Archive for the ‘Photo business’ Category
All things related to the business end of photography.
Wednesday, December 8th, 2010
A backpacker (me) sets out on a trek toward Mt Jarvis, in fresh fall snow, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.
Hey Folks,
One of the most problematic issues with photography is also one of the most glaring; the cost of all this gear. A new pro camera can easily cost anywhere from two thousand to eight thousand dollars. A second camera, assorted lenses, tripods, ballheads, etc, etc, etc .. it’s insane how much this can quickly add up to (not to mention increasing photo requests for < $75.00 usage – another topic).
Compounded by the fragility of most of this gear, photographers face a real issue; use it, be careful with it, and try not to have to spend more $$$ on it than necessary; i.e., don’t break it. So, given the fragility of the gear, for most of us, that means insurance.
Several years ago I researched this, and it seemed that, for me, a personal articles policy with State Farm was the best route to go. It wasn’t too costly, and yes, they covered all my gear, knew I used it professionally, and life was good. Just to clarify,
Me: “I use this photo gear professionally, is it covered?”
State Farm: “Yes”.
I added the cost to my car insurance, and moved on. Too easy.
This past fall I bought a brand new 500mm lens from Allen’s Camera in Levittown, Pennsylvania. Great folks, and a great price. I then went to my local State Farm rep, showed them the receipt and added the expensive lens to my list of insured gear. All good. (more…)
Tags: Alaska, backpacking, hiking, Mt Jarvis, Skolai Images, stock photo business, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Backpacking and Hiking, Landscapes, News, Photo business, Photography, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 14 Comments »
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
Bull Elk bugling, Jasper National Park, Canada.
![]( "Non-profit Free version.")
Hey Folks,
I had another photo request for free use of my images today; they come in pretty regularly, it seems, particularly for wildlife and landscape photography. We nature lovers obviously love what we do, and so must have a desire to give our work away for free. How can we not?
I’ll be the first to admit it folks; these are tough times, for buyers and sellers alike. There’s no denying that truth. I thought I’d try to find some kind of compromise here. I always like to develop a relationship with someone who may potentially pay for my work, and I also wanted to help these people out – theirs is a just and worthwhile cause. And hey, maybe helping these folks out might provide the impetus for some real economic activity in the world? I hoped to do my bit to help the economy get rolling, my own little stimulus plan, if you will (I still can’t believe the government got away with labeling theirs a ‘stimulus package‘). At the same time, I didn’t really want to give away my work for free. What to do?
I tried to explain to the person on the phone; I listened closely, and sympathized – “yes, I realize you’re a non-profit organization, but my business, on the other hand, is NOT a non-profit“. This didn’t clarify things, apparently.
A different tact: ”Well, you see, my rent doesn’t go down according to the charity work that your business does, and the food I eat doesn’t become free simply because I did a good deed for the day“. We got nowhere. (more…)
Tags: Alberta, bull elk, Canada, Jasper National Park, stock photo business, Wildlife
Posted in Canada, Photo business, Photography, Rants, Wildlife | 8 Comments »
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
Caribou herd feeding on the coastal plain, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Click the thumbnail for a larger, more epic, version.
Hey Folks
Recently I read a photographer ask the following question:
Now I know that blogging gets your profile closer to the top of the heap and web traffic will probably go up. The question is have any of you actually seen a raise in the amount of sales as a result? Is it all worth the amount of time that it takes to do all this stuff?
Now, I hope the photographer doesn’t mind me mentioning his name, but I only do so because this guy is a total BAD-ASS. Readers, meet Mr Adam Gibbs. Adam is an amazing photographer, and I don’t mean ‘amazing’ like ‘oh yeah, cool’ – I mean like his images are simply gorgeous. If this photo doesn’t make you cry, you’re computer is broke. If this photo doesn’t move you, it’s time for you to retire from your position as CEO of Exxon-Mobil, Mr Tillerson.
Anyway, the discussion that ensued revolved, as suspected, around blogging, facebooking, tweeting, etc, etc. Is it “worth it”? (more…)
Tags: Alaska, ANWR, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Caribou, facebook, photographers, Photography, Skolai Images, Social Media, twitter
Posted in Alaska, ANWR, Miscellaneous, Musings, Photo business, Photography, Social Media, Web Stuff, Wildlife | 7 Comments »
Sunday, November 15th, 2009
Beaver, (Castor canadensis), hauling willow back to his lodge for the winter, Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.
Hey Folks,
You undoubtedly heard the news; today’s bling is Social Networking. You need to be on Facebook and you need to Tweet (loud and often). You need people to Digg your Flickrworld, you need to be Linked In, Hooked Up and Decked Out. You need to do this because you can’t afford not to, because everyone else is doing it, and because if you want to get ahead in life, to succeed, you need to do what everyone else is doing. Right?
It’s true, so I jumped right in. In the last few months I’ve opened the pages of Facebook and Tweeted my first Tweet, and just this week started a Flickr photo account. Additionally, my guiding business, Expeditions Alaska, is now Linked In. Social networking, I’ve been instructed, is the key to my future success and now, after wrapping up a summer of hiking and backpacking in the mountains, I’m giving it a shot.
It’s an interesting and somewhat challenging process. You don’t need me to write about the ways in which successful folks engage this ‘social networking’, as this has been covered elsewhere far more effectively than I might manage. The topic here is the pervasive, engulfing nature of such sites as Twitter and Facebook, etc. According to their stats page Facebook has more than 300 million active users (irony of the term ‘users’ duly noted). (more…)
Tags: animals, beaver, corporations, corporatization, facebook, flickr, mammals, social networking, transnational, twitter, Walmart, Wildlife
Posted in Musings, News, Photo business, Photography, Rants, Small Mammals, Tech Stuff, Wildlife, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 14 Comments »
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
Photo above extracted via Nikon Capture NX2.2.2 (more…)
Tags: Adobe Photoshop CS4, Alaska, animals, Apple, bears, Brown bears, CS4, customer service, customer support, Grizzly Bears, Katmai, Katmai National Park, mammals, Nikon, Nikon Capture NX2, NX2, Photography, photoshop, software, Ursus arctos, Wildlife
Posted in Alaska, Grizzly Bears, Katmai National Park, Miscellaneous, Musings, News, Photo business, Photography, Rants, Reviews, Tech Stuff, Wildlife | 19 Comments »
Sunday, October 4th, 2009
Hey Folks,
Sorry for the delay (again) in posting here. I’ve been busy the last 2 weeks, trying to photograph grizzly bears. I just returned, 24 hours ago, from a trip to Katmai National Park, where I focused on trying to get some grizzly bear photos that were different to what I’d shot in the past. Here’s the first of what hopefully won’t be too many that you get bored with them.
Yes, it’s true – I took some time out to detour away from Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, when I promised myself not to – but the change did me great! One of the things I really wanted to focus on (more…)
Tags: Alaska, bears, Brown bears, color, Fall, foliage, Grizzly Bears, Katmai, Katmai National Park, mammals, Ursus arctos, Wildlife
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Fall, Grizzly Bears, Katmai National Park, News, Photo business, Photography, Wildlife | 11 Comments »
Thursday, May 21st, 2009
A winter sunset over the Mentasta Mountains, Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, Alaska.
Hey Folks,
“The effort to clarify our sight cannot begin in the society, but only in the eye and in the mind. It is a spiritual quest, not a political function. We each must confront the world alone and learn to see it for ourselves”. So says Wendell Berry, one of my favorite writers, in his book “The Unforeseen Wilderness”. The book, a dearly needed plea to save Kentucky’s Red River Gorge from a nefarious plan to dam it, was written nearly 40 years ago. I haven’t read the book completely yet, as I just bought it this afternoon. But I glanced at it, and this passage caught my attention. Berry continues on:
“the figure of the photographic artist – not the tourist-photographer who goes to a place, bound by his intentions and preconceptions, to record what has already been recorded and what he therefore expects to find, but the photographer who goes into a place in search of the real news of it”.* (more…)
Tags: Alaska, Art, Guy Tal, Landscapes, photographer, Photography, scenics, snow, Sunsets & Sunrises, The Unforeseen Wilderness, Wendell Berry, Winter
Posted in Abstract Photos, Alaska, Fall, Forests, Landscapes, Photo business, Skiing, Snowboarding, Travel, Web Stuff, Winter, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
Hey Folks,
I know, I know, another photo from 4th street, downtown Anchorage. This was one of the later dog teams of the morning, towards the end of the teams, and they seemed mighty keen to make up for the late start. Right now they’re making their way across the frozen tundra of the Alaskan wilderness, and I bet they’re not quite pushing it as hard as they are here.
Anyway, rather than go on about the race, I want to get back to a subject I briefly mentioned the other day. Customer Service. Whilst a good rant about some lame-a** company who fails at every turn to offer reasonable support is good for the soul, it’s probably more important to throw a word out for those companies we do enjoy doing business with. For me, there are a few, and I’ll try to give a shout out to each as time goes by, but the first one I would like to mention is My Photo Pipe. The good people at this Atlanta, Georgia, store, formerly called Color Genesis, offer the best service around for prints and printing. (more…)
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Anchorage, Cool stories, Iditarod, Photo business, Photography, Winter | 4 Comments »
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
hey Folks,
So whilst I’m locked down in the dungeon of Anchorage, waiting on the mechanics to tell me my van is fine, and any possible breakdowns were/will be my own doing, I’m dealing with another issue. My backpacking/guiding website, www.expeditionsalaska.com was set up, with the help of a friend Bugsy, a fantastic artist from Atlanta (now in LA), years ago, and hosted, at the Bugs’ recommendation, on digitalinet.com. Well, it’s been an adventure, but digitalinet can go to he**.
Their website indicates 24/7 tech support, and toll free phone support. Their website fails to provide any phone # or contact information, other than a standard form to fill out, at all. Not even an email address. I did, via extensive Google searching, extract a few of phone numbers that were supposedly related to digitalinet.com .. 2 of them were no longer working, the other 2 both yielded immediate voice mail messages, and I couldn’t get anyone to return a single call from either of them. (more…)
Posted in Miscellaneous, People, Photo business, Rants, Web Stuff | 8 Comments »
