Alexandre Rotenberg's Brutally Honest Guide to Stock Photography & Footage

Three years on from uploading exclusive fine-art images to Arcangel Images, I’m finally receiving a flurry of high-paying usages.

OK, flurry may be a slight exaggeration as I’ve had four sales to be exact, but keep in mind that Arcangel is a high-end boutique agency dealing with exclusive Rights-Managed licenses. Therefore, patience may be rewarded for higher-end royalties, much higher than what one would expect on average at micros.

Almost Gave Up

About a year ago, with nothing to show for all my hard work (despite some 400 images accepted at the time), I almost gave up on them. With no idea about views or zooms (like in Alamy), I had no idea how close or not I was to reaching my first sale. Just kept uploading despite growing frustrations.

Likewise with selling personal prints as Print on Demand, I was growing frustrated until finally getting some sales in May, but of course not as many as Master Steve who’s on a roll!

However, I’m glad I didn’t give up, which just goes to show that I probably have a high pain tolerance and perhaps I’m a little bit stubborn!

Four Book Covers and Counting…

I won’t go into detail on the royalties earned (it’s confidential), but just say that they’re in the healthy 3-figures range and quite attractive…hence why I was so patient!

Here’s my book covers, including the original image on the left.

If you feel you have some fine art images which may be used in a cover of thriller, horror, suspense type novels, click here to apply to become an Arcangel Images contributor.

Opportunities outside of Microstock

This just goes to show that the stock photography market is MUCH bigger than just Shutterstock, Getty, Adobe Stock & the others. My goal of submitting to so many different agencies (20 in total) is that I hope/expect that each will do their small part to contribute to a large earnings pie within a wider stock context. Even the minnows such as 123RF, Depositphotos and Dreamstime add to the increasingly growing sums.

Success with videos

This includes my newfound enthusiasm to create stock footage. As of September 2018, I have uploaded some 300+ clips (mixture of real time and time lapses) to Shutterstock, Videoblocks and Pond5 with some sales picking up, including recently from a clip of this hard working night worker.

Summertime is over and everybody is back to work

Well not me, I’ve been working non-stop all summer, but what I mean is that ALL buyers will be back to their desks and clicking. July and August were OK for sales, as merely a formality, but I fully expect September to December to bring in a healthy amount of sales.

Although the secret to happiness is low expectations (my own philosophy), I’ll go all in on earning the fruits of my labour. I hope the same for you. Stay tuned and watch this space. As for all in, I’m back to playing some poker and wish me luck!

About Alex

I’m an eccentric guy on a quest to visit all corners of the world and capture stock images & footage. I’m determined not to waste my life away as a corporate drone and have devoted five years to making it as a travel photographer and freelance writer. I hope to inspire others before it’s too late.

I’m proud to have written a book about my adventures which includes tips on making it as a stock travel photographer – Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock Photography

Check out my new photo review service, where I’ll help take your images to the next level and get them sold regularly!