Some weather rolling in

 

Shot these photos off of the balcony on the 9th floor of our building.  We were supposed to get heavy rain and tornadoes but not even a drop of rain.  The sky was rather interesting non the less.  Both shots were shot with the Sony a7RII handheld.  Both will be available for sale on my site soon.

I made a mistake

When I got the Sony RX100 Mark VII a few weeks back, I ordered the mic which I thought was correct.  It was not.  Found the correct one, purchased it yesterday and it arrived  today.  Thank you Amazon Prime.  Will be sending the incorrect one back on Monday.  The new Mic works wonders.  :)

May 16, 2014

May 16, 2014.  That was the first day I got accepted at Shutterstock to sell my photos.  Today I had my 4800th sale.  I sold my first photo a few hours after my photos were accepted.  It was an exciting time for me.  I had 7 photos that were accepted.  This is my first photo sold.  This is my 4800th download that a buyer bought.

As of 16:36 EST, I have 14,462 photos accepted and 1,527 clips accepted at Shutterstock.  I cant believe it's been five years already.  I only now post to Shutterstock, Pond5 and Storyblocks.  I really, really enjoy photography and videography.  It's so much fun.  Please support me by buying from either my microstock portfolios or my website.

Another month. Another year.

December 2018 was my third best month of all time on Shutterstock.  A lot of video sales propelled me to having the best month of the year as well.  Although the end of the month was a real disappointment with no sales for three days, I was happy with the month over all.

I hope 2019 is a lot better for photo and footage sales.  Pond5 and Storyblocks were down in sales.  Especially Storyblocks.  I have not sold anything there in months and I've more than tripled my inventory there in 2018 by adding more footage and adding photos there.  Pond5 was OK.  Sold a few hundred dollars worth of footage.  No photo sales, but that is to be expected.

April 2019 is coming up fast which is kind of scary considering I'll be moving permanently to Calgary.  At least I hope.  I need to find a job there first.  I only have two weeks left on this contract but I'm being told I'll be extended again.  I don't know for how long.  We shall see.  I'm hoping to get a permanent job in Calgary.

Going flying after work

The humidity finally broke and the temps are actually nice.  So after work, I'm going flying with the DJI Spark.  I don't know where I'll fly but I need to.  I need more Ariel footage.

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.

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.

FInally, I see ads!!!!

Well it took forever but I got all my Google accounts cleaned up.  Closed a myriad of accounts and services.  Forwarding my domain to the blogger site.  Correctly setup Google Adsense on the blog.  Correctly set up Google Adsense account, Google Analytics etc and for the first time, the website is able to display ads on my own, personal website.

From now on I hope to post daily or every other day and raise traffic to the site and all my various photo and video portfolios so that I can expand my photography business.  I live and breathe photography.  I am constantly thinking of what I want to photograph next.  It's an amazing hobby that gets you out into your city and local nature around the area you live in.  It's a great experience to explore and capture memories.

Still adding photos

Still going thru my photos from my trip to Arizona and I keep finding more and more photos that I like.  I'm of course adding them to my Shutterstock portfolio and my own personal website.  Arizona is certainly a beautiful state with extremely nice people.

Lac Leamy Casino Sound of Lights

Finally got out to do some photography after taking a break.  This summer has been weird for me for photography.  I didn't really get out much this summer with the cameras.  At least it doesn't feel like it.  I've been doing a lot more video work and uploading to other micro stock agencies trying to diversify my portfolio availability.  

I think this fall, I'll be heading out more to do some more landscape and wild life photography.  I miss shooting my wolves, deer and foxes along with my Algonquin Park landscapes.

Sony RX100 Mark II

The Sony RX100 Mark II is a camera I had before last year.  I upgraded it to the Sony RX100 Mark IV.  I went back to the Mark II because I had no need for 4k video and other features of the camera were a bit gimmicky.  The Mark II is just a great little walk around point and shoot.  It has a 20.2 megapixel sensor and shoots raw.  It's also mirrorless which has it's disadvantages such as battery life.  But you can add an adapter to the front of the camera so you can filters and other devices.  I have yet to attach it to my telescopes eyepiece which I'm planning on doing later this summer and this fall to get some shots of the planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.  Also I plan on doing some videos of the moon.  I just wish the weather cooperates on the weekends.