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So I Started Giving My Photos Away for Free · The Wandering Wolf Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: A while back I got this idea that I could take photos of nature and sell them
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: as reference packs.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen others do that,
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: although they travel to much more beautiful places compared to where I live.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: I live in the most boring area ever, okay?
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: But it didn't go well because I never sold anything.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, I suck at marketing.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: I just hate sounding like a broken record.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, hey, I sell reference pads.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Go and check them out.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to upload them,
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: say it once and hope everyone sees it so I don't have to say it again.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: But social media doesn't really work like that.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: I also only uploaded a few nature packs and I did travel to take those photos
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: so it wasn't cheap either.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Gas costs money, you know.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I started thinking maybe I should give them away for free instead.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Then I remember on splash, you can upload photos there for free and people can use them.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I started uploading more and more and after doing a little research,
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: I found that some people have even gotten job opportunities from it.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of started seeing it as a portfolio too.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: I uploaded two photos back in August 2025, exactly one year ago when I look at it now.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: They were GoPro photos and didn't get any attention back then.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: But when I started uploading more photos, even those started getting more traction.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I think that's kind of cool.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: As I'm writing this in August 2026,
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: I have uploaded 12 photos and they have gotten over 6,000 views and 24 downloads.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Lifetime status.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't uploaded anything in August yet and only uploaded a couple in July
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: so I have been a little bit lacking there.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Started this experiment in June but some of the photos have surprised me.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: I have one photo of a bench with a Swedish flag in the background.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: You can see the flag hanging down and the photo alone had gotten 1697 views and 4 downloads.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Then I have a duck photo during a sunset that has gotten 6 downloads but only 553 views.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: So you never really know what people might like or want to use.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like I'm earning money from it or anything.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: I just like giving the photos away for free.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe someone will use it, use one as a wallpaper for photo bashing or on a website.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: They are royalty free so people can use them for many different things.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe down the road,
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: if I keep uploading,
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: someone might see that I can take pretty good photos and want to hide me
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: for something.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe someone wants to buy a photo for a license.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: We will see.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: But I realized that I actually like doing it.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: The more photos I upload, the more views the others start getting too.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's fun seeing that people are actually looking at them and downloading something I took.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're interested in doing something similar, I do recommend giving it a try.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to see what I have uploaded on Unspash, the link is further down on this post.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: If you're listening to the podcast version,
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: the visual version is over on Substack where you can find all the links.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you're listening on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, etc., it's in the description or show notes.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: But I have a question for you.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Do you upload your photos to any royalty free website?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Let me know.