Gary Crabbe / Enlightened Images

Picture: Sunset light on Cathedral Peak reflected in Upper Cathedral Lake, Yosemite National Park, California

Last night I was up until nearly 3:00am working. One of the long overdue items on my “to do” list was to upgrade my wordpress installation of this weblog. Lately when I’ve been talking about long overdue, it’s been in reference to things that I haven’t done or needed to do since my accident last February. But no, this is really overdue; like in the neighborhood of a year and a half. In Wordpress, that’s like three or four versions ago.

This is my first post under the new version, after successfully navigating the manual upgrade instructions. (My old version had no auto-upgrade option.) I was so happy when I re-activated the last set of plug-ins and everything appeared normal and functioning properly.

Anyway – the last line of the upgrade instructions were to “Do something nice for yourself.” – Today in California, we’re having a very unusual, unseasonal low pressure system moving through part of the state. Weather reports are actually calling for snow in the Sierra. So while driving home from dropping my kids off at Summer DayCamp, I thought about how much I’d love to be up at an alpine lake to catch a summer snowstorm moving through the mountains. But since I can’t do that today, I thought I’d do the next best thing, which is share the point about how important it is to sometimes reward yourself with something you really want.

This was a photo I really wanted. Years ago, my wife and one of my best friends left the Bay Area at 4:00am. We had a pancake breakfast at the Tioga Resort at 9:00a, and began hiking by 11:00. We got to the lake during a summer thunderstorm, so we all took cover under our ponchos and took a nap. My friend had hiked in with his acoustic guitar strapped to his daypack. When the rain stopped, the music started as we sat along the edge of the lake. Sunset came and went, and we started our hike out. We got back to my car at 10:00pm, and were having a late-night breakfast back home in the Bay Area by 2:00am.

A momentary escape from the ordinary, from routine, from ‘normal’ is a reward.

See this and other images in my special Yosemite Print Collection.

Note: I was recently asked if I would allow someone to write a Guest Weblog post. Since I hadn’t been asked before, I thought, “Sure, why not. Let’s see how it goes.” So without further delay:

When a Formal Photography Education Is a Disadvantage

If you take a look at most of the photography forums, you’ll find many a discussion thread featuring the question of a formal education in photography. People with an interest in the subject want to know if it’s a good decision to earn a degree in photography or if it’s a total waste of time. The answers are varied of course, with most people insisting that talent and experience are enough to make it in this industry and others advocating a basic degree or one that enhances your business skills. But, no matter how useful a degree is, there are times when it is more of a disadvantage than a benefit to enroll yourself at college, and these are:

· When you know you are talented: and your work has already started receiving critical acclaim. If stalwarts and veterans in the business agree that you have potential, then you certainly don’t need to waste time going to college to earn a degree that is not going to add to your skill level.

· When you already have a job: If you have a photography job or an internship that you love, don’t waste your time and money getting a degree unless your employer insists on one. Even then, it’s better to study online and still keep your job so that you gain the experience and earn money too.

· When you don’t have the money for college: If you’re going to borrow money to finance your degree, forget it. It’s just not worth it. First of all, you lose potential earnings. And most important of all, you’re going to be putting yourself in debt to put yourself through college. Instead of doing this, work on your skills and practice your craft until you’re able to secure a good job.

· When the school you choose is not acclaimed: A degree in photography or arts is valuable if it gets you connected with the right people in the business and helps you secure a good job that pays well and that offers opportunities for advancement. If the school you choose is not acclaimed and is just another one among the crowd, it’s just not worth the time and effort.

At the end of the day, it’s a personal decision whether you choose to take or skip the college experience. So use your judgment according to your situation, because only you know what’s best for you.

By-line
This guest article was written by Adrienne Carlson, who regularly writes on the topic of photography colleges. Adrienne welcomes your comments and questions here or at her email address: adrienne.carlson1@gmail.com

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I welcome your comments related to the Guest Post, or please let me know if you’re interested in contributing a guest post. The views and opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily relfect those of Gary Crabbe or Enlightened Images.

From Model Mayhem: My stock photo on Time magazine cover. An interesting discussion on the value vs. exposure of photography when a photographer discovers that his photo has been used on the cover of Time Magazine. What prompts the discussion? The photographer got the princely sum of $30.00 for his small percentage sales commission. Is he happy about this? You bet! Does he care that the value of the use should have been perhaps a thousand dollars or more? Um… no.

From David duChemin: Photography Niches, Grooves and Ruts. As a guest post on Digital Photography School, David shares his thoughts on the differences between these terms, as well as the dangers that we creatives must wrestle with, especially when our endeavors seek to combine our art with the commercial marketplace.

From Jim Goldstein: EXIF and Beyond: David Riecks Interview. David is well known in the industry for his work with his Controlled Vocabulary Keywording web site, and most currently with all things Metadata as he works with the Stock Artist Alliance and the new PhotoMetadata.org. The man is, literally, a plethora of information, and this is a one hour interview very well worth a listen.

From PhotoShelter: Learn Photography & the Business of Photography. Wow – talk about a great new Resource collection of links and articles. This one’s so good, I’ve listed it on my own Photography Business Resources Page, as the first bold listing under the ‘learning’ section.

From BlackStar Rising: Take These Shortcuts to Improve Your Photo Editing Workflow. Courtesy of Aaron Lindberg; “If you’re like most photographers, you’d much rather be out shooting instead of sitting in front of the computer, endlessly tweaking your photos. The good news is that by employing a few shortcuts, you can speed up your photo editing workflow dramatically. Here are some tips for shaving off a few seconds per photo — which can really add up over time.”

Bonus Link: This time, another from me; Ever get the feeling someone is trying to send you a message? On the eve of my 45th Birthday, last weekend I had a second medical ‘close call’ within the same year. Despite the scare, the experience again served to remind me that as much as we might focus or struggle with our business, the economy, world news, etc., our time on this planet is both brief and precious. Make sure you’re taking your moments to step away & smell those roses, or my personal favorites, Freesia, the ones that smell like orange sherbet; yum!

Picture: Overlooking the coastal hills and coastline between Cambria and San Simeon, Central Coast, San Luis Obispo Co., California

Those who know me and my previous experience managing a niche stock agency for a famous photographer might also know that I’ve continued to offer my services on occasional freelance photo editing and photo research gigs. To that end, whenever I find a new photo source, whether an individual photographer or stock agent, I turn on and look at the source with the ‘photo-buyer’ part of my brain. Every so often I find a great new source that has great material, good search results, and an easy to use interface. But which of those three criteria do you think I feel is most important?

When evaluating a new stock agency, either from my photographer perspective, or my photo editor / researcher perspective, the most important determining factor in whether an agency is a place I’d like to spend or invest any of my time is the quality of the search results. Good search results save you time, while bad search results cost you time. If you find good images quickly, you can deal with an awkward interface for licensing and downloads. But if you have to wade through hordes of crappy or irrelevant search returns, no slick interface is going to make you want to hang around.

I’ve got a very simple search litmus test when I show up on a new stock agency web site; California Coast. It’s broad, yet relevant to what I do with my own editorial travel photography. Some sites generate decent returns, while others, well let’s just say I found a new top loser in MyLoupe Stock Images. When I searched for California Coast, I got a few rows of weak, yet slightly relevant results. I then had to wade through pages of completely irrelevant model shots that had barely any relevance to my search. You could tell that a few had been taken near a beach, but most of the images showed nothing specifically relevant to either California or Coast. Search results like this are a complete waste of time, and if an agency can’t even get me into a close ball bark with a standard search query, I sure won’t be wasting anymore of my valuable time on their site. The simple point is when you get more relevant results on pages 5, 6, and 7, than you get on pages 1, 2, or 3, then you know you’ve got something very wrong in the system. Most professional photo buyers won’t ever get to page five if they have to wade through four pages of mostly irrelevant returns. It’s too bad, because I’ve heard some not so bad things about myLoupe from the photographer side, but as a photo buyer, they’ve already lost my business.

In comparison, look at the results from the same search at my image archive hosted by PhotoShelter. Just look at the initial percentage of image relevancy. You ask for California Coast, you pretty much get California Coast, not boxers or models doing yoga in hallways. So the next time I need to do a photo research job for a client, do you think I’ll spend my time with the PhotoShelter Search Engine, or the MyLoupe Search Engine? For me, the results speak for themselves.

Picture: Old wooden one-room church, Philo, Anderson Valley, Mendocino County, California

Sometimes the universe wants to tell you something; sometimes it needs to smack you upside the head to get your attention.

Many people that read my blog will recall my accident from last February, and how lucky I was to escape the potential worse case scenario(s). Following that accident, I mentioned on several occasions how that experience caused me to re-focus my perspective on the important things in life. Now, for the second time in one year, I am grateful beyond words, feeling as I dodged a second bullet that could have possibly had life altering consequences.

On Saturday, my family, including my mom, left for a weekend vacation in Bodega Bay along the Sonoma Coast. Sunday began with my whole family rushing me to an emergency room 25
miles away in Sebastopol.

After breakfast, I was talking to my wife and she noticed that I was only talkng out of one side of my mouth, and the entire left side of my face was drooped. We knew this was a potential warning sign of a stroke. A call to our doctor said “Go to the nearest Emergency Room”. Adding fuel to the anxiety bonfire, worry and adrenaline seem to kick in mutually. Suddenly, you don’t know if all the symptoms you are feeling are legitimate, or if they are a figment of your hyper-sensitive mind playing tricks on you. The ride to the hospital was a real test in anxiety control, and self-induced relaxation.

Thirty seconds after signing the registration form at the Emergency Room, a nurse walks me into the back and says into a microphone, “We have a Code Stroke in Emergency 3.” In less that five minutes I was having a CT brain scan done.

After 20 minutes, the ER doc comes in to tell us, No Stroke, based on a clean CT scan, and lack of other symptoms. Diagnosis = Bells Palsey, an inflammation of the facial neural canal as it leaves the neck. Affects 2 in 10,000. Symptoms 80% likely to self resolve in a month. Fingers crossed…

Five hours later we were back in Bodega Bay, and I was fishing with my son at the entrance to the harbor. I’ve spent the time then and since thanking the universe for letting me off easy; again.

But spending those few hours contemplating that you may be suffering a stroke, and then to have that fear wiped away in favor of something far less severe was such a huge relief. I was shaken into an awareness of how lucky I was; again. A reminder of how precious life, and our seeming ‘normalcy’ really is. This renewed call to how we must use our perspective came like a slap on the face; this time it hit me squarely on the left facial cheek.

Go find someone you love, give them a hug, and tell them how important they are to you.

(Hoping I’m done with these types of ‘adventures’ for awhile.)

PS: I show the church photo, not because I am religious, but because I am spiritual. Whatever your connection to the universe, to that which is greater than us, to that voice inside, if it’s trying to tell you something, listen.

From Syl Arena: Lessons I Didn’t Learn In Photo School 81–85 Even if you can only manage to read the bullet points, this is still a great post. Soak it in like a sponge. I strongly recommend taking time to read each point in it’s entirety.

From Brian Auer: Your Guide to Making Fine Art Prints. Many photographers want to sell their images as prints, and many professionals make print sales part of their income stream. For those thinking of expanding into this area, this is a great series of short articles that takes you from prepping to printing to shipping. If you’re a pro that already does this, it’s always good to see (read) how someone else is doing it.

From Jack Hollingsworth & ASMP: My Greatest Hits for Understanding Social Media, Recession Marketing and Branding. Jack has assembled a great reading list, and although not specifically targeted to, or about photographers, as he says, “…it shouldn’t be too hard to connect the dots.”

Two from Dan Heller: There are Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics &Photo Agencies and The Stock Industry: a Matter of Proportion. Per his usual, not-a-light-read, Dan does offer some interesting insights in this pair of articles. And whether you agree or disagree with some of his views, he does make some strong arguments worthy of consideration. In the second article, I happen to agree with his assertion that you can’t rely on agencies, and photographers really should be selling their stock photos directly to clients. Warning: I had to print out the first article (’cuz I couldn’t stare at the computer any longer), and which turned out to be like an 8 page, single-spaced report. So bring a steak knife, a cold drink, your reading glasses – if needed, and have at it.

From Rosh Sillars: Open your ears, open your mind, and check out his great series of Prosperous Artist Podcasts. This week Rosh and fellow podcaster Dean La Douceur discuss inspiration and updating your portfolio. This is worth subscribing to the free podcasts via feedburner, and take time to listen to available previous podcasts while working on your images.

Bonus Link:

From Jonathan Fields: 6 Key Elements and 7 Critical Steps to Reclaim Your 40-Something Body. OK, I admit it, I’m a “40-something” in need of a little help. Following my accident last February, and being laid up for a few months, I found 20+ pounds that I’d been fortunate enough to lose several years back. I’m not to happy about finding these long-lost pounds, but for my efforts to again lose them, this is a great source of motivation and inspiration. Needless to say, it’s a great read for people of all ages, especially if they need a little kick-start.

Picture: Injured sea lion behind cage fence, Marine Mammal Rescue Center, California.

The other day, I took my kids out to the site of the old Sutro Baths, near the Cliff House. After climbing down the stairway toward the beach, we saw a bunch of people gathered in a spot, looking at a baby sea lion laying on the rocks. To my dismay, I saw a male tourist & his older son right down by the animal. The dad was actually petting the animal and smiling for his son, who was taking a picture with his cell phone. Myself and another couple women who walked up at the same time as us immediately started saying to get away from the animal. The fact that the sea lion wasn’t struggling, vocalizing, or even had it’s eyes open despite being quite awake were all obvious signs that the animal was in distress. While the concerned ladies next to me called the Marine Mammal Rescue Center in nearby Sausalito, I started doing a little crowd control telling people not to approach the animal.

After the small crowd had mostly dispersed, I took my kids aside and explained to them that we had a choice to make; we could leave and go have our own fun, or we could sacrifice some of our ‘fun time’ to help protect the sea lion by keeping other tourists away. I was really proud of my son when he said, “Stay with the Sea Lion.” While we were talking, I heard a woman tell a ‘photographer’ tourist, “Hey, don’t do that!” Apparently, while holding his dSLR up to his face, he threw a small pebble at the animal trying to get it’s attention. My vocal response and glare at him was his invitation to make a hasty tucked-tail retreat from the scene. We stayed in the area for awhile, and when some other people offered to watch the animal, my kids got time to go play in the sand. When we returned, a volunteer from the MMC had just arrived, and quickly scooped the weakened animal into a net, and subsequently transferred into a dog carrier.

The take away life lesson for my kids was about the good in us making choices in life to act as the protective stewards for wildlife and the earth in general. The choice in foregoing fun for protecting the sea lion from unthinking tourists was admirable, and not an easy choice for a kid to make, but I gave them plenty of praise for making that right choice.

Volunteers from the Marine Mammal Rescue Center release rehabilitated sea lions on beach at Point Lobos State Reserve, Monterey County coast, California

This event also gave me a chance to reflect on the time I shot the Marine Mammal Center for a magazine. Not only did I get to visit the center in Sausalito, but I also got to shoot a release down at Point Lobos, near Carmel. Although I didn’t have my camera on this trip with my kids, I looked on thinking about what would have been the good “money shot”. For editorial and photojournalists, catching the peak moment of action that tells the story is always a paramount consideration. In this shot, I had only a couple seconds while the sea lions were in front of the cages, as they scampered off toward the ocean.

Finally, if you’re not familiar, like some of the tourists who said, “Look at the pretty seal”; if it’s brown and shaped like a torpedo, it’s a sea lion. If it’s shaped like a wad of lightly rolled gray play-dough from a kids hands, it’s a seal. (That’s the technical definition.)

From Art Wolfe and Outdoor Photographer Magazine: Get into the Stock Market. In this article, famed photographer Art Wolfe shares his wisdom with aspiring outdoor & nature photographers who are starting down the path of wanting to sell their images. While he discusses many of the fragmenting and frustrating changes in the industry, he does point out that there are still opportunities for photographers, especially as it relates to direct selling.

And speaking of Direct Selling, there’s this from PhotoShelter: Building a “Monumental” Photo Business: How Randy Santos Succeeds Selling Stock Photos. A real good interview with a photographer that self-markets his own work outside of typical agency channels. He gives some great pointers for what is needed if you want to travel the path to success.

From John Cornforth: How Are We Ever Going To Keep Making Money At Photography? A real photographers take on the struggle of trying to survive in the face of a market – on both suppliers and buyer side, that continues the trend toward further devaluing photography. Not a rant of doom or gloom, but a good honest questioning that I’m sure many of us have asked ourselves.

From John Harrington: Burning Bridges. “Don’t take a proactive action where the purpose of that action is to destroy an ongoing interaction pathway between you, and someone else.” On the other hand, are there times when it’s OK or the right thing to do? What about when a question of ethics are involved? Even today, I am struggling with the question of ‘firing’ a client.

From Don Giannatti; the man just keeps firing them out, and each one as good as the last. 10 Pricing Challenges and Strategies for Photographers. – A Must Read. And if you do location photography, you’ll also really appreciate his list of 20+ non-photographic things to bring with you on a shoot.

Bonus Links: This was posted earlier this Spring by photographer, Rosh Sillars, “The Case for Per-Image Pricing“, and serves as a good follow-up read to Don’s 10 Pricing Challenges.

Finally, this brought a smile to my face; For those that know Douglas Adams, do you remember the words on the cover of the Hitchhikers Guide? Oddly, those same words appear in the first bullet point on the Getty Images Blog under ‘what to do if we send you a copyright infringement notice’. See their post on Clarifying Copyright – What It Means for Imagery.

Picture: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, photographed by Neil Armstrong (visible in reflection) – Courtesy: NASA

This month, the Boston Globe’s Big Picture marks the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, the first mission to land a man on the moon. In a way, this is a happy anniversary because it allows us a chance to reflect on the very unique greatness that we as a species have been able to achieve. Conversely, it is also a sad anniversary to realize that it has been so long since we have been back, to have pushed ourselves and our technology to the forefront of our capabilities.

I was only a very small child, but I can clearly remember my family sitting in our living room watching the TV, and those words on the screen, “Live from the Moon”, and the words of Walter Cronkite narrating one of the absolute greatest moments in human history.

To all those people that made it happen back then, and all those at NASA who continue to push us ever onward, I salute you.

Picture: Historic San Ramon Chapel (est. 1875) along Foxen Canyon Road, Santa Barbara County, California

I announced in my recent Summer 2009 Newsletter that I have posted several new image galleries on my web site featuring Santa Barbara, California.

I split the coverage into two galleries; One for the Santa Barbara Coast, including Stearn Wharf, and the other for the Inland areas, including the Wine Country regions of Santa Ynez, Los Olivos, and Solvang.

The photo above is one of my favorites, in that I remember the first time driving down Foxen Canyon Road, you come around a corner, and you’re greeted by the sight of this quaint and rustic old chapel. I really liked this statue of the Virgin Mary that was near a small graveyard, but I wasn’t able to get a shot with the front of the statue and the chapel in the same frame. I really wanted both elements, so I realized the only way to do that was to sacrifice my desire to get the front of the statue. That allowed me the freedom to cirlce around to the back of the statue and frame up this scene. I feel that this gave the same comforting and spiritual feeling that I had when looking at the front of the statue with arms held out in front of the graveyard headstones.

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