Afraid i'm in the same camp with Chris' mate. i've had two inquiries, one from a guy who wanted photos of the guys i go underground with, complete with guffy overalls. 😞 And an American boot firm that wanted to use an image for a backdrop in an advertising campaign.

Our hobby does have a potential to earn a bit of cash, for me that's transferring the skill of underground photography into the workplace, by taking photos in confined spaces that are then used for inspection purposes.

I've sold a handful of underground images to the BBC and to the British Geological Survey (one, at least, was published in a sheet memoir).

Always sell non-exclusive rights so you can reuse / resell the images.

The taxman will want a percentage.

It's never more than a little bit of pocket money and will never, ever, pay for the petrol and the equipment! But then I go underground for the pleasure of it; the very occasional sale is a small bonus, nothing more.

I sold a framed SuperA3 print of my Rhosydd photo (the one I won the photo comp with) in a local art gallery for £250, but that was with 40% commission for the gallery, hence the hiked price! I was as gobsmacked that they'd sold it as they were though - it was just an experiment to see if anyone would bite. Apparently it was a posh middle-aged lady who bought, it who thought it 'exciting and beautiful'. So there you go.

The Thornhill lead-mining book I worked on with Jim Rieuwerts (I did the underground photography and cover design) has just about sold out as a limited edition of 300 - at £25 for luxury hardback it was a bargain, but then we didn't pay for production, and I think 300 was probably just about right given the target market. But quite a few people I know bought one because it looked good, rather than a sudden interest in lead-mining!

So I think money can be made occasionally from this game, but I also agree with the above - unless you've got an agent, sponsorship and the biggest and bestest caves in the world to visit like Shoney has (for public appeal/sub-editor interest), it's not going to produce a living, that's for sure.