In case you are still unaware, Holger Mette is a lawyer-turned-photographer who gave up his high-paying job and set out 2 and a half years ago to travel around the world. As of now, he has already visited 40 countries such as India, Japan, Peru and even Singapore, and still has around 150 to go! The amazing thing is that he is doing this using only income from his stock photos! On his website, he states that he submits his travel photos to microstock websites such as Dreamstime and Shutterstock.
You can find his galleries or where he is off to next on his website at http://www.veoelmundo.com. Another amazing thing that I find is that he is always on the go, but can still find time to edit and submit his photos while travelling!
Regarding his travels, he is quoted as saying,
My style of travel can best be described as backpacking. While this means many things to many people, for me it means low budget, low impact travel, with a backpack. I generally stay in locally owned guesthouses and hostels (as opposed to 5-star resorts), frequently eat local food including street food and prefer to travel over land rather than flying wherever possible. For me backpacking doesn’t mean that I shun all the comforts of home, that I dispense with basic personal hygiene. It also doesn’t mean that I’m on an extended world-wide pub crawl.
Read more about him here, or check out his profile/gallery.
Since the beginning of microstock photography, many people are skeptical about whether you can make a living out of stock photography alone which pays less than the traditional stock agencies but this is a very good example of what can be achieved doing what you like!
I believe microstock might not give you what you want right from the beginning, but like any business, it can be done with some determination and discipline, not to say lots of hard work. Time is another factor. The success of microstock photography, or anything for that matter, also depends on time – time spent on editing and submitting your content. I dare say that the time spent on editing photos that we have taken can easily beat the time taking them!
Basically speaking, you get what you put in, like what Holger has demonstrated.
Live the dream!
Related posts:
If you enjoyed this post, please share it!
