A Stock Photo of "Human" DNA

Creating images that push the envelope are an essential part of succeeding in stock photography.

Jon Feingersh, A Blend Creative Meeting And A Human DNA Stock Photo

I have to thank fellow photographer Jon Feingersh (check out Jon’s latest promo effort) for getting me off my butt to do this image. For years I have thought about creating a double helix DNA strand composed of people, but I always pictured it created from nudes, and the complexity of such an image was a great excuse to put it off. Then at a recent Blend Images creative meeting Jon suggested the idea to me. This time I visualized it as people in business attire…and I could certainly deal with that! Jon also suggested that if I didn’t do it he would. Now there is motivation!

Eight Models and Three Days of Photoshop

This is one of those stock images that will be interesting to see if it provides an adequate return for the work involved! Whether that turns out to be the case or not, it is important to at least occasionally stretch your boundaries and push the envelope in creating images. In this effort I did manage to keep the models to eight paid ones and two unpaid (my partner Stephanie and me). Still, it took three days of mucking around in Photoshop (stretched out over two weeks) before I was happy with it. I also enlisted the assistance of Jim Doherty, Blend’s senior art director (Jim Doherty interviewed ) to offer suggestions for fine-tuning the image.

Team Work, Bio Engineering and Human Resources

This DNA Double Helix is the kind of image that will turn up in all kinds of uses. A “human” DNA strand, in this incarnation, can illustrate team work, bio engineering and human resources. I have no doubt that creative art directors and designers will come up with many more ways to utilize it. I never cease to be amazed at what a good designer or art director can do with photography. I hope some of them use this one well!

Fellow Photographers, Stock Agencies and Community

A final thought: how wonderful it is to have my peers, my competition in a sense, also be my community. Sharing ideas, techniques, successes and even challenges (OK...failures); that has been my experience with Blend Images. No doubt there are many out there who feel the same way about other community-oriented agencies. If you are not part of such an agency, it just might be worth looking into!