New Stock Images – An afternoon at Seririt food market

A year ago, I left the cold late February of my beloved Montreal to depart on a great adventure – I knew I had to be in LA in early March and Tokyo in mid May, but in between was wide open. My friend Adrian invited me to Bali, where he was staying for the Winter, and so I decided to fill the time gap by investing in a 10 weeks photo trip through South-east Asia. It started in Bali, then I hopped to Java, had a short stop in Kuala Lumpur, then spent some time in Vietnam, South Korea and landed in Tokyo. There are no words to convey how brilliant, eye opening, heart lightening and overall wonderful this experience has been. Oh and of course productive. Through my several encounters, many discovery trips and lucky finds, I came back home with close to 15000 images and clips to edit, or, in other words, add to my already heavy back catalog of images to submit. It’s now been 9 months since my return and I’ve managed to retouch and submit 820 images of this journey – which is about two fifth of what should be the final number of available photographs.

So time to present a few of these amazing series. Here’s one. While I stayed in Bali, we would enjoy the great food that Uni cooked for us and one day, wanting to know the source of these delights, she took us to the Seririt food market. In the smoldering heat and humidity, we discovered heaps of colorful food ingredients, various items of clothing and more than one luminously happy faces. Uni introduced us to many of the vendors who allowed us to take their photos while working. The food looked so fresh and good, vibrant colors, gorgeous spices and fruits. I don’t know exactly what it is with Asian food markets, but it makes the return to our cold, huge – dead in a way- supermarkets particularly difficult. Here’s a sample of these images. You can view this series either by itself on Photoshelter (with links to purchase on Istock) or amidst my other Indonesian images directly on Istock.

These are all unreleased, so only available for editorial use.

A. © 2015 Nicolas McComber – Available for editorial RF licensing at Istock 

B. © 2015 Nicolas McComber – Available for editorial RF licensing at Istock 

C. © 2015 Nicolas McComber – Available for editorial RF licensing at Istock

D. © 2015 Nicolas McComber – Available for editorial RF licensing at Istock

Introducing new Stock image galleries: Istanbul IStockalypse 2014 shoots part 1

Last Fall, I took part in my 4th official Istockalypse after Berlin, London and Hong Kong. This one took place in Istanbul, where I spent two weeks in late October. Upon coming back, amidst the stress of relocating, finding a place to live, move all my stuff and rediscover my inner strength, I pushed over 250 images of this event, more than I ever did on the previous ones. I participated in 2 walkabout shoots organized by Getty Images, 2 pitch shoots also sponsored by Getty Images, and 3 side shoots. I also photographed the city whenever I could, in all its historic grandeur: mosques, markets, commercial streets and skylines of piled up apartment buildings. So, yes, lots of images… And I have tons more to go through.

Here are three galleries I put together today on Photoshelter. As usual, links to buy the images on IStock are provided on each image’s page in bright orange. Go ahead and splurge.

The first one, Turkey: Istanbul, is mostly street photography , travel landmark images and panoramic skylines, with some food images thrown in for good measure. You’ll see such images as this one:

The second one, Lifestyles: Two female Turkish Friends shopping regroups images shot during my first walkabout. Here’s a highlight:

The third one, Lifestyles: Business team in Istanbul regroups images shot during the second walkabout, later that same day. Here’s a favorite:

Time to get Fresh fruits and vegetables!

This year I’m working the soil in my garden so that next year I can grow my own food. In the meantime, going to local markets is an absolute must – I’m an organic guy as much as possible. This image was shot during the Summer of 2012 and is standing at 9 downloads. One more and it hits the big time in the search engine. I’ll be very grateful, if this fills a need in your work or hobby, to get that extra sale ASAP (you can just click on the shot to get to the shot’s Istock page). Many thanks!

My 2013 Top Earning Stock Images #11: Fried Chicken Leg

Embed from Getty Images

Uploaded: March 2011
Collection: Sig+ / E+
Also available on IStock

Today I’m trying the new embed feature from Getty Images. Apparently this measure was made in response to piracy – bloggers/pinteresters/facebookers seem to steal images to put on their social networking pages. So Getty decided to give access to most of their catalog for free with this embedding technique. Of course it’s just for private use with this very small size – if you want larger, or tu use it commercially,  follow the link (click on the image) and buy a proper license. Will this work? One can hope. It’s simple enough to go around it if you want the image without the link, but please don’t. We’re making a living out of these images. Don’t steal them. Embed them.  Istock is probably not far behind: their removal of Extra-Small size last month seem to point that this is in the works also for their site. God, I hope this works out.

This said, apologies for slacking off on the blog: I’ve uploaded several hundreds images last month, which is a lot as I operate alone. You’re welcome to see them and buy them in my portfolio. I just want to be done with my back catalog before Summer. And I have a lot to go through.

So hmm back to this list. New work will follow after I’m done. I promise. Number 11 is this not very instagramesque food shot (we’ve been told to shoot food as if using instagram), photographed in my old home studio. I did a series in, like, 30 minutes upon coming back from the take-out restaurant, just to try and reimburse the cost of the meal. Little did I know that I would end up making a very nice profit, mainly with this photograph and this one, which has been quite a hit at the subscription site Thinkstock. I haven’t done a lot of food photography since, being more attracted by learning how to properly shoot lifestyle images. I have no solid plan to shoot more this year, although I did put a quick shot of a raw beef brisket meat cut last week, since there was none available on IStock.

My 2013 Top Earning Stock Images #21: Couple of smiling senior men at meal time

Stock Image: Couple of smiling male seniors at meal time

Uploaded: July 2009
Collection: Sig+/ E+

Shot during an exercise in photo reporting while I was studying at Marsan, I stayed three days at my dad’s farm to document how they live. I did not, at first, intend to use the shots as stock, but after a few weeks, as I was fully developing my portfolio, I decided to use the best shots as they have this rare blend of authenticity and usefulness. This one is the best selling of the whole series. It captures a delightful moment between these two men that I adore and the camera (and myself behind it). I’ve had the pleasure to photograph them on many occasions, the latest being just today as they came over for Christmas. But more about this later…

To view all my available work with my father, look at this lightbox.

My 2013 Top Earning Stock Images #23: Applying barbecue sauce to back ribs

Stock Image: Applying barbecue sauce to ribs

Uploaded: August 2009
Collection: Sig+

This one almost doubled its gross this year, although it has been online and successful for 3 years prior. It just shows what higher prices and higher commissions will do to improve income. When I was making this blog-sized version today, I was quite pleasantly surprised to see it in its full sized glory (I mostly work with thumbnails after the shots are uploaded online, so I don’t often see them in full size after editing)- it’s got vibrant colors, is appetizing and over all well done, hence its longevity. Yes, the brush is full of sauce. I toyed with the idea of cleaning it up, but then I thought it was better this way, adding to the delicious messiness of the scene.

Since this shoot, I’ve dabbled with different ways of making back ribs, and my favorite is now a dry rub. No more messiness. Maybe I’ll shoot it next summer.

You can view my work relating with food in this lightbox.

My 2013 Top Earning Stock Images #24: Dew-covered Apples on rustic table

Stock Image: Dew-covered Apples on rustic table

Uploaded: August 2012
Collection: Sig+ / E+

No, this is not about computers, it’s about fruit! Delicious, organically-grown apples at my dad’s small farm. The day before, while I was shooting him harvesting his apples, I decided to leave a few on the table to gather dew for an early morning shot the next day. When I stepped out into the chilly late August morning, I was surprised to see this fantastic sunlight effect through the branches of the apple trees behind the table. This is not a composite, it really was like that. So I framed wider than I initially intended to in order to capture this wonderful gift from nature.

You can view all of my agriculture photos in this lightbox.

My 2013 Top Earning Stock Images #25: Senior Swiss Farmer making cheese

Stock Image: Senior Swiss Farmer making cheese

Uploaded: November 2012
Collection: Vetta

Probably my favorite image that I shot in Switzerland. When it was my turn, I walked in the hut and was rushed by other photographers pushing me forward, literally. “He’s making cheese! He’s making cheese! Go shoot him!” So I got the pocket wizard on and shot him… with the lights set all wrong. But he wasn’t stopping or slowing down, So I did what I could. Much of the beautiful light on this shot was actually really enhanced or created from scratch in Photoshop. But the whole thing was possible because of the way the steam catches what little light there was. After I was done editing, I felt so proud of the way this came out. I still am. So I submitted it for Vetta, thinking you can’t get more “real people doing real things” than this – and they’re partial to that kind of photos, but… wonk-wonk. It dropped in the regular collection. So I went to the forums, pimped the shot in the non-approved Vetta thread with the short quote “Really?” and, rarity supreme, the decision was reversed and it was promoted to Vetta. Happy days!

You can view all my work from Switzerland in this lightbox.

My 2013 Top Earning Stock Images #30: Mixing Cream Cheese Cake Icing

Stock Image: Mixing Cream Cheese Cake Icing

Uploaded: April 2010
Collection: Sig+

The downside of doing this kind of countdown is realizing that some basic, impulsive photos are actually more successful than those glossy images I like to produce these days. I was putting together a carrot cake for Easter three years ago and decided to photograph the process of baking it. I was making it for real, so I didn’t spend any time styling the shots or shooting tons of duplicates with different settings. I just documented the process. On this specific image, I did position the mixer so it’d catch an interesting light and had some counter copy space, but that was the extent of it. I liked the way I framed the image at the time so I submitted it. It is by far the most successful image of the shoot. Perhaps should I re-do it with a cleaner instrument and a deeper depth of field? Nah. If it’s doing well, I’ll let it be. This one was snubbed by the connector and is available only on Istock.

You can view (and buy) my food-related stock work in this lightbox.

My 2013 Top Earning Stock Images #39: Senior farmer shows off his organic beets and carrots

Stock Image: Senior farmer shows off his organic beets and carrots

Uploaded: August 2012
Collection: Sig + / E+

On to another shot of my dad on his farm. You have to admire the guy: upon his retirement, he buys a small farm to grow his own vegetables and make some cheese. Always aware of what’s wrong in the world, he decides that the only way to know what you eat is to grow it yourself. Plus if the economy should collapse, you can be self-sufficient. Here he is with two of his local organic grown root vegetables: beets, and carrots, fresh out of the soil. The shimmering light effect was achieved by using a hand-held diffuser close to him.

You can view the rest of my work with him in this lightbox. Oh and he’s coming over for Christmas so I feel a new series coming up!