Tag Archives: landscape photography

This Photograph Is Not Free by John Mueller

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I read this on Alix Reynold’s Facebook page and thought it was a great article. I wanted to share it with you.

Most people would never see photography this way.

Read on:

So this was the first sunset I captured in 2012. It cost me $6,612 to take this photo.

$12 in gas to go from work to this spot and then home. The camera I took this with cost $2500. The lens was another $1600. The Singh Ray Reverse Neutral Density filter was $210. The Lee Wide-Angle Adapter and Foundation kit was another $200. The Slik Tripod was another $130. The shutter-release was another $60. When I got home, I uploaded it to a computer that cost me $1200, and then I used Lightroom 3 which I got for $200. I then exported it and tinkered with it in Photoshop which costs about $500.

12+2500+1600+210+200+130+60+1200+200+500= $6,612

So if you’re a magazine, website, corporation, sports team, or advertiser who wishes to use this photo, please don’t come and ask to use it for free, or in exchange for credit or “exposure”. You found my photo so obviously I have “exposure”. You have an advertising budget, and this is what it’s for. You obviously don’t expect your writers to work for free, or your secretary, or your boss. No one is going to publish it for free. Just because the picture is digital doesn’t mean it was free to make.

As someone mentioned, THIS single photo didn’t cost me $6,612, but if you wanted to create it, from scratch, that is what is involved. So I consider it the replacement value if it’s stolen, or how much my lawyer will send you a bill for if it’s found being used without my permission.

If you give your photo away for “credit” then the best possible scenario for you is someone will see your photo, contact you, and ask if they could borrow one of your photos… for credit. Try this… next time you’re at dinner, tell your waiter you’ll tell all your friends how good the service was if he gives you dinner for free.

About the author: John B. Mueller is a photographer based in Ventura County, California. Visit his website here.

Calgary, Winnipeg and China

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I’m off to Calgary tomorrow to visit our son and his family. Best part is that our son and his wife are going skiing so I will have my grandson to myself. Ashton is 7 and in grade 2. I timed the trip to coincide with his Parent Teacher Interview. The teacher in me wants to know. lol.

Been out doing a lot of night shooting in the last couple of weeks; in the exchange and at the train station. We actually got out onto the tracks at the station while an engine came in. It happened so fast but I did get a shot. The theme this month at Camera Club is night/low light, hence the night pics.

Also, taught a couple more photography classes at Ralph Brown School. I wish that I could post some of the pictures that the kids have taken but since most of them are pictures of each other, I am not able to. I’m so proud of the great job that they’ve done. Turns out that holding the camera still is their single biggest challenge. We worked on that quite a bit and there was a big improvement.

Other than that I’ve been working on setting up a friend’s website.  Check it out: www.digital35.ca. Tse Li Luk is the name of the photographer and he will be having an exhibition at the Millenium Library for the month of May. All proceeds from the exhibition will be going towards the Chinese Cultural Centre to celebrate the Chinese community having been here for 100 years. The images are all from the Chinese countryside that Tse Li took on a recent trip to China. This exhibition is definitely worth checking out. I am by no means a website designer, but know how to see up a site at www.smugmug.com , because  they are the hosts of my 2 sites;  this one and www.studio86.smugmug.com.  The customer service at smugmug is simply the best and keeps me there.  I don’t do a lot of work on the studio86 site as my www.chrismcwilliamsphotography.com site keeps me busy enough. Anyways, I will post one of  Tse Li’s images for a sneak peak at the exhibition.

That’s it for today. The sun is shining but winter seems to be back. When will it end? Or rather will it end? Who knows. One can only hope.

These are not the images that I will be entering this month. I will post my entries after the judging night. I also have changed the resolution and size of these images.

Here are a couple of images from my night shooting and then one of the images that will be on exhibition at the library:

portage-andmain-2sm

sobeys-summer-displays-53sm

 

exchange-night-3-09-300-copysm

I’m sure that you’ll recognize these spots if you’re from Winnipeg.

And now one from a place faraway with mystique and beauty-China:

bwchina2015bsm

Isn’t that a beautiful image! Mark May on your calendar and come down to the Millenium Library to see more of  Tse Li Luk’s work.

That’s it for now.

Christina