is not the first time DT has produced something like this.

Istock managed fourth place with 21 downloads. Again, a disappointing RPD this month.

Fifth place went to FineArtAmerica with a single T.Shirt sale. 2020 has certainly seen some steady results at FAA.

Alamy disappointed with just a single Personal Use sale of Professor Stephen Hawking to give them sixth place.

Seventh place was interesting as Adobe produced 3 downloads. Interesting because all three were from

Hastings pier fire - surge at Dreamstime

my newly submitted Illustrative Editorial range. We had a Barclays Bank, Laura Ashley store front and my own local Tenterden town hall. What they seem to like and accept is branded stuff - store fronts, petrol stations, a Boeing airliner. What failed were just travel type shots which had an editorial element in them. These were all rejected. They also stipulate No Recognisable People. People in the distance or people you can't really make out seem to be ok here. Truth is I'm not sure I have that many in my portfolio that will qualify but I've added about forty so far on Adobe. I'll update on how these do in coming posts.

Finishing off in eighth place were Bigstock with just a single download. As previously posted this was my first sale there since August! I still have no idea why they just stopped.

Rt.Hon. John Smith - archives to Pond 5

Also stopped (briefly) were my uploads to Picfair. This is because they now only offer unlimited uploads if you upgrade to their Picfair Plus store. I probaly did well to get to over 2000 images before the upload button grayed out. With a 20% discount code I upgraded for circa £55 (normally £69 p/a). It certainly looks nice though I am yet to make the most of the customising features available. The key thing is will they actually sell anything now that I have forked out my money? I do have a rather uneasy feeling that they are concentrating their efforts on selling nice websites and not on selling images. I'll see in the coming year and then make a decision.

Not much photography shooting since last time but I get out to do a few store fronts and the like (all accepted at Adobe!). I also continued to get my back portfolio up to Pond 5 - well over 1000 images now including some of the late John Smith (former Labour party Leader). We shall see what happens there as well but if they are not uploaded they certainly cannot sell them. More updates next time, Regards, David.

September Sales Updates:

Neil and Glenys Kinnock. Archives to Pond5

Another varied month in September from high to low (to non existent in one case). In these far from normal times I suppose we shouldn't expect photo agencies to be producing normal results.

In first place (and I didn't expect to be writing this again) were Shutterstock with my best month there in ages. This, it has to be said, was down to several good paying Single downloads which pushed the results right up. Indications for October suggest they are going to plunge in my next results rankings so do not put too much weight on their top score for September.

Only just behind in second place were Redbubble with a record score of 11 product sales running the whole gamut from prints, t shirts, stickers and even a pair of socks (with a motorbike photo on them). Previous years experience is that Redbubble sales build up towards Christmas and this was certainly a good early start towards that.

Third place went to another POD site FineArtAmerica with 2 sales. A T shirt with a Greek ferry on it

Wine lovers Christmas gift?

and a framed print of a Monarch airliner descending into the Greek island of Skiathos. Actually the same image was also one of my sales on Redbubble - this time as a cushion.

Alamy took fourth place with 2 downloads -both from my b/w archives.

Istock were in fifth place with just 17 downloads. Only an improved RPD saved the day here. What I am missing on Istock (and everywhere else) are the multiple sales of my music festival images which in other years would be selling on a daily basis to illustrate upcoming outdoor events.

In the also rans at the bottom were Dreamstime with just 2 sub sales to make sixth place and Adobe with just a single sale to make seventh. In the non existent category mentioned at the top were Bigstock where I haven't had a single sale since mid August. Nothing. At all.

Monarch flight to Skiathos. Print sale on FAA

Also nothing yet at Pond 5 but I continued my drive to put my full portfolio on there to give them a chance to do something with photo sales (rather than the footage they are best known for). I'm currently somewhere just over 600 images so plenty to go yet. I've been uploading a mix of my current travel type images and my archive political/celebrity ones. It's also been an opportunity to fill in some gaps in my Picfair portfolio and the POD sites while I'm at it.

Also on the POD sites I continued my experiment of adding text to some images such as the Time for Wine! on a picture of grapes. I am hoping someone might see these as Christmas present ideas for the wine lover in their life. It'll either work or it won't! 

Half way through October and things are looking far from stellar, but we'll see in my next updates. Regards, David.

June Sales Updates:

Symi island - sold on Fine Art America

A strong month in June with a few exceptionally good sales and a marked changing in my results line up.

Alamy took a commanding lead in first place with 3 downloads (all from my b/w archives). A couple of very modest sales of politicians Richard Tracey and Ken Clarke were topped off on the last day of the month by an excellent $$$ sale of Seventies band The Fabulous Poodles (specifically violinist Bobby Valentino playing live on stage in 1978). A great end to the month!

Second place went to FineArtAmerica with a substantial canvas print sale of Yialos harbour on the Greek island of Symi. I am certainly seeing an upturn at FAA in recent months.

Third place place was taken by another print site Redbubble with 3 product sales. Two posters of Majorca and a sticker of Tony Blair.

Istock made fourth place with a disappointing 18 downloads. Only a reasonable RPD held things up

Fabulous Poodles - sold on Alamy

here.

Fifth place went to Dreamstime with 5 downloads. Three of these paid out the 10% bonus commission offered from new sales after June 1. Thus a $0.35 sub sale rises to $0.38 and the $2.00 sales are now $2.20. Note, the bonus does not apply to plans purchased before that date. It's a nice touch in these times.

Making their final appearance (for now at least) in Sixth place were Shutterstock with 11 downloads. As previously posted, I deactivated my port on June 6 in protest at the new commission structure so this just represents sales for the first week of June - many of which were for paltry $0.10 amounts. My withheld portfolio may be small (compared to some) at 2600 files but I am certainly leaving them some gaps in their coverage. Margaret Thatcher anyone? I even had an email from them saying a buyer wanted to purchase one of my archive images and the fee would be $5.00. Would I consider re-activating to allow this sale? Politely declined with my reasons. The #boycottshutterstock goes on. Check out the newly formed https://stockcoalition.org/ for news of action here.

Bigstock made seventh place with 4 downloads. As mentioned before, my portfolio here will not get bigger as my SS uploads were mirrored to them. Cannot see it would be worth uploading directly for those sort of sales. That said, they did get another sale of my Coronavirus letter image -the only place to have sold it so far.

Plaza de Espana in Seville

Bringing up the rear in eighth place were Adobe with just a single small sub sale. If I had hoped they would be announcing a full editorial image offering to capitalise on the Shutterstock carnage I was to be disappointed (so far).

Recent uploading saw me returning to my 2019 trip to Seville for a number of images including one of the rowing boats you can hire at the stunning Plaza de Espana. I look forward to the day when I can actually return for real.

Looking for other outlets for my images I decided to sign up to Pond5 My portfolio page . They are mainly known as a video agency but do take other media including stock photographs. They quite often supply archive footage for television documentaries and the like so I thought my archive images (at least) might make a good fit. I wasn't at all sure if my b/w scans would get accepted but my initial test batch of 11 images all passed. You can set your own prices or let them do it and they pay 50% commission on photo sales. I've set my own for now but really have no idea how Pond5 will work out for me. Obviously, I will report any sales if they happen.

Stay safe. Regards, David.

May Sales Updates:

Tom Robinson Band in 1978 -Sold on Alamy

Putting aside the shock Shutterstock announcement at the end of May it was overall a steady month with some good results from Print On Demand sites.

In first place were the excellent Redbubble with 6 product sales. A framed print sale led the way here with the rest a mix of T shirts, posters, stickers. I am also pleased, that in the light of recent events, I didn't have to give Shutterstock their usual top place :)

Shutterstock did manage second place with 60 downloads. A fair number of On Demand and three modest Single sales boosting up the income here. How good all those 36c subscription and $2.70 On demand sales look now.

Third place went to Alamy with 3 downloads. These were all from my B/W archives. We had the Tom Robinson Band and Steel Pulse - both performing at the Rock Against Racism festival held in Hackney, London in 1978. Also sold was the former Conservative Minister Richard Tracey (I spotted this one in the obituary page of the Daily Telegraph newspaper -complete with credit line to myself). I am hoping I might see more of these uses now my images are not available at Shutterstock.

Fourth place went to my other POD site FineArtAmerica with 3 product sales. The same customer

St. Mildred's church in Tenterden

purchased a Tote bag and two carry pouches all featuring the same image. I was a bit surprised that they chose a portrait format image which didn't really work on the products when there was a similar landscape version available. However, as long as they are happy that's fine by me.

Istock made fifth place with a less than stellar 24 downloads. A lower RPD than recently made this a disappointing month from them. Acceptance rate continues to be high with lightening fast approvals of editorials and a few days wait for the rest.

Sixth place went to Dreamstime with 3 downloads. They also announced that from June 1 they were increasing commission by 10%  on new image sales for a time during the pandemic as a help to contributors. Clearly intended as a poke against Shutterstock who slashed their commission on the same date but a very welcome gesture all the same.

Tourists in London before Coronavirus

Bigstock took seventh place with 4 downloads. Not sure what to do about them as my portfolio there is mirrored (via the closed Bridge to Bigstock program) from my Shutterstock uploads (now halted) so there will be no new images on Bigstock either.  Sales at BS certainly wouldn't warrant the time to upload directly. Wait and see on that one.

Finally in eighth place were Adobe with just a single download. A lot of angry Shutterstock contributors are talking of directing buyers towards Adobe but until they open up to general editorial uploads this is not any help to me.

Not much shooting recently due to Coronavirus restrictions ( I should have been on a Greek island as I write this) but I have been out capturing a few images where I live in Tenterden including the 12th century St.Mildred's church. I also uploaded an old image of women tourists in London which I thought might be useful for articles on travel/tourism restrictions.

Stay safe. Regards, David.

April Sales Updates:

Poll Tax Riots sold on FineArtAmerica

A surprisingly strong month overall given the Coronavirus pandemic with an unexpected number two in the rankings.

Just retaining their first place were Shutterstock with a decent but lower amount of downloads causing me to miss payout by just a few cents. Never mind, it will be a bumper payment next month with May already off to a good start. On Demand sales made up some 40% of my downloads as is so often the case.

A surprise second place (only just behind SS) were Redbubble with 10 product sales. I wrote last month that maybe people weren't buying art products in the current climate but April proved me wrong with T shirts, prints and sticker sales coming in every few days.

Istock took third place with a reduced download tally of 22 but a decent RPD and a bunch of Connect commissions pushing up the total.

In fourth place it was welcome back to FineArtAmerica with 4 coffee mug sales. These featured my

Coronavirus letter sold on Bigstock

images of the 1977 Rock and Roll Radio campaign march and the 1991 Poll Tax Riots. Firstly an order for two small mugs and then for the same images on two large mugs!

Alamy made fifth place with 2 modest paying downloads. Both from my B/W archives - tennis player Annabel Croft and Robert Sheldon MP (the latter I spotted in the obituary page of one of the Daily newspapers).

Adobe took sixth place with 2 downloads (one of which was a decent paying Custom use).

In seventh place were Dreamstime with just 3 downloads.

Finally we had Bigstock with 5 downloads (all sub sales as they tend to be on BS but, on the plus side, I had my first two sales of my coronavirus letter image. This is the information communication sent out by the UK Government to every household which I photographed laying on a door mat. Not especially original as I found out later - just about every stock photographer seems to have photographed that letter - so I was pleased to get some interest in mine).

Stormy seas at Cala San Vicente in Majorca

I haven't mentioned Picfair for a long time for the very good reason that I haven't had any further sales there (not since 2017). However, I did think it time to have another play with my pricing using their excellent bulk pricing change feature. I've previously tried the premium pricing of £49 per image (with no takers). Went down to £31 (the same as Alamy's Stockimo images on the site). Nothing. So I am now back to £10 (my cut) which is the price point I had my previous sales at. Worth mentioning that Picfair are currently waiving their commission which normally adds 20% to your own price. This continues until July 9 so helps make the images even better value. We'll see if anything happens. Essentially, I see Picfair as like having your own photo selling site. You upload what you want, price how you want and you can group images into albums to promote on social media. And it is free (unless you want to upgrade to a customisable store front there). Uploading is easy enough so I'll just keep going with it for now.

New uploads recently included my previously mentioned Coronavirus letter. I also returned to my 2018 trip to Majorca for some more images of a stormy sea at Cala San Vicente. Travel? You remember that? Maybe next year. Regards, David.

February Sales Updates:

Sold at Alamy: 1978 animal rights demonstration

A steady (and short) month in February with a mix of highs and lows.

Still up in the usual first place were Shutterstock. No Single sales this month but a worthwhile increase in On Demand sales pushing the income up.

In a surprise second place were FineArtAmerica with first a high value print sale of Margaret Thatcher and then four separate postcard sales of the Greek island of Paxos. I have had Paxos images bought as postcards before and I am guessing these are to the same buyer.

Alamy took third place with a single good price $$ of a 1978 anti seal hunting demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London. This archive image gets used on quite a regular basis across the various sites that have it. Not bad for a fourty two year old image.

In fourth place were a disappointing Istock with just 16 downloads -less than half of what I normally

T shirt sale at Redbubble: Monarch jet landing at Skiathos

get. A low RPD didn't help matters here either. Can only hope for an improvement in March.

Also disappointing in fifth place were Redbubble with just a single product sale. In this case a T shirt of a Monarch jet coming in to land on the Greek island of Skiathos. Taken in 2012 it is a reminder that Monarch, sadly, no longer exist.

Sixth place went to Bigstock with 6 downloads. Nothing to get excited about but an improvement on recent results.

Seventh place was taken by Adobe with 2 downloads. I had some fun recently by going into my portfolio here and forming two galleries (Majorca and Halki islands). These get featured on your profile at Adobe as well as being published on an Adobe Portfolio page. Whether it helps sales in any way at all I couldn't say but the customisable Portfolio pages look good at least!

Halki island chapel, Greece

Finally, down in eighth place we had Dreamstime with just 2 downloads. 35c subscription sales at that :( With around 2.6k images on Dreamstime that really is a sorrowful result. I've said many times before that I really like DT and can only hope for a turnaround there.

Personal circumstances meant not much time for uploading recently but I did revisit my 2017 trip to the Greek island of Halki including an image of a small chapel on the seafront at Emborio. I've uploaded images of this chapel before but like this more distant view framing the chapel with trees.


Too early to judge how March will go but past experience suggests things should take an upturn from here. More next month. Regards, David.

December Sales Updates:

Tony Blair - Christmas mug sales on Redbubble

A mixed month to end the year with strong performances from a couple of agents and some pretty poor ones from others.

Shutterstock took a decisive lead despite only producing one On Demand sale all month. A substantial Single Download of former Prime Minister John Major turned it around here financially.

Second place went to Redbubble with 12 product sales in the run up to Christmas. The December General Election here obviously influenced some choices with no less than three mugs featuring another former Prime Minister -Tony Blair and other products with Margaret Thatcher.

Istock took third place with 28 downloads but a really low RPD dragged down the earnings substantially. I cannot remember the last time I earned so little at Istock.

A surprise at fourth place as Mostphotos delivered a worthwhile single sale of the late media tycoon Robert Maxwell. Sales on Most are rare for me but as I am opted out of subscription sales those I do get pay at a better rate.

Fifth place went to Dreamstime with 9 downloads.

Sa Calobra road, Majorca - mug sale on FineArtAmerica

FineArtAmerica came in sixth place with 2 mug sales of actor Alan Alda and the Sa Calobra hairpin
bend road on Majorca. The latter is a famous destination challenge for cyclists so I would guess that is one cyclists Christmas present sorted.

Seventh place saw Alamy back from zero last month to just a small personal use download with single figure commission to me after they deducted their 60% commission. Still, good to at least see some action there again.

Adobe made eighth place with just 1 download. Still waiting for Illustrative Editorial to be opened up to all with, hopefully, regular editorial to follow. Who knows what 2020 will bring there?

John Major - large single sale on Shutterstock

Finally in ninth place we had Bigstock with just a single subscription sale. Again, I cannot remember such a low result from them before.


Uploading in December went on hold as I prepared to move home from my seaside Hastings where I have been for eleven happy years to the charming Kent country town of Tenterden. Finally getting everything ready and moved just a few days before Christmas. It's gradually all coming together and I'm getting everything up and running in my new home.

Wishing everyone a very happy and successful 2020! Regards, David.