I was wondering, when making a design (as a freelancer) for design contests such as 99designs. How do you do it?

Do you buy the stock image(s)? Or do you find images via google or whatever and later replace them with a similar stock image?

I'm wondering because sometimes stock images can be expensive and you have no guarantee that your design will win. So do you just take the risk?

I just started making use of design competition sites and was just wondering how others approach it. :)

When making a design (as a freelancer), how do I handle stock images?

Do you buy the stock image(s)? Or do you find an image via Google or whatever and later replace it with a similar stock image?

I'm wondering because sometimes stock images can be expensive and you have no guarantee that your final design will use the image. So do you just take the risk?