I'm a pro: 84 cents' worth.

[squirrel$$$bandit]

You know how many images you have to give them to reach your first $100??? It took you 30 to reach $.99.

Each one can be downloaded an infinite number of times. It's $350 to buy an exclusive use...the most popular images get downloaded hundreds of times.

You should check out the most popular images, BTW, they are HORRIBLE

 

[kbg32]

I shoot for Getty. I can't tell you how bad things have been going lately....

 

[Bike Tourist]

So far today I've made seventeen cents on my Adsense accout!

I think you've made a fine living doing what you enjoyed. At least, I hope so. But that's one thing about Adsense or microstock — once it's out there it keeps on earning — even if it's 17 cents!

 

[Avotius]

One question, for Colin and others who have abandoned microstock. What are the alternatives? Sending a portfolio to Getty or something? How does one make the transition into semiprofessional photography?

Getty is one of the biggest reasons we have this photo selling problem actually, but unfortunately for most photographers who are trying to make a living (which is very very hard) Getty made everything bad by the way they changed the whole game for everyone with their online sales model, we did a in depth study of the Getty company here and found it to be the harbinger of the modern photographer. But unfortunately that is also the way a photographer has to go to get paid now a day, yes there is other more private work you can do and you have to to make money. Basically being a photographer now a days is like working 5 jobs at once, and I have only been doing this for a few years and I really dislike it, I would make more money working as a gas station cashier and it would not be a tenth as hard. Part of me wants to go find another line of work, I entered photography at the exact wrong time, what I make from photography and the horrendous amounts of time I put into it is not enough to pay my rent, I teach English on the side which sadly pays about 10 times more then I make from taking photos and is how I feed money into my habit.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

I was afraid of that...