Fun with iPhone iPad and iPod Cases

As a photographer I love to see my clients use my photos - whether they appear in print in books, magazines or newspapers, on the web, or hanging on someone's wall.

In addition to travel and editorial photos, I design a lot of backgrounds, such this blue one at right, an unretouched photo I took using my lensbaby and a macro filter. 

Other backgrounds are more complex. I'll start by  combining images of various textures that I have photographed, layering them with different blending modes and other filters and artistic effects using Photoshop, Nik filters and NX2 to come up with a final textured background. I can then layer that textured background over another photo to turn it into something very different than what I captured with my camera, such as this sailboat image. It's a photo of the Coast Guard Cutter Eagle that I took during OpSail 2012. It now looks more like an illustration as does the red kite in the tree which is a straight photo that has turned into an illustration again simply by means of layering it with various textures and then using different blending modes.

As much as I love "getting it right in the camera the first time," I also love playing with the almost endless possibilities available to the digital photographer. Since I started shooting stock photos a few years ago, the question of "how will this photo be used?" has grown from the three most likely scenarios - hanging on a client's wall,  advertising a client's product or illustrating an article - to similarly endless possibilities.

That's why I was really excited when I discovered redbubble earlier this year.  Although I plan to continue earning income by licensing my work to other people for their designs, now I can also see my own designs on products of my choosing without having to first license them to others or collaborate with a designer. (*ordering info below - or click on any of the underlined text) Products like iPhone cases,  iPad covers, Tshirts, onesies, hoodies, and stickers. It's such a tangible use of my work. I love the idea of someone seeing my work countless times a day as part of something they are wearing or using so often. Or children playing with my stickers and putting them on things they love - grown-ups too.

I am particularly excited about this design incorporating the yellow irises. It's one of my favorites and, as it turns out, it's also a favorite of my daughter's. It started out as a photograph that I took during my college reunion at Smith College a few years ago. These wonderful yellow irises (Iris pseudacorus L.) grow in and around a small pond next to the greenhouse and are truly a spectacular site.  To give the image its grunge vintage feel,  I combined a few of my photos of textures, layering them with different blending modes to get the abstract retro effect.  Yellow is my favorite color too and I just love how well the textures work with the image - it looks ancient and new all at once.

When I designed my first iPhone cases earlier this year, I sent my daughter the links to check them out, but she has an Android, so no chance one of those cases was going to land in her stocking this Christmas. :(  Then, redbubble added iPad case templates (with iPad minis coming soon). It just so happens she's getting an iPad for her 20th birthday this month so I asked her to take a look at the cases I'd designed and pick her fave. She picked the yellow iris iPhone case and asked if I could design a similar iPad cover. As you can see, not a problem!

The textured photos are a very different look than this straight photo at left of peeling paint that I took in Tallinn, Estonia or the photo at right taken the same day as the photo of The Eagle during OpSail 2012 in Connecticut. I think both styles, the straight photos like this sunset and the textured ones, work equally well as iPhone and iPad cases.

The next two are my latest experiments, fractals that have been cut out and added to a gradient background, for that geek chic style which is very popular on redbubble. You can link to them here.
  

Please check out the rest of my work at redbubble especially in my  iPad/iPhone gallery  and if you're getting an iPad or giving one as a gift this year, as of this writing (December 15, 2012), you can get 10% off iPad cases using the code "RADPADS" at checkout.  I just used it successfully to save on the case I designed for my daughter. 

I also thought this funky fractal made a cool sticker and a great hoodie too. I love the fact that the T-shirts and hoodies are made by American Apparel here in the USA so no worries about sweatshops - the iPad, iPhone, and iPod cases are made by Uncommon and printed in the USA too. Please check them out for some Christmas gift ideas too.

I would love to know what you think of my work so please check out all I have to offer in the way of redbubble products and please comment here or on the redbubble site itself. My profile is http://www.redbubble.com/people/campyphotos

Enjoy the holidays!

Click below to see all my designs or click on the photo below to go straight to my profile on redbubble where you can order any of my designs. If that doesn't work here is a link - you can also just cut and paste it into your browser. http://www.redbubble.com/people/campyphotos/collections/176737-favorite-ipad-iphone-ipad-cases     Thanks!

Is This Travel Photography?

I'm often surprised at where my stock photos show up. A few years ago when my daughter was young, she wanted to attend the Show Biz Expo in Manhattan. I had just started experimenting with stock photography and had heard about Shutterstock's On the Red Carpet program, where they help you get a press pass to events in return for the exclusive right to license the images you take for two years.

Although I license many more commercial photos on shutterstock than editorial photos, I've done pretty well with editorial there - and have licensed photos from that shoot a total of 42 times. Two of the photos have ended up in books.

One, this photo of a line of actors queuing up for auditions, which I've licensed 29 times and which still sells regularly, ended up in a book on acting. No surprise there. 

Roxanne Martinez of Kaiser Back Institute performs ashiatsu massage.

So why am I writing about this in a travel blog? Does the Walt Disney Castle give you a hint? I discovered last night that another one, a photo of ashiatsu (foot) massage, is in the new 2012 Fodor's Guide to Walt Disney World (on page 121). 

It was an interesting sight at the Show Biz Expo so of course I took a picture. You never know how those unusual photos will be used - so they are worth taking.  
Check out My Shutterstock Gallery Here to see more  
(please use the orange gallery link if you're interested in buying or selling your photos- thanks!)
Here are the two books: 

    

Mapping The Places I've Been: You Should Try It!

Since this is a travel blog, or at least since it started out that way, it seemed like I ought to add this map that shows all the places I've visited (well over 200!) and a few I've pegged for future travel.

Glacier National Park, Montana

Burano, a beautiful island near Venice.

I found the interactive map on tripadvisor. com. It's a fun way to spend half an hour revisiting your favorite travel destinations. The interface takes you through places all over the world, and you can pin the spots you've visited. I'm not sure how the algorithm works. It started me out with some of the world's most celebrated travel destinations such as New York City and Paris, but each list that came up also had some small towns - like Niantic, Connecticut where my family has had a cottage since 1969. I had pinned over 200 places, yet San Francisco, CA, Vienna, Austria, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, and Oahu, Hawaii- some pretty major spots-still hadn't come up, but I was able to add them manually. So far, I've found 257 places in 14 countries that I've visited.

On the way to Paris

The map includes dozens of small towns-I counted at least 10 I'd been to on Cape Cod-as well as little lesser-know towns around the world, like several quaint spots I've traveled to in France. When I hit 250,  I hit "done" and added the biggies I'd missed, but I'm sure if I'd had more time I would have hit 300.

It's fun. You should try it.
(See the link below my map). And feel free to paste your map in the comments section - it'd be interesting to see where people have been.

Here's my map along with a list of my 20 favorite spots:

1. New York City, NY, USA
2. Venice, Italy
3. Paris, France
4. San Francisco, CA, USA
5. Antigua, Antigua and Barbuda
6. Glacier National Park, MT, USA
7. Yellowstone National Park, WY, USA
8. Grand Teton National Park, WY, USA
9. Edinburgh, UK
10. Newport, RI, USA
11. Mont-St-Michel, France
12. Florence, Italy
13. Oahu, HI, USA
14. Saint-Malo, France
15. Versailles, France
16. London, UK
17. Rome, Italy
18. Saint Augustine, FL, USA
19. Caen, France

• View my profile
• Create your own travel map or travel blog
• Great vacation rentals at TripAdvisor

Interviewed by the Breakfast Stock Club

Grunge heart on turquoise blue background. Available from Dreamstime through link below. Happy Valentine's Day!

See this on Dreamstime

I've been submitting stock photos for a while now but didn't really start adding to my portfolio until late last year. As I grow my stock portfolio, I've found it helpful to join a few forums, including those on the various sites I submit to such as Dreamstime, Shutterstock, and Alamy Images.  Most forums have a great community and it's been a big help to get advice from others, both those starting out and those who have been selling stock photos for many years.

Last week, I was interviewed about my stock photo sales by the Breakfast Stock Club. I've been getting their emails for a while and just joined their group on Facebook. The idea behind the article was to encourage new stock photographers. Since I'm a freelance writer as well as a photographer, I found it especially fun to be the interviewee instead of the interviewer. 

Conventional wisdom these days is that you need to license both RM and higher end RF on the macros as well as more generic RF on the micros. My images are split between microstock and macrostock, so I can experiment with backgrounds such as the one above that I made with my lensbaby and my wacom tablet, licensing a few 100 photos on the micros quickly, or licensing photos on Alamy for $100 or more a pop.

My portfolio is still very small, but  I'm encouraged to keep uploading. Here's the article - I hope you find it helpful. And here's to everyone's continued success!

 (The image above was made with my lensbaby composer and the macro filter attachment. I then drew the  heart using my wacom tablet. When I have more images to share, I plan to blog about the lensbaby. Here's one of my  favorites from my website. It's so much fun and the images I've made with it have nearly recouped my cost already).

More Time Travel - History Pin

As you know from my Time Travel post, I love old photos and I love historical fiction, so when I came across a rather old tweet from Ellen Boughn @ellenboughn "Imagine being an author of historical novels with this very cool tool," I had to check it out. People all across the globe sharing their old photos - a really cool concept.

Check it out   

and don't miss the video that explains the concept.

It looks to be mostly European photos right now but if you pan to the left you'll see there's plenty of empty real estate for we Americans to start adding those pix from Grandma's attic as well (I know the attic is the worst place to keep those old photos, but many of us do).

I also like the fact that their terms of use protect the contributor's copyrights and restrict re-publication of the photos on other sites and downloading unless you expressly give them permission, unlike so many sites that want you to upload your materials and co-opt all your rights once you do.

If you add any photos to history pin, add a comment and a link below.

This photo of Rome is from 2007, but it could easily be from 1907.  I don't have any old scans on my laptop so I opted for a photo with an old feel. You can see this and more photos from Rome here. Search Amazon.com for ellen boughn

Holidays are big sellers. I've licensed this photo and other similar ones from this shoot more than two dozen times this week on various microstock websites. Also licensed a lot of the 2011 backgrounds. This one popped up as recent download on Dreamstime.com (you can find it here) and I've got several different ones on Shutterstock.com (my biggest sellers) and Fotalia.com too. Next year I'll try a different setup on macrostock sites to do a comparison. Decent download numbers for a traditionally slow week with a small portfolio ranging from 37 to 99 images per site. 

Click here to see a few of the other shots on Shutterstock

Pitching Travel Articles & Photos to Magazines in the UK and the US (Print is not dead)

A Swedish pal from one of the photo forums that I subscribe to was asking about how to find English-language magazines for an article that she wrote about surfing in Ireland.  A fellow photographer wrote back with links to a book with markets in the UK. It's funny, I never think of pitching articles to other English-speaking countries and this got me to realize that such an effort makes sense, especially for travel articles and travel photographs.

For markets in the US, I have always counted on Writer's Market  (and Photographer's Market too). Both give you a year's subscription to an online database that keeps everything quite current. I usually buy them every few years for the guidelines and for setting out the different types of magazines. A quick online search will help insure the info is not outdated once the book is more than a year old. Call me old-fashioned, but  I like having a book that I can mark up and annotate. For me, print will never be dead.

It's interesting, the book that the UK Photographer/writer suggested, The Freelance Photographer's Market, is available for purchase at Amazon in the US (click on photo below) and in the UK. It has greeting card and calendar markets too. Here's the link to the same book on the Amazon UK site:
Freelance-Photographers-Market-on amazon UK
Or you can click on the photo below to link to the US site. 

The one bad review complained that it was all UK markets, but with the Internet today I'd think that's a real plus. In fact, it opens up a whole new world of markets for you.

So, if you want to search US markets, the books above are a safe bet. In the UK, I'd trust my Photo forum buddy. I'm going to give it a try soon and will report back on this site.  

The US books mentioned are also available on the UK site.

If you decide to purchase any of these books or even just want to take a look, please use one of these links.
Thanks.