Ron Shoots

David Walker of Photo District News interviewed myself and a several other stock shooters (Walter Hodges, Donna Day, Katy von Brandenfels, Cila d’Oliveira, and Jose Pelaez) for an article on efficient stock production. If you’re a subscriber, the article is available in the current November issue or at PDN Online. Lots of great suggestions for everyone who shoots stock!

The Photo Plus “Do It Yourself Creative Research” panel in NYC last week was excellent. I always learn so much at these events! The panel, moderated by Lynn Martin (Aurora Photos), consisted of James West (Alamy), Robyn Selman (Corbis), Meg Asaro (Spark Visual) and myself.

Here’s a Quicktime movie of my presentation visuals. Enjoy!

I’ll be at Photo Plus in NYC this coming week. On Saturday, October 20 from 1-3pm, I’ll be on the “Do It Yourself Creative Research” panel. For anyone interested in the stock industry, there’s tons of great seminars every day. Drop me an email if you’re in the city, would love to say hello in person!

We just uploaded this image… in less than 10 days, the image has been licensed almost 100 times amongst all our different distributors. I like the shot. Nice composition, decent lighting, but not what I would have picked to start selling right out of the gate. Sometimes I get surprised, and then the thought process starts. Why is this image selling? What keywords did we use? What’s the concept? Do we have other best-sellers like this?

The last question, I think, provided the answer. We have a number of good selling images with the model’s hair flying. The expression of “freedom” seems to be the common theme.

Lighting was basic. Used a 22 x 26″ soft box slightly off to my left for the main light, and 1 softbox on the background. The background was actually a white sweep but I kept the power really low on the background light so the white would turn to gray.

You know, if I could only pick the winners ahead of time!

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.

Krista, our awesome production coordinator, set-up an excellent shoot with a 1946 classic “Gar Wood” boat at a lake in Northern Minnesota earlier this week. We’ve been looking to do a shoot like this for several months. Finding a good boat, the right talent, and the perfect location require lots of effort and a bit of good fortune (we prefer to call it the “good karma” bank).

For a few of the scenes, Luke and I sat in the back of the boat while we cruised around the lake. Luke worked the flash while I tried to find the best angles from our rather limited position. We also used a ladder to shoot the top image from the dock.

Here’s 2 more of the images. The models were also the real owners of the boat which made for a convenient shoot. We also added other older models for a demographic variation.

(In a North Dakota wheat field. Gray and Alex toss, Luke is the lighting guru.)

Just finished up a road trip from Southern California to North Dakota with more than a few great shoots along the way. Throwing lawn chairs into the sky just seemed like the thing to do. Lawn chairs and summertime just go together. Lawn chairs are festive and fun. And, who doesn’t remember getting their skin pinched in the scratchy webbing at the family reunion? [read more]

We’re continuing our exploration of all things farming in North Dakota! Sunflowers are certainly the most spectacular with acres and acres of bright yellow fields. While the sunflowers follow the sun in the early part of their growth, their heads are now all pointed to the east.

Here’s a few of the shots:

We’ve been carrying a 6 foot ladder for this trip- helps give that extra few feet of height for different compositions, and getting above the crops. The handheld Quantum flash is popping in some extra light on our model since we were shooting at the midday sun. The flash has a 12×12 mini-softbox atachment to soften the overall look.