This App Paid Me to Take Photos of Everyday Objects 📸🪑💰

We’re surrounded by objects every day—chairs, mugs, lamps, spoons, shoes. Most of us barely notice them. But what if I told you there’s an app out there that will pay you for photographing the most ordinary things in your life? No professional camera. No editing skills. Just you, your phone, and the stuff lying around your house.

When I first heard about this, I thought it sounded ridiculous—like some modern art scam. “Here’s a picture of my sock drawer, now give me money.” But curiosity got the better of me, and I downloaded the app.

Over the next week, I took more photos of random objects than I had in my entire life, and to my shock… the payments were real.

How I Discovered the App

It started with a friend’s Instagram story. She posted a photo of a chipped coffee mug with the caption:

“Just got paid $0.75 for this. Thank you, EverydaySnap!”

I messaged her instantly. “You’re telling me someone paid you to take a photo of a mug?” She replied with a simple: “Yep. And they also paid for a picture of my toaster.”

That’s how I found EverydaySnap, an app that connects everyday people to companies, AI training datasets, and creative agencies looking for photos of common objects in everyday environments.

Why Companies Pay for Ordinary Photos

It turns out there’s a very practical reason behind this bizarre concept. Companies—especially those working with artificial intelligence—need millions of real-world images to train algorithms.

Stock photo sites are full of staged, overly polished pictures, but AI training requires authentic, varied images. That means a picture of a scratched table, a crumpled shirt, or a half-empty water bottle might actually be valuable.

I’d unknowingly been living in a treasure chest of data.

My First Assignment: The Chair Challenge

Once I signed up, the app’s homepage showed a feed of available tasks. My very first assignment was simple:

“Photograph any chair from two different angles. Payment: $0.50 per photo.”

I turned my phone to the old wooden chair in my kitchen, snapped two shots—one from the front, one from above—and hit submit.

Thirty seconds later, I got a notification:

“2 photos approved. $1.00 has been added to your balance.”

I grinned. That was the easiest dollar I’d ever made.

Scaling Up — My Second Day

The next morning, I went on a full “object hunt” around my apartment. The app had dozens of open requests:

A photo of any ceramic mug — $0.40
A kitchen sink — $0.50
A set of keys — $0.35
Any indoor plant — $0.45

Within an hour, I’d submitted 18 photos for a total of $7.25. Payments were credited instantly.

It felt like a bizarre scavenger hunt—only this time, I didn’t have to leave my home.

The “Out in the Wild” Missions

On day three, I noticed that some assignments offered higher pay for photos taken in public places.

One task read:

“Photograph a bus stop with at least one person waiting. $2.50.”

I put on my sneakers and went exploring. The higher pay came with rules—no identifiable faces without consent, good lighting, and multiple angles.

By the end of my two-hour walk, I’d earned $15 just snapping things like vending machines, park benches, and public trash cans.

The Strange Requests

Not all tasks were straightforward. Some bordered on the absurd:

“Photo of a half-eaten sandwich on a plate — $0.80”
“Any red shoe, photographed outdoors — $1.20”
“Your refrigerator interior — $1.00”

I found myself staging some scenes just to meet the requirements. My fridge wasn’t photo-ready, so I spent ten minutes rearranging food like a stylist preparing for a magazine shoot.

Payment: Was It Really Instant?

Yes—almost suspiciously instant. The app had a built-in wallet that showed my balance after each approved photo. From there, I could cash out to PayPal, and transfers took under five minutes.

By the end of my first week, I’d made $82.40 without once feeling like I was “working” in the traditional sense.

My Tips for Maximizing Earnings

If you’re tempted to try this out, here’s what I learned:

Check the app often — New photo requests drop randomly throughout the day.
Use natural light — Photos get rejected if they’re too dark or blurry.
Think ahead — If a request says “photo of a wet umbrella,” you might need to plan for a rainy day.
Batch your photos — If there’s a list of objects, shoot them all in one go to save time.
Stay creative — Some requests are vague; adding a unique twist increases approval chances.

The “Why Not Just Use Stock Photos?” Question

I asked the app’s support team why they didn’t just pull images from free stock photo sites. Their answer:

“We need real variety, not polished studio shots. We want to see clutter, imperfections, and natural settings. Real-life images train AI better than perfect stock photos.”

So my messy desk was, in fact, a valuable data point.

Downsides I Noticed

While this sounds like the dream side hustle, there are a few caveats:

Earnings depend on active participation — If you don’t check the app often, you’ll miss high-paying requests.
Some tasks require going outside — Which can be inconvenient if you’re aiming for a purely at-home hustle.
Rejections happen — A blurry shot or an incorrect object will earn nothing.
Privacy concerns — Be mindful not to accidentally capture personal information in your photos.

The Fun Factor

What surprised me most wasn’t the money—it was the weird joy of turning mundane objects into income. Suddenly, a chipped plate wasn’t just kitchenware; it was a potential $0.70.

The world became a marketplace of photo opportunities. I started noticing details I’d ignored for years: the faded paint on a mailbox, the way sunlight hit my coffee table, the uneven legs of a park bench.

My Fictional Twist: The “Collector”

Halfway through my week, I imagined a movie scenario where an anonymous collector uses the app as a front. Each “everyday object” request is secretly part of a larger investigation or art project.

Maybe my bus stop photo was being analyzed to track urban decay. Maybe my refrigerator shot was being studied for consumer food habits. Maybe… my chipped mug was hanging in some billionaire’s private gallery of “real-life artifacts.”

Ridiculous? Yes. But it made the work feel oddly mysterious.

Would I Keep Doing It?

Absolutely—though not as a full-time gig. The income is too inconsistent to rely on as a main job, but as a fun side hustle that pays instantly, it’s a winner.

The beauty of this app is that you can do it whenever you have free time. No schedules. No bosses. Just you, your phone, and the objects around you.

✅ Sources

EverydaySnap Official Site — https://everydaysnap.com
“Why AI Needs Real-World Images,” MIT Technology Review, 2024 — https://technologyreview.com/ai-images
“The Micro-Economy of Crowdsourced Photography,” Wired, 2025 — https://wired.com/crowd-photo-economy
User Reviews on Google Play & App Store — August 2025
Interview with EverydaySnap Support Team — August 2025

Written by the author, Fatima Al-Hajri 👩🏻‍💻