Photography Trends of 2015
Amos Struck of Stock Photo Secrets has posted a great article on the top 80 trends in photography for 2015: Click here to see the whole 80 photography trends article! The article has a LOT of material and plenty of photos. As I perused the article it occurred to me that what is more important that the trends that are out there is to make your own trend and upward one!
Having A Plan
While it is important to stay on top of such information it is equally if not more important to have a plan for your year ahead, a plan that can take your stock photo, and life, in an upwards direction . One part of my own plan that does seem to be working is in using my website to promote my stock photo sales. It has been a slow and subtle journey, but nonetheless, in addition to twenty to thirty people a day finding images on my site and then following links to those images at Blend, Getty, Corbis or SuperStock, I am now also averaging one direct stock photo request a day. A lot of these requests are a pain in the butt, such as a request yesterday for two small prints, or for things like free images for classroom projects, but a lot of them are panning out as well. In addition, I am getting the occasional assignment offer...which is great since I am not hungry for them and can pick and choose which ones I want to take on.
Long Term Projects
I have been working diligently on the site for what, seven years now? Talk about a long term project! Almost every night I am uploading my latest stock images and adding a good amount of text. I have something like 8,000 pages and over 7,000 images on the site now. Phew! But the results are picking up and I am undeniably making money off of the endeavor.
Commitment To Making Images
Another part of my overall stock photo plan that seems to be working is my commitment to make a minimum of twenty images a month for stock. Ever since I made that commitment, roughly a year and a half ago, my production has almost doubled! Now it is like brushing my teeth...I am driven to get those twenty images up...and usually end up closer to thirty images. My stock income is rising as a result.
More Stock Photo Opportunities
To fine tune my plan this year I am mainly looking for ways to create more stock photo opportunities through fun activities. I am planning a trip to New Zealand and Australia for fun and stock raw materials. I am also becoming more active in the San Francisco chapter of APA (I am on the board now) and working on a body of work to try and get a toe hold in the fine art world.
Get To Where You Want To Be!
So do keep abreast of what the trends are and what is happening in the world, but don't forget that the most important task is to keep on track with a plan that will get you to where you want to be! Writing out a detailed plan with specific actions and deadlines for those actions is almost magical in its effectiveness. Now excuse me...I have images to make!
