FAQs

Got a question? Before contacting me personally, you can try to find the answer here.

Q: Can you please give me some feedback on my website, portfolio or stock photography?


A: Unfortunately I get 2-5 email requests like this every day so I really could not possibly have the time to do this and also do my own work. I am sorry. Truly. I do want to see excellent work in our industry, so this is why I have tried to give you the tools to evaluate your own work and to make improvements. You'll find lots of tips and tricks in the articles on this site.

 

Q: Can I get some private information about your models – telephone numbers, etc.?


A: Depending on the nature of your interest – yes. If your intentions are not professional, I will never let such information out.

 

Q: Since you are a “micro”stock photographer, you must be an amateur and can’t be that expensive to hire – right?


A: I have stopped doing assignment jobs and, except in rare cases, I focus only on stock at the moment. My day rate for assignments is $6000 USD.

 

Q: Wow. You are so handsome yourself.. Are you a model. Will you marry me and make babies?


A: Not a particularly frequently asked question, but I will answer it anyway: Sorry, I'm have been in a relationship with my wonderful partner Cecilie for five years and therefore I am not available for marriage or babies. 

 

Q: Is it true that you are the number one selling microstock photographer in the world?


A: Yes! I sell over 650000 pictures per year…which is a lot. About one photo every 50 seconds.

 

Q: How can you be the most downloaded stock photographer and have so few files/downloads at iStock?


A: Because of iStock’s upload-limit policy I cannot upload more than about 30% of the pictures I actually produce, which leaves me with a queue of over 4000 pictures that haven’t yet been uploaded there. My ranking is based on worldwide sales on over 16 other stock sites and the public rankings available on these agencies.

 

Q: Are you yourself involved in a stock site? 


A: No! Many new microstock sites have offered me a wide range of involvement in their businesses. I was almost talked into cooperating with one, but declined due to the possible complications that would transpire as a contributing stock photographer at other microstock sites. Currently I am, and will always be, ONLY a practicing photographer in this business.

 

Q: Do you really take all these pictures yourself?


A: Yes, but I have six full-time assistants (one English, two Norwegian and three Danish) and another 10 part-time editors, who edit, title, keyword, upload, categorize, and handle model releases for me.

 

Q: Your models are so beautiful – are they your friends or are they professional models?


A: I hire professional models and sometimes scout them myself. Because my website offers an “apply as a model” area, I am blessed with about 2 to 3 applications per day.

 

Q: What’s your specialty, how are you different?

A: 
I try to produce stock photography that looks natural and genuine; pictures with character and personality. I try to avoid producing cheesy looking pictures that look staged or too theatrical, what is often referred to as "stocky content".

 

Q: Do you have any nude shots of your models.


A: No. (Almost none)

 

Q: How do you get your pictures so bright and colorful?


A: That’s my secret! I do a lot of my shoots as multi-bracket HDR (High digital range), so each pictures is composed of three others. This gives the pictures a bright and colorful look. I also use a lot of fill-in light.

 

Q: Are your pictures ever rejected?


A: Yes. A month's batch consists of about 400 pictures and approximately 5 – 10 of those will be rejected on average. On iStock I get a lot of strange rejections, but I have learned not to worry too much about that. My philosophy is that even the craziest rejection is based on something about the picture that seemed "off" or wrong to someone. That is valid criticism that one must take seriously. Rejections are very bad for business, therefore I double and often triple check everything I submit.

 

Q: Is it true that you are a psychologist?


A: Well… almost. However I have put my studies on stand-by for the moment.

 

Q: Do you complain about rejections?


A: Nope. Never. That takes too much time and energy. Whenever possible, I try to learn from them. I don’t resubmit them either, because this also takes too much of my assistants' time.

 

Q: How much money can I make as a stock photographer?


A: I don’t think that I’m the right person to answer this question. Being number one in the world makes it a very well paid profession for me, but very few people will ever get even close to the top 50.

 

Q: Are you a perfectionist?


A: Absolutely. From my own psychological point of view – close to pathological.

 

Q: Are you an educated photographer?


A: Yes, I graduated from the Danish School of Photography in Aarhus back in 2000, where I was educated on film cameras.

 

Q: Do you work from home or do you have a real studio?


A: I have a studio in downtown Aarhus where my assistants and I work from 0900 to 1800 nearly every day. I also have another 8000 Square feet studio outside Aarhus.

 

Q: How many shoots do you do in a normal week?


A: That depends on my producer and the amount of 3FF files that need my attention from last week. I normally do around 2-4 shoots per week.