I've been only shooting with the iPhone 11 Pro Max (64GB)

 The weather has been miserable here in Ottawa for the past 2 weeks or so.  We've gotten another dump of snow this week. I haven't touched my Sony a7R Mark II or any of my camcorders in about 2 weeks.  I've been using my Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max (64GB) for all of my photography in the past two weeks.  I carry my iPhone with me everywhere I go.  I use to obviously keep contact with my family, my fiancee and work.  I'm currently listening to some music via my phone and my brand new AirPods Pro earphones.  That is another story for another day.  I don't know yet how I feel about the AirPods Pro.  They sound great in the ear.  The noise cancellation is fantastically amazing.  But back to photography.

There are multiple reasons why I upgraded to the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max with the 512GB of internal storage.  First, is the storage.  My current phone has on 64GB of internal storage.  For a Pro designated phone, it should come with a minimum of 256GB of storage and have the options of 512GB and 1TB of storage.  My new phone will have 512GB of storage which is enough storage to store all my music, documents, photos and videos that I plan on shooting.  Eventually I will run out of space on my phone, iPad and iCloud.  But not if I manage the storage with some logical thought.  For vlogs, I'm going to be deleting whatever footage I get after the vlog is updated to YouTube.  I will also be uploading the B roll to Pond5 or Adobe Stock for sale, if they get accepted.  

The phone will shoot 4K/60fps video.  On my current phone, I'd shoot for 30 minutes and I'd run out of storage.  Yes 30 minutes is a long time for video but when you don't have access to Wi-Fi or external storage, 30 minutes is not a long time.  512GB should be good enough to get the shot or video.  I'll be editing everything on my 2018 Apple iPad Pro with 512GB of storage.

I've been looking at videos of Apples own M1 based laptops and computers.  They seem to be very impressive.  Even the Macbook Air.  I want portability and all day battery life.  I get that with my current iPad Pro and I'll get it with the new iPhone 12 Pro Max.  

I think within the next 2-3 iterations of the iPhone, most DSLR and Point and Shoot cameras will be obsolete.  Most Point and Shoot cameras are obsolete now.  Along with P&S cameras, most camcorders are obsolete for public consumption.  99% of kids and adults have either an iPhone or an Android phone.  The phone operating system and hardware will just keep getting better and better.  As a photographer myself, I keep changing equipment every couple of years.  My current equipment will stay with me for quite a while I think just because it's so capable to meet my needs as a photographer and videographer.  

The iPhone 12 Pro Max with iOS 14.3 will give me the ability to shoot in ProRaw which will give me 25MB files.  That's more than enough information in the photo to play around with.  I just wish the phone came with a 70-200MM type lens for those close up shots.  Eventually I think Apple will be able to do that through software and hardware.  By then, mirrorless and DSLR cameras will not be needed and everyone will just carry around a phone with them.  

You can pretty much do 99% of stuff you need to do on a phone and a tablet.  Soon you'll be able to properly code on an iPad.  Laptops and desktops will eventually not be needed and everyone will be walking around with just a phone and iPad type tablet.  With 5G added to all new devices, we won't even need Wi-FI.  That's if the data plans increase and prices continue to fall.  Unless you're in Canada where cell phone plans continue to increase in price.

Milestone

Just 2 weeks over 5 years after joining Shutterstock, I sold $6,000 worth of photography on 4,822 sales.  Considering 3 years ago I didn't even shoot video cause I wasn't a videographer, videos make up about 30% of my sales on Shutterstock.  I'm not the best or worst photog/videographer out there but it's kinda nice that people buy my stuff.  Just need another $4,000 to get another pay raise from Shutterstock.  You can see the links on my website to my various portfolios by clicking here. 

Year in review of Micro stock sales

So last year I had 72 downloads for a whopping $64 on Shutterstock in January.  In January 2019, I've had 4 downloads for a whopping $94.68.  So far, 2019 has been much better.  I hope it continues this way for the rest of the month and rest of the year.  2018 sucked as far as sales.  I sold $1178.76 worth of photography and footage just on Shutterstock alone last year.  I had 741 downloads alone on Shutterstock.  In 2017 I had 1153 downloads for total sales of $1638.17.

In 2018 I had a rough a 28% decrease in dollar value sales and downloads were down roughly 36%.  So I made $460.31 less on Shutterstock last year with 412 less downloads last year.  I increased my portfolio by about 3000 photographs and clips.

In 2017 I was selling on average of $136.51 a month of footage and photography.  In 2018, it dropped to $98.24.  An average loss of $38.28 a month or roughly 28% drop in revenue per month.  This I think is due to me not shooting as much as last year and the increase in competition since Shutterstock now accepts 1 out of 10 photographs rather than 7 out of 10 photographs when I first joined in 2014.

This is just one site that I use.  Pond5 and Storyblocks are two of my other sites.  It's much harder to sell on those two sites as I think they're much smaller stock sites and sales are less frequent.

On Pond5 I had $618.63 worth of sales with 7 sales all year.  On Storyblocks I had 3 sales worth a total of $99.03.  All sales are in U.S dollars so I get a slight conversion bonus when I convert to Canadian dollars which helps.

	2017 Sales	2018 Sales
Shutterstock	1639.17	1178.86
Pond5	587	618.83
Storyblocks	330.1	99.03

	2017 downloads	2018 downloads
Shutterstock	1153	741
Pond5	7	8
Storyblock	10	3

So as you can see, the only place sales and downloads increased is on Pond5.  Basically I only photograph and take footage of wild animals and landscapes.  99% of my portfolio is editorial free.  I don't like photographing people much.  I think for this year I will go to the Ottawa market more often and start photography people more.  Do some more editorial work in black and white and see if that starts selling more.  Thankfully I can be more inconspicuous with the Sony RX100 Mark Vi and its 24-200MM lens since the Sony RX100 Mark VI is an awesome pocket camera. 

Finally getting some help at work. Maybe!

It's been a month and half since I came back to my employer.  I was supposed to get some help a month ago but that didn't pan out.  Then I was supposed to get some help two weeks ago.  That din't pan out either.  Then I was supposed to get some help this week.  I was supposed to get help this week but that is not happening.  Again.  I.T. is becoming a total crap show.  Working for government is a waste.  So much red tape, they have meetings about meetings about meetings.  People are so oblivious of what's happening inside the government, they're too blind to see it or wilfully ignorant of the facts.  It has gotten worse since the election of twinkle toes back in 2015.  

I want to start and run a streamlined and transparent photography business.  I haven't shot a wedding in years.  I try and stay away from weddings.  I'm thinking of running a travel photography type business.  Of course there are positive and negatives to that.  

I am getting really tired.  I haven't been on a vacation in months.  I haven't taken a day off in months because I'm the only guy here working.  I haven't gotten help in the last 6 weeks.  It's pretty much all on me here and I'm making mistakes because I'm being pulled in different directions.  I just need a few days off and recoup.  I want to do what I enjoy and do some photography.

It's mid month

I've sold 1 video for roughly $260.  I got about $130 for that.  Other than that, I've sold maybe 40 photos for roughly $0.36 each on Shutterstock.  Shutterstock is somewhat disappointing this month.  I think there's been one or two months where I haven't sold a video on Shutterstock and it really hinders sales and payouts.  I'm not losing hope yet as we're only half way through the month.  After Fine Art America and Pond5 pay out what they owe me, I'll be about a third of the way there to get the new Sony RX100 Mark VI.  If a the Sony RX100 Mark VII comes out in April or May, I'll wait to buy that camera if it's worth it.

I am still editing photos from the trip to Parc Omega this past weekend.  Took a lot of phots and videos so it takes time.  I'm using ON1 Capture Raw 2019 to edit the photos.  It's a new program for me so I'm learning the ins and outs of the program.  So far so god.

I am getting the Sony RX100 Mark V fixed tomorrow.  The latch that holds the battery in the camera broke on me a few months ago while I was doing some astrophotography with it.  It's about time I get it fixed.  I'm conflicted somewhat about getting the Sony RX100 Mark VI as I do have the Sony RX100 Mark V.  The only new feature would be the 24-200MM lens.  It would mean I'd carry around one less camera as the Mark VI would be good enough to shoot stills and footage.  I'd just have to carry around a light tripod with the RX100 Mark VI and that's pretty much it.  I don't shoot headshots for people.  I focus mainly on landscapes and wildlife.  I'd like to get the Sony RX10 Mark IV for wildlife as it does have a 24-600MM lens on it.  It would mean I could sit back at a good distance and not disturb the wildlife.  That I think will be my next purchase with my photography money.

Looks like...

...Shutterstock is picking up.  Although sales are still down 25%-50% they could be worse.  What's saving me is video sales.

Two video sales, one late last night and one really early this morning actually put me over the $5,000.00 earnings mark.  I'm averaging about $1,250 a year in sales right now.  I started in May 2014 where I earned only $5 to $20 a month for the first year.  So that average is probably higher.  I'd say around $2,000 a year.  I am starting this month to actually save my photography earnings to buy a new camera.  I want to buy the new Sony RX200 Mark IV point and shoot.  I want to buy the Sony RX100 Mark IV just because of its size and the fact that it now boasts a f2.8-4.5 24-200MM lens.  It's a perfect little travel camera that shoots awesome 1080p and 4k video.  Plus the picture quality is outstanding.  Next year I want to get into doing some astrophotography so I also want to purchase an entry level DSLR like a Canon Rebel T7i or if they bring out a new T8i, I'd buy that.  I already have a telescope and a tracking mount so I just need the body.

My experience with micro stock agencies

For the most part, my experience has been rock solid dealing with micro stock agencies such as Shutterstock, Bigstockphoto, Fotolia, Alamy, Pond5 and Videoblocks.  There are agencies that I will not work with again such as Dreamstime, Canstockphoto and 123RF.  While having portfolios on those last three agencies, the work is just not worth the return.  In 2+ years of having portfolios on those agencies, I've gotten one payout between the three of them totalling $51.00USD.  Uploading, keywording and submitting your photos or videos is just not worth the time and effort.

By far, Shutterstock is where the action is.  That's where I have my biggest portfolio and that's where I make the majority of my sales.  I've just start shooting video in the past 9 months and have had a great success with it on Shutterstock, Fotolia, Pond5 and Videoblocks.  I suggest doing both video and photo work.  Doing video as well gives clients potential options as well.  

As you can see on my blog I have links to my various portfolios.  If you want to sign up, please use the necessary links provided and sign up that way.  I spend about an hour or two a week just uploading to the various websites including editing, keywording and uploading.  It's a great return on investment and time.