Welcome to my May 2026 Brutally Honest Earnings Report, where the long-term goal remains the same: trying to cover my gear and travel costs solely through stock income.
Results continue to be sluggish, commissions continue to be depressing, and I continue to chase the mythical pot of passive gold at the end of the stock photography rainbow.
If you believe the above is AI, here’s the same angle taken with the iPhone!
In practical terms, that means diversifying across more agencies, sending better work to more niche collections, and trying not to cry when a strong commercial image/clip sells for less than the price of a bad coffee. Or worse, doesn’t sell at all. But I keep on trying.
Update on Urca Shoot
I’m happy to share some results from my Sugarloaf shoot in Rio de Janeiro.
The original plan was to wake up painfully early and shoot Sugarloaf at sunrise. Admittedly, I’m not a morning person.
So instead of doing the responsible photographer thing, I opted for sunset, with the sun completely in the opposite direction from my original plan. I found a quiet spot at the far end of Praia Vermelha, launched from a safe distance, and worked the scene from there.
The results were spectacular. And frankly, how could they not be when the UNESCO World Heritage Site landscape around Sugarloaf, Guanabara Bay and the surrounding mountains is one of those places where even a bad composition and lighting still looks better than almost anywhere else in the planet.
Here’s a small reel I put together from the shoot:
I don’t hold a crystal ball and who knows what will sell and when but if I were to make a prediction it would be some aerial shots of a bunch of rubbish floating close to the beach.
Useful > Pretty
A pile of trash in the ocean can illustrate climate change, urban pollution, tourism pressure, poor sanitation, environmental mismanagement. It’s unfortunately a quite universal theme with great commercial and editorial scope, not just tied to this specific location.
Staying on the theme of rubbish, let’s move onto my monthly sale results.
Monthly Earnings Breakdown
📸Image Earnings (USD)
| Agency | Number of images (new images May) | Net Revenue May | Avg Return Per Download |
| Amazing Aerial (photos and videos) | 1,007 | TBD | TBD |
| Alamy | 17,412 (88) | 76 | 6.3 |
| Arcangel (RM-exclusive) | 6,444 (83) | 0 | 0 |
| Adobe Stock | 4,919 (0) | 99 | 0.80 |
| DepositPhotos | 8,870 (10) | 8 | 0.50 |
| Dreamstime | 9,889 (20) | 12 | 0.37 |
| Freekpik (now Magnific wtf) | 1,224 (6) | 12 | 0.06 |
| iStock (Feb) | 9,361 (11) | 74 | 0.45 |
| MotionArray | 476 (0) | 64 | 0.31 |
| Robert Harding (Q3 2025 monthly average) – RM/RF exclusive | 735 (4) | 22 | 2 |
| Shutterstock + Shutterstock Editorial | 12,836 (6) | 80 | 0.53 |
| Total | 447 |
🎥Clip Earnings (USD)
| Agency | Number of clips (new clips May) | Net Revenue for May | Avg Return per Download |
| Adobe Stock | 1,611 (0) | 28 | 6 |
| Pond5 | 3,428 (25) | 9 | 9 |
| iStock (Feb) | 1,250 (0) | 16 | 2.3 |
| Shutterstock | 2,793 (37) | 19 | 5 |
| Total | 72 |
Grand Total: $519
It’s more of the same waiting game
Not much else to discuss as I want my results to speak for themselves and there really isn’t much to be happy when it comes to results. I must emphasize again that due to inflation, $500 in 2026 is not the same as 10 years ago when I was earning around the same with considerably fewer assets.
Waiting on Amazing Aerial to publish their April and May Sales Reports
I’m still waiting for Amazing Aerial to publish the earnings reports for April/May (hence the reason for the delay in publishing this report) so hopefully there’s some returns there as I’ve been sending them my best work. I may make a separate post about the sales on there. Nevertheless, my port on there is now over 1,000 and growing each day.
Let’s now discuss my best-sellers and there was nothing above $20 for the month ugh
📈Best-Sellers
Plans for June – World Cup Fever
I’m in Rio until the end of the month, which means I’ll be in Brazil for the first few weeks of the 2026 World Cup.
That opens up some interesting editorial and commercial opportunities.
One idea is to capture the World Cup atmosphere at Copacabana Beach during one of Brazil’s matches. I’m especially interested in the Brazil v Haiti game on June 19, which should create a major public viewing atmosphere and, hopefully, plenty of emotion and goals.
The plan would be to shoot safely and legally from a distance, never flying over crowds, and focusing on wide establishing shots using the 70mm zoom rather than anything intrusive. With the right positioning, the drone could capture the scale of the gathering, the beach, the city, the sea and the collective reaction.
It will be nighttime so may be a challenge to capture anything useful but at least I’ll try. I’ll check out the schedule and perhaps there will be some interesting non-Brazil games during daylight that I can capture.
✈️Upcoming Travel Plans
| Month | Location |
| June | Brazil |
| July | No plans yet |
| August | Paris? |
| September | No plans yet |
| October | Brazil (Grandfather turning 100) |
| November | USA and Canada (arrive on cruise) |
| December | USA and Canada |
| 2027 | Asia and Poland |
I’m a big believer in planning travel early, especially as geopolitical tensions are causing inflationary pressures, while clients are increasingly devaluing photography work.
Until next time and stay safe while I enjoy my poker/pizza night!
About Alex
I’m Alex, eccentric, based in Lisbon, and on a mission to explore every corner of the globe while capturing stock images and footage along the way.
For the past 12 years, I’ve been grinding as a travel photographer/videographer and freelance writer. Along the way I’ve also written The Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock Photography, a book packed with war stories and practical tips for anyone crazy enough to enter this business and more recently, The Brutally Honest Guide to Drone Laws in Europe.
Alexandre Rotenberg's Brutally Honest Guide to Stock Photography & Footage 
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