Friday
Dec222006
My 2007 Resolutions
Friday, December 22, 2006 at 08:13AM I have a long list of items that I either need to get done or desire to get done. Some are professional growing opportunities in my safari business, some are opportunities for me to grow in my creative photography, and others are just plain silly goals. So here are some of my 2007 resolutions, better thought of as goals.
At the top of my list is the management of my stock library. I have roughly 30,000 photographs taken in Africa, and they need to be organized, tagged, rated and edited. I suspect the tagging will be the most difficult part, as each and every image will need to have some fields attributed. Country, location and species are essential for each image. Once all of my images are tagged, I will go through and rate the images from 1 star to 5 stars, and then I will spend some time editing the raw images. The edits will range from simple exposure/white balance/contrast edits to more complex masking techniques in Photoshop. This will take a ton of time. I am thinking of only spending a few minutes per image if it has 5 stars, and much less if 4 stars or less. Keep in mind that I can have a range of 10 images that all have 5 stars, and they might be in a series, which means I can make nearly the same changes to all 10 images with the click of a button.
The purpose of organizing my images is primarily for easy retrieval by me or my stock buyers. I am now a member of Photoshelter.com, and will be uploading a massive amount of images to their servers in the coming months. My image archive will be available 24/7 for anybody who wishes to license an image of mine, and will be able to download a full resolution file quickly and easily. Photoshelter will also enable my print sales, and I will do the printing/signing/shipping from my studio. They do allow me to outsource the printing of my images, but I am never comfortable with anybody printing my images, as I need to be able to inspect each and every print that has my name on it.
Another goal for 2007 is much less cerebral. I have been working on a black and white look to my African safari images, and I need to get it to a point where I am happy with it. I am 80% there, but I just need some more time on it. I cannot wait for this to be completed.
I would also like to visit more locations in Africa in 2007, but this might not happen. My safari schedule is very full for 2007, as I am leading 5 safaris already. I might spend some time wandering around Tanzania for a week, photographing everyday life in rural communities.
What are *your* 2007 resolutions?
At the top of my list is the management of my stock library. I have roughly 30,000 photographs taken in Africa, and they need to be organized, tagged, rated and edited. I suspect the tagging will be the most difficult part, as each and every image will need to have some fields attributed. Country, location and species are essential for each image. Once all of my images are tagged, I will go through and rate the images from 1 star to 5 stars, and then I will spend some time editing the raw images. The edits will range from simple exposure/white balance/contrast edits to more complex masking techniques in Photoshop. This will take a ton of time. I am thinking of only spending a few minutes per image if it has 5 stars, and much less if 4 stars or less. Keep in mind that I can have a range of 10 images that all have 5 stars, and they might be in a series, which means I can make nearly the same changes to all 10 images with the click of a button.
The purpose of organizing my images is primarily for easy retrieval by me or my stock buyers. I am now a member of Photoshelter.com, and will be uploading a massive amount of images to their servers in the coming months. My image archive will be available 24/7 for anybody who wishes to license an image of mine, and will be able to download a full resolution file quickly and easily. Photoshelter will also enable my print sales, and I will do the printing/signing/shipping from my studio. They do allow me to outsource the printing of my images, but I am never comfortable with anybody printing my images, as I need to be able to inspect each and every print that has my name on it.
Another goal for 2007 is much less cerebral. I have been working on a black and white look to my African safari images, and I need to get it to a point where I am happy with it. I am 80% there, but I just need some more time on it. I cannot wait for this to be completed.
I would also like to visit more locations in Africa in 2007, but this might not happen. My safari schedule is very full for 2007, as I am leading 5 safaris already. I might spend some time wandering around Tanzania for a week, photographing everyday life in rural communities.
What are *your* 2007 resolutions?
Reader Comments (2)
My 2007 resolutions are easy. Learn as much as possible from yourself in our Tanzania trip in February. Off to the Amazon with Michael in April, and then practice more of what I have learnt in July on my next trip to Alaska to shoot Grizzly Bears again.
The more I learn the better positioned I'll be when I start leading photo safaris of my own in about 3 or 4 years on a part-time basis.
Have a Happy Holiday Season!
Cheers,Kelly
Learn Lots - (from Andy in Tanzania and Michael Riechmann in Amazon)
Have Fun - Everyday when the camera is in my hand.
Make Friends - Looking forward to finally meeting you Andy... we've had lots of conversations and appreciate all the time you have spent.
Happy Holidays,Kelly