I read this interview yesterday and Jim Pickerell (on John Lund’s Blog,) one of the foremost writers on stock photography, gives the reader a clear thesis: If you shoot stock for a living and haven’t found another source of income, find one now. Photographers will be able to make additional income shooting stock, but not guaranteed money a photographer can count on to pay the bills.

For photographers living and working in the U.S., I think it will be almost impossible to realize a profit from images produced now and going forward. The demand, even for microstock is leveling out or declining, and there is way too much over supply of every subject matter. The supply of good quality imagery will continue to grow at a much faster rate than it has. Prices will continue to fall. As a result no one will ever be able to earn as much as they earned in the past from stock photographs.

Jim Pickerell Interview

My own opinion is that a photographer can still make a living with a stock collection that specializes in difficult to find imagery and a group of clients that are willing to come to you for imagery.