Here's an email I sent to a friend. If you disagree with these numbers, please tell me why. Convince me - thanks, Charlie

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Well, the numbers on micro stock photography are a bit depressing.

Figure - very roughly - on earning about 25 cents per month per accepted image. Getting images accepted is difficult; experienced stock shooters are happy to have 50% to 70% of submitted images accepted. Those new to the field - like me - have much lower acceptance rates. And even getting an account is not easy; most photogs try several times to have their work accepted.

If you were able to create and submit 8 finished images a day, then you might wind up with 100 accepted images per month. At 25 cents an image, you could reasonably expect to earn $25 per month your first month, $50 your second, and so on. Getting to $1,000 a month would take 40 months, assuming that your first images - by now, almost 4 years old - continue to sell well. They may not.

There are several micro stock agencies; however, most don't average a 25 cent sale per month. You can multiply the income a bit by listing the same image with multiple agencies; by doing that, you might expect to get to $1,000 a month after perhaps 2 years.

Remember, this is full time work. Composing, shooting, finishing and submitting 8 different high quality images a day is very difficult.

But if you persevere, you can - after perhaps a year and a half - get to the $1,000 a month mark.

Or, you can go flip burgers at McDonalds and start earning $1,000 a month right off the bat. If you work at McDonalds, you have to buy your uniform; the cost is perhaps $40. If you work as a stock photographer, you have to buy your own camera; the cost is perhaps $3,000.

I don't know. Maybe I'm missing something here.

>Charlie