Wedding Atelier: Photography Podcast

221. Stock Photography is an Easy Income Stream with Aubrey Westlund

• Alora Rachelle

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In this episode of the Wedding at Podcast, the host welcomes back Aubrey Westland, the expert in stock photography, after more than three years. The conversation delves into the intricacies of the stock photography industry, covering essential topics such as the differences between microstock and premium agencies, the impact of AI on the industry, and licensing models. 

Aubrey shares her decade-long journey, offers insights on boosting creativity, and provides practical advice for photographers seeking to diversify their income during slow seasons.


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Alora:

Welcome back to the Wedding at podcast. I have a special guest who hasn't been on here in three plus years, and she is the stock photography queen. Anything about stock photography? I just recommend that they talk to Aubrey so we're just gonna have a casual conversation about stock photography, what's going on in that industry, why you should probably add it to your roster if you're struggling with creativity, burnout, or just wanting to make money off of images you probably already have. So Aubrey, welcome back to the podcast. I'm so excited to have you.

Aubrey:

Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to get into this feel free to ask me whatever you wanna know, because I feel like. Most photographers have the same questions about stock photography. It is a really hard industry to really understand. So I hope that today I can uncover some of those mysteries for you.

Alora:

Yeah, because you were saying this in the green room, off script it is mostly dominated by elder male photographers. And so when I see those ads, I just click away. It does not appeal to me. It looks outdated. I was like, I don't really, it's not something I said to myself like, man, I really love to dive into that. I would like to be a stock photographer. It's not like super flashy. Yeah but I feel like you have so much knowledge and experience and you built this yourself from the ground up, like with kids in the pandemic, right? Wasn't it? Around that time.

Aubrey:

That was around the time when I started teaching it, but I actually started submitting stock photography back in 2015, I believe. So I've been doing it for almost 10 years now. Seen a lot of things change as well.

Alora:

Yeah. Okay. She's got a decade in experience. I'm sorry, I only gave you five years. You have 10.

Aubrey:

I also shot what I was a wedding photographer for that full amount of time as well. So this is something, it wasn't like I did stock photography full time. It was like during my slow seasons. That's when I started to build this

Alora:

Can you walk us through a little bit of your journey? How did you get curious to think to yourself? Oh, I could sell stock images on the side in slow season one. That's a great strategy. And also two. How did you know it would ever amount to anything considering that we both know on the visual side, it's not very appealing.

Aubrey:

The answer is I didn't, I was very similar to you when I thought of stock photography. It was like. Photos of like corporate men in suits, shaking hands, or laughing at their salad, right? That's not the style of photography that I'm into. So it never occurred to me. It wasn't something that I was drawn to. It wasn't even something that I thought like I fit in. And so it was really like something that I fell into because at the time I got an email from an agency, it was like a brand new agency, and they were trying to get different types of photographers to join, like professional photographers who were not your standard like studio stock photographer. So they were really looking to add more creativity to this collection, more artistry, more of natural style of photography, like candid photos, that sort of thing. Not the posed style that we can't relate to. So this agency was called Offset, and they're actually a part of Shutterstock. So many of us are familiar with Shutterstock. been around for a long time, and they are a Microstock agency meaning that their goal is to license. volume of photos at a low price point. That's how they do it. But that's not the only type of stock agency. And so these days we have a lot of premium agencies and think Shutterstock, they saw that happening and they said we need to have a premium side where we can attract premium clients. People who want, photos that aren't like available to the masses because of the price point, but also they're more curated. Like I would submit a hundred photos and I would only get like 20 accepted. Like the best of the best. So this is how I am able to earn substantial amounts of money I don't earn like my full-time income from stock photography, but it's like half of my income. If I was just doing micro stock, I might, I'd be making like maybe a hundred dollars here and there, like a hundred dollars a month or,$20 a month maybe. But now I can earn a hundred dollars plus per license working with premium agencies. I forgot the question,

Alora:

where do we start?

Aubrey:

Too far into agencies now

Alora:

She's so deep guys.'cause she has such a wealth of knowledge, but I'm still at letter A. So when you say micro stock, what is the difference between micro stock and the other ones? What are the different stocks and what is licensing?

Aubrey:

Okay, so let's start with licensing. When we work with clients, we're not giving away the copyright, Can use those photos usually for personal use or for their business. They can't resell them or anything. with stock, it's rather than them hiring you to do a full shoot, usually they have a need for one or two photos for an ad or something like that. so they go and pay the license to use it for a specific reason. Whether that's in print or online they're downloading. Small versus a large file. So that's how the pricing can vary. we also have royalty free, which means they can use it over and over again, but they're never purchasing the copyright They're just renting it for themselves so they can't go and resell it or anything like that. that's also why you can license the same photo over and over again. The difference is in the clientele or like customers. So Microsoft customers, they don't really care that photo. Is being used by a hundred other businesses, right? For example, I have these photos that I took of like a wellness collective. So there's like yoga and massage and like singing bowls, like all these different things. And those photos. Are very popular on microstock because those businesses usually that type of business, like they don't have a big budget for photos. They don't, they're probably using them for their website headers. So those same photos are out there on a ton of different businesses, websites. But the photos that I license with a premium agency, those are going like into a magazine or. Maybe in a healthcare ad, like they, they need photos that aren't being used everywhere else. Like these are bigger businesses, bigger brands that have the budget for stock photography, and they don't mind paying more because if they're using my photo in an ad, like that ad is going to bring in a lot of money, right? So they don't mind spending$500 to license one photo because they're getting. First of all, the experience with the premium agency is better for them. They don't have to sift through millions of photos to find what they're looking for. Like they're already curated. They are already seeing the best of the best. also many of these agencies, they will like help. Their clients, these bigger brands they'll send them like options. So that's also think of it as like your luxury wedding clients versus your budget wedding clients, right? Like your luxury wedding clients. They wanna what's best for them. They don't have a lot of time. They have money. They don't have the time. So how can you save them time? How can you give them that luxury experience? That's something I always think about. I think this is a good way to explain it to wedding photographers. It's like the customers on premium sites are like your luxury clients. And so needs are different than the small business owner who really just needs to like. a cheap photo. So premium agencies, there's typically like application process. They don't accept everyone, which with microstock agencies, they'll pretty much accept anyone. Like you don't have to apply, you can just start uploading photos and hope they accept them. So there's that difference as well.

Alora:

Okay,

Aubrey:

we feeling now?

Alora:

I'm like putting it into categories. I'm like making an Excel sheet in my brain. So what is the most, that micro stock is willing to pay for images versus the premium agencies? What would be an average, like for example, like maybe micro stock at the most usually sells images at like a hundred bucks. Or the premium can go up to thousands.

Aubrey:

So Microstock, it can vary so much because they also offer like photo packs or people will buy a subscription that gives them like unlimited access. So that's where sometimes we get those commissions that are like 1 cent on a photo. And that's what most people are familiar with stock. That's why That's why people don't think it's worth getting into. So I send my rejected photos to Adobe stock and other micro stock sites because I might as well still be making money off these photos. So on Adobe stock, like often I'll see like$1, maybe$10. I think$35 was the largest commission I for one photo on Adobe stock. But also make more sales because there are more customers, they're willing to buy more photos because it's so cheap for them. But I think in order for it to even out, you would really have to be putting your best photos on microstock sites and then you'd see them like selling over and over again. But for a low price point.

Alora:

So the point is to eventually start with Microstock, but you really want to end up in the premium agencies to make it well worth your time.

Aubrey:

It's different'cause I work with professional photographers and I also help people who are just like hobby photographers that wanna And so for professional photographers, I would say like if you know what to show your agency and how to put together your application to show that you would be an asset to their agency, you might be able to get in on your first try. Like for most other people, I would say start with Microstock or there's also something called a multi uploader agency. one example would be CA images where you submit your images to them and then they disperse them where they think they belong. So they might, choose these images and send them to all the Microstock agencies for you. And then. A smaller group of images, they'll send to some premium agencies that they're partnered with. And then obviously they also take a cut of any sales you make. There's that option as well, which is good if you're just starting out, because then you can start to see they chose this photo for premium. Like that gives you a clue as to what premium agencies might be looking for or these photos went to Microstock, so maybe when I put together an application, I don't wanna put these photos in my gallery when I apply. So it can give you clues. And also, like even with Microstock, if you pay attention to what's selling over and over again, that translates over to premium as well, because it's okay a demand for this type of photo. Does that make sense?

Alora:

Yeah, it does make sense. I feel like if you have been in the industry for a while, especially if you're a wedding photographer, charging higher prices, you probably could just. Cultivate a really good portfolio, submit it and be like, oh yeah, I know what I'm doing. But if somebody is like brand new or still insecure maybe about their image style and stuff like that, you can just be accepted right away and eventually make it up there. So in terms of stock photography, like as a niche as a whole, because I, like I said, I know nothing about it besides the ads. What are people talking about, like in this industry, what is the buzz about ai? Because right now. Even if I go in Canva or chat GBT, I'll just be like, make me this photo, refurnish my bedroom. And it does a really decent job, How do you feel like that's affecting the industry?

Aubrey:

I'm curious, would you ever use those photos to represent your brand?

Alora:

No.

Aubrey:

No. See, that's definitely a fear that a lot of people have. I get comments every day that stock photography is dead from middle-aged white men. And for people that don't really understand the different sides of this industry, like it makes sense because people are using AI

Alora:

Yeah.

Aubrey:

but the difference is that premium customers aren't really using ai. And I actually see, I've seen the pendulum swing more because they, I feel like there's this, divide between the types of brands that will use AI and the types that won't. They don't even want you to think that they're So now I'm seeing like these agencies lower quality images and like less. Images that are less technically perfect, which in the beginning they never would've accepted. That was a no-no. Like I couldn't submit photos with grain or like any blur at all. Like if it was intentional or creative, they would not accept that. And now that's changed a lot. So I feel like these brands are gravitating more to like even more authentic photos. Real models like go out and shoot your friends and family who are not professional models, right? Take photos in your own home that looks lived in and real and not like a set, like that's what brands want now. Not that we should do away with the artistry or the creativity, like I still think that's important to premium brands. But as far as if your photos needing to look technically perfect, that's what AI can do. And so as photographers like capturing more of the emotional side or like what it really feels like to be a human I think that's important. I don't think that will ever go away and we'll see things change like. Maybe AI will be able to do something really cool and brands will hop on that for a while. But I think that in the end, like we as consumers, we wanna be able to relate to a brand. I don't, there, there's this one company that I remember six months ago, their whole campaign. They were using like AI images of people and it was very obvious and it made me like, I didn't even wanna sign up for their, it was like for some sort of workshop or something like that they're putting on a conference. And I was just like, I don't even, I'm not interested. Like that kind of turned me away from their brand. And I think that a lot of us probably feel that way. Like we don't wanna buy from brands that we can relate to in We feel like we relate to them. Think about it in that way when it comes to future of stock photography, I don't think it's going to away anytime soon. I just think like customers who are now buying AI images are the same customers that we're like using free stock photos,

Alora:

yeah. You're like, they were gonna get free images anyway, and that's not the whole point.

Aubrey:

That's not who I'm worried about. Yeah.

Alora:

I, and I was gonna ask you too about that being like, okay, so where do you think. In terms of brands, because I didn't even think about how stock photography is so linked to marketing and working with these different companies, you guys will be paying attention to what companies are hiring for, where the marketing is shifting based on the images that they purchase. I am curious, do you feel like we're hitting like this point where? Because I know you've been in the industry for 10 years, at least in the stock photography industry, but like we've been wedding photographers. There was a time where authenticity like really took over. Even that word authentic was like so overused. And then we went to like very curated and clean and perfect because of the Instagram grids. Do you think we're heading back into like real and authentic and maybe even a little nostalgic with brands, their approach to marketing the kinds of images they wanna see? What are your thoughts on that?

Aubrey:

Yeah, I definitely think we're headed back to the land of authenticity, I've created some relationships with different agencies too, and this is what they want. This is what they're asking us to submit because it's what brands want. Like the more natural, the better. I think maybe even now, like people are still like in awe of ai. Like it's cool, it's fun to

Alora:

Sure.

Aubrey:

Exciting to find a new tool that can do these things that we want it to do. and so I think that's it's like almost had its time already. And so we're already like swinging back like, oh, that's not actually what we want. Or that's not actually bringing us money or making us sales or whatever. Yeah, I'm definitely seeing that The pendulum always swings. It'll keep swinging back and forth, but I think that as if the more you can think like a marketer and like the way that they think, like that connection to their customer is so important. So that's really, I think what they're always going to want in the photos or the videos. Right.

Alora:

If I could be fully honest, if I see a brand, maybe like even a brand like Apple and they used that shiny cartoony like chat GBT kind of image, I would be like, whoa. It would cheapen the brand to me, I think, in a way. Yeah.

Aubrey:

It's like, why are they using free stock photos that I, I saw that on Canva.

Alora:

Yes.

Aubrey:

feeling. It's like

Alora:

Stand magic.

Aubrey:

I feel like yeah, you're gonna lose some trust for that brand

Alora:

Yeah. That is interesting. I realize that you get like a first glance at where marketing will be headed based on the images they're purchasing.

Aubrey:

And I do wanna say I do think there are uses for ai, like good uses, and I think we will see that done in. Impressive ways, but I think like when it comes to capturing people and capturing like what we wanna relate to, I don't think that's what it should be used for. I think it should be used for, like what illustration or animation or like CGI is used for, like to bring something to life that would otherwise not be possible or maybe would be, like bad for the environment or, the, that type of thing.

Alora:

Yeah.

Aubrey:

A big idea that you really couldn't create in person.

Alora:

Yeah. I feel like it's a good tool, but I wouldn't use it for everything. Yeah, I have my thoughts and I'm not gonna share them because.

Aubrey:

A lot of, a lot of the people that are putting out impressive AI art are using it. Like they're not just generating the whole thing, right? They're using their own photos and they're doing it like hours of Photoshop work, and that's how they get to the final result. Like it's still their vision and they're still putting in the time, but it's just like one part of the process, one tool that they're. to their vision to life.

Alora:

Yeah. So you think that stock photography and AI will not be directly really correlated, if at all for very long because it just. doesn't replace anything. It might be just fun, but it doesn't affect that industry.

Aubrey:

I think it affects it but more like the micro stock side of Yeah there's also like an opportunity there too, but I've noticed, so I don't know, maybe two years ago, a few agencies started accepting AI work and now they're just like, whoa. Like we're gonna start being a lot pickier with what we accept. Last week I had an agency, they sent out an email that was like you now have to have a pro account to submit AI

Alora:

good.

Aubrey:

So it's pretty much. And so they're like, if you're being thoughtful and using it as a tool and coming up with creative images, that's great, but if you're just like to pound out, a hundred images and use this as a way to submit a ton of work.

Alora:

Yeah.

Aubrey:

So I think they're already cracking down on that. And I know, like I've done a lot of asking people who use stock do you filter out AI images? And a lot of people say yes. So I think the agencies were like, oh, this is a great way to make more money. But now they're scaling back and seeing like It's cheap. Again, cheapening their brand, even the agencies. So there are a lot of agencies that won't even accept ai.

Alora:

I don't wanna drag this conversation so long, but I'm just like,

Aubrey:

No.

Alora:

AI is getting so good. I saw a photo of Will Smith eating spaghetti, and I know it wasn't him

Aubrey:

Yeah,

Alora:

and I.

Aubrey:

I saw that too.

Alora:

And then I looked at the one from 2020 or whenever Chad GBT was released and he looked like a frog versus now, and I was like, okay, he looks like he's eating spaghetti. I guess I'm just gonna be wondering like, how are they gonna be able to filter out AI forever? Just curious. Like it's just so it's getting better and better very fast in my opinion

Aubrey:

like how can they recognize the difference? I don't know, but I do know that you would get kicked off of your agency

Alora:

Oh.

Aubrey:

found out. There are a lot of, there are extra guidelines when you're submitting ai, like what you can and can't do, when it comes to generating the image. So like you're not allowed to mention another artist when you're generating an image if you wanna sell it as stock photography. So are very strict about that. And I guess trying to. To allow it in an ethical way. So you could do that, but you also risk being kicked off if you get found out. Even, no matter how good the generators or the technology gets

Alora:

You run the risk.

Aubrey:

Or

Alora:

Yeah.

Aubrey:

be a, you should be doing things in an ethical way, of

Alora:

Yeah. Okay. So I know we talked about this a little bit off script, but you were saying that to people that are like hesitant about, getting into stock photography, that it can possibly inspire your creativity after burnout at first I was like how, but then when I think about it,

Aubrey:

Right.

Alora:

think about when I travel and I take images that are like architecturally nice. They're symmetry and like just I, I mean I do that with my iPhone all the time, just to make B roll. And if I could get paid to take those photos, I was like, wait a minute. I think she's onto something.

Aubrey:

Exactly.

Alora:

think that could be possible for photographers?

Aubrey:

Traveling is a great example because I think a lot of us, when we travel, it's like we're in a new place. And we're automatically feeling inspired. And so we wanna create, like many of us, whether it's just with your iPhone or what, like we wanna capture that. We're drawn to that. And so there's also like a level of freedom in that you don't have anyone. You're not worried about anyone else's expectations for you. can take photos of whatever you want. There are some guidelines, like if you wanna sell more stock photos, then stick to certain guidelines or certain topics. But there's still a lot of freedom in it. It's not like with a wedding, it's like you almost have to stick to the same. formula, but way of shooting. Because there are

Alora:

Yeah.

Aubrey:

so you can't just shoot every wedding completely differently. But like with stock, it's like I can go out and if I am like with someone to take photos of them for stock, it's like I have the power because if I'm offering to give them the photos for free, they're just like, awesome. Do

Alora:

Yeah.

Aubrey:

do. They don't. They're not like, probably they, I wouldn't, I've never had someone like be unsatisfied with the photos I've given them when they're free. It just gives you a lot of power and freedom back. And it's if, so say you're wedding photographer and like you're just so tired of shooting weddings and you want to shoot something else, and so you're like maybe I need to pivot to brand photography. Is not like a bad thing, but that takes time. And so maybe it's not that you actually need to get out of weddings, maybe it's just that you need more creative freedom in your life and like you need to be able to go out and shoot portraits of someone like doing what they do because that's actually what like got you into photography in the first place. And. Once you start setting up a new business, okay, now I have to market to the people that will actually pay me. Maybe that's still not what lights you up. Maybe you wanna shoot like people making pottery, but they're not the ones that have the budgets for brand photography. So even if you got into that, like that's probably not what you're gonna get to shoot. So if you do it for stuff photography, then it's you still get paid back for the work you're doing. You get to call your own shots. You get to new connections with people. Like you get to do everything pretty much on your own terms. And it is also like a good way to test out something like branding, photography or whatever else you think you might wanna do, or just follow those little like. Threads of inspiration and then maybe you'll land at something that you never would've landed at before. I think, like for me, that's it's definitely what brought me back to photography after getting burnt out multiple times from shooting weddings. I like going out with my camera and taking stock photos. And planning shoots for that. And often it's just like taking photos of my friends. Like I'll get an idea and be like, Hey, will you model for me? Or do you know someone that does this that I could take photos of? So that's basically how I do it these days.

Alora:

I love that. I just feel like we get to be creative again.

Aubrey:

Yeah, exactly you don't have to niche or you don't have to like, it's really just so freeing, I think.

Alora:

yeah it's so cool to know that you could travel and then essentially pay for that travel by submitting images to stock, which. Leads me to my next question. You said it could be something that could supplement during slow season and I was just like, whoa, that's such a great idea.'cause a lot of people are running out of things to do during slow season. You can only update your website so many times, but

Aubrey:

Right.

Alora:

you could be submitting stock images. How much money somebody could make by submitting to stock for submitting stock for one to two to three months. What kind of income would that look like?

Aubrey:

The issue is that it takes more time upfront for Images to gain traction. So it's definitely not like something that's gonna pay you back in that season. So keep that in mind, but it's just like a snowball effect. So the photos that I'm selling now, the photos that sell most frequently are the photos that have been up for the longest amount of time. So photos I

Alora:

long.

Aubrey:

eight years ago, even like the other day, I saw I, I licensed a photo for the first time that I uploaded in 2020. So

Alora:

Wow.

Aubrey:

all gonna take that much time, but the longer they're up there, the more they're getting saved and favorited. And you also have to think a marketer, they're not buying the photos that you're, they're not really, if you're out there taking photos right now, they're probably not buying those right now. Like they're buying holiday photos right now. Also a strategy with how you're uploading. Yeah, or they might see a photo and think oh, this might work for a campaign that I end up doing, in six months or down the road. They might save it because they like it, but then not necessarily find the perfect use for it for a couple years. Like it's gonna show up higher in search results. So that is going to increase your sales down the road.

Alora:

It's like a long term kind of strategy. It's like setting it up now, Getting everything going maybe during slow season and it will sure pay off by next slow season you think? Kinda like SEO maybe. Okay, gotcha.

Aubrey:

If you are committing like eight hours a day to this, then obviously you're gonna see results a lot quicker than if you're spending 20 minutes a day on it, which is about what I do these days, like just to maintain it. And also it depends on your agency and like how many portfolios you have. So there's so many factors, but I think the way you. Put it like, by next slow season, you should be seeing that income. And like with me, starting in end of 2015, by the time 2020 hit and COVID happened and I lost all my wedding clients, like I had enough income coming in from stock to keep us afloat. And that was

Alora:

What.

Aubrey:

that's, I think that's why a lot of people think I started in 2020. Because that's like part of my story is that's what. Paid the bills during that time, because at that time I, my, most of my weddings were in California still. So all the venues shut down there. Other states where like people were just moving their weddings somewhere else, or just going ahead with it, with fewer guests. It was like nobody could work. There was no work for us during that time, and stock photography was like my only income.

Alora:

That's insane. Insane.

Aubrey:

never know what's gonna happen, but I just feel like every photographer needs to at least putting in 20 minutes a day because you never know like how it's gonna help you down the road. And the other thing is if you have a goal, like for me in the beginning it was like I needed to pay off all the student loan debt. I didn't wanna take on more weddings. I didn't have the capacity to take on more clients. I think like at the end of the day, it's still safer to have another income stream. Multiple income streams, right? That's how you. Truly build a business that's sustainable. If you need extra money, like having another income stream that isn't gonna burn you out in the same way, I think is probably better. And also it's just not having all your eggs in one basket. Even if it's like you wanna have a maternity leave, photography, like start building that now, planning ahead so that at least there's something for you.

Alora:

Yeah. A lot of my students right now are either finding out they're that they're pregnant. Planned or unplanned. And also thinking about, okay, I wanna build a family, or I had, I wanna have another child, or I wanna get married and I need to have this capacity. So you said that stock photography is half of your income, which is absolutely inha insane to me. And I know it's taken a decade to get to that point, but just knowing that you could possibly do that, like down the road because of something you built. Some time ago that pays off later. And I know they say seven figure people have seven streams of income or something like that. But think of this as it's like probably, is it high lift in the beginning and low lift later?

Aubrey:

And I think it's also, it's high lift in the beginning because like I said, it's it's hard to figure it out, right? Like

Alora:

Yeah.

Aubrey:

to most people. And like even photographers who have been in the industry for decades, like they don't know what stock photography is or how it works. And it changes so quickly. So like I was telling you before, a lot of the information like that's out there is outdated or like the people that are on forums talking about it, like they don't really know what they're talking about anymore because they did it 15 years ago and it's so different these days. So yeah, that's just, I think that's like a big reason why it feels hard to get into, and so they just don't do it,

Alora:

Is it really that quickly changing or is it just keeping ahead of the. Trends, like if you look at ads and look at commercials and marketing, if you're doing that kind of research, you know where things like, I knew things were shifting to the personal brand. I knew ahead of time that authenticity was coming back. That's pretty much all you had to do, right? Is just stay on top of the trends.

Aubrey:

And I think yeah, if you're aware, if you have any understanding of marketing, then you're in a good place. And like I feel like maybe as female females, we're drawn to that a little bit Males and like trends and like we're out there using social media in the ways that like marketers are using them. I know what would make a good photo for a story backdrop or A website header, right? Because I'm doing it. So also going to be a huge advantage for you. But I think like when I say things have changed, it's like agencies have changed so much and there are new options out there and. It's not just the big names that we all know, like Getty and Shutterstock, but I think that's just what people focus on. Like we talked about microstock, when people hear stock photography, that's what they think of. And so I should probably start like seeing, licensing your photos instead of stock photography because it's just, it's the wording, but it is, it's still stock photography. It's. About finding agency that fits your style of work, right? So you don't have to change who you are as an artist. Like you don't have to go rent a studio and hire models. If

Alora:

Yeah,

Aubrey:

B-roll, that can work for female entrepreneurs. Then there's an agency for that like just being younger and knowing agencies will feature photos that are like point of view style, like shot with your iPhone, right? Like older gentleman is not gonna know to do that.

Alora:

Aubrey,

Aubrey:

doing that. We are,

Alora:

there is 5% men that listen to this podcast.

Aubrey:

that's. You know what? This is what I say.'cause of the problem here is I get a lot of hate from the men that I'm describing, like the men that really, let's just say they, they dominated this industry for so long, and so I think like they're salty that now we want people. Honestly, if you have a photo of diverse person compared to a photo of a white person, like most brands are gonna want the diverse, they want more diversity. Now. They don't want like all this, these photos of white men, like that's not like what most brands want. So sorry. Things have changed and your photos are no longer in high demand, but, I have, I do have men in my programs, and as long as they're respectful, that's all that matters to me, and I'm happy to have them there. But I actually love when I get the hate comments from men because then I turn them into more content.

Alora:

I was gonna say, what do you get? Tell me do you have screenshots or like reels

Aubrey:

Call me names. They tell me that I'm just like an MLM lady, and I'm like I'm not, like, how is this MLM I'm not getting paid from the agency. And also I have like partnerships with agencies, like they re-share my content to their contributors, trust me because they know that what I'm saying is true and it's just, ugh. I don't know. Like

Alora:

had it, you guys,

Aubrey:

The men that are trolling me are not listening to podcasts by females. I'll say that

Alora:

no, I honestly, I can resonate with that because I just remember, like when I first got started in the industry and I was looking on, do you guys remember forums? Like how old am I? There was a forum, like a photo forum, and they were just like, oh, I'm so sick of these 20 year olds trying to take over the wedding industry. But they're fancy angles in they're low quality prime lenses. Everything is about zooms. And so it just took me back for a minute being like. Oh we're here to stay the change and how things shifted you're shifting things in a way that I've never seen before as well. Yeah.

Aubrey:

the same type of mindset. Like I had a man pull me aside at a wedding and at me for not using a Zoom lens during the ceremony. And I'm just like they hired me because they liked my white ceremony shots. Hiring me use a Zoom lens and I can use a Zoom lens. There's nothing wrong with it, but him thinking that like my way is the only way is just

Alora:

yes.

Aubrey:

we've moved on from that,

Alora:

we have. How dare you use a prime lens in the ceremony?

Aubrey:

Yeah. Seriously.

Alora:

Oh my goodness. Reminds me of.

Aubrey:

there's 10 people at their cell phones in the aisle. You're

Alora:

Or

Aubrey:

at them, are you?

Alora:

literally, or my father-in-law with his iPad, I'm like, why would you bring that? Put it away, please.

Aubrey:

Oh

Alora:

We're on a tangent for no reason. Okay, so if somebody is like, this all sounds great. I wanna get started today. What is something I could submit? If I decided to just dip my toe and just talk photography, what images that you probably already have on your desktop, on your portfolio just from life or maybe even like high quality images because, I remember taking landscape scenery with your professional camera. You take a photo of where it's at, wide closeup, portrait, all that great stuff. What is something they could submit now and it would be easy profits.

Aubrey:

Great question. So starting with just like your life, so photos you have from traveling, photos of your kids, you mentioned some of your students wanting to start families. For stock photos and families too because think of it like families are some of the top. Consumers, right? So marketers wanna market to families and babies are cute. Everyone loves babies. Of your, like your partner wearing your baby around or whatever, take photos of your real life.'cause we, oh yeah, especially I have a photo of my ex-husband baby wearing men carrying babies. Yeah, those are hot. Not not sexy, but like they'll sell

Alora:

is his head cut off or are we looking at him looking at us? How would this be framed? I'm trying to picture this being a stock image.

Aubrey:

So he is wearing like one of those baby carriers with. With my daughter in it, and he's I don't know, he's just like walking from one point to another and I shot a picture, like that's all it was. So anything that's natural, like real life shows, family life or whatever your life is, whatever age you are, your family getting together for the holidays or going on vacation, like all of that is. Stop gold. But then when it comes to what photos you could reuse from like your B-roll, Are certain, I've found like certain categories from weddings that do better than others. So photos of the bride and groom are actually like, there is demand for that, especially, for the summer months. Think of like the venues. Or, like jewelers ring companies, like they'll use those, but they're not popular for me as just like the detail shots or Flowers, food. So like a lot of times at weddings you've already got like the food plated beautifully. Take those photos and submit them. Different table settings. Ring shots, so like shots of just hands do really well, or

Alora:

Really.

Aubrey:

A caterer, like holding a tray. It's always like the simplest things. It's

Alora:

Wow.

Aubrey:

it's the opposite of what you would put on your website, right? Like The opposite of that epic creative shot. It's the mundane, so like the plate of food the cupcakes. If you can get like a model release from guests, like if it's a wedding where you know people and you're not afraid to ask for that. People mingling that can be used for so many different things beyond just weddings, like for parties, celebrations, holidays, those photos can be used. There are some agencies that will take the photos without model releases if you can't. identify them in any way. So if they're baseless, basically, and those photos are popular too. a lot of baseless photography is, has definitely seen more demand in the past few years. Often when I. Shoot a wedding, like I'd be in a beautiful location or I'd be traveling to a beautiful location. So there's opportunities there for just the scenery and the landscape Oh, thing we didn't talk about yet was keywords. And this is honestly the part of the process that most people hate, but we have gotten much better AI tools to help us in the past two years. So it's a lot easier now than it ever has been but you can really use keywords to set yourself apart when you have like a more general photo by using really hyper-specific or local keywords. Have a photo, it's just. Beautiful photo of a cactus in like really nice glowy, golden hour lighting. And that photo has sold so many times for me it's made thousands of dollars. And I think the reason why is because when you type in boho cactus on Shutterstock, it comes up in like the first page, like third line in the first page. So, I think that one keyword was just like something that people were searching it now. And so that has really helped it rise in the search. Which is hard to do when you have like really general subjects. So that's where keywords and getting really specific, you type of local keywords that you can think of from the area, because a lot of times general photos will sell to someone local. If you use local keywords, they'll use them, you know, they'll be. Searching like Joshua Tree and if everyone else is just using keywords like cactus, then yours is the one that's gonna pop up for them. So there's a lot you can do there as well.

Alora:

Yeah, I mean it's, it's almost like you just need to kind of set everything up now and you just have no idea what's gonna take off later. But just having that as a skill I think is just so valuable. Ugh, Aubrey, thank you so much. This has just been a masterclass about stock photography and just get excited about it and, if they're thinking about it, it kind of like just gives you that nudge. Tell the listeners where they can find you, how they can connect with you, and do you have any goodies for us?

Aubrey:

Yes, so I'm definitely most active on Instagram and. In my email newsletter, so you can go to my Instagram, it's just Aubrey Westland. Find me, sign up for my newsletter or sign up for a freebie. I have a great little black book of stock photo agencies, and that's a good place to start. Just to kind of go a little bit deeper, learn a little bit more about different agencies and maybe that will give you a clue as to where you should start, where you should apply, where you should start uploading your work.'cause that really is like the first step. And then from there you're gonna need to learn the guidelines and the rules. So I do, I talk about those things on Instagram and I also have like a course Stock photography academy. I have my membership stock photo besties. So whatever flavor of learning you enjoy it should be there for you. And it's all updated. It's not the things you find online that are, you from 10 years ago and I'm always updating, like thing is that it. I mean, we talked about it changes, but it doesn't, but what your agency is looking for, things like that they do change. So I try to keep all of that information up

Alora:

Yeah to learn all things stock photography and more where this came from, especially with Aubrey's humor, she's hilarious. Connects with her using those links and definitely grab her freebie. And I will see you guys in the next episode. Bye.

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Alora Rachelle

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