Working with Stock Photography

During the last six months, whilst in lockdown I have continued to work on my stock photography portfolio.  This mundane task involves editing and uploading thousands of old photos to the Getty Images portal.  Once on the portal you spend a further number of hours filling in titles, descriptions and adding numerous keywords.  I am now back in the UK after spending the majority of the year in Mexico City.  At home I have several more hard drives dating back over ten years providing me with thousands of additional travel images to keep me busy with this endless task.  

My Current Stock Photography Portfolio

My first experience with stock photography was around ten years ago.  Back then I was a new photographer and avid user of Flickr.com, one of the original photo sharing sites.  Around this time a handful of my Flickr images were hand picked by Getty to be licensed by them through a deal the two companies had together.  For years nothing much happened and due to having a full time office job at the time didn't really do anything about it.  Without any guidance or need to make any money through photography I only started to take stock photography more seriously around two years ago.  Here's the first blog I wrote about the ins and outs of stock photography back in 2018.  Back then I had around one thousand images on my Getty portfolio.  By the end of last year I had over five thousand of my travel and art images for licence via getty and wrote another blog about my experiences.  In February of 2020 I had over seven thousand images for sale on the portal and wrote about that month's sales in this blog.  That month earned me just over $300 with forty of my Getty images being licensed, at the time my best stock photography monthly income to date.  The following six months saw the travel industry and the rest of the World take a big downturn due to the Worldwide Covid-19 pandemic.  The majority of my stock photos are travel related and with lockdowns around the world and the majority of flights suspended the tourism industry ground to a halt.  For me, that unfortunately meant less of my images being sold, with little or no tourism there was no need for companies to buy travel images.  Being in a lockdown myself for those months I used the time productively to continue expanding my Getty portfolio and now have over 12,000 images. After a string of bad monthly payments during these months, my September sales saw an improvement and my best monthly payout to date.  In September 2020 I licensed over fifty images with an average sale price of 6.29 bringing me a monthly income of $350.  Click through the slideshow to view my top five selling stock images in September 2020:

The vast sand dunes of Huacachina in Peru.

An artistic bokeh image of the Costa Verde in Lima, Peru.

A llama welcomes tourists to Machu Picchu in Peru.

Artistic silhouette photography by Geraint Rowland.

Ferry travel in Scotland, UK.

What helped my overall monthly income in September was three big sales each of close to $100. This ensures the overall photo sale average is higher as you also get a large number of sales bringing in less than a dollar per image after Getty take their cut! My top five sales in September included: a silhouetted image of people climbing the famous sand dunes in Huacachina, Ica, Peru. An abstract soft focus image of the Costa Verde in Lima, the Capital of Peru. And one of my best selling travel images of a llama in front of Machu Picchu in Peru. None of these images contain recognisable people or property so do not require model releases to license them. September’s sales have given me the confidence and encouragement to continue my stock photography quest. Whether stock photography is worth it or not is down to your individual circumstances. The process is monotonous and extremely time consuming, the trick to succeeding is having a good workflow in place and regularly uploading instead of letting the years years pass before you start! I wish now I had started years ago, but as always hindsight is wonderful thing!

In addition to having a potential income, Getty gives you an element of prestige as a photographer (although arguable when your images sell for pennies…).  In addition it provides your photography with another channel to be viewed on the Internet.  Hopefully the upward trend of sales will continue and my efforts this year will eventually pay off. You can view my stock photography portfolio on Getty Images here.  If you would like to buy any of my travel images directly please contact me via my website.  More of my travel photography and abstract art photos can be found on my Flickr and Instagram accounts.  For any more information about my photography send an email to: geraintrowlandphotography@gmail.com.

Street Photography in India

I am a photographer from the United Kingdom who loves to travel.  Last year I spent over six months travelling around India.  I started in Bangalore before making my way down the west coast to the southern tip of India before making my way up the east coast to Calcutta.  After some time in Bangladesh I returned to explore the north of India visiting Varanasi and the state of Rajasthan as well as the Capital of New Delhi.  There weren't many days during the trip that I didn't head out with my camera to document my experiences.  As well as capturing the iconic sights such as the Taj Mahal, and beautiful nature images on the coastline of Kerala and in the immense Thar Desert, some of my favourite photographs from the trip were ones I took on the streets, capturing everyday life in India.  This blog includes some of the many street photographs I took whilst travelling through India.

What is Street Photography?

Street photography is a genre that has become very popular in recent times with the popularity of Instagram, and the ability to take good quality photos on a mobile phone.  There is some debate as to what actually defines street photography and what it should and should not include.  My understanding of street photography is the documentation of people living their everyday lives in a public space.  Street photography nearly always contains people and is taken in a candid, unstaged way, normally without the knowledge or consent of the people captured.  I don't personally believe that street photography has to necessarily be taken in a street or even an urban environment as not everyone in the World lives in a City.  Street photography involves the observation of humanity, and when done well becomes an art form in itself.  A well taken street photo will evoke some kind of emotion in the viewer, over and above that of a standard snapshot.  The resulting image provides a single moment in time that tells a particular story, often in an amusing or ironic way.  Some documentary and street photographers insist on their photos being black & white but I personally feel this to be a shame particularly if the image was taken in a colourful setting as is often the case in India.   Aside from the possible conversion to black and white it is generally agreed that street photographs should not be overly edited and should be presented in a natural and realistic way.  I am a member of a Facebook group called 'Urban Street Photography' which has some fantastic examples of the different styles of street photography taken around the World.  It is a perfect place to look at the work of great street photographers with differing styles for some urban inspiration!  

Examples of my Street Photography taken in India

India is a brilliant place for every type of photography, street photography included.  The Cities and towns are full of colour and are bustling with life throughout the day.  What can seem hectic and overbearing to many people can be a street photographers dream.  As a street photographer you often just have to be patient, and something interesting will eventually happen.  In addition, Indian people are very friendly, who in the majority of cases do not mind having their photo taken.  It is also a safe place to travel around with a camera so long as you take the obvious precautions.  My normal plan when travelling is to meet up with local people, often photographers from Flickr or Instagram to go and take photos with.  This provides me with some valuable local knowledge as well as making the experience more enjoyable resulting in some better travel and street photographs for my portfolio.  Click on the photo below to view a slideshow of ten street photos I captured on my journey around India.

Street Photograph of colourfully dressed women in Bangalore.

A candid street photo taken in Pushkar, Rajasthan, India. A cow stares towards the camera while a local man walks past.

An amusing candid street photograph of a Holy Man speaking on a mobile phone in Varanasi, India.

Street photography in Varanasi by Geraint Rowland.

Two cyclists cross each other on a bridge across a river in Madurai, India.

A girl passes a cow on some stairs in this street image taken in Varanasi.

Colourful street image of a fruit seller and his girlfriend, taken in Pushkar in Rajasthan, India.

Street photographs often evoke an emotion such as humour in this image of children on their mobile phones behind a large chicken on the streets of Madurai.

A colourful candid street portrait taken on the outskirts of Bengaluru, India.

The streets full of life (and rubbish) on a Sunday morning in central Bengaluru.

I highly recommend India for a photographic and travel experience, you will not be disappointed, it really is a unique part of the World.  I have written several photographic travel blogs about my time in India including: Travel photography in Varanasi, Sunset silhouette photography in Fort Kochi, and one on the birds at Marina beach at sunrise in Chennai.  I have always enjoyed taking street photographs on my travels, here is a blog I wrote combining two of my interests: street photography and street art.  More of my street photographs from India and around can be found on my website, my Instagram, my Facebook and my Flickr account.  I have a large selection of my travel photographs from India available to licence via Getty Images.  If you are interested in purchasing a print direct, writing a guest blog or collaborating in another way please send an email to: geraintrowlandphotography@gmail.com.