I have been involved with KeyImagery for a while now. At first I didnt have many downloads, but in the last few months they have been steadily increasing. Why not go and check it out. They are a New Zealand based company, and are starting to shoot a few goals. Their site is very easy to navigate around and has alot of useful information regarding entering the world of stock photography. I look forward to sharing alot more info about KeyImagery as I begin to upload more images to their site.
Until next time, keep shooting
Regards,
Adrian Matthiassen
CEO Aspect Images
Monday, April 20, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Squidoo - Another Handy Marketing Tool
Hey there,
I have found another useful tool to promote yourself and your business. It is a site called SQUIDOO, and it is lots of fun. Why not go there now and check it out. On it I have information on how to make money from your photography. Let me know what you think.....
Until next time, keep shooting
Regards,
Adrian Matthiassen
CEO Aspect Images
I have found another useful tool to promote yourself and your business. It is a site called SQUIDOO, and it is lots of fun. Why not go there now and check it out. On it I have information on how to make money from your photography. Let me know what you think.....
Until next time, keep shooting
Regards,
Adrian Matthiassen
CEO Aspect Images
Saturday, April 11, 2009
To Lease or Not To Lease, That is The Question
When alot of people think of buying an SLR camera for their business, the last thought that usually goes through their mind is renting their equipment. For most people, they don't give renting a second thought, or they don't even realise that you can rent your gear.
Obviously individuals circumstances differ, however renting is becoming a very popular option amongst pro photographers. I personally rent my Nikon D300 and a few of my lenses simply because it gives me more advantages. The company I rent through offer me full insurance on all of my products, not only that, if I need to send any of my equipment off for warranty repairs, they provide me with loan equipment until mine has been repaired. At the end of my rental agreement I have the option of keeping my camera, or upgrading to new equipment. And the best thing of all is that under Australia's current tax laws I can claim my repayments back as a tax deduction in full.
So when you are thinking of purchasing an SLR camera, take a moment to consider whether it will be better for you to rent or lease your equipment instead.
Until next time, keep clicking
Regards,
Adrian
CEO Aspect Images
Obviously individuals circumstances differ, however renting is becoming a very popular option amongst pro photographers. I personally rent my Nikon D300 and a few of my lenses simply because it gives me more advantages. The company I rent through offer me full insurance on all of my products, not only that, if I need to send any of my equipment off for warranty repairs, they provide me with loan equipment until mine has been repaired. At the end of my rental agreement I have the option of keeping my camera, or upgrading to new equipment. And the best thing of all is that under Australia's current tax laws I can claim my repayments back as a tax deduction in full.
So when you are thinking of purchasing an SLR camera, take a moment to consider whether it will be better for you to rent or lease your equipment instead.
Until next time, keep clicking
Regards,
Adrian
CEO Aspect Images
The Camera I Use
Many people ask me in my photography mentoring sessions, "Adrian, what camera do you use?". I have been using Nikon gear for nearly 20 years. I remember the first camera I received was a gift from my beautiful sister Marina. Little did she realise the path she had set me on with that gift.
Now I use the Nikon D300 It is a fantastic camera, and suits me fine. My next major purchase for my photography business Aspect Images will be the Nikon D3x, which is an awesome 24 megapixel camera, but that is a purchase that I will be saving long and hard for
If you would like to read more about the Nikon D300, just follow the link to my blog on this wonderful camera
Until next time, keep snapping
Regards,
Adrian
CEO Aspect Images
Now I use the Nikon D300 It is a fantastic camera, and suits me fine. My next major purchase for my photography business Aspect Images will be the Nikon D3x, which is an awesome 24 megapixel camera, but that is a purchase that I will be saving long and hard for
If you would like to read more about the Nikon D300, just follow the link to my blog on this wonderful camera
Until next time, keep snapping
Regards,
Adrian
CEO Aspect Images
Friday, April 10, 2009
Using Your Camera To Create Passive Income Streams
I chat to alot of aspiring photographers every day who feel a little lost with what to do with their amazing photos. I am asked all the time to review someones portfolio of work. Some shots can be breathtaking, while others....well.... But the one thing that all of these people have in common is an inner yearning to do more with their images, yet they dont know quite how to go about it.
Part of my role as a photographic mentor is to inspire and encourage people to acheive greatness in their work, while at the same time showing them ways to gain some type of financial reward for their hard work.
Alot of people think that earning an income from photography is unacheivable and wouldnt have the slightest idea of how to go about it. When I first started out in the game I was in exactly the same boat. I would knock on doors, do leaflet drops in the neighbourhood, anything I could just to get a gig. But it was never enough to earn a living from it so that I could leave my day job.
Then i started thinking smarter about things, and realised that there were ways that I could make a passive income, without investing too much time or even any great outlay of money. There are many passive income streams that you can use to bring in a few extra dollars each month. I am involved with a few stock photography agencies such as istockphoto and shutterstock. These sites allow you to upload your images for free and sell them for you. In return you get a royalty payment for whatever sells.
I have been doing it for over 3 years, and am now earning roughly $300-$400 per month. Initially it took a little while for me to get started, but when I saw the potential of stock photography, I started uploading like mad. The benefits are that it costs you nothing, and you can start earning money without too much effort.
Stay tuned and I will post more about stock photography sites in the near future and give you a greater understanding of how they work in greater detail. Meanwhile, why not go and check them out for yourself.....Shutterstock and istockphoto If you like, you can join them for free while you are there and get started earning a few extra dollars each month.
Until next time, keep smiling
Adrian
CEO Aspect Images
Part of my role as a photographic mentor is to inspire and encourage people to acheive greatness in their work, while at the same time showing them ways to gain some type of financial reward for their hard work.
Alot of people think that earning an income from photography is unacheivable and wouldnt have the slightest idea of how to go about it. When I first started out in the game I was in exactly the same boat. I would knock on doors, do leaflet drops in the neighbourhood, anything I could just to get a gig. But it was never enough to earn a living from it so that I could leave my day job.
Then i started thinking smarter about things, and realised that there were ways that I could make a passive income, without investing too much time or even any great outlay of money. There are many passive income streams that you can use to bring in a few extra dollars each month. I am involved with a few stock photography agencies such as istockphoto and shutterstock. These sites allow you to upload your images for free and sell them for you. In return you get a royalty payment for whatever sells.
I have been doing it for over 3 years, and am now earning roughly $300-$400 per month. Initially it took a little while for me to get started, but when I saw the potential of stock photography, I started uploading like mad. The benefits are that it costs you nothing, and you can start earning money without too much effort.
Stay tuned and I will post more about stock photography sites in the near future and give you a greater understanding of how they work in greater detail. Meanwhile, why not go and check them out for yourself.....Shutterstock and istockphoto If you like, you can join them for free while you are there and get started earning a few extra dollars each month.
Until next time, keep smiling
Adrian
CEO Aspect Images
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Photographing Pets
Another way to be able to make a few dollars from your photographic passion is to photograph pets. Everyone wants to have that special shot of their dog, cat, bird or even their turtle. It's also a good way to build your portfolio.
Animals are lots of fun to photograph, so why not grab your camera and go to the local park, or even a dog show. Dont forget to print out a small contact card to give to the owners of the animals in question. You will be surprised just how many people would be interested in getting a shot of their pet. It is also a good way to network your business. You can get so many leads when people realise that you are doing your photography for a profession. Let them know that if you get a referral because they told a friend about you that you will give them their prints for free.
Building your business isnt a hard thing to do. Opportunities abound everywhere. Get creative and dont be shy.
Until next time, happy shooting
Regards,
Adrian
CEO Aspect Images
Animals are lots of fun to photograph, so why not grab your camera and go to the local park, or even a dog show. Dont forget to print out a small contact card to give to the owners of the animals in question. You will be surprised just how many people would be interested in getting a shot of their pet. It is also a good way to network your business. You can get so many leads when people realise that you are doing your photography for a profession. Let them know that if you get a referral because they told a friend about you that you will give them their prints for free.
Building your business isnt a hard thing to do. Opportunities abound everywhere. Get creative and dont be shy.
Until next time, happy shooting
Regards,
Adrian
CEO Aspect Images
Monday, April 6, 2009
Making Money From Google Ads
Today I discovered the power of passive income for my photography business. Passive income is income that you have not had to put much effort into earning for your business. It is an income that just ticks away in the background earning you a small amount of money each month, without the need for a great amount of capital outlay.
My father once said to me that many small streams make a big river. He was a wise man. I have tried to take his advice as often as I can in regards to this. If i could combine all of my small income streams, I realised that they would actuall make a large some of money in any given month. It is not something that happens overnight. There are no free rides in life. There is always some initial work that needs to be done on my part. But with consistency and diligence my income has been steadily building over the last year or so.
I still work a nine to five job, although i believe those days will be short lived. I want to be able to free up my time to concentrate on the passion I love the most; my photography. But to do this I need to create some alternative income streams to supplement my income. I won't go into great lengths in this post, but rather as the days and weeks go by, I will pass on some handy hints I have picked up along the way, so make sure that you stay tuned
One of these income streams that I hope will turn into a river I will be discussing in greater detail in my other blog makingmoneyfromgoogleads.blogspot.com
I have also created a blog at squidoo.com/aspectimages
Until next time,
take care of yourselves
My father once said to me that many small streams make a big river. He was a wise man. I have tried to take his advice as often as I can in regards to this. If i could combine all of my small income streams, I realised that they would actuall make a large some of money in any given month. It is not something that happens overnight. There are no free rides in life. There is always some initial work that needs to be done on my part. But with consistency and diligence my income has been steadily building over the last year or so.
I still work a nine to five job, although i believe those days will be short lived. I want to be able to free up my time to concentrate on the passion I love the most; my photography. But to do this I need to create some alternative income streams to supplement my income. I won't go into great lengths in this post, but rather as the days and weeks go by, I will pass on some handy hints I have picked up along the way, so make sure that you stay tuned
One of these income streams that I hope will turn into a river I will be discussing in greater detail in my other blog makingmoneyfromgoogleads.blogspot.com
I have also created a blog at squidoo.com/aspectimages
Until next time,
take care of yourselves
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Step Three
Tonight I have spent the night continuing on in my steps to becoming a professional photographer. The third step that i feel is vitally important in being successful in photography is to be organised. I cannot stress this enough to people when I chat to them about entering the world of photography, whether it be as a wedding photographer, sports photographer, or a stock photographer.
Being organised and somewhat methodical when it comes to your work is vitally important to the success of your business. Be sure to put into place very early on a correct and proper workflow for all that you do. Filing, emails, photo projects, editing of shots, cataloging etc all require some form of organisation.
Don't wait a few months before you start. Get into the habit now. Believe me, it is alot easier to sort things out if you have correct procedures in place from the start, rather than trying to wade your way through multiple emails, website links, thousands of images that you have taken over time.
I have created a few simple steps for myself that in the long run will save me hours of pain. This includes:
emails - create proper folders for your mail within your inbox. It is very easy to do this. Also make some simple rules for your emails to go straight into those newly created folders. For example, I have created new email addresses for every stock photo agency that I host my images with, and then in my email inbox I have created sub folders for those emails to go to. Windows Mail and Outlook allow you to create a rule so that when you receive mail from someone, you can tell it to be placed straight in that folder name
websites - how frustrating is it when you have found an awesome website, yet you can never remember where it is when you need it in a hurry. Bookmark your webpages. Catalog your bookmarks into simple folder catagories. Hopefully you have already bookmarked my blog for future reference :)
images - I have spoken to so many people over the years that i have been photographing, and I am still amazed at how many people do not keep a master file of their images. Some people take their photos and put them into different folders, others have the same picture in multiple folders. This makes it very difficult indeed to track down a shot in a hurry. If you are as enthusiastic as me about taking shots, they probably number into the thousands each month.
Create a simple system for numbering your images. I find it easiest to number them like this. Year/month/day00001. So my master file number would look like 2009010100001 Your computer will find it so much easier to sort your files when they are in number order. If you are using a program like Adobe Bridge or Adobe Lightroom, they have an automated function that allows you to rename your files straight from your camera or memory card.
I hear some people out there screaming at me - "but how do i find the picture of Aunty Jean if it is with all the other images.....". Thats where I will move on to my next helpful tip
Keywords - Get into the habit early on of keywording your images and attaching it to your metadata on your image file. Metadata is just a fancy name that simply means you can attach a whole heap of info to your file for future reference. Keywording is just on piece of info you can store with your file.
So in the above example of the photographer who wanted to be able to find his pictures of Aunty Jean, it is as simple as putting the keyword "Aunty Jean" in his metadata. You can then use programs like Photoshop, Lightroom and Apeture to sort through your master file and bring up all of the relevent pictures that have keyword "Aunty Jean"
Diary - if you dont use a diary of some sort in the photo game, you should. It goes the same for our address book. These are very important tools for the photographer, that if not kept in some sort of order could mean the possibility of lost income for your business. If you get given a business card or contact of some sort; store it somewhere. Dont just scribble it on a piece of paper and stick it in your shirt pocket. Chances are it will go through the wash and you may never get the chance to call that person to book in their wedding or portfolio shoot.
Diaries never go out of fashion. it might be a book of some sort, or you might get an electronic device that will automatically remind you the day before of what you need to do for the day
Anyway, I hope that some of these tips will set you on the path to success in any photographic venture you may persue. Until next time, keep shooting, and enjoy the adventure
Being organised and somewhat methodical when it comes to your work is vitally important to the success of your business. Be sure to put into place very early on a correct and proper workflow for all that you do. Filing, emails, photo projects, editing of shots, cataloging etc all require some form of organisation.
Don't wait a few months before you start. Get into the habit now. Believe me, it is alot easier to sort things out if you have correct procedures in place from the start, rather than trying to wade your way through multiple emails, website links, thousands of images that you have taken over time.
I have created a few simple steps for myself that in the long run will save me hours of pain. This includes:
emails - create proper folders for your mail within your inbox. It is very easy to do this. Also make some simple rules for your emails to go straight into those newly created folders. For example, I have created new email addresses for every stock photo agency that I host my images with, and then in my email inbox I have created sub folders for those emails to go to. Windows Mail and Outlook allow you to create a rule so that when you receive mail from someone, you can tell it to be placed straight in that folder name
websites - how frustrating is it when you have found an awesome website, yet you can never remember where it is when you need it in a hurry. Bookmark your webpages. Catalog your bookmarks into simple folder catagories. Hopefully you have already bookmarked my blog for future reference :)
images - I have spoken to so many people over the years that i have been photographing, and I am still amazed at how many people do not keep a master file of their images. Some people take their photos and put them into different folders, others have the same picture in multiple folders. This makes it very difficult indeed to track down a shot in a hurry. If you are as enthusiastic as me about taking shots, they probably number into the thousands each month.
Create a simple system for numbering your images. I find it easiest to number them like this. Year/month/day00001. So my master file number would look like 2009010100001 Your computer will find it so much easier to sort your files when they are in number order. If you are using a program like Adobe Bridge or Adobe Lightroom, they have an automated function that allows you to rename your files straight from your camera or memory card.
I hear some people out there screaming at me - "but how do i find the picture of Aunty Jean if it is with all the other images.....". Thats where I will move on to my next helpful tip
Keywords - Get into the habit early on of keywording your images and attaching it to your metadata on your image file. Metadata is just a fancy name that simply means you can attach a whole heap of info to your file for future reference. Keywording is just on piece of info you can store with your file.
So in the above example of the photographer who wanted to be able to find his pictures of Aunty Jean, it is as simple as putting the keyword "Aunty Jean" in his metadata. You can then use programs like Photoshop, Lightroom and Apeture to sort through your master file and bring up all of the relevent pictures that have keyword "Aunty Jean"
Diary - if you dont use a diary of some sort in the photo game, you should. It goes the same for our address book. These are very important tools for the photographer, that if not kept in some sort of order could mean the possibility of lost income for your business. If you get given a business card or contact of some sort; store it somewhere. Dont just scribble it on a piece of paper and stick it in your shirt pocket. Chances are it will go through the wash and you may never get the chance to call that person to book in their wedding or portfolio shoot.
Diaries never go out of fashion. it might be a book of some sort, or you might get an electronic device that will automatically remind you the day before of what you need to do for the day
Anyway, I hope that some of these tips will set you on the path to success in any photographic venture you may persue. Until next time, keep shooting, and enjoy the adventure
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Step Two
I am greatly encouraged at how things have progressed with the setup phase of the website. There have been some major developments with regards to a photography training course that I have been working on with a mate these last few months. Things look as if they are about to take off in a major way.
I have managed to aquire a training venue, which will in the short term double as a studio. This is a huge leap forward in my plans for Aspect Images, as it will give me the freedom to focus on what I love doing the most - taking photos and passing that passion on to others.
There are a few more steps that need to be taken to get me to the point of leaving my day job and making photography a full time occupation, but with these exciting turn of events I am well on my way to fulfilling my dream.
As always, stay tuned for more news
I have managed to aquire a training venue, which will in the short term double as a studio. This is a huge leap forward in my plans for Aspect Images, as it will give me the freedom to focus on what I love doing the most - taking photos and passing that passion on to others.
There are a few more steps that need to be taken to get me to the point of leaving my day job and making photography a full time occupation, but with these exciting turn of events I am well on my way to fulfilling my dream.
As always, stay tuned for more news
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
The First Step
Well. It is done. I have taken the plunge and purchased a website. The guys at Photobiz.com have a very easy to use interface for setting up your website and I couldn't be happier.
The next few days should keep me very busy indeed sorting out and finalizing the final layout for my site. Once that is done I will get my best mate Anthony (who just happens to be a musician) to write a catchy tune for the site.
Stay tuned :)
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The next few days should keep me very busy indeed sorting out and finalizing the final layout for my site. Once that is done I will get my best mate Anthony (who just happens to be a musician) to write a catchy tune for the site.
Stay tuned :)
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Posted with LifeCast
The Next Step Forward
Well, it's finally happening. My photography experience is moving into next gear. I am in the process of redevolping my website aspectimages.com.au and am considering hosting with a fantastic company called photobiz.
The site has been in need of a well earned overhaul for quite some time now, and will have a totally new look and feel to it. Part of the process will be to design some new logos for my business, Aspect Images, and to select some killer shots to host on the new site. I will be using the new website as an important tool for driving the business, and also to showcase alot of my new photos that are hosted through the various stock photography sites I am affiliated with.
I am also in the process of looking for a photographic studio to set up shop on a more permanent basis. It is getting a little overcrowded in my tiny apartment, and my girlfriend is pleased that she doesnt have to dodge around my light stands, tripods and other stuff that is lying around. The new studio will also be used as a training base for people wanting to learn more about using a digital camera, lighting techniques, editing images with Photoshop etc.
All in all it is going to be very exciting times in the next month or so. There is much enthusiasm at the moment about all the changes that are coming, and I will keep everyone posted on the progress of things
The site has been in need of a well earned overhaul for quite some time now, and will have a totally new look and feel to it. Part of the process will be to design some new logos for my business, Aspect Images, and to select some killer shots to host on the new site. I will be using the new website as an important tool for driving the business, and also to showcase alot of my new photos that are hosted through the various stock photography sites I am affiliated with.
I am also in the process of looking for a photographic studio to set up shop on a more permanent basis. It is getting a little overcrowded in my tiny apartment, and my girlfriend is pleased that she doesnt have to dodge around my light stands, tripods and other stuff that is lying around. The new studio will also be used as a training base for people wanting to learn more about using a digital camera, lighting techniques, editing images with Photoshop etc.
All in all it is going to be very exciting times in the next month or so. There is much enthusiasm at the moment about all the changes that are coming, and I will keep everyone posted on the progress of things
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