Christmas Stock

I had another session with Rachael yesterday. First we headed over to the bus garage to take pictures of her in her school uniform as if she were getting on and off the bus. Then her older brother joined us for some Christmas pictures. The local hardware store was kind enough to let us take pictures in front of one of their fire place displays. We are planning on doing a few more pictures upstairs on Friday where they have lots of Christmas decorations for sale. (The last picture was taken upstairs next to one of their display trees.)

Her mom has lots more ideas - so this model will be keeping me plenty busy! :)

Lil Indian Girl

I went out with my model again today. We had plans to go to a teepee at a local farm market and take some pix in her Indian Costume... but unfortunately, the teepee was rather sad looking and so we opted to just take some in front of a little bush.

I think I'm learning a little bit about younger models... give 'em something to DO in a photo shoot and they have the time of their lives! I think she would have raked my entire yard for me if I left her to it. haha!!!

Cheer USA!

I had another session with this adorable model yesterday and we are going out again today...

The first and second photo are actually one and the same, just cropped differently. I love playing around with different crops as often times that can give the photo a whole different feel! Also, I think it helps me to see things differently for the next shoot!

For this next picture, I asked the model to face the back drop with her hands on her hips and told her to turn just her head around to look at me when I said "Go!" She did a GREAT job! But probably got a little tired of doing it again, and again, and again, until the photographer finally got it right!

Working in the studio tends to be harder on the models. I think it can be very tiring and intimidating and next to impossible to forget the camera! By the end of the shoot my little model was getting quite tired and ready to be done! And of course she started getting a little silly and goofing off just a bit. Often times those make for the BEST photos. This next photo was the absolute last shot of the day and my favorite!! She looks the most natural and as if she's having a great time!

Well, I'm off for some more shooting!!

Working Dogs

Captain Jack???

Jailbird???

Featured Light Box

I just discovered that the above photo is in the Fall Lightbox over at Shutterstock. This featured lightbox is on their front page and having a photo in it translates to lots of extra attention and sales! Not only is it selling better because of this exposure, but my gallery is getting extra exposure/sales as well. Pretty cool!!! My understanding is that it stays in the featured lightbox for the entire month - YAY!!!!!! I've been shooting stock now for just over a year and I feel like I'm just beginning to catch on to what makes a good stock photo. I still have lots to learn - but I've made progress in just the last couple of months! If anyone would like any tips on getting started feel free to email me at fotoimpact@verizon.net.

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To start making money with your photos by clicking on the links below:

Istock
Shutter Stock
Dreamstime
Bigstock

Dog Fight

Path of Life

(From our hike with Martha.)

Just in Time!

I finally let Jessi carve her pumpkin. She was a bit disappointed that we couldn't find our special pumpkin carving knife and we couldn't find one at Rite Aid or the Dollar General. She was worried she couldn't do it with a regular knife - but I think she did GREAT!

A Bit Earlier than Planned...

(Thank you Hannah for taking my picture!)

For the past 4 years I've been planning my mid-life crisis. I thought I would be *celebrating* between the ages of 40 and 45.... But I think maybe it started a little earlier than planned.... Should I go for purple next time? I've already got 2 votes in favor of it!! :)

Field Trip

Pictures from our field trip to Powers Farm Market with Martha and crew...



The Teepee Martha talked about on her blog....

Inside the first part of the teepee are hundreds of jack-o-lanterns...

The lovely view you get when you look up in the second part of the teepee.

Lots-o-pumpkins!!

Martha especially liked the goat. But then she always liked kids!! (okay, so that was really lame... but it's late and I've had a rough week!!!)

Have you ever seen pink and blue chickens before?? I think they look more like cotton candy than chickens!!

We had a GREAT day with perfect weather for an outing! And to think, I could have been home cleaning like I had planned!!! :)

Happy Birthday Bethany!!

Isn't she beautiful?!

Lil Pumpkin

We have had such beautiful weather! Perfect for taking pictures!!! I'm soooo glad I was able to take advantage of them. It's a little late for pumpkin pictures as far as stock goes... but I'm still hoping to get them into my stock gallery ASAP!

The Painter

New Faces to Photograph

This week I'm crazy busy photographing different models! Yesterday I had the priviledge of photographing this beautiful and talented young lady. I took her over to the park and while she sketched, I was snap happy! Hopefully I'll have several shots to add to my stock portfolio.

I love black and white and sepia pictures. I suppose it comes from my love of high contrast scenes!! While this scene is high contrast (you can see the strong lighting coming from the back and to the side of the model highlighting her hair!), I really didn't think that it would make for a good sepia picture because of the beautiful fall foliage. I thought I'd miss the color. But for whatever reason I converted it anyways (always pushing the limits!) and was pleasantly surprised that I really didn't miss the color.

This photo would have been impossible to get without the aid of either a reflector (which is what I used) or fill flash. Her face would have just been too dark - but the reflector lit it up nicely.

Tonight I have another photo shoot with a little girl from church and the tomorrow Bethany is coming over for some maternity pix! That is if she doesn't have her baby first. I told her that I would be unselfish and pray that she DOES have her baby tomorrow as it is her birthday and I think it would be the perfect birthday present for her! Don't you agree???

After I do a shoot there is still TONS of work to be done.... I will be spending many hours processing and editing all of my photos! A photographer these days had better enjoy the editing process almost as much as the photography. Thankfully I enjoy it more and more!

Ho-hum

I'm feeling bored, antsy and restless today....

I'm in desperate need of some wild and crazy adventure!!!

Any ideas????

Actually, I have ideas....

The problem is doing them and not allowing 'practicality' to stop me.

*sigh*

Paul Mitchell Girl

Wed night: We heard about the audition.

Thursday Night: Heather gets her hair cut and colored and gets a nasty cold too.

Friday: Heather is still sick as a dog but goes to work anyway knowing full well that she has her very first audition in the morning.

Saturday: We leave at 9:00 AM for the audition with Paul Mitchell in Buffalo at 11. Heather sniffed and coughed and blew her nose the entire way there. We arrived 1/2 hour late (I got lost!). Too late for her to walk with the taller girls so she sneaks in with the shorter girls in spite of feeling sick as ever and having a red nose from blowing it constantly. Tony Promiscuo was slowly making his way down the long line of excited and anxious girls, examining their hair and asking questions... Then he skipped a bunch of girls and stopped at Heather. He asked if she'd be willing to go shorter in the back. She agreed and was hired on the spot! We signed the papers and THEN learned that we had to be back the next morning at 6 AM!!!!!! That meant getting up at 3 to leave by 4 and praying I wouldn't get lost.

Sunday: Tired, groggy, and with poor Heather still feeling yuck, we hit the road by 4 AM to arrive at 6. Yes, I got lost AGAIN - but we made it in time. In fact we beat the hair stylist and make-up artist! There was still 3 hours before the first show. While Heather was getting her hair recolored and in make-up/wardrobe, I went down to the lobby. Another parent was there and we talked the hours away. Before I knew it I was watching my beautiful daughter walk down the aisle dressed in a little black and white outfit and high heels with TONS of make-up on. (Which is necessary for stage.) She sat up on the stage as Tony Promiscuo demonstrated how to do the Kiki cut. It was a lot of fun and she did very well and didn't trip once in those spiked heels! :) I think I was more nervous than she was!!! She was only scheduled for the 9 AM show and we were told that we would have to stay until the last show which ended at 5:30. Thankfully they let us go shortly after lunch. We got home around 5:30 (and yes, I got lost coming home too!!).

It was an exciting day!! And exhausting too....

***Sorry about the lack of pictures... I didn't think they would appreciate me in there with my big camera and I didn't think to bring Heather's point and shoot. All I had was my cell phone! *sigh***

Lot's More Stock...

I went over to Beka's yesterday to take some more stock photos. As the girls raced away, I snapped pictures.





I've been working really hard at building up my stock portfolio and I'm seeing my sales go up, up, up! Sure hope they stay up!





Whenever I can't find people willing to model for me, I often turn to the dogs...
Or I find things around the house to take pictures of...

I can't take credit for the set up of the duck pictures. One night Heather was goofing around with her camera and took a similar shot. I asked if I could do one for stock and she graciously agreed. :)

Designers often need borders or backgrounds. I intentionally left a lot of negative space in this photo for that purpose. There's plenty of room for text!

I'd still rather be doing portraits.... but I'm paying the bills AND doing what I love best, taking photos! And I must admit it's fun watching my numbers go up. Maybe eventually I'll learn to take stock photos that I love as much as portrait and wedding photos!! I know it can be done as I have seen them, I just haven't figured it out yet.

I do have some more photo ideas in my head though that I'm pretty excited about so stay tuned!!

By the way... if anyone else is interested in getting into stock photography just click on the links below! And if you need any help getting started feel free to ask away!!!

Istock
Shutterstock
Dreamstime
Bigstock

Oh... and for those of you with artistic talent, vectors sell very well!!! Better than photographs I hear. You don't have to be a photographer to do this!!

Anything for the Shot

Please Pray

Last week I went to the calling hours for a young lady (20) who was murdered by her husband... today I learned of yet another young man (20 something) from my church who died on Tuesday night. Please pray for the families....