Calm Photos

Greater Dayton Advertising Association Professional Development Series Featuring David Esrati

On Thursday, July 17th, the Greater Dayton Advertising Association is featuring guest speaker David Esrati who will be talking about web 2.0 and his Websiteology program. Non-members can attend the program for just $20 simply by registering on the association’s web site.

David’s half-day course on WordPress blogging for business and his hosting services was the impetus for CalmPhotos.com. David even suggested the URL name for my blog - “Calm Photos” - after considering the visual impact of my nature and landscape photographs.

If you are an Ohio-based photographer (or just about anyone else with a small business) who is serious about marketing yourself and your work on the web, David Esrati’s Websiteology seminar is the first resource you should turn to. I know because after five years of being a full-time photographer I’ve tried just about everything else when it comes to advertising and “getting my work out there.” My best results routinely come from my WordPress blog (what you’re reading right now) and at a fraction of the cost of a typical Yellow Page ad (a total waste of money for commercial and fine art photography).

Want proof ? For the month of June 2008 I had over 91,000 total hits on CalmPhotos.com, with top key search words that referred directly to my site in the following order:

1) photography
2) pictures
3) calm
4) ohio
5) photos
6) dayton
7) pics
photo
9) flickr
10) model
11) landscape
12) nature
13) portraits

Yup, it works.

Jilleen Dennis Photography- Weddings, Models, Business, Art..etc..

I had the pleasure this afternoon of exchanging links with a fellow Ohio photographer, Jilleen Dennis, who is based out of Cleveland. Jilleen obviously has a trained eye for capturing images that clearly show her original, creative vision.

Jilleen offered to make a banner link for my static site, at www.JimCrotty.com. I said “sure, go for it.” Below is her creation, and I have to admit, I really like it. Clean, simple and engaging - thanks to my little test model, Chloe.

Below is the HTML for this link banner. If you are a fellow photographer or owner of a photography based web site, please keep me in mind for a link exchange, on this blog as well as on my “Photography Links” page of my base site.

<a href=”http://www.jimcrotty.com” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://jilleenphoto.com/promotions/jimcrotty.jpg” border=”0″></a>

No debates. No campaign promises. No polls.

Just great photography.

(OK, perhaps an occasional slip into personal politics and some frustrations about trying to do business in Dayton, but still, great photography.)

‘Allo Paris, we have a problem….. - Reuters Blogs

I noticed this story from a posting on the Aperture Users Network blog. It’s a bit of a long read, but be sure to scroll down for the pics.

And I thought I getting stuck in the sand at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in southern Utah was challenging ???

Crowdsourcing: Faces in the Crowd: Interview Series Part I

I picked-up this article by way of a fellow Photodoto.com contributor who recently posted the link on the site. The article is an interview with a stock photographer who has made a pretty decent living with just her work that has sold on iStockphoto.com.

I too sell an occasional image license via my portfolio listed with iStockphoto, however, I’m not a mass uploader of images nor do I hold-out any hope that this venue will add any real $$$’s to the revenue stream of Picture Ohio, LLC. I like to keep a little bit more profitable control over my most popular images that are purchased for stock licensing, either directly or by way of my portfolio listed with Alamy.

What I submit to iStockphoto has more to do with my own curiosity as to what is accepted and what will sell, and I only like to submit those images which I think may have a niche market versus wide appeal.

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Kathleen Connally’s Photoblog - Landscape Photography :: A Walk Through Durham Township, Pennsylvania

Today’s image is a perfect example as to why I consider Kathleen Connally’s photography and photo blog to be amongst the best on the web.

Kathleen also clearly illustrates the point I continue to emphasize when I write, give talks and conduct presentations for other photographers and photography enthusiasts.

The best photographs are often created in and around those places we call home, most often right outside front and back doors.

So many amateurs get caught-up in the thinking that one must travel to an exotic or touristy location or national park in order to capture images that captivate audiences with a sense of awe and wonder. This is a mistaken (and often costly) assumption that ranks right up there with “I must have the biggest lens and the camera with the highest megapixel sensor.”

The most important tool in a successful photographer’s arsenal of gear lies within his or her own head, and is the one which is most often neglected, that being the artistic vision that must be cherished, nurtured, developed and put to optimal use. And the one place where that vision is most effective is quite literally in our own backyards.

Flickr has been a great site to use for sharing and promoting photography. There is a wide-range of abilities and experience displayed on flickr, and also quite a few editors and art designers who browse through the photo sets looking for new talent and original images.

I recently used a neat, little online tool over at http://www.netomer.de/flickrtools/inspector/.

This site calculates a total score from all of a user’s images posted on flickr, based on number of views, number of images and number of comments. My flickr score was 2440, which I think is pretty good.

Chris Humphreys: Essence

I’m not a wedding photographer and I don’t intend on becoming one, at least not in the near future. But through my work I am exposed (no pun intended) to the wedding work of many very talented photographers who are the top players in this field, both locally and nationally. I would say that the work of Chris Humphreys rates right up there with the very best. He also has a great blog where I offers insight and advice that can easily apply to all areas of photography, whether commercial, model, editorial or fine art nature and landscape. Chris also serves as an excellent example of how success can be achieved when the artist stays true to his or her craft and talents and never loses sight of his or her passion.

Perhaps someday I will make the leap and test the waters with weddings, but not today. Those photographers who succeed in this area develop a systematic approach to this type of “unique” client, clearly communicating with the customer and establishing some clear ground rules regarding pricing, services, image use, approach, style of work, expectations, etc. way before the first frame is shot. It also takes a bit of a tough skin and patience working such a highly charged, emotional event. After a few bad experiences (which inevitably happens with wedding photography) it’s easy to develop a cynical attitude toward the wedding client. But the successful wedding photographer - such as Chris Humphreys - moves past those experiences, learns and still stays true to his or her vision and what it is that he or she can deliver in the way of images and service that can not be found elsewhere.

January 18, 2000 - The day had started with a blessed sighting of a Bald Eagle, just outside of Kanab, Utah, and ended with a Chevy Tahoe stuck knee-deep in sand in Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. But as I’m fond of saying, all was well that ended well.

It’s amazing how just one day of experiences can provide so many lessons, mistakes and images that can impact all the other days to follow.
As a photographer I’m fortunate enough to have captured and gathered a growing library of images that remind me of those days, along with some notes in my archived daily pages from my Franklin Planner.

This image is a perfect example. I photographed this small slot canyon in the Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness Area in northern Arizona, just below the state border with Utah. It was taken late in the morning of the January day, somewhere near the Wire Pass Trail. The technical specs behind the shot include a Canon Elan IIe EOS 35mm film camera, a Vivitar 28mm wide angle, an old consumer-brand tripod and Fuji Velvia transparency film. But what is more important is how I came upon this image and the story behind it.

Please allow me a moment to set the stage with some additional background information. At that time in my life I was living in Salt Lake City, Utah with my wife Kristie and our oldest daughter Emma, who at that time was only 10 months old (today, April 10, 2007 is her 8th birthday). I was working as an account manager for a helthcare company that provided Employee Assistance Programs. It was my job to visit client groups throughout Utah and conduct on-site training programs that came with the EAP benefit. I was still attempting to make a go of it in the corporate world (a path I still regret going down to this day). However, one of the positive aspects of that job was the opportunity to travel not only throughout the entire state of Utah but in Wyoming, Idah and Montana as well, going through some of the most scenic locations that can be found out west.

That particular day - Tuesday, January 18, 2000 - I was between training programs, one the previous day in Cedar City, and the other the on the following day in St. George. Since I had already made the two-hour drive down from Salt Lake I was given the opportunity to have somewhat of a “open” day, so I jumped on the opportunity to hike and photograph some of the famous slot canyons that dot the remote landscape along the Utah-Arizona border. (more…)