Commercial and Editorial Photographer

Bodyboarding at Socials Surf Break, Rarotonga Cook Islands

Thomas Pickard — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:40:57 +0000

When I arrived at Socials surf break on Saturday morning, the sun was shining and the swell was looking pretty good. Only problems was the tide. It was too full and needed to drop a bit, so I drove the 100-metres to my friend’s place, which looks directly over the surf break. An Atomic-made coffee later (thanks JT) and the tide was beginning to do its thing, so I grabbed my camera and swam out to the break for a glorious South Pacific surf session.

A couple that made the editing cut.

Underwater view of a bodyboarder, Socials, Rarotonga, Cook Islands. © www.thomaspickard.com

Barrel time, Socials, Rarotonga, Cook Islands. © www.thomaspickard.com

Wave of the day goes by, Socials, Rarotonga, Cook Islands. © www.thomaspickard.com

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Surfers Surfacing, Rarotonga, Cook Islands.

Thomas Pickard — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:01:59 +0000

Despite the overcast skies, I was back in the ocean yesterday, photographing some visiting bodyboarders and surfers out at Socials, off the end of the airport runway here on Rarotonga Island.

You never really know what you are going to get on a surf shoot. Sure, I can see the image on the back of the camera through my water housing, but the images are difficult to see in bright conditions and sometimes you just don’t have the time to look.

The two below made the editing cut. Hundreds didn’t.

Duck diving a wave, Rarotonga, Cook Islands. © www.thomaspickard.com

In the Field: Surf Photography

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Quick Hits: Favourite Photo of the Week & F8 Magazine Redux

Thomas Pickard — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 01:44:47 +0000

Just two quick hits to end the week.

Came across these great photos of Hong Kong shot by photog Palani Mohan. I love image number 3 at the following link – the one with water drops on the glass and the out of focus pedestrians carrying umbrellas. Reminds me of my time living in Bangkok. A great photo series.

F8 Magazine has just released issue 5. It costs $1.99 US now, but is well worth the low price tag. Always full of great documentary photography.

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A Week of Stock Photography

Thomas Pickard — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 01:17:38 +0000

In between royalty reports from Aurora Photos & Getty Images, the announcement by Aurora Photos of the myPhone collection and the release by Photoshelter, of the Selling Stock Photography Guide, it felt like a week of stock photography.

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.

Published on The Travel Channel

Thomas Pickard — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:15:20 +0000

The Travel Channel recently ran one of my Maldives resort photos in The Daily Escape section of the site. It’s the first time I’ve seen the site and I love the motto for The Daily Escape – A Vacation for your Brain.

The image was licensed via my stock agent, Aurora Photos.

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On Photographing Rarotonga, Cook Islands.

Thomas Pickard — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 01:52:28 +0000

A couple of months back, I was chatting with a woman I had just met through a friend of a friend, when the woman in question asked me: “don’t you ever get bored of photographing beaches in the Cook Islands?”

My reply was “Are you serious?”

To which she responded “Yes”

Her question and response really threw me, for the simple fact that when I walk out the door and go anywhere in Rarotonga, I see so much more than just beaches to photograph.

Case in point – below are 10 photographs from a selection of hundreds taken in the last couple of days. Take the time and you’ll find plenty of things to photograph in a place like Rarotonga.

Po-Po, daughter & dog, Rutaki Passage, Cook Islands. © www.thomaspickard.com

Two day old piglets, Rarotonga, Cook Islands. © www.thomaspickard.com

Afternoon light on mountain ridges, Rarotonga, Cook Islands. © www.thomaspickard.com

Surfer, slotted. He made it. Avana Passage, Cook Islands. © www.thomaspickard.com

Fisherman searching for fish, Rarotonga, Cook Islands. © www.thomaspickard.com

New channel marker, Cook Islands. © www.thomaspickard.com

Beach, Rarotonga, Cook Islands. © www.thomaspickard.com

Lone fisherman, Cook Islands. © www.thomaspickard.com

South Pacific power. Avana Passage, Cook Islands. © www.thomaspickard.com

Portrait of a spear fisherman, Cook Islands. © www.thomaspickard.com

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Quick Hits: Benjamin Lowy; Captain Scott’s Last Photographs & Mount Bromo

Thomas Pickard — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 01:38:37 +0000

Some quick hits to finish the week:

Benjamin Lowy on being a War Photographer

“War photography is easy. A colleague once called it ‘sports photography.’ You’re shooting sports as it happens in front of you and you’re just there to take the picture. If you have the bravery, or some might call it foolhardiness, to do it, then it’s easy. You don’t have to work at it in the same way as a long-term documentary project where you require intimacy from your subjects. You can just jump out of a plane and go into a war zone like Libya and start photographing.”

Just one of the many cracking quotes from Benjamin Lowy, in this short article on him over at The New Yorker site. What struck me about his commentary, was how honest he was.

Check out his Libya iPhone photos too.

Captain Scott’s Last Photographs

If you are a lover of polar photography, then this is a no brainer – go and check these photos out. And if you want the book, head over to Amazon.

Creative Commons

If you’ve ever wondered what Creative Commons licensing is, then this is the place to learn more.

Lastly, my favourite photo of the week is this beautiful photo by Lauryn Ishak of Mount Bromo. Lauryn’s work is also available as fine art prints over at Otomys Art House.

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From the Archive: Polar Ships

Thomas Pickard — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:40:34 +0000

This photo was taken on one of the many Antarctic voyages I did in November / December 2008 on board the ice breaker, the Clipper Adventurer.

The Clipper Adventurer is a small ship, with a total carrying capacity of around 175 people (that includes all crew). Like all ships, the Bridge is the command centre. It is here, jammed between radars, charts (maps are called charts on ships), radios, satellite phones and consoles with more buttons and dials than I would know what to do with, that the decisions are made.

For Expedition Leader Laurie Dexter (in the blue coat centre), it is a place where he would spend a lot of his time, liaising with the First Mate (second in command) and Captain about the ship’s course, estimated time to the next landing and countless other things that go into running a successful voyage.

Of all the ships I’ve worked on – The Aurora Australis, the Akademik Sergey Vavilov, the Akademik Ioffe and the Clipper Adventurer – they all have one thing in common: the ship’s Bridge is a very quiet place. Sure, the crew talk at a normal conversational volume, but here is the thing: there is more watching and listening on a Bridge than conversation.

That makes the Bridge a very peaceful place, especially when you are travelling through a place as a majestic as Antarctica.

View more polar ship photography at this gallery – TRANSPORT | Polar Ships

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Close Encounter with a Giant Trevally in the Cook Islands.

Thomas Pickard — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 01:48:48 +0000

Though I had already spent a day photographing a spear fisherman up on Aitutaki Island, I have been keen to get out in the water’s off Rarotonga Island and continue my spear fishing photo work. Through a chance meeting with a local man simply called ‘Bobo’, I managed to arrange another spear fishing session this week.

We went out at Rutaki Passage on the southern edge of Rarotonga. The passage is one of three that drains the lagoon on the southern edge of the island. Though it is called a passage, underwater it is more akin to a canyon. It has steep walls and drops a good 20-metres or so. For spear fishing it is a great spot as the fish tend to congregate along the walls. And because the passage opens to the ocean, larger fish often cruise into the passage looking for some fishy snacks.

One of those larger fish just happened to turn up while we were out there – a beautiful Giant Trevally or GT, as they are commonly known. Having spoken to people that dive at the mouth of the passage, this guy is a bit of a regular in the passage. Either way, it was really amazing to turn around and suddenly be faced with this monster fish. This GT is about 5-feet long.

At first I was really excited to see the GT and to have the chance to take some photos. About 5-minutes into the encounter though, the GT swam right up to me, clearly checking me out. It was at about this time, I realised that this was actually a really big fish. For a brief moment I even asked myself “do GT’s bite humans?”.

The GT turned up as Bobo had speared a number of fish and they were on a rope, attached to a plastic bottle. This keeps the fish fresh and allows Bobo to keep hunting. Needless to say, the GT was after a free lunch. So much so, that not long after he first turned up, we ended up swimming back to shore and the GT followed us all the way into the shallows, eventually attacking the dead fish Bobo had on his rope. The only casualty was a dead Black Snapper, which had its tail bitten clean off.

In terms of photography, these two photos were taken with a wide angle lens and neither image was cropped. That right there should give you an indication of how close the GT was to me. In the photo below, I could easily reach out and touch the big guy as he followed Bobo and his dead fish back to shore.

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Quick Hits: Patagonia Book; Crashing Down, URL Shortening & Favourite Photo of the Week.

Thomas Pickard — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 01:46:43 +0000

Some quick hits to finish the week:

Unexpected: Thirty Years of Patagonia Catalog Photography

Though this book has been out for a while now, if you are a lover of great and often unusual outdoor photography, then make sure you pick up a copy for a look. I grew up on Patagonia catalogues when I could get my hands on them. They continue to showcase some of the best outdoor photography today.

Crashing Down via Outside Magazine

If you remember the speculation regarding the passing of World Surf champ Andy Iron’s, then you may find this article a pertinent read.

URL Shortening via Photoshelter

If URL shortening is your thing and you want to know how to track those links, then this quick article is worth a read.

Lastly, my favourite photo of the week is this cracking tilt-shift photo of down town LA, by photog Dave Collyer. Love it!

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