Cover Story

by Beau Neal

Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index
Previous Cover Stories | Send mail to The Voice

Big Money Fills Small Pockets at iStockphoto.com

Kevin Russ and the band "Daniel and the Lion" conduct a photo shoot on
Northeast Hassalo Street. --Kena Parker, photo

Kevin Russ, 23, was riding through London on top of a double decker bus when his sister, Katherine, spotted a window display featuring a book with an image of Multnomah students on the cover.

Russ whipped out his Canon 5D digital camera and snapped a few pictures to show friends back home.

The book cover featured a wedding photo of MBC students Jason and Andrea Ross.

Russ recognized the cover photo because he had taken the shot. He had attended the Ross' wedding in Sedro-Woolley, Wash. It was the first wedding he had photographed, and as he does with all of his pictures, Russ uploaded the wedding photos to his iStockphoto page as stock photography -- pictures for sale.

Since the 1920s, stock photography has been a way for professional photographers to profit from commercial shoot outtakes. As the market expanded, graphic designers, publications and artists bought higher-quality images for hundreds of dollars per picture.

The Internet explosion and companies such as iStockPhoto have changed everything. Now, large collections of pictures are accessible to anyone with a computer, and single images often cost less than $1.

The market instantly flooded with people like Russ -- people with an artistic eye and no formal training.

Russ discovered stock photography in December 2004, sitting in his North Aldrich dorm room. He saw an ad for iStockphoto in Photoshop User magazine.

Excited to make a few dollars, he created an iStockphoto account. He made $33 the first month. That was enough money to convince his roommate, Nate Watkins, to open up his own account.

"Even if I could just make a few bucks, that's more than I had," Watkins said. He said he is making $400 per month now.

Russ made a few dollars, and then he made a few more. What began as a way to make lunch money became a means of supporting himself. After nine months of selling photography on iStockPhoto, Russ earned $1,200 in one month.

To date, Russ has earned about $46,000. He's on pace to make more than $50,000 this year alone. Of more than 23,000 photographers who display portraits, landscapes, commercial outtakes and any imaginable image on iStockPhoto, Russ is ranked 19th in sales, averaging $4,000 a month.

"I could probably make more money if I took pictures that I knew would sell faster, but then it would start to become a job," Russ said. He said he has more than 4,500 pictures for sale.

Russ has sold photos of random isolated subjects ranging from candy to crabs, nails, flowers, waterfalls and even a hair straightener. He said one of his strangest profitable images shows a penny under a pillow-looking water drop.

A photo of former MBC students Olatoye Komolafe and Christina Bower holding two children is his best seller. He's sold it more than 1,500 times, earning almost $1,300 for the single image.

In February 2006, Getty Images bought iStockphoto for $50 million.

Shortly thereafter, Getty Images took iStockphoto global by adding 12 language options and the ability for consumers to purchase images with euros, yen, U.S. dollars, Canadian dollars, Australian dollars and British pounds.

Sitting in his Michael Manor apartment where he and four roommates share rent, Russ said, "Everyone tells me I need to buy a house, so I guess I'll start looking." He said he will continue taking pictures and does not plan to return to MBC.

Watkins, who no longer attends MBC, said, "We could live anywhere; we have no more obligations in this side of town."

A copy of Radiant magazine sits on the floor of the office Russ shares with Watkins. Russ took the picture on the cover -- his first cover ever.

Russ looks for prints of his photos everywhere he goes, constantly flipping through magazines, buying only the ones containing his photos.

Russ' floor is littered with all kinds of magazines from Relevant to Communication Arts. His photography shows up everywhere: on a country music billboard in Fresno, Calif.; on a billboard in Nigeria; and even on a book in a window display in downtown London.

Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index
Previous Cover Stories | Send mail to The Voice