Look at all the PINK!

I was proud to be chosen and honored to be interviewed by the amazing crew over at Pink Ink Studios in celebration of their week dedicated to wedding photographers! Four other incredible photographers are being interviewed this week and they are giving away a lot of cool prizes.

If you haven’t heard about Pink Ink Studios, please check them out. Their Shoppe have great digital design resources available for photographers, developed by photographers. Actions, Templates, Textures and lots of other great products at affordable rates. They are a talented group of ladies.

Sidenote: I am not afraid to show pink on my blog. I am secure in my masculinity…of course, most of my house is painted pink, too. That is mostly due to the fact of having two girls under 5 years old. 

Many of you may not realize that I own a busy design studio as my day job. During the day, you can find me always working on various projects (web, print and logos). I use commercial photography and illustrations daily. In fact, it is the whole reason I got started with photography to begin with. Commercial Stock Photography.

Stock photos are images you buy with the intent of using them for design (or other purposes, but primarily design). I started with iStockphoto as a buyer many years ago. Back when I started buying, photos were only a quarter each. I think they had around 1,500 images to choose from (now they have over 2 million images to choose from!).

Over the years, it grew into a real business and more talented photographers joined up. Image prices were raised and the selection and overall quality improved. I was still buying a lot. About 3 and a half years ago, I decided that a lot of the photos I had purchased, I could probably shoot better myself, so I got a digital camera and so began my game of commercial stock photography and also began my steep learning curve into the photography world as a contributor.

I grew and learned and grew and failed and grew and learned some more. Completely self-taught (wth the help and support of friends) I submitted image after image and slowly built a small library of my own work on iStockphoto. As I got better, my sales increased and my monetary income from the site began to pay for better equipment and for more time for learning.

To date: I have had over 23,000 stock image sales all over the world… I see them in use from time to time and often I am really shocked and surprised at where I hear about them. Billboards, magazines, TV shows, online ads, newspaper ads…everywhere.

Today, I am sharing a Dustin Steller image in action that I was ecstatic to find! It is of my good friend, DJ Rouse, who is a talented actor/model/singer and trained dancer who is fun to shoot with and makes a great friend as well as a model. I was flipping through my Relevant Magazine that I received in the mail. I have a subscription because I love their editorial photography and the content is great, too.

On page 19, I was shocked to find one of my images of DJ in use (available for purchase here). I shot I took specifically for the reason it was used for, describing “worship”! Cool, huh?

Jason Domingues, a very talented local photographer and new friend, contacted me a few weeks ago on behalf of Sofie Louca and Mark Eric about being interviewed for an up and coming website! I was honored to contribute, and am thrilled and humbled to be featured this week in the rapidly growing blog for creative wedding photographers. Read the article here»

Mark Eric is a fantastic shooter with an eye for the shots we all dream about and has been featured in The New York Times, Entertainment Tonight, and Good Morning America. He is an inspiring visionary for creative photographers everywhere. Most recently, Mark can be recognized as the organizer the revolutionary Trash The Dress phenomenon. Sofie Louca is Mark Eric’s European counterpart…an amazing photographer herself and stays very busy running the popular European Trash the Dress, assisisting with Don’t Box Us In and producing her own amazing work at Amorphia Photography.

ADDENDUM:
Added well-deserved recognition for the famous Mark Eric.