Ron Shoots

Every now and then a funny photograph just happens and I can’t resist creating a headline in my feeble brain. I’m forever buying wacky little toys as props. In fact, there’s a plastic dinosaur that rides around on the dashboard of my truck. The dude’s got more frequent flyer points than I do.

So with all due respects to Jay Reilly who has a really great photo blog at a site called My Camera is Bigger Than Yours, I am claiming the title of My Camera is Smaller…

Humor is what keeps us going, and a strange offbeat humor is always good. So if you’re in a toy store, please buy some wacky little thing for yourself… but sorry, small cameras are off-limits.

Too cool! I’ve been invited to do a talk and hands-on workshop with stock photographers in Moscow on April 26. I’ve always wanted to visit Russia. As a “50-young” something, and growing up in the “Cold War” era, Moscow was always a forbidden yet intriguing city.

The workshop is sponsored by Stockxpert- over 200 photographers signed up within the first few days. The other photographer, Lev Dolgachov (from Estonia) and myself, will speak in the morning, then shoot in the afternoon. While Lev demonstrates studio lighting, I will be working with natural light and reflectors. I better start practicing my Russian!

Here’s more info on the workshop.

Keywording is the real “key” to successful stock sales. A photographer can make great images, but without the right keywords, no buyer can find your images. Keywording is an art and a science- and good keywords add value to your images.

How Do Clients Search?

Recently, Dreamstime started sharing the keywords that the buyer used to find and license your image. While sometimes the keywords make no sense as to why the image was licensed, in most cases, we get to peer inside the thought process of the buyer.

When I shot the image above, I really wasn’t thinking about Bulimia, the eating disorder that affects many young women (especially in the fashion world). I just thought the scene was a cool concept. Actually, I probably don’t think that much when I’m shooting other than exposure, composition, etc. Fortunately, one of our very astute keyworders recognized the social issues surrounding the image and attached the appropriate words.

Look closely at the image above- the word “Bulimia” is how this buyer found this image, and the reason for the sale.

Finding the Right Keywords

The owner of a very successful stock agency once told me that their business was not in selling pictures, but in selling words! From that moment on, I understood how valuable keywords really are.

Good keywording uses both descriptive words and phrases to describe the image- the main subjects, the colors, compositional elements, etc. But the real art is thinking through the concepts and how the image might be used. Is the concept freedom, or winning, or teamwork, or in this case, Bulimia? I find the best keywords are immersed in life, current news and the art world. They have an immense curiosity for everything around them and the ability to connect images and words.