Advertising - how do I get the word out ???

Being a photographer in today's market has its ups and downs. When the economy goes up, business goes up. When the economy goes down, well the first thing to get cut in many companies if marketing and advertising. What does that mean for freelance photographers like me. It means that we are being asked to do more for less. Clients are buying more stock, Istock photo sales have grown and I'm looking for new and more affordable ways to reach my audience. I currently list and advertise on a majority of the industry sites including Blackbook.com, PDN Photo Serve, ASMP Find a Photographer, LinkedIn, Flickr, Le Book, Comm Arts and many many more. This is not only expensive but extreemly time consuming to keep all the images updated and profile info up to par. Here's to looking for new ways to reach audiences who will buy what I'm selling.
Have a great Monday.

Love ~ Light ~ Life

Active Seniors

I'm in Las Vegas for the next few weeks shooting for stock photography. I'm currently with Corbis and in talks with Jupiter. I was previously with Photoshelter until they closed their stock collection yesterday. The news that they were discontinuing their stock photography product and sticking with their personal archive product came as a harsh reality check for me. I believe that stock photography can fulfill many different needs for both the consumer and client as well as the photographer. Stock and stock sales are a directly affected by the economy. The rule of thumb on stock is the more you have in the more chances you have to get an image licensed and make some royalties off of it. The other side to stock photography is that clients are now asking too much, turning to stock much more now then ever before. Clients are asking much more of stock shooters and agencies. Here are some of my most recent images created for stock. I focused on active seniors 55+ and real people not models, doing real things. I'm very pleased with this so far and looking forward to shooting more for this series. Not only has it given me a chance to create some strong fresh stock, I've met some incredible people and have some new additions to my portfolio.

Shooting on a Sailboat

The opportunity came up for me to do a spec shoot for a luxury perfume client and I jumped on it. It involved a shot of a woman on a sailboat. Now I live in CA and I should be able to find a sailboat easily. I called everyone I knew, I even called friends of friends who I didn't know.
I called sailing clubs and sailboat rental places. Looking for someone who would let me borrow and shoot on their boat for a few hours with a crew and no location fee. A friend of mine suggested I go to the marina and ask around. At first I thought no way, no one would give up their boat on such a beautiful weekend. I've always operated under the idea that it can never hurt to ask, and that you just never know unless you ask. With that mentality I headed to the Redondo Marina. There I found some nice boating enthusiasts who were extremely knowledgeable and knew exactly who I could contact to see about shooting on their sailboat. They gave me a number of a guy named Dan, who's boat was something of a legend in the marina. Come to find out the boat has been photographed for many different things from Playboy calenders to clothing catalogues. I gave Dan a call, and he was sailing on his way to Catalina. I let him know what I was looking to do and he said sure to come on by on Monday and shoot. His boat broke down on the way back from Catalina, so we were unable to do actual sailing shots however we did get some good shots on the boat while it was in the slip. Don't mind the pine trees in the background nothing a little Photoshop can't retouch out.
Lets hope the client loves it and goes with a license. If not, this shoot when edited and retouched will make a great addition to my portfolio.