I see all these beautiful pictures as screensavers on my tv when the tv is not in active mode.. Next to the picture I see names of those who contributed the picture...Do they earn money for the picture... seems like a nice hobby.. Is there a way we can earn money for pictures.. anywhere to sell them? Like nice beautiful lakes, forests, clouds etc.etc.
You must be referring to the Chromecast background images. They are indeed breathtaking though I have come to associate them with our endless "which movie to watch" discussion. : ) This page has a few hundred of those in one place: Chromecast Background Images A casual search shows that Google has solicited entries once or twice such as when the Pixel phone first came out. The pictures had to be taken with that phone. But generally, they don't ask for images as they would be flooded with submissions. Looks like photographers share their photos publicly on Google's social and other platforms such as the now gone Google+. If the Chromecast selection folks come across a good photo that they like, the photographer gets an email that the publicly shared photo is great and will be featured in select Google products as a background photo. Doesn't look like Google pays the photographers. Because the photographer's name is displayed, the millions of resulting views is something hard to buy with money. Source. My ex-colleague is a semi-professional photographer who specializes in landscape photography. She is really good and makes a decent amount of money from it. But, like any other hobby, to take it to the level that it pays us something, it takes a lot of effort, patience and willingness to learn and experiment. There are one-time expenses like a good camera or two, lenses and other equipment. Then, one can get ambitious and invest in aerial photography equipment. I believe the talented photographers can sell each print for about $50-$100 for a 11x14 or 12x18 size. It was fascinating to hear her talk about the insurance needed for the equipment as photography can involve travel, the challenge of displaying work online (just adding a watermark is not the end of it), and the multiple physical back-ups needed plus the amount of storage. There are quite a few photographers of Indian origin in the U.S. whose primary profession is not photography but they have managed to make a mark in the field of photography. I happen to follow some of them. Most say they got serious about photography only a few years ago. One such photographer is Sapna Reddy (originally from Telangana). She is a pediatric radiologist by profession. She said in an interview that she works three days as a radiologist and three days a week as a photographer. Some people have all the luck and talent. : ) Interview: Sapna Reddy’s photographs celebrate nature through meditative visuals. Check out her own website too. I also like Ursula Abresch's photographs. URSULA ABRESCH. I buy her prints for about $20-$25 each a few times a year. My favorite are the Zen and bleak landscape ones. Coming to lesser-talented wannabe's like us, here is the reality check: https://unsplash.com/t/nature Photographers upload their photos to Unsplash and anyone can download and use them for free. Attributing it to the photographer is suggested but not required. According to my ex-colleague, portraits, weddings and other events are a more regular source of money. One thing I now want to look into is whether regular folks like us even need a camera given how much cell phone cameras have advanced.
