Photo Walk – Veluwezoom Posbank

By Jan on October 31, 2011

The Google Map above shows the GPS track of my photo walk with model Cissy at Veluwezoom, the Netherlands. This track covers the so called “black route“, starting at Bezoekerscentrum Veluwezoom leading to Posbank Paviljoen and then going back to the Bezoekerscentrum (but we did walk back straight to the train station Rheden – our starting point). Detailed trip info at my Everytrail account (including some pics shot by my model Cissy Schouren).

Autumn Lifestyle Images

Our goal was to do an autumn lifestyle shoot with a lot of yellow and red autumn leaves as our background. When we arrived at the train station in Rheden it appeared to be a really lovely day with great autumn weather :) And off we went …up to the autumn leaves !!

But I think I chose the wrong area because we did not see those leaves, at least not the typical autumn scenics that we were looking for. The first and last part of this route is leading you through very beautiful forest but the main part of this route is along heathland. Still this is a great hiking route and when coming back in August – when the heath is beautifully colored – it will probably be a very great hiking route. Mind you the first part of this route is quite steeply rising terrain !!!

Images of this photowalking trip will come soon !!

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Bye Bye Studio

By Jan on October 16, 2011

Bye bye studio….meaning that I am in the process of selling my photo studio. Although I am still in doubt I guess that the likelyhood I will still have my studio in one year time is not very high. Let me explain … and tell you about my doubts, the pros and contras I see of keeping my studio. And maybe some professional photographers can give me new food for thought.

Dreams, dreams and more dreams…..

Some years ago – I guess somewhere in my midlife crisis – I decided that the life of a senior manager was not that fulfilling and I joined a photo academy. Some years later, burning with passion, dreaming of a new future as a fashion and beauty photographer I decided to buy a niece property and transform it into a photo studio. And in my dreams I would do all kinds of high-end shoots there and the pics would end up in nice magazines. With some sense of reality I did understand that I had no portfolio, no clients, no income from photography. Therefore I stopped the management job and switched to a part-time job that made it possible to develop my skills and work on my portfolio. And a few years later it was time to make some decisions.

Working on my portfolio I had learned that I would NOT become a fashion photographer. The fashion scene and I – that was not a fit – and I was not that optimistic about being successful as a fashion photographer. But I really loved beauty photography. And I was far more optimistic about creating some income with that. Until I confronted myself with some realities …beauty photography is a very very small market in Holland, most beauty jobs go to fashion photographers (already doing jobs for the magazines), I was not part of the Amsterdam in-crowd, you will have to be damned and damned good to get a piece of the cake and still better when you want that piece year after year ….need I go further ?

Hmmm…but I really wanted to make that start as a “professional” photographer. In the end I decided to give stock photography a try (not knowing that the prices of stock photos were falling faster than autumn leaves). And I told myself that shooting beauty images for stock would give me a world wide distribution of my beauty images and I would no longer be restricted to the dutch market. Next lesson was that in the world of macro stock photography the typical “fashion” beauty images are not wanted. The stock agencies only want timeless beauty & health images. And …if there is one segment with a real oversupply of images it is ….you have guessed it already – beauty & wellness. As a consequence you can only make some sales with top work. In order to “getting seen” your beauty images have to really stand out of the crowd meaning you have to work with really good beauty models and really good make-up artists. And that will cost you something !!! But even then investments will be very hard to justify from the revenues you will get from those images. In my opinion it is extremely difficult to make some money with beauty stock photography.

So this beauty photography looks like a dead end street. It is very difficult to see how to create some income from assignments (at least being based in Holland) or from stock sales. Time for new dreams :)

New Dreams

Working with the creative directors of stock agencies I was – I am – stimulated to diversify and to forget that studio. I tried and nowadays I am shooting all kinds of stuff outside that studio. I shoot lifestyle, business, people, concepts, even landscapes and cityscapes. And I love being outdoors. And If I keep my investments low I think I can make some income with stock photography. But only if I really manage the investments !!! After a few years of testing the water I have decided to stop my job and in the near future I will have to live from my income as a photographer. Stock income will give me some income and the rest I still have to find out. I would never never take this decision when I would be a young man with wife and children but I am a 50 plus guy and have little to worry about in the next 10 to 15 years. So I can make that decision to be a (stock) photographer.

And what to do with that damned studio ?

My stock shoots will be indoors and outdoors but very very seldom in the studio. It is very hard to create production value in the studio. So for my stock work I hardly need that studio. Maybe I can get a beauty job now and then but that will hardly justify to keep this studio, will it ? I am not interested in product shots. Portrait work ? I doubt it. Magazines will most of the time prefer location shoots….

When I think of it personal work would be my main reason for keeping this studio. Maybe I will have paid jobs now and then but not enough to justify the costs of a studio. Even when you don’t use it there are considerable costs (tax, insurance, maintenance). Is it really worthwhile – because of personal work – to keep this studio ? I don’t think so.

From an economic point of view I can hardly find any justification for keeping this studio. Looking at it from another way – not having this studio any more (knowing the wonderful weather in Holland from November till March) – it will be a serious loss not having the opportunity any more to do studio shoots (for personal work).

But is that really true ? With a good outdoors outfit you can probably do a lot of shooting outdoors, also in winter. And maybe become a little more creative in using indoor locations ??

What to do, keep this studio or not ?

I guess I already more or less made up my mind. I think I have decided to develop as a location and outdoors photographer, and try to create some income from that kind of photography. I really cannot see my studio as a source of income and although it will be hard to say bye bye to beauty / portrait photography in the studio I think I will.

Or can you give me one or two damned good reasons to keep my studio ?

 

 

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My Stock Photo Archive

By Jan on October 11, 2011

Since 2009 I am shooting stock images. I have some images at microstock sites but my main focus is on building a macro stock photo collection. Most of my images are exclusively represented by stock photo libraries – Moodboard and Tetra Images. Although I experiment with direct selling I have not big expectations about that. In this post some words about my “stock photo archive”. Why I chose to invest in a stock photo archive – even if direct selling of my stock images is not my main objective – and what solution to chose for ? Photoshelter or Photodeck ?

Some good reasons for a stock photo archive

I intend to put all my stock images in my online stock photo archive: my images represented by stock photo libraries and of course also the images I want to sell myself. What reasons do I have for investing all this time and money in maintaining an online archive ?

First, I want a bulletproof back-up of my stock collection. Yes, I use RAID solutions and back-up my work at home. But I want my images also protected against fire, theft and other catastrophes. Putting them online in a bulletproof archive makes me sleep well :)

Second reason for investing in an online archive is “getting seen”. This requires investing time in SEO, blogging, linking my blog to my archive and many more actions required to get my images seen. But I believe walking the extra mile will result in a better chance of getting seen – both by clients and models. And I need both as a stock shooter !! And although I cannot sell most of my images directly I trust image buyers will find it easy to find my images at the referenced photo libraries. I really think that getting seen will lead to some additional sales and more models willing to work with me.

Third reason, direct selling of non-exclusive images. Since I also intend to build a non-exclusive collection – why not submit some images to Alamy and others and also try to sell these images directly ? Most archive solutions – Photoshelter, Photodeck – have E-commerce and also marketing tools (including automatic updates to social networks, 1-click sharing of galleries and images) for direct selling your images. In a near future I might decide to start selling prints but for the moment let’s start with direct selling of images (btw … archiving solutions like Photoshelter and Photodeck have real good support for doing doing that).

Fourth reason, delivery of images. Although I submit my stock images to photo libraries I still have to deliver images. I work with models and most of the time the models get the retouched images for their portfolios. And instead of burning DVD’s I find it convenient to use the archive software for delivering the images.

Investing in an online archive – using the best available solutions – will give you the possibility to not online create a secure online backup and having an online platform for proofing and delivering your images but also helps you your images getting seen and using e-commerce / marketing tools you can even sell images and prints yourself !!

Photoshelter or Photodeck ?

To my knowledge Photoshelter and Photodeck offer the most complete solutions for archiving and selling your images. I have had a Photoshelter website for more than a year and I tested the Photodeck solution for some months. In the end I opted for Photodeck.

Photoshelter or Photodeck ? Both offer very professional solutions and when you would make a detailed analysis you will probably find that both solutions are pretty cool. This is what they both offer:

  • secure online backup
  • powerful websites with ready-to-use themes
  • e-commerce functionality
  • online proofing and delivery of your images
  • marketing tools
  • social media integration

Pricing is about the same, archiving storage idem. Photodeck is the new kid on the block and Photoshelter already has an immense client base. This for some time withheld me for leaving Photoshelter and subscribing to Photodeck. So why Photodeck ?

I think both solutions will give you fine archiving possibilities and also the uploading of images is OK on both sites. I feel the Photoshelter themes are not really state-of-the-art, they feel a bit outdated. Also my main website is Aphotofolio website and the Photoshelter themes are just not compatible. Photodeck offers an out-of-the-box theme 100% compatible with my main website. The Photodeck websites/themes just are really cool.

Looking at e-commerce (sales and marketing) functionality the Photoshelter solution is OK, but in many details the Photodeck solution is better supporting the stock photographer. I think most Photoshelter clients are not stock shooters but event and wedding shooters. They use Photoshelter for archiving and delivering their images. Photoshelter does a great job in doing that. But the Photodeck solution is designed with the world of the stock shooter as a the main target audience. If you compare the “example websites” you will find Photodeck showcases only stock shooters websites (and even websites of stock agencies) and the Photoshelter examples showcase a wide spread of customers. Also Photoshelter is taking a 10% commission of your sales and Photodeck isnot taking any commission at all.

Using Photoshelter websites all your webpages will have the url “clientname.photoshelter.com” (ok, except the homepage) and I really never did like that. Now having a Photodeck website all my page URLs start with http://archive.janscherders.nl/…. – just as I wanted. One plus of Photoshelter I will miss …Photoshelter invests a lot in free guides for the photographers. Guides about SEO, marketing, selling prints, starting up your own business, ….really a lot of free stuff that the Photoshelter guys reach out to you. But sometimes they behave like schoolmasters and think they can tell you how to be successful as a photographer :)

OK, I think bottomline the Photodeck solution is a better solution when you are a stock photographer, with cleaner themes and better e-commerce functionality (and no commission). Looking at the clients showcased by both solution providers I think my analysis is supported. Anyway, I have chosen for Photodeck – also because of the nice integration with my main website- and I trust to have now a fine solution for archiving, delivering and selling my images :)

Where to find my photo stock archive ?

You will find my archive here. I chose for a subdomain of my main websites, so the url is archive.janscherders.nl.  As I said before, it is my intention to have all my stock images online – not only the images that are available for direct licensing. I want my complete collection getting seen – by clients but also by models. Clients can decide to buy my Tetra and Moodboard images at other websites and models can decide if they feel that working with me will benefit their portfolio.

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Out of the Shoebox – Siddhartha

By Jan on October 10, 2011

Now and then I take some time to clean up my computer archive. And then I find some images that do remind me of those days I made these images. This image is shot in the years I just had my studio and I was completely “begeisterd” of beauty photography. You see a man and a woman, and the woman is Siddhartha, now a leading make-up artist in the Netherlands. Most of our shoots she would be the Make-up Artist but we did some shoots where she was make-up artist as well as model. This image out of the shoebox shows Siddhartha as a model :)

My first beauty shoots

When I did my first beauty shoots I met this young and extremely talented make-up artist – Siddhartha – and for a few years we did a lot of test shoots together. Only just twenty and she already had won some big championships. She had all her time available for shoots and working on her skills. And me – at the time I was a senior manager leading some 1500 professionals. And zero expertise in Photoshop. So all my free hours went into learning photoshop, shooting, retouching, etc etc – trying to develop my skills as fast as Siddhartha. You already guessed that this was a race that I was doomed to lose. After a few years Siddhartha was ready for the “big world” and was happy to join one of the leading agencies in Holland. Nowadays she is probably one of the very best of the Netherlands and is working all around the world. If there is one make-up artist I really admire it is her, her work is really fabulous !! Although these days with Siddhartha are long gone I still think with nostalgia about these days, she was so extremely gifted and it was such a joy to work on beauty shoots together. There was always some tension in the air, and the drive to make something special :)

 

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Friendship with a Horse

By Jan on September 24, 2011

People who have horses really love their horse. No better example than my little neighbor girl: when she was four years old her favorite subject for drawing was a horse. You could do her no bigger pleasure with her birthdays than to give her books about horses. A few years later she got her own horse – a little pony – and started riding. And now a few years later – and riding a somewhat bigger pony – she still loves horses, especially her horse. And I really should do what I promised her some time ago, make some nice shots of her and her horse !!!

Thalassa already in love for 10 years

Thalassa, the model for my “student shoot“, also appeared to be in love with her horse and this already for 10 years !! And she really liked the idea to shoot her and her horse. And I really liked the idea too !!   Togetherness, affection, bonding, love are concepts that come immediately to your mind when thinking of the friendship between a person and a horse. And I was right, when shooting Thalassa and her horse it was really obvious how she cared for her horse :) Luckily we had some nice  weather when we did this outdoors shoot.


If you want to see all pics of this shoot then this gallery will show them to you.

This is an example of a recent stock photo shoot. I am always looking for fresh talent for my shoots. Let me know if you are interested !!  
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