I have recently signed a three-year contract to join Arcangel, a creative stock photography agency. I’m mainly interested in producing photographs that will end up on book covers, and I hope that this is a fruitful endeavour.
But, goodness has it been challenging. I have submitted 42 pictures so far and only 12 have been accepted. Rejection is difficult, but as it turns out is quite common at Arcangel. They have a high rejection rate (as they only accept the best imagery to keep their image library strong), which is no bad thing for the photographer and the industry. So, it has been back to the drawing board for me. I have listened to and watched many tutorials on luminosity masks, and adjustment layers – something I knew a little about and used but never really delved deep into this photoshop treasure trove. It has been quite enlightening and my imagery is all the better for it.
It has also been hard finding inspiration and as my portfolio is small I’m not earning any money from it. So doing a shoot with paid models is not an option for me right now. Fortunately, my niece and nephew obligingly helped me and I know I’ll be calling on my niece again – that is of course if she doesn’t mind.
Landscapes are still my passion. I just think I need to add a person into the mix as they give scale, meaning and context to the imagery I’m trying to convey. The lone figure in the picture below was (luckily for me) walking on their own. I did wonder if it was another photographer. But their presence in this rift valley can evoke so much, loneliness, isolation, fear – and as crime/mystery is one of the biggest book genres this is exactly the kind of imagery I need to be creating. I just hope the hard work will pay off and I will get some sales.
