I applaud people who make their living shooting stock images. Although I’ve been submitting images to stock for years, it has accounted for only a small portion of my income. I know that my lack of success in stock photography is my own fault. It takes consistent hard work, discipline, and determination — and up till […]
While excavating my basement recently, I discovered a carton of ancient home movies my father shot, with my mother’s spidery handwriting identifying the subjects of the brittle and faded 8 and 16 mm reels. Digging through the carton, I caught the ineffable whiff of the old film, evoking memories of our movie nights growing up. […]
It’s true that you need a few pieces of equipment in order to be a videographer – but not nearly as much as you might think. And if you start looking at those items as simply being tools that will allow you to gain invaluable experiences, you will come to understand how rewarding this lifestyle […]
When I signed up to produce a commercial video of my hike to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro – followed by a luxury safari and a beach vacation – I had no idea how much people pay for this kind of adventure… and how truly life-changing it is. I climbed Kilimanjaro via the Rongai route, […]
Why am I wearing a giant, sequined sombrero, you ask? Could we be embarking on a brand new stock photography expedition with Shelly Perry? What AMAZING, mysterious, eerie, and fantastically photogenic event could we possibly be attending as a group of stock photographers? Will there be models dressed in costumes with signed model releases for […]
Getting started selling travel videos is often the most difficult part for a videographer. Really, you need to land that first contract to gain real experience and confidence. I’ve found that offering short videos for social media – Facebook, Linked In, You Tube – is a great first step. Typically these videos are only one […]
Panning is the act of moving your camera from side to side to capture a sweeping view of a place. When you’re panning in video, you absolutely must use a tripod. And you must move very, very slowly. Much slower than you think. I also recommend that you choose ahead of time where your pan […]
Here are four simple tricks to use in order to make your footage look more professional-quality travel videos. All of these things are done in “post-production” – using your computer to edit the videos after you record them. (You’ll find detailed instructions for this in my course. It’s not the least bit hard.) First, […]
One of the main questions when starting out as a travel videographer is how much should you charge. This will depend on many factors—including how much the client is willing to spend, what level of expertise you are at, what kind of equipment you use, how much time you’ll spend on creating a video, and […]
Before we head into some of the most photographed seasons of the year, I’d like to point out one of the biggest differences between photos that sell and photos that don’t. It’s this: Good photography is more about what you leave out of the photograph than what you put in it. Take a look at […]
