Kerala & Goa trip - The beginning of my online earning from stock photography

A few years ago, after tying the nuptial knot, my wife and I took a trip to the immensely beautiful Indian states of Kerala and Goa to celebrate our honeymoon. I was carrying a point and shoot camera and we clicked several photographs. While most of these photographs were portraits of me and my wife, some of them captured the natural beauty of Goa & Kerala.  

These photographs sat idle in my laptop for nearly two years when one fine day while searching for different ways to earn money through internet, I read an article on how to earn money online by selling photos on stock photography websites. 

I searched further and became aware of a stock photography website. I uploaded a few photographs which I felt were the best and waited for them to get approved. After a few days when I checked their status, I was disappointed to know that all of them had been rejected because of technical reasons. 

I didn't lose heart and started searching for other popular microstock sites. I signed up as a contributor, read their submission rules and after editing, retouching and cropping some photographs which I had clicked during my Kerala and Goa trip, uploaded them with proper description and keywords on these websites.

I eagerly waited for the result and got really excited when two of the top stock photography sites approved my photographs. I uploaded more photographs and they also got approved. In most of these pics, I had captured Houseboats in Vembanad Lake in Kumarakom, scenic Periyar Lake and Wildlife in Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, lush green Tea Gardens in Munnar, secluded and beautiful Marari beach in Mararikulam in Kerala. My Goa pics covered Calangute, Colva and Palolem beach (including Butterfly beach and Honeymoon Island). Besides getting approved, soon some of them started selling too! 

Some photographs clicked by me from a point & shoot camera 

Initially, the earnings from selling photographs online were in a few cents. As I started uploading more and more photos on these sites, my sales also went up and some of the pictures started selling repeatedly. 

Meanwhile, I also came to know about the difference between commercial and editorial photos. The photographs which were getting rejected because of reasons such as without Model Release / Property Release started getting approved as Editorial photographs. By now, my interest in microstock photography had increased considerably. 

I also started studying about White Balance, Aperture, Focus, ISO and other technicalities. With more understanding about photography, I started capturing better looking photographs. 

I needed more photos to upload and I started visiting gardens, historical monuments and other landmarks in my city, New Delhi. I also started clicking photographs of different food items. Some of the pics started selling more as compared to the rest. 

I was not happy with the results of my point and shoot camera so I decided to buy an entry level DSLR Camera of a reputed brand to further hone my photography skills and click high quality photographs which can compete with thousands of other photographs available on the top microstock photography sites. 

I also started uploading photographs which I had captured through my smart phone. The hard work started paying off.

Till now, I have earned a few hundred US Dollars from these websites by selling photographs. 

I regret that I did not have a DSLR camera or a good camera phone when I traveled to Kerala and Goa. Now, I try to carry my DSLR wherever possible. In  case, I am not, I capture photographs through my mobile phone. And surprisingly, the pics that have earned me maximum money till now have been shot by my Smart Phone only. One of the reasons could be the uniqueness of these photographs. 

Kerala and Goa are not just a honeymooner's paradise but also a photographer's delight! We enjoyed our honeymoon in the lap of the nature and the beautiful pictures inspired me to get into stock photography and earn some extra income online in a creatively satisfying way.