Would you recommend photographers to join the stock photo industry?

The difference between ‘doing well’ and ‘doing mediocre’ is crazy big. If you are mediocre at stock photography you will barely scrape by; you will live on a student’s salary in terms of royalties and I would advise you to find another job. If you are exceptionally good at stock photography you will earn millions. 

The difference between being ‘really, really good’ and ‘just good’ at what you do, is more significant with stock than any other category of photography. The pinnacle for those that have a special talent is huge since they basically have the world as their playground. As a normal freelance photographer, you can get away with mediocrity and you won’t really be punished, but in stock photography you will pay for the shoots out of your own pocket.

At the highest, my own personal royalties have been in the range of about 

$500 000 - $600 000 per month, but that was some years ago. The industry has become much tougher and more competitive. And remember, these are the numbers from the world’s highest earning stock photographer out of about 150 000 stock photographers world wide. Most stock photographers earn in the range of $2 000 to $4 000 per month which is not enough to have an ‘okay’ lifestyle

Taking images is just part of running a successful microstock business. How important is post-production?

People underestimate how important post-production is for success in this industry. We employ a team of about 4-5 fulltime post-production staff for every one photographer we have on board - that is how much resource investment it takes to provide professional retouching and keywording for just one fulltime photographer to be set up for success. It’s expensive and resource-intensive, but necessary.  

Who are some of your favourite photographers?

 • Joachim Ladefoged, the Danish photographer and world press winner. He shoots exceptionally complex images of sometimes 3-4 layers, I admire that a lot, I can build 3-4 layers work in a controlled environment, but doing it in real life when stuff happens around you is phenomenal.  Press photography at its best - I admire that. 

 • On the commercial side I like photographers like David Lachapelle. I am amazed at how much thought and hard work goes on into creating images like that. His images are extremely complex, while beautifully constructed. 

How do you respond to photographers who criticize those who sell their work to stock agencies, and say that it devalues photography?

We heard such criticism so much about five years ago when microstock was introduced into the industry. Images were mass-produced and sold at ridiculously low prices as opposed to the traditional stock industry that sold for $100+/ image. 

At the time, the newly introduced competition – “microstock” - was a real threat to many established photographers that were used to selling images at ultra high prices, sometimes eliciting fury at the “new guys”. 

The thing is, that these kinds of industry disruptors will always occur and criticizing it is placing you on the slowest end of the “reaction of change” continuum. The smartest change adaption you can have is gaining and understanding when a disruption is about to happen… before it happens, then betting on it and ultimately winning on it.  When you are criticizing it, not only has the disruption already happened, but also you are so far behind that keeping up is difficult. 

What do you shoot other than images for stock photography?

 I don’t distinguish between stock images versus non-stock images. I view every image as special and try to stay in the moment and take the best photographic images that I can at that moment. Some commercial shoots are sometimes so enjoyable than I would do them privately and some private shoots ends up becoming commercial. I am always on the lookout for great images and have acquired a permanent spot on my forehead from looking through a viewfinder at least once a day – but that has also been part of my success.

Do you have favorite images from your www.peopleimages.com collection?

Yes, I have many favorites for different reasons and some are shown with this article.

Examples: