I have had my eye on doing stock photography for some time. I first attempted it over a year ago (almost 2 I think). Rejections were immediate, and I wasn’t sure that I really had the eye or the gear for it. Over the course of the last 2 years, I guess I have become more adept technically at taking pictures.
My “eye” for stock photography must have improved as well (at least my friends tell me it has). 2 weeks ago I was accepted as a contributor to istockphoto and Photo Shelter. I even have photos available for sale on each of those sites.
Why did I decide to go this route? Simply put, my subjects have always been static objects – landscapes, product photos, things that lend themselves to stock photography. I’d love to see some of my photos be sold as fine art prints someday, but it seems that I am going to have to get really serious about marketing in order to do that. Since I have a day job that keeps my hands more than full, I have to stick to shooting photos as being a hobby for now. I might do the occasional portrait here and there (most notably for my family), but otherwise I just take pictures when I can, in the environs that my job or other hobbies take me.
The photo above is from one such trip. I had the opportunity to go to Rochester, New York for a conference. The conference hotel had a 9 hole golf course. On the last day, conferences ended in the morning, and I had an hour or so to kill before the airport shuttle came. I grabbed my camera and started wandering around the property. Since it was the middle of the week, the golf course wasn’t being used very much. They had these golf carts lined up waiting for people to play, and the backdrop was great with such a blue sky, broken up by a few clouds scattered here and there. I think I took about 200 photos on this trip, and this is easily the best one, captured on the last day, in the last hour. You just never know when the moment will strike, you just have to be ready. I take my camera everywhere and some people think I am nuts. But who knows – this “stock photo” could make it’s way to a national magazine ad or story. How cool would that be?
