Here’s an interesting list of 50 favorite photo sites, articles and photo news from 2008 from one of my most favorite digital stock photography sites, Crestock

Take particular note of the Magnum photographer’s blog and also Simon Robert’s brilliant and surreal real-time photo book about Russia which you’ll find at www.motherlandbook.com (Great idea for a website by the way!)

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Photos above from:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/pictures-of-the-year/

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• 5 Sites Where You Can Sell Your Photos (lifehack.org)

1. Explore digital stock photography… Cast your eyes over iStockphoto or Fotolia… Learn more from Yuri Arcurs who makes an exceptional living from selling his stock photos. Yuri says “…branding yourself by having a unique style that is recognizable and consistent is probably the most important aspect in microstock.” Here’s a list of 10 popular microstock photography sites to sell stock photos.

Read more photo articles about digital stock photography…

2. Nurture your brand of one… Create stunning t-shirts, calendars, greeting cards, clothing etc that makes folks go wow. Use CafePress to sell your photography, photo image or photo illustration you created in Photoshop…

Right now if you look around you’ll spot lots of t-shirts, prints etc that are inspired by President Obama and are probably still going to still be popular for a while to come… How can you tap into this? Turning your photos into a photo product WORKS…

3. Stand in front of the hungry crowds… Use eBay to sell your photos on CD or DVD. Take a selection of interesting photography you have… find out what is selling well on eBay… then automate the whole eBay to DVD to buyer process by using Auction Acrobat.

4. No time to reinvent the wheel… Know about public domain? This means photos and illustrations and music etc that is copyright free and freely available to be used by you (the public!) Dig around the public domain until you find an amazing image or two, then re-idea them to your heart’s content… Think t-shirt designs, logos, website photography, blog headers, etc. Tony Laidig is the master of public domain and his picture project will get your visual IDEAS clock spinning madly…

5. Get a name for being unique… Use boutique photo galleries or photo agencies like these friends of mine (www.farmboyfinearts.com) to get your abstract or landscape photos lining the walls of restaurants, resorts, billboards, upscale hotels, etc… Create custom artwork… site specific artwork… Every wall needs a photo, right?

6. Create free desktop wallpaper screen-savers… Create screensavers or other popular downloadable ‘toys’ – stuff such as wall papers, desktop screen savers etc that put your photos on other people’s computer screens… Look at http://www.download.com for more…

7. Take the photos that no one else wants to take… and then get paid for it! See what I mean here: $200 A Day… Think of all the folks that need insurance, home, vehicle etc ‘photo documentation’ and then you BE the one who does it…

8. Tap into people’s passions… Everyone is enthusiastic about something right? Hobbies, enthusiasts… think modified cars, trucks, motorbikes, sports, homes, vacation spots etc … Make the necessary arrangements then shoot… After which you present said collection of images in a beautifully bound digital photography book using PhotoBox

9. Explore the 7 seas… Travel based photography ring any bells? Be the wordsmith and wield the camera, or just shoot and then develop a working relationship with another writer (they can live almost anywhere too)… You’ll want to be familiar with posting the images you take on blogs, using web 2 sites etc. Think ‘how to’ articles, either for photo blogs, or offline publications… Photo/text features easier to sell than individual photos… Plus you can on-sell this photo article to other magazines…

10. The wide world of pets… Folks LOVE pets like nothing else! And they’d like a photo of them too, wouldn’t they? Here’s some thoughts on the matter… “Before you hire yourself out, though, practice with your own (or a friend’s) pet – when people are paying money for photos, they want good ones. Some tips: Don’t use a wide-angle lens at close range unless you want an elongated, distorted look. Enlist the pet’s owner as an assistant to help manage the subject. And get some shots of the pet with the owner too…”

OK that’s 10 quick ways to sell more photos online (and off)… Comments?

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• 5 Sites Where You Can Sell Your Photos

For me I believe that learning photography is an intuitive, highly creative act that works best when one is immersed head first into the doing (action) and the learning.

In my case, I ‘learnt’ by taking pictures – honing my talents, sharpening my sword so to speak. Along the way I observed, and appreciated, the fascinating array of photographers and photography styles, whilst thinking and dreaming (idealizing) about how to do something similar.

So if we are talking about learning photography here then my suggestion is that you can go and look at stock photo agencies and microstock photo sites (check out istockphoto ) and see what great work is coming out and what is happening there.

Then you can emulate or try out certain styles and see how they fit with you. Of course you’ll bring your own personal, unique individuality to the table, and everything you do anyway. (Ie. The photography that you produce will be unique for you). Keep in mind that your images (more often than not) will need to be sellable too… but that’s a story for a rainy day. Let’s get back to learning photography, or the happy little world of beginners photography…

It usually does take a long time to get good… It’s said it takes 10 years to become an expert at something. So, that means you do need to work at it. And keep practicing… and GO find that particular photographer, photography style, or digital photography tutorial that motivates you so much you can’t wait to get out there and shoot.

There’s a fine balance between the learning and the doing. You also need to have a clear, measurable goal and destination. What this means is that if you want to create photography specifically for microstock photo sites, then you’ve given yourself a project to learn all about what type of images sell best, with a target of getting accepted and uploading 50 new images a month. (As an example).

However if you want to just create local photos, or want to start your own photography business, or even make your first information product in the photo niche, then I suggest you find the experts who are already doing this, and emulate what they’re doing.

Hold on – let’s get clear on the meaning of emulate first…

Emulate: To compete with successfully; approach or attain equality with. Also: strive to equal or match, especially by imitating.

Clear on that?  So… at the end of the day learning photography is all about having a mission, Ie. knowing what it is you want to do with your amazing creative photo talents, and then focusing intensely on that goal, learning everything there is to know about it, and continuing to take photos as you go.

It’s also about asking questions, getting involved (photo forums are helpful), and contributing something special to the world. I think that about sums up what learning photography is, do you?

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