The 2,000-Photo Stock Photography Challenge - The Photographer's Life

Successful stock photographers have one really big, simple thing in common: They take TONS of photos.

They shoot as often as they can. They select the very best ones to upload to stock agencies. And since they shoot a LOT of photos, they have more to choose from.

Getting started in stock photography isn’t like becoming a lawyer or a surgeon. There are no piles of dry texts to memorize. No tests. No presentations.

You get to spend your learning time doing something you love. And it’s up to you to decide what you want to shoot.

But if you want to get good at it — good enough to make a living or a substantial side-income — you do have to take photos. Lots of photos.

Time for a fun new challenge!

Over the next 30 days, I’m going to take 2,000 photos. And I challenge you to do the same.

That’s an average of 67 photos a day. Since I work a full-time job, I know I won’t shoot that many photos every day, so on the weekends I’ll have to shoot more.

Each week, I’ll check in with you on the Breakfast Stock Club Facebook page to see where you are. We can keep each other in check!

If you already take more than 2,000 photos a month, pick a bigger number. Or, if you know you won’t hit 2,000, pick a number you can hit. But challenge yourself to take more photos than usual.

We have until Friday, November 12 to hit our goal.

Breakfast Stock Club Premium Members – you can count the photos you’re taking for your monthly Breakfast Stock Club Premium Challenge towards this goal, too!

Here’s a simple way to know how many photos you’ve taken:

1. Get out your camera right now and take a photo. It can be a quick snap shot in the room you’re sitting in… doesn’t matter. Just take a quick shot.
2. Put that photo onto your computer. You can use Lightroom or simply transfer the photo over to your computer’s desktop, if you want.
3. Go to www.myshuttercount.com, click on the “choose file” button. Find the photo you just put onto your computer and hit “open.” Then, click on the “upload file” button. You’ll have to wait a minute or two for it to upload completely.
4. Next, you’ll get to a page that says “Shutter count: …” with a number next to it (followed by a bunch other information about that photo). Write that number down. It’s the total number of times your camera’s shutter has fired. That’s your starting point. Each week, you can check in here to see how many times you’ve hit the shutter so far. Check in again at the end of 30 days to see if you’ve hit your goal!

And remember to shoot with intention. The point isn’t to blindly hit the shutter more times than usual, but to take more quality photos. To work the shot. And to have more good photos to choose from when we upload to stock sites.

This will be fun — let’s do it together!

— Bonnie

Bonnie Caton
Great Escape Publishing
Breakfast Stock Club

[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.]