There is an allure to shooting on the tracks. The symmetry of the lines of the tracks contrasted against the perpendicular lines of the railroad ties underneath provide a perfect backdrop for shooting a model or a couple.

However, shooting along railroad tracks can be dangerous as well. You would think that you would hear or feel a train as it thundered down the tracks, but every year people are killed as they fail to get out of the way of an oncoming train.

On October 15, 2011, three teenage girls were out shooting pictures along the railroad tracks just outside of the entrance to Covered Bridge Canyon, in Spanish Fork, Utah. Two of the girls were sisters and the other a close friend. There are two tracks that run parallel and apparently, the girls saw one oncoming train and stepped between the tracks, but either didn’t see the other train coming from the other direction, or were blown around by the force of the speeding trains and were hit. The news mentioned that trains typically have loads that extend ~3-4 feet from the tracks they ride on so there wasn’t much room between the two trains.

Two of the girls died immediately, and the other girl died in the hospital a few days later of her injuries.

I can’t even begin to feel the pain of the parents, especially the family that lost 2 daughters from the incident.

In my travels, I have driven along Highway 6 that parallels those tracks and have seen the Covered Bridge that marks the entrance to the canyon. It is beautiful there and with the fall colors that are at their brightest, the backdrop would have been gorgeous. Indeed the allure of shooting along the tracks was too great for these teenage girls who never suspected the dangers associated with their actions.

A reminder to my fellow photographers. It is very dangerous to shoot on the railroad tracks or to be around a speeding train. They can’t stop. I have heard that it would take a mile or more to stop a fully loaded freight train in emergency conditions. There is too much inertia behind those huge engines that slow down a train’s stopping capabilities. In addition, railroad tracks are considered private property and it is actually trespassing to be on the tracks at any time.

The dangers also exist when stopped at a railroad crossing. I have a friend who lost his son when he decided to drive around a railroad crossing barrier that was down because he thought he could make it before the train arrived. It was devastating for my friend and his family.

Don’t take chances that would impact you or the lives of the models that you shoot with. I don’t think I could live with myself if I was shooting a model who was hurt or killed as a result of taking a risk.

My thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of these 3 teenage girls. It was a tragic accident and one that didn’t have to happen!

Just be careful out there!

I met Christine Wolfe at a Photoshop Glamour Retouching Course earlier this year.  The course she taught was a great class!  She taught principles and steps that applied to an image will produce amazing results. She also teaches how to quickly edit an image in a way that brings out maximum results in the quickest amount of time. As a photographer, speed is critical. Income comes from shooting, not editing. So learning easy photoshop steps that can be applied quickly maximizes results and revenues.

In the course, Christine walks through the steps in photoshop at a pace that matched the experience level of the photographers in the class. The class size was limited to a small group of photographers to ensure understanding of the concepts and the atmosphere was very casual and relaxed.

The glamour retouching class that she offers focuses on:

• achieving smooth skin without blurring (we must have pores!)
• glamour skin “gleam”
• liquifying/body contouring
• muscle definition
• dodging and burning
• glamour touches for eyes, hair, lashes
• strategic sharpening
• vignettes
• color adjustment
• contrast
• brightening
• strategic lighting
• color correction (make your pictures POP!)
• background clean-up
• object removal
• hair wisps
• tricks with layers
• and more

During the class, Christine demonstrates using many of the images you see in her portfolio and provides plenty of time for Q&A.

At the class, you receive a booklet full of Photoshop tips and tricks as well as all of the step-by-step techniques and Photoshop tool settings taught in the class. This leaves you able to watch and absorb the concepts rather than scribbling furious notes during the class. The booklet is accompanied by a disc of the Superstar action set which will help make your images pop with just the press of a button.

You can also submit your own images that Christine will retouch using the techniques taught in the class live in front of the class participants.

The techniques she teaches render beautiful results with ease and speed and without sacrificing quality. She teaches a start to finish workflow that anyone can learn and immediately put to use.

I have kept in touch with Christine and she is always very friendly and willing to help answer questions and is also available as a glamour retouch specialist if you have work needing to be done.

Christine has learned and mastered these techniques over the years that she worked and trained some of the best in the industry at Playboy and other companies. She specializes in digital enhancement with a focus on achieving realistic results quickly. Her resume includes education ranging from private lessons, to sold out international seminars, to a guest teaching spot at a prestigious University in Philadelphia. Christine is also a recognized member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals and her company, CRWmedia is accredited by the Better Business Bureau.

The CRWmedia seminar series began in 2008 and has reached hundreds of people throughout the United States and Canada.  The seminar is currently taught in 25+ cities each year with online classes available and DVD instruction releasing in 2011.

Photoincome.com is a proud partner (and customer) of CRWmedia and has been able to partner with Christine to offer a $30 discount to attend one of her popular live seminars taught in a city near you.  Simply add the coupon code “IMAGE30″ to save $30 when registering online www.crwmedia.com.

Check out www.crwmedia.com for more information, a list of upcoming Seminar locations and dates, and view some amazing before and after photos that demonstrate the techniques taught in her classes.

This is a must attend seminar for any photographer interested in glamour photography and making your images amazing!

It is also a must attend seminar for any photographer that is interested in improving their retouching skills to improve their final product whether it be for portrait, stock, family pictures, or even product and landscape photos.  It is really that good.

People are mad.  People are disgusted.  Politics have always been a dirty business, but this is different.  People are fed up with what is going on in the government.  There are incumbents trying to stay in their positions of power.  There are massively unpopular policies.  There are revelations about massive government salaries, pensions, and kickbacks.  The negative campaigns are filled with smear tactics that ruin the reputations of good people trying to do the right thing.  Most of all – there is waste.

My tax dollars (and I pay a lot of taxes) are being used to fund programs and policies that I don’t agree with and our leaders don’t seem to care.  The spending is out of control!

The Tea Party movement is gaining continuous momentum because there are a lot of people that feel the same way I do – disgusted with the partisan politics – voting straight party lines – refusing to balance the budget – taking more and more and more of my money in the form of taxes and fees.  Just stop!  Do the right thing!  For crying out loud – stop the out of control spending!  We can’t afford it!

In the midst of all the madness, there is opportunity.

There are tons of people that feel the same way I do.  They write blogs.  They write articles.  They write for magazines.  They write books.  They even film commercials and documentaries.  And in all of these publication mediums they need pictures that back up what they are trying to say.  Some articles are positive; some are negative.  Some are critical of the current administration policies; some are supportive of those same policies.  Some believe that we need to raise taxes to earn more money to support the government programs; some believe that we should lower taxes to give people the chance to go out and create businesses and jobs to lower the unemployment rate.

Regardless of what political party you agree with, a stock photographers opportunity is to think of the writers and designers.  What do they need?  What are they thinking about?  What message are they trying to deliver and how can you shoot images that can be used to convey those messages.

Here are some stock photography shoot ideas:

• Smiling politicians
• Angry politicians
• Cheering crowds with flags
• Images to do with voting (vote buttons, vote signs, voters standing in line, ballot boxes, electronic vote displays, dangling chads (thank you to Florida for that idea), I voted stickers, vote republican signs, vote democrat signs, etc.)
• Things to do with the Tea Party (Kick the bum out signs, historical dress, etc.)
• Patriotism – flags, capital buildings, flag shirts, etc.
• Political parties (elephants, donkeys, etc.)
• and more – much, much more!

There are thousands of ideas. Think like a buyer and shoot what sells!

When I wrote this post, I searched istockphoto under the keywords “election” AND “politics” and there are 2,187 results.  In the first 100 results there is a good combination of both vector images and photographs, with the highest download a photograph of a paper with boxes on it with a closeup of red pencil and a checked box.  This image had been downloaded over 1,300 times.  The second highest downloaded image was a vector illustration of a vote button – red, white and blue with stars and stripes that had been downloaded over 1,300 times as well.

Check out istockphoto’s portfolio on “elections” AND “politics” to evaluate where you can add your own creative stock images to those already available.

Flickr image courtesy of Andrew McFarlane

I appreciated that as I am a fan of the Antiques Roadshow!  Now I am even more of a fan!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fIE560ibjA

The book Digital Stock Photography – How to Shoot and Sell is an excellent addition to a Stock Photographer’s library. I went to my local library and found that it wasn’t carried in the libraries collection, so I did an Inter-library loan (ILL) and within a couple of weeks, the book was sent to me from a library in Colorado.

The book is a comprehensive introduction to the world of Digital Stock Photography.

Contents:
1. The Business of Digital Stock
2. How to Shoot for Stock – Style and Concept
3. Equipment for Capturing and Scanning Images
4. Shooting What’s Needed
5. Twenty-five Stock Assignments you can Shoot
6. Preparing the Shoot
7. Editing and Post Production in the Digital Work Flow
8. Running a Stock Photography Business
9. Marketing your Stock
10. Finding a Stock Agency or Portal
11. Negotiating Prices
12. Copyright – What Do We Own
13. Model Releases and Business Forms
14. Appendix 1: Bibliography
15. Appendix 2: Organizations
16. Appendix 3: Workshops
17. Appendix 4: Promotions/Source Books
18. Appendix 5: Manufactures

The chapter on Style and Concept provided good thought provoking shoot concepts. How do you capture togetherness as a family in an image. How do you shoot stress? How do you shoot teamwork?

There was also a good section on shooting symbols and what things mean (i.e. the topic of cooperation could be represented by images of teams, a barn raising, shaking hands, etc.)

My favorite portion of the book was the 25 Stock Assignments I can shoot. Each assignment contains the category, purpose, and subject of the image. It contains variation and how to frame the shots, what models are needed, props, ethnicities, and location. Each shot includes what things to avoid and several general notes about each shoot.

As I looked through the assignments, there are good assignments that if shot completely would result in a solid selection of stock images that can make some money. Some of the general subjects include Elderly with technology, Families, and Health Care. All of these are great topics for stock downloads.

In the preparing the shoot section it talks about arranging for models, asking permission from businesses to shoot at a location, offering incentives to get permission for the shoot, creating a storyboard, working with a Production Coordinator, building a prop closet so you have the props you need for multiple shoots, even sending a thank you note to the models after the shoot.

The section on Releases and forms contains sample Model releases, Property Releases, Stock Picture Delivery Memo, Stock Shoot Estimate Worksheet, Stock Photography invoice, and a Stock Photo Request Form.

All in all this is a great book and highly recommended for those looking to get into the business of Stock Photography.

I found that Geology.com was using my Hunter’s Panel – Indian Petroglyph Stock Photography Image on their page talking about Petroglyph Photos

Indian Petroglyph Stock Image

This image was used on a page showing various samples of indian petroglyphs from around the world. My Hunters Panel image is about 3/4 of the way down the page…closer to the bottom.

The Hunter’s Panel petroglyph is located in Nine Mile Canyon about 2.5 hours outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. Nine mile canyon literally has thousands of indian petroglyphs that were created by the Freemont indians. The Hunter’s Panel is a famous Petroglyph towards the end of the canyon. It is an amazing visit to drive the canyon. If you look on the canyon walls, there are literally thousands of petroglyphs that depict life for the freemont indians. Someone has taken the time to mark on the road many places where there are petroglyphs located on the canyon walls. The best way to enjoy this canyon would be to take several days in the spring or fall and walk the length of the canyon with your camera, gps, and notebook enjoying the indian art and reliving the history represented on the canyon walls.

Feel free to visit http://www.istockphoto.com/legacyimagesphotography to see my other stock images available.

My Salt Lake City Skyline at Night stock photography image was used by US News and World Reports in their article on America’s Best Places to Work.  Specifically, the Salt Lake City Skyline Stock image is available to be seen here: http://www.usnews.com/money/careers/slideshows/americas-best-places-to-find-a-job/7

I drove around the city and finally found a parking space close to the city center where the cathedral dominates the landscape. I walked around the building just amazed at the sheer size of the building. The architecture is awe inspiring, especially considering the fact that construction started in the year 1248.

Inside, the sun was streaming through the hundreds of stained glass windows, featuring different scenes from the Savior’s life, the Virgin Mary, or images of the various Catholic Saints.  The floor was inlaid with coats of arms and other images.

Inside the altar of the cathedral is very simple, but ornate with the backdrop of impressive stained glass windows within the nave of the cathedral.

I can’t get enough of this cathedral.  Every time I come to Cologne, I have to spend time at this awe inspiring building.  Sunday, I had a chance to listen to the organ playing and echoing through the building.  The acoustics are fantastic!

The first time I visited, I shot several images both inside and outside of the building.  I went across the bridge over the Rhein River and froze for 3 hours while I shot this scene.  I uploaded it to an online portfolio and it was featured as a showcase image.  About 6 months later, I got contacted from a poster dealer in Germany that wanted to publish this image as a poster and pay me royalties.  Up until this time, I had only made money portrait sessions or family pictures.

This one image changed my whole outlook for the business of photography.

Check them out and let me know what you think.

I like the first one the best. The others are a little abstract, but they will work for the creative minds looking for something a little different.

Interestingly, the first image that was downloaded from my micro stock portfolio at http://www.istockphoto.com/legacyimagesphotography was the second image.