My mistake on the Alamy forum in 2010 was to say that I could probably rustle up 30 separate points which a stock photographer would bear in mind when taking pictures, that any other photographer would not. I can be generous with estimates. Several photographers immediately wanted my list. Between then and updating this in 2020 I passed over $114,000 in sales even though the payments had fallen off the cliff in the years between. Those who try harder and shoot more will do better!
Well, it’s a challenge. So here it is. Bear in mind that this applies mainly to MY kind of stock – editorial and illustrative. It is the kind of stock which is used for newspaper, magazine, website, intranet, business flyer, postcard, calendar, book, textbook, CD cover, travel guide, point of sale display, product labels, AV presentations and the like.
Generally, it is not the kind of stock which is used to illustrate business meetings, financial services or desirable lifestyle consumer purchases. This is not because I fail to recognise that such stock accounts for the bulk of all photo uses. It’s because so much of that is microstock at micropayments, mass produced, generic, fully released – and anyway, I don’t like those market sectors.
Nor is it the kind of stock which involves breaking radical new ground, or important old bones. It’s not extreme adventure, exotic environment, war zone, unexplored territory, impenetrable tribal societies, rare wildlife – or anything which involves press calls, passes, access to celebrities or admission to exclusive properties. Though wait to see my conclusion!
What we (my late wife Shirley and I, and sometimes our family) have shot for stock is what anyone anywhere can see every day in their daily life, work and travels. My thirty points can not, and must not, include various reasons for taking certain pictures. That would be giving too much away. But they can all be about how those pictures differ from the ones taken by the next camera to click in the same place.
So, here goes. Thirty points which distinguish the stock shooter from the creative amateur, hobbyist, artistically-aware camera user and even from the working professional.
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