Over the years I have contemplated joining the Bureau of Freelance Photographers. Their market handbook is reportedly very good and the leads they offer with respect to image sales are likely very useful. However, I do feel that they let themselves down a little with their reminder cards that they have taken to sending me on occasion:
…you can take up full membership for just £49 per annum – a fee you could easily recover in picture sales in your first year.
That, to me, is not a particularly good selling point for the service that they provide. It’s certainly no piece marketing genius.
The new computer hardware from the Dell Outlet Centre has arrived. Hopefully the super fast processor and the 2 gigabytes of memory will smooth out the workflow somewhat and leave far fewer opportunities for finger tapping (and teeth grinding).
I only had a little while to set the thing up yesterday and got as far as installing a wireless network controller and configuring access to my network backup media. There’s still plenty to do and until it is done my current PC will remain my main work PC. There is no point switching over until the new PC has proven itself, at least a little. Not being able to quickly service an image request because of hardware issues or a poorly controlled switch to new hardware would be embarrassing.
I wonder, is this kind of self-inflicted hardware and software support roll a common characteristic of digital photographers these days (and, I suppose, film photographers too)? Are skills in hardware maintenance and configuration just another skill that photographers are learning and embracing as part of their professional careers?
I’ve a head start here, given that my relationship with computers began some 27 years ago. Shocking really. What’s even more shocking is that I still have each and every computer that I have ever owned. The loft is becoming a museum. Perhaps one day I’ll bring them down and photograph them for submission to one of the stock agencies. Perhaps I’ll even turn one of them on.
UPDATE
And yes, one of the machines is 27 years old (or there abouts).
The lengths that stock photographers sometimes go to when they want to realise an idea are astonishing:
As I hiked in I was feeling that this was another wasted trip. Then, suddenly I was there. I walked into the mouth of a shallow cave, turned around and, hallelujah! I had the location! It was a long, clean overhang, looking out onto the desert-like remains of a prehistoric glacial path. On the far side of that flat, dry coulee was a long rock wall similar to the one that housed the cave. No trees! No visual interference! It would work!
Michael Reichmann over at the Luminous Landscape returns from the PMA show (the most important photographic trade show of the year in the US) and observes that the great Megapixel Race appears to be over. It’s something that I (and many others) have been expecting ever since the 6mp camera came along, certainly within the sphere of the consumer camera at least. Even in the professional market we have reached the point now where more and more megapixels start to become counter productive (except in specialist areas or specific applications).
Managing digital files is a major part of a photographer’s work these days and any increase in file size must be matched by a return that the photographer actually values in a real world application (rather than valuing just the idea of more megapixels). 6mp, 8mp, 10mp, 12mp, 16mp, these are all now available and for most there is no reason to take notice any more and the camera makers know that (or at least I hope they do).
As Michael Reichmann says, sensor quality is far more important now.
UPDATE
Actually, one area for advancement that would be most welcome is the further development of self cleaning sensors. Keeping that sensor clean is one of the banes of the digital photographer or, at the very least, a chore. It’s an area where digital photography really does fall down when compared to film which, by its very nature, has a one use only sensor that is always fresh and clean.