Cheap Stock Pictures Fail Yet Again

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The National Post this week pointed out that the cheap stock pictures used by the Department of Canadian Heritage are from a foreign-owned picture agency and were shot by foreign photographers.

Why does this federal agency use foreign photos to promote Canadian culture? It suggested that Canadian photographers are too expensive.

This National Post article is years behind the times. The federal government’s practice of using stock pictures from foreign photographers has been going on for a long time. The Canadian government avoids Canadian photographers and buys cheaper work from abroad.
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The not so deep freeze

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Today in Toronto, it was about -8˚C. A normal winter day. My cameras worked just fine outdoors. My flashes worked as normal. After less than an hour outside, I reached into an inside coat pocket to retrieve my cell phone and my iPhone 5 said:

Of course, it probably meant to say that it needed to warm up. The phone was completely useless. Thank goodness it wasn’t an emergency.

It turns out that an iPhone doesn’t like to work below 0˚C. Not even this will help.

I know that cold weather affects all batteries and can freeze LCDs. But I don’t recall having any previous cell phone freeze on me. My digital cameras have never failed even at -20˚C. The iPhone seems to be my only electronic device that fails when the temperature is less than ideal.

Perhaps today’s smartphones are wimps or maybe they’re just turning us into wimps.

 

Photography Production Value

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Let’s say you’re planning to have live music at your business event. You might hire a soloist, a duo, a trio, a quartet or maybe even a symphony orchestra.

The music from each type of ensemble will sound different depending on the amount of musicians and instruments. A soloist will never sound like a quartet, a duo will never sound like a symphony. It goes without saying that the bigger the ensemble, the higher the price.

The exact same thing applies to photography.
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If it’s on the Internet…

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Let’s say a photographer owns the copyright to a photo. Without any other agreement in place, if that photo was published in a newspaper, would the photographer still own the copyright to that picture? Of course they would.

What if the photo was used in a book, on a billboard or on TV? Would the photographer still own the copyright? Yes they would. The medium in which the picture is used doesn’t affect copyright. Surely this is obvious.

So why do some folks think that a picture “found” on the Internet would have no copyright?
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Negotiating from the get-go

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You might think that negotiating is about the client and photographer haggling over price. But negotiating involves much more than that.

Earlier today, I went shopping for a new suit. At a clothing store, the salesperson didn’t ask what kind of suit I wanted but instead she asked why I needed a suit – at what type of events would I be wearing the suit. [Help the customer get what they need and don’t just sell to them.]

Instead of letting me choose suits from the long racks of clothing, the salesperson selected just two suits for me. [Make it easy for the customer to decide and avoid overwhelming them.]

“I think you’d look great in either of these two. Which do you prefer?” she asked.
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In The Bag

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When shopping for a decent light stand bag, you might find that most stand bags are too small, don’t have wheels or are very expensive.

If you carry just a couple of stands and umbrellas, this may not be an issue for you. But if you need to carry a trunkful of stands, an armful of softboxes or umbrellas, a few rolls of 52″ background paper and more, there is a solution.

Go to a golf store or sporting goods store and check out golf travel bags. These bags are designed to transport a golf bag full of clubs and, in some cases, even a small golf cart. They often have big outside pockets to hold various golf accessories.
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Do you suffer from PAS?

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PAS – Picture Avoidance Syndrome

In a 13-1/2 minute talk, portrait photographer Peter Hurley and psychologist Anna Rowley speak about PAS, which many of us may have. They suggest how someone can overcome their fear of being in front of a camera by changing their relationship with their physical appearance.

There’s often a divide between the way we see ourselves and the way the world sees us. This division can be magnified when a camera is pointed at us. When sitting for a business headshot or any other type of portrait, we may think of who we’re not rather than who we are.

Self-perception defines our level of self-worth which can affect how others see us, or at least how we think they see us, which can create a fear of being photographed. It starts with what, or who, we see in a mirror and how we respond to that mirror.

 

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