Dip Your Beak Into This

Follow the Nose

Well, today I got paid my for my first full week of work, which was nice. It will keep the wolves at bay for another week at least and then Tracie will be getting paid too.

I don't know I if I wrote about this earlier, but I have a semi-permanent temp position doing document imaging, which involves, sorting files, scanning the pages and then indexing the images into a database. This way, the paper can be sent off to a warehouse never to be seen again and the data on them can be kept and searched through on the computer. Think of it as jpegs of everypage that are tagged to the database.

I've been taking my camera to work everyday to take pictures during my lunch break as well as on my way to and from work. Mostly for the micro stock agency, istock.com where I have 16 uploads already and seven downloads.

Selling the stock photos is proving to be quite addictive. I'm getting better at picking photos that will be accepted into the stock library and now I have more accepted than rejected. I wish I had started taking stock photos when I learned about istock two or three years ago, especially since I had access to that really nice camera at the Gauntlet for that year. At the university and particularly at the Gauntlet it would have been very easy to find models willing to sign releases for the stock site.

At the rate I am going, I will be making more money on the stock site than from my ads. It's pretty much a gaurantee that I'll be getting my first $100 cheque from selling the photos rather than the ads. I guess that it makes sense that actually selling something is better than hoping people will click on ads, even though it is working so well for Jeff.

I guess I'm about 10% of the way to my first goal of 150 uploads. I've read in the forums that anywhere between 100-150 photos is where people start to get consistant purchases of their stock photos. It varies with how many shots of people you have because stock photos with people in them sell a little better than still life shots. I guess I have to print of a couple of model releases for Tracie and I to sign so that I can upload pics of ourselves.

If a picture of me won't sell toilet bowl cleaner, I don't know what will.www.istockphoto.com

-Gary Milner