As much as they frustrate me over at Istock, I do love the way they sell photos.  I have only 10% of my portfolio on there, yet their volume of sales make them my #2 earner.   This week I received my second flame for individual photo sales over 100, and much to my surprise, it wasn't the elk photo (which sold daily until abruptly stopping in December at 90 dls), - but a rather unremarkable photograph of my brother Garth waist deep in a durum wheat field.  (Uploaded August, 2007 - 793 views/104 downloads.)

Admittedly, I don't have a large portfolio on Istock, but when you take a quick look at the following screenshot of my best sellers, it is obvious that my agriculture themed photos have a certain momentum.  This is also true on other sites; they are slow but steady sellers that may have a slightly longer shelf life than a fashion or business shot.

         

I do live on the Canadian prairies and I come from a farming family.  In the summer I'm surrounded by thousands of miles of crops.  Canola, sunflower, wheat, flax, you name it.  Yet, it's a bit like that old cliche - can't see the forest for the trees;  I am so surrounded by agriculture that I barely think about photographing it.  

While some photographers swear by becoming specialists in one subject or another, I believe that you will have greater success being a bit of a generalist, while still photographing what you love and know.  By that I mean - definitely shoot your pure stock images isolated on white, pretty models in headsets, and business men shaking hands - but also take a good look at your world.  Shoot what you know.   Is it music, books, medicine, ballet, little league?  If it is something you are passionate about, this will show in your work.  Do you work in a library, a coal mine, fishing boat or a construction site?  Take advantage of your unique situation by taking honest photos from the inside.  Your little niche may not be the most popular subject, but your work will surely be noticed if it is an underexposed category.

I took several agricultural photos last summer while driving around with my brother.  I took almost as many notes as photographs.  Having a technical description of anything you photograph automatically increases the possibility of it's success.  I'm quite sure reviewers open up my photos and say "Oh, great, another closeup of a head of wheat".. but when they read the description "Spring Wheat - Hard Kernelled Red Spring Wheat Variety" it is no longer just another closeup of a head of wheat.

Sometimes "what you know" can be tough though.  This is Canada after all, and we know winter - so I promised myself I would shoot lots of it this year (winter that is!).  Although I've managed a few photo days here and there, I haven't exactly lived up to my own expectations.  Last week it was -51C with the wind-chill.   I didn't leave the house unless I had to, let alone put on the fingerless gloves and parka.   Sure, I know winter, but I'm not very passionate about it, so I doubt I'll be adding many new winter shots this year.

There may be another benefit to shooting what you know.  You may soon develop a reputation as an insider on the particular subject and magazine editors or corporations will come directly to you to photograph their next project.

You are the expert of what you know, and perhaps you can use that expertise to produce a collection of steady earners that will compliment your stock portfolio.