Locals Finding There Is Some Decent Money In Selling Selfies

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO (CBSLA.com)  —  A picture has always been worth a thousand words.

But will a picture soon be worth $1,000?

It's possible. People around the Southland are finding there is money in selling selfies.

CBS2's Amber Lee met up with Anne Caringella, a San Juan Capistrano stay-at-home mom, who takes pictures with her smartphone every day.

"Here we are in San Diego at a brewery. Here's me in Hawaii scuba diving," Caringella says while showing Lee some of her recent selfies.

She already loved talking pictures, but when she found out she could also pocket a little extra dough, the hobby became a passion.

"I had no idea there would be a company that would want to pay me for my pictures," says Caringella.

The company is called Scoopshot.

Here's how it works. Wherever your travels take you — beach, mountains, even your best friend's wedding —  just snap photos and upload them to the company's app.

If they like and use the pic, they will pay you for it.

Scoopshot contracts with many major companies. Companies like airlines, soft drinks manufacturers and travel agencies get great pics for their advertising or marketing needs without having to pay the costs of sending professional photographers on location.

More and more brands are using the service.

"We are seeing more and more brands engaging consumers, your Coca-Cola moment, please send your photos in, or like Finnair," Scoopshot founder Petri Rahja told WCBS-TV.

Finnair asked Scoopshot users to send in recent travel selfies. They ended up purchasing about 50 of the 800 selfies submitted. For each selfie, they paid about $15 each.

After reading about Scoopshot, 17-year-old Tatiana Delgadillo of San Clemente grabbed her camera.

"Most companies will pay $20 per shot," Delgadillo says. "The photos don't even need to look professional; they need iPhone shots."

She recently made $35 from a picture she took at a Kid Cudi concert.

Degadillo says you can set your own price depending on how badly the company seems to want the photo, especially if they make a special request, like a photo she snapped at Coachella.

"They usually have a giant art piece at Coachella," she said, "and this is the one they had this year. So me and my friends took a picture in front of the astronaut."

Cha-ching. Another easy $35 for a picture she was going to take anyway.

"Like Cochella was easy," she related. "There was one [company] that asked for lacrosse sticks and I was like 'Oh, I have a lot of friends on lacrosse!' So that was an easy one."

So far, Delgadillo says she's made $74 from three selfies.

"For a picture I take like in a second, it's easy," she said.

For more about Scoopshot and how it works, click here.