Photography blog posts that are related to my stock photography, whether it is featured images that I have just added to my stock portfolio archives, or just talking about the stock photography industry in general, most of the time it is a feature of recently uploaded images and galleries. I have a large collection of stock photography covering editorial and commercial in a number of industry sectors, as well as the travel genre. All images can be found in my archive, and all can be downloaded RM (rights managed), and the majority are available as high quality prints. All information in the archive and if you have any questions please get in contact.
We were fortunate enough to have the Olympic Torch Relay pass through my home town of Norwich last week, it incredible to see quite how much local support we had here, thousands of people braved the weather and headed to the streets to wave flags as they passed by.
Argh. No blog posts so far this year, I’ve been totally stacked working on a large number of differing projects in different areas of my business I’ve not found the time to blog – everytime I think about it I feel it needs to be something big and shiny as it’s been such a long time… so today I decided just to post a little something to get back in the swing of things. I’m working on a brand new dedicated botanical stock library at the moment, and will be getting it up and running quite soon. Botanical stock photography has been a little bit of a side hobby for me for the last few years, inspired by a good friend Will Giles – who certainly knows his stuff when it comes to exotic plants.
So, on that theme I’d like to share with you a couple of botanical photographs taken over the last couple of years.
Colocasia Leaf
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A few interesting street scenes for you today, taken whilst walking around the back streets of Hanoi, Vietnam – an amazing city to photograph, I really loved it here. First up, the rugs on a moped. An incredible weight of heavy rugs laden on top of this poor, tiny CC moped – I didn’t actually see him leave again, but I’m sure they did. If it balances above, they’ll move it.
The purple balloon caught my eye like a magpie, nodding up and down in the wind as it was cycling past on an electric push bike, clutched for dear life.
Bamboo for sale, fresh, dried, made into ladders, ready for action. I love the colours and the pattern of it all, and the little white cat in the corner.
Finally, my favourite. A man sculpting head stones and memorials, surrounded by walls of past efforts, perhaps examples, or perhaps head stones for not quite dead people? When we walked past later on that day, he was outside the front of the shop building up the layers of shiny black lacquer.
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.
Couldn’t resist grabbing a photograph as I wandered past this little guy shooting the tourists with a gun almost as big as him. It was great fun getting lost on all the tiny side streets in Hanoi, every street selling something different, from coffins to caged birds.
Another quick photograph whilst wandering the streets of Hanoi. It was quite a common sight to see adults burning fake paper money as a token gesture, or offering, but I hadn’t seen a child this young do the same. He was burning a couple of notes each time, dropping them smouldering into an upturned box on the side of the street.
A security guard deep in thought about something…
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.
The Army museum in Hanoi is an odd place, it’s hard to describe. The imposing American fighter jet laden with bombs dominating the courtyard outside, flanked by a bullet holed US tank and beside sit massive stacks of war debris such as parts of shot down planes, ammunition, shells, you name it – it’s all here. A stark reminder of the unfortunate reason why everyone thinks of Vietnam as a war, rather than a vibrant, cultural and amazing country. Elsewhere in the city there are still the remnants of a US bomber, nose down in the middle of a small lake, parts still visible above the water line. Just left, abandoned and untouched, as another reminder of what happened here.
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.
There is just something strange about seeing jet black beaches, everything in my head just screams that they should be coral white.. not black. What I totally didn’t think about as I walked barefoot on the sand was how hot it would be compared to white sand beaches in the mid day sun. Basic physics soon forced me to put my flip flops back on asap.
I’ve never seen so many bats in one place before.. in the aptly named ‘Bat Cave’.
If you would like to view these images larger, or if you would like to purchase prints of the images, or would like to license these images rights managed, you can buy my stock photographs of Bali, Indonesia - here. Thank you.
We visited a local coffee plantation just north of Ubud in Bali, Indonesia. It was a special area for growing coffee in Bali as they collect the droppings of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxus hermaphroditus) which has a taste for the ripe coffee cherries on the plants. It then poops them out beneath the the coffee plant and these get collected. As you can imagine, the process of ‘passing through’ the Luwak gives this coffee the distinctive taste. The droppings are then cleaned and scrubbed to get to the beans, which are then dried and processed to be ground. Tasty!
Also they had a cocao plantation, with beans ready to be roasted:
If you would like to purchase prints of the images, or would like to license these images rights managed, you can buy my stock photographs of Bali, Indonesia - here. Thank you.
