People Photos Sell: Classic Series - Issue #2

Yesterday, we sent you an e-letter on how travel writers and photographers can best break into the stock photo industry. Be sure to check it out in case you missed it.
Today, since Lori’s still out with her new baby, here’s another classic from our archives. In it we reveal the number one, all-time best-selling stock photo subject.
Scroll down to find out what it is…
— Bonnie
Bonnie Caton
Staff Writer, Great Escape Publishing
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September 10, 2009
Classics Series – Issue #2: Turn Your Family into Cash
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Turn Your Family into Cash… Without Selling the Kids

By Lori Allen in Arlington, VA
Which of these family members is the most lucrative to photograph: your niece, your nephew, or your mother?
Well, I can’t be certain this will always hold true. But for professional photographer Shelly Perry, it’s her niece and nephew together. This picture has sold over 700 times on iStockphoto.com:

And this photo of her niece isn’t too far behind, with over 500 sales:

So what does that tell you?
People photos sell. Photos of people doing everyday things like laughing, hugging, and shaking hands. And they don’t have to be model-perfect people either. In all likelihood, you have right there in your family the makings of some fast cash (and you don’t have to sell your children to get it).
Plus don’t forget your pets. Shelly’s pet goldfish is certainly earning his keep. This photo has sold over 100 times:

Here are three tips for taking great, saleable people photos.
And here’s how to sell people photos without a model release.
Shelly pockets the majority of her income passively, from her stock photos. And most of them are of people because people photos sell. She uploads the photos, and they continue to earn her money as long as she keeps them up online.
Next month in Santa Fe, New Mexico at our Ultimate Stock Photo Workshop, she’ll teach our attendees exactly how she does it.
Participants will get hands-on experience learning how to shoot photos on location and in the studio… and they’ll walk away with stock photographs they can sell the instant they return home.
[Editor’s Note: Learn more about how you can turn your pictures into cash in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel.  Sign up here today and we’ll send you a new report, Selling Photos for Cash: A Quick-Start Guide, completely FREE.]