I'm going to post my photos later once I have a chance to do a little culling and editing. I have well over 400 already and I'm hitting some major sights on the morrow, so I probably won't have time to get any up until Monday at the earliest.
House keeping out of the way, I'm having a great time. I've seen a majority of the sights and I'm hitting the eastern side of midtown pretty hard tommorow. I'm going to try to get standby tickets to Conan O'Brian tommorow. Jon Stewart and Dave Letterman don't tape on Fridays. I guess Conan should talk to his agent about the crappy hours he works.
The award show is Saturday. One and a half days of tourism then I'm all business baby. I'm getting excited. It's going to be a killer show.
-Gary
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Old New York Was Once New Amsterdam
Last night a guy quietly came into the room at about 2am. At 3am there was loud snoring. I probably wouldn't have notice except that I had had a nap for four hours earlier that night. He kept me awake until about 4:45 am when his loud snoring was interupted by loud vomiting and the splashing noise vomit makes as it hits the carpeted floor of a 12share room in a hostel. Luckily for everyone involved the overpowering smell of feet took care of the smell of vomit.
I must have fallen asleep sometime around 5:00 or so, but I don't think the angry asian in the bunk next to mine did. He kept sitting up and tossing and turning. He even went over to find the culprit. Luckily for him he didn't slip on or step in the puddle of vomit. I must have fallen asleep again shortly after that.
At around 6:30 I was awoken by the angry asian packing his bags to leave the hostel. I thought that I might as well get up because the snoring continued, and this way I could get a jump on the line in the shower. I'm told this is the biggest hostel in the world with 612 beds.
I keep calling this guy the angry asian, but that's not to say that I wasn't annoyed too. It's just that I know that I snore too, I do however try to sleep on my side to avoid snoring as well as responding well to people who shake my bedframe.
By bunk neighbour was just leaving as I was getting dressed after my shower. As I was putting on my socks, I noticed he had left his gloves on the bed. I ran down the hall in my stocking feet to tell him, but I just missed the elevator. Oh well. I got ready to go out for the day at a little past seven and as I stepped out the door, was the guy looking for his gloves no less. I let him know they were up on his bunk, using a series of grunts, whistles and hand motions that I had developed and later perfected during my stays in Hong Kong and Tokyo. He was very happy.
I caught the subway down to battery park, which is on the south end of the island. It is where you catch the Staten Island Ferry as well as the ferry to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. The ferry costs $12 and will take you in a circular route to both Liberty Island and Ellis Island then back to Manhatten. Another ferry comes about every 20 minutes.
Let me tell you, it has been several years since I have been that cold.
The Statue of Liberty was interesting and well worth going to see. I felt sort of the same way about seeing it as I did seeing the Sydney Opera house. That is to say, "There it is, it looks just like it does in pictures and TV. That's pretty cool." The security is a little over the top though. They screen you before you get onto the ferry and then agian before you go into the pedastel of the statue.
I've been through a ton of metal detectors in the last little while. It seems rather random as to if they pick stuff up. On hit my belt, others, my glasses. The one in Calgary seemed to go off for no reason at all. The lady at the statue seemed surprised that the dectector to get on the boat hit my glasses but hers didn't. It all seems rather pointless to get screened twice just for that, but I guess it is an international icon.
At the top of the pedestal, several people asked the rangers when they stopped letting people go up inside the statue itself and if they though people would ever be allowed to go in again. Basically the answers were that although it was closed shortly after the 9/11 attacks, it was a long time coming. It isn't good for the statue for people to go up in there and it isn't good for the people either. It was a popular spot for graphiti and it isn't a particularly good view either.
I couldn't imagine the view from up there to be one bit different than from the top of the pedestal, but it would be somewhat interesting to see the guts of the statue up close.
The ferry took me to Ellis island next and that was very interesting. I didn't stay as long as I could have, but I found it to be a somewhat sad place. The emphasized the hardship and unfairness of the process of emigrating. Basically if you could afford a first or second class ticket the officials rubber stampped you because they figured you were a healthy hard working person with money. Everyone else got a good once over. I couldn't help but feel sorry for them. I mean, I think I would have been in the weathly group if it had been me, in fact I am in that situation right now with plans to go back to Oz in a few months. All we have to do is fill out some paper work and buy a ticket. Heck we'll arrive faster and we're going further than most immigrents to the USA. The worse thing we'll have to put up with is not getting our peanuts.
After the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Isand I went to wall street and saw the stock exchange and then I went to the excavation at the site of the world trade center. I wish I would have seen them before they were demolished. Exploring around downtown I came across a couple of guys with little stalls on the sidewalk selling pirated movies, but I didn't get anything even though I was tempted. It boggles my mind that there are these people making money from pirated movies selling them in the street not three blocks away from the NY stock exchange and nobody seems to be doing anything about it. The place is literally crawling with cops. There must be something more to it. Maybe the cops figure people like having these guys around. I don't know. Maybe they just don't care and have bigger fish to fry. You would think movie execs would get after them.
I have to admit that New York is the greatest city I've been to. It has everything and everyone. I can't imgaine a better place to live. The people don't seem as mean as they make them out to be on tv and in the movies and the traffic isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. In fact if you were to triple the number of cars on the road in Medicine Hat and make them all New York drivers, traffic in Medicine Hat would improve.
I must have fallen asleep sometime around 5:00 or so, but I don't think the angry asian in the bunk next to mine did. He kept sitting up and tossing and turning. He even went over to find the culprit. Luckily for him he didn't slip on or step in the puddle of vomit. I must have fallen asleep again shortly after that.
At around 6:30 I was awoken by the angry asian packing his bags to leave the hostel. I thought that I might as well get up because the snoring continued, and this way I could get a jump on the line in the shower. I'm told this is the biggest hostel in the world with 612 beds.
I keep calling this guy the angry asian, but that's not to say that I wasn't annoyed too. It's just that I know that I snore too, I do however try to sleep on my side to avoid snoring as well as responding well to people who shake my bedframe.
By bunk neighbour was just leaving as I was getting dressed after my shower. As I was putting on my socks, I noticed he had left his gloves on the bed. I ran down the hall in my stocking feet to tell him, but I just missed the elevator. Oh well. I got ready to go out for the day at a little past seven and as I stepped out the door, was the guy looking for his gloves no less. I let him know they were up on his bunk, using a series of grunts, whistles and hand motions that I had developed and later perfected during my stays in Hong Kong and Tokyo. He was very happy.
I caught the subway down to battery park, which is on the south end of the island. It is where you catch the Staten Island Ferry as well as the ferry to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. The ferry costs $12 and will take you in a circular route to both Liberty Island and Ellis Island then back to Manhatten. Another ferry comes about every 20 minutes.
Let me tell you, it has been several years since I have been that cold.
The Statue of Liberty was interesting and well worth going to see. I felt sort of the same way about seeing it as I did seeing the Sydney Opera house. That is to say, "There it is, it looks just like it does in pictures and TV. That's pretty cool." The security is a little over the top though. They screen you before you get onto the ferry and then agian before you go into the pedastel of the statue.
I've been through a ton of metal detectors in the last little while. It seems rather random as to if they pick stuff up. On hit my belt, others, my glasses. The one in Calgary seemed to go off for no reason at all. The lady at the statue seemed surprised that the dectector to get on the boat hit my glasses but hers didn't. It all seems rather pointless to get screened twice just for that, but I guess it is an international icon.
At the top of the pedestal, several people asked the rangers when they stopped letting people go up inside the statue itself and if they though people would ever be allowed to go in again. Basically the answers were that although it was closed shortly after the 9/11 attacks, it was a long time coming. It isn't good for the statue for people to go up in there and it isn't good for the people either. It was a popular spot for graphiti and it isn't a particularly good view either.
I couldn't imagine the view from up there to be one bit different than from the top of the pedestal, but it would be somewhat interesting to see the guts of the statue up close.
The ferry took me to Ellis island next and that was very interesting. I didn't stay as long as I could have, but I found it to be a somewhat sad place. The emphasized the hardship and unfairness of the process of emigrating. Basically if you could afford a first or second class ticket the officials rubber stampped you because they figured you were a healthy hard working person with money. Everyone else got a good once over. I couldn't help but feel sorry for them. I mean, I think I would have been in the weathly group if it had been me, in fact I am in that situation right now with plans to go back to Oz in a few months. All we have to do is fill out some paper work and buy a ticket. Heck we'll arrive faster and we're going further than most immigrents to the USA. The worse thing we'll have to put up with is not getting our peanuts.
After the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Isand I went to wall street and saw the stock exchange and then I went to the excavation at the site of the world trade center. I wish I would have seen them before they were demolished. Exploring around downtown I came across a couple of guys with little stalls on the sidewalk selling pirated movies, but I didn't get anything even though I was tempted. It boggles my mind that there are these people making money from pirated movies selling them in the street not three blocks away from the NY stock exchange and nobody seems to be doing anything about it. The place is literally crawling with cops. There must be something more to it. Maybe the cops figure people like having these guys around. I don't know. Maybe they just don't care and have bigger fish to fry. You would think movie execs would get after them.
I have to admit that New York is the greatest city I've been to. It has everything and everyone. I can't imgaine a better place to live. The people don't seem as mean as they make them out to be on tv and in the movies and the traffic isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. In fact if you were to triple the number of cars on the road in Medicine Hat and make them all New York drivers, traffic in Medicine Hat would improve.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
The City So Nice, They Named it Twice
This morning I got up and left right away to go to midtown. I walked all the way through central park from north to south. I saw the Trump Tower. I went to the top of the Empire State Building, but only found it by chance. I was walking south on 8th ave and saw the Madison Square Garden and knew that it was on the same street as the Empire State Building. It cost $18 to go up. There was no line at all, and the wait for the elevator was very short. Shorter than waiting for the elevator here at the hostel and there are only 4 floors here. The view is good, the ESB is much taller than anything else in the city. I took lots of pictures.
I bought some new shoes and almost lost them twice before I even made it back to the hostel. First when I was going through security at the emipire state building. Then I stopped at a Burger king with an internet cafe for 5 minutes and left them under the computer. I made it four blocks before I realised that I didn't have my shoes. I ran all the way back and luckily they were still there. I went to a camera super store called B&H Photo and looked at all their stuff. It was pretty interesting.
I caught a subway back to the hostel after lunch, two slices of cheese pizza and a coke for $3. What a deal. Pizza by the slice seems to be the way to go. I downloaded my pictures, but was so tired from the walk that I didn't even look at them all and had to take a nap.
I probably shouldn't have had the nap because I woke up at about 8:30pm. I got my stuff to go out and when I got to the lobby I was ushered into the commen room to see the comedy show. The comedians were hit and miss for the most part. Some were sort of funny but it was a tough crowd. I don't think the comedians were actual professionals, but were mostly working on their acts. The international crowd didn't help much. Some crazy chinese guy just wouldn't stop asking the comedians questions. I don't know if he thought he was helping them or what but it was really bugging them. He went on and on right from the start of the night. Not many people were laughing except for me and some girl from Seattle. I was really cracking up a few times, but I don't think anyone else was. Laughing really ingraciates you to the comedians and so they didn't talk to me much. Which was good. The last guy was really rude. Really rude, and not very funny. I don't think he even did much if any of his material. Half of the crowd left before his show was even 1/4 of the way done. It is too bad he had to be that way because it seemed that he could be really funny if he had half a chance. Overall, it was a tough crowd because half of them were ESL and I don't think that many of the native english speakers understood a lot of the jokes. I got the feeling that they were beginner comedians and were mostly looking for a crowd to practice their acts. I've been to worse shows, but only one.
New York is a lot like a cross between Sydney and Hong Kong. It seems like the people are always looking to make a buck, working hard or hustling like in Hong Kong, but the buildings seem more like Sydney. The main difference is that there is much more cultural diversity here in New York. As cosmopolitan as Hong Kong and Sydney are, they don't hold a candle to New York when it comes to variety of people. In fact, all of the major world cities that I have been to are fairly homogenous. Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sydney all don't seem like they have any variety of people at all. I think Tracie would love living here because of that. It seems like you can get anything you want here. I am really enjoying it here, but it would be better if I was travelling with someone.
I bought some new shoes and almost lost them twice before I even made it back to the hostel. First when I was going through security at the emipire state building. Then I stopped at a Burger king with an internet cafe for 5 minutes and left them under the computer. I made it four blocks before I realised that I didn't have my shoes. I ran all the way back and luckily they were still there. I went to a camera super store called B&H Photo and looked at all their stuff. It was pretty interesting.
I caught a subway back to the hostel after lunch, two slices of cheese pizza and a coke for $3. What a deal. Pizza by the slice seems to be the way to go. I downloaded my pictures, but was so tired from the walk that I didn't even look at them all and had to take a nap.
I probably shouldn't have had the nap because I woke up at about 8:30pm. I got my stuff to go out and when I got to the lobby I was ushered into the commen room to see the comedy show. The comedians were hit and miss for the most part. Some were sort of funny but it was a tough crowd. I don't think the comedians were actual professionals, but were mostly working on their acts. The international crowd didn't help much. Some crazy chinese guy just wouldn't stop asking the comedians questions. I don't know if he thought he was helping them or what but it was really bugging them. He went on and on right from the start of the night. Not many people were laughing except for me and some girl from Seattle. I was really cracking up a few times, but I don't think anyone else was. Laughing really ingraciates you to the comedians and so they didn't talk to me much. Which was good. The last guy was really rude. Really rude, and not very funny. I don't think he even did much if any of his material. Half of the crowd left before his show was even 1/4 of the way done. It is too bad he had to be that way because it seemed that he could be really funny if he had half a chance. Overall, it was a tough crowd because half of them were ESL and I don't think that many of the native english speakers understood a lot of the jokes. I got the feeling that they were beginner comedians and were mostly looking for a crowd to practice their acts. I've been to worse shows, but only one.
New York is a lot like a cross between Sydney and Hong Kong. It seems like the people are always looking to make a buck, working hard or hustling like in Hong Kong, but the buildings seem more like Sydney. The main difference is that there is much more cultural diversity here in New York. As cosmopolitan as Hong Kong and Sydney are, they don't hold a candle to New York when it comes to variety of people. In fact, all of the major world cities that I have been to are fairly homogenous. Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sydney all don't seem like they have any variety of people at all. I think Tracie would love living here because of that. It seems like you can get anything you want here. I am really enjoying it here, but it would be better if I was travelling with someone.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Livin' La Guardia Loca
I landed at La Guardia Airport and bought a metcard for a week bus pass and rode the bus to the subway and then rode the subway to the hostel. The subway station is just one block west of the hostel. My hostel is just about at the north west corner of central park. The facade of the hostel is undergoing renovations, and the entire building is covered with scaffolding. My room is a 12 share, but I think it was only about half full. They seem to be pretty quiet. I dropped off all my stuff and headed down to Time Square on the subway. I took a few pictures and looked around a bit. I came back to the hostel to go to bed at about 11:00 pm.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
An incident at Raymond High School
When I was in the ninth grade I was friendly with the janitor of the highschool. One day I was visiting with him in the boiler room of the school. There were lots of electrical switches in the boiler room and I asked him what they were all for. He told me what they all controlled and he said whatever you do don't touch "that one right there" and he pointed to the one he meant. He told me that this switch will shut down the whole school and it would take days to get the school operational again.
Years went by and the janitor passed away.
Amazingly this left me as the only living soul in the world that had a knowledge of those switches. Then one day I was in the boiler room with a friend of mine. He said I wonder what these switches are for and I told him and I said what ever you do don't touch "that one".
Then one day all the lights and mechanical functions of the school ceased to function. This went on for two or three days and they had a team of electricians scouring the school to find the problem. In a chance meeting I had with the principal he told me that there must be a main switch in the school somewhere and they couldn't find it.
I told him I knew where the main switch was and I took him there and showed him. He couldn't believe his ears, and of course he wanted to know how I knew about it. He also wanted to know if anyone else knew about the switch and I said yes ; __________ knows about it but he wouldn't have touched it because I warned him about it.
Well, I was wrong. My friend was expelled from school. He finished his high school in Lethbridge at the L.C.I. Because he went to LCI he met and married a beautiful girl from Lethbridge. They soon had a baby and they were very young. They must not have had any money and the girl had been raised in a wealthy family. They were later divorced, so I assume that life for everybody concerned including the baby was probably hell.
This chain of events was set in motion years earlier when I was told about the light switch. Both my friend and his exwife are now remarried ....who knows, maybe more than once for all I know.....and to people they wouldn't be married to if it weren't for the chain of events I already mentioned. The baby wouldn't even be in existance and this means that things aren't going to be the way they would have been for thousands of people eventually.
Years went by and the janitor passed away.
Amazingly this left me as the only living soul in the world that had a knowledge of those switches. Then one day I was in the boiler room with a friend of mine. He said I wonder what these switches are for and I told him and I said what ever you do don't touch "that one".
Then one day all the lights and mechanical functions of the school ceased to function. This went on for two or three days and they had a team of electricians scouring the school to find the problem. In a chance meeting I had with the principal he told me that there must be a main switch in the school somewhere and they couldn't find it.
I told him I knew where the main switch was and I took him there and showed him. He couldn't believe his ears, and of course he wanted to know how I knew about it. He also wanted to know if anyone else knew about the switch and I said yes ; __________ knows about it but he wouldn't have touched it because I warned him about it.
Well, I was wrong. My friend was expelled from school. He finished his high school in Lethbridge at the L.C.I. Because he went to LCI he met and married a beautiful girl from Lethbridge. They soon had a baby and they were very young. They must not have had any money and the girl had been raised in a wealthy family. They were later divorced, so I assume that life for everybody concerned including the baby was probably hell.
This chain of events was set in motion years earlier when I was told about the light switch. Both my friend and his exwife are now remarried ....who knows, maybe more than once for all I know.....and to people they wouldn't be married to if it weren't for the chain of events I already mentioned. The baby wouldn't even be in existance and this means that things aren't going to be the way they would have been for thousands of people eventually.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Tomato-Frog
A while ago, I said that a representative of theCalgary Zoo approached me about using a photo for an informational sign for one of their displays. Well here it is.
They left off some interesting information. When in danger, this frog it excretes some acidic slime. If you are holding it, your hand eventually starts to burn after a couple of minutes. This slime also makes them turn a darker shade than normal.
They left off some interesting information. When in danger, this frog it excretes some acidic slime. If you are holding it, your hand eventually starts to burn after a couple of minutes. This slime also makes them turn a darker shade than normal.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Smart is Sexy
The other day Tracie and I went to the library to shoot some photos for istockphoto and we got a couple of really good ones. Especially Tracie, she got three or four that I really really like. This was from the best series at the library.
House sitting is going well, we're having a good time. Work is going well, we're just about ready for the cap and gown kids.
I feel kind of bad talking about work and istock so much/often but those two things are really taking up a lot of my time.
I hit 700 downloads this month. The last 100 of those came in the last two weeks. I'm uploading a lot more this month because I've been sparked into action so to speak, I can see that I could easily make a pretty decent income.
If I could be doing 15 times that well it would replace a full time job. The thing is, I wouldn't actually need 15 times more photos to do that well, because better more useful files sell more often. Realistally, the best 10% of my photos account for 62% of downloads. With 280 more photos that do as well as my best 20 photos right now, I would be there.
Another point is that some of my 20 most downloaded files might not even be my most profitable photos right now, because the new files could simply be too new, to be in the top 20 most downloaded. A one week old file probably has no chance of getting the same amount of downloads as a file that has been online for a little under a year, in such short a time.
Of course, they always talking about the ebb and flow of downloads. I could just be experiencing a short span of higher than normal downloads. We'll see how it averages out over the next few weeks and months, but I remain confident. I don't really have very many seasonal images. My top sellers aren't really dependant on it being christmas or valentines day for people to want them.
-Gary Milner
House sitting is going well, we're having a good time. Work is going well, we're just about ready for the cap and gown kids.
I feel kind of bad talking about work and istock so much/often but those two things are really taking up a lot of my time.
I hit 700 downloads this month. The last 100 of those came in the last two weeks. I'm uploading a lot more this month because I've been sparked into action so to speak, I can see that I could easily make a pretty decent income.
If I could be doing 15 times that well it would replace a full time job. The thing is, I wouldn't actually need 15 times more photos to do that well, because better more useful files sell more often. Realistally, the best 10% of my photos account for 62% of downloads. With 280 more photos that do as well as my best 20 photos right now, I would be there.
Another point is that some of my 20 most downloaded files might not even be my most profitable photos right now, because the new files could simply be too new, to be in the top 20 most downloaded. A one week old file probably has no chance of getting the same amount of downloads as a file that has been online for a little under a year, in such short a time.
Of course, they always talking about the ebb and flow of downloads. I could just be experiencing a short span of higher than normal downloads. We'll see how it averages out over the next few weeks and months, but I remain confident. I don't really have very many seasonal images. My top sellers aren't really dependant on it being christmas or valentines day for people to want them.
-Gary Milner
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Working
Working doesn't leave a lot of time for writing. Things have been going very well at work. It has been a little slow somedays, but that's good because it has given us time to do stuff around the studio. Like cleaning the garage for 4 days.
We've spent a lot of time reconfiguring a lot of the equipment, servers and printers and stuff. The idea is to make room for another printer as well as prepare for the graduation portriats.
The boss left me in charge of the studio on Thursday and Friday. It was a little lonely, but I managed. We had a couple of pretty big sales and I had a pretty good time. It showed me that would be possible for me to have a one person studio, but that it would also be a lot of work. I would probably have to learn photoshop a little bit better than what I know now.
I've been uploading a lot more photos to Istockphoto lately. It is going really well for me. On a daily basis I'm making about 3% of what it would take for me only do Istock for a living. If I could make 33X that I wouldn't need a regular job at all.
I have a spreadsheet that is predicting that it will take four and a half years at the rate I'm going now. That may not be the most realistic prediciton for several reasons. I could be working at it a lot harder than I am right now, even in my spare time, I'll probably learn what sells much more as time goes on, and I'll also be improving as a photographer. Also, once in a while they raise the price for photos and this lowers the number of sales that it would take to be a stock photographer full time. Another thing is that as more and more of your photos have been downloaded they give you a higher and higher royalty on each sale. In december I made an extra 5% on each sale. I'm prediciting a raise again next december.
House sitting is going well. The house is nice. The start button on the microwave in the kitchen doesn't work. Luckily there is a spare microwave downstairs. But what a pain. You miss half your tv show when you are making the popcorn. Why can't they just make a microwave/fridge/tv combo device? You'd win the nobel prize for sure.
-Gary
We've spent a lot of time reconfiguring a lot of the equipment, servers and printers and stuff. The idea is to make room for another printer as well as prepare for the graduation portriats.
The boss left me in charge of the studio on Thursday and Friday. It was a little lonely, but I managed. We had a couple of pretty big sales and I had a pretty good time. It showed me that would be possible for me to have a one person studio, but that it would also be a lot of work. I would probably have to learn photoshop a little bit better than what I know now.
I've been uploading a lot more photos to Istockphoto lately. It is going really well for me. On a daily basis I'm making about 3% of what it would take for me only do Istock for a living. If I could make 33X that I wouldn't need a regular job at all.
I have a spreadsheet that is predicting that it will take four and a half years at the rate I'm going now. That may not be the most realistic prediciton for several reasons. I could be working at it a lot harder than I am right now, even in my spare time, I'll probably learn what sells much more as time goes on, and I'll also be improving as a photographer. Also, once in a while they raise the price for photos and this lowers the number of sales that it would take to be a stock photographer full time. Another thing is that as more and more of your photos have been downloaded they give you a higher and higher royalty on each sale. In december I made an extra 5% on each sale. I'm prediciting a raise again next december.
House sitting is going well. The house is nice. The start button on the microwave in the kitchen doesn't work. Luckily there is a spare microwave downstairs. But what a pain. You miss half your tv show when you are making the popcorn. Why can't they just make a microwave/fridge/tv combo device? You'd win the nobel prize for sure.
-Gary
Friday, January 12, 2007
House Sitting
It is our third night of house sitting and we are loving it. I really like having my own place again. It is so much better. The house is a lot quieter and I like the quiet. Superman's fortress of solitude would just about be perfect.
Work is going well. We are shooting mainly passport photos and working on the studio itself to arrange things more nicely and get ready for the cap and gown graduation season which is starting in two weeks.
The other day an elderly lady came in to find out about a photo she her daughter had ordered back in Octobers. She said it was taken in June. I couldn't find the name in the jun folder, so I looked in May and July and the her folder wasn't in those ones either. I asked her could in be under a different name? "No, I'm the one who paid for it" The lady was a granny type so I asked "Could it have been under the name of a married daughter?"
She lowered herself to tell me the married name of her daughter and sure enough that was the folder, but the edits weren't there. This seemed odd so I asked the photoshop editor about it in the back room. She said yeah, "they wanted a deceased son added and I did that a few months ago and emailed the proofs. This is the folder."
I went back to the front and proudly said "Here it is, it was finished and emailed a couple of months ago." Granny says, "I know that that's not true" I'm thinking, well here's the file, I'll just check the file properties to find out. Sure enough, oct 16th 5:13pm. I tell her the date. "That's not true" I guess she's a big fan of Colbert and is going with her gut on this one. I say to her. "So I went back there and in literally 30 seconds while I was gone, I did all that photoshopping and changed the date on the computers so that I could spoof the file system into thinking that I made the file on Oct 13 at 5:13pm?"
I said, "It's possible that your daughter didn't get the email, maybe her spam filters blocked it or something."
She says, "It's not true that you did that back in October." I say, "Well, whatever, it doesn't matter when it was done, just that she didn't get the email. What is her email address." I don't know what came over me expecting this lady to know her daughter's email address. She said, "I'll have to go home and get it."
"No, just tell me her phone number and I'll call to ask her." I said. "It's long distance." She tells me.
At this point I'm just so frustrated at this woman that I say, "It's what like two cents a minute? It's costing my boss ten times that for me to talk to you and we're in the very same room. We can afford it."
So she figures out the phone number and I call. The granny takes my word for it that we actually will email the proof out this time and leaves. I go back to the photoshopper to make sure the email gets sent and low and behold the old email is still in the sent box so we just resend it. By the way the date on the old email was Oct.13 5:26pm. I guess our photoshopper had a smoke in between the editing and the emailing.
I just thought to myself, I bet this lady feels like people are trying to get the best of her ALL THE TIME. If you think people are constantly trying to pull a fast one on you, guess what, they're not. You're just a pessimistic jerk. They don't care about you. We all just want to go through our lives as smoothly as possible. I don't understand how we could have possibly benefited from dragging our feet on this lady's order. We have to do the work before they'll place and order and we can get paid. It just doesn't make sense.
That being said, my boss is one of the nicest guys you'd ever meet. A WWII vet came in a couple of months ago to get some pictures of his Uncle's WWI medals, and we gave him what he wanted for free. My boss shot a wedding a year and a half ago and the groom passed away in some sort of accident shortly after the wedding and so my boss gave the order for free. It must have been close to $1000 at least. Then the mother called two days ago to place another $500 order and he wanted to give her that one for free, but she politely declined his offer. We don't need to gouge people we just want to do a good service for a fair price and treat people nicely. That war vet was very pleased with his photo. The mother is very pleased with the way she has been treated. There are a few crazy people out there that you just can't please no matter what you try.
-Gary
Work is going well. We are shooting mainly passport photos and working on the studio itself to arrange things more nicely and get ready for the cap and gown graduation season which is starting in two weeks.
The other day an elderly lady came in to find out about a photo she her daughter had ordered back in Octobers. She said it was taken in June. I couldn't find the name in the jun folder, so I looked in May and July and the her folder wasn't in those ones either. I asked her could in be under a different name? "No, I'm the one who paid for it" The lady was a granny type so I asked "Could it have been under the name of a married daughter?"
She lowered herself to tell me the married name of her daughter and sure enough that was the folder, but the edits weren't there. This seemed odd so I asked the photoshop editor about it in the back room. She said yeah, "they wanted a deceased son added and I did that a few months ago and emailed the proofs. This is the folder."
I went back to the front and proudly said "Here it is, it was finished and emailed a couple of months ago." Granny says, "I know that that's not true" I'm thinking, well here's the file, I'll just check the file properties to find out. Sure enough, oct 16th 5:13pm. I tell her the date. "That's not true" I guess she's a big fan of Colbert and is going with her gut on this one. I say to her. "So I went back there and in literally 30 seconds while I was gone, I did all that photoshopping and changed the date on the computers so that I could spoof the file system into thinking that I made the file on Oct 13 at 5:13pm?"
I said, "It's possible that your daughter didn't get the email, maybe her spam filters blocked it or something."
She says, "It's not true that you did that back in October." I say, "Well, whatever, it doesn't matter when it was done, just that she didn't get the email. What is her email address." I don't know what came over me expecting this lady to know her daughter's email address. She said, "I'll have to go home and get it."
"No, just tell me her phone number and I'll call to ask her." I said. "It's long distance." She tells me.
At this point I'm just so frustrated at this woman that I say, "It's what like two cents a minute? It's costing my boss ten times that for me to talk to you and we're in the very same room. We can afford it."
So she figures out the phone number and I call. The granny takes my word for it that we actually will email the proof out this time and leaves. I go back to the photoshopper to make sure the email gets sent and low and behold the old email is still in the sent box so we just resend it. By the way the date on the old email was Oct.13 5:26pm. I guess our photoshopper had a smoke in between the editing and the emailing.
I just thought to myself, I bet this lady feels like people are trying to get the best of her ALL THE TIME. If you think people are constantly trying to pull a fast one on you, guess what, they're not. You're just a pessimistic jerk. They don't care about you. We all just want to go through our lives as smoothly as possible. I don't understand how we could have possibly benefited from dragging our feet on this lady's order. We have to do the work before they'll place and order and we can get paid. It just doesn't make sense.
That being said, my boss is one of the nicest guys you'd ever meet. A WWII vet came in a couple of months ago to get some pictures of his Uncle's WWI medals, and we gave him what he wanted for free. My boss shot a wedding a year and a half ago and the groom passed away in some sort of accident shortly after the wedding and so my boss gave the order for free. It must have been close to $1000 at least. Then the mother called two days ago to place another $500 order and he wanted to give her that one for free, but she politely declined his offer. We don't need to gouge people we just want to do a good service for a fair price and treat people nicely. That war vet was very pleased with his photo. The mother is very pleased with the way she has been treated. There are a few crazy people out there that you just can't please no matter what you try.
-Gary
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Istock Update
I guess it has been a while since I wrote about my success on istockphoto.
03/06 : 1
04/06 : 4
05/06 : 7
06/06 : 30
07/06 : 63
08/06 : 90
09/06 : 93
10/06 : 103
11/06 : 82
12/06 : 101
01/07 : 19 (So far)
I'm up to $277.98, I guess I should request a cheque, but I've been saving up. I don't know what for, but I just like to see the numbers go higher and higher. You must have at least $100 to get a payout, but can request any amount in your account higher than that.
This month so far, I'm averaging about $2.33 per day. Which ain't half bad. Pretty soon I'll be able to buy myself lunch instead of going hungry or having some water and a slice of bread. What I really should do is go to a country where they only earn a dollar a day and live like a king!
-Gary
03/06 : 1
04/06 : 4
05/06 : 7
06/06 : 30
07/06 : 63
08/06 : 90
09/06 : 93
10/06 : 103
11/06 : 82
12/06 : 101
01/07 : 19 (So far)
I'm up to $277.98, I guess I should request a cheque, but I've been saving up. I don't know what for, but I just like to see the numbers go higher and higher. You must have at least $100 to get a payout, but can request any amount in your account higher than that.
This month so far, I'm averaging about $2.33 per day. Which ain't half bad. Pretty soon I'll be able to buy myself lunch instead of going hungry or having some water and a slice of bread. What I really should do is go to a country where they only earn a dollar a day and live like a king!
-Gary
Writer's Block
Lately, it seems, I feel like I don't have much to write about. Just more of the same daily grind. Going to work, coming home, sleeping. It isn't that exciting is it?
Work is good, but there haven't been many sittings. It is going to get busy at the end of the month when we start doing the cap and gown photos for the high schools.
There have been plenty of people in to get passport photos taken. The other day there was an 18 month old referred to us by London Drugs because they couldn't get it right. It must suck to not have adjustable equipment. Even if your baby has a really little head, we can make it the right size in the photo, no problem.
The best news lately is that we're starting a three month house sitting stint on Monday. Hallelujah! We should have found a place our first day back. I guess we were a overwhelmed by being home and needed to be on vacation for a while.
-Gary
Work is good, but there haven't been many sittings. It is going to get busy at the end of the month when we start doing the cap and gown photos for the high schools.
There have been plenty of people in to get passport photos taken. The other day there was an 18 month old referred to us by London Drugs because they couldn't get it right. It must suck to not have adjustable equipment. Even if your baby has a really little head, we can make it the right size in the photo, no problem.
The best news lately is that we're starting a three month house sitting stint on Monday. Hallelujah! We should have found a place our first day back. I guess we were a overwhelmed by being home and needed to be on vacation for a while.
-Gary
Friday, December 29, 2006
Night At The Museum
Tracie and I went to see Night At The Museum with her parents and sisters the other day. Let me just say that it was one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. I give it two thumbs up, it is fine holiday fun.
Ben Stiller plays a man who becomes a night watchman at a museum where, due to an egyption curse, everything comes to life at night. I have to admit that the movie is a little Jumanji-esque, but Night at the Museum was way better. The plight of the main character plays a much bigger part in the movie rather than just finishing a board game designed to showcase special effects.
Go see Night At The Museum.
-Gary
Ben Stiller plays a man who becomes a night watchman at a museum where, due to an egyption curse, everything comes to life at night. I have to admit that the movie is a little Jumanji-esque, but Night at the Museum was way better. The plight of the main character plays a much bigger part in the movie rather than just finishing a board game designed to showcase special effects.
Go see Night At The Museum.
-Gary
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
What is a manger?
An amazing revelation manisfested itself to me this Christmas. Most people that I've asked; didn't know what a "manger" is. I'm going to tell you right now once and for all but first try to think of the answer yourself. A manger is not a barn or stable but a crib like container in which to place food such as hay and grain for animals. It's amazing to find out that people do not know this after all those years of hearing the nativity story.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
THE DARKEST EVENING OF THE YEAR
Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods filled with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods filled with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
New Favourite Restaurant
Lately Tracie and I have been eating out at Perkin's Family Restaurant. I really like it there. I have to admit that it is a place for old people, but that's one of the things that I like about it.
They don't have blaring loud music, there are no huge banks of televisons to distract you, and best of all, you don't have to shout for the people at your table to hear you. It is quiet and relaxing. The menu is a little plain, but the food is good.
Tracie was wondering how many people don't go on second dates because they can't hear what the other person is saying and they don't get a chance to have a conversation to get to know each other.
Fun is fun, but sometimes it is nice to relax at dinner.
-Gary
They don't have blaring loud music, there are no huge banks of televisons to distract you, and best of all, you don't have to shout for the people at your table to hear you. It is quiet and relaxing. The menu is a little plain, but the food is good.
Tracie was wondering how many people don't go on second dates because they can't hear what the other person is saying and they don't get a chance to have a conversation to get to know each other.
Fun is fun, but sometimes it is nice to relax at dinner.
-Gary
Friday, December 15, 2006
Picking up School Photos
People come into the studio to pick up their kids school photos.
They say, "I'm here to pick up photos for Lisa Simpson".
I say, "Are they studio photos or school photos?"
This confuses a lot of people. I can only imagine what is going through their head. The problem is that, while the photos are school photos, we did retakes at the studio.
They say, "Studio."
I look through the studio photos and can't find Lisa, so I say, "Are they a retake of a school photo?"
They say, "Yes"
That makes them a school photo even though we took the picture in the studio.
I think to myself, boy is this guy dumb or what. I look through the school photos. There is no Lisa Simpson. Now I'm not claiming to be smarter than 99.9% of other people, but I can alphabetize well enough to get Simpson together with the other Ss or in the S section if you know what I mean.
Sometimes there is someone else named Simpson that I can ask about, but in this case there isn't, so I say, "I don't see anything for Lisa Simpson, did you get a phone call about it?"
They say, "Yes yesterday"
I say, "Is Lisa Simpson the name of the student?"
They say, "No the students name is Carla Sassenfrass."
I think, "WTF? ARE YOU STUPID? HOW IN THE WORLD AM I SUPPOSED TO GET CARLA SASSENFRASS FROM LISA SIMPSON?" I guess I should know all the step-moms in the entire city so that I can auto-magically connect them to these kids. In this situation I truely feel like I am not the dumb one.
In order to stop the madness, I have started asking if the name they told me is the student's. It cuts down on time spent looking for step-parents.
-Gary
They say, "I'm here to pick up photos for Lisa Simpson".
I say, "Are they studio photos or school photos?"
This confuses a lot of people. I can only imagine what is going through their head. The problem is that, while the photos are school photos, we did retakes at the studio.
They say, "Studio."
I look through the studio photos and can't find Lisa, so I say, "Are they a retake of a school photo?"
They say, "Yes"
That makes them a school photo even though we took the picture in the studio.
I think to myself, boy is this guy dumb or what. I look through the school photos. There is no Lisa Simpson. Now I'm not claiming to be smarter than 99.9% of other people, but I can alphabetize well enough to get Simpson together with the other Ss or in the S section if you know what I mean.
Sometimes there is someone else named Simpson that I can ask about, but in this case there isn't, so I say, "I don't see anything for Lisa Simpson, did you get a phone call about it?"
They say, "Yes yesterday"
I say, "Is Lisa Simpson the name of the student?"
They say, "No the students name is Carla Sassenfrass."
I think, "WTF? ARE YOU STUPID? HOW IN THE WORLD AM I SUPPOSED TO GET CARLA SASSENFRASS FROM LISA SIMPSON?" I guess I should know all the step-moms in the entire city so that I can auto-magically connect them to these kids. In this situation I truely feel like I am not the dumb one.
In order to stop the madness, I have started asking if the name they told me is the student's. It cuts down on time spent looking for step-parents.
-Gary
Monday, December 11, 2006
It's Funny Because I Don't Know Him
I've been watching video clips on Youtube.com lately. My favourite videos all seem to have a central theme. The misfortune of others. I don't know why I find it funny when some random skater hurts himself trying to do some trick, or why I can't stop laughing when I see a little girl hit her dad with a stick in an attempt to crack a pinnata.
It just is. I like watching crashes, failed attempts at jumping over stuff and cars crashing. Youtube is way better than America's Funniest Videos ever was. Type in the key phrase "Funny Accident" and you'll be set for hours. With no repeats.
I do feel a little guilty laughing at the misfortune of others, but it's funny because I don't know them.
-Gary
It just is. I like watching crashes, failed attempts at jumping over stuff and cars crashing. Youtube is way better than America's Funniest Videos ever was. Type in the key phrase "Funny Accident" and you'll be set for hours. With no repeats.
I do feel a little guilty laughing at the misfortune of others, but it's funny because I don't know them.
-Gary
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Istockphoto Success
I haven't written anything about how well I'm doing on istockphoto in a while so I thought I would give a little run down on how things are going.
My first $100 took from March 18th to September 12 and 234 downloads. I averaged 42.7 cents per download.
I hit $200.00 about two weeks ago on November 22. It took 215 downloads for me to make it, and 69 days. That means I was averaging 46.5 cents per download.
I haven't been adding new photos very consistently, it is hard to think of things to shoot, but I have been getting downloads from with in each new series that I shoot. When I do come up with an idea, it does sell, and I am getting good growth from them.
Here is my data for downloads so far since the very beginning:
03/06 : 1
04/06 : 4
05/06 : 7
06/06 : 30
07/06 : 63
08/06 : 90
09/06 : 93
10/06 : 103
11/06 : 82
12/06 : 4 (so far)
I downloaded a spreadsheet that makes predictions based purely on past performance. It predicts that by this time next year, I will be making $100 per month. I get the feeling that this might be a little conservative because it is still taking into account my start up few months. It also doesn't take into account things that you have been learning about stock photography itself, like what sells, and how to make images more useful for buyers.
I'm pretty excited about how things are going.
-Gary
My first $100 took from March 18th to September 12 and 234 downloads. I averaged 42.7 cents per download.
I hit $200.00 about two weeks ago on November 22. It took 215 downloads for me to make it, and 69 days. That means I was averaging 46.5 cents per download.
I haven't been adding new photos very consistently, it is hard to think of things to shoot, but I have been getting downloads from with in each new series that I shoot. When I do come up with an idea, it does sell, and I am getting good growth from them.
Here is my data for downloads so far since the very beginning:
03/06 : 1
04/06 : 4
05/06 : 7
06/06 : 30
07/06 : 63
08/06 : 90
09/06 : 93
10/06 : 103
11/06 : 82
12/06 : 4 (so far)
I downloaded a spreadsheet that makes predictions based purely on past performance. It predicts that by this time next year, I will be making $100 per month. I get the feeling that this might be a little conservative because it is still taking into account my start up few months. It also doesn't take into account things that you have been learning about stock photography itself, like what sells, and how to make images more useful for buyers.
I'm pretty excited about how things are going.
-Gary
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