Tag Archives: photography

New Book on Barcelona — Online Now!

I am very pleased to announce the publication of a SECOND book this week — Brief Bits Of Barcelona. This book is available for purchase in several formats — ebook for iPad, hardback, and softcover. Barcelona is one of the places in Europe that we would return to again and again, so I hope this book either encourages a trip there or brings back some of your own memories.

Click LINKS BELOW to purchase
Brief Bits of Barcelona in PRINT
Brief Bits of Barcelona in EBOOK

I’m already working on the NEXT book, so come back soon for the launch of yet another one (and another, and another…).

Momentum In Melbourne

For the last several months, I have been p-a-t-i-e-n-t-l-y (for the most part!) breathing deeply through all of the pre-launch-date stages of presenting some NEW BOOKS to the world. These are the first of a series that I’ll be producing and I will be offering them in both print versions and ebook versions. Also, you’ll have a choice of two types of hardback version or the equally groovy paperback version. And for those of you who just love your iPad, I’ll be creating a downloadable ebook version, too!

In the meantime, in addition to actually creating even more books, I am setting up new pages or sections on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and Pinterest because if you don’t NETWORK like crazy, you aren’t ‘with it’ in the greater scheme of independent marketing. And all of that set-up takes time, too. Thank heavens I have thousands of images to draw upon from our years overseas.

Now — wasn’t that worth waiting for? I’m practically dancing in my chair as I type!

So — here we go…

Do you have older family members who were in Europe during World War II? Parents or grandparents perhaps? Are you a military buff? Are you simply curious about that time period? Then the first of my new books, Echoes Of Place: The Haunting Energy of War in Battlefield France, is for you.

Click On Links Below To Order
Echoes Of Place in PRINT
Echoes Of Place in EBOOK

Come back soon for the launch of another book (and another, and another…).

Sad, Bad Changes To ‘The Good Old Days’ of Photography

Once upon a time in the land of photography and photojournalism, there were these amazing things called JOBS and proper PAYCHECKS for people who had a trained eye and a degree in the arts or journalism. Those are practically non-existent in media now unless you are a fresh-faced intern straight out of university and willing to work for slave wages or you are in a specialty category such a sports.

Is there still a market for glorious human interest photos or breaking news shots? Not unless the digital or print news publishers can get them for free or practically free!

Several years ago, when we were still living in the small Central Victorian town of Clunes, an hour and a half north of Melbourne, I had a very informative afternoon coffee break with a charming man who had been an award winning photographer for The Age — Melbourne’s big daily newspaper. We laughed and talked about ‘the good old days’ when you’d get your assignment, do the shoot, and then even do the darkroom work on occasion.

All of that is gone now as the newspapers around the world have phased out full time photojournalists and frequently rely on everyday people who take shots with their camera phones and upload them (for free!) to a newspaper so that they can say, “Wow! I’ve been published!” Newspaper publishers also use stock photo agencies who have stringers, freelance photographers, who send them images from around the world each day which get sold on to daily newspapers for mere pennies.

Finishing our coffee and our commiserations about the state of the industry, we both agreed that the ever-improving digital cameras that were sold to every Tom, Dick, and Harriette had been the death of a huge segment of the photographic industry since everyone fancied that they were able to shoot equally as well as the pros. In some cases they were correct since some of the more expensive Nikon and Canon cameras were practically goof-proof for things like scenic shots. And scenic shots still sell well, but cheaply, to stock agencies for calendars and greeting cards.

There are still large companies who pay a professional photographer to come shoot their annual report images and yes, wedding photographers are still out there fighting for every dollar. But even wedding photographers have been eliminated at times by a family friend with a decent camera and the lack of expertise and inspiration truly does show in the final results.

As my loyal readers know, we’ve recently returned to Australia from living in Europe for several years and I have profiled weekend markets in quite a few countries. These weekend markets are always awash with simply beautiful photos, lovingly matted and placed in clear plastic protectors, stacked in a display area or perched on small easels. And those photography booths are walked by again and again as you hear the passers-by saying, “Well I could take that same image with my camera. Why should I pay for that?” Back when we all worked with film and we printed our work in the darkroom on various types of specialty papers, fine art photography seemed to be regarded as more interesting and valuable than today’s digital products.

Along came another death knell in the form of microstock agencies who sold images uploaded by the Tom, Dick, and Harriette brigade for those previously mentioned pennies per image. And here’s an example of how deadly that was to professional photographers. If I had a premium image at a premium agency that was listed for several hundred dollars for one time use with copyright restrictions and a microstock agency had Harriette’s similar-yet-not-perfect image for sale for lifetime use for a $3.00 download, just GUESS which one an advertising agency would pick? Right you are! Harriette’s image gets chosen more and more often in this day of cheap-cheap-cheap or free-free-free.

I’ve been registered with several agencies for several years and up until recently, I was making a decent side income from that. Unfortunately, the state of the industry now is in such shambles that even formerly reputable agencies are selling off images in ‘package deals’ to their larger clients and leaving the poor (and getting poorer every day!) photographer with a handful of dollars for a hell of a lot of work! For that reason, I have de-registered with all but two agencies and both of them are in the UK. They are still full service agencies that sell images for premium prices. But I’m not holding my breath about the revenue stream from them since they too are in crisis as more and more of their work slides away to the cheapened ethic of using $3.00 microstock downloads.

Somewhere on my List Of Things To Do will be creating an online database of images so that I can sell my OWN stock images at a fair and reasonable price — not a giveaway price. And I guess I’ll have to go back to actually pitching story and photo packages directly to publications. What a pain in the patoot!

However, the bottom line is that we do no credit to ourselves as self-employed artists if we allow our work to be so devalued by the big commercial agencies who toss a few pennies our way and then rake in the profits for themselves. And it certainly doesn’t help when behemoth media corporations continue to put their smaller scale competition out of business altogether by buying them out and then systematically lowering the commissions to photographers.

Our costs of running a business go up each year — not down. And I’ve been reading some of the professional members on one of my LinkedIn groups who have, after 30 years on average in the industry, actually given up trying to make a living from photography altogether. We’re all in a state of mourning for the way we used to work and the income that we formerly could depend on. And truly, isn’t it a sad state of affairs when iPhone pictures sent to the Internet via Instagram are now considered to be professional. (sigh!)

I’m a Lady Dinosaur and I’ll admit it. But gads, my dears, I do miss the ‘good old days’ when art and creativity and a level of craft were actually things that were valued and respected.

Ah well — end of rant…

Wintery Bareness in Black & White

This is why — this is exactly why when the skies are clear, no matter what the temperature, I carry my camera with me. Two days ago we walked across the footbridge to post a letter and all of this unfolded before my eyes.

Hope you enjoy it!

Over the stone bridge in St. Girons on a wintery day in France

People enjoying a sunny winter day at a riverside park in the South of France.

A man walks beneath the bare branches of a row of trees on a sunny but wintery day in the South of France.

Architectural Photos of CCCB Museum in Barcelona

This is a mixed bag of both black and white and colour photography today. These photos give you a brief glimpse of the architecture of the lovely CCCB museum in Barcelona.

Some of the more angular shots were better presented in black and white. For visual punch, I love bright blue-sky days. But more and more often lately I seem to be defaulting back to black and white which returns me to my early days in journalism and blissful hours spent in the darkroom.

Enjoy!

Entrance sign at CCCB museum in Barcelona, Spain

Man passing though courtyard entry arch into the CCCB contemporary art museum in Barcelona, Spain with St. Geoge & the Dragon sculpture overhead on building facade.

A St. George & the Dragon sculpture above the archway entry into the CCCB museum in Barcelona, Spain.

Entry-exit ramp at the Barcelona, Spain museum CCCB.

Old meets new in the two buildings housing the CCCB museum of contemporary art.

The crisp geometric angles of the interior lobby in the CCCB museum of contemporary art and culture in Barcelona, Spain.

Escalator to upper galleries at the Barcelona, Spain contemporary museum CCCB.

From Barcelona, Not The Normal Thing To See At A Museum!

Walking down a narrow street in Barcelona, heading for the contemporary art museum called MACBA, we strolled past several sidewalk cafes at the front corner of the large white museum building.

Sidewalk cafes are conveniently located outside the front entry of MACBA — the museum of contemporary art in Barcelona, Spain.

We certainly weren’t expecting what we saw unfolding in the courtyard in front of us. Dozens of young people were ‘hanging out’ in various places along the courtyard and in clumps at the front of MACBA. And what we were laughing at was the sight of skateboarders doing tricks right in front of that museum!

They were quite considerate and confined their activity to a small area so that they didn’t interfere with the pedestrians who were criss-crossing the plaza or coming in and out of the museum.

Young men on skateboards perform in the open plaza outside MACBA — the museum of contemporary art in Barcelona, Spain.

Day to day life in Barcelona surprised us again and again. We might be living in Europe now, but our quiet French town is rather sedate compared to the unfolding comedy, drama, and action in this large metropolitan part of Spain.

Let The Gnome Hold It In Barcelona

Quick photo of the day today — letting a gnome hold things for me today!

Gnome table in a home design shop in Barcelona, Spain

This little gnome table was in the window of a home design store in Barcelona. Not only was he rather cute, I also liked the rug behind him made out of small cut-out circles of leather.