New Stock Images

I'm getting more and more images onto my stock photography site (see it here). I've been working on it for a while and there is still some tweaking to do, but it's getting there. Images range from New York City, People/Lifestyle, Fine Art and Environment.
Here are some of the new images added this past week.
Traveling to Thailand on December 22nd so will have many more images in January 2010.
Stay tuned...

Re-Licensing of images

Sometimes in our business we don't get the chance to see our work in the published format. This is especially true with public relations assignments. I would rarely see the photos I took in print - or even know if the client used them or not. Advertising assignments are different though. I always get a peek at the comps with my photo included, and sometimes even asked if I had any comments (but I'm sure they are just being nice). In any event, when asked I always receive the final as a pdf for me to use. In future posts I'll have more example.

Then there is the rare occasion that a client likes the image(s) so much they re-license them - sometimes over and over. The above image is an example of the finished ad and below are two of the photos taken for the assignment. This was shot two years ago for Wonders, a before and after school day care business based in Bethesda, Maryland. They say the image is working so well that they want/need to keep using it for their print campaigns. It has become the iconic image for their business. A very nice compliment indeed.


"If you set your goals ridiculously high and it's a failure, you will fail above everyone else's success." - James Cameron

Taking Stock

Taking stock in myself. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while now. I have had images with JupiterImages, but since they were bought by Getty I took my images off their site. Call me crazy, but it was a matter of principle.

When things are slow I don’t like to sit and pout. I search for things to shoot. This is what I love about photography. It keeps me active, searching, thinking – it keeps me alive. Because of this I am now having resurgence in photographing for stock. Being able to capture a mood, an expression or a moment is what photography is all about, and that is what I want to show in my stock images.

Stay tuned for a new web site and a stock site featuring images from New York City.

The Ladder

We have a huge 20ft ladder in the studio that I have been itching to use. I would love to take it to a open field and take photos of it, but it's so large I can't put in on top of my car (I would surely get stopped by the police).
So I took it just outside my studio and had my trusting intern Hanna climb up. It was a beautiful day - clouds were great and there was a slight breeze. Making it absolutely perfect for what I wanted to do. Got some great images for stock use.

Convenient Truths

I was recently reminded of a quote by WC Fields: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it." Two things came to mind when I heard this - the Environment and Photography. Too many times people quit before they've really explored possible outcomes or tried to be successful at something. They are, what I would like to call, believers in the Convenient Truth.
They play it safe, never taking chances - afraid of being the damn fool.
There are times when being "the fool" means that you are the one that will succeed.

Pushing yourself to find new ways of shooting or using PhotoShop or actually believing that we are effecting our planet - and can change our habits in order to survive. These are the ones who will survive.

One of the great things about photography is that we can combine art with what's going on in the world. I recently went through some images in my stock archive on the environmental and noticed that many are about the relationship with our surroundings - how we effect it and play in it. Whether it is how we use and treat our air and water, what we leave behind when hiking and camping or how we travel - we have both a possitive and negative effect on the environment. Once we start truely believing this "Inconvenient Truth" we will begin to convert all the "damn fools" who want to take the Convenient path.

Here are some images from my archive