Sell Your Photos on Getty and Flickr: Two Companies Join to Sell Stock Photos

Dear Reader,

There’s an insatiable appetite for stock photography. I was reminded of that this past weekend in a NY Times blog post. It reports that Getty and Flickr are forming a partnership. Getty is a large, “traditional” stock house, and Flickr.com is a photo-sharing website. According to the blog post, Getty and Flickr are going to start trolling the photos posted at Flickr for potential saleable images.

Getty is looking for individual images on Flickr that they’d like to include in their stock-house offerings. And they’ll pay the photographers a percentage of the take when clients buy those images. That beats having to pursue the stock house yourself — and supply upwards of 100 salable images to them each month — but I wouldn’t count on Getty and Flickr producing piles of money for photographers on Flickr. If any.

Still, it’s an interesting development. And, I think, a further indication that good images really are in demand — whether taken by a seasoned pro or somebody just starting out.

What’s important is the quality of your work, not your pedigree.

That said, if it’s steady money you’re after with your photos, I’d still advise you to throw your energy into microstock. Try sites like iStockphoto.com, Shutterstock.com, or Bigstock.com. Also, you can sell photographs of your region locally as fine art. And don’t forget, too, that you can bundle your photos to sell with articles.

Read this week’s Photo Tip, from photographer Shelly Perry, about where to sell your photos.

Or, find out more about each of those fun — and potentially very lucrative — outlets in these articles from our archives:

** Stock: Here’s a video from Shelly on knowing whether your photos are stock-worthy or not: http://www.thephotographerslife.com/stockornotvid

** Fine art: Here’s some advice on selling locally from professional photographer Rich Wagner: http://www.thephotographerslife.com/home_photo

** Editorial: And advice from photographer Patrick Stevens on taking editorial shots that sell: http://www.thephotographerslife.com/sell_ed_photos

Have a great weekend!

— Lori

Lori Allen
Director, Great Escape Publishing

[Editor’s Note: Learn more about opportunities to profit from your travels (and even from your own home) in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel.]