Stock Photos (In General)

So, I see my bank balance - and then I see my 'want very much list' and the two are not tying up

So, I happened to come accross this Stock photography. So, My questions are:

Is the theory as simple as: Upload photo, wait for some time constrained designer or sad person to download/purchase and recieve a commission from the transaction.?

Does anyone use these?

Reccommendations on sites?

I know this would never produce large amounts of money unless very good/lucky or large amounts of photos (in the future) short term not great. But every pennie counts, they are not making any pennies sat on my hard drive never seeing the light of day.

Please note, Personal opinions are very much welcome aswell

I have a pro photog pal who uses a few of these, and he reckons its almost a waste of time, but he gets a few coins in over the months. Not enough to keep him in food and rent, but it buys a few beers. And thats from a guy who's sole job is photography

I know he uses more than one, but Alamy is one i know he uses. The rules are pretty strict, and there's apparently over 31,000,000 files to choose from. More chance of winning the lottery

I considered selling stock photography until I read a blog about it. The blog was by a guy who actually did make a living out of stock photography (I can't find the blog anymore though). The main thing that turned me off was that he was saying you have to very forward thinking and predict future demand for photographs. There's no point in taking a picture of Big Ben, for example and putting it on a stock site because there are millions of them already there.

He said you need to think about what people will need photographs of 2 to 3 years down the line (technology, up and coming holiday destinations, architecture, business/lifestyle shots and the like). The he says he usually starts making a profit from a photo about 3-5 years after submitting the photo.

Presumably he built up a reputation for stock photography through years of work which is why he sells more than the average human on these sites.

It all sounds too much like hard work to me for not much return.