Microstock and Taxes

I just finished my taxes and I am relieved that I am getting a nice refund. It was a crazy year, in that I worked for 2 companies, was unemployed for a while and also made more money than I could have ever imagined selling photography on iStockphoto.com.

Which brings me to the subject of this post. Paying taxes on my stock income was a little tricky, since iStock doesn't give us any 1099's or any other record of our income. I use TurboTax for my taxes every year, partially because they were my best employer to date and partly because I love the ease of use. For my stock earnings, I followed their instructions for a Schedule C which is for Profit and Loss from Business(Sole Propietorship).

I was very conservative about what I deducted as business expenses. I claimed depreciation on my equipment and hotels/mileage on my car for two trips I took last year that were 100% photography. These trips had only one purpose, to get more images into my portfolio. I had the mileage and the hotel receipts so I felt confident in using these expenses.

I'm sure there were many other deductions i could have taken throughout the year but I didn't keep detailed records of everything, so I didn't want to create any red flags in my return.

I'm wondering what other stock contributors do for taxes? Sole propietorships? Other Deductions? Do you use accountants? I'd love to hear!!

My favorite picture of the kids in the Bahamas

Here is my favorite of the shots I mentioned in the previous post:

Model Release mania

So I took a bunch of great shots of my cousins in the Bahamas last month and I am uploading them to iStock. This has been quite a headache! First I sent the MR's to my sisters to get them signed. Then I scanned them all into my computer as Jpegs...

Now the hard part, iStock only allows one upload of a release. SO I had to figure out how to combine them in Photoshop. What I did was combine them as a contact sheet. I'm not sure if that is how everyone else does it, but that is how I got all the releases into one jpeg. (they only allow jpeg)

To do this, I followed this path File->Automate->Contact Sheet II and here is what my settings looked like for 2 (change the columns field for more):

New website!!

I just got my new website up and running!! Check it out!!

Work or Shoot?

So I was leaving the garage today, heading to work on a frigid morning, when I noticed the clouds were lifting from the Flatirons. The trees and rock were all plastered with snow and looked absolutely beautiful. I had my camera in the car but had to get to work!! Now that I work in Arvada, it is not so easy to stop and shoot in Boulder on the way to work, and I miss it!

So, I decided I could run into Boulder quick, get some shots and then race to work. Maybe nobody will notice if I am late?!?

It was well worth it. I chased a coyote out of a field so I could set up my tripod, got set up and captured some good shots, I think. You can judge for yourself below. And I made it to work by nine so it wasn't too bad.

iStock Ebb and Flow

Funny, now today I had my best day ever!! I had my biggest Extended License sale which brought my month back on track!!

My big sale was for this image:

iStock ebb and flow

I am glad that I do not count on iStock income!! My sales have dropped dramatically this month. I was excited since I just moved up to the silver level which means I get a bigger cut of the sales. Oh well, hopefully it is just a cyclical thing and it will come back up next month!

Bahamas in my Portfolio!

Just got back from a cruise in the Bahamas. I got a few good pictures, one of which was just accepted onto iStock... I think it has some potential...