Why I Started Selling Stock Photography (And How You Can Too)

I didn’t start stock photography for exposure. I began for income.

Commissioned shoots, eBay sales, and even Hot Wheels listings. I wanted another income stream.

A row of cars are waiting at a traffic light, with a Fendi storefront window display in the background.

Stock photography gave me that. Plus patience, sharper instincts, and a new creative edge.

Why I Started Stock Photography (It Wasn’t for Exposure)

Vivid Brands Wirestock storefront with earnings and downloads

The reason I wanted to dabble in stock photography was to diversify my income from paid commissioned photoshoots, Car And Classic consignments and selling my Hot Wheels Cars.

It was fantastic getting income from these opportunities, but I wanted to diversify my expertise and sell my photos on platforms such as Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, Alamy, and iStock.

My initial stock photography efforts were on Wirestock, where the promotion of having 25 pictures approved on their platform for $5 piqued my interest.

Though I had 416 assets approved on Wirestock, the time it took the photos to be distributed to agencies like Shutterstock felt overly long, and they took a 15% commission on top of what agencies such as iStock had.

Why I Ditched Wirestock for Direct Sales

I decided to sign up for Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, iStock and Alamy to sell my photos to people who wanted to license my assets for whatever purpose I had.

I had a photography tutor act as a coach, mentor and sounding board when I had any:

• Questions about how to take the picture.

• How to frame the shot.

• How people could use the photos.

• What the UK photography laws were.

• How to edit the picture in Lightroom Classic

First Photo licensed on my Shutterstock account on November 2nd 2022

Photos I had ready to sell for my Shutterstock account were pictures of the 2022 Oulton Park Gold Cup event, Trentham Gardens and a photo shoot of a pumpkin field.

Cutting out the middle-middle man provided me with greater revenue and also a way to get my pictures credited online.

💵 My 2022 Stock Photo Sales (and What They Taught Me)

Here’s how stock photography grew from $0 to slow, steady income and what the numbers looked like.

2022 Shutterstock Revenue earnings. Cumulative chart.

• November 2022: 4 downloads — $1.13

• December 2022: 10 downloads — $1.23

What Stock Photography Really Taught Me

Lesson 1: Patience pays. Sales come slow. That’s part of the game.

Lesson 2: The mundane sells. Skips and signs often beat fancy car shots.

Lesson 3: You don’t know what wins. Buyers surprise you. Like when a roadwork sign outsold my best edits.

Final Take: How Stock Photography Changed My Mindset

A closed Poundland on a Crewe high street with a person walking in the background. Photo taken circa November 2022.

Many people have a multitude of reasons to begin stock photography. My case was to diversify my income, supplement my cash flow and do something I enjoy.

The journey was up and down, akin to a roller coaster. But I learned a lot by diversifying what I snap for the agencies, how I frame the pictures, the way I write the descriptions for the assets and what my mindset would be when on a photoshoot.

Stock photography wasn’t a side hustle. It was a mindset shift.

 Want to see how I grew from these small wins into steady sales?

Part 2 — My Stock Photography Breakthrough (2023–2024) What finally worked after months of slow sales — and how it changed everything.

👉 See what sparked my breakthrough in Part 2.

Part 3 — From $2.36 to $1,166: My Real Stock Photography Income Growth Story. From pocket change to four figures — my real income story.

👉 Check out Part 3 for the full earnings breakdown.

Part 4 — Stock Photography Lessons And Applications What stock taught me about making content that actually pays off.

👉 Unlock the key lessons in Part 4.

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What did you learn about stock photography from this article? Let me know in the comments below, and let's start a conversation about stock photography.