Maldives Stock Photography and Working with Aurora Photos, Getty Images and Corbis.

If you shoot and license stock imagery like I do, then one of the things you always seem to be doing is editing, captioning and submitting imagery to distribution partners. I used to think there was a way around this, but reality has set in, along with regular stints in front of my iMac prepping imagery.

Working with a good stock library such as Aurora Photos is a great way to get my imagery out into the world and in front of potential buyers. The speed to market with Aurora is incredible.

I regularly have my submissions reviewed within a day or two and once I have provided the high-resolution files, they are made live on the Aurora site within days. Pushing the photos out to distribution partners such as Masterfile and Corbis, takes a little longer, but not that much longer. Some recent portrait work accepted by Aurora is already available for licensing at Corbis. That all happened within about 8-weeks, which is fast!

Working with larger, well established stock libraries works for me as I photograph quite a bit of what I consider general travel photography. If you don’t have a large, niche collection such as Art Wolfe, then leveraging off a distribution relationship with a stock library can make a lot of sense, especially if you are starting out in stock photography.

As I have been developing myself a niche and a client base for unique Maldives photography, I have been busy this year populating my own stock library – Thomas Pickard Stock Archive – with my Maldives photography. Leveraging off technology providers such as Photoshelter, I can now license and deliver hi-resolution photos direct to my existing client base, through my own stock site. This works well, in part because I am developing a niche in Maldives photography and also because I have an ever expanding client base seeking Maldives photography.

Below are just a few examples of licensing sales in the last few months. It never ceases to amaze me which images are licensed.

Licensed via Corbis. Image #: 42-22229345

Licensed via Corbis. Image #: 42-22229424

Licensed via Thomas Pickard Stock Archive. Image #: 08710.

Licensed via Getty Images. Image #: 94979111

Licensed via Getty Images. Image #: 90880255

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