Shelly Perry, from Portland, Oregon, left a decade-long career working with children in a social services capacity to pursue her life-long love of photography in 2003. Now an established professional, her images have been seen all over the globe on album covers, books, magazines, catalogues, websites, ad campaigns, and even on TV. Her work has also appeared in several local exhibits and gallery shows.
While she makes most of her photography income through stock, her real photography love is documentary and creative fine art. An excellent presenter, Shelly has joined numerous Great Escape workshops to share her experiences and help our readers to follow in her footsteps. Shelly’s specialty is people photography - what she calls documentary or lifestyle portraits.
Today: I can't imagine ever having a "regular job" again.
Best adventure: I have had so many epic moments, but these are a few standouts: swimming with the giant sea turtles in the Galapagos, walking the Great Wall of China, riding an elephant in Thailand (way better than riding a camel in Egypt), flying in a tiny piper plane over the wilds of Alaska, being at the Lantern Festival in Thailand, seeing the Shaman in Ecuador, meeting and making friends all over the world.
Favorite Photographer: Gregory Colbert
People don’t know: I’m scared of heights!
Choosing the winning photos for last month’s theme, “Hospitality and Welcome,” was difficult. In the end, after narrowing my favorites down to six, I had to choose based on the captions each photographer wrote under their pictures. Photo captions are important. Professional photographer Rich Wagner will tell you that the caption alone puts this picture […]
It’s true — if you can make your photographs more distinctive, you’ll make them more saleable. There are millions of pictures of the Eiffel Tower for sale, for instance, so if you want yours to stand out among them, you’ll have to find a distinctive way of shooting the Eiffel Tower. Framing is one way […]
It seems we had a slight technical glitch earlier this month, which prevented all the photo- challenge entries from posting properly on our website. But I checked today, and lots are posted now under this month’s theme, “Hospitality and Welcome.” (My apologies if you panicked when I mentioned last week that few images had been […]
THE SIMPLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A “SNAPSHOT” AND A SALEABLE PHOTOGRAPH It seems we had a slight technical glitch earlier this month, which prevented all the photo- challenge entries from posting properly on our website. But I checked today, and lots are posted now under this month’s theme, “Hospitality and Welcome.” (My apologies if you panicked […]
The first week of this month’s photo challenge has been a quiet one. It was a holiday weekend. Plus, like me, I know some of you are busy getting ready for AWAI’s upcoming photography workshop in Charleston. Or perhaps you’re struggling with this month’s theme, “Hospitality and Welcome.” Theme and/or concept shots — like ones […]
The first week of this month’s photo challenge has been a quiet one. It was a holiday weekend. Or perhaps you’re struggling with this month’s theme, “Hospitality and Welcome.” Theme and/or concept shots — like ones representing hospitality and welcome — can be some of the more difficult to capture… to capture well, at any […]
In honor of our photography workshop, coming up in Charleston, South Carolina this month, we’d like to pay tribute to Charleston’s good ol’ southern charm. That’s why April’s photo challenge theme is: HOSPITALITY AND WELCOME. Pictures might include, for example: * A hostesses or restaurant server seating people or delivering food to a table * […]
Photo Composition Tip: Shooting at Eye Level If you can make your photographs more unique, you’ll make them more salable too. And one way to do that is to change your “perspective,” your angle. You see, most people tend to photograph from their everyday perspective. In other words, they stand with their feet shoulder width apart […]
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “TRADITIONAL” AND MICRO STOCK PHOTO AGENCIES: WHAT THEY PAY AND HOW TO BREAK IN A radical shift is underway in the world of stock photography today. Some argue it represents the death of professional photography as we know it. Others are embracing the changing market and finding ways to thrive in it. […]
This month’s photo challenge theme is “Paint the Town Red.” And by the looks of it, that is exactly what’s happening. Take a look at this image … Good composition is a key ingredient in a saleable photograph. And using The Rule of Thirds is one of the first tricks new photographers learn. The idea is […]
