if I remember right, your not really a contributor at Getty, your more like an artistic guest it seems, with no ability to just send them whatever you shoot.

Nope, that's not correct at all. Contributors have a contract like any other contributor and you can submit whatever you like (there is a limit - 100/month) and they either accept or reject just like any of the other collections. The only difference is that the submission happens via Flickr and not the Getty portal.

I was an elementary school art teacher for years.... then left to do photography full time... then last year was offered a DREAM job. So, I'm still shooting full time and teaching 3 days a week. I guess teaching is the "day" job, since the photography happens whenever I have time.

You can find most of your answers here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/gettyimagesonflickr/ and here: http://www.flickr.com/help/gettyimages/

Forgive me if this is a stupid question - I don't know FLickr very well... but don't people post their photos at higher resolution?, and without watermark? I have thought about putting shots up in the past, but was worried about people helping themselves to them. And if not - if they are low resolution files, then how does Getty do the review properly? How does it work?

Blaneyphoto,

The site is password protected. Can  you copy and paste it here maybe ?

thanks

Sorry, didn't realize that. But, if its meant for contributors only, I don't want to copy it. 

For 30 bucks you can get a pro account on Fotki with unlimited uploads by FTP. You can even download your stuff by FTP if you loose it. I signed up a couple of months ago and I'm pretty happy so far.

Fotki is a great bargain and very reliable. I've been using them for years and have a couple hundred gigs of images stored with them.

It has been said that the sure way to NOT be invited is to start asking how to become an inspector.

I've never understood why this is the case... its seems weird to discourage those who are interested! But then again, I also can't imagine why anyone would WANT that job anyway - no amount of money would persuade me to sift through the flood of pets, handshakes and jumping goldfish.

IS had a library sign up as a contributor. All of the archived images that they hold were added to the collection.

Not entirely accurate. Its the Hulton Archives and they didn't exactly "sign up" to contibute. Its content moved over from Getty. And its only the non-photographic portion of the archives.
See: http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=54443

"small amount" is fairly relative, I guess.

But in any case, this should be fairly easy. You should simply use the examples you've found as a model and create your own. There's not much you need to include. Depends upon how you run your business though, I guess. You'll also probably benefit from creating your own form because you can use the language of your choice - I imagine english will be what you'll find online mostly but maybe that would be fine  though.

You need to send them an invoice. A google search turns  up a bunch of free options. MS Word also has some templates you can use. I'd be reluctant to give them your bank info though - just have them cut you a  check. If the can't or won't do that, there's a problem.

4,700

I've certainly never met ANY photographers that make a regular portion of their income from shooting models portfolios.

There seems to be a pretty endless stream of actors and models here in NYC who regularly need new headshots (not exactly the same thing, I realize) but its enough to keep me and plenty of other photographers employed.

Can I expect a couple of random referrals every month without even trying?

Its totally possible... I have no idea where my referrals have come from or who those people are. Its weird.