Western Australian reptiles & insects

After several busy weeks work with the car mags I finally managed to head bush, but rather than endemic flower images for stock, it was time for some creature feature action ! I'm still trying to identify the lizard, but it certainly appears to be a 'Dragon' species of some description. Had himself (or herself ..) a neat little sand cave going, which thankfully I saw before putting the right foot down. I've always found Dragons have an aspect of curiosity about their character and a slow, steady approach generally won't scare them away.
The insect action is a mother crab spider with a fresh moth / butterfly (sorry, more identification to be done !), but the thing to note is the baby crab spider on mother's back.
Once correct identifications are complete, both images will be off to the stock image libraries.

Perth Motorplex - new season begins

Well they may have been running Whoop Ass Wednesday street meets for a couple of months already, but yesterday's first National Open for 09 /10 was the 'official' start to the new season at the Perth Motorplex. And it was a National Pro Stock round too. Beautiful cars those Pro Stockers. Anyway, loads of magazine coverage and feature cars coming out of it all over the next few weeks.

Automotive, car & engineering photography

Yet another Alamy sale has popped up and it's the 3rd in a month too. That makes October one of the best months ever. Curiously, while recent months have seen me putting a huge effort into my Australian wildflower, bush, nature type imagery, it is the car, engineering and motorsport images which are currently making sales.

High Performance Imports Magazine

A busy week finalising several cars for High Performance Imports Magazine and getting some others under way. The Japanese Wholesale sapes Subaru B4 is an interesting one - it's got a Nissan SR20DET engine under the bonnet with a complete Nissan drivetrain. That should keep the Dak Dak fans happy ...

Alamy Stock Photo Sales

Alamy have just scored me another sale, this time for an Australian consumer magazine - editorial useage of course. Image shows Chris Michel winning the 2007 Motorvation burnout comp. It's the 2nd Alamy sale to arrive in the last month and comes hot on the heels of my 2nd Gekko Images sale in a month. Stock photography looking up ? Here's hoping.

Stock Photo Sales - Gekko Images

Another sale has just popped up on my account with Australia's Gekko Images.
This time it's one of my drag racing images.
It's also the second Gekko sale in a month and again for a figure that rivals any individual amount earned through Alamy.
I'm feeling quietly confident about the stock photography game at present, with Gekko coming through like this, Alamy zooms are back and other endevours are giving positive vibes.

Fast Fours Magazine RX3 photo shoot

I've tried unsuccessfully for several months to just use this blog for my nature, Australiana & wildflower stock work, but with 20 plus years of automotive and motorsport photography, there's just no escape ! The summer show and drag season has begun here in Western Australia and quite a few busy months lie ahead. Of course, much of our automotive / motorsport work eventually goes into the stock arena as RM editorial only. The images below meanwhile, were taken for a Fast Fours Magazine feature on what is a very tidy and well worked little Mazda RX3.

Latest Alamy sale

A quick check on Alamy and there's my first Alamy sale in about 6 weeks and a cut out or Silo too.
Not a bad sales figure either and yes indeed, it's for another educational book in the USA.

Australian car magazines

Phew !!
I haven't been bush much at all for about 2 weeks now, as the car magazine side to the work load has ramped up considerably. Powercruise at Barbagallo Raceway over the weekend just gone was nuts, simply sensational. In addition to which I've just had so many shoots and features to write for High Performance Imports and Fast Fours and Xtreme Fords. I'm bustin' to get back into a National Park though ....

Digital camera POTY 2009

Yes, it's time for another photo competition. This time the Digital camera Magazine Photographer Of The Year 2009.
I have to say that there are some stunning entries in the various categories and I've basically given up already on the 'Landscape' category. However, the 'World In Motion' category is perfect for a lot of my drag racing work, although the 'Planet Earth' division seems to be a good spot for an old favourite and a new favourite.
That Heron stood there basically stock still for the full 30 seconds exposure and says a great deal about species adapting to man's interference with the natural environment.
The Thomisidae species crab spider meanwhile, was sitting on a Ricinocarpos glaucus bush in my local Craigie Bush.
I only just spotted it there, but wasn't happy with the original shots.
Ducking back in the very next morning, the spider was still there on the very same flower - I wish my kids were that patient for their food !

More Western Australian wildflowers for GPL

Another batch of 21 endemic WA wildflower images have been accepted by Garden Picture Library in the UK. From a set of 30, that's another quite high accpetance rate. Must try to keep this going.

Stock Photography Sales - Gekko Images

After a year of loading what is now a total of 659 images to Australian library, Gekko Images, we've just cracked our first sale with Gekko. It's not a huge sum, but comes after winning a Microsoft software package in Gekko's Image Quest 09 competition and all up goes against the negativity merchants out there who seem to bag Gekko on the various stock forums.
Yes, it is only 1 sale, but what's the point in being pessamistic all the time ?
Stock, like nearly every other industry in the World, is feeling the economic squeeze.
The trick and approach I think is to be ready to get back up and walk again ... which in this game means keep shooting, keep keywording and keep loading.
Because when things come good again .... here endeth today's lesson.

Garden Picture Library - native flora photos

Just checked Garden Picture Library and my first images are now loaded up for all to view. Very happy with that. Of course, the hard work continues to get the quantity built up at GPL. You can go direct to our images at GPL by clicking on this text.

Gekko Images stock photography

Another round of our stock images have gone live on Gekko Images.
Please visit our range of images on Gekko
Curiously, the newer images are 'buried' down between pages 8 and 14 out of the 55 pages of images we have up there.
Nice to see however, that Gekko have given our range of Bells Rapids images 5-star ratings across the board.

Perth Motorplex Photos and reports

The Perth Motorplex have loaded our latest news piece onto the front page.
Perth Motorplex
See the menu on the right hand side and click 'Rick Takes Over Zoom'.
It's in response to our massive 20 pages of coverage - including the front cover - of the latest issue no.138 of Australia's Zoom Magazine.