Not only am I a Newbie to Dreamstime, but also to the micro-stock world. I have worked in the portrait photography industry for many years. I really thought about the question "Why would I want to work in the micro-stock industry?" I dove in on December 31, 2007. Here is my reason.

The photography industry has changed a lot since digital photography was introduced years ago. It was met with resistance by many in my field, with the thought that there would still be a great demand for film and the professional portrait photographer. After all, how could digital photography ever match the beauty of a print processed from film? Well, guess what. To the surprise of many, digital imaging has far surpassed and continues to improve over the quality of film...

After researching many agencies, I joined Dreamstime on December 31st, 2007. I started with Dreamstime because of the ease of navigation and the attention and support they seem to give to their contributors. My intention, at the time, was to get to know Dreamstime and then submit to other agencies when I learned the ropes. I thought that by contributing to a number of them, I would make the most of my efforts. I would be able to put the same image on many sites. By giving my image more exposure, my sales would increase and I would have income coming in from several places. But would I really make more money? Would this help me to become a better, more consistant photographer? The answer, for me, was "no". I would be spreading my efforts among many and probably doing a mediocre...