Favourite duck

I go to Mud Lake often to shoot nature and wildlife photography and wildlife videos.  Mud Lake is located in Ottawa.  It's a lake surrounded by a lush green forest and is near a water filtration plant.  It's a peaceful refuge if you just want to get away.  It's got several nature trails and is really convenient as it's located within city limits.

You get a lot of turtles and various water fowl.  A lot of herons and a lot of various types of ducks such as the above Male Wood duck.  It's my favourite kind of duck.  It's not as friendly as the regular mallard duck as they don't seem to like going near humans.  But that's ok for us photographers with our lenses and large sensors.  We can crop our photographs to still get a nice image.

The Wood Duck

Taken today at Mud Lake after a long day at work.  There must have been at least 5 pairs of Wood ducks at the entrance to the path today.  When I came at about 4pm they were all diving for food.  Weather was a bit chilly with a brisk, cold wind

I honestly love shooting with my f2.8 lenses.  I don't think I could go back to a slower lens.  I may be an f2.8 snob but f2.8 lenses help out a lot.  Especially the Canon ones.

Alamy?

So I upload to several micro stock agencies such as Bigstock, Istock, Fotolia, pond5 and shutterstock.  All get regular sales and on most of them I have 2200+ images.  On Alamy, I only have about 400 or so images.  Granted I only started uploading within the last two months yet I've not made a sale whatsoever on the site.  I'm just wondering if I should continue to upload.  Let me know in the comments below.  

Adobe Certified Expert Certification

No photo to go with todays blog post as this is more of a rant rather than anything else.

I've been interested in photography since I could remember.  I finally took some classes in 2010 at Algonquin College and finished the Photography Techniques certificate in 2012 all while working and dealing with cancer at the same time.  Since I beat cancer back in 2012 and cleared this year with my 5 year anniversary, I've been thinking that I honestly don't want to do the whole IT industry thing anymore.  I've been in IT since 2001.  The only certification I have is my CompTia A+ certificate along with my diploma of course. 

Since I got cancer back in 2010, it made me realize what I wanted to do with my life.  In the last 5 years, life has really been a struggle with cancer and dealing with the breakdown of my marriage and inevitable divorce.  Over the past year or two, I've been feeling the need to get out there with my cameras and follow my dreams.  It's not just dreams I think.  It's actually more than just dreams.  Something inside me is telling me to go out there and do my photography as a full time job.  I feel it in my bones.  I'm unhappy with where I am in my life.  Being newly single.  Being not where I want to be financially along with my living condition.

The only thing that ever makes me happy is when I'm out doing photography.  Doesn't matter what sort of photography it is.  One of the things that worry me is the finances of going out on my own just to do photography.  I upload and sell my photography on various micro stock sites but I don't get enough sales there to support myself financially.  I don't know if I want to work for someone else.  I've done it all my life and would like to head out on my own.  Just frighteningly scary is all.

I think by this time next year, I will be somewhere else other than Ottawa.  I want to get my Czech citizenship back so I can be a dual citizen of Canada and the Czech Republic.  One thing that I do know is I need to get my Adobe certification in Photoshop CC.  Currently I use Lightroom CC to edit all my photography.  I just need to do my certification.  I think that will be my goal in the next couple of months.  Get my Adobe certification and get out of Ottawa.  As one of my Photoshop teachers used to say a lot in class: "Who's with me?"

The 70-200MM

I honestly love shooting with the Canon EOS 6D and the Canon EF f.28 70-200MM L IS series lens.  Since I got the Canon 70-200, my acceptance rate on Shutterstock, Fotolia and Bigstockphoto have increased exponentially.  I also think I was holding the lens all wrong and the focus was way off causing my images to be soft and completely not sharp.  But now that I hold the lens a bit differently, I'm able to focus much better and let the lens do its magic.  The Canon EF f.28 70-200MM L series lens is amazingly sharp.

I'm also glad I bought the lens when I did back in October of 2015 as the price has increased by about $700 because of the falling Canadian dollar.  The falling Canadian dollar is good for one thing for myself as Shutterstock, Fotolia, Bigstockphoto and istockphoto all pay in U.S. dollars.  This means now I get about 30% more in my payouts which is nice since I derive 100% of my photography income from micro stock agencies based in either the U.S or the U.K.

I was thinking today while at work how to increase my passive income from photography.  I have my own website of course.  I sell my photography on 500px and Redbubble.  I am not on Etsy yet since I've heard conflicting things about that site.  I have one book available on iTunes.  I have to create probably another 2-3 books and put them up on iTunes and lulu.com.  Mind you, I'm horrible at marketing myself and my photography.  I'm also a perfectionist when it comes to my photography.  It just has to be perfect for me to put it up on a site now.  So it takes a while for me to do anything.

Anyways, back to the Canon EF f2.8 70-200MM L IS series lens.  Just simply an amazing lens as far as sharpness and colour accuracy.  I previously had the Sigma f2.8 70-200MM non-OS lens which means no which was a great lens.  Just not as good as the Canon version.

What originally made me get the Sigma version of the f2.8 70-200 was the great grey owl blow out back in 2012.  At the time, it was the only 70-200 I could afford.  At the time I think the Sigma was selling for about $1000 and the Canon was about $2200 or so (rounding off in dollars).  So the Canon was out of my league.  Now due to circumstances in my life I could afford the Canon lens.  I also now have a few Canon EOS 6D bodies to put my L series lenses onto.  Yes.  I'm addicted to photography and a total Canon camera fan boy.  I wish I was getting Canon to sponsor me but that is not the case.  But, I am hoping to work with Canon soon.  I'm a Canon brand kinda photographer as I shoot video on a Canon Vixia HF R62 camcorder.

If you are interested in some of my photography and videography you can check the following links:

Shutterstock

Fotolia

Bigstock

Pond5

iStock

I also upload to alamy.com and videoblocks.com but my portfolios are small compared to the others.

Feel free to shop or contact me here via email.