Welcome to my July 2026 Brutally Honest Earnings Report, where the long-term goal remains unchanged: trying to cover all my gear and travel costs entirely through stock income.
Four days in Porto
July was a relatively quiet month in Portugal, but it didn’t take long for the travel bug to bite again. Before I knew it, I was heading north for four days in Porto.
I don’t usually travel much during July and August. Transport and accommodation prices are higher and the main attractions are packed with other tourists. Plus the heat and humidity can reduce the quality of images (hazy skies), as well as be uncomfortable to be walking around all day.
Nevertheless, I spotted an opportunity and took it and for less than $20 return for a 300km bus trip on Flix, how could I say no. Don’t believe me?
Then, I booked a centrally-located self check-in/check-out hotel where I didn’t see a single member of staff over four days. Weird experience. The place was comfortable but catered for budget single travelers and for 50 euros a night I couldn’t complain.
In total I must have invested only around 300 euros for the whole trip, which is quite attainable to have a ROI in a short time.
I’m going to do some more of these mini-trips whenever I get the chance. For instance to Coimbra, Evora and even as far as Huelva and Seville.
Porto 1-minute reel
Rather than blabber on about the trip on what I shot, here’s a one-minute reel featuring some of the highlights:
As you can see, I photographed and filmed a mixture of the usual Porto landmarks which I doubt will sell particularly well and the industrial port area around Matosinhos.
For the latter, I adopted more of a Hugo-style approach, concentrating on commercially useful industrial infrastructure rather than simply collecting another 100 pictures of the Dom Luís I Bridge and the Ribeira waterfront which won’t sell.
Both the photos and videos will eventually make their way onto Amazing Aerial where I’ve breached the 2,000 asset mark.
Korean BBQ Shoot
I was also in Porto for business, having been hired to photograph a new Korean BBQ restaurant.
Food photography isn’t my speciality, although I’m particularly enthusiastic about the final stage of the assignment: sampling the subject.
I did my best with the equipment available and lack of lighting, relying almost exclusively on natural lighting.
Tono Balaguer, now a full-time fisherman off the coast of Valencia, gave me a few useful tips. He even described one of my photographs as “Wow.”
I’m still not entirely sure whether he was genuinely praising me or quietly mocking my efforts. I’ll assume it’s genuine 🙂
For those unfamiliar with Tono and his unusual career trajectory from food photographer to fisherman, here’s my previous interview with him:
Here’s the photograph he was referring to:
RIP Food Photographers
I’ve uploaded the whole series, including videos to Amazing Aerial. Doubt there will be many sales since these types of still images are easily created in AI using prompts. I’ve done a quick experiment and reverse keyworded and captioned it and then using a new prompt tried to re-create the image as AI, let’s see the results!
Caption:
Overhead view of a diner grilling marbled beef on an electric tabletop grill during a Korean barbecue meal, surrounded by kimchi, soup, steamed egg, rice and traditional side dishes.Keywords:
Korean barbecue, Korean BBQ, KBBQ, Korean food, Asian cuisine, grilled beef, beef barbecue, marbled beef, tabletop grill, electric grill, grilling meat, cooking beef, barbecue restaurant, Korean restaurant, dining experience, traditional food, authentic cuisine, communal dining, interactive dining, diner, hand, chopsticks, food preparation, overhead view, top view, flat lay, restaurant table, meal, dinner, lunch, banchan, side dishes, kimchi, kimchi stew, steamed egg, rice, soup, dipping sauce, mushrooms, vegetables, red pepper, spicy food, meat, fresh ingredients, food photography, restaurant interior, Korean culture, gourmet, vertical composition, no face
Here’s the result, not bad!
Woo-K in Porto!
On a more positive note, I can genuinely recommend the restaurant to anyone visiting Porto.
Now, let’s move swiftly on to the other monthly highlights and then to the July earnings.
Monthly Highlights
Alamy tells small-time contributor to fuck off, politely
July proved to be an eventful month for the stock industry.
Most notably, Alamy decided to borrow a page from Shutterstock’s 2020 Sleazy Commission-Cut Handbook.
The company increased the annual gross-sales threshold required to remain in its 40% Gold tier from just $200 to $3,000 a fourteen-fold increase when simply doubling would have been reasonable.
Contributors who fail to reach the new threshold will be pushed into the Silver tier. That means contributors such as myself will receive only 20% commission from September 2026.
I discussed the changes and Alamy’s exciting new contributor-reduction programme in considerably more detail here:
Shutterstock and Getty merger falls through
Sunday Roasted By Hugo Kurk
Hugo Kurk also reviewed or perhaps more accurately, roasted my stock portfolio.
Despite the occasional burn, he offered some genuinely useful advice on composition, subject selection and shooting content with clearer commercial potential.
You can read the full review here:
I applied some of Hugo’s recommendations while shooting in Porto, particularly around Matosinhos and the industrial port, as well as when shooting locally.
Monthly Earnings Breakdown
📸Image Earnings (USD)
| Agency | Number of images (new images July) | Net Revenue July | Avg Return Per Download |
| Amazing Aerial – photos and videos (June) | 2,057 (1,300!) | 50 | 35 |
| Alamy | 17,464 (52) | 67 | 3.72 |
| Arcangel (RM-exclusive) | 6,661 (83) | 0 | 0 |
| Adobe Stock | 4,924 (5) | 90 | 0.81 |
| DepositPhotos | 8,885 (3) | 9 | 0.50 |
| Dreamstime | 9,876 (3) | 3 | 0.37 |
| Freekpik (now Magnific wtf) | 1,217 (0) | 13 | 0.06 |
| iStock (May) | 9,362 (1) | 68 | 0.44 |
| MotionArray | 480 (4) | 12 | 0.31 |
| Robert Harding (Q2 2026 monthly average) – RM/RF exclusive | 741 (0) | 22 | 2 |
| Shutterstock | 12,847 (3) | 49 – You gotta be fucking kidding | 0.47 |
| Total | 594 |
🎥Clip Earnings (USD)
| Agency | Number of clips (new clips July) | Net Revenue for July | Avg Return per Download |
| Adobe Stock | 1,612 (1) | 19 | 6.48 |
| Pond5 | 3,419 (0) | 25 for dataset | 0 |
| iStock (May) | 1,251 (0) | 77 | 8.55 |
| SS | 2,787 (0) | 2 | 1 |
| Total | 160 |
Grand Total: $509
Thoughts on the terrible month:
Extremely poor. Shutterstock produced the worst month both in terms of volumes and earnings since 2015. No sales at Arcangel.
The only positive has been my hustling at Amazing Aerial having uploaded 1,300 assets in the month.
📈Best-Sellers
Plans for August
I won’t be travelling during August, as there is already plenty happening locally.
From 4–9 August, I’ll be covering a poker tournament at Casino Estoril. There is also the solar eclipse on the 12th, together with several street festivals and local events that should provide plenty of shooting opportunities.
Perhaps I’ll even find time to relax since September to December will be extremely busy for me, travel wise.
✈️Upcoming Travel Plans
| Month | Location |
| July | Portugal |
| August | Portugal |
| September | Brazil towards the end |
| October | Brazil (Grandfather turning 100) |
| November | USA and Canada (arrive on cruise) |
| December | USA and Canada, maybe Greece around Christmas |
| 2027 | East Asia, India (?) Poland |
Until next time!
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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