Top 50 iStock Photographers

The following is a list of the 50 iStockphoto contributors with the most career downloads and thus the highest earning as of the end of 2008. Non-microstock photographers may use this list, and the links provided, to learn a little more about microstock’s potential.

All but two on the list have had over 100,000 downloads since they began contributing images to iStock. Combined these 50 have had over 9 million career downloads, or somewhere in the range of 15% of all downloads made by iStock’s more than 60,000 photographers since the company’s founding. This group has a total of 161,757 images on the site for an average of 57 downloads per image on file. Based on reports from a few, it is believed almost half the total downloads on this list occurred in 2008.

I'm indebted to Duncan Walker, iStock’s ninth most successful photographer, for the core elements of this list. He has maintained a comprehensive list (www.istockphoto.com/duncan1890) of those iStockers with more than 25,000 downloads known as “diamond” contributors. When last updated, this list had 274 names. It is believed there may be a few more that are not included, but the list is recognized by most iStockers as being authorative. About one-third of the total iStock downloads in the last four years were of images belonging to these 274 contributors.



Walker’s list is ordered based on number of downloads. Our list is ordered based on the year the artist began contributing and provides other useful information. Note that 15 list their profession as designer, one as an illustrator and 6 as other. Only 28 list their profession as photographer. Microstock has enabled a number of individuals in careers other than photography to earn significant revenue from licensing rights to their images. Professional photographers may not like this, but it is a fact of life that will not change.

Month	Year	Downloads	Images on File	Portfolio Link	Profession
Sep	2002	217114	3668	duncan1890	Photog
Dec	2002	165431	4601	4x6	Designer
Nov	2002	164989	1767	diane39	Photog
Jun	2002	160071	1163	mevans	Photog
Dec	2002	158803	3795	sdominick	Photog
Feb	2002	146325	2295	track5	Photog
Jun	2002	125409	1085	ramplett	Photog
Feb	2002	117724	929	Kemie	Designer
Apr	2003	787436	6122	lisegagne	Photog
Nov	2003	443403	11095	hidesy	Photog
Jul	2003	254282	3921	jhorrocks	Photog
Dec	2003	218146	2350	spxChrome	Other
Feb	2003	204479	3221	blackred	Designer
Jan	2003	169502	893	mammamaart	Photog
Jun	2003	156929	2733	cimmerian	Photog-Desig
Jan	2003	127736	4135	Graphixel	Designer
Oct	2003	124203	1716	kcline	Photog
Oct	2004	241389	2930	nico_blue	Other
Sep	2004	210597	3154	schwartz	Photog
Mar	2004	200497	3406	caracterdesign	Designer
Feb	2004	194649	2199	urbancow	Photog
Oct	2004	163301	2451	kirstypargeter	Designer
Apr	2004	163236	2056	sx70	Other
Apr	2004	136023	2556	dem10	Designer
Dec	2004	128860	2216	Andresr	Designer
Dec	2004	125531	9937	kevinruss	Photog
Apr	2004	124778	999	abu	Designer
Apr	2004	107175	2406	barsik	Other
May	2004	103295	1576	joshblake	Photog
May	2004	97372	4763	PhotoEuphoria	Photog
Mar	2004	95174	3284	tacojim	Photog
Oct	2005	471099	3766	Yuri_Arcurs	Photog
May	2005	433791	4890	DNY59	Photog
Dec	2005	206949	481	sodafish	Designer
Oct	2005	164756	2639	Liliboas	Other
Jun	2005	153209	3996	iconogenic	Photog
Mar	2005	137323	6356	Mlenny	Other
Nov	2005	135218	1659	skodonnell	Photog
May	2005	129976	3905	Nikada	Photog
Jan	2005	123110	4193	lisafx	Photog
Mar	2005	112900	592	appleuzr	Designer
Jun	2005	110438	1336	jgroup	Designer
Apr	2005	106690	2697	mstay	Illustrator
Mar	2005	105809	6364	aldra	Photog
Aug	2005	104320	1976	filo	Designer
Aug	2005	103349	1298	RichVintage	Designer
Aug	2005	102439	2338	a-digit	Designer
Aug	2004	411860	5835	sjlocke	Photog
Jan	2006	111580	1450	Kativ	Designer
May	2006	109915	6564	Bubaone	Photog