BACK FROM TURKEY

I've just got back from an assignment in Turkey shooting lifestyle food and travel photography for a magazine here in the uk. I've just edited down the pictures now before uploading them to the editor for their final choices which I shall photoshop. Before I do I just wanted to post one of my favourite pictures from the trip. It was a man minding his own business in his shop and he caught me taking a picture of him. Most of the time I immediately pull the camera down but I thought I'd carry on shooting while he was wondering what I was up to and got something I quite like. 

PORTRAIT FROM TURKEY

I was looking through some past pictures from a job I did in Turkey and this picture stopped me. It was taken early one morning at a cafe in the countryside far away from any of the tourist hot spots of Turkey. This lady was taking a break from cooking breakfasts and she has look that is so mesmerizing - I wouldn't dare compare it to the famous Afghan girl by Steve McCurry but there is something about it that reminds me of that picture.

BE PREPARED

It is a real dilemma as a travel photographer of what to do in today's photography market. The fact is that the market for travel material is saturated for the boring bog standard work that's been done to death but there is still a good market for the natural lifestyle work involving real people and this photograph above illustrates that. It is a fun portrait of a lady with a big personality and, what seems, a pretty healthy, positive outlook on life - and advertisers like pictures like these. On one hand I do all my travel jobs for my clients to the best of my ability but on the other I have to be on the look out for opportunities for stock photos while on these jobs that I can sell later. It would be mad of me not to. So I look out food pictures to place with my food libraries, I try and hunt out good backgrounds that I could use for concept shots that I could use as backgrounds in photoshop and then I'm trying to find good people lifestyle shots that might also sell well as stock. There is a big BUT and it applies to the above image. I failed to get a model release which effectively means this fun image is unsaleable. Schoolboy error but we all make them and it is really tough stopping everyone you take a photo of and ask them for a release. The only plus is that I'm quite sure I could track this lady down. It was a small town and this lady kinda stands out! I'll let you know.