I was thrilled that one of my photos was used in a blog by Sebastian Feszler, and it prompted me to write one to introduce myself and say HELLO.

I've lived in several countries, and off and on blue water sailboats for the past twenty five years.

For the past three years I have been in Nebraska, getting our

girls through college and saving "cruising cookies". My Florida blood makes the midwest weather hard to take and I started submitting to Dreamstime to help me get through the winter, improve my photography, and see if I could get any accepted.

Now, it has become a quest.

I have a number of photos in mind to have in my portfolio, but it will take a while!! I am still learning and need to diversify more.

I have been taking pics since I bought my first, used,...

Want to earn extra cash? Try suggesting keywords for existing photos on Dreamstime. But wait, the pay out is $0.02 per accepted image suggestions!! Not much of an incentive.

But there are other reasons that may make it worthwhile.

1. It is a positive way to spend time while waiting for your submissions to upload.

2. It gives an opportunity to learn new keywords for your own submissions.

3. It can help non-English speaking photographers get more views and possibly more sales.

4. It can give a sense of "belonging" to the Dreamstime community.

5. It can help get more views to your own portfolio if the subject and keywords are similar.

Since I have a limited subject in my portfolio, I often browse the "competition" and have become able to recognize contributors'...