Ailana’s Journal: Part 1—2026-06-27 (and Island Kids) (Patreon)

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GOOD MORNING by Ailana Geven Keller

Jason and I are up early today. I’ll explain that in a moment.

Since we were up anyway, he asked if I would model a little for some images he can put in his stock-photo catalog. Of course I agreed. Jason needed some hotel lifestyle and romantic-travel images, so I found a bathrobe and got ready to model it.

We’re at the NavajoLand Inn, still on our Route 66 Odyssey. We got here midday yesterday, and we’re going to head out after breakfast, which should be in a couple of hours.

The reason we are up so early is that last night before bed, Kel walked Emily back to the hotel room. They had an idea.

They wanted to know if they could get up early, meet in the lobby, and work on some articles. We agreed, and it was decided Jason would walk them to the lobby and make sure the hotel staff understood what was going on.

When he got back to our room, Jason said, “Emily asked me to take pictures of them working.”

I’m going to have a chat with her about the pace at which they are pushing themselves. It would be easy for them to overdo it and start feeling like it’s too much work. Any payoff will come weeks after they submit an article.

Since they were working so early and we were already up, we decided to do some work, too. We figured that shooting a few poses for his catalog would be a good use of our time.

Stock-photo websites are basically enormous searchable libraries. A photographer uploads a picture, gives it a useful title and keywords, and submits any required model releases for recognizable people or property releases when needed. Once the site approves it, designers, publishers, businesses, bloggers, and advertisers can pay to license it.

The photographer receives a royalty each time someone licenses the image.

The interesting part is that the same picture can sell again and again. A photograph of two teenagers working on a laptop might be licensed for an education article today, a technology advertisement next month, and a travel website next year.

But this is not usually a “take twenty pretty pictures and retire” situation.

Most individual licenses pay a small amount. The real potential comes from building a large, varied collection of useful images over time. A few hundred photographs may bring occasional spending money. Some established photographers with thousands—or even tens of thousands—of commercially useful images report earning hundreds of dollars per month, while a smaller number report $1,000 to $2,000 or more during strong months. Results vary widely, though, and none of those income levels are guaranteed.

A smaller number do considerably better.

That normally takes years of shooting, editing, describing, uploading, studying what customers purchase, and adding new material consistently.

The important word is useful. Buyers need real situations, different expressions, clean backgrounds, horizontal and vertical options, room for text, and pictures that help tell a story.

One good image probably will not build much income. A thousand useful ones might begin to.

So that’s what we’re doing this morning. I’m modeling, and Jason is building his catalog.

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