For lots of reasons doing things different makes people squirm. Either your a genius or you have fallen off the deep end. Either way, there is risk in different. Society has taught us that to be successful you need to keep your head down, plug away, and do what your told. History on the other hand tells us something very different. Columbus, Thomas Edison, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks are all examples of people who fell off of the deep end. Heck, some of them jumped off a spring board into a deep end that had no water.
In the world of art and life there is no excuse for staying in the shallow end other than being comfortable. Success might come, success might not, but your just gonna plug away until it does. I was talking with Caleb, one of our Street Team members, and asked him who he was listening to musically right now. Mute Math is a band that came up in the conversation. Mute Math is a band that plays around in the deep end of the pool musically. They try to push the envelope in live performance as well as in their music videos. Lots of people might now know who they are, and many may not enjoy their music, but either way, they are splashing around in the deep sans water noodles.
This music video for the song “Typical” is anything but. The whole video was recorded backwards. They memorized the singing, the drumming, the guitar playing backwards. All of the actions and lip movements line up because they recorded everything backwards and played it forwards (or the other way around… Im confused…). Either way, watch it and be inspired.
The next video is them playing live on Conan O’Brien. The first few mins are like most other performances, but once it gets to the end, they create some interesting stuff. Most bands that play on late shows, while good, are generally pretty boring. This is anything but that. They put on a show and it is awesome.
Ladies and gents. Take a dip in the deep end. From school to work to family life, jump in. The deep end is not for the anti-risk takers or those who want to be safe, but for those who want to shake things up, create something different, and find success.
P.s. If you are looking at this post on Facebook, click on view original post so you can see the video.
If you got a few mins you can check out this video that Jake and I are in. Blake from Actions Talk had a chance to interview us before a shoot earlier this year.
Here is another video of someone with extreme creativity. There are so many people doing so many awesome things that take time and a little imagination. This video is not short, but it is interesting. Plus there are some good songs in there that I have not heard for a very long time.
I got a chance to speak at COPA last night about my experience with micro stock. I have been selling stock exclusively with istock for a little over two years and shooting just a bit more than that. istock has helped me refine my processing and understanding image quality. There is a whole lot more to it than that, but shooting stock has helped me move in the right direction.
A few of the things that I spoke on was how I got started shooting stock, the benefits of micro-stock, and the drawbacks to micro-stock.
I am by no means an expert in micro-stock by any stretch of the imagination. There are plenty of people more qualified to speak on this topic, but here are a few of my observations and thoughts.
Benefits:
Getting Paid: You shoot a lot and have tons of photos sitting around… might as well see if they can make you some money?
Learning to Produce Quality Digital Images: Specifically focused on quality and how to obtain the best quality and present the best image possible. Not so much about framing or the artistic merits of a photo, but more so about the actual tangible quality of the photographic file itself.
Keeps you Shooting: You have a reason to bring your camera to work now. You can shoot any and everything and the more you shoot, the better you become. (Check out Nick Onken’s post on 10,000 hours)
Community and Forums: To create, critique, and be encouraged in whatever you do, you need community and others. I believe that we are all interconnected and that a good community can provide the basis for tools and encouragement that are important in facilitating the development of your skills. I have been a part of a forum/community at istock for a few years and they encourage me and prod me when necessary.
Events & Meeting People: Through istock I have met amazing photographers, great models, and many business owners/operators. Due to me shooting a lot and shooting many different people my business has reached many different places and people that I would normally not meet if I was only shooting Weddings or Seniors.
Drawbacks:
Stifles Creativity: Scott, Chase Jarvis’ post production lead put it very straight forward in his blog post here. If you don’t want to read that large post, it boils down to this: Images for stock are selected based on physical/digital quality and not on impact. An image may make you feel something, but because it has noise or harsh/direct light, it can not be used for stock and would not be accepted by many stock houses.
Getting Paid: I know I listed this in the benefits, but it also applies here. It took me about 5-6 months or more to get my first check from istock. That was how long it took me to make $100 so that I could request money. If you are selling a fine art print, you might get upwards of $500-1000 per sale, but for micro-stock you would get $0.20 for one sale. (Granted if you sell it 4000 times, that adds up quick)
Rejection: If you are scared of being rejected for anything, do not go into micro-stock. Every photo is inspected, accepted, or rejected. If you are new to working with digital images you will probably face lots of rejection on stock sites. Something that people would love on flickr.com would never be accepted on istock because of problems when you zoom in to 100%.
i.e.
Love this image, but it would get smacked down if I uploaded it to istock.
Good Images Do Not = Sales: A good photo, a great photo, doesn’t mean that it will sell. When you submit an image it is like you are pouring a glass of water into the ocean. There are millions of images at sock houses, thousands with the same topic/theme as you, and hundreds of good images, but a handful that sell very well. Just because you are in love with an image, doesn’t mean it will sell much, if at all, as seen with this photo.
Huge Competition: I kinda touched on this in my last point, but it is true. Depending on if you are a person who thrives off of competing or gets defeated when you have to compete, that will show how long you will last in stock and shooting stock… heck, shooting photos in general. There is always someone better than you. They are more talented, have better models, have better equipment. Always. The challenge is to figure out what you are going to do with that competition. Let it fuel you or put you out.
Now that I have rambled about micro-stock for a few hundred words, here is a small clip that my friend Bob Israel took of me speaking last night:
And the embarrasing photo he took:
No, that is not nail polish, it is where the lid of my washing machnie met with my finger nail. Yes, the finger is up the nose.
It continually amazes me how amazingly creative people are. There are some people who are gifted to create. Others are gifted at math, reason, compassion and all of those are good. Being that I am a creative person, I am always looking for others who can inspire me or things that can ignite creativity in me. Check out this video on youtube directed by Oren Lavie. It blew my mind when I saw it. First question that came to my head was: Who thinks of stuff like this?? then shortly after the first, the second: Dang… why didn’t I think of that?? Take a look at this and appreciate the creativity of someone else who is thinking outside of the box.
Gah! There are a few blogs that I follow of photographers. Jeremy Cowart is one of them. He is working on/finished a book project in association with the Passion World Tour titled Awakening. There is a video of his work and it is almost painful to watch. Not painful in an emotional way, or painful in the tragic/shouldneverpickupacameraagain sense, but painful because there are sooooo many amazing images hitting the screen it makes you want to stop looking. To know what I am talking about, go take a look for yourself here.
