Stock photo examples April 15, 2012

My recent trips around the world (Belgium, New York, England) have given me a lot of images to post, but I’ve also been a bit slow at posting examples of my latest stock photos on my blog. I had an objective of posting new images each week and I am probably a couple of weeks behind! This post tries to catch up with the latest images uploaded to the stock agencies.

First off was my trip to Brussels. I had an afternoon to stroll the streets of the old part of Brussels on a pleasant warm sunny day. I generally avoid images with people, but increasingly I am shooting editorial stock where model and property releases are not required, and so I am always on the lookout for those types of image. Shutterstock seems to be more picky and require “newsworthy” captions, but the other sites have a broader idea of what editorial shots are.

 
In Brussels, I started with the train journey from the airport to the city. Although it felt like 2am, my camera is always ready for those shots that may prove useful in future! Then, after a snooze, I walked the streets looking for distinctive images of the city and used my 200mm lens to get close ups of the ornate decoration on many of the old buildings. Finally, I found this old lady begging in the streets and took a picture for editorial use. I did give her a Euro….

On my walk round the streets, I kept an eye open for shop displays – a close up of Belgian chocolates could be useful in my portfolio!
 
Next up was a trip to Boston, and I took the opportunity to shoot an image of the city over empty interstate roads. It was early afternoon and I just happened to get lucky with the traffic.


 
The following week I was in New York city for a meeting and so I went up the afternoon before to walk the streets in Lower Manhattan. The first image from Battery Park of the East Coast Memorial to servicemen and women lost at sea in the second world war:
I then walked along Wall Street and saw this combination of signs that I thought was a nice illustration of the Occupy Wall Street protests:
Later that afternoon I walked over Brooklyn bridge (in a strong wind) to set myself up for some sunset shots over Lower Manhattan. Unfortunately I arrived under the bridge about 90 minutes before the sun really set, it was blowing a gale over the water, and the temperature in March was dropping rapidly. By the time I took my images with the lights starting to show in the buildings in Manhattan, I was absolutely freezing and could hardly feel the buttons on the camera. The big lesson – dress for the time of year and take gloves!

 
Next up was a trip to England, and I took several hundred shots as we moved about the country. The weather was generally OK, although some clouds and rain became the norm later in the trip, but I got some nice images (processed using HDR) to show the contrast between the sunlit barn and the dark storm clouds:

The weather improved for a series of images of the unusual high tide in Southport:

Then it was off to Shropshire to Stokesay Castle – a 1400’s home built with fortifications along the Welsh border. It really was raining here, but I got some good shots from under my umbrella!

In nearby Ludlow, I spotted this rain drenched tomatoes in the market and snapped yet another image:

All told, I have worked on about 120 images that are now processed, keyworded and uploaded to the main sites. Time will tell how many get accepted and then sold, but it is all about building as broad a portfolio as possible!