Stock sales

As photographers, most of us dream of waking up in the morning, spending our day shooting photos, ship our best shots to a photo agency and then living off our royalty payments from our chosen agency. But reality is a very different situation.

Stock sales with  agencies aren't what they used to be. For example, I have photos placed with Corbis. In the mid-2000s  their gross revenue was around $225 million, today they have a gross revenue in the $100 million. Unlike their collections of images, that continue to grow, sales are on a downward spiral. Their situation isn't very different from any other stock agency. 

Don't expect to make a full time living by  submitting your images to an agency. Corbis does get my photos in front of buyers that I would not normally have access to, and for me in this business, every sale counts.