Are you a photog?  Do you take digital pictures and upload them to Flickr to share with the world?  Did you ever wish that someone would come along and see one of your pictures and instantly think you deserved money for it?

Well, your dreams are about to come true.  Maybe.

Actually, it would be more accurate to say that your dreams now have a better chance of coming true.

In a long-awaited deal, Flickr is partnering with Getty Images to help their amatuer photographer users get their photos licensed.

From the article:

“Under a partnership announced this week, Getty’s editors will peruse Flickr to find pictures that may appeal to newspapers, magazines, book publishers, advertising agencies and other businesses.  Getty will then contact photographers who posted shots with sales potential to see if they’re interested in licensing the pictures.”

Oh, you’ll have to split your profits on the pictures licensed 50/50 with Getty Images, but that seems pretty fair considering they’re doing all the legwork to get your pictures noticed.  I mean, it was money you weren’t going to make before, right?  So it’s all gravy.

This is going to be hugely popular with Flickr users, who are already a pretty passionate bunch.  I also think it will drive some photographers to Flickr from other similar sites.

Just don’t expect all your photos to be selected for licensing.  In fact, I’m betting a very small percentage of users are going to make money.  But it’s a fantastic way for some phenomenal-yet-undiscovered shutterbugs to get noticed.