My friend Udi over at DIYPhotography.net is running an interesting new project. The theme is Sharing. He’s asking his readers to pair up with a friend and share a photography experience. In the project, the participants temporarily exchange a piece of camera gear with a friend and write a review about it. To sweeten the pot, BorrowLenses.com is supplying some great prizes to fit the theme.

Sounds fun. I guess I’ve got to find someone to swap gear with. Hmmmm…. maybe a Nikon shooter?

For the rest of the details on this unique project, head over to DIYPhotography.net.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 3/5 second, f/5.6, ISO 100

I’ve recently been doing some work for the rock climbing team my wife manages. She is creating marketing materials and is incorporating photos of team members.

Today’s image came from a recent studio session we did with team member Sarah. For this shot we looped the climbing rope over the rafters and had her tie in. I initially took some images from eye level before moving up onto a ladder to get the top down capture shown here. Here’s a shot of the setup I took when I stepped back to let Sarah’s father get her picture.

The isolation was a bit more difficult than usual, due to the fact that I could have easily used 2 more lights on the shot for the lower portion. To complete the isolation I had to spend a bit of time in Photoshop cleaning up the bottom of the frame.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/50 second, f/8, ISO 100

I had a friend spot this in Avionics International News and give it to me. Here’s the original image that was used. I like how they integrated it into the ad’s design.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/10 second, f/5.6, ISO 100

When I began this blog back in 2005, it marked my return to the photography world. I had been out of it since selling my film gear in the mid nineties. It has been a fun journey over the past three years and I look forward to keeping it going well into the future. I’m frequently asked why I do it. Since the ads on the blog only generate around $15 a month, it’s not for the money. My answer would be that of the 1,500 or so daily readers (via site visits and RSS), I hope that maybe I can encourage a few readers with my photos and occasional writing.

Yesterday was a day for confirmation. Within 30 minutes of each other, I received two separate emails from blog readers. These letters both motivated and encouraged me so I thought I’d share them here today:

Email #1

The first time I saw your blog was when you had the light bulb that was burning. I bookmarked it immediately and read through all of your older posts.

I emailed you when I was buying my first DSLR and took your advice and ended up with a 30D. I watched you grow as a professional photographer and realized I could do the same thing. I dropped out of college and pursued my dream. Four months later I talked my way into a position as an assistant for a wedding photographer and really started learning the trade.

I’m now the second shooter at all the weddings and soon to be leading my own second shooter. Recently I got accepted for a stock agency and am building up my catalog. I’m still working my day job as a graphic designer, but am slowly fading out of that and focusing on photography full time. I catch myself thinking about ideas for stock while I’m driving and looking at ads and products differently to help me think of things to shoot.

I wanted to say thanks for the blog, the inspiration, and the ideas. I still read your blog every day as it gives me a different perspective on things sometimes and motivates me to sell more stock. Keep up the good work

Email #2

Hi Rich

I LOVED your recent story about the spooky image of your daughter being chosen for movie image. Actually I really liked that image at Halloween and thought it was a 2008 image.

I admire your success and again such a good inspiration, cause I think it’s pretty difficult figuring out the secrets and acceptance tricks here at istock…but I love stories like yours to keep my faith!

I sent that story to my husband, neighbors and friends that are all supporting my istock path.

Keep it up! and Thanks!

I guess the moral of the story is that you never know how your endeavors, whether big or small, can affect others. Maybe we should all take a moment today and write an email to someone that has encouraged us.

Just a thought…

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/100 second, f/7.1, ISO 100

Yesterday afternoon I received an email from fellow photographer Thad Lawrence saying that he recognized one of my images when it popped up in his RSS reader. The shot of the buried child (kinda creepy, I know) was the sole element on the movie poster advertising The Alphabet Killer. I did a quick Google search to find out that this was a movie that was filmed a couple of years ago and is just now being released.

This was a cool find for me for various reasons. One of the biggest being that the subject of the shot (kinda creepy, I know) is my daughter. Finding out that she was on this poster was a big deal to her. She immediately started calling and texting her friends. This made me smile.

Another reason is that I shot this image back in 2006 before I began taking stock photography seriously. This was not intended to be a “stock” shot, but rather was simply taken while I was playing around in some leaves with my daughters. I uploaded the shot to iStock half expecting it to be rejected for “over filtering”. But it obviously was accepted.

Upon seeing what the designer did with my original image (kinda creepy, I know), it took me a second to even verify that it was my shot. The enhancements that were made to the image, especially the face, are fantastic. Here is the original un-edited image as they purchased it on iStock:

I don’t usually go out of my way to get copies of my work in use, but I made an exception with this one. I sent a few emails to the contact information from the film and distribution company’s websites. To my surprise, I soon received a response and they are sending me a few posters.

Don’t be surprised if you ever drop by my little studio and see this image (kinda creepy, I know) framed on the wall.

Canon 30D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/60 second, f/5.6, ISO 100