The late Joe Rosenthal, photographer of one of the world’s most well known images – Flag Raising At Iwo Jima, is said to have earned less than $10,000 dollars in total over the sixty years since the picture was taken, says media pundit Roy Greenslade in his Blog .

Rosenthal, who died this week aged 94 said in a 1995 interview that in consideration for risking his life to capture the iconic photograph, during one of the bloodiest battles of the World War 2 he received a $4,200 bonus in war bonds from the Associated Press, a $1,000 prize from a camera magazine and about $700 for a couple of radio appearances – but apparently no repro fees.

In total his earnings were less than a $100 dollars a year from the time he took the picture until his death for a photograph that has been printed hundreds of thousands of times.