Ron Shoots

Sure helps to have warm tropical water! And a “real” couple who didn’t mind getting soaked when the waves pounded the rock behind them. Sometimes I’m really not sure whether an photo idea works at the time, or even after I’ve looked at the file back in the studio. And sometimes its best if the customer decides.

I think that good photos, the ones that stay with you are all about emotion. And long-lasting images don’t have everything upfront. Some editors that I have worked with talk about the difference between a rights-managed and royalty-free image in terms of layers. The RM images have a foreground and a background, with an unexpected element thrown in to give the image that extra value. I’m not sure if a global comparison can still be made between RM and RF in these terms, but the “layering” observation is very accurate.

Did I achieve that extra level in this image? Probably not, but its sure fun trying!

I’ve been keeping a list of all the dumb stuff I’ve done on shoots over the years. At the risk of never having anyone ever read this blog again, I thought I would share! (If you’re a photographer, feel free to add your best goof-up in the comments section.)

- Locked the keys, camera, all the lighting and wardrobe in the production van at the perfect golden hour.

- Pulled by police for driving a rented motorhome with expired inspection. I tried to explain that I had models and crew waiting on me. They wouldn’t let me drive the vehicle so I talked the officer into taking me to the shoot. You should have seen the client’s face when I got out of the back of the police car!

- Assistant forgot to bring camera on a location shoot. We remembered at midnight and we have a 6am call-time, and we’re 3 hours from the studio… yes, we started shooting on time!

- In college, I shot sports to make a few extra dollars. One time, I forgot to check see if the Tri-X film was winding on my Nikon. Shot the entire second half of an important football game on one frame of film. That sucks. End of my sports shooter career.

- At an assignment to do a group shot of an entire college class, I was standing on top a 4 story building shooting with a Mamiya RB67. When I changed backs, I didn’t get the bottom catch locked properly. The first time I wound the film, the back came flying off, bounced once on the roof and plummeted 100 feet to the ground. After a hushed moment, the gathered crowd of several hundred students started cheering.

- Talk about missing the boat… We had permission to shoot fashion models on a cruise ship in the Bahamas. Unfortunately, the guard hadn’t been told so we talked out way into shooting while the client tracked down the captain. Then we found out we were on the wrong ship.  Ooops!

So the next time you forget to take off the lens cap, forget the client’s name, or trip over the lights… I’ve “been there, done that!”

Sorry for the lack of posts! August is our planning month. Every year, we dedicate about 2 weeks to reviewing our digital process, testing new software and making content strategy plans. While good pre-pro for an individual shoot can maximize the number images, having an overall plan for the next 6-12 months helps us keep production flowing along.

Our long term content planning involves both data and trend research. We look at our best selling images to determine if we need to “refresh” a category or if we need to alter the demographics for the next shoot. We think about overall production in terms of general keywords. Keywords are the “real estate” of the stock photo industry. Do we have enough images in the “family” or “business” section? What makes one image sell more than a similar from the same shoot? Do we need to change our cropping? These are all fun questions to ask! Sara, our senior editor did a fantastic job of pulling together lots of info for us.

We manage our stock collection much like a “financial” stock portfolio. Diversification is good. We diversify both by having images in the different licensing alternatives such as rights-managed and royalty-free, as well as images that cover a wide variety of keywords.