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Advertising & Hair stylist photo shoot – American Crew
Posted on September 22, 2011 | No Comments
Recent photoshoot for a client of the male grooming / hair product manufacturers American Crew, great fun on the shoot, awesome model and excellent hair styling. Thanks to Hannah for the hairstyling, Jamie for the modelling, and Siobhan for her studio assistance, much appreciated as ever. I’ll have a few more portraits online in the next month or so – they all seem to have come at once! Photographs taken on location in Norwich, Norfolk UK with my trusty Elinchrom setup.
For the techies – photo people:
I was totally blown away with the sharpness in this photo from the Canon 24-70mm 2.8L (Combined with the Canon 5Dmk2) – Cracking lens it really is, especially for a workhorse lens! Click on the thumbnail pic to have a look at photo at 100%. Love it.
Tags: advertising > commercial > editorial > fashion > portraits
Incredibly beautiful Cambodian temples wrapped in Banyan roots : Angkor, Cambodia
Posted on September 21, 2011 | No Comments
I can’t really describe the beauty of seeing the root systems and vines wrapping around the ancient temples at the Angkor Complex in Cambodia, I hope you can see from the photographs how incredible it was to be there, I wish I could be back there today, a magical place. Please click on the photographs to view larger, and to see the full album please click here
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View more: Cambodia Photography Gallery
Tags: cambodia > Travel
A free $5 Zinio Digital Magazine discount code for my readers!
Posted on August 11, 2011 | No Comments
I’ve got a little something to all my many awesome blog readers, facebook fans and twitter followers, courtesy of Find Digital Magazines and Zinio. So as you probably know I’m a massive fan of reading digital magazines on my iPad & Mac, and have managed to secure some $5 Zinio discount vouchers JUST for you guys, these aren’t universal codes, they are specifically for you. I’ve only got a limited number and when they are gone they are gone.
These $5 discount voucher can be used to purchase or get money off ANY digital magazine and digital magazine subscription, whether you’re in the UK or the US it doesn’t matter. If you’ve not tried reading digital magazines before here’s your chance! You don’t have to buy a photography magazine, you can buy anything from the 20,000+ magazine selection. You can download magazines to your Mac, PC, iPad or Android.
How do I get my voucher?!
1. Sign up to my photography mailing list below
2. Either ‘Like’ or ‘Follow’ me:
‘Like’ me on facebook here: Chris Ridley Photography
or: Follow me on twitter: www.twitter.com/SquidleyRidley
3. Wait for your code to be emailed to you and then go spend it!
As soon as I’ve received notification that you have signed up and ‘liked’ or followed me on twitter, I’ll email you your personalised $5 discount code as soon as I can. Then all you have to do is follow the steps in the email I’ll send you to get your discount. Bear in mind I’m personally sending these emails so bear with me! The vouchers expire by th end of the year.
There are squillions of magazine available in pretty much every category you can think of. You can use them on your iPad, Mac, Pc or Android.
Photographs of the Killing fields & Choeung Ek – Unbelievable mass graves
Posted on July 18, 2011 | No Comments
It’s hard to put into words trying to explain that background to the unbelievable and tragic murder of over a quarter of all Cambodians between 1975 and 1979 under Khmer Rouge regime.
“Estimates of the total number of deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies, including disease and starvation, range from 1.7 to 2.5 million out of a population of around 8 million.”
We visited Choeung Ek, one of the mass and open graves where over 17,000 innocent people were brutally tortured and killed, with many of the these people coming from Tuol Sleng, a school taken over and used as a torture prison. In these photographs you can see the tower of over 5000 human skulls in the commemorative stupa, as well as bones, teeth and clothing still littering the ground. Everywhere you walked there were bones sticking up through the soil and around your feet. I have also added photographs of the S-21 torture prison (now cleaned up and opened for tourism), as well as for me the most chilling photographs of them all, portraits of the victims. The Khmer Rouge kept data and photographs of everybody they murdered and a large number of those photographs are now on display in Tuol Sleng, Cambodia.
Skulls at Choeung Ek – View Larger
Some of the torture rooms of S-21. View Larger
Bones and clothes at the surface around our feet. View Larger
Teeth scattered on the ground. View Larger
The Stupa of 5000 skulls. View Larger
Photographs of the murdered Cambodian people. View Larger
Photographs of the murdered Cambodian people. View Larger
If you would like to view these images much larger, or download any of these images – please head over to my Travel photography of Cambodia online store.
Photos: The beautiful golden light in Cambodia – A magical start to our temple hunting
Posted on July 15, 2011 | No Comments
On arrival to our B&B in Siem Reap we were told that every guest is welcome to a free massage…. I’m not the biggest lover of massages but decided I should probably oblige. The massage consisted entirely of a mildly rotund Cambodian lady jumping on my back and digging her heels in for a full 15 minutes, supposedly the ‘pain’ is good for you. Hmmnn. Anyway, the next morning we visited the glistening Angkor National Museum to help get me up to speed with the history. It was an excellent museum, much better than expected and it got us even more excited about exploring the temples the next day. We were not disappointed, after a 20 minute bone shaking Tuk Tuk ride down a number of dusty tracks we finally got to the first temple, which was totally deserted and bathed in dusty golden sunlight with only the sounds of little kids running around. Magical.
Bakong Temple – Angkor Archaeological Park, Cambodia Click here to view this photo larger
Bakong Temple, Angkor, Cambodia Click here to view this photo larger
Bakong Temple, Angkor, Cambodia Click here to view this photo larger
Bakong Temple, Angkor, Cambodia Click here to view this photo larger
Rolous Group, Angkor, Cambodia Click here to view this photo larger
Lolei Temple – Angkor Complex, Cambodia Click here to view this photo larger
If you would like to view these images much larger, or if you would be interested in buying a print, or downloading any of these images – please head over to my Travel photography of Cambodia online store. Thank you.
Photos: First days, our journey into Cambodia. Beautiful. Awesome. Amazing.
Posted on July 14, 2011 | No Comments
Can you tell how excited I am to be finally writing about our journey into Cambodia? My wife (it still feels weird saying that – we got married in Sept ‘10!) travelled to Cambodia a few years ago and she has been obsessed with the country every since. We had it in the back of our minds that we wanted to try and find a few weeks to travel through Cambodia at some point on our round the world adventure, but we had no firm plans to until we got to this side of Asia – how could we resist. It had a lot to live up to as we had been to so many amazing places so far and twinned with Siobhán’s excitement up to this point I was pretty intrigued. We took an overland bus from Ho Chi Min city in Vietnam over the border straight to Phnom Pehn, passing through the customs & border control was pretty easy with just a couple of short queues, a couple of stamps, a quick bite to eat and we were on our way. I think it took around 8 hours or so on the usual pot holed, take your life into your own hands, scary roads.
We found a place to stay pretty easily and opting for a place with good reviews, the only downside was the remaining rooms left came without windows. Still, the service was great, the people were very friendly and we were located on the doorstep of some excellent restaurants. On waking the next morning we a heard lot of commotion in the street below as further up the road there was a rather large building on fire, causing the whole world to come out and watch as the fire engines arrived. Still, concerned as they all were, everybody was still smiling. Cambodians seem to just love smiling, I loved it already. The next morning we arranged our bus to Siem Reap, which was a 5hr 315km journey North, heading anti-clockwise around the massive Tonle Sap lake. Temples here we come!
Street scene in Phnom Penh, Cambodia – View Larger
Dusty tracks the other side of Siem Reap.
If you would like to view these images much larger, or if you would be interested in buying a print, or downloading any of these images – please head over to my Travel photography of Cambodia online store. Thank you.
Vietnam Photos: Street scenes & the 1200 Miles from Hanoi to Saigon
Posted on July 13, 2011 | No Comments
Hello again, I’ve hardly posted at all in the last few months and I’m dreadfully sorry, I will aim to get back on track asap! Right, back to the wonderful Hanoi in Northern Vietnam. We loved Hanoi, even though it was pretty chilly compared to where we had just come from… so we spent the first couple of days trawling the shops trying to find warm jumpers, hoodies and trousers. The street scenes were just amazing, everywhere you looked there was a visual feast which sometimes became a problem when you stopped and stared at something too long, briefly forgetting the mild peril from the swirling motorbike chaos whizzing around you.
We slowly travelled South from Hanoi to Ho Chi Min City, stopping for a few days at a number of places along the way. (talked about in previous blog posts) We travelled through Vietnam on the crazy buses and trains, eventually covering the bum-numbing 1200 miles to Saigon. We explored Ho Chi Min (Saigon) a few nights before we decided to find a bus heading towards Cambodia to continue our journey. Found an excellent Indian restaurant on our last night, sitting next to a table of lads who claimed had ‘just been scammed out of thousands of dollars’ by ‘buying’ motorbikes (Later found out they were playing off two dealers from two rival gangs and it went a little pear shaped).. all sounded pretty dodgy to us.. but the food was amazing.
Street scene in Hanoi, North Vietnam – View Larger
Bird Cage hanging in the streets of Hanoi – View Larger
Street scene in Hanoi, North Vietnam – View Larger
Interesting looking poster – Hanoi, Vietnam – View Larger
If you would like to view these images much larger, or if you would be interested in buying a print, or downloading any of these images – please head over to my stock photography of Vietnam online store. Thank you.
Tags: Travel > vietnam
Visting the beautiful Ha Long Bay in Vietnam. A UNESCO disaster en route
Posted on May 23, 2011 | No Comments
Ha Long Bay, Northern Vietnam. I don’t know where to start with Ha Long Bay, I really don’t. We took a long and scary bus ride from Hanoi to Ha Long, which took about 4 hours. 4 hours of fear. The driving in Vietnam is just incredible, I’ve never felt closer to death than when travelling on Vietnamese roads, I’m shuddering just remembering it. Ha Long Bay is an amazing series of towering limestone islets, surrounded by a dark green expanse of water underneath winter’s grey skies. Amazing, bleak, cold and massive. The day we visited a tourist boat sank in the night, killing a few people sleeping on board. The level of professionalism, and the attention to (any form) of safety was shocking aboard the boats, not a care in the world. It’s a massive operation, supposedly up to 1000 boats trawling around are there at once in high season. They churn the tourists through whilst dropping a few streaks of diesel and a couple of bags of rubbish in the water. A UNESCO site. What exactly do UNESCO do? Put a place on the map and watch it rot? Nevertheless a beautiful place, but unfortunately not one that will be enjoyed forever. I hope I’m wrong. A few other thoughts on Ha Long here.
View Larger
If you would like to view these images much larger, or if you would be interested in buying a print, or downloading any of these images – please head over to my stock photography of Vietnam online store. Thank you.
Visiting the bullet scarred remains of Hue, Vietnam – The 1968 Tet offensive
Posted on May 23, 2011 | No Comments
Hello again, I’m sorry I haven’t written anything in the last month, things became rather hectic. Anyway, I am back on track now and have lots more photography to show you over the next few weeks. So, back to Vietnam visiting the interesting city and citadel of Hue on the East of Vietnam. (View on map) There is a massive amount of Vietnam war history here, during the 1968 Tet offensive there was heavy fighting in Hue, especially around the Citadel which you can see in some of my photographs below. Further into the city we visited the Imperial Enclosure or Forbidden Purple City, which is where the Koi were situated. The third photograph down you can clearly see the bullet holes in the solid wall, still left as a reminder of the war. Battle scars everywhere, twinned with recent ‘restoration‘ of the city, pictured in the gaudy red of the new paintwork.
View Larger – Shoal of Koi in the citadel, Hue.
View larger – The walls of the citadel in Hue
View larger – Bullet holes in the walls
If you would like to view these images much larger, or if you would be interested in buying a print, or downloading any of these images – please head over to my stock photography of Vietnam online store. Thank you.
Tags: south east asia > vietnam > vietnam war
The distinctive yellow stained walls of Hội An – Vietnam photos
Posted on April 19, 2011 | No Comments
The day bus from Hội An was an interesting (read: white knuckle) experience, Vietnamese driving is a little scary to say the least, but fortunately we arrived in one piece. As mentioned in our other travel blog, it’s kind of like walking into a film set, somewhat fake but charming at the same time. Some photographs for you today (I apologise for the text heavy last couple of posts) will hopefully bring us back to where we were before the diversion.
The main street in Hoi An which (near the waterfront) is predominately yellow, the faded colours creating a pretty backdrop – almost hiding the sheer magnitude of tourists.
View larger The Yellow stained walls of Hội An
Blue shutters and yellow walls in Hội An View larger
The hypnotic incense coils that burn consistently for a month View larger
If you would like to view these images much larger, or if you would be interested in buying a print, or downloading any of these images – please head over to my stock photography of Vietnam online store. Thank you.
Examples of Rights Managed (RM) photography pricing & costs, same image, different usage.
Posted on April 19, 2011 | No Comments
In my last article, Why do Royalty Free (RF) images look like a bargain and why do Rights Managed (RM) images seem much more expensive? What is the difference? I summarised that using RF images could compromise your brand identity if used incorrectly and that RM licensing provided the better, all-round favourable and better value solution. To further the last article I wanted to highlight a couple of examples of RM pricing, with both scenarios using the same image, but having differing usages.
The first scenario is for a local newspaper, needing an small eighth page sized image to illustrate an article. The print run of this regional newspaper would be up to 10,000. You can see the process of choosing the correct usage, print run, location and other variables that need to be entered for it to automatically calculate the price.
The second scenario is for a national advertising campaign in a traditional printed glossy magazine, the image to be used as a quarter page advert, the magazine having a print run of 250,000 copies.
Images used for advertising cost a great deal more than editorial primarily because you are using the image to sell a product or service though more effective visual advertising, for increased profit, so it’s only fair that the image that is being used to make money should cost more to use. Editorial costs will always be lower because they are supporting written articles, rather than selling products for increased revenue.
As I mentioned in the last article, RM licensing allows the picture buyer to have a specific license tailored to the exact requirements of their needed usage, so they both the buyer and the photographer receive a fair deal.
The final cost of the image is totally dependent on final exposure. It wouldn’t be fair on either party if both had to pay the same amount for totally different usages.
Tags: licensing > licensing explained > photograph licensing > stock photography
Why do Royalty Free (RF) images look like a bargain, and why do Rights Managed (RM) images seem much more expensive? What is the difference?
Posted on April 17, 2011 | No Comments
For the designer, buying a load of cheap $1 RF images seems like a total bargain, unlimited use, now and in the future, for any project, brief, assignment that needs imagery. Could using RF be compromising your brand identity?
You’ve seen it everywhere, iStock, Shutterstock et al, all offering Royalty Free (RF) photographs at incredibly low cost, or almost free when bought under subscription. There are numerous downsides to buying royalty free images, some of which I will highlight below. There are, however, justified reasons when Royalty Free images are useful and suitable, for instance when they are used in conjunction with other background images, or filler images, icons, patterns, textures, vector images and for bulking out websites and visuals. It’s just not a great idea to use RF images for the main feature, main focus or for promoting your brand identity.
We’ve all seen them, corporate faceless websites featuring shiny white offices, with multi racial groups of highly preened ’staff’ pouring over a clipboard. Yep, chances are we’ve all seem the same images. The vast majority of RF images are all available through the same distributors, therefore appearing on all the top sites you currently use to buy your royalty free images. Most publishing agencies use the same subscription based image libraries to buy their royalty free images from.
Perhaps you think due to the sheer number of images, the millions of RF photographs available, there’s never a chance you would end up using the same image as your direct rival competitor. Search for your specific images in these vast collections and you’ll narrow down to just a few of the top useable images, and as passing trends and recent statistics indicate you will be highly likely to be choosing from the same selection as your competitor. There are some great publicised and embarrassing occurrences. Have a look at some of these examples.
To convey an image of concern, both MetLife Inc. and Pfizer Inc.’s Viagra used the same image of a middle-aged man in a stripped button-down shirt resting his chin on his hands. And Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s Chase Student Loans sites both used the same image of a collegiate-looking boy working on his laptop for their Web sites… (Source: Blackstar)
Herd mentality. Trends. Fads. We all end up following certain trends and fads, and this is no different in the world of design. Designers, image buyers, creatives, content fillers, web designers, like everybody else follow leaders, trends catch on, and that selection of cheap images somewhat loses it’s appeal when everyone is choosing from the same collections, again.
The fundamental issue with RF is that you never know what that image has been used for in the past, or what it will be used for the same time your ad campaign goes to market. There is no data, no history, no accountability or even the knowledge if your competitor is using the same image on a project right now. Rights Managed licensing changes all that.
So how does Rights Managed stock come into this?
If RF stock is both anonymously and freely available, Rights Managed imagery (RM) offers a middle ground between the cost of hiring a photographer for a commissioned photo shoot, and the lower ground of choosing cheap RF with the distinct chance you compromise your brand identity.
Rights Managed (RM) stock is selectively and carefully licensed specifically for your requirement. The photographer may have many thousands of images ready for rights managed license, but you can guarantee that the photographer knows the history of each image, when, where and what it has been used for in the past, and if it’s currently being used in the same industry.
Although seemingly not as lucrative for the photographer as a specially commissioned photo shoot, it does allow for multiple licenses over the course over the lifetime of the image. For the client, agency or picture buyer this offers a great half way solution by offering the knowledge that the history of the unique image is known. A rights managed photograph is available to multiple buyers, but total exclusivity can also be licensed. It is quite common for a client to buy total exclusivity to that specific image for the duration of the adverting campaign, or a specific time frame.
So, Rights managed stock licensing allows a transparent way for the photographer to retain total copyright of the image and allows revenue over the lifetime of the image, whilst allowing the image buyer to know that the image they have chosen has ben specifically licensed or them, and history known. By using the rights managed licensing model, the photographer can make sure that the buyer has all options available, to take into account any marketing scenarios that may arise, the licensing is totally flexible enough to cover every eventuality, with totally transparent pricing based entirely on the final image exposure.
Rights Managed stock pricing is flexible, scaleable and based on exposure
Rights managed stock allows for a totally flexible pricing strategy by making sure that that the image buyer gets the best value for money, and by making sure that the license and cost is specific to their needs. This allows the same image to be sold for seemingly multiple prices which are explained below. We are using an example of a single image, the same image in each scenario.
If this photograph is to be used as an 1/8th page size in a regional newspaper with a print run of just 20,000, this would command a lot lower price that the same photograph used as a two page spread in a national, 1 million print run glossy magazine, even though they are both using the same image. It would be unfair to ask the small newspaper to pay the same license fee.
Fundamentally, you only pay for what you need, the more exposure, or the more ‘use’ the image will have, the higher the licensing fee.
11 advantages to buying Rights Managed (RM) stock (Source: Black Star)
1. Rights-managed photography continues to be the industry norm.
2. Wider range of topics.
3. Protection from reuse of the same image.
4. Top photographers sell RM.
5. Clients can purchase exclusive use licenses.
6. RM is not always more expensive. Depending on the end use for the photo, a single use RM license may actually be the less expensive option. Since pricing on RF photos is based on size, for the small buyer looking for a photo for a single use, the better option could often be the RM license. Not only does the buyer get a better quality image, he is also assured that he will not see the same image in use repeatedly.
7. Higher quality images.
8. Weeds out inferior images.
9. Avoids imitation.
10. Cheaper than commissioned work.
11. Protects the buyer. While protecting the photographer’s revenue, the specifics of the RM licensing also provide protection for the buyer. The photographer is aware of what the intended use of the image is and can therefore make the buyer aware of any likely conflicts in the use of the image. The nasty arena of brand confusion can be bypassed simply by making use of RM licensing.
The next article will look at some actual examples of editorial stock photography licensing, as well as using rights manage stock photography for commercial advertising.
Thanks to Chris at Photoasia & Craig Ferguson for their help with this article.
Tags: licensing explained > photograph licensing > rights managed > royalty free
True luxury at ‘The Paradise’ Koh Yao – A well deserved mention!
Posted on April 12, 2011 | No Comments
I don’t often mention our accommodations, but we had the opportunity to stay as guests at the wonderful ‘The Paradise Koh Yao‘ luxury boutique resort and spa in Thailand. It is located roughly 45 minutes private speedboat journey from Phuket, a winding scenic journey around the incredible towering limestone islands surrounding Koh Yao Noi island. I don’t often come across a hotel or resort that I am genuinely sad to leave, but we literally had to tear ourselves away from this place. So I decided that The Paradise certainly deserved a dedicated blog post to thank Josef, Michael, and the staff.
The Paradise resort is set right on the beach in a marine park, the only hotel like it on the entire island. It has a private beach and jetty and you feel totally isolated from the real world. This was the most ‘honeymoon’ moment our trip, and it was everything we could have hoped for – The Paradise had set us up in one of the top deluxe suites, featuring a private jacuzzi pool right outside our huge sliding glass doors, right on the beach. When we arrived there were flowers on the bed, champagne at the ready and complete luxury throughout. We had the opportunity to experience the honeymoon spa package, which is a combination of spa treatments (massage, body scrub, steam room), that we could enjoying together. Awesome.
The highlight of our stay was on the last night, the manager Michael (incredibly experienced chef) personally cooked us an incredible meal on our own private table on the beach, surrounded by candles and flowers. This was something we will never forget – thank you Michael.
I’ve been fortunate to stay at some amazing hotels and resorts over the years, but this firmly sits at number one. It’s not often you find a business that just does it right, every time.
If you would like more, we have a much longer and detailed review of The Paradise here, and if you would like to have a look at their website, photos and videos please head over to The Paradise resort & Spa website.
Thanks to Josef, Michael & staff.
Tags: koh yao > koh yao noi > luxury hotel > phuket > thailand > the paradise
New travel photography albums ready for your veiwing
Posted on April 11, 2011 | 2 Comments
I’ve been adding new photographs very sporadically to my archives over the last few months whilst away, so I thought I would take just a minute to show you some of my new travel photography galleries. The most recent gallery is the Cambodia album, followed by Vietnam, then Bali, then Qamea, then Vanuatu. I hope you like the albums so far. I’d love to hear which images you like, it’s great to hear which you think stand out. I do hope you enjoy. All other travel photography albums can be found here, on the travel photography archive page. All of these travel photographs are available as prints, and also available for rights managed license.
Tags: bali > indonesia > Travel > vietnam
The incredibly beautiful blossom season in Vietnam.
Posted on April 7, 2011 | No Comments
We were fortunate enough to visit Hanoi, Vietnam in the middle of the peach blossom season. Almost every shop, hotel, building has a beautiful spray of colourful blossoms to ensure good luck for the New Year (Tet) festive season. The top photo of this post is one of my favourite photographs from Hanoi, I love the bright pink agains the golden glow of the early morning light – it makes it easy to forget the shock we had from the cold weather in Hanoi, coming from the much warmer climes of Indonesia we had gotten so used to. The blossoms soon faded away as we headed away from the North of Vietnam, but the warmth of the South was a pleasantly welcome.
To view these images much larger, or if you are interested in buying a print or downloading a copy of any of these images please head over to my Vietnam Stock Photography Gallery archive. Thank you.
Tags: blossom > hanoi > vietnam
