Like Jesse, I would first look at what my insurance offers. Insurance questions aside, I would be looking for someone who had success with my particular issues. I would ask friends and look at websites that have ratings. I might look for someone who had written about the issues in a way that appealed to me.

Yeah. The insurance thing is an issue. Not as often as I was afraid it might, but it is a limitation. I had really good reasons for going that way...reasons I stand by. Still, it's a thing.

I really wish that folks would tell each other the things they say to me! Again, it seems to be an issue of not wanting to talk about getting better. Frustrating.

Writing, I need to get better with. I get good feedback on my writing style, but I don't do it often enough...or in the right places.

Help! Will likely xpost to Natter - I'm putting together these slides for the recycled glass Mardi Gras beads and I'd really like to have watermark images of bottles on one half and recycled glass beads on the other. Don't want to just gank people's photos, don't know if this qualifies for Creative Commons since I could win some money from it and/or eventually make money. Anyone got good and preferably free sources for stock photos, and/or guidance on the Creative Commons thing?

Many thanks...

For Creative Commons, try:

Wikimedia Commons: [link]

Flickr Search (option to specify license type): [link]

Check the license on each photo -- generally people will specify whether you can use it for commercial purposes.

You rock Dana, thank you!

What Dana said. I've used some pictures from Flickr just by asking the photographer for permission. Even the ones that say "not for commercial purposes" often grant permission for nonprofits and starving musicians.

Yes, we've also had the experience of asking and getting permission. Ours are usually for educational purposes, and I don't think anyone's said no.

There's a creative commons flavor (actually several) that allows reuse for commercial purposes. I'm not sure whether you're searching Google or Flickr or what, but look for options that say something like "licensed for commercial reuse" -- the actual CC license will be one that does NOT say "NC" for non-commercial (so, CC-BY rather than CC-BY-NC).

Elsewise, try istockphoto -- it's a bit of a giant image dump, but they have decent search tools and some cheapish options if you just need a few images on occasion.

(You can also always ask people to use their photos if there's something you really love -- some people won't be interested, others will be flattered, but don't just gank without permission)

massive CC and just-ask x-post!

You can offer them some beads if it works out.

You can also try MorgueFile for photos -- they can be used commercially.