October stock royalties were good, with the image below being licensed for an ad campaign, both in print and web. My other favourite is the China Town street shot, which was licensed via Corbis. [Both images can be licensed via Aurora Photos - just click on the photo].

An Adelie penguin leaps into the sea, Antarctica. © www.thomaspickard.com

People eating Thai street food, Bangkok, Thailand. © www.thomaspickard.com

Aurora Photos introduced the myPhone Collection, which is surely the first collection of phone taken photos available for licensing via an established stock agency.

Personally, I think it is an awesome idea, though from the discussion over on A Photo Editor – Drowning in Photography – it became pretty clear that there is a love / hate relationship with photography produced on mobile phones. I said this in the comments, but I think  it is worth repeating here:

In the same way the Rein II sold for $4 million, there will surely be photo buyers who will find photos taken with an iPhone and license it. The value of the photo, whether you love it or hate it, is created the moment someone is willing to pay money for a license. The rest just doesn’t matter.

The whole iPhone debate seems so…boring. Why care about what tool a photo was created with?

Lastly, Photoshelter released a 48-page guide to Selling Stock Photography, which includes a two-page Photographer Profile on my good self (amongst numerous others).

While I could say so much more about the guide, all you need to know is this: it is free and full of great advice from a diverse group of photo buyers and photographers’ alike. Well worth a read.

Big thanks to Lauren at Photoshelter for the opportunity to share my experiences as one of the profiled photographers.

If the only reason you are using Facebook is to get noticed; to prod someone or to kill some time, then it’s time to disconnect. Go buy a postcard for a friend and write it in a park. Radical idea I know, but receiving a postcard is cool, for the simple fact that so much of our communication with friends, family and colleagues is done via the Internet.

If you are using Facebook to network and grow your business, then make sure it’s real. If it is fake, then to paraphrase Seth Godin, it is nothing more than “a useless distraction”.

I wrote those words in August 2009, in a post titled “Are you wasting your life on Facebook?”.

As many of you know, since then I have maintained a personal Facebook page and two Facebook business pages. While there are things I liked about Facebook – the ease of staying in touch & posting quick links – there were too many things which I didn’t like about Facebook. Namely, the dismal way in which Facebook continually treats its users’ with lousy privacy policies and even more complicated account settings. At a fundamental level, it just creeps me out knowing some organisation is building a continually growing profile of what I say and do, within the Facebook space. Coupled with the ongoing privacy concerns that seem to follow Facebook like the plague, I decided enough was enough.

Today I downloaded an archived copy of my user data and then sent a request to Facebook to delete my account.

Apparently account deletions take 14-days, so while my pages are no longer visible on Facebook, my account deletion won’t actually happen for another 14-days. Probably Facebook’s way of giving users’ a cooling off period.

As for how to stay in touch, let me just say that life exists outside of Facebook. No, really. It does. Below are some ways you can stay in touch with what I’m up to:

RSS Feeds

My Quarterly Newsletter

This is relatively new, but I love producing it. You can read the Winter 2011 issue at this link and you can subscribe to future issues at this link. They come out free, four times a year – Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn.

Comments

Comments are open on this site & you can ask me questions or post your thoughts and ideas, as you please.

Lastly, if people would like to receive posts via email, then let me know – info [at] thomaspickard [dot] com – and I’ll look into providing that option.

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Needless to say, I said ‘no thanks’.

I am not into misleading my readers’ – that would be you! – into reading what would essentially be false content, with links to some product that I don’t endorse or know anything about.

Back in early March, I wrote a post titled ‘Anatomy of a Web Site Change’. In it, I talked about why I switched to Photoshelter for all my photo display and hosting needs. That post quickly became the most read post on this blog.

That got me thinking about Photoshelter as a product and how I have used it since 2006. In short, I realised Photoshelter is a product that I know quite a bit about. And I believe it is a great product.

Because of this, I have decided to become an affiliate for Photoshelter (see the Photoshelter ad in the top right corner).

Going forward, I will occasionally write some Photoshelter posts. These posts will be based on my experience using Photoshelter with my two sites - My Wedding Photographer and Thomas Pickard Photography.

These won’t be glowing fluff pieces. Instead they will be posts based on how I use Photoshelter; what works and what doesn’t. It will help give you an insight into Photoshelter as a product.

If these posts are helpful to you and you decide to give Photoshelter a go by clicking on the ad in the top right corner, then yes, I will receive a small commission.

Lastly, if you ever have any questions about Photoshelter, then don’t hesitate to contact me. Though you can set up a Photoshelter web site in no time, I really believe that you should step back and make sure that Photoshelter is the right product for what you want to do with your photographs.

Comments are open – ask anything you want about Photoshelter. I don’t have all the answers, but I will do my best.

Related Posts:

Anatomy of a Web Site Change.

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Stay in touch: become a fan on Facebook

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I am looking for people who are in good shape, with good skin and natural smiles for the following shoots:

1. Woman 20-30 years of age, any nationality. Lifestyle shoot in and around a really cool house I have access to.

2. Couple (male & female) 20-30 years of age, any nationality. Lifestyle shoot in and around a really cool house.

3. Two friends or a couple 20-30 years of age, who can sail. For sailing shoot on Muri Lagoon.

4. Surfer or bodyboarder 18 years or older. Male or female. For beach based shoot.

5. Vaka paddler, who paddles a single boat. 18 years or older. Male or female. For beach based portraits & water paddling shots.

If you are interested:

Please send a low res photo of yourself to: info [ @ ] thomaspickard [ dot ] com

Let me know which shoot you are interested in (1, 2, 3, 4 or 5)

Your contact details

I will respond to all emails I receive.

The Fine Print:

You must be prepared to sign a model release before the start of the shoot.

If you agree to turn up and model for a shoot, you must turn up. I set up access to locations; source equipment and props for most shoots, all of which costs me time and money. If you agree to model for a shoot, I really need you to turn up!

Payment:

For all first time models on a shoot, I provide a CD of images from the shoot to you. If you have never worked with an established photographer before, you will also learn about what goes into a successful photo shoot and we will have some laughs along the way.

Most shoots will be no longer than two hours in duration. Shoots will be on location at various places around Rarotonga. I am used to working with non-models, and will provide creative direction to you during the shoot.

Interested? I would love to hear from you. Phone: 51049 or 21565.

Thomas.

Learn more about me. View my work.

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Stay in touch: become a fan on Facebook.

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I’m happy to announce that www.thomaspickard.com has been fully redesigned and is now up and running.

My site is built on Photoshelter technology, which means if you have an existing registered image buyer account with Photoshelter, then this will work on my site – no need to register again.

For existing clients and new clients, these are the changes that matter:

PORTFOLIO | If you aren’t familiar with my work, this is the first place to go to get a gauge on my work.

GALLERIES | Here you will find a selection of my work available for licensing.

SEARCH | Search based on keyword, location or theme.

ABOUT | Learn more about me, who represents me and my client list.

PRO LICENSING |  Learn how to license images on this site and read frequently asked questions including payment options.

NEWS | View announcements, recently published work and links to recently added images.

CONTACT | See my current location and what my contact details are.

BLOG | Go behind the scenes and learn more about me and what I shoot. Updated regularly.

CLIENT AREA [Top right corner] | If you are a registered user, the Client Area contains all lightbox and gallery invitations from me.

Related Posts:

Anatomy of a Web Site Change

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And in case you may be thinking about setting new goals for the New Year, make sure you spend some time reading this post from Zen Habits.

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Expect new posts from next week, complete with fresh new imagery from Vietnam.

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Before then, I’ll be doing some travelling for work and pleasure.  Here is how my schedule is shaping up:

26/11/2010 – 11/12/2010 | Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City, Con Dao Islands, Hanoi and Sapa.

13/12/2010 – 08/01/2011 | New Zealand

Christchurch in the South Island.

09/01/2011 Onwards | Cook Islands

I’ll be based in Rarotonga.

For AD’s and PE’s with potential magazine assignments, please drop me a line with your requirements.

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