Fremantle

A few touristy pix from a quick few hours in Fremantle the other morning. These are off to Alamy and Gekko.

Stock Photography Sales

After a bit of a hump at the start of the year, stock sales have dropped off and so too Zooms on Alamy. Nonetheless, I have identified specific subjects that are being searched for and which are not being offered out there and which I can provide. In addition to which we have managed to keep getting images loaded and passed at Alamy. The value of constantly re-visiting keywords has also been made clear in recent weeks too. All of this aside, the goal for the immediate future is to crack the 900 images on Alamy mark within the next few weeks ... only about 50 images to go !

Alamy Keywords and keywording

Anyone who thinks they can just add and then forget about their keywords with stock is fooling themselves. Every time I check 'Your Images' on Alamy I always end up discovering words or phrases that were initially left out. And you know what one of the biggest mistakes is ? Yep, it's plurals. Even if the image doesn't have more than one of whatever, the plural version might just be a commonly accepted description or phrase used for that subject. And don't forget those American spelling variations either. Or even commonly accepted wrong spellings for certain words.

Alamy Sales - stock photography

Quite a bit of activity on the stock front this past month or so. January rounded out with two more editorial RM sales via Alamy, again, engineering and automotive mechanical images going to US publishers. Also managed to get a set of endemic Western Australian flora images up to Garden Picture Library and am currently preparing the next set for Adams Picture Library. Zooms and views at Alamy seem OK, but stock has now become a monster ...

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.

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.

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.

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.

Alamy sale for the environment

Just discovered that one of my Alamy sales last year was used for an on-line Direct Science report with a clear message re' the environment and destruction of our native bush. Peter Garret, if you're reading my blog, please follow this link and take note.
Developers like Peet & Co, Landcorp, as well as the politicians about to sign off on the Moore River, Bells Rapids and Alkimos, should read this too.

Avon Valley Bells Rapids

Some of our recent images from Bells Rapids and elsewhere are going up onto the Create09 website today. Have a peek !