My most popular photograph

I was in Banff, Alberta when I took this photograph: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/rocky-mountains-on-spring-day-615715556.  When I took the photo, I thought it was just a generic mountain shot.  The lighting was harsh since it was taken at mid day.  I did not like the photo in colour.  I converted it into black and white.  I uploaded it to Shutterstock and hoped that it would be at least accepted.  It was accepted a few days later and at that point I thought it would never sell.  At all.  Today it sold 3 times.  It's sold for a grand total of 225 times since April 2017 becoming my most popular photograph ever on Shutterstock.  I have it on my own website as well if you would like to purchase it and hang it on your wall:  http://josefpittner.photos/featured/14-the-rockies-josef-pittner.html.  This photo is the reason I want to go back to Alberta as soon as possible and get more shots like this.  I do miss the mountains of Alberta.  I miss being outdoors in the Rocky mountains.  I want to go to all the national parks in Canada and the USA that are located in the west.  I believe it is my calling.

Become a Shutterstock contributor

Want to earn a passive income with your photography, sign up to be a Shutterstock photographer.  I signed up to Shutterstock back in May 2014.  I started off with 7 out of 10 photos being accepted.  Trying to get accepted was a lot harder back then, than it is now.  Currently you have have to have 1 out of 10 photos accepted.  I had to get 7 out of 10.  It took me a while to get accepted.  Back then I thought my photography was great.  In focus with no noise at all.  It took me a while to figure out what Shutterstock wanted.  Almost six years later, I have over 15,500 photos accepted and over 1,500 footage clips accepted.  I regularly make payout which is not hard to do.  Just sell $35 worth of photography or footage.  If you sell one clip a month, you'll make payout easily.  I think I haven't make payout once in the last 4 years or so.  You can sign up by clicking on this link https://submit.shutterstock.com/?ref=1070795.  It will take you to the Shutterstock website and all you have to do is create an account, upload some ID and then start uploading.  I've submitted photos from various cameras including my old Samsung Galaxy s7 Edge, my current Apple iPhone 8 Plus.  I also have pictures taken with a Canon EOS 350D which is an old camera by todays standards.  Equipment does not matter anymore it seems.  Just start.

Wow Apple,that was really...

...underwhelming.  Arcade, Apple Watch, new bands, retail?  New Apple iPhone 11 and the Apple iPhone 11 Pro?  I don’t use my phone for the majority of my photography, let alone shoot my footage.  I was hoping for more information on new laptops, the Mac Pro, iPadOS, iOS13.  But nothing.  Just new phones and services I have no interest in.  I am so disappointed with Apple right now.  No information or updates on iPadOS.  Nothing.

I was going to do a livestream of myself reacting to the September 10, 2019 event.  I’m glad I didn’t.

Just read on Macworld.com that iPadOS will be available September 19th.  A week from this Thursday.  IOS 13.1 will be available on September 30th, 2019 which is pretty specific for a dot one release.  Why couldn’t Apple say this in their presentation?  I want a fully functional 2018 Apple iPad Pro.  IOS 12 is a disaster.  IPadOS is much more feature rich and it’ll make the iPad Pro usable.

Edit:  iPad OS 13 will be available on September 30th of this year with iPad OS 13.1 being available the same day.  WTF Apple?  This is really confusing.  IOS 13 will be available on September 19th for the iPhones.  God!!!!! Another 20 days with iOS 12.4.1!!!!!!  I so wanted to only use my 2018 Apple iPad Pro with iPadOS 13 ASAP.

It’s happening again

So I’ve been looking for another job for the past few weeks.  Could not find anything at all.  Now I’m getting multiple calls for contracts.  Today I got three calls asking if I was available.  Of course I am.  The one job from SSC sounds interesting.  They’d fly me out to the maritimes for a week or so and out to Vancouver.  If I get his job, I’ll of course be bringing you Sony RX100 Mark VII and my 2018 iPad Pro.  

I just hope that Apple will release the new iPadOS by then.  I don’t like using my Windows 10 laptop.  It’s not bad but it’s just the form factor that I do not like.  I used my Canon Vixia HF R800 this morning to do a sort of introductory and RX100 Mark VII review.  I can actually import the HF R800 footage onto my iPad Pro and work on it in LumaTouch.  I just have to go home and upload the video.  I have 20 megabit upload at home which is about 10 times faster than the Timmies WIFI.  I did not know that the Canon Vixia HF R800 footage would import onto the iPad Pro.  Learn new things every day.  Now I have to learn how to use LumaFusion on the iPad Pro.  Too bad I can’t import the Sony RX100 Mark VII footage onto the iPad Pro yet.

I hope, I hope I get one job so I can pay off my credit card debt by March of 2020.  I don’t want to be in Ottawa anymore.  I totally miss being out in Calgary and the mountains.  It’s such a different lifestyle out there then it is here in boring Ontario.  

DJI Mavic Air

So now that I’ve got the perfect camera setup for me with the Sony RX100 Mark VII, I’m looking at getting an upgraded drone.  I currently have the DJI Spark.  It’s an ok drone.  It’s really a starter drone that you can learn on.  It shoots 1080p video at 30fps and it only does JPEG photography.  I shoot all my photos in the RAW format for greater control.  I also want to start doing 4K footage from a drone.

I have been watching a lot of aerial shots of the Rocky Mountains on YouTube.  Before I go out west for good, I want to get a better drone.  I have decided on the DJI Mavic Air.  If you like some of my photography, please purchase a print at my print site by going to josefpittner.photos. That would be greatly appreciated.

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.  :)

I miss the Rockies

I miss the mountains.  I was in Calgary, Alberta back in 2017 for work for the National Energy Board.  Came back in July 2017 and since then I've had a need to go back.  I miss the mountains.  I miss the lakes.  I miss the rivers.  I miss the forests.  I miss the mountains.

Yes, I'd miss stuff in Ottawa.  Friends and stuff.  Going to Parc Omega occasionally.  I think I've only been there a few times this year.  It's basically gotten to the point where it's unphotographable with all the fencing and the new design of the park.

I need to be out west.  Like yesterday.

I don't like being in front of a camera

I really don't like being in front of the camera lens.  I really don't.  I'm very self conscious.  I don't like the sound of my voice, let alone how I look.  I'm 43 years old.  I should not be this self conscious.  Especially in 2019.  I'm not a high school teenager anymore.  I went out today to do a video blog today for YouTube.  Unfortunately the little mic I bought off Amazon was the wrong one so no audio at all.  First world problems.  Ordered the correct one when I got home.  Should be here tomorrow.  Thanks free Amazon Prime.  😇

Patreon

Signed up to Patreon here.

Photo sales suck

Last month I only sold two footage clips for a whopping $79.20 and photo sales were a measly $41.62.  August sucked and September is looking like it's not getting any better.  This makes me hesitant to go out full time to be a full-time photographer.  I have 15,258 photos and 1,544 footage clips on Shutterstock.  On Pond5, I have 1528 clips and 2024 photos.  On Storyblocks, I have 2,148 items from photos and video clips.

I have a really, really strong urge to do the travelling photographer bug.  I've had it since about 2014.  I really, really want to do it but I have a fear of not being able to support the travel.  I want to travel full time in my 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport AWD SUV.  I want to do it in Canada and the United States full time.  I'm going to have a hard time in the States because of not having a work visa or a green card.  I will have to do a lot of research on how people support themselves on the road while travelling.  

If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

I forgot I have a...

...DJI Spark drone that I can fly.  Time to go out and fly the drone.  Take some ariel shots and some ariel footage.  I haven't flown the drone in months.  I think it's time.

Fireworks with the Sony RX100 Mark VII

Used some Sony software to edit these shots of the fireworks I took on August 21, 2019 with the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  I've uploaded them to all my portfolios such as Shutterstock, Pond5 and Storyblocks.  Hopefully they'll be approved soon and will be available for sale.  It was windy that night so all the fireworks were being blown to our left.  It added to the perspective for sure.

Finally pushed over the edge

I have been pushed over the edge.  I've been pushed to do the photography full time now.  After 19 years of doing the I.T. career thing, I'm done with it.  It no longer makes me happy.  Actually, I haven't been happy with it for about 4 years now.  

Back in October of 2010, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer.  That was a shock.  I had my first surgery in November 2010.  I had my surgery on a Wednesday.  The following day, I got a phone call from the agency that I was working for at the time that my employer no longer needed my services.  A few years later, I came to find out my boss, whom I worked for for 2.5+ years thought I did nothing anyways.  Her words.  Why keep me for 2.5+ years if I did nothing?  Had my second surgery in August of 2011 because the cancer had come back into my lymph nodes behind my stomach.  I was on the table for 9 hours being dissected like a pig.  I was told to basically stay home from November 2010 to September 2011 when I was going through the cancer battle.  

From April 2010 to May 2012, I was taking photography classes at Algonquin College.  From November 2010 to September 2011, I was battling cancer, chemotherapy and finally my 9 hour surgery.  I missed once class during this time.  The only reason I didn't go to that class was because I was stuck in a hospital bed.  I was in the hospital for 5 days.  I hated those 5 days with a passion.  I could not even wipe my own ass because I was being pumped with pain drugs.  They finally let me go because I could finally take a crap.  It took me three or four weeks to recover at home.  My license was suspended and my then wife had to go to work.  I was basically stuck at home alone with my dog which wasn't that bad having a perfect golden retriever at home with me.

All through that one year, the only thing that kept me was my photography and my dog.  My soon to be ex-wife was a complete bitch.  So was her mother.  Come 2015, I finally got a divorce.  Best thing ever.  Through cancer and my divorce, photography kept me going.  I miss my dog too.  

I am having a really hard time in 2019 again.  The last couple of contracts have been a farce.  Basically I come to do a certain job and it's the polar opposite of what I'm supposed to be doing.  The people I worked with were uncaring, unsympathetic bleep bleeps.  Keeping it PG here.  I'm basically done with the whole I.T. thing in Ottawa.

The only good thing about doing the I.T. thing is that in 2017, just as I was starting to date my current girlfriend, I got a short contract in Calgary, Alberta for 4 months.  That is when I fell in love with Calgary, Alberta and the mountains.  Since then, I've been wanting, needing to go back.  I can't stand it here in Ottawa anymore.  The weather and people suck.  No one will give you a chance.  You need to have 5-10 years experience before you're given a chance to prove yourself.  Even with nineteen years worth of experience in I.T, I have either too much or too little experience in doing something.

I really want and need to move out west to Calgary or somewhere close to Calgary and do landscape, nature, wildlife photography full-time.  I know it's going to be hard.  It's going to mean long hours but I've been through worse.  Damn, I beat cancer.  If cancer can't stop me, nothing else will.

If you're a photographer out in Alberta and you need help, hit me up.  Message me through the blog here or email me at joe @ joeknows.photos.  I'm a good guy.  My photography is pretty good I think.  It could always be better.  I could always sell more on Shutterstock, Pond5 or Storybooks.  I'm a good guy and a hard worker.  Just don't screw with me.  I hold grudges.  For a long, long time.  LOL

Apple and Microsoft need updates

Both Microsoft and Apple need to release their Digital Raw updates to support new cameras that have come out onto the market in the last month or so.  Apple is hopefully releasing their new iPadOS, their iPad Pro centric OS in the next two weeks.  I have the new Sony RX100 Mark VII camera and I can't use any of the pictures yet because they're not supported in any of the software such as Apple Photos on the iPad Pro or ON1 Photo RAW 19.5 running on Windows.  I've had the camera for 2.5 weeks now and it's basically unusable for me on the iPad Pro.  I can grab the videos from the RX100 VII and import them into Wondershare's Filmora 9.  I really just want to actually start using the camera at 100% of its capabilities  Hopefully all the necessary updates will be released in the next couple of weeks.

Photography equipment

Throughout the past decade or so, I’ve used various photography equipment to take various photos,  If you look at my Shutterstock portfolio, you will not be able to tell what camera body and lens took what photo or piece of footage.  Camera equipment is now ubiquitous.  I’ve been photographing the world around me for over 10 years now.  I’ve used various camera bodies and lenses from various manufacturers such as Sony and Canon.  The best camera I’ve ever used is the one I carry with me all the time.  No it’s not an Apple or a Samsung phone.  Although I’ve used them for some of my micro stock agency work and I’ve sold a few iPhone photos, the majority of my photos have come from a DSLR or the Sony RX100 line of cameras.  Back in 2017, when I was in Calgary for an I.T contract, I sold all my Canon DSLR equipment and went fully Sony Hybrid cameras. Particularly the Sony RX10 Mark II.  I did not want to lug around 25-30 pounds of equipment on my back while on a 20km hike through the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

It’s not the equipment you use.  Equipment gets upgraded by manufacturers monthly who come out with new features in their cameras.  Through out my 10 plus years of being in the industry, I’ve gone from the Canon Rebel line of cameras to full frame Canon bodies and Canon f2.8 lenses to just using a Sony RX100 Mark VI point and shoot camera.  Yes, the Sony RX100 VI and VII cost $1600 Canadian.  I fell victim to the “I have to have the latest and greatest” philosophy to compete with the neighbour.  I’ve had other photographers come up to my while I’m shooting with just the Sony RX100 Mark VI and tell me that I absolutely need this camera body with this lens combination to get the perfect shot.  They tell me the Sony RX100 VII is not a real camera because it can’t do this like their “pro” camera.  If you think you’re pro because you have this camera/lens combination, you are not a pro.  You’re just some guy or girl who has this camera/lens combination.  I’ve seen photographers run circles around other photographers with an Apple iPhone while these pro photographers use a 45 megapixel body with a 200-600MM lens that cost $14,000.  

A camera is just a tool like a hammer or saw.  It’s the person using that tool that makes the difference.  Always has been.  Always will be.  If you go to my Shutterstock portfolio, you will not be able to distinguish what camera and lens combo shot what photo.  And in the end, you won’t care.  As of right now, I have 15,255 photos and 1,544 clips on my Shutterstock portfolio.  All shot with different equipment.  If you’re looking for a photographer right now and they tell you that they have the latest and greatest equipment, tell them it doesn’t matter what they have.  Ask them if they know how to use it.  You’re hiring the photographer, not the equipment.