I don’t shoot stock, and I rarely sell stock (mainly, because I don’t actively promote my catalog of images), but occasionally I will get a call from someone who knew I had an archived image and wants to license it. It can wind up being a nice little payment that I didn’t expect, and it makes me wonder if I shouldn’t be actively promoting my work for stock sales.
It wouldn’t be hard to build up a variety of images for sale, either. I remember a photographer giving a lecture about finding good stock shot opportunities on all of his commissioned shoots. He’d be hired to shoot a subject at a certain location, then spot something else and shoot it before or after the primary shoot.
Here’s a good example… I was in an office building yesterday, hired to shoot a lawyer for their website and brochures. As I’m waiting for her to come in the conference room, I look out the window. From the 20th story, I see an interesting view of downtown Dallas traffic during a wet, cold morning. I snap some pics. All of a sudden, I have images of a busy city highway that can be sold as stock. I was just sitting and waiting at the time, so why not make the most of it?
Or, on the plane home from Disney World… I look out the window and see an interesting shot that may be marketable. Done. I had nothing else to do, so why not take a picture that could potentially be sold. It could wind up being sold over and over, if the image is popular enough!
So, why not start actively offering my images as stock? Maybe I should. If I keep looking for little shots that can be taken during my downtime, it would be easy to find a bunch of potentially profitable shots.