A Lawyer Who Makes His Living Selling Travel Stock Photos

Just read an article in microstock diaries about an Australian lawyer who gave up his law practice a few years ago to travel around the world shooting travel photographs - a dream for many. It was of particular interest as I left the practice of law here in the states some time ago to spend more time with my daughter, first working as a freelance writer and eventually as a freelance writer and photographer.

I'm not in a position to leave my family behind,  hit the road with my D700 and travel like Holger Mette but I found his story encouraging. The article says that in the last 6-12 months he's been able to fund travel costs of roughly $18,000/year with a portfolio of 2000 photos in microstock. (He also has an editorial portfolio at macrostock agency Alamy- I searched the site and as of today he has around 750 photos there).  It seems that 2000 photos online is the magic number at which returns per photo start to inch toward $1/month.

Alamy has traditionally been a good outlet for travel photographers--both for emerging photographers as well as seasoned pros. I found it interesting to note that the micros were working for travel too as they are often seen as an outlet for slick commercial images and lifestyle photos. Mette says that he plans his travel "around what I want to shoot and when... I try to avoid shooting what I think will sell rather than what I would like to creatively or editorially." Like many photographers, especially those who have left other jobs to follow their muse, he values the freedom that shooting stock photography gives him and does not expect his income from photography to replace what he made as an attorney.

What I found particularly encouraging is that he shoots what he wants and shoots travel rather than lifestyle and still gets a respectable return per image. In fact, it appears that his people photos (unreleased) end up on Alamy as RM editorial images, so his photos on the micros are mostly of places--again not exactly the type of photos that are supposed to do well on the micros, and yet apparently they do.

The stock photography market has been in a state of flux since well before I entered it in late 2008 and the general wisdom seems to be that you should have some photos in both camps--macro and micro--especially if you are new to the business. Mette's experience seems to bear that out. Something to think about. Here's a link to the article:

Lee Torrens' Article about Holger Mette

Photo Copyright © Marianne A. Campolongo.

New Online Profile and Portfolio: ArtsWestchester

I just posted an artist profile and portfolio on the ArtsWestchester site. For all artists in Westchester County, New York, ArtsWestchester.org lets you set up an online profile and portfolio as your directory entry on their site.
Local arts organizations are a great resource for professional photographers, aspiring pros an amateurs.
Please check out my profile and portfolio and let me know what you think:

Marianne Campolongo Photography

Turn your vacation photos into fun and funky postcards

Continuing with the California theme this month, here are some of my vacation photos that I turned into fun and funky illustrations. 

California on my mind

The cookbook I worked on out in LA last May (2009), Giada at Home by Giada De Laurentiis is out. I got my copy from the publisher yesterday. I encourage everyone to buy it-the food is wonderful-as scrumptious as Jonelle Weaver's photos. I even got a nice mention from Giada in the acknowledgements-she’s great. The timing was apt as I just flew back from LA Sunday. Busy catching up this week but plan to post photos to my website, on Alamy, Nature of Travel and on FB soon!

Working as Jonelle's assistant on the book was a fabulous learning experience. And everyone was great to work with both on the set in California and Marysarah back at the publisher's in NYC.

Giada at Home by Giada De Laurentiis with photos by Jonelle Weaver

Just tweeted for the first time!

I just tweeted for the first time!

www.twitter.com/campyphotos

Buxton Pond Farm : self-assignments and photo books

Last summer, I took a class with Linda Meyerriecks of National Geographic Traveler Magazine. She suggested that as an emerging photographer, the best way to hone my skills was to give myself a project and keep heading out to the same place to take photographs. So, at her suggestion and in connection with another class taught by Howard Goodman at WCC, I spent some time last fall photographing the riders, horses and general beauty of Buxton Pond Farm in Bedford, New York over the space of a few weeks. It's a fabulous place and everyone there was so friendly. As a photographer, it was the perfect subject as I could take portraits, action shots, and still life shots to add to my portfolio. I plan to head back there again when the weather warms up.

If you are looking to improve your photography skills, I highly recommend the self-assignment route. It gives you the opportunity to get to know a place and to really see it as well as a chance to review your photos and try something a new way if you are not happy with the initial attempt. It's a great learning tool whether you are an emerging pro or an amateur photographer.

As part of the class, we also put together a book, which was a fabulous way to memorialize the project. With digital photography, it's so easy to keep everything on your hard drive and backup CD's that you often fail to print more than a handful of photos. Although I frequently shot for various magazines, and get to see some some of my work in print, the bulk of my work is for web sites and stock photography.  Even when I take photos of my family and friends I find that I'm emailing them instead of making prints. The only good thing is no more guilt about all those photos in shoeboxes rather than in albums (I know the should be in archival boxes--and some are). Anyway, a photo book is a great way to make an album and for you pros out there and even you talented amateurs it might just be something you can sell as well. Once you make one they can print as many as you want so it is also a great way to share photos with your friends and relatives.  Here's a look at my book: The Riders of Buxton Pond Farm
 

My Review of Gary Fong Lightsphere Collapsible - Clear

Originally submitted at Adorama

Gary Fong Lightsphere Collapsible - Clear

Gary Fong Lightsphere Collapsible - Clear

Great diffusion but still disappointing

By wordplanet from New York on 12/28/2009

 

3out of 5

Pros: Consistent Output

Cons: Hard to attach Falls off, Bulky

Best Uses: Portraits, Fill Flash

Describe Yourself: Pro Photographer

Pros: It definitely diffuses light well--used it for the first time and was happy with the results--both for crowd photos and close portraits--really diffused the light beautifully BUT the flash was still very bright in people's faces and I found I was mostly shooting flash toward the ceiling to avoid this. Other Cons: It's big and bulky, expensive, hard to attach to my Nikon SB-600, seemed very tight once on but still fell off twice when I flipped the direction of the flash, doesn't collapse partway--only fully up or fully down, takes up a lot of room in my camera bag, makes the flash seem huge and a bit unruly, hard to remove from the flash. :) A dog thought it was a toy and almost bit it while I held my camera at waist height!

(legalese)