well, not yet, but i am excited to announce that i have a steady stream of rights managed images hitting corbis.  no surprise that the first set of images that hit are a surfing series.  one nice benefit with the aurora photos relationship is that i know that when i am still asleep in the west coast, on the east coast there is someone up bright and early trying the get the images in distributed in the right channels and that is appreciated.  thanks aurora.

i had an aspiring photographer ask for some insight on how to create a dynamic portfolio/catalog of lifestyle images.  so here are some tips on producing your own portfolio...

1.  always have your camera on you...and use it.  look for senarios, opportunities that are real and authentic.  sometimes you can not produce  scenarios that are as real as the real thing

2.  shoot what you can, where you can.  the lifestyle around you might be different that what is in my own backyard.  learn to look at what is around you with new eyes.  sometimes the mundane to you is really cool to others.  embrace it.

3.  carry a sample of your work around all the time...makes it a bit easier to get your foot in the door under some circumstances.  i use a iphoto book for my most recent stuff and an asuka book for the nicer demos.  iphoto books are perfect cause they are cheap, small and lightweight.

4.  learn how to blend in and be a part of the culture...or be sincere and express interest.  people love to talk about what they are doing.  like asking me about photography ;-)

5.  offer your subjects or models a print or digital image.  get them on board to get great images.

6.  learn not to be shy with the camera.  its ok if people say no, dont let it toss you, get back shooting.  it's what you do.

7.  learn to be subtle and aggressive at the same time ;-)

8.  know who your market is and then create images you like.  dont worry to much if it is the market your shooting for...  make it personally fulfilling and fun.  if you rshoot what you like, the enthusiasm will show.

here is a shot of zack.  i was driving down the 101 on my way home and saw about 20 kids skating.  got a bunch of great shot and now zack gets a cool shot.

i probably shoot more lifestyle/portrait work than i do action/sports but with the clients i have there is a fine line from one to the other.  so here are some surf shooting tips:

~ i like wearing a wetsuit for the float factor, 4 hours in the water can get tiring and trying to hold up out of the water a camera housing with a a1ds m2 is like holding a brick over your head while you tread water...oh, and try to take pictures

~ always wear a helmet, you can get one here: http://www.gathsports.com/

~ get a great housing, here are few to check out:
http://www.delmarprojects.com/
http://www.aquatech.com.au/
http://www.splwaterhousings.com/

~ manual exposure, center focus, al servo works best for me

~ at least 12 gig cards, for me that is about 800 images, less time trading cards

~ understand the wave as much as possible and sense where you should be

~ shoot a lot!

~ never eat a large breakfast before swimming out to shoot, trust me.

the one thing i am finding about shooting underwater is that no image is the same. the light is always changing because the water is always moving! makes it really challenging, frustrating and completely exciting! i also find the light to be much more forgiving and in order for the images to be dynamic and interesting, the light should be anywhere but right behind you.   so here are a few more...as soon as my good friend mike sandy gets his underwater video housing, would love to share some video from a pool shoot.


thanks to my models for kicking butt today!  its harder than it looks, smiling and posing underwater!

was flipping though the recent issue of PDN and happen to see my image used for the IPN Stock Agency campaign advert, see below.  kinda funny because i never really understood the images that IPN selected as featured advert images.  there really never seems to be a connection to the message...but i am glad that they featured mine.  but the question is...does it actually mean that you as a photographer will see more stock sales from the features?  I doubt it but it certainly can not hurt.

a few more features below the IPN feature, including aurora's outdoor photographer feature and images used in jupiter's web site. 

just a fun day at the pool.  the underwater stuff has been pretty challenging but i am starting to have some fun.  post processing is tough and the skin tones are tricky to dial in.  but these are a bit more on the dreamy side...which i kinda like.  one nice thing about shooting in the water, you worry less about the time, mid-day, not a problem!  more water stuff coming while summer is here!

long time PDN reader, PHOTOSERVE photog, IPN stock contributor and first time PDN PHOTOPLUS attendee...maybe, finally.  really thinking of heading to new york this year, for the first time.  in recent years, i was always booked up on shoots during the event dates and this year, being close enough to the dates, i can actually leave them open if i decide to attend.  the conferences that looked most appealing to me are:

october 23
the art of the portrait ~ platon
world class stock ~ tyler stableford
real faces, commercial impact ~ paul foster and amy steigbigel

october 24
motion stock for still photographers ~ panel
how to get work from ad agencies ~ debra weiss
staying successful in stock ~ panel
survival tactics in stock ~ jack hollingsworth

october 25
why shoot stock ~ panel
stock photography and the consumer ~ dan heller
lighting for commercial production ~ f scott shafer
how to break into lifestyle/travel photography ~ panel


if your heading to photoplus, let me know, maybe we can swap notes and say hi.  or if you have seen any of the above talks and care to share insight, please do! 

www.photoplusexpo.com

hi all, kat asked me about my naming system and i responded to her saying it might not blow ya away, its simple, easy and works for me.

i started to do screen captures but after i was like 8 screen captures into it, i was like, its way easier than this!!  so here goes...

i have drives that are mirrored for back up and the name of the drive is the date of the first job shot... so the drive i am working on is called 2008-04-27.  i never fill the drive up all the way but always leave about 20 gigs on it for working room if and when i need to dig back into that drive...or i make room on it by deleting non-selects or dead projects.

so on 2008-04-27, i have folders based on what i am shooting: commercial, personal, stock, private-commisions.  in each folder are folders of the shoots, the name is the date and a title of the shoot.  for example:  2007-06-14-nineplus-summer-catalog.  You can see the sample screen capture, on the left you can see the folder names, in a folder called random stock on my production computer:


then once all the files are downloaded in their folder, i rename them the date and a 4 digit number, for example: 20080804_0020.jpg.   I always sort the date by year, month, day.  I dont think i have ever shot more than 9999 images on one assignment, or at least in one day.


after every file has been named, i do my selects for the client or for stock with 1 star and my favs/portfolio or other with 2 stars.  once i am done with the selects and edits, i then toss some general meta data on the files.  i have many templates saved for meta data but for the most part i w ill only use my one called "basic" which is contact info.


then copy it over to the backup drive, i can then format the used cards and i am good to go.  I will output the images to jpgs and run my action to a low res file on the selects if it was for a client or to a stock agency.

the only tricky part is when i need to look up a shoot from a few years ago, i need to remember what category the shoot falls, stock, commercial assignment, personal.

i also do like to add additional searching content in the meta data and if i feel like i need to start using a cataloging software like iview, i can drop all the raw files into an iview catalog and have it generate over night.  i just don't really need to look up files based on keyword in the studio.

hope this as helpful, but i told you, pretty simple!

just returned from napa and here are a few of the images.  had a really fun trip and took 3 assistants with me...not really assistants, but friends and a wife. ;-)  plan on returning to finish up this shoot and series soon.  sometimes it is hard to explain to the wife, just drop me off on the side of the road and i will walk to the next winery ;-)  always get better images when i am walking then moving 65 mph. spanish comes in handy as well and i wish i had a few more important words for this trip.  i will know them for next time!
 

just having a little bit of fun at the cove.  its like a petting zoo down there with all the garibaldi, pretty fun.  well, i am not actually at the cove today, shot this a few days ago and i am on assignment in napa valley, shooting wine.  so while i am gone, enjoy the orange fish!