Feb
09I’m a famous Photographer
Filed Under (Life, Ramblings) by Mr K on 09-02-2008
Like my writing (see last post) I don’t make any claims about being a great photographer. Heck the only camera I use at the moment is a 4 year old Sony point and shoot digital. However I’ve enjoyed a little fame for some of my shots.
My latest one came after a trip with my brother into 4×4 land. Now I’ve not been 4×4ing since I was a kid (don’t ask, it as too long ago). So when I announced to my brother (who is a 4×4 king in some circles) that I had bought an 18year old truck he said “Lets go 4×4ing”. Long story short - he was the one stuck in the mud for 5 hours.
Anyhoo back to the photos. I of course was snapping photos during the event and I threw some up on flickr (view my profile). I noticed that Yahoo!Xtra (a joint venture between Yahoo! and Xtra a New Zealand ISP) were having a summer competition. I threw a handful of my photos into that group. I was then asked if my photo could be used on a billboard. So I said “Sure”. Here is a photo of the billboard I just took this morning.
I mentioned I had a little fame for some of my shots? Check out my SXC profile. A few of these photos have turned up in books, magazines, websites and even an Aussie Kid’s TV show. Of course with SXC being free I’ve never received any money & there was none from Yahoo! either - pitty I blew the clutch during that 4×4 trip costing me just under $3000 to fix.
I enjoy taking photos, not great at it, but people enjoy my shots - and I’ll keep taking them.
Man, you think they could have given you something
he he he…. I get a kick outta seeing it on the billboard. And the competition is still running so who knows, maybe one of my other pics might be in the running (or I’m just dreaming now)
You do realize that for what they’ve used those photos for you would be typically be paid upwards of $10,000 for all the different uses. Be careful of Flikr because its being used by companies to undermine true professional photographers like myself. It’s great that you get to see you photos published like that (Beleive me, I still get excited when I sell a photo to a magazine), but if you want to get paid, get a real stock photography agency, Good Luck
Good point there Daniel, I have heard more and more recently about agencies leveraging these free photos sites and a persons “Excitement” to obtain photos for far less (or free) than they would normally pay.