Marlene Hielema - ImageMaven

New ImageMaven site and blog

2010-04-05T22:56:00.007-06:00

Hi all,

It's been awhile. I've been creating beautiful things over at ImageMaven.com and working on some online courses for you.

Check it out today, and please keep in touch on the new site. The lights may go out on this blog soon.

Marlene

Season's Greetings

2009-12-25T22:33:00.004-07:00

Merry Christmas and Season's Greetings to all of you! Best wishes for a prosperous and happy 2010!

There will be some changes coming to ImageMaven in the new year. Stay tuned!

Remembrance Day Photo

2009-11-11T12:00:00.007-07:00

A few years back I had the privilege of traveling through the back roads of France, Belgium, Holland and Germany with a friend who's father had served in Europe during the Second World War. We followed the route the allies took from Normandy all the way to Northern Germany along the Green Route Up as it was known. During our trip we also visited Canadian war cemeteries to document the gravestones for the Canadian Virtual War Memorial. This is a photo from the Groesbeek War Cemetery in Groesbeek, The Netherlands.

Annual Birthday Portrait

2009-11-09T10:14:00.006-07:00

It's that time of year again, for my nephew's annual birthday portrait. Tristan is now 3 years old and he's always ready to lend a helping hand in the kitchen or with any construction projects that are going on. He is also a great photo assistant.

How to use Social Media to Boost your Business

2009-10-23T11:06:00.012-06:00

I have mixed feelings about the value of using social media to get new business. To be honest, even blogging seems useless most of the time. I blog for the benefit of my students mostly, and to give myself a forum to express my views. Social media is all tricked-out now that large multinationals have figured out how to exploit the system. I don't do FaceBook mainly because I don't know where my information will end up, plus I spend enough box time each day. I'd rather connect with close friends and family through private channels like a personal email or a good old fashioned phone call.

So, what do I do? I am LinkedIn, as I view it as a more professional application, but again it's not something I check every day. I use it as a way to stay connected to my new and old clients plus a few of my top students. I also belong to RedBubble, which is a place where I can discuss photography with like-minded artists, and maybe sell a few prints a year, but it's not a huge revenue generator. It just keeps me connected to a creative community.

In all my years of business, all of my clients except two, have come through a referral or some form of personal connection. The ones that didn't came through an RFP for a large energy company, and the other by using SEO for my online stock photography. My social media is being-in-the-same-room social, as opposed to the box social. My most successful social media tool is actually getting out and being social at events, parties, and by simply staying personally connected with friends and acquaintances.

Doing what I do is my best method of self-promotion. People show their friends and colleagues photos I've taken. They tell a story about an experience they had while working with me or taking one of my seminars. They endorse me. That is the best way to get new business. I'm not a big star in the social media galaxy. I'm not writing for one of the top 10 photography blogs. Total strangers who read my blogs or see my web site don't know me so they probably won't hire me. I don't strive for hits, links, adwords, stumbles, or tweets. If I get them great, but I don't worry about my stats. I don't compare myself to other photographers. I don't try to steal their clients. I have a small humble business that serves a small group of really awesome clients. If I want to serve them well, I can't be too concerned about all the hype and latest tricks surrounding social media. Instead, I need to spend that time doing what I do even better.

Besides, soon enough something new will come along and then everyone will flock to it.

Here's another perspective on the whole subject of social media.
http://ittybiz.com/how-we-killed-social-media/

Stealing photos from web sites is wrong!

2009-10-12T14:36:00.021-06:00

Do you think it's alright to take photos off web sites? Everyone does it. No harm done, right? Think again!

Since many of my readers are new to photography and very new to the business of photography, and since stealing photos off web sites is a common (and condoned) practice, I wanted to share this manifesto that is making the rounds of several photo industry blogs this week. Pay special attention to point #2.

The following manifesto comes from ASMPNY and can be found at: http://www.dontscrewus.org

Photographs are Intellectual Property and therefore have value to the creator. If you are tempted to steal, that is because you recognize the value of the IP and are not respectful of the value of efforts of the creator. That's not right.
Just because a photo is posted on the Internet, it is not free. It wasn't put there so you can simply take it. It was put there to share an idea, promote talent and gain attention. You can't walk into a museum space or a gallery space and walk out with whatever strikes your fancy. Cyberspace is no different.
There are laws in place that protect Intellectual Property and they come with penalties. These penalties are exponentially worse than paying to use the work and acknowledging the creator. Exponentially is a lot.
Professional photographers are just like you. We have families to feed and mortgages to pay. Stealing takes food off the table. Times are tough enough thank you very much.
If contacted directly, a professional photographer can be very accommodating, get involved and help you make your project better making you and your client look better. And who doesn't want to look better?
Stealing. Not cool. How did you feel last time someone pirated one of your ideas or advertising concepts. Sucks huh?
That photo you are thinking of stealing took time to make. Sure the shutter snapped in a fraction of a second, but there are years of hard work, education and talent invested in it. Stop for a moment and consider that please.
Speaking of investments. That photo wasn't taken with an iPhone or a disposable camera. Not that the iPhone isn't great for snapping pics of your BFF. Professionals have significant investments in cameras, lights, computers and software. These things are costly to own, upgrade and maintain. Remember that next time you are looking at our work.
We are passionate about what we do and we hope you feel the same way about what you do. Passion brings respect. We respect that you are potential clients and future collaborators. We want to work with you. We hope you want to work with us too. By the way, if the project is Work for Hire please let us know upfront. We can't respect you if you try to sneak one by us.
Some things were meant to be free. Human beings, primo parking spaces, unsolicited advice about your love life. And yes, even occasionally photos. Just ask.

Online Photography Courses

2009-10-04T11:33:00.006-06:00

I am developing an interactive learning environment (ILE) using multimedia tools to teach photography, and am currently conducting market research. The program I am planning will focus on people fairly new to digital photography. In the future I will be developing courses for other imaging topics based on the feedback from surveys and the first round of courses. I will be launching the program sometime in the first half of 2010. It seems very far away at this point, but in reality there is still much to do!

Please take a few minutes to complete my survey, and pass it on to anyone else you know who might be interested in an online photography program.

Thank you!

Amazing Red Bubble Greeting Cards!

2009-09-21T14:44:00.007-06:00

I've been meaning to post this for a couple of weeks now, but lesson prep and client work (yay!) have taken up all of my time lately.

So, a while back, I ordered some cards from RedBubble (RB), the place I sell my fine art prints and cards. It was a long wait to get the RB greeting cards that I ordered. I wanted to check the quality of the work before highly promoting the place, as I had never seen it before.

Well for any doubters or newcomers out there, I was very impressed with the quality of the printing, and I've done a lot of printing using various digital and photo processes over the years. The cards are on Kodak Endura paper, basically photographic paper, so the best reproduction you can get. Not laser or digital printing, but real photos. The colour also matched my own colour managed workflow.

The card stock is thick, over 1/2 mm. The photo is adhered to a writable surface. All the image info is on the back page, so people who receive the cards will know how to get more, or to see more of your work. I was wondering about that, so am happy the info is included.

So great job on the printing! The only downside is that it took so long. I ordered the cards August 16, and received them September 8. So that's over 3 weeks. If you have to order something for a special occasion, then you'll need to plan ahead or use the expedited shipping option.

Something About Flowers

2009-09-16T07:22:00.007-06:00

This past week I took a short trip to Vancouver for a little break between my busy summer and upcoming busy fall schedules. I don't usually take my big camera on vacations, as it feels like I'm working, but I was hoping to capture some stock images as well as collect some new photos to use as teaching examples.

On one of my many walks I visited an inner city community garden. The sunflowers were in full bloom and the sky was a nice deep blue. The colour combination was just gorgeous. I know that flowers can seem like such common subjects, but I still love photographing them. They are easily accessible and naturally beautiful. Flowers make great cards and larger prints will brighten up any room.

The biggest challenge in photographing flowers is being able to capture and retain the full colour depth and saturation of the petals. This is best achieved by shooting in raw file format and post processing with those parameters in mind. In the shot above, the yellow was showing highlight clipping warnings. I had to use the recovery slider in Adobe Camera Raw to pull back the blown out areas in the red channel.

Democratizing your Portfolio

2009-08-21T18:52:00.013-06:00

It's been about a month now since I joined RedBubble. I have 34 images on there so far including a couple of t-shirts. What is very cool about RebBubble is that certain images get viewed and favourited more than others. If you get featured, which I was lucky enough to have been, then those images also gain in popularity. When you get featured, people tend to look at the first couple pages of your thumbnails and they might click on one or two, and then maybe favourite one of them. At least that's how I do it. A similar thing happens on Flickr, but in Flickr lingo it's called interestingness.

Another thing I noticed is that if you upload only a few images at a time, you have more chance of getting noticed than if you do a bomb-load of all your work. So, I dribble in the shots as I have them ready, a couple a week. At least that's what's working for me so far. Also, joining good RedBubble groups and uploading work to the group sites is another way to get your work noticed. T-shirts seem to sell the most, so I'm working on more t-shirt designs now too.

People's style becomes really noticeable when you see a large group of their images. Strong, similar styled photos, just seem to look better together. I need to watch that aspect in my own RB gallery as well. It's tempting to put everything on there, just to get a sale. In the beginning I guess that's okay, as you're not sure what will sell or get noticed. Once you discover the duds, you can hide them from public view and upload more of the hits.

The work of painters and illustrators who use RebBubble, hangs much better together. I guess that's to be expected, as they tend to develop a signature style and stick with that for long periods of time.

The result of using sites like RebBubble and Flickr is a democratization of your portfolio. The community of viewers decides what images are worthy of praise by favouriting, and interestingness.

Good Old Fashioned Polarizer Filter

2009-08-14T11:01:00.009-06:00

With so much emphasis on Photoshopping everything these days, it was a nice change to use a polarizer filter again. This image is straight from the camera with no Photoshop work done. It was taken at 1pm on a warm summer day, so really not the best time to get dramatic lighting.

A polarizer is one of the few filters you need for in-camera image enhancement. It can save an otherwise boring landscape image and can be used with both film and digital cameras. To read how a polarizer filter works, read this wiki page.

Another filter used for in-camera effects is a Singh-Ray neutral density (ND) filter. ND filters are generally used for getting long shutter speeds on a bright day. Check out the work of Canadian photographers Darwin Wigget and Daryl Benson to see how they master the ND filter effects. There are also lots of visual examples on the Singh-Ray blog with links to many photographers including Wigget and Benson, who are using ND filters.

SAIT Photo Essay

2009-08-05T11:37:00.008-06:00

Imagemaven Sait Scenes

View more documents from Marlene Hielema.

Homage to the Old and New was shot on the hottest day of the summer. I was at SAIT to pick up some mail on a quiet Sunday afternoon. I was struck by the contrast of the modern student residence building with the demolition of the old glaziers shop that was in progress at the Thomas Riley building beside it. Also nearby, is the soon-to-be-demolished P6 Murdoch Parkade. I shall miss P6, as it is the closest parkade to the building I teach in.

Red Bubble

2009-07-27T11:03:00.006-06:00

Last week I joined an art selling site called Red Bubble. Red Bubble is a great place to display and sell your photography and fine art paintings. Red Bubble is based out of Australia. You can sell greeting cards, prints, canvasses, posters and calendars through your account. There is also no limit to how much you can put on the site. Unlike Etsy, Red Bubble produces and ships the work for you, so if you are traveling or unable to fulfill your own orders, this is handy. If you live in an area of the country where there are no photo labs or high-end print facilities, Red Bubble is ideal. You can also order your own prints and cards. I'm going to place an order to check the quality of the prints, but I've heard from a couple of outside sources that it is excellent.

One of the great things about Red Bubble is the community! A few hours after uploading some images I was getting noticed by other members and many people commented on my work. Another community building aspect are the groups you can join. Groups are thematic. The groups I've joined so far are Fruit and Veg, All about Flowers, and a Photo Critiquing group. The groups hold challenges to keep people shooting interesting work. For example the Fruit and Veg group had a sliced challenge. The criteria was that your painting or photo was of a sliced fruit or veg. The prizes vary from getting a front page position of your winning work, to t-shirts and avatars.

Red Bubble keeps you updated when people comment on your work and also updates you about your group's activities. I must admit it is quite exciting to have some feedback. I also sell images and files on PhotoShelter and there isn't nearly as much interaction between photographers there. I guess because it is more commercial. Also, the big difference between Red Bubble and PhotoShelter is that Red Bubble is free.

Anyhow, check it out today. If you are a fine art photographer or painter, consider using Red Bubble to market and sell your work.

More Natural Light Photography

2009-07-20T07:46:00.007-06:00

What do you get when you take a trip to the garden and a nice day? More natural light photos. It's the time of year when things are peaking in the veggie patch. What a great opportunity to shoot fresh produce.

This is part of my ongoing series of photos on white back grounds. After washing most of the mud off the beets, I placed them on a piece of white foam core and shot them in natural light shade. No other lighting was used. I'm quite surprised at how nice the light is.

The raw photos were custom white balanced using my WhiBal, and close cut using a layer mask in Photoshop. Nothing else was done to the shots as I wanted them to look as natural as possible. I shot this single image of a beet, and also shot some in bunches. You can find the shots on my stock image archive on Photoshelter.

Why Photographers Charge so Much, and Redefining your Practice

2009-07-10T07:57:00.012-06:00

A couple of interesting things were sent to me by my Yukon colleague Cathie Archbould this week about pricing photography and working in a market that won't or can't support paying photographers decent rates.

The first is a post from Josh McCulloch, a Victoria based photographer, and the second is an article from the Yukon News.

Here is an excerpt from Josh's blog:

On occasion I have clients asking why my rates are what they are, and I often go into a spiel about rights, usage, copyright, etc, along with the unique creative aspect that only I can bring to the job. All of these are valid points, and I have no qualms in justifying them. The other side of this though, that I rarely explain to the client, is that I spend a large portion of my "working" time (and personal time - I do still shoot for fun!) refining aspects of my workflow in order to serve them better. I am investing financially in the hardware and software to deliver better files to them faster, and, like today, investing my time learning how to do it.

And here is what the Yukon News has to say:

While digital technology forces down the costs for amateur photographers, professionals have seen their costs rocket upwards.

Computerizing cameras has made them slaves to upgrades.

Darkrooms didn’t need yearly replacement.

Professionals generally need to spend between “10 to 20 per cent” of their income upgrading equipment, said Archbould.

“The days of buying a camera and a few lenses and using them for years are gone,” she said.

These are things to ponder if you are thinking of entering photography as a full-time profession.

So why do I bring this up? At this time of year (my year end) I also ponder whether it's worth it to stay in the photography business at this level. This year I have been hit with corporate clients who have a freeze on contract photography work, and personally wondering if I am still physically up to the challenge of running around industrial sites with 45 pounds of gear on my back.

Change of Focus. This year instead of upgrading my camera body, I upgraded my computer. (I just can't justify yet another $5,000+ purchase.) I have taken courses on InDesign, Dreamweaver, and a course for instructors on using multimedia for teaching. I learned a lot and have also increased my skills in these areas, not necessarily to become a designer, but rather to understand how software works, so I can offer better products and instruction on photography that gets used by designers using this software. I also learned how other people teach.

I have consciously diversified my market and am investigating ways to earn new streams of income. One of those ways is teaching either in institutions or by doing one-on-one training. Though I have been teaching for 5+ years, it was never my prime focus. I have also placed a couple of small ads for photography work and teaching in Uppercase magazine, which targets artists and designers. I have always done a bit of work for artists, but it's never been my main focus. I definitely see a need for artists to have good photography of their work. Many of them want to learn how to take good photographs of their own artwork, which they will later sell on sites like Etsy, or their own web sites. I teach artists how to use their cameras properly to photograph their arts and crafts. Many of them have a keen interest in photography anyhow, so it's a natural progression that they should want to shoot their own work.

An example of one of my clients who is doing this is Paige Smith. Paige makes wonderful jewelery holders out of orphaned china saucers. I worked with Paige when she was developing her ideas and creating her original portfolio. She did the art direction and styling (and did an amazing job), and I provided the location and the photography. Once her product line was fully developed, Paige hired me again to help her set up a lighting booth so she could photograph individual pieces for her Etsy store. A few months later, she hired me again to show her how to use her new camera and to shoot in raw format. By spending a little money on photography training up front, Paige is able to keep her web site and Etsy store looking good by photographing her work with professional standards in mind.

Self reflection and redefining your business is good. It's good to have a solid plan of action, rather than "seeing what happens". If you have a plan, you make measurable goals and you work towards those goals rather than worrying about, or depending on, the old clients that have cut their budgets.

Natural Light

2009-06-22T07:46:00.006-06:00

What do you get when you have a beautiful day, some fresh produce from the market, and a hankering to take some photos? An outdoor, natural light shoot! The only lighting gear used to take these photos was a PhotoFlex MultiDisk 5-in-1, and a light stand with a clamp to hold it. Really simple.

I set everything up on my patio furniture in a shady part of the yard. I used the translucent (shoot through middle part) of the MultiDisk as the white background and placed the peel-off silver side of the MultiDisk on the table under my vase of asparagus. I just love how the reflected light fills the undersides of the asparagus shoots. This photograph is part of my "On White" gallery of stock images. Great for editorial purposes.

Simple Garden Photos

2009-06-19T10:30:00.016-06:00

Flowers are probably one of the most photographed things. I never tire of shooting flowers, or looking at flower photographs.

This morning as I was strolling through my back yard, coffee in hand, I was struck by the simplicity and beauty of the blooming chives. There was a bit of sun filtering through the fence which adds a nice sprinkling of highlights in the shady photo. I ran in and grabbed my camera.

Typically, flower gardens are compositionally busy. There are all sorts of things coming into the frame, including shafts of light, and you need to find a way to simplify and isolate key elements. One way is by using shallow depth of field.

I shot this with my 200mm lens @ f4.0, to enhance shallow depth of field. Being really close to the subject also contributed to that. Shutter speed was 1/200 hand held and ISO 400. There was a slight breeze so the chives were bobbing a little, and so was I, crouched down in front of them. Manual focus allowed me to isolated the foreground. I just love the colours purple and green together.

I also shot some daisies. This proved to be an exposure challenge as the daisies were in full sun in front of a shady area. The goal was to keep detail in the white petals without losing the greenery to the black hole. I made about five versions of the file, using Adobe Camera Raw, before I was satisfied. This is a screen grab of my final ACR settings. As you can see, I kept the overall exposure low to retain highlight detail. I then used the brightness and the fill light sliders to bring back some of the green that was lost. This type of fine tuning could not have been done if the image was shot as a jpg, as there was just too much exposure range to capture in one shot. I also love using the clarity slider in CS4! In this case I added clarity to make the petals really stand out, but in a portrait or baby shot, I subtract clarity as it softens skin very nicely. It's like adding or removing sharpening.

For more garden shots check out this gallery.

Your Next Lens

2009-06-11T10:26:00.016-06:00

I got this question today from a former SAIT Basic Photo 200 student of mine, Lisa Freeston.

"I was trying to find a really good book on flash techniques, any ideas? Or should I just go buy a 50mm f1.4 or f1.8 and forget about the flash thing? And again talking about lenses, which one of those I mentioned would you go for, mainly for indoor photography?"

Great questions Lisa, and really relevant for someone at your stage of photography.

At some point after you've purchased that entry level sub $1000 dSLR kit with a couple of consumer grade zoom lenses, you're going to want a faster, sharper lens. By faster I mean one with a larger f-stop than the typical f3.5 you're getting at the wide angle setting of the lens in the kits. Remember, a faster lens lets in more light, so you can you can use a faster shutter speed. That's where the term comes from.

Thinking about using flash? Try this blog. http://strobist.blogspot.com Photographer David Honl the blog's author, has some lessons on the right sidebar titled: Lighting 101 archive and Lighting 102 archive. A good place to start. If you are beyond the basics, check out Joe McNally's new book: Hot Shoe Diaries. It's in the left sidebar.

As far as the lens goes, it will come down to price. You could probably pick up a 50mm f1.8 prime lens for ~$125, but for the f1.4 it might cost you ~$400. You could even go crazy and get the f1.2 for $1600 and change. A prime lens is one that has a fixed focal length such as 50mm. A zoom lens on the other hand has a range of focal lengths, for example 24-70mm. Prime lenses tend to cost less and are better quality and faster than zoom lenses. However, they take up space in the camera bag if you need several different focal lengths.

The best way to decide, go to a camera retailer with your own camera and pop each lens on, take a few shots outside and inside with both lenses, plus your own zoom lens set at 50mm. Go home and compare the three. Open each file in Photoshop and view at 100% or more. You want to check edge to edge sharpness at the largest, middle (f8) and smallest f-stop. Use a low ISO to minimize noise and set your camera on Aperture priority.

Even the f1.8 is going to seem like a bright ray of sunshine compared with the consumer grade zoom lenses you've been using so far. My main concern is that without a full frame sensor, it might not be wide enough for you. Remember, unless you are using a full frame sensor, you need to multiply the focal length by approximately 1.5 to get the effective focal length with your entry level camera. So 50mm optically becomes 75mm. If you are shooting indoors, you'd have to have a fairly large room so you get step back far enough to get things in the shot. For portraits, you'll be fine. If you do need a "normal 50mm looking" lens, you may have to consider purchasing a 35mm lens instead. For wide angle, you will have to go to a 20mm or shorter focal length.

You need to consider your long term plan for photography? What types of photography do you see yourself doing? Do you have money set aside to finance your future needs and desires? If you have the budget and want top quality, it will cost more. You will probably want to upgrade your camera body at some point too, but building a lens collection is something that will outlast your camera bodies. I've been using the same lenses for 10 years but have had four different camera bodies in that time, starting with a film camera.

You may also want to look for used lenses. Try places like kijiji or the Buy and Sell. Sometimes people sell packages of film camera gear not realizing they can use the lenses on their digital cameras. Just make sure its the right kind of lens mount. Some older Nikon lenses work on new Nikon bodies, but Canon FD lenses do not work on Canon digital cameras (nor on EOS Canon film cameras). And of course with anything used, take some test photos using your own camera and check them out carefully before plunking down your money.

For reference, in my kit I have:
17-40mm L f4.0 - needed this before I had the full frame sensor
24-70mm L f2.8 - my main and most used lens
70-200mm L f4.0 - for portraits of 1 or 2 people. Keeps you a nice distance away and compresses features nicely. All are Canon L series lenses - good glass!

I'm mainly a fair weather shooter and the f2.8 is fine for what I do, but I'm also keeping my eyes open for a nice 85mm f1.8 prime lens so I can get lovely shallow depth of field when it's wide open.

I also just found a great video on lenses on Scott Kelby's DTownTV. Check out Episode 16 - Lenses Part 1.

Negotiating Your Photo Rates

2009-06-02T08:02:00.004-06:00

Found out about this piece from John Harrington's blog. Read the full post there.

You don't have to steal images anymore

2009-05-31T00:51:00.004-06:00

Found this great post today on DesignM.ag which highlights 12 blogs to get freebies that can be used for commercial purposes. Many assets are out there that can be used for personal use, but often we can't use them for anything else. On these blogs you can find:

brushes
lots of patterns
skies
splatters
spray paint
lots and lots of textures
concrete
barnwood
tool icons
and Wordpress themes

Thanks everyone for sharing.

I Teach People

2009-05-29T14:14:00.004-06:00

For the past four weeks I've been taking a course at SAIT for post secondary instructors on Blended Learning. The course involves learning an array of multimedia software tools that can be used for classroom teaching, as well as for distance education.

As part of the coursework, I created a new blog to showcase some of the software I've been researching. I plan to keep this blog going, as I see it as a great resource for my students and colleagues alike. I'm still working out the bugs and some of the writing needs refining, but it's there and it's live.

Visit www.iTeachPeople.ca

Software Review - Picnik

2009-05-12T13:24:00.020-06:00

This morning I went to a round table discussion on learning tools for instructors. This is part of SAIT's annual Faculty Showcase, which is a conference-style learning and sharing opportunity for SAIT faculty. Since I'm fairly new at SAIT, I decided to go to a few sessions, learn some things and meet some of my colleagues.

For my part of the round-table discussion, I did a quick overview on using drop.io in my own teaching practice. I've been using drop.io as a way for students to upload their picture-of-the-week images. Drop is for simple, private sharing and exchange of files. Many people use it instead of ftp. Why drop.io instead of Flickr? Students know it's not public, so are not afraid to show "work in progress" and learning experiments.

But, back to the topic at hand. During the round-table I learned about a great online software for image editing called Picnik. Picnik is a very simplified Photoshop-like image editing program. Some of the features are:

re-sizing files - big benefit for my beginner SAIT PHOT 200 students who may not know how to do this
cropping and rotating
exposure
fixing colour - finding neutral
sharpening
red-eye removal
adding text
distortion and artsy filters like: film grain, puzzle pieces, warping, holga-like
frames and borders - postage stamp, Polaroid (seen here) etc.
cloning, curves and levels, histogram view
saving and sharing - you can re-size at this point too
you can grab photos from sharing sites like Flickr and Picassa, Facebook, Photobucket, Webshots or your own hard drive

I can't say enough. Go to their web site. (I'm not getting paid for this.) You don't even have to log on to start using the features. Use one of their sample images. Picnik has all the basics and more. If you do create an account, it will remember your last 10 images. Creating an account is free.

If you want more features, Picnik premium is only USD$24.95 per year! That's a whole lot cheaper than Photoshop, but comparable to Adobe Photoshop Elements, which is about $100 and will last 2-3 years before the next big upgrade. Photoshop Elements though, will open RAW files using Adobe Camera Raw. Picnik won't. It is probably comparable to Apple's iPhoto, but much more intuitive. Much better than Windows Irfanview or Picture Editor though. Hey it's free and you get a lot for free with this online software.

If you do presentations, blogs, web sites, newsletters, or are working away from your main Photoshop machine, or away from home and in a panic to get some images ready, Picnik is the way to go!

p.s. Another Picnik reveiw can be found on my new teaching blog.

ACAD Grad Show May 13 - 23, 2009

2009-05-05T11:37:00.005-06:00

The 2009 Alberta College of Art + Design Grad Show will feature work by graduating students from Ceramics, Fibre, Glass, Jewellery + Metals, Drawings, Media Arts + Digital Technologies, Painting, Photography, Print Media, Sculpture, and Visual Communications Design programs, showcasing Calgary's next generation of art + design talent. Join us and discover the innovative and creative work of the graduating class of 2009.

Opening reception and celebration
Wednesday, May 13, 2009 | 5:00 - 8:00 PM

Exhibition Hours
Wednesday, May 13, 2009 | 5:00 - 8:00 PM
Thursday, May 14 - Saturday, May 16, 2009 | 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Tuesday, May 19 - Wednesday, May 20, 2009 | 10:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Thursday, May 21 - Saturday, May 23, 2009 | 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Alberta College of Art + Design
1407 - 14TH Avenue N.W.
Calgary, Alberta T2N 4R3
403.284.7600 www.acad.ca

279 Days to Overnight Success

2009-04-20T14:24:00.005-06:00

http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/overnight-success/

Recent grads, and anyone who wants to create their own success should definitely read Chris Guillebeau's latest manifesto. Who is Chris Guillebeau you ask? He runs a great web site and blog called the Art of Non-Conformity and is all about making your own way in the world, especially if you don't quite fit in with the standard expectations of western society.

When reading 279 Days I felt like Chris was speaking directly to me. I am at a crossroads in my career and this manifesto has come to me at a perfect time and I am grateful for that. The design of this e-book makes the content very accessible. I’m a big believer in the value of good design. And with respect to the content, the specific information and resources are invaluable, as so many online freebies are full of self-marketing hooey.

If you like 279 Days, then you are sure to love A Brief Guide to World Domination.

Best in Class

2009-04-15T12:30:00.014-06:00

Every week in my ACAD Photographic Design** class this semester, students uploaded one photo to a website. The photo had nothing to do with any assignment, instead, it was something they thought was interesting from a compositional point of view, a new technique they were trying out, or a different subject matter they were researching. This gallery is a collection of the BEST of those photos. (Other work from these students may be viewed in this post from February.)

I have always encouraged picture making as opposed to picture taking. These 4th year students learned photography quickly as they all understood composition and colour really well. My job was to teach them how to use their cameras, how to "see" light, and how to post process raw images to make them "sing".

These students are all graduating soon from the VC Design program at the Alberta College of Art + Design. Their GDC Portfolio Show is April 23, 2009.

**Photographic Design is a course in digital photography for the designer with little or no experience in photography including photographic design fundamentals, optical visualization, photographic processes and workflows, and working with professional photographers.

Barnwood Painting

2009-03-30T21:46:00.017-06:00

This piece of barn wood came from the former Balzac Garden Centre. Yes, it's true. I can't let it go that some mega mall has overrun the Balzac corner!

Anyhow, back to the task at hand. How is this done? This image has three layers. The barn wood, the canola field with the grain bins, and a sky shot with some clouds. I wanted the result to look like it was painted on the barn wood and weathered. It's the sort of idea you might see at a country fair. Distressed farm chic.

Here also are screen grabs of my Layers and my Blending Options for the top layer, which is the canola field. I used Multiply as my Blending Mode. I fiddled with the Blend If sliders for all the layers until I got the desired result. The Blend If sliders allow for a certain amount of transparency between layers as well as a way for things to "disappear" into the wood work. This is hard to explain without a video demo (and lots of other people have made them), but it's fun to experiment with. That's the best way to figure it out really. So go ahead, grab a couple of images and blend up something interesting. And . . . see you at the next Balzac Country Fair!

P.S. If this page layout looks all wonky when you view this post, re-size your browser window a bit smaller so all the images line up on the left hand side. Multiple photos tend to mess up the Blogger layouts.

Motion Study

2009-03-16T20:28:00.010-06:00

Today I played around with different shutter speeds to photograph Shawn in his wheelchair. I wanted to show the motion using the blurring effect of a slow shutter speed instead of freezing the motion. In this case freezing the motion looked like a posed still shot.

If you want to try this, just keep in mind when blurring or panning your shots, that it works best when the blur is in focus. Typically on a sunny day when you are blurring at 1/60 second or so, you get great depth of field (f-16 or better), which helps to ensure that the blur is in focus.

I've always been a big fan of panning and blurring motion. I started using the pop-n-drag effect when shooting mountain bike races deep in the woods where there was little light. Pop-n-drag is when you have a slow shutter speed of about 1/30 second and you pop in a bit of fill flash (about -1 stop) on your moving subject. Depending on the situation, you may need to experiment with your exposure. I just love the look of shots that show some motion. When the background has lots going on, it's a good way to eliminate distracting details.

Marketing To Your Friends

2009-03-08T17:22:00.006-06:00

Last night I went to a party with a bunch of girlfriends and acquaintances. The general theme was Valentine's Day and we celebrated our women friendships. We also exchanged gifts. This year I just couldn't bring myself to to buy the usual "gifty stuff" that women typically get for one another. Instead I bought some high-end watercolour paper card stock and envelopes and printed up some of my new "on white" images on the cards, complete with my website and contact info. I bought proper celo greeting card wrappers and I put a little note in with each card that said, "This card was made for you for this special celebration of our friendships. Send it to someone you care about to brighten their day." I wanted to give each friend a sample of my work, but also create something beautiful and personal for them that was practical and that they could spread around. I admit I had a little ulterior motive of self-promo with my cards, but I never expected such a great response.

When I showed my girlfriends the selection of cards, the frenzy was like the 75%-Off sale at Holt Renfrew. I never realized how popular cards were to women! Some even wanted to frame their cards! My presentation generated quite a buzz in the room and it opened the discussion up to my other photography. I had photographed three of the women's families already, and some of the new people were interested in getting family portraits as well. As it turned out, I had a few promo brochures stashed in my car, so I passed them out to interested friends too.

I'm generally quite an introvert, especially at parties. I have never really tried to promote myself to my friends and acquaintances much. I'm not the best sales person and I don't want my friends to think that I'm trolling for business every time I go to a party. But this idea seemed to work well as it was genuine and came across that way to the women in the group. A $50 investment in supplies, and a couple of hours of time, made a lot of people smile. That goes a long way in a friendship and a business.

New Series of Photos on White

2009-02-28T10:50:00.013-07:00

This week I continued work on a series of images on white. The series contains images of antique farm implements, glass insulators, things you find around the home, food, and flowers. All are royalty-free and are great for filler and sidebar shots in magazines and newsletters. They would also look nice printed and framed to decorate your home. Check out the gallery here in full screen mode.

As with all my stock photos, they can be found at, and purchased from my PhotoShelter archive.

Recognizing Your Potential

2009-02-24T10:27:00.003-07:00

With every photography assignment that my ACAD Photographic Design students hand in, I like to see all their other images taken for that assignment. Often they miss really great shots by over-thinking things, or not realizing that proper post processing of their raw files can make their images "sing". Recently, a composition assignment had me pouring through their files and picking out better photos than the ones they handed in. A few of them are presented in this gallery.

Despite the overloading of our world with images, photography (along with good design) is still a powerful tool in advertising and editorial work. When you flip through magazines, or look at transit ads, note what catches your eye, and what you just pan. Composition is the key. Consider compositional elements when editing your work; things like; balance, simplicity, framing, point of view, line, pattern, angle, figure/ground, layering, texture, transparency, pattern, and of course colour. Good composition will give immediate access and attention to your photographs. It will open the door.

Whitehorse 2009

2009-02-23T13:23:00.004-07:00

For the past four days I have been working with Whitehorse photographer Cathie Archbould on some post production techniques as well as getting 300+ images uploaded onto her PhotoShelter stock site. No small feat when Internet upload speeds never went over 15kb/s. As I write this the last half dozen are chugging in the background. Last night we took a break from the work to have a look at the snow sculptures that were created for the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous. These shots are from my Canon G9 "vacation" camera.

Updated Presentations

2009-01-08T13:09:00.006-07:00

Thanks to Apple's just released version of iWork '09, the audio problem on exported Keynote to QuickTime presentations is now repaired! This was a big problem for many people, and I was researching answers to it for days over the Christmas break.

So that means the audio is repaired on Take Better Pictures - Part 1 Composition. The file was also made half-size (512x384) but the images in the QuickTime version are crisp. Not like the highly compressed versions that appear on YouTube (sorry guys). You can visit the post below from Jan 1, to see the Blogger version, which is now also much better since the iWork upgrade.

I have also added my Digital Camera Set-up presentation slides to my web site, though no audio is included at this time. If you've taken any of my SAIT or ACAD photography classes, it will be a refresher for you and you can imagine me talking.

See the links to all my presentations and other educational resources on this web page: http://www.imagemaven.com/edu.html

New Year - New Stuff

2009-01-01T21:00:00.005-07:00

Happy New Year!

Since my last post I have started creating some new presentations. I use these presentations in the courses and corporate seminars that I teach. This year I will be working on a library of demos that will eventually be uploaded to my website and YouTube.

The first presentation is from my Take Better Pictures seminar and is about basic composition. Unfortunately, I had a big problem exporting the Keynote file with the audio intact. I have made a workaround, but the audio quality has definitely suffered as a result. Seems this is a common problem when exporting Keynote files. I will redo the audio as soon as I have solved the problem.

Anyhow, here it is:

Update 2: Audio is now working since rejigging this presentation with iWork '09. See Jan 8, post.

Realtime screen capture for your Mac

2008-12-29T10:24:00.016-07:00

I'm always looking for new ways to teach and provide resources for my students. In late November I attended a seminar put on by Adobe, Apple and Epson which promoted Adobe Creative Suite CS4. As usual the presenters were very good. During one of the breaks I asked the Adobe presenter what software was used to make the demo movies found on sites like PhotoshopUser.com. He said there were a number of tools available, but he really liked one called iShowU. I downloaded the trial version to see if it would work for me.

It only took me about an hour to figure out the software, rehearse, and record my first demo movie. I chose to make a demo on re-sizing images, as this is the most common question I get asked by beginners. The movie is under two minutes long and is also viewable in QuickTime from my Imagemaven Education page. Firefox and Safari on Macs should play the movie automatically. QuickTime is also available for Windows operating systems if the video does not work on your system. Go to Apple.com and download the QuickTime Player.

To see my "masterpiece" (tongue planted firmly in cheek) click the photo below. I also uploaded this on YouTube, but am very disappointed with the loss of quality that occurred. I am very new to both iShowU and YouTube, so I'm sure I missed a resolution check box somewhere during the process.

Bottom line though, I highly recommend this product to people who teach software or do presentations of any kind. iShowU can also record screen presentations and make movies out of them. Stay tuned for more of my masterpieces.

Update June 2, 2009 - I have recently discovered an even better way to make screen captures using Jing. It creates links to files stored in Screencast, so no more waiting for the QuickTime movies to download onto your hard drive. Here is a re-do of the re-size demo using Jing.

Teaching Photography

2008-11-19T14:19:00.007-07:00

I have been teaching beginners a lot the past seven years whether formally at ACAD and SAIT, through seminars, or one-on-one. It recently came to me that I have been teaching photography all wrong. Well not ALL wrong, but I just realized I could do it better.

When I was taught French the first thing taught to me was conjugating the verb être (to be). That made no sense and took me several weeks to wrap my head around. I just wanted words. Words were the access point to French. Perhaps my penchant for new languages wasn't that high, but I knew that when children learned to speak, they learned one word at a time, usually nouns, so why they taught French verbs first, is beyond me. (I'm hoping that teaching method has changed.)

A parallel can be drawn with teaching photography. So many of the course outlines I have followed start with photographic theory like f-stops, shutter speeds, and optics and leave composition and lighting until late in the course. I think we should teach composition and lighting first. Isn't that why people are drawn to taking pictures in the first place, trying to find a way to capture those moments of time and light that they see? Of course I'm still a firm believer in all the technical aspects of photography as a way to create one's vision, but I'm going to approach teaching beginners in a whole new way from now on. Perhaps this will reduce the furrowed brows I encounter during the first couple of photo theory lessons. Access to photography is through composition and light, much like access to language is through words.

How do I know this will help my students? This past spring session at ACAD I started giving a weekly class assignment called Picture of the Week (POTW). Students were required to post one new photo during the week after each class to a web space for critiquing in the next class. The photo could be of anything that literally caught their eye. During class we critiqued everyone's new images. This had the benefit of getting students shooting without the constraints of a technical assignment, and learning to critique their own and other people's work.

When I got the evaluations back for that course, several of the students commented that the POTW was their favourite part of the course. They got to concentrate on composition and lighting and capturing the world around them without the boundaries of formal assignments. In effect they were learning the language of light and composition, which is the basis of photography.

The photo above was taken by Dat Tran in my ACAD PHTG 202 class of Spring 2008.

Canvas Prints for Sale Using PhotoShelter's New Embedded Gallery

2008-11-04T09:33:00.009-07:00

The above gallery contains some photos of Alberta prairie scenes including Balzac and Rosebud using PhotoShelter's "embed gallery" feature. It is designed to take advantage of viral marketing as it allows anyone to grab the code and embed the slide show in any web page or blog. It is also possible to get a link for the gallery and email it to people or post it anywhere. This is great for introducing new work or for contacting clients directly with the edits from a shoot, as the link can travel easily to stakeholders. These galleries are also much nicer than the Photoshop web gallery option, as it allows full screen playback and it always links back to your PhotoShelter account.

This is a very good option for people who aren't web savvy, as they don't need to know any code, nor do they have to upload the files anywhere once the gallery is made. I know of several photographers who do not update their own web sites, so this is perfect for them.

To post a PhotoShelter gallery on a Blogger page follow these instructions:

When writing a new post hit the "Edit Html" link on the top right side of the Blogger editing window.
Then copy and paste the code from the web gallery (available by clicking the "grab embed code" triangle on the gallery's bottom right corner).
Hit "Preview" in the Blogger window and the gallery should be there. Make sure you copy the embed code, not the URL code if you want the gallery to show like mine does above.
If you want to paste a link somewhere, then take the URL code instead.

The "embed gallery" option is one of the many new features of PhotoShelter which make it a great choice for photographers showing, marketing and selling their work. PhotoShelter is striving to remain in the game, and is working hard at adding new features to help both photographers and clients buy and sell images.

UPDATE: This embedded gallery process is not as simple on WordPress.com blogs as it is on Blogger. WordPress.org (software download) self hosted blogs seem to work though, but you need to install a widget. Instructions are here, though it still seems to be a rather complicated process.

Newsletter Marketing

2008-10-21T09:15:00.005-06:00

I am still working on ways to market myself and reach potential customers and stay connected with my students. I have finally figured out how to use one of those e-mail newsletter programs. Pretty cool actually. I'm using MadMimi. I am focusing mostly on keeping current and past students and workshop attendees in my network for now and use it as a forum for passing on information on the local photo community, things like shows and seminars, that may be of interest to emerging photographers.

One of the benefits of using MadMimi as opposed to just e-mailing people directly from my e-mail software, is that it gives me stats. I know how many people open the newsletters and even how many people click on the links that I highlight. This way I can track people's interest in various topics and see if any particular subject area is popular. Popular topics will get more coverage. My philosphy in this is give them more of what they want!

Unlike a blog where people have to seek me out (either on purpose or by accident using SEO, links from my sites, etc.), I am utilizing the tool of permission marketing. Permission marketing is quite fun actually. It feels like I am talking to a group of friends and associates. People can opt in or opt out at any time. Hopefully one day this will generate sales. If nothing else, it will build my reputation as an educator and workshop facilitator. It does take time to research and write useful information, just like writing in this blog. Even the simplest posts can sometimes take a couple of hours.

Collage Re-defined

2008-10-09T09:48:00.010-06:00

This week I worked on a couple of collages for a client. Of course when I hear the word collage I get scared. So many corporate clients want event photos arranged in a collage. They are hard to design and end up looking ugly. But the employees love them. As we say in the biz, "garbage in-garbage out".

Thankfully this client was open to my interpretation of what a collage is. I consulted a good friend who's an art director at Critical Mass here in Calgary, who also cringes when he hears the word collage. Since the posters were really for the kids of the client, he suggested something bold, and based some of his ideas on ads he had researched by Burton and Fox. He made me a sample low res file and I took some of his ideas and my own and came up with the highly "Photoshopped" images here. They might not be in everyone's taste, but the kids love them! I'm producing 16x24 inch plaque mounted photo prints to hang in the boys' rooms.

Catching up!

2008-10-03T10:14:00.019-06:00

September was a busy month both personally and professionally. Early in September I did a shoot for Paige Smith, a Calgary craft artist. Paige takes fine bone china saucers and transforms them into beautiful jewelry holders. This was my third shoot for Paige. She's an excellent stylist and pre-plans everything to the nth degree, which makes working with her a joy.

The Prairie Chapter of CAPIC hosted an evening with Selina Maitreya of Port Authority. Selina is a photography portfolio consultant. I had a one-on-one session with Selina as well, to critique my current portfolio, and to plan out ways to improve my photography and marketing going into the future.

Selina's main tenet is that photographers should develop a signature style of photography, then translate that vision into all the work they do at the expense of their other (old) style of work. (I think that this type of thinking and working would allow photographers in the same market to be more collegial.) Clients would then hire someone based on their vision. Other photographers, in theory, would have different visions, so therefore would be less concerned with what each other are doing in the same market. It may foster greater community among photographers as a whole, and among those involved in photo trade organizations. It would also allow photographers to work in other market regions, as they would be hired based on their particular vision.

In her public lecture, Selina also recommended that all photographers read the book, The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield, and to reconnect with their inner creativity by reading, The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron. The War of Art is a quick read with lots of "in your face" advice for breaking through creative blocks. It reminds me a lot of Camera Lucida, by Roland Barthes in the definitive style of writing of the author. One quote I'd like to share is:

The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.

I'm going to leave it at that for today. I encourage you all to read The War of Art. It is suitable for all entrepreneurs, not just photographers. For links to all books that I write about, see the sidebar.

My Favourite Photo Ops (and a few other things) in Halifax, NS

2008-09-02T21:55:00.011-06:00

Favourite café – Wired Monk. Great location off the regular tourist trap, at Morris and Hollis. The owners and staff are very welcoming and helpful. Food is great. Go early for baked goods fresh out of the oven. Coffee – very good – and I’m hard to please in that area. Grab a paper, get a window seat and watch the world go by.

Favourite restaurant – Talay Thai. Best Thai I’ve ever had – ever. I ate there two nights in a row. A friend who recommended it said, “even better than Thailand”. I had the cashew chicken.

Favourite beach – Rissers Beach – Lots of room for your beach mats even on a hot Sunday afternoon. Clean water, white sand. Toilets! Be careful with the sand around your camera, especially if it's breezy as the sand is so light and unobstructed, it gets everywhere.

Favourite scenery – Peggy’s Cove - iconic, just go. You can’t help but take great photos. There is the tiny town with lobster traps and orange row boats strategically placed in the cove, as well as the lighthouse sitting atop the large mound of granite which leads to the churning sea below. Have the gingerbread dessert at the Sou’wester restaurant on your way out.

The town of Lunenburg is a close second for scenery, but most of the villages and farms on the south shore are colourful and very well taken care of, so make for great photos. Lunenburg also had the best side-of-the-road fish and chips shack. The haddock was fresh and tasty and melted in my mouth. I could have eaten there every day. The Bluenose II is based out of Lunenburg, so there is a good chance you’ll see it too.

Favourite way to see Halifax – from a tall ship like the Silva – but go in the morning so the sun is shining on the city – otherwise it’s back lit and harder to photograph. A friend recommended the Harbour Hopper, but I just couldn’t bring myself to go through town on the “green monster” with the tour guide screeching into the loud speaker. I’m sure kids would love it though.

Next favourite way to see Halifax – on foot. Great city for walking.

Favourite scenic walk – The Boardwalk. Lots of tourists, but also lots of locals flogging their wares and talents. Grab your morning coffee at the Wired Monk and walk two blocks east to watch the sun rise from the boardwalk at the bottom of Morris Street. Also, walk along Spring Garden Road and stop in at the Old Burying Ground at St. Paul's Cemetery at the corner of Barrington Street and Spring Garden Road. The other end of Spring Garden Road is the Public Gardens, which is also beautiful.

Favourite historical site – Pier 21, though the Halifax Citadel came highly recommended. The views from up there are fantastic. Out of town – visit the SwissAir Memorial, a stone's throw from Peggy's Cove. Sombre. The day I went it was slightly foggy and that added to the mood.

Favourite Halifax street for taking photos – Argyle Street - between Blower and Sackville. It has the most interesting storefronts: The Economy Shoe Shop, which is a pub on a very grande scale, contrasted by the "skinny" Seahorse Tavern, on one side, and Biscuit General Store on the other. They are all in a row on the east side of the street. Go in the afternoon so the sun is shining on the façades.

I will add some more Halifax photos soon. Just wanted to get the list up before I forget everything!

Refreshed ImageMaven Web Site

2008-08-28T16:21:00.013-06:00

Today I finally had the chance to refresh and simplify my ImageMaven web site. The main look hasn't changed much, but I've combined a few of the pages so that there are only five menu selections: Home, Portfolio, Stock, Blog and Links. I purposefully haven't gone the route of the "large image" portfolio sites that most photographers now use. My site might be butt-ugly in some people's eyes, but the fact is I rank high on search engines and I'd hate to screw all that up by investing in a Flash generated site. Yes, I know Flash can be optimized for SEO, but I don't have those skills at this time, nor the time and money to invest in that right now. Truth is, my client base is not typically art directors. Sure, I sell some stock to art directors now and then, but most of my income comes from established corporate clients and the images are used in-house for very specific technical things. For the rest, I shoot a bit of travel, plus I just shoot what I love and flog everything I can through my PhotoShelter Personal Archive using rights-managed and royalty-free licensing models.

My role model in this is Dan Heller, SEO expert and sucessful stock photographer, who also has a butt-ugly web site (sorry Dan). His site is however, highly functional, and that is the most important thing. I originally wanted to sell stock directly from my site like Dan does, but I'm no web programmer. I just tinker with html and Dreamweaver. That's why I chose the PhotoShelter Personal Archive route for self-serve selling. It's cheap and efficient. Sure I give up 10% on every sale, but with all that back-end support I consider it a small price to pay for all those features. By the way, PhotoShelter is SEO friendly.

I have finally learned over the years that shooting what I love makes me happiest, along with a couple of good corporate contracts, some teaching, some family portraits and some work for artists to keep me afloat financially. PhotoShelter and Dan's expertise have helped me realize this, plus, as my mom says, "Do what you love and the money will come."

Farewell Nova Scotia

2008-08-19T20:24:00.005-06:00

Left Nova Scotia today. What a great time, great people, great food, great shots. I will be writing a "best-of" entry soon to summarize my trip.

Nova Scotia's Treasures

2008-08-18T06:27:00.011-06:00

Another wonderful day touring around Nova Scotia's South Shore! Not far from Halifax we hit Lunenburg, where the Bluenose II was in port. We were able to climb around on the sailing vessel and appreciate the grandeur of the ship that's on the Canadian dime.

Before that we stopped at Rissers Beach. We got a second chance at swimming in the Atlantic Ocean. What a great feeling to be bobbing in the warm salt water. After our beach visit, we hit the Lobster Wagon in Lunenburg for the best haddock fish 'n chips I've ever tasted. Another highlight was the cable ferry trip across the river at LeHave.

Peggy's Cove and Lobster - Nova Scotia

2008-08-16T06:52:00.009-06:00

Yes, they are clichés, but some things just have to be done! On a trip to Halifax you have to do the typical touristy things. If you go to Calgary, you need to eat Alberta beef and visit Banff, and when you go to Halifax you need to eat lobster and visit Peggy's Cove.

Luckily for us it was a glorious sunny day absent of tour buses. Peggy's Cove is smaller than a postage stamp, but it has an immense amount of charm and appeal. The surf is mesmerizing and wildly dangerous. Sitting on the granite rock formations and watching it is like being on another planet. There are a few kooky types around - the woman at the base of the lighthouse on her squeeze box and another welcoming you with bagpipes. The whole experience is somewhat surreal.

The drive back to Halifax included a wade into the Atlantic Ocean at a roadside beach. At 19 C it was practically tropical. After that, we picked up a couple of live lobster at the SuperStore and created a feast. A walk along the Halifax boardwalk under the full moon completed a superb day!

Image Theft - A Rant

2008-08-08T15:11:00.005-06:00

I was checking my web stats last night, when I found a site using one of my images (shown here) without my permission. Amazing what you can learn from your stats! It wasn't a big multi-national or anything, but a blog. The person took a stock image off my portfolio site. It had my copyright symbol clearly on the top of the image. It wasn't even cropped off. There was no credit, no link back to my site (in fact it was linked to Nike's site), nor was I asked if they could "use" it. Needless to say I was a bit taken aback at first, and then I became angry. This is what I wrote to the blog:

I noticed that you poached a triathlon photograph from my commercial web site and posted it on your blog. This is in violation of International copyright law. The photo that you stole, even has the copyright symbol still on it, which is not necessary under law, just a friendly reminder in case people don't know.

I am a commercial photographer. I make my living shooting and selling images. I give many free hours of my time and photographic expertise to amateur sports associations and athletes, however since you didn't ask my permission, nor gave me a link or credit back to my own website and/or stock photography library, I must bill you for the usage of this photo.

This photo can be purchased with a Royalty Free license at web resolution for only $20. Please do so from the link here. As a courtesy to me I would also like the Nike link removed from my photo and instead paste this link in its place.

Just because you can access and "right" click "just a picture from the web" as you call it, does not mean that you can or should do this. Just like it's illegal to download copyrighted music, it is also illegal to download photos without consent and in most cases payment to the artist. Triathlon costs a lot of money to participate in. The cost of traveling to races, wet suits, running shoes and especially bikes keeps many people out of the sport. Surely you can afford $20 to support someone who cares deeply about supporting athletes, especially women in sports.

I get sick of people not respecting copyright and just thinking that everything on the internet is free for the taking if you can. There are enough $1 images around that there should be no need for anyone to steal any photographs anymore.

Sure, I could build a flash website to prevent this type of thing, but they aren't as SEO friendly as HTML sites. I would lose my high ranking in Google, plus, the updates would be slower to do and I'd probably have to hire an expert to make changes. I just want people to "get it" and stop poaching photos of people's sites. Do you steal food off the shelves in the grocery store - just because you have access to it?

If this person would have asked me for the photo instead of stealing it, I would probably have given it to them in exchange for a link to my PhotoShelter Archive. As it stands now, I'm just ticked off! Possession, as they say is 9/10 of the law. They stole it. I found it. Now they must pay!

Balzac, Alberta - Heritage Day

2008-08-04T06:42:00.019-06:00

I'm sure many of you have seen the hit TV series Corner Gas. Many small towns on the prairies have similar set ups. One of those is the store in Balzac, Alberta. The Balzac Store has a wonderful café full of nostalgic decorations with old movie star photos, horse tack and saddle sales, and of course gas (which sells for less than in suburban Calgary only a few kilometers away). On the east side of the gas station along the railway tracks, sits a traditional prairie grain elevator housing the Balzac Seed Cleaning Plant. On the west side a couple of churches.

The fate of this corner is precarious as the Balzac mega mall and accompanying exit ramps have already forced the closure of the nearby garden centre. I was in the garden centre the other day hoping to find discounted perennials and it was already looking like a ghost town. I also noticed that the Balzac store had a "For Sale" sign on the side of it. I don't know what the fate of the store is as I didn't have a chance to speak to the owners about it during the busy lunch hour when I was there, but I suspect they will also succumb to the suburban "progress" of nearby Calgary.

If you get a chance, stop in and have a club sandwich special at the Balzac Store, fill up your car with gas, and enjoy the nostalgia while it exists. The Balzac Store is at the Highway 566 exit on the west side of Highway 2 (QE2) just north of Calgary.

UPDATE: The grain elevator of the Balzac Seed Cleaning Plant has now been leveled. I'm so glad I was able to get some photos of it before that happened.

AMPA and Uppercase Gallery Host an Evening of Design Pairing

2008-07-25T12:51:00.002-06:00

Read on for an event of note, I'd like to pass along. Janine Vangool designed my corporate portfolio and logo a couple of years ago, and I've had nothing but compliments on it. I hired her because among other things, she designs beautiful books and magazines. I will be in Halifax the day of this event, but I encourage you to attend. I wish I could!

July 22, 2007 (Calgary, AB) – The Alberta Magazine Publishers Association has partnered with Art Central’s Uppercase Gallery to host a gathering for designers and design-lovers on Thursday, August 14 from 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm.

Design Pairings is a networking and learning opportunity, featuring a talk and design feedback from Uppercase founder and proprietor Janine Vangool. The evening focuses on pairings: which typeface perfectly suits which image? Plus, Uppercase will have all its best toys on hand: letraset, woodtype, dimensional letters, rubber stamps, stickers, pegboard letters, typewriters, etc. so that people can play with type. No computers—this is all hands-on.

Janine Vangool graduated from the Visual Communications program at the Alberta College of Art & Design in 1995. Her solo design studio, Vangool Design & Typography, was formed the following year. Her client focus remains in arts and culture, creative small business and publishing. Past and current clients include Calgary Opera, ACAD, Ottawa Art Gallery, TRUCK gallery, Art Central, Beyond Magazine and Whitecap Books. Her award-winning work has been included in Communication Arts Design Annuals. She was a member of the 2007 Alternative Pick illustration jury and was a judge for the 2006 Junos’ music packaging category.

Join AMPA and Uppercase for fun and fascinating evening with local designers, design enthusiasts, and magazine professionals. Entry is free, with a complimentary wine and cheese to follow.

Design Pairings begins at 7:00 pm

Uppercase Gallery
#204, 100 - 7th Ave SW (upper level of Art Central), Calgary

-30-

For more information, contact:
Anh Chu, Communications and Program Assistant

ampa@albertamagazines.com T: 403.262.0081 F: 403.670.0492

Grizzly Hare Scramble

2008-07-24T21:00:00.008-06:00

This past Saturday July 19th, I shot the kids Grizzly Hare Scramble XC motorbike race. What a blast! Girls and boys as young at 5 were racing their bikes through the Maclean Creek Recreational Area just southwest of Bragg Creek, Alberta. The kids were great and were very keen to hang out with me when they weren't racing. The weather was great too, so that made it all the more fun.

It wasn't the easiest event to photograph and I was a bit disappointed with my camera's (Canon 5D) servo focus. I have photographed many mountain bike races and other fast action sports using servo as well as manual focus, but the camera focus could not keep up with the action in this event. I'm pretty sure it's not the lens, as I've shot ski racing with my old EOS3 with no problems tracking focus. Maybe it's time to upgrade to a higher-end sports shooting camera.

Other technical details: I shot using fill flash for many of the images, with my Canon 580EX flash set at -1 using TTL and the High shutter speed setting. I shot using all sorts of shutter speeds as I was experimenting, but 1/800s and higher speeds seemed to freeze the action best. I used 400 and 800 ISO to try and keep decent depth of field, but that wasn't always easy, especially in the trees. Lots of mixed lighting in the trees made post processing a bit of a challenge too. One or two images would have been fine, but having to deal with hundreds was daunting. Shooting in RAW saved me.

Just like the triathlon, I focussed on the individual athletes as opposed to the event as a whole. My goal is to sell files and prints to the riders through my PhotoShelter Personal Archive. Check out the Grizzly Hare Scramble gallery. It was the first time I shot motor cross country and I learned a lot by doing it. Great workout too! My butt was sore from all the crouching and hiking along the course. A special thanks to Joal (#75) and Owen (#900) and their parents for inviting me to the races. And congrats to Joal for winning his race, and to Owen for placing 3rd in his!

Coral Springs Triathlon Photos Now Online

2008-07-18T09:18:00.008-06:00

Summer has been slow to come in Calgary this year, but I've managed to get some great shooting days for the events I'm covering. July 13th, I shot the Coral Springs Triathlon in Calgary. With that, I'm using my PhotoShelter Personal Archive to sell personal use licensing of those event photos. It's a great self-serve selling system. I'm not a computer or web programming whiz, so I opted to use PhotoShelter for online sales. Once the uploading of images is done, the client is able to purchase the files from the archive, with no further interaction on my part. I also set up PayPal to collect the money. PhotoShelter has very thorough instructions on how to set everything up. Configuration of PhotoShelter and PayPal still took a couple of hours though, mostly because several decisions need to be made during the process, and I was back and forth with the instructions a lot.

On the subject of uploading, even with high-speed Internet, it took a couple of days to upload 300+ jpg format photos ~2MB in size. Of course this wasn't constant uploading, I sent the files in batches of 30 or so, in between the post processing of all the raw files. I realize though, that this is a process that needs streamlining or automating, and next time I have hundreds of files, I need to figure that out better.

As far as the personal use licensing, I'm going this way as the photos are unique to each athlete so the market for the photos is very limited. Plus, none of the photos are model released. I will also sell prints, but in order to do so using PhotoShelter, I would have to use an American supplier and all the pricing would be in $US. My events are all very local to Calgary, and I don't feel right selling in $US. I'll sell prints if people contact me directly, but since most people do their own printing, I'm not counting on that. I'm hoping that eventually, PhotoShelter will partner with a print supplier in Canada so that production and shipping costs will be less, and will also be in $CAD. Maybe Technicare would be interested? They would be a perfect partner, as they have labs from Vancouver to Winnipeg, so could service the country well.

Triathlon

2008-06-21T23:18:00.005-06:00

Today I shot the start of the Chinook Half 119.1 Triathlon at Lake Midnapore in south Calgary.

It's been a while since I shot a sporting event. I used to shoot a bike race or a triathlon nearly every weekend when I was part of that scene in Toronto. It definitely brought back memories of early morning starts along with the beautiful early morning light. A couple of friends were participating in today's event, so I tried to pay attention to where they were in the pack so I could grab a few stock shots.

Then, this afternoon I attended an artist's market at the Carpenters Hall in Kensington. I bumped into a few of my former ACAD students (Amy Wakefield, Heather Reinhart, Pat Wong and Aimee Qiu) and it was from talking to them and seeing their work, that I was inspired to play around with my triathlon shots in Photoshop, as they just seemed so plain and ordinary. Not that I wanted to fix them, I just felt the urge to be creative in a different way than I normally am.

I'm usually the type to shoot a photo the way I want it to look as I have little experience in "Photoshopping" those artsy effects I love so much. Truth is, I had never actually tried. So, armed with layer masks, blending modes, and some experimental brush techniques, I came up with a few "sketches". I must say it was quite liberating and fun to be painting on my photographs. I shall definitely keep experimenting.

Vancouver Walk Walk

2008-06-10T22:23:00.006-06:00

When I saw this utility hole cover for Vancouver Water Works this past Sunday, I laughed. The message that flashed through my mind when I saw the VWW, was Vancouver Walk Walk. I had been walking through Vancouver's Gastown, Granville, Coal Harbour Seawalk, up and down Howe, Hornby, Granville and Seymore streets to meet friends and take photos along the way. It was great to travel light for three days - no computer and just my Canon G9 for a camera, which shoots 12MP raw files.

I can do without my dSLR on a holiday, but I can't seem to do without RAW. Shooting raw files has been part of my work flow for the past 4 years. It pains me to shoot jpg, mainly because of the loss of control that those 4096 tones in a raw file provide me.

The G9 is not perfect. If it was, then why would I bother with a high end dSRL for 10x the price? I had to get used to the noise, but I try to keep the ISO as low as possible to minimize it. For grungy inner city photos though, it's perfect.

I'll be adding some of the Vancouver shots to the travel stock on my PhotoShelter Personal Archive over the next short while.

Oh, and while on my travels I bought a new pair of blue shoes. You can see the top of them in the shot.

Field Trip

2008-05-30T21:53:00.007-06:00

Yesterday I took my Photographic Design (PHTG 202) Spring semester class on a field trip. We didn't have to go far, just to downtown Calgary. I thought it would break up the semester a bit and also give them a break from me doing all the talking. It was a great day to be trekking around the core. The energy of the office crowds at lunch was a nice change from the quiet halls of ACAD, as the school is nearly devoid of students after April 30th.

We visited ABL Imaging and the Four By Five gallery of photography. The purpose of the visits was to introduce the students (who are starting their last year of ACAD in the fall) to the world of design and photography outside of the classroom and to learn what happens after the photo is taken and the design is complete.

ABL President, Susan Otterson gave us the rundown of their services and a tour of the facilities. The students were impressed with all the professional design work that they saw in progress and in "finished" form. Their creative juices were really flowing with the possibility of designing a plexi mounted cover image on their grad portfolio book.

ABL Imaging produces a wide array of display solutions for all types of clients like photographers, ad agencies, real estate developers, architects, restaurants and more. Photographic prints from 8x10 inches to wall size, back lit displays, inkjet printing on canvas, custom wall paper from your design, signage, and all sorts of customized mounting options are just a few things on their product list. ABL still even processes E-6 film on the premises.

After lunch we went to Art Central where the Four by Five Gallery of Photographic Arts is located. Steve Speer was an enthusiastic presenter. As it turns out, Steve is a graphic designer as well as a photographer and it was a great fit for the students. It is clear that Steve "loves what he does" and he's not afraid to say so. He has a great blend of experience with both the art and the technology of photography, which really fits well with my own philosophy and way of teaching. Steve kept the group engaged with both his design and photography stories from the field, and finally settled the age-old question of inkjet vs. giclee. Inkjet = Giclee, and that only the pompous call their inkjet prints giclees, or as I like to put it, giclee is the French word for inkjet. (I recently exhibited an inkjet print on vinyl and cheekily labelled it "Giclee on Vinyl" to see if any eyebrows raised.)

Four By Five exhibits and sells only archival quality photographic prints. Silver based as well as digital prints are accepted. All shows are juried by the Four By Five collective.

As always, I appreciate the time busy professionals like Susan and Steve take out of their schedules to meet with students. It's a great way to introduce products and services to students as they enter their final year of college and move on to their professional practice. It teaches them to network, and it opens doors on both sides for future customer/supplier relationships.

Art Attack

2008-05-23T21:54:00.012-06:00

Inspired by my Photographic Design (PHTG 202) students, I am participating in this year's Art Attack, which is a fund raiser for ACAD's Visual Communications student scholarships. See below for complete details.

About the work
This is my first time participating in Art Attack and also my first time shooting food, so I wanted to make something interesting and appealing for this year’s event.

Veggie Toss was created by throwing actual vegetables up in the air and capturing them at the moment of peak design. Some motion is still present, due to the slow shutter speed, which adds to the dynamic qualities of the shots.

The vegetables are lit from behind using the translucent panel of a Photoflex Litedisc, and in front using a shoot-through umbrella. This shows nicely in the backlit tomatoes and soft highlights.

Vegetables travel at different rates of speed depending on their weight. It took about 120 shots to get the three images shown here. No retouching was done to the photographs.

--
ART ATTACK
A feast for the eyes: 50 fabulous creations that pay homage to food and drink

The Alberta College of Art + Design is pleased to present the ninth annual Art Attack on Thursday, June 5, 2008.

Art Attack is a fundraising extravaganza that features the thrill of a live auction for one-of-a-kind pieces of art. Started in 1999 this event has grown and now provides two scholarships to deserving students in the Alberta College of Art + Design's Visual Communications Design program. Art Attack is successful because of the outstanding support of the community combined with the contributing designers, illustrators and fine artists who donate their time and work. Many are ACAD alumni; busy professionals who want to give back to the college to benefit the promising students with strength in both design and illustration.

This year’s event promises to provide a feast for both mind and body with stimulating pieces of art and design combined with great food and conversation. The silent auction will feature works created by local well-known artists who will utilize a common household element as their blank canvas – the chef's apron. Twenty identical aprons will be transformed into twenty unique and creative interpretations. This "variety within unity" approach is based on a design principle of the same name and will create a tremendous visual impact, certain to be appealing to food aficionados and artists alike. In contrast, a live auction will feature thirty "anything goes" pieces which were created by artists and designers whose only direction was to create a piece that reflects their expression of the theme. Ceramics, photographs, illustrations, paintings, jewelry and mixed medium creations have been donated for the heart-stopping live auction event.

Artists who have donated work include: Rick Sealock, Chris Cran, Katrina Chaytor, Karen Klassen, Laurel Johannesson, Guy Parsons, Dena Seiferling, Dee Fontans, Charles Lewton-Brain, Hugo Dubon, Margo Visser, Scott McLean, Marlene Hielema and many more!

Art Attack
Alberta College of Art + Design
Thursday, June 5, 2008
7 pm - doors open and silent auction
8:30 pm - live auction begins
Tickets $75.00 each
Please call (403) 338-5585 for tickets

Art Attack is presented by the Graphic Designers of Canada, Alberta South Chapter and net proceeds go to Visual Communications Design student scholarships at ACAD. Art Attack is also generously supported by Macleod Dixon, Coast Paper, Sasges Inc. and McAra Printing.

PhotoShelter

2008-04-29T10:07:00.005-06:00

After much research, consultation and deliberation I have finally adopted PhotoShelter Personal Archive to house my stock image collection. Currently I have over 100 photos in my PS archive mainly in the area of women's fitness and travel. In the coming weeks I will be adding more photos, as well as setting up the e-commerce functionality that is available. This will allow me to sell licensing and prints through the site with little or no hands-on involvement.

It took me a long time to choose a partner in this endeavor. Digital Railroad was also an option, as was building my own, but PhotoShelter made me an offer I couldn't refuse: $124 a year for 10GB of storage, including the e-commerce set up option. For the price of ~ $10 a month I can't even host my own site with that many high resolution images. I'm no web programmer, so a pre-built system was really my only option, as I don't have the funds to hire the talent needed to build me a custom site.

So why did it take me so long to make up my mind? My main concerns were that I wouldn't be able to utilize the SEO techniques that I have recently incorporated into my portfolio website. I am consistently placing in the top 10 in Google searches for my images, especially in the area of women's sports and fitness. I didn't want to lose those hits and contacts with buyers. As a result I am trying a hybrid model; one that uses the hits that lead to my web site as a launching point to my PhotoShelter archive.

Another reason I chose to go with a conglomerate image site, is that all current marketing research points to social networking sites as the place where people make connections in their field. I am hoping to get new clients by moving to PhotoShelter and keep existing ones by maintaining my portfolio web site. Hopefully a healthy cross-pollination of clients will occur.

Family Photography Experience

2008-03-25T18:46:00.008-06:00

I am excited to now be offering family portrait photography to my clients. It has taken me a long time to admit that I like or want to be doing this kind of photography, but I have decided to officially make it a part of my professional practice. Here is my pitch:

A creative family portrait experience awaits you. Choose your favourite location, whether it is a park or your own backyard. Your family can be photographed in your own special place. Or, go traditional, and set up a temporary studio in your home. The choice is yours. We will create your memories together.

Contact me for further information and pricing.

Keegan

2008-03-22T00:31:00.003-06:00

What a cutie! Keegan graciously worked with me for over two hours without crying or falling asleep. He did pee a few times though, mostly on his daddy, but what do you expect from a 6-week old.

This shot was lit with a softbox hanging from a boom over top and using the silver panel of a MultiDisk for fill. Keeg's dad did the post on this image and gave it the nice soft desaturated look.

Noah

2008-03-19T19:00:00.001-06:00

I am working hard on the "Boys Project" this week with a couple of shoots booked.

This first is Noah here. He's about 14 months old and he's a real bookworm. This shot captures a genuine moment from our time together, no forced smiles, just Noah being his curious self.

It took us awhile to connect, but once we did, things really clicked, and clicked. Two hundred shots later and we were both ready for bed!

Lighting was an umbrella front left, a 2'x3' soft box up high and slightly behind the right side as a hair light, and a 3'x4' white scrim as fill on the right side. I was shooting from a small space between the umbrella and the fill. This is the lighting set up I usually use for corporate portraits. I like using a soft box as a hair light. It's a bit smoother than a grid spot. This lighting set up also gives one large catch light in the eyes, which I like.

Calgary Cares

2008-03-14T20:51:00.008-06:00

A unique print of this photograph has been donated to Calgary Cares, a fund raiser for AIDS Calgary, for their silent auction happening during their big event on March 29, 2008.

About this piece
Photographer: Marlene Hielema
Title: Taylor
Date: 2008
Medium: Giclee on Vinyl
Dimension: 35” x 27” Framed

The first photograph I ever envisioned and captured was of my two year-old brother, when I was six. He was sitting on the front step of our farmhouse wearing dad's cap and holding a box of Ritz crackers. I remember looking at him in that moment and thinking, "That would make a great picture." I ran inside and asked my mom if I could use the camera - a Kodak box camera. That was the start of a lifelong project of portraits of boys.

Why boys? Access mostly. I am the only girl in my family. When my brothers eventually married they also had male offspring. All of my closest friends seem to have boys, and my partner recently became a grandparent to, you guessed it, a boy. As a result I have a comfort level with boys of all ages which allows me to photograph them easily.

This particular photo comes from a portrait session I had with two brothers. They chose the location and borrowed a buddy's truck for the afternoon. It was one of those amazing shoots where everything was in sync: weather, location, and personalities, to provide a memorable creative experience for all involved.

I have been experimenting with printing on metal for the last five years and this presentation is part of that research. This image was printed on outdoor use vinyl using an ink jet (Giclee) printer. I hope to some day compile a show or a book of the photographs of boys that I have taken over the years.

This photograph is also on display at the Alberta College of Art + Design Faculty Show in the ACAD Illingworth Kerr Gallery, which runs from March 20 to April 19, 2008.

Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous

2008-02-23T18:45:00.007-07:00

Hello from Whitehorse! I'm spending a few days "North of 60" in Whitehorse, Yukon visiting a school chum from Ryerson, Cathie Archbould. We're putting our heads together this weekend to work on our businesses, do some information sharing, and come up with some ideas to sell and promote our stock photos. Cathie is also shooting a lot of the weekend's activities for a local magazine called: North of Ordinary, which is available on Air North flights. Yesterday we bombed around town a bit and I took the shots above of a man made ice climbing wall. While being here I've also had a chance to read Dan Heller's book: Profitable photography in the digital age, which is a great resource for anyone considering selling their stock photographs online.

First off, great book Dan! If you haven't read any of Dan's business writing, check out his business blog or his website: www.danheller.com. I know I've mentioned him before, and I must say that his approach to the business of photography and stock photography is realistic and straightforward. I wrote Dan a month or so ago to get his opinion on joining PhotoShelter to sell my stock. He didn't endorse nor dis-endorse PhotoShelter, but he encouraged me to just get started any way I could. So, I did. I started scanning my stock photo collection and naming the files and adding text to my site using the search engine optimization techniques I learned from Dan's seminar I took last October. Just for fun yesterday, I looked up my web usage stats for February. To my surprise I had been found by search string terms that directly matched the text in my file names or the description text within my site. For example: "woman triathlon" was a search term that came up in my stats. So, to find out how high I ranked with that term, I plunked in "woman triathlon" into Google and was not shocked to have 345,000 returns on that search. I was ranked #14! Yes that's right, showed up on the second page! In case you're wondering how long it took to get noticed by search engines, it was less than a month from the time I published the triathlon page of photos. So, my point is, SEO works! - even for beginners, and even on a small scale. If you are planning to sell your photos, either stock or assignment using the Internet, all you need to do is employ some simple SEO techniques and you will get noticed, and probably sooner than you think.

So, next steps? I'll keep loading more and more images and keep using SEO techniques. Another thing I learned from Dan's book was that to make money in the stock business, you need to have a high volume of good quality images. You want to drive traffic to your site so that you will rank high in searches, make a few sales and then build your client base. Right now I only have about 100 images online, but there are a few hundred more high quality images sitting on my hard drives and DVD's. I've got my work cut out for me, not to mention, I'll keep tabs on what the search engines are looking for and make sure I have lots of product in those categories. I'll drop a few shots of different subject areas on my site to test the market. The search terms that come up in my web stats, are the ones I'll bet there is a demand for. The more demand the more images of that subject matter I'll shoot and upload. I'll let the market (the buyers) decide what's important instead of trying to predict it. Pretty exciting stuff for me. I'll let you know if it works.

Stock Photography for Sale

2008-02-11T10:04:00.006-07:00

For the past month I have been scanning slides from my 10+ year-old stock collection. These consist mostly of images of women in sports and recreation including cycling, triathlon, running, walking, and golf, along with a smattering of city and industrial images. I have started to put these on my PhotoShelter archive for public sale of editorial or commercial licensing, and prints. I was encouraged by photographer and stock guru Dan Heller who bluntly suggested I just "get started" no matter what form that took. He said not to get too hung up on e-commerce features at this time, as it takes a while to get "noticed" by Google and the online world. I am counting on the search engine optimization (SEO)* techniques that I learned from Dan in a recent PPOC sponsored workshop of his that I attended in Canmore last October. Now that I am done slide scanning, I shall edit and compile my digital stock image files.

As a result of starting this tedious task, I have a new enthusiasm for sports and fitness stock photography. Seeing all my images compiled in one place gave me insight into my style and my way of shooting. I have developed some new ideas on how to improve my work and I am already planning some stock shoots, lining up models and scouting locations. Locations are what drive my work. Looking through my images, I recalled that in most cases I found a location first, and then figured out how to photograph the person in that location second. Adding to the formula a beautiful day, colourful clothing, and a willing participant, results in the iconic imagery I strive to produce.

I welcome your comments on my images. Please pass the word around to photography buyers that you know. I will be constantly upgrading the viewing and shopping experience, but for now I just want to get the work online as quickly as possible.

*What is SEO? Search engines can't "see" a site. They can only "read" a site. Pretty does not talk to a search engine. What "talks" to a search engine are the words, the content, the material in your site that explains, shares, informs, educates, and babbles. As pretty as photographer's Flash sites are, it's best to design your site with SEO in mind so that search engines can read it. You can do both, but make sure your designer is aware of how to design sites with SEO in mind.

Test Your Market

2008-01-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

In today's Financial Post, Part 2 in a series of 12 articles on starting a business talks about market testing your products as a form of market research. Conventionally, business owners may look to their competition, read market statistics, read published research, conduct focus groups and build customer surveys. A photography business may not fit this traditional kind of market research, so testing is crucial.

How can photographers test (and therefore research) their market? Simply put, by working in it. When you are starting out you may take any assignment that comes your way. This is a great way to do market research. As a photographer, ask for feedback about the photography session or print sale as soon as possible after the transaction. Find out if there were any barriers to the shoot, getting the sale, or selling more prints. Was the shoot a great experience for your client? Was the time after the shoot (looking at proofs) a great experience for your client? Was it fun and easy for your client to buy prints? Was price a consideration or did your client hire you on reputation or referral? Were there any pricing problems or confusion with things like post processing charges? Generally, people don't mind spending their money when they have a good experience doing so. That's a sign of good customer service. Did you complete the job on time and on budget? Did you deliver what they needed? Did you, as the photographer, have trouble pricing the job? Did you make a profit?

Pay attention to all the indicators one way or another and adjust your shooting, pricing, and sales tactics accordingly. Listen to your customers. They are your best asset and indicator that you are doing a good job. No customers, no business. Don't be afraid to ask the difficult questions, including why you lost a shoot.

From this you can further evaluate your strengths and capitalize on those strengths. As Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt say in their book, The Power of Focus, "discover your brilliance" p.35. Don't get hung up on what you cannot or do not like to do. Learn. Move on. Get more experience doing what you love, and eventually hire people to do the things you are not so brilliant at.

New Year's Resolutions

2008-01-04T12:37:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year to you all - clients, friends, colleagues and especially my students. It is the time of year when we assess our past and make resolutions in many areas of our life.

Resolutions in your photography business are important too. As you know there are many pressures that hinder your profit making such as micro stock, low balling competition, amateurs with high-end dSLR's that aren't focussed on sustainability, and the perception that "anyone can take a decent photo, so why hire a pro?"

I've had several discussions with photographers about low balling and amateur competition. My response is always, "Don't focus on them, they will not be able to sustain their business for long." Typically these people either have lots of money obtained in other ways, or another job that enables them to offer bargain priced photography on the side, just because they love to take pictures and they think it's fun to see their photos in magazines once in awhile. My advice to non-professional photographers is: Go ahead and take great pictures, but please charge proper rates. There are lots of sources on pricing, especially when it comes to licensing fees - Foto Quote, Editorial Photographers, and professional photographers like John Harrington who just feel it's good to share their pricing models. Typically photographers are very closed minded about sharing prices in their market, but the reality is by doing so, you can raise the bar.

There is a lot of photography work in my market in Calgary, but there are also many clients who offer next to nothing for professional photography. I recently had a discussion with a colleague and we both had terrible experiences with the same client which was an ad agency, that also ran a magazine. The scenarios were similar; rush job, no money to pay for photography, wanted to trade for ad space, poor management on client side and lots of other screw ups like no photo credits or returned phone calls. I talked to two other photographers who had worked for the same client and they both had similar experiences. We all did one or two jobs for this client and then realized that it was not a client we were interested in keeping. None of us will work for that client again. We all gave the client a chance, and were hoping for a return on our investment. I figure that within the year, no one in the city will work for that client because word will get around about them. So my point is, that it is important to network and share with other photographers so you can either collectively avoid those clients or collectively educate those clients and perhaps raise the bar.

After all, if they can sell "Fair trade coffee" we should be able to sell "Fair trade photography" that sustains us for the long term, allows us to take a salary, send our children to college, and save for the future with some sort of investments to live off of in our retirement. Isn't that what the clients want? We deserve the same.

Not sure where to start? See the Cost of Doing Business Calculator on the NPPA site. You may be shocked at the results.

Resolve to be a better business person in 2008. Estimate fairly and include licensing fees in all your quotes. If everyone does it, the clients will expect it and will get used to it. If they can't afford professional photography, they need to reassess their needs and their budgets, and not expect photographers to lower their rates.

'Tis the Season

2007-12-19T09:59:00.002-07:00

It's that time of year when you exchange gifts with clients and suppliers. This year instead of the usual box of chocolates, bottle of wine, or calendar sent to clients and suppliers, I donated photographic services and money to the Cerebral Palsy Association in Alberta (cpalberta.com). I have a vested interest in this particular charity, as my son has CP. There are many good causes to choose from and we are all attached to them for various, often personal, reasons (the arts, medical, civic, church, homelessness, foreign aid, or pet protection agencies).

Most photographers at some point in their careers get approached by an ad agency to donate their services for a worthy cause. Usually, as with most agency jobs, the deadline is tight and you don't have a lot of time to decide. You feel a bit of guilt and often your gut instinct is to help. I was once asked to do a "freebee" by an agency for an arts client on the promise that they would hire me for a good paying job next time. I did the rush job, but of course "next time" never came. I got burnt. Lesson learned. As a new approach, and to combat the ever increasing telemarketers plying me for money, I decided to take a proactive approach to giving.

This fall the CPAA built a new multi-sensory room for members like my son, full of coloured lights, sounds, moving water, and textures. When speaking with the program manager about the room, she mentioned it would be great to have photos of the room for their new website. The website was part of a their new branding initiative "Life without Limits". The multi-sensory room was a hard to photograph subject; small and full of coloured moving lights; not something the staff could do easily. I recognized a need that I could fill, and out of that came a subsequent photo shoot of members in a pre-employment seminar. In the end they got what they needed and I will get a tax receipt. A win-win situation. FYI - In Canada the rules about this type of donation are: you do the work, you invoice the client, the client writes you a cheque for the work, you write the client a new cheque returning the amount, and you get your tax receipt. Here is a photo from the multi-sensory room at the CPAA.

Incidentally, from this work and the relationship developed with the CPAA, I've received three more inquiries for paid work! Win-win-win. People like to work with people they know or that someone else knows - a referral. As you know, a referral is much easier than a cold call for both the buyer and the seller of photography. Plus, if your invoice reflects industry rates, the referral will likely have some sense of how much you charge for your services, and that will help you get over the next hurdle - the estimate.

Let's get back on the subject of your favourite clients and suppliers for one last thought. I still feel it is important to thank clients and suppliers for their efforts on your behalf. You can do this other ways by spending time developing the relationship. After all, more and more evidence proves that clients are doing a lot of their own photography, or buying micro stock. You need to develop strong relationships with your clients so that you are selling more than photos. Take your clients out for lunch once or twice a year, get to know them better, understand their needs and work to fill the needs. And definitely send them thank you gifts for any referrals.

Happy Giving!

Speed Networking

2007-11-20T19:39:00.000-07:00

On the topic of networking, here is something I'm going to try. The GDC Alberta South Chapter is holding a speed networking night on November 29th. I'm probably going to be the only photographer there, but that also means I'll be the most memorable photographer there. I've been to a couple of GDC events this past year, and when I go I always learn something new about the design and ad agency industry in Calgary. It's always good to know about your client's industries and to learn about things from their perspective. There are always a few people I know from ACAD that I teach with, or students that I have taught in the past. This time I'm hoping to make some new connections with people who do corporate communications design, as that is a market I've worked in for the past five years.

Online Networking

2007-11-18T21:52:00.000-07:00

I’m officially entering the realm of online social networking as a way of information sharing with my clients and peers in this crazy business called photography. My main interests are on the subjects of photographic capture and post processing, 21st century business practices, and educating my clients about photography - from taking pictures to hiring photographers or buying stock imagery. Over the course of time I will share my research and offer photo and business tips. I will review photographers, software, books, other blogs and web sites related to photography. I look forward to any feedback you may have. Remember, all posts are public and searchable, so please act professionally, as things have a way of “sticking” to you once they get online.