I need to go flying

I really, really need to go flying with the drone after work.  Flying the drone is so much fun and exciting.  It's nothing like I've done before..  Taking new photos and videos is an awesome feeling.

No photography, no sales

Well it's been a busy week this week.  New job, problems with the bank and the weather has been stupid hot and humid.  Today it felt like 41 degrees Celsius with the humidity.  Yesterday was about the same.  Couldn't even breath yesterday it was so bad.  Luckily today we got some severe thunderstorms to take the humidity away.

I haven't had a chance to do any photography this week and my Shutterstock sales prove it.  I've had only 2 photo sales this week on Shutterstock.  With 12,382 photos and 1466 clips available for sale, I should be making 15-20 sales a day.  I have no excuses.  I know school starts next week so parents are taking last minute vacations in Europe and North America but not everyone is on vacation.  I've tried to vary my photography and my footage clips but no sales.  This year I'm down 50% in sales even though I've increased my portfolio by about 4000 photos.

Anyways, I think I'll go flying with the drone tomorrow and try and get some new photos and new footage.  I think it might be quite a surprise to know where I want to go do some photography.  It has not been overdone yet.  At least I don't think.

BTW, Royal Bank of Canada sucks.  I hope I pay my car loan off sooner than later.

Dealing with DJI is a...

...pain in the ass!  They only view the log file.  They say that I hit the stick forward so the aircraft would fly forward.  Then they say the log file ends at 750m away from me.  Which it does.  That's when I lost connection with the drone.  They do not seem to understand that.  The techs seem to have their heads up their arses.  I already got another drone.  At this point I'd like an admission that the drone failed.  The only compensation I want is the battery charger for $69US.  They offered me a 30% discount which would cover the battery charger price.  Sometimes companies are really stubborn and don't want to make a customer happy.

First day of work

First day of work on a new contract.  Will be taking the drone with me so I can fly it after work.  I did not get a chance to fly it yesterday.  Girlfriend and I were so tired from Saturday.  I think we both got a bit of sun stroke so that did not help.  Well, it 's time to go to work.  And flying the drone.

Sandbanks Provincial Park

This is why we go.  It was so nice.  A bit windy and the water was a bit cold compared to the last time we were there.  It was still nice to get out and go.  Spend a day on a nice beach relaxing with friends.  I got to fly my drone again. It was very windy the whole day.   The gimbal had a hard time stabilizing.  After my recent experience with the DJI Spark, I didn't want to do anything in mid flight with it.

Just got back from Sandbanks

Just got back from Sandbanks Provincial Park just now.  Minor heat stroke but doing ok.  Got to fly the drone today a few times but it was so windy, the gimbal had a hard time tracking anything video wise so I did more photography than footage.  I didn't fly far as I'm still testing the new DJI Spark after the last incident.  I don't want to lose it again.

I'm just charging up the batteries on the drone right now.  Not doing much tomorrow so I may fly the drone again tomorrow and get more footage.  As for right now, it's hard to keep the eyes closed.  So time for bed since we've been up since 4:30am this morning.

Off to Sandbanks PP

Off to Sandbanks Provincial Park.  Everything is ready.  Drone batteries are charged.  Drone is ready.  Cameras are ready.  Batteries are charged.  When we get there, I'm gonna be sleeping for a few hours.  I did not get any sleep last night.

Back to flying

I just want to thank a friend who saw my struggles with DJI and their lousy customer service and offer of a 30% discount on a new DJI Spark.  My friend knew I was in between contracts and photography and doing footage work helped me out in rough times.  Lets just say I'll be back to flying a new drone tomorrow when my girlfriend and I are going to Sandbanks Provincial Park near Kingston, Ontario again.

I start a new job Monday with Global Affairs Canada so this weekend is going to be fun.  My girlfriend and I always have fun at Sandbanks.  It's like going to the Dominican Republic.  The sand and water are so nice.  The breach is fantastic.  So is the company.

Butterfly

I decided to go to the Experimental Farm yesterday to see if there were any nice flowers being grown.  I think it was too hot during mid day to capture anything nice.  Due to the extreme heat this summer and lack of rain, the flowers were a bit wilted.  I did manage to capture a nice butterfly.  Photography and taking videos for sale makes me happy.

DJI Spark and DJI's response

As some of you may know, I lost connection to my DJI Spark last week and it did not come back home.  I opened a ticket with DJI and was told yesterday that they viewed the log files that I had sent back.  They did not admit that I lost connection.  They actually admitted nothing.  They offered a 30% discount if I wanted to buy a new DJI Spark.  Why would I want to buy something that may or may not work again?  What if the new DJI Spark does the same thing and I can't locate it again?  This is awful customer service from DJI.

I still have the remote control, one battery and the case along with some propellers.  I honestly don't know what I'm going to do now.  I would love to get another drone but I am hesitant to get another DJI product.

And the month isn't even over yet

Thanks to a $96US video sale, August has turned out to be the best month of 2018 yet.  Compared to 2017 or even 2016, this year sales are down at least 50%.  Shutterstock has probably doubled the amount of stock it has in the previous year so the sales cut is to be expected.  I have right now 12,372 photos and 1462 footage clips.  That's an increase of 50% of stock for me so I should be making the same if not more sales.  I've increased my portfolios on all three sites I deal with and sales are not increasing.

What I've noticed on Shutterstock especially is the low quality of photos available for sale.  When I signed up 4 years ago, it was tough to get onto Shutterstock.  I had to get 7 out of 10 photos accepted.  Now it's just 1 out of 10 photos.  It also seems like Shutterstock will accept anything and everything to its stock database.  When I first started I picked my best photography and footage to go up.  Now it seems like I can throw up anything and it'll be accepted.  Which is not good for the good photographers and videographers along with customers because they'll have to find the good photos and footage among the crap.

Of the 3 agencies I deal with Shutterstock seems to be the best with consistent and constant sales.  Image and footage acceptance is fast and easy.  Approval is quick, typically within 24-36 hours.  Pond5 is easy as well.  Acceptance for me now is with 48 to 72 hours for both photos and footage.  Pond5 seems to have hired staff to review photos and footage over the last several weeks or maybe people are not contributing as much during the summer time in the northern hemisphere.  Storyblocks takes it's time.  It can take up to 3 weeks and sometime 5 to get your photos and video either accepted or denied.  Sales on Pond5 are sporadic.  I can sell between 0 and 10 files a month.  With Storyblocks, I can go months without selling some footage.  I have not sold a photo on Storyblocks at all.  Come to think of it, I think I've sold 1 photo on Pond5 since I started.  I get the vast majority of my sales on Shutterstock followed by Pond5.  I'll break the $5000US barrier on Shutterstock either this month or next depending on how Shutterstock does in the next 8 days.  With Pond5 I might break $2000US by either the end of the year or mid next year.  Depends on sales as usual.

DJI finally got back to me

They will not admit the I lost transmission from my remote control to the DJI Spark.  They have offered me a 30% discount on a new Spark if I choose to do so.  I have not accepted this as I feel I bought a dud.  I flew it a total of 17 times losing connection 3 times.  The last time being the end of my flying career unit l I get a new drone.

Honestly I'm disappointed with DJI.  I thought they made a really good product.  In my view, they make a product that is overhyped and a bit pricey for what it is.

On a side note, I sold a video of a tulip that I profited $96US on today which is awesome.  That one video quadrupled the amount of money I've made so far this month on Shutterstock.  That's one reason why I got into doing video.  It's a fun hobby along with photography.

I also start a new contract on Monday so I'm trying to get caught up on some stuff.  The last two weeks have kind of sucked because of the lack of work.  Gladly that is now over and I can get back to making more money to support the photography/videography side business.

I might buy another DJI Spark tomorrow.  I'm addicted to flying the drone.

DJI is looking

Looks like DJI is looking at the drone data right now.  Hopefully I will hear something tomorrow if I'm getting a credit from DJI or if it was pilot error.  I'm 100% certain that it was equipment failure and not user error.  Tomorrow DJI apparently has an event where they're going to announce new drones like the DJI Spark 2.  I was at my local camera store and from what the sales guy told me is that DJI has discontinued the DJI Spark.  With the event tomorrow, I might just stay at home and watch the event online if it's streamed.

In other news I got a new contract with Global Affairs Canada that I start next week.  I am pretty happy about that.  I'm thinking of doing some photography tomorrow as well with my Apple iPhone 8 Plus and my DJI Osmo 2.  I just have to figure out where to go.

DJI Spark - no news

So it's been a couple of days since I contacted DJI to see what happened to my DJI Spark.  I have not heard anything back concerning my case.  I think it's a lost cause.  I spoke with someone at my local camera store who informed me that the DJI Spark is being discontinued.  Great eh?  Just great!  The budget drone is done for.  So we're going to have to spend more money to fly a drone.  I'll probably get one in March or April of next year since the winters here in Ottawa are pretty harsh.  With me back to work full time, I don't think I will have time to fly after work.  I'm probably going to work 8-4 and sun sets anywhere from 4pm to pm depending on the day in that particular season especially during winter.  In winter I'd get up and go to work and it's dark.  I leave work and it's pretty much dark when I get home.

As far as the drone goes, I'm first of all disappointed with the drone for losing connection and not coming back.  I'm disappointed with DJI's response to me.  The tech I emailed with back and forth seemed to be ok but I have not gotten a response from him in hours.  He might be off of work so I will give him some more time.  I will let folks know what happens in the end.

Northern Lights dance on a dark night

Caught these a few years back.  Have not seen them since. 

I have no patience. Not a photography related post.

I'm supposed to find out about a job tomorrow with Global Affairs Canada tomorrow.  I also have a meeting with a pimp tomorrow to talk about possible job opportunities with them.  These meetings I find are a complete waste of time as you meet with them and in my experience never hear from them again.  I'm 90% sure I have the job with Global Affairs Canada because I've worked with them a few times in the past.  I've pretty much given up going back to CMHC for phase two of the project.  They are going to lose all three of us that basically ran the project and did 90% of the work.  

I'm wanting to get another drone so bad.  I don't know what DJI will do for me with my last one that disconnected from my remote and I lost it in some deep brush.  I want to go buy another one.  But without a job, I'm unwilling to spend money on a drone I could get back for free.  I'm supposed to find out either tomorrow or Thursday.  If I get a new one from DJI, that would be so awesome.  I want to be flying again.  I think having a drone for my photography/footage business is an amazing opportunity which could make my business grow and give me some awesome opportunity.

I have a PayPal button on my blog and I'm not one to beg.  I've always worked for what I have.  I don't depend on the charity of others.  When I was fighting cancer (I won), I never wanted material things or money.  I wanted to work and no one gave me a chance.  Luckily I survived and I'm back in good health.  The only way people could support me is if they buy my photography or footage from one of the sites I upload to daily.  You can find it on my main blog on the right hand side.  Just sign up and buy.  If you're a photographer or videographer, you can sign up to Shutterstock here and become a contributor as well.  If you get others to be contributors as well, than you can make more money as well.  It's a win win for all.

Which micro stock agencies are worth it?

I have a portfolio on a few micro stock agencies.  There are small, medium and large agencies.  Here is my list of all my portfolios:

• Canstockphoto.com
• Bigstockphoto.com
• Depositphoto.com
• Dreamstime.com
• Pond5.com
• Shutterstock.com
• Storyblocks.com

Are they all the same?  Do all perform the same way?  The answer is of course no.  The first four on my list are not worth your time.  I make 90%+ of my sales on Pond5, Shutterstock and Storyblocks.  Shutterstock also has a referral program where if in this case I sign up a photographer or a videographer, I get a bit of a payback from Shutterstock.  Granted, it's not a whole lot but could turn into a bigger paycheque if I sign up a lot of people.

Photography and using my camcorder to crate footage is an awesome hobby for me.  I also make a few bucks with it every month.  I really, really enjoy doing it and I wish I could do it full time.  With 4 plus years experience with microstock agencies I'm only uploading to 3 agencies now where the return is half descent.  With Pond5, I'm able to set my own price where with the others it's a set price set by the agencies.  I may say 1-4 videos a month on Pond5 and generally it's a good return.  Currently I sell my videos for $299US per clip.  I get half of that.  With Shutterstock, I sell my photos starting at $0.36US a photo and videos start anywhere from $12US to $120US.  The clips are generally 5-60 seconds in length.  I only shoot 1080p/60fps so it takes a few minutes to edit my footage and about 10-20 minutes to upload my videos to each agency.  Of course this depends on how many clips I have and how fast my internet speed is.

Overall it's a really good passive income for me.  It's something I enjoy and wish I could do full time.  So if you're looking for a photographer who does photos and videos, hit me up.  I'm sure we can work well together.

Lousy photo and video sales

12,356 photos on my Shutterstock portfolio and 1 photo sale in 4 day on all my portfolio sites.  Summer vacation for everyone I guess.  I realize it's mid August and everyone is on vacation just before school starts but 1 photo sale in 4 days.  August is just killing me.

Just an update on the DJI Spark

The update is that there is no update.  I have to wait 2-3 days for DJI to take a look at the log files to see what happened to the drone.  I hope to hear by Wednesday of this week.  I'm hoping DJI gives me a credit so I can go buy another drone.

On another note, I have a few jobs I'm being submitted for.  I should hear something by Wednesday for a few of them.  Hopefully Wednesday will be a good day.  If I do get a job on Wednesday, and DJI gives me bad news, I'll have to make a decision to see if I'll get the same drone.  I do have the remote controller for the DJI Spark and it's even on sale right now.  I'm hoping everything turns around and does a 180 this week and I can get back to work and I can start flying a drone again.  If I do get a drone again, I know where not to fly it.  LOL

DJI Spark - LOST FOR GOOD

As some of you may know, earlier this week I lost my DJI Spark in mid flight.  No explanation.  Nothing.  I uploaded the log files to the web and sent them to DJI as well.  I have a ticket open with DJI to see what went wrong.

From the DJI forums, it looks like and I hope to be getting a new drone.  But that is just other users opinions.  Not DJI' opinion.  I hope to hear from DJI next week to see what the results of their testing is.  I hope they work quick to find the results.  Hopefully, I will get a new drone.  I hope.

DJI Spark flight - First time I lost connection

This was shot on August 13, 2018 in Pakenham, ON.  The town is about half an hour drive west of Ottawa where I live.  I lost connection about 2 minutes into the flight.  I lost connection for 7-8 minutes.  I finally got the connection back and landed the drone.  At the time it scared the living crap out of me not knowing that 3 days later I would lose the drone in the same place.  

I have created a ticket with DJI to resolve the issue.  I hope DJI gets back to me soon.  I'm having a really bad week.

DJI Spark update

I submitted a ticket this morning with DJI to see if they can do anything.  I provided all the necessary information by 10am this morning.  It's now 15:22 and no feedback.  I will give them a few days to see if they will do anything.  I doubt I will hear anything back let alone get a new drone.  I started a thread on their support pages uploading the log files from my phone.  Since uploading those at around 13:30 this afternoon,  no response on their either.  I'm thinking the log files proved my case that I lost any and all connection with the drone while in flight.

I have two differing careers.  A techie who fixes computers and network issues and a photographer.  I'm my own technician.  It's kind of funny when people find out that I can resolve most computer or device issues.  Everybody thinks they know more or know better.  The problem with the internet is communication.  You only get a written response or a video on Youtube.  The internet goes against human nature.  There's no human interaction except for writing a spiteful or vitriolic comment that does not help the discussion.

I am hoping DJI comes back to me in a few days to say that I had a dud of a drone.  If my customer got a dud of a photography or some dud footage, I'd go reshoot at my expense.  To a point.  I'm not going to go shoot a 30 second video or a photo a 100 times.  I hope to get the photo or footage right the first time.  That's how I work.

Please view and share

So I went to fly the drone yesterday and lost it.  Lost all connection to the drone via the hand remote control device.  Spent about an hour the first time looking for it.  Got home and waited for my girlfriend to come home as she wanted to go looking for it again.  This a the first video I made after losing the drone.  You can view the video here.  Please view and share.

It's time...

...to go flying again with the drone.  I didn't fly yesterday and I miss it.  I love the little DJI Spark.

Did not fly yesterday

Met up with an old friend yesterday that I've known for about 12 years now.  We just chatted for a few hours.  Then I went for lunch with the girlfriend.  It had rained during the day so I was unsure of the weather.  If it was going to rain or not.  So instead of flying the drone in the afternoon, I went to a local casino and won $132.50 playing blackjack.  Might have a lead on a job as well so I'm kind of hoping that comes thru by tomorrow so I can start on Monday.  Or my old contract starts again so I can start there again considering it's free parking and I would work 5 minutes from home.

More drone pics

I think it's time to go fly a bit more.  Just rained here for about 20 minutes.  So the air should be nice and clean.

Who needs a plane when you have a drone

I'm in love with the DJI Spark drone.  One little hick up from today' flights.  Lost connection again for less than 10 seconds today.  The only thing I can think of is there were some power lines between myself and the drone.  That is the only constant from the last two flight sessions.

I'm also thinking of at some point upgrading to a DJI Mavic Pro or a higher end drone as I need a drone that can fly longer.  I'm limited to about 15 minutes with the DJI Spark.  The video also looks good but only shoots at 1080p/30fps.  I'd love to have a drone that shoots 1080p/60fps.  I really don't shoot in 4k as I find it totally unnecessary.   The DJI Spark only shoots in the JPEG format and not RAW so editing is somewhat limiting.

I bought the DJI Spark to learn how to operate a drone.  It's been a great teacher so far.  Right now I have other priorities like getting back to work.  With fall and winter coming up quick, I think my drone use will be dead in the winter with the short, cold days and the long, cold nights.  I'm trying to get as much drone footage in as I can.

So much potential

There is so much potential in arial photography and arial footage.  I am kinda glad that I have a little bit of time off between contracts that I get to go out with the drone for a few flights and take photos and footage that I wouldn't have a chance to take while I am working.  

Drones have really taken off in the past 2-3 years.  Excuse the pun.  For small time photographers like myself who go out after work and on weekends to shoot stills and footage a drone like a DJI Spark is a God send.  It's not exactly cheap but it's not overly expensive either.  If I did not have this drone I would be land locked doing the same old photography and videography.  The drone allows me to see things from a different perspective and that is what photography is all about.

Drone flight

Solar farm near Arnprior, Ontario

I am planning on flying my drone again today.  I hope I don't lose connection with the drone for a whole 7+ minutes like I did yesterday.  I have the video and you can clearly see from my body language that I am more than mad and miffed because it is a good little drone.

Death from above

So I took this picture of the Mississippi in Pakenham, Ontario over the Mississippi River and started a video.  Roughly 5 seconds into said video, I lost any and all contact with my DJI Spark drone.  Most harrowing 30-44 seconds of my week and it's only Monday.  I know it's a beginner drone starting at $499. But to me, that's still a lot of money.  I'm planning to upgrade my drone next year to the DJI Mavic Pro 2 when it comes out.

I am just relieved to have my DJI Spark back safe and sound.  It's actually a lot of fun to operate and it's easy.  I've seen a lot of videos of drones crashing and/or what's called fly aways.  Thankfully I still have my drone.  I'm planning to fly it a lot more and take more pictures and videos with it.

The DEATH of a drone (Almost).

So I decided on my lunch break today to go fly my DJI Spark drone.  In the 2 weeks that I've been flying it, I never had a problem with it.  Until today.  I've flown over forests, fields, rivers and lakes.  Today was one of those days that I was flying over a river.  The Mississippi River in fact near Pakenham, Ontario.  I was on the maiden flight today when at about 200 feet away and 300 feet up, I lost any and all connection to the drone via my remote control and phone.  Nothing.  No visual on the phone.  No connection.  Absolutely nothing.  I'm gazing up at the sky and it's not in sight.  I stare at my phone.  No signal from the DJI Go 2 app.  Absolutely nothing.  I'm scanning the sky, the horizon. I'm listening to see if I can hear it.  Just the rush of the water.  All of a sudden, off in the distance I hear a plop.  Like something hitting the water and sinking waste deep into the river.  I'm 110% sure that was my DJI Spark.  I'm scared.  I'm pissed.  I'm mad beyond mad.  I try and connect to the drone.  Nothing.  I'm about to shut my remote and head off home when all of a sudden, about 30-45 seconds after losing all connection to the drone, my feed comes up and I can see myself on my iPhone 8 Plus screen from about 300 feet up.  I see me.  I see my car.  I feel so much relief.  

How the f can I lose contact with the drone for 30-45 seconds?  I swear I heard it plop down into the Mississippi. I was 110% sure I lost it. I rebooted the app.  I hit the come home button like a jack rabbit repeatedly.  That 30-45 seconds was maddening.  If I was over a field I at least had a chance of finding it and bringing it home with me.  But over a river?  Not a chance.  If it did drop into the water, it was a goner for sure.  I don't know what caused the drone to lose connection with my remote.  The app didn't crash.  The phone was on full battery.  The only thing I can think of is the wind or an app malfunction.  

All I can is that I'm glad I have the drone back and safe with me.  I'm just editing the footage I shot yesterday and today.  Hope to have it up soon.

My most popular image

My most popular image so far has only been online for just over a year.  I shot it in Banff, Alberta while on a weekend.  I've been doing micro stock for about 4 years now and this image just keeps selling on average every 3 days.  At first I thought it would be a throw away image when I shot it and looked at it on the computer.  Then I had the bright idea of turning it into a black and white image.  It got accepted and I keep selling it.  You can find the image here.

The Perseids were a bust but...

...I did get to fly my drone some more.  I am more and more confident flying the drone farther distances and higher heights.  I've uploaded 9 of the clips I shot yesterday to Shutterstock and they've all been accepted and are available for sale here.  I've uploaded them to Pond5 and Storyblocks but those two sites take forever to review footage.  I think I have about 10-12 more clips to edit and they will go up on Shutterstock and the other sites as well. 

The 2018 Perseid meteor shower

The 2018 Perseid meteor shower this weekend meaning Ottawa is either going to get severe thunder storms or heavy snow fall.  I actually just looked at the Clear Sky Chart for Ottawa and guess what?  No rain, no snow, no clouds.  Which means I'm going to take a few photography friends, drive out into the country and go do some photography.

I'm also going to shoot some drone footage today and tomorrow as it's supposed to be a nice weekend.

Timelapse from today

Since my contract ended early due to shortage of work and looking for work on a Friday, I decided to give myself a break and have some time to relax I went downtown to shoot a time lapse of Parliament Hill from the Quebec side.  There were a lot of nice and fluffy clouds.  The clip should be up and approved soon on Shutterstock, Pond5 and Storyblocks.

Subscription versus ownership

Oh Adobe how you had me before the subscription service.  I was a big Photoshop and Lightroom user.  Now, not so much.  ON1 Photo Raw 18.5 and Serif' Affinity Photo are my software packages of choice.  Just as feature rich, just as if not more stable, ON1 Photo Raw 18.5 and Serif' Affinity Photo are the software of choice of hobbyist, semi-pro and pro photographers photo editing software.  Starting at $9.99US a month just for Lightroom and Photoshop and ending at $82.99US a month for all the software plus Adobe Stock is just not worth it.

When I was using the $9.99US option with Adobe, I just used Lightroom for 99.9% of my edits.  Lightroom was just fine.  I never went into Photoshop at all.  Maybe once ever six months to see some new features.  But that was about it.  Paying $9.99US was just not worth it.

I had asked some of photography buddies to see what they were using.  90% were using ON1 Photo Raw 18.5. For $99.99US (as of this time) you get a pretty damn good Digital Asset Management tool.  You get a discount on it now as well her for a grand total of $49.99. So basically this is what you will pay for Adobe in 5 months in a one time payment.  I'd say that's a lot better.  And you own the license to the software.  With Adobe's Creative Cloud, there is no license.  Everything is stored in the cloud as far as licensing goes.  You can still store your photos locally on your hard drive along with the programs.  But as soon as you stop paying for the subscription, the majority of the program stops working.  

ON1 Photo Raw 18.5 has a slight learning curve but I seem to pick it up easily.  All the concepts are pretty much the same.  Just the interface is a bit different.  Both ON1 Photo Raw 18.5 and Affinity Photo are great, proven programs with pretty much the same features as Photoshop and Lightroom.  If and when Serif comes out with a Digital Asset Management software, I will be switching over to that.

Now I gotta pack up my stuff so I can go fly my drone so I can edit more videos.

Passive income from photography

I primarily sell on 3 microstock agencies that are actually worth the time.  They include:

• Shutterstock
• Pond5
• Storyblocks

Granted, I sell more photos than I do footage but when I sell footage, it makes me a lot more money. If you asked me 4 or 5 years ago if I would ever do footage, I'd tell you you're crazy.  I remember being at my favorite location to photograph animals.  I had taken the day off from work.  The light was just amazing.  At that time I was using a Canon EOS 6D and a Sigma f5-6.3 150-500MM lens.  I shot the video just to see if I could and see if it would actually sell.

I got home.  Dumped all my files onto my computer.  Edited and uploaded everything to Shutterstock and luckily it got accepted.  I believe it was a few weeks later that it actually sold.  And it has been my best selling video since.  You can view it here.

So now I only upload to the above mentioned sites and it's been great ever since.  You too can sell photos and videos as well.  Shutterstock is by far my best website where I sell my photos and videos.  You can sign up here and start today.

Loyalty

To family and a few friends.  I can count on one hand how many loyal friends I have.  At times I don't think I even need hands to count the amount of friends that are loyal. Today I feel like I can only count on my family and my girlfriend.  I'll pick myself up by doing some photography.  That always cheers me up. Because photography is awesome.

Image theft in the age of Google.

As a photographer who sells his product on several micro stock sites and thru my own website, image theft and unauthorized image reproduction is the biggest threat to my business, my livelihood and my number one income online.  

One has to ask themselves.  Why do people steal someone else' photography?  The answer is quite simple.  Because they can.  People will steal and claim it as their own.  They bought the camera, they went to school and got an education in Photography and image editing.  They bought the computer, learnt Photoshop.  They're the one that took and edited that really good photograph.  

When I see one of my images being used by someone else who claims it as their own, it hurts me more financially than emotionally.  Of course I get insulted and mad that someone takes credit for my work and makes money off of my hard work.  I do a lot of nature and landscape photography.  On a regular trip to take animal photos, I travel at least an hour out of the city to see if I can try and get a photo of a moose or a bear or a deer or some bird I've never seen before.  Before I even enter my vehicle, I have to make sure my batteries are charged for my camera and camcorder.  I have to verify all my equipment works.  I have to pack it up and make sure I have all of it before I go.  Then there's the gas to get to where I'm going. Wear and tare on my vehicle, gas for the car.  If I go out, I'm probably eating breakfast, snacks during the day.  There's also my time.  That is exactly what you're stealing.  Image thieves can be high school students to multi-billion, multi-national corporations.  They are in fact one and the same.

Google and other search engines are the greatest threat to online piracy of pretty much anything and everything.  I can google my own name and hundreds of my own photographs and videos come up and all I have to do is right click on the image and I get a high definition image downloaded right to my computer hard drive.

As I upload to places like Shutterstock, Pond5 and Storyblocks, these agencies have or should have a legal departments to protect themselves and their contributors like myself from image theft.  But what if you post to your own website like I occasionally do.  There is code out there you can place on your website that will disable the Right click functionality of a users mouse so they cannot Right Click on your image and download it.  I've placed it on my website.  

What legal recourse do you, as an individual have to fight image thieves?  Litigate, email campaigns?  All take time and money right?  You can start a take down notice through the DMCA.  I haven't used it yet but I'm pretty sure it's the fastest and easiest way to start besides emailing the company, user or school using your work for financial gain.  

Value your work and go after the people and business' who steal from you.  It is your livelihood.  It is your passion.  Take care of it.

No Social Media

I finally shut off my Facebook account today.  Instagram and Twitter were completely useless as far as marketing my services go.  Never ever made money with social media.  All I got was trolls and spam email and requests to send money to someone in Nigeria.  

Those platforms never really did work as I only upload my photography and footage to sites like Shutterstock, Pond5 and Videoblocks.  I've recently started to blog in the hopes people find my photos and footage appealing.  I think it also helps people to know me a little better.  

Facebook and Twitter for me were very polarizing.  Especially over the past decade or so with what's come out about Facebook and Twitter, with what they've being doing and trying to do in recent elections.  There is a lot of fake news and a lot of propaganda which is dividing people against each other which does not help.  I don't want my blog to be about politics, censorship or anything of that nature.  I want my followers to be constructive when criticizing my photographs or videos.  Don't make hateful or offensive comments.  It does not add to the discussion but rather detracts.  I am open to ideas.  Good and bad.  I am willing to help and learn.  I want to teach what I know.  I want to learn from other people.

I find social media makes people very anti-social.  Smart phones are making people not so smart.  Growing up, we did our own research.  We did not have Google.  We actually read books.  That's where we learned from.  Now you can find everything on Google or YouTube.  Well almost everything.  I hope that people actually use less and less social media.  I hope people instead go for walks and drives out into the country.  Take their cameras and camcorders with them.  You actually have a device that fits in your pocket that does both.  Actually talk to each other.  More importantly listen to one another. 

I have to go back

This place is just so amazing.  The American Southwest is completely mesmerizing.  I went there 2 and a half years ago.  It was about 10 months after my divorce.  I was not in a good place emotionally and I just needed a break from work and everything.  I've never been on a vacation by myself to anywhere.  I just needed a place to relax.  I had two choices at the time as I remember.  Either go to Arizona or California.  

In California, I wanted to go on the Pacific Coast highway for a few days and I wanted to go see a couple of the national parks.  I remember watching several YouTube videos and seeing all the homeless in San Fransisco and Los Angeles.  That alone swayed me to go to Arizona.  One of my profs in college went there and I remember seeing his pictures of the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley.

Needless to say I made the right decision.  I instantly fell in love with the state when I landed in Phoenix.  I've always wanted to see the Grand Canyon.

Lets just say even with the louse cold weather I had an amazing time.  It's an amazing wonder to see in person.  Never seeing it before and walking up to the cliff to see the majesty of the Grand Canyon is a once in a life time experience.  I only spent about 6 hours at the Grand Canyon but what six hours those were.  I am hoping to go back very soon to try and recreate the experience.  I would suggest that you go there as well as it should be on anyone' bucket list.

Fort Henry, Ontario - Arial view

Just one of the videos I took over Fort Henry when we were in Kingston, ON over the August long weekend.  The drones are a lot of fun to fly but I fear losing it.  I try and keep it in visual site.  I think next year I will upgrade from the DJI Spark to the DJI Mavic Pro just so I can take better video with the drone.  The DJI Spark takes really good videos but I want something better.

Fort Henry, ON - Canada

So we were in Sandbanks Provincial Park, Ontario yesterday which was fantastic.  Weather was sunny and hot.  And I mean real hot.  We went back today only to find out that the wait to get in was about a two hour wait just to pay to get into the park.  My girlfriend and I decided it wasn't worth the two hour wait as they already closed the big beach there as it reached capacity.  We decided to head to Kingston, ON as my girlfriend has never been to Fort Henry.  

I took the opportunity to fly my DJI Spark.  Take some pictures and some video.  I'm learning on how to fly the drone as it's a bit scary the first few times.  On occasion, I would lose sight of it in the sun.  I keep forgetting to look at my Apple iPhone 8+ to see what I'm actually photography and taping.  I've just finished uploading to my Shutterstock, Pond5 and Videoblocks portfolios.  Hopefully they will be accepted and available for sale soon

On a side not, I got a nickname of Red Lobster because of the sunburn.  

This is way too...

...early to be up n a Saturday morning.  I've been up since 5am.  That is all.

Will be heading to...

...Sandbanks Provincial Park near Kingston, Ontario this weekend.  I will be taking the drone and cameras.  Hopefully the weather will co-operate and my back will be ok.  The last time we went, my back pretty much spasmed out and we had to go to the hospital for the back pain.  I could not sleep on my back and it was really uncomfortable.  Luckily we went to the chiropractor and my back seems to be ok.

On a side note, Google in its infinite wisdom does not support the blogger app in the Apple app store.  So I'm looking for a blogging IOS app which is cheap and good.  Let me know in the comments section please.   Thanks everyone and have a good weekend.  Especially the long weekend here in Ontario.

Review of the Sony RX10 Mark II

This bridge style camera is a really good travel camera that produces excellent pictures and 4k video. It uses the same chip as the RX100 line and the Sony FDR AX100 B 4k camcorder.  Being a bridge style camera the 24mm-200mm f2.8 is non removable.  

Yes there are two new models, the III and IV with longer lenses but they are also slower at the long end capturing less light than the f2.8 Carl Zeiss lens.  You can look at my Shutterstock profile here to see the capability of this fantastic little camera.  It's quite a bit bigger than the RX100 line of cameras but way smaller and lighter than a regular DSLR camera.  It also does not over heat when shooting in 4k mode.  It has the same 1" sensor as the RX100 line of pocket cameras.

It shoots 4k video at only 24fps or 30fps.  But at 1080p you can shoot all the way up to 960fps slow motion.  With the 20 megapixel sensor, this bridge camera takes great photos and videos.  Sony is really known for their sensors supplying other camera manufacturers.

Some pros of the camera are:

1. Great photo quality
2. Great video quality
3. Shoots 4k video
4. Shoots slow motion video
5. Light in weight
6. Very portable
7. Picture profiles for both still and videos

Some cons of the camera

1. No inter changeable lens
2. Battery life
3. Feels small in the hand

In the near future I will be upgrading to the Sony RX10 Mark IV just for the reach of the lens being a 24MM to 600MM.  Really great for those nature shots.

The best camcorder ever!!!!!

Yes.  It's the best prosumer camcorder ever built.  It shoots 1080p/60fps.  No it does not shoot 4k.  I'm glad it doesn't.  Yes 4k televisions are falling in price.  In Canada, the major cable providers only have 1 or 2 4k channels.  With dwindling cable subscribers  I don't see the major providers upgrading their equipment to fully support 4k in the near future.  I have a 4k television at home with an Apple 4k TV set top box which we, being my girlfriend and I don't hardly watch.  We don't watch a whole lot of television rather looking at our phones or iPads or computers which only support 1080p or 1440p.  But on a phone, you cannot differentiate between 1080p and 1440p.  There are a few phones that have 4k displays but again, they're a small screen factor.  That is why I'm still shooting 1080p.

Lets get back to the Canon Vixia HF G40 camcorder available for purchase here.  Like I've written previously it does shoot at 1080p/60fps.  What Canon does right with this camcorder is colour reproduction.  It does come with 20x optical zoom and 300x digital zoom.  Thanks to the sensors enhanced sensitivity, the Vixia HF G40 provides vivid, accurate recording through an improved signal to noise ratio.  The camera shoots in both MP4 and AVCHD with MP4 being web ready.  The camera provides dual SD card slots for never ending storage.  I have 2 64GB cards in the camera and I can shoot the whole weekend and not fill up both cards.  You can record to both cards at the same time just in case one fails.  I did buy an extra battery for longer shooting.  I can shoot about 90 minutes with the battery that comes with the camera and with my larger battery I can shoot over 220 minutes on a single charge.

The OLD screen is big and bright even during sunny days.  The electronic viewfinder shifts to 45 degrees and is easy to use and see thru.  For a guy with glasses, it's a big help.  The optical image stabilization is great when you want to shoot that is far away from you.  The lens is great on this camera being a f1.8 to f2.8 which means it's great in low light and is extremely sharp.  

Here are some of the pros of the camera:

1. Great price
2. Great lens
3. Portable
4. 1080p/60fps
5. Focal lenght
6. Multiple hot shoes to attach accessories
7. OLED screen
8. Viewfinder
9. Comes with remote control and lens cap
10. Weight of 1.7 pounds
11. Reach of 26.7MM to 576MM (35MM equivalent)
12. Wide angle and zoom lenses available
13. Has Wifi and FTP 
14. Superb video
15. Superb colour reproduction

Here are some of the negatives:

1. Does not shoot 4k (is that a negative?)

You can buy two teleconvertors.  One wide and one a telephoto.  I currently have the wide lens and it's amazingly sharp.  The camera does have audio in which unfortunately doesn't provide phantom power.  I currently use the Rode Video Mic Pro+ available here.

When I was in Calgary last year for work I brought this camera with me.  I decided to buy a Sony 4k camcorder thinking 4k is the future.  Let's just say I sold the 4k camcorder and I kept the Canon.  With the Canon I don't need that many hard drives as the files are smaller and I don't need as much processing power.  If I wanted I could use my iPhone 8 Plus running iMovie to edit my Canon clips for my portfolios.  You can check my portfolio links on my blog to see what the camera is capable of.

Best pocket camera in the world

The Sony RX100 Mark V is possibly the best pocket camera in the world.  Currently you can buy the Sony RX100 Mark VI as well but the Mark V is a bit cheaper.  The Mark VI has a 24-200MM lens compared to the 24-70MM on the RX100 Mark V.  The Mark V takes amazing photos and videos and I'm guessing the Mark VI is slightly better.

The Sony RX100 Mark V has a one inch type Exmor RS CMOS sensor with a 21 megapixel sensor (20.1MP effective) which shoots great photos and even better videos up to 4k.  It can shoot up to 4K UHD video and regular video at 1080P.  It can even shoot slow video up to 980fps.  I've had the camera for over a year now and it is very reliable.  I take it everywhere with me since it does fit into my pocket.  You don't feel like a paparazzi with the camera.  You will not get stares as you would with a gigantic DSLR and a 70-200 lens.

The Sony RX100 Mark VI does have a 24-200MM lens which is awesome and is the only reason I would ever upgrade to the Mark VI.  The Mark V is very versatile little camera.  It's pretty much travelled with me every where I go.  From Calgary to Vancouver to Ottawa and down south to Florida.

The pros of the camera are:

1. Pocket size
2. Shoots awesome video
3. Shoots awesome photos
4. Easy to setup and use
5. Great for vlogging
6. 24 photo burst rate (Raw images)
7. Non-invasive 
8. Descent audio capture for such a small camera

The cons of the camera are:

1. It overheats when shooting 4K video 
2. 5 minutes limitations on 4k video
3. Battery life.  Buy lots and lots of batteries.  At least 2-3
4. Menu system is atrocious.  But once you learn it, it's ok.
5. No input jack for better audio

For me, I shoot mainly stock photos and videos so I don't really need audio recording for my needs.  This little camera does pretty much everything.  I actually sold all my Canon gear and bought the Sony RX100 Mark V and a Sony RX10 Mark II when I was out in Calgary for work.  I took it to the mountains whenever I was out there on weekends.  

If you would like to purchase it, please click here and help me out a little.  I do get a little back from Amazon when you purchase something.  It helps me buy new equipment and software and helps me travel to new places to take better pictures and videos.