Recall I submitted some photographs to Crestock? Check out how I got on. Man I was surprised at the result, I did learn a lot so it is all good

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One thing that I keep seeing is people whining about more and more newbies joining in and trying to sell their photographs.

This makes me angry.

We are all new once. What is it with people that they have to try to pull the ladder up once they are no longer a beginner? It’s ok for them to start out, ask questions, learn the ropes, but as soon as they have (or think they have) it’s all “no noobs allowed”.

I can only think this is out of fear. They lack confidence in their own ability, they are afraid some new hotshot will take food off their table.

It’s obvious they never see it from the customers point of view.

In my mind customers see a picture they like, that suits their purpose, for a price they can agree to. What’s wrong with that? If the customer is happy that is all that matters. Telling customers they are wrong, that they have no taste and should be paying 100x the price is not a great strategy in my view.

Another industry is suffering from rejecting what the customer wants, the music industry. The writing has been on the wall for a while that DRM is not the solution but still they continue with the “should, ought, demand, enforce” approach.

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Damian and I have just moved DSLRBlog over from Drupal to WordPress software. Hopefully nothing is broken and the experience should now be improved but there might well be some quirks and bugs. Let us know if you find anything broken?

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Two pieces of news that I am very excited about, one of which will explain the lack of posting of late:

First of all I have a new blogging client, crestock.com. This is a great opportunity, they are a wonderful client and it means I get paid for blogging about photography - how cool is that? I still hope to keep this blog going but it might take me a little while to work out which topics should go on which blog. I am sure there is a solution.

Second, I just found out I am going to Mr Strobists London lighting masterclass in May. I am very buzzed about this as I had thought I had missed out. If any of you are going please do say hi

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Have you got what it takes? Take and upload a picture a day for 30 days, starting NOW. More over at Flickr

In an effort to get our shutter mojos working, come join the 2nd annual DP Blogs 30 Day Photo Challenge! Here’s how it works: - Take a picture every day for the month of March (or another month if you want to participate later in the year) - Tag each image with ” 30dayphoto ” - Then post that image to this group so we can all see your work.

If there is enough interest in making this a competition I might sponsor a prize again like last year.

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In a strange twist of fate Strobist Tagged me but I had already done my five things list and tagged him first! So if you are coming over from Strobist (hi!) looking for my five things, go over to my personal blog instead.

If you are not sure what all this is about the idea is you have to reveal five little known facts about yourself then select other bloggers who you would like to see follow you and do the same.

I have been tagged twice, does this mean I get to choose five more victims? Cheeky I know but I am not going to let that stop me … Heh heh heh.

I think Damian and Mark should do this too. To be fair though I should choose people outside DSLRBlog so .. People far more interesting than me who I would like to see five things from: John Koontz, Christopher Frazier, Ken Rockwell, Haje Jan Kamps, Catherine Jamieson

Technorati Tags: strobist, John Koontz, Christopher Frazier, Ken Rockwell, Haje Jan Kamps, Catherine Jamieson

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It took me a while to get around to it but I finally started reading my copy of “Best Business Practices for Photographers“.

It’s a good book and the best thing about it is the author really makes you think. The guy is a bit of an equipment snob but he definitely gives the impression he knows his stuff so perhaps he is a snob with good reason.

I’m not a pro photographer but after starting to read this book I came to a surprising realisation that I don’t think I want to be one. At least not a pro portrait photographer.

Photography for me is a joy. It is something to think about instead of work. The pleasure would quickly disappear I think if it was something I had to do. This is the same reason why DSLRBlog is not updated every day. It’s fun not a chore and I want to keep it that way.

OK, I am sure there are many photographers who absolutely love what they do. I expect also there are quite a few photographers who spent a lot of money and effort into setting up only to find they are bored with constant samey portraits and weddings. That is what I am worried would be in my future. I still think it would be cool to do but only if I didn’t have to in order to pay the mortgage.

The picture painted in the book is not fun. And the future for portrait photographers does not look a rosy one. It doesn’t seem like the right direction for a career change.

There are other routes to making a photography hobby into a paying activity, from stock photography to teaching, I guess I should explore those areas instead.

Have I got the wrong idea? Is portrait photography actually both fun and profitable?

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autumn trees

Photo by chrisgarrett.

I love the colours you see this time of year. There is something cosy and atmospheric about Autumn (”fall” for those across the sea).

Each season has its own challenges and benefits. For me the main benefit, and challenge, of this season is the subdued light and dark, rich colours. Autumn colours, in the shade, at sunset, handheld. Not necessarily a recipe for success but I love the results when I manage it.

I snapped this one in my first shoot for a very long while. The mission was to capture an autumnal feel without cliche. Of course, along with puppies, kittens, sunsets etc, ever flickr photostream at this time of year needs pictures of leaves and mine is no exception. It was only by chance I missed getting a puppy, in leaves at sunset.

As usual the main tips apply, shoot in raw for the best chance of getting a good result in post and pay careful attention to your histogram. One of these days I am going to remember to bring along my tripod which would have been very useful to extend my shutter duration.

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Well I’ve been doing this now for about 5 weeks and lots of things have happened in that time. I would like to think that I have now developed a style, a friend commented yesterday that they could recognise one of my gig images just by looking at it.

I’ve met some fantastic people and bands along the way. I now sit with the bands and drink with them, the majority of them are just really friendly people who play in bands, there’s not much of a barrier between yourselves and them. I have found myself gravitating towards the support bands, who haven’t necessarily had that many gig photographs taken. One band I loved were Hip Parade, a band from Glasgow, you couldn’t meet more pleasant upbeat people. I have to say the moob cards have been a godsend.

Last weeks gig was strange. The band are called “The View” and are becoming a quite a big thing in England. They are currently at no 16 in the UK singles chart and played Jools Hollands show on the weekend. Things had started to get a bit out of hand before The View even hit the stage. The bands manager was not happy with the barriers, he wasn’t happy with the beer throwing, I don’t think he was too happy that he was missing Coronation Street and he was not happy with me using any images outside of the venues site. Their manager told me categorically that if I used any images that I would need his “express permission”, anyway he didn’t make me sign a disclaimer so the images are mine! I usually leg it out of the pit after 3 songs, this wasn’t going to happen, I was penned in by about 6 bouncers, so I spent the next half hour picking off a few more shots and getting pretty good at dodging what I hoped was spent alcohol.

This hobby is starting to pay some dividends. I was on the guest list for
the cooper Temple Clause in Manchester last night and I got to sit with the band and have a beer, these guys are one of my favorite bands so it seemed a little surreal. Quite bizarrely I am taking photos of an evening with Darren Gough and I have negotiated a swanky meal for two with the wife out of it. I’ll also be photographing the remaining members of T-Rex in a couple of weeks, which I have been told will be paid work. I’ve also had images credited in online local magazines and also another printed magazine to promote the venue (and hopefully keep the night going). I’m also in talks with someone who runs a magazine, hopefully this will give inroads to other venues.

I have to say I am now hankering for more lenses, but these 2.8 and below lenses are not cheap in the least. I’m hoping that any paid work will simply pay for better lenses. It’s still a great hobby, and I don’t think I will progress any further than that, I’m just having fun and I think that’s as much as you can ask.

The image above is from the view set, check out the rest of my images at www.chimpola.com

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I shot my second gig last week at Lucroum. This time around it was my one of my favourite bands - The Cooper Temple Clause. I think I was more nervous this time around due to the fact that this was a band that I have been following for a while.

I got some decent shots in from the support bands, Vib Gyor and This Et Al. It seems that the lights aren’t half as good for the supports as they are for the main bands.

The earplugs that I bought really helped, they cut out all the low level noise and I could hear the bands perfectly, I was surprised at just how loud things were when I stood at the back of the hall without them in.

The light was great for The Coopers. I managed to get the ISO down to 800 and the shutter speed up to 160th. This config is almost unheard of at these club type venues, so I was well chuffed. The photo you can see here I almost lost. I was really proud of the image and I was showing my daughter it on the LCD screen of my D70 when horror of horrors I hit the trash can button twice - why I cannot say! The SANDisk recovery software worked really well and got me it back, so if you have rescuer pro that came with your CF then keep it somewhere safe.

Chris has also sorted me a blog server and I now have my own domain (Cheers for all the help Chris) at Chimpola.com

I’ve also sorted myself out some more moo cards which are really nice. An added bonus is that the venue now has flyers with one of my images on and a credit at the bottom with my name and flickr site on it!

This week is Little Ze, I’ll keep you updated!

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