Artistic, fashion and travel photographer Ben Heys lives like a king. Highly respected in photography circles for his artistic nude and fashion photography, Ben makes his entire income online by licensing his photography to designers.

This is called “stock” photography and he currently has 1300 images available in his Shutterstock.com library.  Each photo is licensed for a lean amount of money - and his commission is even smaller - but the numbers add up to provide a consistent flow of passive income sufficient to live like a king while he travels Asia. Even when he doesn’t work for weeks at a time.

The income produced with a library of 1300 images, while respectable, is not massive.  That said, Ben loves travelling and there are certainly places in this world where our dollar goes a long way.  The photo to the left is of Ben’s room when he stayed in Cambodia in November of 2007.  It cost the equivalent of US$6/night - including unlimited snacks and coffee!

For the most part Ben leads a life of leisure.  While others slave away at 9-5 jobs you’ll usually find him either travelling or on his couch reading a book.  Once or twice a fortnight he’ll take some photos, too.  Right now he’s preparing for another jaunt around Asia and intends to study the martial art of Ninjitsu full-time during his next stay in Thailand.

If you think you might have a flare for photography, and would like to make money online, Ben has written a series of three short articles to give you a little guidance:

So you wanna earn money from your photos?
So you wanna earn money from your photos? (Part II)
So you wanna earn money from your photos? (Part III)

I encourage you to also have a browse around his blog to view the awe-inspiring photos he has shot during recent travels in Cambodia, Thailand and New Zealand.  If you’re at work, just be aware that some of his artistic nude photography is also featured at times.