My Image on Magazine Cover

I am a believer of giving back to the community when opportunities come. When I was a student living in Provo, Utah, one of my favorite places to go shooting was Utah Lake, the only natural water lake in that dry state and one of the largest bodies of natural water in the United States. I still visit there whenever I’m in Utah, and I’ve shot some of my favorite landscape images there.

One of the reasons I loved going there was because there weren’t that many people on the shore, and I have never seen other photographers while I was there. Unfortunately, the lake has been polluted during the last 100 years or so, as Geneva Rock has a factory on a lake, and it’s also a popular local spot for boating and hunting. But the lake is still beautiful, nonetheless, especially when you catch it interacting with other elements of nature.

Few months back I was contacted by the office of Reed Price, a head of newly created Utah Lake Commission. It was created with the goal to reinstate lake’s positive qualities and better promote the lake in the state of Utah. They found my work through Flickr, and they were wondering if I would be willing to sell some of the images of the Lake to be hung in their office, and to be used for other purposes of the Commission. Utah Lake is one of my favorite locations in Utah County, so I gladly provided the prints for their office at cost. The cause that the commission is undertaking is a noble one, and I am glad there are others who also care about preserving that important piece of the Rocky Mountains. I am hoping to do the same through showing the beauty of the Utah Lake to those who view my work.

Then few weeks later I was contacted by the Chamber of Commerce of Provo and Orem, who wanted to use my images for an article in their magazine on the Utah Lake Commission. I gladly allowed them to do so, and the image above is the cover of their January 2008 issue. I’m glad that this is the one they used, because it is perhaps my most favorite one of the Lake and I have it hanging in our living room.

To see the original image, click here. Other images from the Utah Lake are here.

Farewell to Davison and Bernier

Farewell to Davison and Bernier, originally uploaded by IvanoMak.

Today was a big day in the NHL, as trade deadline passed and a big group of players found out they've been traded to another team. These two players are no longer with the Sharks, and this is my photo tribute to their time in San Jose. Interestingly enough, both have spent the same amount of games with our club.

Steve Bernier was traded to Buffalo Sabres, as part of the deal that brought Brian Campbell to San Jose (trade I'm very excited about). We will miss him, however. He's a big guy who led the team in hits by a big margin, but he also loved to score. He still has a great NHL career ahead of him, and I wish him the best as he plays with the Sabres.

Rob Davison played both on the offense and on the defense during his time in San Jose, and today he was traded to New York Islanders. He was a nice guy, but could fight as well. I'll long remember how he fearlessly took on Parros of the Ducks.

My best wishes to both of these players!

In Lieu of Birthday Card..

In Lieu of Birthday Card.., originally uploaded by IvanoMak.

I've already shared this image on our family blog, but I'll repeat it here because I really like it and because here I can share with you what I did with the lighting.

The idea was to recreate the feeling of our bedroom in the morning, since I took it in the morning, and showed it to Becca just a few seconds after I posted it. It was too dark in the room this morning for natural light shot, as Bay area going through another spell of winter showers. I placed SB-600 at 1/4 power to our left that was bounced off the ceiling. It provided a nice fill to our faces, as well as the card.

ImageKind Review - Why I left

If you were a visitor to my blog a couple months ago, you may remember that I used to offer fine-art prints of my images through ImageKind ("IK"). I no longer do that, and to get a fine-art print from me, you can contact me directly (you can see an email in my profile). I get occasional emails asking me why I left IK and I think I'd be appropriate to share why, since it is a popular outset to see one's work in the Flickr community.

First, what I liked about ImageKind.

The quality of their prints is outstanding. I printed my images on various kinds of paper and in various sizes, and I was pleased with the results. As a printing service, IK is not the cheapest way to print, but you get what you pay for with them.

Their customer service is also outstanding. They ship things fast, and they package prints in a safe manner. Apparently, they're also really good when you have to call them, though I never had to do it.

Second, what I disliked about ImageKind.

As important as print quality and customer service is, most of us join IK hoping to find new buyers for our work. And this is where it gets tricky. If you already have an online or live following of fans, they'll be satisfied with prints you will sell to them through IK. However, IK will not help you find new customers. Here is why.

- Their "search" function on their web-site is broken. I used to have my Point Lobos photos listed there, and as hard as I tried, search results never generated specific image of mine I tried to find based on certain keywords. It's an issue that's frequently brought up in their forum, yet IK has done nothing to fix it over many months they are operating.
- During the weekday busy hours their web-site is often slow to respond, and again, nothing has been done to resolve the issue of bandwidth and increased traffic.
- Their featured and popular artists are generated somewhat randomly. Again, it's brought up frequently in their forum, but nothing is being done to change it.
- Their premium and pro accounts are only for extra storage space. They promise priority placement of your work on their web-site, but since search results and priority placement is random, it's an empty promise. There is very little that is being done to market their artists, so you will have to do a lot of self-promotion to find buyers for your work. IK will not do it for you and they're clear about it when you bring it up on their forum.
- They keep too much profit. Sure, you can keep the most profit on the print itself, but where they're making the most money is when your customer is buying a mat and frame for that print. They only give you 15% commission on that. So say, you sold a print for $20, but your customer end up paying $100 for it. How much do you get in the end? $35. That means they keep $65. And the profit they keep only goes up higher as your customers pay more money.
- They only pay you if you made over $50 and they only do it 45 days after the sale takes place.
- They are not concerned about improving their web-site. If you read through their forum, almost every week someone starts a new thread complaining about bugs in the web-site, sharing thoughts on the improvement. The administrators claim they write all of these things down, but in 6 months that I been visiting IK, very little has been done to improve the web-site's functionality. Things that artists really want have not been implemented, nor the timetable for the implementation been given. To me that means they're in the printing business, not in the business of taking care of the artist.

Bottom line, use them as a printing outlet, but don't expect to find any new buyers of your work through them.

UPDATE (10/03/2008) - After looking into other options, I now use Zenfolio as an outlet to sell my prints, and I explain why I am happy with them here.

Most Interesting Recent Images

I'm currently lacking inspiration and camera has been resting more than usual (what do you do when this happens??), but here is a slide show of the recent photos that I found interesting while browsing Flickr. A lot of amazing work out there.

Door Into the Past

Door Into the Past, originally uploaded by IvanoMak.

This is a door into one of the buildings that is a part of the San Carlos Barromeo de Carmelo Mission (aka Carmel Mission). It is by far the oldest structure I have visited in California, and in fact, in all of US, as it was here since 1771.

After visiting this beautiful Mission, I have a strong desire to visit as many missions here in California as I can, when I get my inspiration and spare time back.

Please see this one LARGE to better appreciate those textures that are centuries in the making.

Oahu South Shore

Oahu South Shore, originally uploaded by IvanoMak.

This is a stitch of 8 exposures taken at Pali Lookout in Honolulu.

It is meant to be seen LARGE, of course.

#45 Jody Shelley

#45 Jody Shelley, originally uploaded by IvanoMak.

SJ Sharks aquired Jody Shelley just a couple of weeks ago. He's not known for his mad dribbling skills, or for goalscoring instinct. Instead, Shelley is known in the league for being one of the best "tough guys", or as someone whose role is to fight, to be physical and to protect teammates. You don't mess around with guys like him unless you're suicidal. It's always exciting to see Shelley get on the ice.

Welcome to San Jose, Jody!

To see a good highlight clip about him, click here.

To see his first fight as a Shark, click here.

Finally, to see his NHL career stats, click here.

World in His Eyes

World in His Eyes, originally uploaded by IvanoMak.

The light in this image is a natural light coming out of the window in the room. Since the sun was setting, the light was nice and soft, and Maks loved looking outside to see what's going on.

"The Moment It Clicks" Review

On Thursday I finally got my copy of "The Moment It Clicks" by Joe McNally. This book has already generated enough hype to become no. 1 best-selling book in photography category and no. 12 overall bestseller on Amazon.com (after just one week of sales!), and it is all for a good reason. When I got the book, I simply could not put it down until I finished it. This will most likely be the best book published on photography in year 2008. Let me share few of my thoughts on why.

Joe McNally is one of the most famous and most successful photojournalists of our time. He shoots all kinds of things, but he's best known for his people photography. Joe is also considered to be an outstanding teacher, and it shoes through the book.

Joe has an amazing talent of taking an individual or a group of people and capturing them in a way that you don't need any explanations. Each photo of his is an essay in itself. So if you like shooting people, for journalism, or simply for family history purposes, you will simply love just looking at the pictures presented here. In fact, the book would be worth it even if it cost 10 times of what it costs now ($32) just for the collection of images presented there. They are outstanding, and what's good, the quality of printing is very good too. And if you're not yet shooting people, this book will make you start shooting them, as there is not a subject that is more exciting.

Besides photos, Joe also presents stories behind them, including how he lit the objects and why. This kind of information is what made the book extra captivating for me. He's got a talent of telling stories in a way that you can't stop reading them. You open a page, see an image that blows your mind away, and on top of that, you get a story of how it was created, along with the guiding principle behind it, or "one-liner" that is easy to remember. He shares photography wisdom with in every section of the book, and many of his pearls will be quoted by teachers and writers on the topic of photography for years to come.

He also gets personal and shares stories of his struggles from the time he was a beginner to the present day. You'll hear details about how he once destroyed six cameras in one day, or about what image jump started his career, or about his tries to be a good parent to his children when he was away most of the time as they were growing. I am always impressed when people of his caliber talk about their mistakes and failures so openly. It also makes you take your own mistakes more easily.

In summary, through his book Joe McNally has inspired me, has made me better photographer through his own example, both in terms of technical aspects and creativity, and once again has made me want to go out and keep shooting. I was sad the book was over, but it's one of these books that I will read again and again. It is for sure as good as any book I have read on the topic of the art of photography, and you're losing out if you have not yet ordered your copy.

Streets of San Francisco

Streets of San Francisco, originally uploaded by IvanoMak.

"East is East, and West is San Francisco" -- O.Henry

Loud Baby

Loud Baby, originally uploaded by IvanoMak.

Maks is now at the stage when he's learning to do new things almost daily. It's for sure a fun time to be his parent and watch him grow. One of the more recent things he's learned is to shout and scream. Sometimes it's so loud that I will not be surprised neighbors knocking on our door with complains.

Lighting Setup: three speedlights (2 Sunpak 383, and SB-600), two of them shot through white umbrellas at 1/4 power with CTO warming gels, and one shot into the white wall behind him, with blue gel.

Joe's New Book and Blog

I have written before about new "The Moment It Clicks" book by Joe McNally. It's now available for sale at Amazon, and I should get my own copy on Wednesday. But another good piece of news is that he just launched a new blog that I look forward to reading on a regular basis. Take a look here.