All of my fellow self employed friends will get a kick out of this little cartoon. After you’re finished watching it, make sure you get your stuff done!
Are you this guy? We all need breaks in the day, but it’s funny how quickly one thing and lead to another, and before you know it your entire workday is shot. Where did it go? I dunno. I’m still trying to figure out what happened to the month of August.
Recently I was in the mood to create something a little wild in Photoshop that I could also license as a royalty free stock photo. I’m not the visionary type that can just get ideas in my head, and then go run and shoot all of the separate pieces. I’m more of the type that shoots a lot of “stuff”, browses through it all, and realizes later (sometimes accidentally) which elements might play nicely together. So, I started with a shot from my own photo library of a few little kids running. They were the son and daughter of some friends of mine, and I got a shot of them running through the park during a family photoshoot I did for them about a year ago. When I was in NYC recently, I caught a crazy shot of the traffic driving across the Brooklyn Bridge, with a slight gap in the traffic. I was standing above the highway on the foot path, and shot it at a slight angle so that it looks a bit more candid. What was the result? Here it is!
The original kids shot:
The final:
The shadows were a bit tricky, but I got them right. The size and skew angle of the children was probably the most difficult part.
It’s so much fun when you realize that you can combine multiple photo pieces to create and entirely new and different composition. Gotta love it! The parents and kids got a kick of of it, and laughed their heads off on seeing this final result That’s about as good as it gets.
Now why would someone want to use this photo? Why bother going through all of the trouble to compose such an image? Why not? First of all, I had fun doing it. Even if I don’t make a dime from the photo, that right there was worth it. But unfortunately, homeboy has to pay the bills. If my wife thought I messed around all day on the computer creating “fun” photos that I couldn’t sell, she probably might not be very pleased with me. How might someone put this final image of kids running through highway traffic to good use in an advertisement or magazine article? I was thinking it might apply to childhood behavior concepts; perhaps even hyperactivity or ADHD. Wild kids, kids gone wild, or other topics of that nature. What about the location? It’s New York City, and we all know that NYC is one of the most visited cities in the entire world. Maybe an article about family friendly vacations to the Big Apple might find a nice use for this hilarious photo. In the end, it can be applied to a number of different concepts. Safety, behavior, travel, parenting, and more.
Sorry I haven’t been posting much lately here on the blog; it’s been a crazy summer. We just got back from a vacation to Puerto Rico and Culebra Island about a week ago, and then my sister got married this last weekend. Stay tuned for a post about some of the places we visited while in PR.
Travel can easily wear you out, especially when you’re like myself and don’t get out very much. Lots of traveling, walking, and an unfamiliar bed are definitely a perfect recipe for wearing down your immune system. My vacation sort of got a little bit extended due to a nasty virus I must have caught on the airplane on the way home (you’ve got to love recirculated airplane air). There’s a nasty sore throat virus going around… a friend that lives a few towns over from me said he has the same exact thing. I’m on day 7 of it and was hacking up a bit of blood last night, because my throat was so sore and irritated. It’s basically a constant post nasal drip that just won’t stop. Orange juice burns if you try and drink it. Water is even like trying to drink gravel at times. Today I’m feeling better, but be careful not to catch this thing you guys, it’s a beast to kick. Keep your immune system strong so you don’t get this
This message was brought to you by organic honey throat losenges, vitamin C, echinacea, garlic, tylenol, salt water gargle rinse, rum, listerine, and mucinex
I need microstock t shirts. Please send me some? I make you guys a decent amount of money. Pretty please? It’s not easy being naked. I’ve been selling stock photography for 5 years now, and never got a free t-shirt. I get a lot of mosquito bites and sunburn when I go outside. Sometimes random people pinch my hairy nipples. Purple nurples hurt. My dog also jumps on me and scratches me. I promise to wear it a lot and tell people about what the company is all about. I promise not to resell it on ebay or craigslist. Think of it as free advertising!
Our Entire Collection of Stock Imagery
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at arenacreative.com
ALL STOCK PHOTOS AND VECTORS ARE ON SALE
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SALE DETAILS: Offer valid now through 11/01/10
There is no need for promo or coupon codes – simply use the “Make An Offer” purchase option and enter $7.99
* Images keyworded with the tag “vector” are also available in vector format. Use the contact form here if interested in eps format.
Please RT this tweet: Please RT: 20% off all RF stock photos graphics and vectorshttp://arenacreative.comuntil 11/01/10 Just use “Make an offer” $7.99
We had a recent shoot with a beautiful model recently that I thought I might share. Let me know what you think. All of the images here will soon be available for licensing on http://store.arenacreative.com
If you live in the New England or Connecticut area and are in need of Senior portraits, an engagement session, or just a general portrait shoot for your modeling portfolio, please feel free to contact me at the link above.
This is a summer thunderstorm rolling through the neighborhood on a muggy, humid summer evening. My wife caught multiple bolts of lightning in this clip. In the background you can hear our stressed out beagle dog panting and walking around the room. I was trying to catch some still shots of the lightning on my Canon 40D at the same time. The best display of lightning is around 00:38 of this clip if you want to fast forward to the best part Enjoy
Out of any other area of the US, New England probably sensationalizes the weather and forecast the most. A few days prior to this we had a rash of tornados that popped up around the area, causing multiple downed trees. Driving through a local town we spotted sights like this:
Not cool.
Below are some screen grabs from the video, as well as a few I crappily captured hand held with my DSLR. To do lightning right, you need to have excellent timing, a slow enough shutter, and a sturdy tripod.
I just got called a “parasite of the stock industry” and I was told to “wake up”. Well, isn’t that special? I’ll just go back to making my living now…
It’s still hard for me to believe how many bitter feelings are still being held about microstock by those who have been in the stock business for decades. I’m not sure the Rights Managed photobanks will ever forgive it. Microstock strikes a very painful nerve with most rights managed photographers. I can understand where they’re coming from, but it’s been a good 6 years that microstock has been in the limelight. I don’t think rights managed will ever go away totally, but its definitely on the decline. But don’t blame microstock – blame technology and it’s advancement. You can get an 8mp DSLR used for $200 right now in the US. That’s less than the cost of an ipod or iphone, and we all know how many of those are in people’s pockets.
A lot of credit has to be given to those traditional stock shooters that have either embraced microstock, or at least given it some respect and consideration. Guys like Jack Hollingsworth and John Lund. Not everyone is a hater, thankfully. Check out their amazing blogs.
Heck, if I could license all of my work at prices ranging from $100-10,000 per license, I most definitely would. Unfortunately, I had my start in microstock, and I’ve been playing the “bulk sales” game ever since. If you’re a rights managed stock photographer and are still maintaining your sales, that’s incredible – keep up the good work. All the best to you. I’m not knocking that side of the business at all.
All I’m saying… is that the creative fields change yearly, if not monthly. If you can’t roll with the punches, and the changes of the market (the same as in any other field) then you’re going to be left behind. Just because some of us choose to sell micro, doesn’t mean we’re giving stuff away for free. The prices of microstock are, in many case on the increase. The price wars will continue to go on between the newer and upcoming agencies. But you can trust me on this: you will never see my giving my work away for free. It’s one thing to give stuff away. We all do it, you almost have to nowadays just to get hits to your website. Free advice, free tutorials, etc. It helps one another out, and one hand washes the other as in all things.
Different strokes for different folks, is all I’m saying. I’m done ranting, time for me to get back to work. Happy shooting!
That’s about as good as it gets.
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