Adventures in microstock photography

 I recently found this interview on This Week in Photography with a the founders of www.everythingmicrostock.com. After doing some additional research I've decided to give it a try, after all, it's free.

So I've created an account with Fotolia and submitted a few photos. I'm taking it slow to try to get an idea of what they are looking for. It took about two days for them to get reviewed and four our of the five images got rejected. It's a bit of a blow to a persons ego when some of the images you consider your best get rejected. Oddly enough the one photo I thought had the least chance was accepted. I guess my ideas of what makes a good commercial image are a little skewed. This photo...

was rejected because it "did not meet our desired level of aesthetic quality". What ever that means. I liked it enough to have it printed and hung on my wall. Go figure.

I really like the idea of not being an assignment photographer. Of shooting what, where, and when I like. However I am starting to wonder if stock photography offers that much more freedom.