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5 Stock Photography Business Success Stories [2023]

5 Stock Photography Business Success Stories [2023]
Start A Stock Photography Business

Stock photography is typically sold on an exclusive basis to one buyer for a single usage fee. Stock photos are often available in different sizes, resolutions, and file formats. Businesses most commonly use stock photos for marketing purposes.

Stock photography is the supply of photographs often licensed for specific uses. Stock photos are the perfect marketing and advertising resource for website owners and bloggers.

You can build an impressive portfolio and earn a passive income by uploading high-quality stock photos.

To start a stock photography business , invest in some good photography gear and learn how to take stock photos. An excellent online presence can help you sell your stock photos faster and at profitable margins.

Here are some real life success stories of starting a stock photography business:

1. Product Photography Studio ($540K/year)

Tsour Lee Adato (from Miami, FL, USA) started Product Photography Studio ago.

Revenue
$45K / month
Team
1 founders / 6 employees

Case Study

Hi! My name is Tsour Lee Adato and I am the founder of Pro Photo Studio. I started my product photography business over 5 years ago while living in New York. Pro Photo Studio specializes in high-end commercial photography and also caters to the average eCommerce online seller who sells on platforms like Amazon and Etsy.

The company began realizing a profit very quickly, in the first quarter after opening and year over year profits have increased while the cost of customer acquisition has decreased. Currently, the company makes approximately $350k per year and is on its way to becoming a 7 figure business.

how-i-started-a-commercial-product-photography-business

2. Two Little Monkeys Photography ($24K/year)

Samantha Bachand (from MONROE) started Two Little Monkeys Photography about 12 years ago.

Revenue
$2K / month
Team
1 founders / 1 employees

Case Study

My name is Samantha Bachand and I own Two Little Monkeys Photography. My studio is based in Indian Trail, NC and I have the pleasure of serving the Charlotte, NC area. I do occasionally have people travel to the area to have photos taken. I mainly focus on newborn and family photography. The majority of my clients are couples that are beginning or expanding their families.

Despite 2020 being a hard year, I was able to do 74 newborn photo shoots, not including other family sessions. Of course, this was lower than average due to Covid-19.

how-i-started-a-2k-month-newborn-and-family-photography-studio

Learn more about starting a stock photography business:

Where to start?

-> How much does it cost to start a stock photography business?
-> Pros and cons of a stock photography business

Need inspiration?

-> Examples of established stock photography business
-> Marketing ideas for a stock photography business

Other resources

-> Stock photography business tips

4. picjumbo ($120K/year)

Viktor Hanacek (from Brno, Czechia) started picjumbo over 9 years ago.

Revenue
$10K / month
Team
1 founders / 0 employees

Case Study

Hi! I'm Viktor and I run a free stock photo site picjumbo. Anyone can visit it and download any photo of mine for free, without any registration or email input, and use it for their blog, website, Instagram, or even a billboard.

While all photos are free, you can buy the All in One Pack to download all the free photos to your computer at once or sign up for PREMIUM Membership to get access to more unreleased photos, entire collections, and extra content every month. Together with advertising, these are the main sources of income and currently, picjumbo is above the $10,000/month mark.

how-this-solo-founder-built-a-120k-year-stock-photographs-website

Pat Walls,  Founder of Starter Story
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