Those crappy "poly" stock photos the media use? Photographers, go for it!

A flood of Valentine's Day poly articles are already showing up, and I'll post a roundup this evening I hope. But in the meantime — what about those smarmy, cheating-looking stock photos so many of these articles use?

The usual trope is a guy nuzzling a girl while holding hands with another girl behind the first one's back. Over and over. A lot of you have said you're pissed.

We see the same pix over and over because that's what media in a hurry find when they type "polyamory" or "three lovers" or whatever into a photo service like Getty or iStock or Shutterstock.

You can change this! Set up any three or more people to look like they're in a mutually supportive, caring relationship. Shoot a bunch of pictures with any camera better than a phone camera. Choose the best few, maybe touch up the lighting, contrast, etc. as needed, and post them to the usual photo agencies tagged with the right keywords. Anyone can do it!

[Which agencies? A reddit commenter writes, "Stock sites would include (off the top of my head) places like bigstock, istock, dreamstime. Just google stock photo site!"]

You might even earn a few bucks. There's a growing demand for stock photos to illustrate poly articles, and there's obviously a short supply.

Do it today and you might possibly see your pix used somewhere in the media for Val's Day tomorrow. And you might get the occasional (smallish) royalty check for years to come.

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