John M. Lund's Profile
Biography
John has been a professional photographer for over 30 years and specializes in stock photography.
John M. Lund's articles
Not having a system to deal with flash memory cards, especially in the heat of battle, cost me most of my images from this Genghis Khan re-enactment. Having my images on my web site brings in additional revenue.
Posted: 2010-07-03
Category: Photography
Increasingly, at least as far as I can see, the micro sites are offering greater choices, and, at least in some cases, better choices as well. It seems logical…hundreds of thousands of shooters contributing photos to an agency as opposed to thousands.
Posted: 2010-07-01
Category: Photography
To become a better Photoshop artist, become a better photographer pre-visualizing, planning and preparing for your photo shoot. A great shoot insures a great experience at the computer.
Posted: 2010-06-30
Category: Photography
I had rented a theater in Buenos Aires. I was doing a gang shoot with several of my associates that involved over thirty models. We each were doing our own thing rotating from area to area and periodically switching up models.
Posted: 2010-06-23
Category: Photography
A photographer friend of mine has been interviewing reps lately. He is one of the many stock shooters who have decided to hedge his bets by going after assignment photography. He is hopeful that a rep will be the answer to his problems…the “magic bullet” if you will.
Posted: 2010-06-23
Category: Photography
With the importance of creativity, the question arises: How can we increase and maximize our creative propensity? Is there a way to nurture and grow this all-important quality?
Posted: 2010-05-13
Category: Photography
A few nights ago I attended an Adobe presentation about Photoshop CS5. As I sat there watching them demonstrate new technologies that makes painstaking tasks into a snap I first felt a bit of despair that we are taking one more large stride towards making my hard-earned skills less unique. Each technological advance takes away the advantages that I have over newcomers and amateurs. Each time the presenter showcased a new or improved tool the audience broke into applause, which I weakly joined, while inside I thought to my self “Just great…now everyone can do it”. Luckily I managed to get out of that frame of mind before the evening was over.
Posted: 2010-05-10
Category: Photography
I did a search on Getty Images today while checking to see the competition that existed for an image idea I am considering creating. Then, just for the heck of it, I did the same search on iStockphoto. It was a bit of a revelation. Not only were there far more images, a couple of thousand rather than a couple of hundred, the iStockphoto images also included ones that were both higher in production value and more creative.
Posted: 2010-05-07
Category: Photography
Upon arriving in my studio this morning there was a message on my voice mail from an art buyer for a large corporation who was inquiring about an image of mine created to illustrate the concepts of social media and social networking. She had found the image doing a Google Image search.
Posted: 2010-03-31
Category: Photography
Stock photography can be a isolating career, so it is great to meet face-to-face with my peers, trade shop talk (O.K. little gossip too), strategies and what is going on in our lives. Trust me, this is better than Facebook!
Posted: 2010-03-29
Category: Photography
I have the privilege of seeing the sales reports from a dozen stock photographers. One thing that stands out to me from looking at all those reports is that there are many ways to succeed. Each of those photographers has their own style and approach. That point is accentuated to me by the fact that a core group of about six of us have often combined our efforts in group shoots…which means there are plenty of images shot by different photographers but using the same models in the same locations.
Posted: 2010-03-24
Category: Photography
The last job I had before I could just shoot full time, was as a landscape laborer. Even after I was able to give up the odd jobs I remember my accountant suggesting to me that I get a ‘real job”. Years later one of my bookkeepers quit because, as she said, “you won’t be in business a few months from now”. I’ve had my share of ups and downs, but I have had determination.
Posted: 2010-03-22
Category: Photography
Stewart Cohen’s client list would make anyone enviable, he is a household name in the advertising world and he shoots both stills and motion in exotic locations around the world. Stewart is also a founding member of Blend Images stock agency.
Posted: 2010-03-19
Category: Photography
I just spent hours trying to figure out how to post my blog onto my Facebook fan page. When I finally figured out how it was, uh, so simple! Yikes! The Internet is great at making me feel like an idiot. Oh well…. Facebook in particular humbles me constantly.
Posted: 2010-03-15
Category: Photography
Not too long ago I blogged about feeling overworked. I illustrated the blog with a stock photo of a man’s head exploding. I was mulling that image over in my mind, thinking about whether it would behoove me to create another version.
Posted: 2010-03-13
Category: Photography
