Premium – ideas for stock photos in October

And I’m not going to start this post by saying “Halloween”…

I still read each article in both newspapers and online sources with the same thought in mind – is there something in this story that is going to become a bigger talking point in the future and, if so, how would journalists illustrate the story? Sometimes I see several things that intrigue me – other times not as many. Of course with so many articles being about the virus, lockdowns and, of course, anti-vaxxers dying from the disease, and it is hard to think of a new theme around that topic to be honest. I always thought this would make a great illustration for the debates between republican (red) and democrat (blue) state in the US:

But unfortunately it has never sold much at all. The concept might be nice for all the other things that are making life in the US interesting at the present with such strong views on almost everything. I’m not saying we are heading for a civil war in the next 3 or 4 years, but it is not outside the bounds of possibility. Now that would make an interesting stock photo opportunity!

But what have I been seeing? The first was the announcement from Merck that they had a workable drug that reduced the symptoms of Covid and reduced hospitalization and death and they are rushing it through to emergency authorization. As soon as I saw the first announcement, I was at my computer modifying a photo I had taken when Pfizer announced their trials and I created this:

Even though I had simply removed and replaced the background, SS did not reject it (it does look close enough to a real photo!) and it is now selling reasonably often although for 10c a time in most cases. The other sites who accept editorial (including Adobe) also accepted it and it is starting to sell there as well. All told, 14 downloads so far. Now that Merck have their application in front of the FDA, it might get some more exposure. This is an example of just using things that are close to hand – an empty prescription drug bottle, some vitamin type capsules and the logo of the company downloaded from the internet. So keep your eyes out for any similar announcements and be ready to add the correct new keywords for the drug to this and perhaps any more generic images you already have online.

I had mentioned the metaverse in a previous post and how I wanted to get more images illustrating that. I bought myself the Oculus Quest 2 (and am getting pretty good at Beat Saber which gives me plenty of exercise), but I haven’t really got my head around what makes a good stock image yet. Most of the images online are of excited people reaching for an invisible something and so I am trying to come up with something different to that. My golf shot was accepted in most places (except Freepiks!!) and it has had its first sale, but that isn’t going to set the world on fire:

I’ve also tried for a different concept with perhaps VR as an educational resource:

But no sales for that one! I need to really put my thinking cap on to see if I can come up with something that really tells the story that is in my mind. If anyone can think of a different treatment, I’m always ready to learn from you! But I’ll keep you informed on what I am thinking. I do plan to do some shots against a green screen so I can have a range of possibilities as I think of new ideas. I was chatting online with someone I know from a previous camera club and she showed me this image that was created in camera (in an Olympus camera) with a double exposure. This would be great behind a futuristic metaverse concept. So, thanks to Mandy Saunders for this:

I don’t really know exactly how she did it – one image is office buildings and the other is moving lights from cars I think. But is a great futuristic or technology stock photo I think.

Some of my ideas are rubbish in retrospect, but I’ll show no mercy here. This was supposed to represent the booster shot for the Pfizer vaccine:

So far, zero sales. No surprise there!

I continue to photograph everyday life – no costs, no effort really, and they might sell from time to time. I had a box of six wines delivered (which is smaller than the normal dozen bottles you get in a wine box), and so I photographed that both without showing the labels and with:

On Sunday, as my wife and I were feeling that we had made it through the virus, we cooked a full chicken dinner with roast potatoes etc and I opened one of these as a celebration. I could taste nothing – zero aroma, zero whiskey barrel taste, nothing! Then I tried to smell some vinegar – nothing. So that was a real waste of a great bottle of wine! The picture has earned 40c though!

On ideas that I haven’t photographed, I see that the European Union is thinking of mandating USB-C sockets on all phones to avoid so many wasted chargers being built and so something about Apple’s pushback against that (for its phones) might be worth illustrating. Not sure though.

As usual, I’ll let you know what other ideas come to me! Good luck!