Travel and Lifestyle Stock Shooter Sam Diephuis Interviewed

The following is an interview with stock photographer Sam Diephuis. Sam shoots travel and lifestyle, and though you may not have heard of him he is talented, prolific and successful. His work has been featured by both Getty and Blend Images (Blend has frequently used his work as an example of what "works"). Sam assisted me early in his career and we have frequently shot together on "gang" shoots. I consider Sam both a friend and an inspiration.

Sam,

What first got you interested in Photography?

The following is an interview with stock photographer Sam Diephuis. Sam shoots travel and lifestyle, and though you may not have heard of him he is talented, prolific and successful. His work has been featured by both Getty and Blend Images (Blend has frequently used his work as an example of what "works"). Sam assisted me early in his career and we have frequently shot together on "gang" shoots. I consider Sam both a friend and an inspiration.

I was always into a lot of board sports like surfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding and I was living in Santa Cruz going to the local community college.  I decided to start shooting some surfing.  I had a lot of friends that were at a professional surfing level so that inspired me.  I was and still am far from a professional level at surfing but I wanted to be a part of the sport so it just came naturally.  At one point I would get up early shoot for 2-3 hours in the morning, eat, go surf, eat, and then I worked at a surf shop.   Pretty obsessive now that I think about it.

There was also little hope for me ever getting out of “normal” college so I decided to go to Brooks and thankfully my parents were happy to help me out.  Thanks mom and dad!  I’d probably still be waking up at the crack of dawn, shooting surfing, eat, go surf, eat, work at a surf shop with little to no pay….

How did you become a stock shooter?

It’s interesting because I was thinking about it long before I had ever gotten out of school.  I had a roommate who was a stock cinematographer who lived next to me the whole time I was at Brooks. Him sharing a house with me was just pure coincidence, he was not a Brooks student or grad. He had gotten his start early in life and had made a large collection and decided to take time away from stock and make documentaries instead.  He was a lot older (and far more mature for his age than me) and had been in the stock world for a long time (he was 30 and had been doing it for 10 years!). Since we shared a wall we would talk frequently.  He seemed to have a lot of freedom, which opened my eyes to a different way of thinking about the business of selling my pictures. 

Furthermore I was always better at making the pictures than I was at following directions in school so stock seemed like a really great lifestyle.   Commercial imagery sounded really hard to break into, and it is, maybe even more today than then.

When I got out of school I didn’t have much of a photography leg to stand on except for assisting so I moved back up to the Bay Area, where I am from, two days after graduation.  It was sink or swim at that point so assisting was pretty much the only option.  I assisted for a bunch of different photographers in San Francisco for about 6 months, which was really enlightening, as painful as the reality of the photo world was.  I think I may have learned more in those 6 months than the 3 years of Brooks.   Although I assisted and worked through Brooks the reality was that school can’t prepare you for the real world of photography.  

About that time I assisted for you and we hit it off right away.  Your life style, personality, positivity, images and business model made perfect sense to me, and when you asked me to be full time I jumped on it. By then I had worked for a lot photographers and was seeing a pattern of bitterness with a lot of the assignment/editorial photographers and after hearing how you were running your business and seeing your work it was a no brainer. 

I had some issues at first trying to find my way in the stock world.  For the first year I worked for you I made very few images.  I couldn’t find my vision and was trying to do images that were similar to yours and they sucked!  Although you are very good at what you do, I am not good at what YOU do, so it took me a few years to really start to get the groove and understand how I work.

By then I had contracts with Getty and Corbis and was starting to contribute more often.  After about 2 years working with you I was making enough money to live without another job, so I decided to stop working for you and travel for a while and shoot.  This was right when the 1 DS had come out which was a giant leap, as we all know.  I could now leave the country and shoot, edit, send images to art directors, all the while being away from home.  It was great because I didn’t need a scanner, film, and all the other odds and ends that go along with film.  Some people will say that I could do the trip and shoot film and get it processed and send in the chromes but after working with you I had learned a lot about Photoshop and was against sending in images unfinished.  Thankfully your amazing skill at Photoshop rubbed off on me. It is such a great tool and allows me to make my images even better.  

About the time I came back from my trip Blend Images started to come into the picture and we started working together again on percentage basis which worked out really well.  This allowed me to create images on a consistent basis, which was really good for helping me create a style but more importantly it gave me some badly-needed confidence.  I also started to work with Drew Kelly at the same time and we all worked together.  Good memories for sure!  It was great working with Drew because we could bounce ideas off each other and get some good honest feed back.  He’s also wise beyond his years and his knowledge helped tremendously as well as being a great photographer

I still shoot for all of the stock agencies I started with only adding one more which was Super Stock.  So that brings the grand total to 5; Blend Images, Corbis, Getty, Image Source and Super Stock. I have different relationships with all of them and really enjoy the people I work with.   I send different shoots to different companies depending on the look and feel.

One of my frustrations over the years is the lack of recognition given photographers who have committed themselves to this genre. You, for example, are an incredibly talented photographer with an amazing ability to adapt to your environment and create wonderful images in difficult situations…situations where I for example would be at a loss.  Do you find yourself frustrated by the lack of recognition inherent in stock?

Thanks John.  I feel the same way about your work.  How do you come up with these ideas?  They are so funny and creative.

Yes I do feel frustrated.  I feel that the buyers rarely take risks.  I’d like to get rewarded for making pictures that are distinctly different from other work out there.   Unfortunately we are rewarded for making images that are just slightly better or a little bit different than what is already out there.  For example Drew and I worked together making an image about 4 years ago of a business man jumping out of a flying helicopter (lots of Photoshop) and I don’t think it’s ever sold but I have images of business men on cell phones that sell all the time.  I know the concept is different but come on people there must be some way to use it! 

Interestingly enough I have a set of images of people jumping out of airplanes that sell all the time.

Here’s a few that I like that don’t sell very much, if at all…

It’s becoming less and less likely that I will spend much money on a stock shoot unless I see a portfolio piece in it, which is really unfortunate.  Hopefully when the dust settles from the recession and the economy starts to improve I will go back to taking more risks in stock.

One thing that is nice is the art directors at the stock agencies seem to be open to pushing things.  They are always excited about new creative work.  I think their eye is much more sophisticated than the average consumer.

I add to my collection by shooting things that I see.  It’s a cheap and easy way to make images for my book and stock. These image are from just carrying the camera around.

I recall doing a shoot with you on Mount Tamalpais. It was you and me and several models. I remember getting out of the truck and looking for my shot list. As usual, I needed a few minutes to get sorted out and in gear, but when I turned around to check out the surroundings you were already shooting a model holding the camera down just above the ground and trailing the model through the tall grass. Is that a case of you having thought the shoot through before you get there…or do the ideas just come to you spontaneously?

Mostly it’s spontaneous.  I don’t know really much else than that.  I get the idea, think about it, and make it up as I go.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but I usually get something good out of it.  I would also like to add that it is really hard to make cool pictures if you are going to shoot frequently with minimal budget.  It’s hard to not repeat.  So this forces me to try new things.  We shot on Mount Tam so many times because it is such an amazing location that after a while you have to try new things.

How do you prepare for a shoot?

Sometimes I look at other stock images that other people have done but more and more I try and look at what editorial photographers are doing.  My peers inspire me a lot as well. I try and get inspired by seeing other photographer’s work that is not stock related.  Don’t get me wrong there are some awesome photographers that shoot stock, but I really want to be relevant right now.  Not follow a look necessarily, but keep up to date with the feel of the time.  I definitely don’t want to chase fads... that’s is for sure.

What, for you, is the most satisfying aspect of shooting stock imagery?

I love stock and will never quit.  Slow down maybe, quit no.  I like that I can’t get fired.  I like the freedom and I like that I am making a living while I’m doing other things.  That is why I will always do stock.  The idea of waiting for the phone to ring for an ad job with no other income sounds maddening.  I also like on the rare occasion that I make a unique image that sells well or for a high value.  That’s about the only way in stock photography to tell if I have done something to a consumers liking.

What is the biggest challenge?

There are a lot of pressures on the industry right now.  Economy, pricing, micro stock etc… stock doesn’t seem to want to settle.  Actually it’s never settled for me as long as I’ve been in the business.  It’s constantly changing, new doors open and some close. Stock is not for someone who wants consistency in his or her job. 

I also don’t like getting 18 cents for an image.  If photographers had more control over pricing that would be nice.  I’m at the mercy of what ever a stock agency feels like selling my image for.  I wish I could say, hey if you are going to sell it for under $10.00, don’t sell it.  18 cents is pretty much offensive to me unless the image sold about 10,000 times for that price, but it doesn’t. 

I’m also tired of chasing the next fad.  First it was RF, then it was back to RM, then it’s all about micro, and now we are all about video, ethnic imagery only, business-to-business is the way to make money etc.  It’s overwhelming and I let the industry decided that.  I try and talk to other stock photographers to get their feedback.  That’s why Blend is so good, because everyone shares info.  

I’m trying to focus more on making images that inspire me, and sometimes they are not stock.   I also struggle to keep a positive yet "real" view of the stock industry.  If the bottom is going to fall out I can’t pretend like it isn’t.  I don’t think it is by the way, but I am preparing for such an eventuality by finding other ways of making a living in photography.  Unfortunately the reality is that my photography is worth what people will pay for it.  I know it’s more complicated than that but I can’t change what these huge corporations in board rooms are deciding is the right price.  That sentence was mostly aimed at Getty. 

Also, breaking into the editorial advertising work has been really difficult.  It takes time and patience.  The economy isn’t helping either.   

How do you determine what you are going to shoot?

I try and get inspired.  Looking at books, magazines, TV, YouTube, youth culture, documentaries, creative websites, sports… There’s so much inspiration its ridiculous.  Lately most things I am inspired from are things that aren’t stock.  Music also gets me going with ideas.

Sometimes the model dictates the shoot.  I was looking for models for a shoot and came across a girl that could do amazing contortion body poses and acrobatics and based a shoot around that. 

She’s the only person I have heard say that yoga is too easy.  I can see why.

 
I am also open to most shoots that help people in need.  I am shooting this weekend for a homeless shelter in East LA.  I bet I’ll get some cool pictures so why not AND it helps out.    

Do you work with editors?

Yes most of my editors I would consider friends actually.  With Getty being the exception since I don’t have an editor.  I try and talk to my editors a lot just to catch up and pick their brain.  Some I call more than others because I know them better.  They look at some of the same media, websites, art that I do and are usually on the same path as me.  Most are very creative and we understand each other.

How do you determine which images go to which agencies?

I look at the shoot and determine by the look and feel which agency they should go to.  Also if I have discussed an idea with an editor I try and send them the final result regardless of the look.  Especially if they have given me any ideas, insight or information about what they are looking for.

Do you undertake any direct sales?

No, but am not against it.  But honestly I would rather spend my time making pictures or surfing.  It seems like a lot of work and time.  I’m not a photo salesmen and don’t have much interest in that. Actually the selling part I’m good at, it’s the back end and computer stuff I don’t want to be involved with. Running websites, employees, pushing data around, keywording, etc…I don’t have the money to hire someone to do it so it will have to wait, or maybe not do it at all.  It doesn’t sound like something I would like.

You have recently traveled to shoot stock in Myanmar (Burma), China, Tibet and even Jamaica. Can you share with us what inspired these trips?

I needed to break out from my stock rut and I wanted to add a different angle to my collection.  Unfortunately they haven’t sold as well as I wanted but that could be an economy based reason. 

They were great trips and I wouldn’t change a thing.  Great portfolios pieces, great adventure, great stock, great people, it was a win win win win for me.

When you undertake these stock trips abroad, how do you prepare for them?

I call people who have gone and try and get info.  I take it very serious.  I get a guide so everything is taken care of so I can focus as much as possible on photography.  I don’t travel with anyone because of distraction and I immerse myself as much as possible.

Myanmar is an amazing place for photography. Does any one opportunity or challenge there stand out in your mind?

Myanmar was an amazing place!  Lots and lots to shoot.  I didn’t have too many challenges.  The biggest challenge was hearing about how corrupt and awful the government is there.  It’s very similar to Cuba in a lot of ways.  People have very little freedoms. The complex issue of sanctions was sad to see.  I’m not for against or against sanctions but it is a very complicated issue.  When people have to reuse old refurbished calculators because they can’t get a new one, even if they wanted to, it is a sad sight to see. Because of sanctions everything in Burma has to be reused, resold, and nothing is thrown away.   To not have the freedom to buy what you want because of your governments decisions is really frustrating for them.  I feel for the good people of Burma wanting to get ahead but are held up by the governments ridiculous control.  We are very lucky to have our freedoms.

 
I think the opportunity was meeting such a great guide.  By the end of 3 weeks we were really close buddies.  He opened up unbelievable doors for me.  Thanks John and Nevada (Nevada Wier) for introducing me to him and thanks Win for being such a good friend. I hesitate to use the word guide.

In your travels do you have a favorite country to shoot in?

They were all great but Kingston Jamaica was amazing!  I wouldn’t advise it for anyone that didn’t really have a reason to be there but for me it was great.   I’m a reggae/dancehall fanatic and it was just what I wanted at the perfect time.  I listen to reggae all hours of the day. I’m the first one to make fun of myself about it. Call me crazy but that’s what I grew up with and it’s here to stay.  I do want to make one thing clear, I do not condone some of the lyrics in dancehall music.   As a matter of fact Jamaican Patois is very difficult to understand and I don’t speak much Patois so I don’t understand lots of what the artists are saying. I listen for the beat, rhythm, and sound.  Lots and lots of passion and intensity.  The scene in Kingston is very much like the early 80 punk scenes because of the DIY vibe.  Most artists in Kingston come from a very difficult up bringing surrounded by extreme poverty, violence (last month 150 people died in gang violence caused by the government trying to capture a drug cartel leader.  They still haven’t caught him) and gang activity and the creativity coming out of that scene is amazing to me.  Artists work in small rooms with very little equipment.  Most get their first starts by going to outdoor sound systems trying their best at spiting lyrics to prove themselves.  Imagine Bob Marley meets Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols, that is dancehall reggae.  I’m working on a project about Jamaican reggae/dancehall artists and the music is my background, loud and in your face, just like a Kingston street speaker sound system.  I love it, most people can’t stand it and I understand that.   I’m going back as soon as things start to settle which doesn’t sound like any time soon.

I do the same thing with my Taco Truck project as well.  I like to immerse as deeply as possible and music helps for emersion.  If I’m working on the Taco Trucks I turn on Ranchero music loudly to get my mind into it.

The project turned out to be a lot more than just about the vendors and taco trucks. Most of the street vendors (vendors that don’t own a vehicle and sell on the street corners) are here illegally and are just trying to make ends meet. They work really long hours with little pay and have large families to support back in their home country. The people in my pictures aren’t taking American jobs, getting into trouble, causing problems, but they are here illegally. With all this talk about immigration in the press this project really brought this complicated issue front and center for me. One thing I can tell you is that Latin America has influenced our way of life in America in some awesome ways. For example, I can’t tell you the last time I had apple pie, but I can tell you when I had a couple tacos.

   I would like to point out that I get stock out of doing all of these shoots.  I do not go into the shoots looking for stock but I can always pick up a few stock shots, not just the owners of the trucks.  Usually the images are very authentic and are hard to replicate.

   I know you have produced shoots abroad…we have done several together, for example, in Argentina. But I believe in some of your other travels you go for more “targets of opportunity”. Is that an accurate view? 

Well China was planned because of obvious reasons (if you don’t know why, you haven’t seen TV or magazines in 5 years) but it turned out to be so fascinating.  Images of China are always needed.

After going to China I will say I do not know how we are going to fix this planet.  For every one American who driving a Prius here there is 10,000 people in Asia that would gladly drive a Hummer if they could afford it.  Hey we do it, why can’t they?  As Americans we don’t lead by example very often. 

That aside I was so impressed at the culture, growth, mass, and history.  Great adventure.  I shot about 10-12 hours day. Went to bed about 9 and got up at 6-7 everyday.  Shot at night, day, morning, harsh light, soft light… What ever didn’t matter.

In the what, ten years or so that I have known you, you have always traveled and shot stock. Over the years, have you changed your approach to shooting…and if so, how?

Yes.  With the new equipment things get easier.  Also having more income allows me to help and give people money who model for me.  I try and give back when I can when it’s not awkward.  I try and buy things from someone if they are selling something.   This is where a guide helps tremendously. 


I know you have been dipping your toe into the motion waters. Do you see video as becoming a bigger part of your work?

Yes, but I will say one thing.  Because you own a video camera does not make you a good video image-maker.  Owning a 5D doesn’t make you a good photographer so why is video any different?  It’s another beast.   I look forward to doing it more.


What are the differences for you in shooting motion versus stills?

It’s a lot more work sometimes.  I also don’t like that I can’t do “Photoshop”. I think I would like to be more of a director when it comes to shooting video.


How do you choose when to shoot motion and when to focus on stills?

I shoot both but mostly I shoot stills.  Video is mostly for memories or for the mixed media I have been working on. I am very far from making work that I would like to have on a reel and officially say, hey here’s my reel wanna hire me?  With that being said, it can get overwhelming to try and do both.  I save the video for pans across city skylines and basic things like that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKf5rZpW_nc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-ShJZAjx3E&feature=related

What do you enjoy shooting the most?

I love taking pictures of things that are inspiring to me.  I also like making pictures I am proud of so I try and keep those in mind.  Sometimes I will put together a shoot even if I’m not completely inspired and I usually get something good out of it.

I did a shoot with my editor at Corbis recently and I didn’t really “feel it” but it turned out to be really cool.  It’s mind over matter I guess.

What are your strategies for dealing the new realities of the stock photo world?

Keep moving and shooting. Don’t try and follow fads or shooting styles or themes that “sell” It’s a never ending.  

Do you have any personal projects you are working on?

I’m always working on something.  Mostly right now I’m building a new music book.  Reggae, Dancehall, Hip Hop, Alternative bands.  I love it all and I am trying to push myself into that.

Also, a small project on motocross.  That is an intense sport!  Very dangerous and sketchy but I admire the determination and drive.

   Is fine art in the picture, so to speak, for you?

In a dream world yes. I’ve done a couple smaller shows and one big one and had a great time doing it but the money doesn’t allow me to do it very often.  It’s a full time job and I am not prepared to get involved yet. 

What words of wisdom do you have for young photographers?

It’s a lifestyle not a job.  Even if you are making good money assume you are making half.  Charge what you think you are worth.  Don’t give your work away.  Work with people that you like.  Learn from mistakes. 

I could follow these as well!

The future of photography…optimistic or pessimistic?

Optimistic, I have no choice but to be positive.   I’m too young in this field to be too bitter.  I missed the good old days and reality is now kicking in.  It’s very easy to make pictures now for anyone with a camera and I just want to make them better. I think there will be another hay day again and I am preparing to be at the perfect spot when it does.  Weather its ad work, editorial, video, stock or a combination of all of them, as long as I’m happy doing what I am doing, life will be great!

To see more of Sam's work: http://www.samdiephuis.com

Travel Photographer Glen Allison Interviewed

Photo©GlenAllison To read the story of this image visit Glen's Blog .

Glen, if my memory is accurate, you once had a large studio operation but let that all go to vagabond around the world shooting stock for Tony Stone. Can you refresh my memory about that and give us some highlights of that trip?


Thanks so much, John, for asking me to do this interview.

To put my 1990s vagabond journey in perspective I should explain the motivating circumstances. There have been times when my career was a bit like a roller coaster ride. Though successful as an architectural photographer prior to 1990, and with lots of accolades in my back pocket, I never developed much of a business sense. Perhaps wannabe "artistes" are never good doing the math. But somehow by 1990 I'd been able to make a million bucks during a very flush three-year turnaround. However, poor planning (and perhaps a bit of fiscal extravagance) left me little prepared for the major real estate crash of that year. In short order, all my architectural photography work completely dried up. Within a year I found myself laying off five full-time employees, then filing for bankruptcy, living in my van and delivering pizzas. I lost almost everything. Somehow I kept a healthy attitude about it all. Though I was determined this dire situation would not last forever, I decided my best strategy at the time was to be the absolute best pizza delivery boy (at age 45) that restaurant ever had. I didn’t want to dig my karmic hole even deeper by entertaining bitterness.

Using my financial devastation as a propellant, I launched into my dream of becoming a travel photographer. Considering my circumstances, many might have thought my dream was frivolous. However, the concept of failure was nonexistent in my mind. Never even once did I doubt my future success. I delivered every pizza with this unyielding determination.
Eventually I found ways to travel, though in the beginning I found myself panhandling for food in a couple of countries where I didn't speak the language. Early on my photos were accepted by After Image in Los Angeles, which a few months later became the first international acquisition of Tony Stone Worldwide based in London. Five years later Mark Getty and Jonathan Klein entered the scene and started gobbling up many of the major stock libraries of the world, Tony Stone being the first. When my photo royalties started rolling in, I decided to stay on the road nonstop, re-investing every penny for the next nine years as a "homeless-by-choice" vagabond travel photographer. Ultimately, I visited more than 130 countries and continuous travel got into my blood.

Was that trip a financial success?


Overwhelmingly.
Though I'm not what many might consider to be one of the "high-flying" photographers, I was able to earn about three million dollars during the next fifteen years on fewer than a thousand photos at Getty Images, which wound up being licensed more than 60,000 times.

Was it on that trip that you became interested in Buddhism? Can you tell us a bit about the Soka Gakkai International?


My interest in Buddhism began much earlier in Los Angeles in 1973, back when I first became a photographer. Ever since then, pursuing the "Mystic Law" has enabled me to keep manifesting my "never-give-up" and "anything-is-possible" spirit on a daily basis. The SGI is a lay organization of Nichiren Buddhists comprised of more than 12 million everyday people in pursuit of global peace through education, culture and the empowerment of the individual. We adherents chant the phrase "Nam-myoho-renge-kyo," the rhythmic Mystic Law that powers the universe and enables one to activate life's highest potential. We don’t have statues of the historic Buddha in our homes nor do we pray to him in temples as some kind of god. After all, he was just a common mortal—albeit an enlightened one. Our form of Buddhism isn’t archaic or esoteric and I’ve found that it seamlessly meshes with this modern age. We SGI members are not vegetarians by requirement nor do we deny material needs. In the very real context of daily life we aspire to manifest the inherent Buddha nature within--a life condition that is possible to polish despite our karmic circumstances of the past and present.

After your last epic travel adventure it seems you put down some roots in Bali. What was your life in Bali like?


After all the exotic destinations I'd visited, I moved to Bali because it seemed like heaven on earth. What a perfect place to live! I could take month-long shooting trips and then come back to my paradise in Bali to do the required two or three months of Photoshop post-production work. Back in the 90s all I had to do was FedEx my slides to Getty from the road but in this digital world I now needed a permanent base where I could spend the required time realigning pixels to my heart’s desire.

Was it difficult to give up your life in Bali and commit to this new journey?


One might think so but let me describe the circumstances of this transition.
I had always dreamed of designing my dream-of-a-lifetime home--one that would be unbelievable. I have a degree in architecture from UC Berkeley but never practiced in that profession and became an architectural photographer instead. During the 70s and 80s I photographed some of the world's most notable architectural structures designed by several of the world's most recognized architects (like Frank Gehry) for major publications such as Architectural Digest and Architectural Record. Yet I had never designed even a simple garage. I was driven not to depart this lifetime without dabbling in the endeavor. It was something I had to do while I had the chance. So I took almost a million bucks cash from my previous Getty earnings and embarked on the next wild venture in my life. I stopped taking photos for the following three years. I became the architect, the general contractor and the 24/7 job supervisor of my new visionary project in Bali and I learned how to do it on the job. I designed six inverted pyramid, steel-framed pavilions wrapped in wall-to-wall glass under thatched roofs that rose from twenty-one levels of water. Yes, a bit over the top. But it was my dream.

Check out these project photos for a glimpse: http://j.mp/BaliLotusVilla

But then, guess what?
The world's economy dramatically crashed yet again. My project was only 80% complete and construction costs were already way over budget. It had been impossible to judge construction inflation (it doubled during three years) in this developing country. My cash resources were by then greatly diminished and suddenly my stock photo income dropped 90% in what seemed like an instant with no glimmer of imminent resurgence.

Bali, being one of the world’s hottest travel destinations, has been little influenced by the economic downturn and property values there are still holding strong. My Balinese investment turns out to be probably the best place I could have put my money. So I've now decided to sell the project and the package includes my finishing the construction. I plan to do job supervision one week a month and shoot in nearby exotic locales for the other three during the remaining six months of construction. Fitting it into my current travel plans, I will see this project to fruition then photograph it and get it published worldwide.

My Bali experience is my treasure. I have absolutely zero pain as a result of this endeavor. Though I put my entire life into the project, I soon realized I never wanted to be a full-time contractor nor was it possible to envision I’d need to take so much time away from my true profession. Besides, from a technological standpoint, three years ago I needed a base so I could return to a powerful desktop computer and a high-end graphics monitor to do Photoshop post-production. But today I can do it all on the latest Macbook Pro laptop loaded with 8 gigs of RAM and its excellent display. It’s now not a necessity for me to maintain a permanent base.
Most importantly, however, I had to go back to what I love.

So now you have embarked on yet another lengthy journey, an eleven-year sojourn that won’t be completed until your seventy-fifth birthday? I have to ask, why such a long trip?


It seems my life has been defined by reinventing myself and I also must admit that marathons thrill me immensely. Besides, I must outdo myself by adding a couple more years to this sojourn. Age 75 sounded like a great celebration point though I’m determined it won’t be my last.
I haven’t been bound psychologically to tangible possessions. In 1990 I signed all the copyright ownership of my previous twenty years of architectural photos over to the clients who had commissioned me. Overnight I burned every bridge to the past and abruptly switched to travel photography. I have not one transparency, negative or tear sheet from those two decades to show for my architectural work even though several of the buildings I photographed will go down in history as some of the most famous structures of the twentieth century.

At the time I felt so cleansed and ready for a new life.

Last year I made a trip from Bali to Los Angeles. In a storage unit there I had 20 file drawers of travel photo transparencies from the 90s. After a week or so of culling through the best images one last time, I called a mega shredding company. They came early the next morning with a monster machine and it only took eight minutes to shred tens of thousands of images--a decade of work from all over the world.
Once again, I felt refreshed. Now I was ready for another brand new life.
To some, these actions might appear a bit radical. For me, I had already scanned the best of my travel images and I was never going to look back. I don’t like baggage.

A lot has changed in the photography world since that first trip you took, particularly in the world of stock photography. I’m sure many people are wondering if you can still make a living shooting travel stock…what does your experience tell you about that?


Well, if you consider what many pundits in the industry are saying today (some of them in your blog) plus the stats from our now devastated monthly royalties, then the future of stock photography indeed looks very bleak. Novice photographers are being encouraged that it might be better to pursue a career at McDonalds. But, you know what, I will not let such doomsday scenarios deter me.
None of us knows how the stock photo world will unfold. Our challenge, however, is to keep manifesting our individual talents to the best of our ability--no matter the limits that might seem to strangle us at times. I will continue to throw my life into my work. Even if I can only achieve a modicum of creative success, I'm convinced that eventually there will be a buyer who will respond.

Each of us must chart the course toward our own sustainability. I can't even begin to suggest what others must do. In my own case, I've structured my life so that even with just my USA Social Security retirement benefits, I’d be able to live a reasonably nice lifestyle while I continuously travel to a huge number of countries in the world where the cost of living is minimal. Every country has its treasures to photograph. Bali, for example, is one of the most exotic and popular travel destinations in the world. Yet, outside the travel industry, it's possible to live there very cheaply. The average salary for local workers in Bali is only three or four dollars per day. In the rest of Indonesia, it's about two bucks.

For the time being, my current stock photo income hasn’t plummeted to zero. One should also consider that I’m not encumbered with the normal financial responsibilities of living life. I don’t have mortgage or car payments. I don’t pay for auto repair or car insurance because I don’t own a car. I have no kids living at home so I don’t have to worry about their education or health care or food or an endless list of other concerns. I don’t have televisions and exercise equipment or coffee pots or scores of other things that eat up income. What most people spend each month to maintain daily life, I invest in travel and most of those expenses are tax deductible. For me, continuously visiting new countries is like being on a holiday that never ends. Banks in Indonesia are currently paying 7% interest. If I factor in the eventual return of my cash investment in the Bali project and deposit some of the proceeds into those time deposits . . . well, at least I have a plan for future income despite the depths to which the current stock photo industry might plunge. I can use this bank interest for travel expenses and keep doing what I love while I still keep the nest egg in tact.

Bottom line: I'm creating a scenario where I’m more distanced from the stress of worrying about future income. I'll concentrate on creativity and see where that leads me. Meanwhile, technology seems to explode exponentially every few years. Past stock photo marketing avenues may die but new ones will most certainly be born.

So, I'm getting new images ready in anticipation.

John, everyone who reads your blog is looking for fresh ideas to orchestrate a path through the quagmire in which many might find themselves stuck. The way I live my life is probably not going to work for very many people who have families, responsibilities and obligations. For me, I may have allowed myself to get momentarily sidetracked in Bali but now I’m back to creating a very streamlined lifestyle that makes me happy. Other than the gear I now carry with me, my entire possessions in this world consist of just a couple of small boxes stored at friends’ houses in Los Angeles and Bali. Clutter doesn’t fit into my life. Most people might not want to live such a minimal lifestyle like this. But whatever our lifestyle choices, I'm convinced that every single person can move forward exactly from the very position where they now stand--even with just a little progress each day, step-by-step. Each of us must find a way to free ourselves from the constraints we encounter while at the same time honoring our responsibilities. The key is discovering ways to keep our determination fully charged and developing a life condition that thrives on overcoming obstacles.

I am bursting with hope and I'm absolutely thrilled by the challenge.

I have really enjoyed reading your blog. You have also written some books as well. Can you fill us in on your book efforts? Has writing always been something you have been interested in?


After my first decade-long jaunt around the globe I was consumed by writing about the tale. You can imagine the harrowing experiences and funny circumstances one might encounter during such a trip. But I didn't know how to write. So, being the marathoner that I am, during the last few years of my travels in the 90s I read 200 novels to gain insight about writing my own novel. But my first draft had 200 writing styles. I lucked into meeting a fabulous editor who quickly convinced me to throw out all the crap and start writing again from scratch. I then crafted a love story about a travel photographer (naturally)--a story that dragged him through harrowing experiences to some of the most exotic reaches of the earth--places I had been and many real-life experiences I had actually encountered . . . well, with a bit of embellishment for dramatic effect.

I was amazed that in 2004 my novel, "The Journey From Kamakura," was nominated one of three finalists for "Best First Book--Fiction" in the USA at the Benjamin Franklin Awards. That year I also had a travel narrative published, "Penis Gourds & Moscow Muggings," which is a collection of humorous tales from my travels in the 90s.
http://j.mp/JourneyKamakura

Your new Rajasthan book sounds intriguing. Is that print-on-demand? How has your experience with Blurb been?


I went to Rajasthan last fall to photograph twenty thousand camels at the Pushkar Fair. It was my fifth such trip to Pushkar and once there I decided to shoot only a few camels (so to speak). I was having more fun finding fine art photos hidden amongst the wild color and chaos that is India. A couple of weeks earlier I had been turned on to Blurb.com where I could quickly design a book online as a print-on-demand publication. I decided to give this publishing avenue a whirl since all I had to invest was a bit of time. After a month-long circuit around Rajasthan I parked myself in Jaipur, India, for two very intense weeks and used Photoshop to crank out my first coffee table book, "Thrill Me Rajasthan." It has very little text, mostly just fine art photos. The downside of a POD book is that the cost per copy with one-off printing is a bit expensive since there aren't any discounts from large print runs. The upside is that there are no upfront costs for production other than the fact that Blurb requires you to order one book. Hey, I've got all the time in the world and my markup on sales is all profit. This is where social media promotion will really come into play, I'm sure.
There was a book review in the San Francisco Examiner: http://j.mp/ExaminerBookReview

How do you prepare for a destination (do you research what to shoot, when to shoot and possibly establish some local contacts)? Do you shoot with a plan?


Kind of, but not to the extent one might imagine. First, I go online with Getty or other stock libraries and see what they have on file already for a particular destination in which I'm interested. I quickly peruse a guide book, like Lonely Planet, to gain insight about seasonal weather, festival timings, visa requirements and the key travel sites that would be marketable. Then I figure out most of the trip once I get there. I’m not threatened by the unexpected and I want to see what I discover raw. Too many facts will clutter my mind. I talk to other travelers I meet along the way and see what they learned first-hand. Basically, if the season seems good, I just get on the plane and go. That is the thrill of discovery.

OK, how the heck do you organize a 4005-day trip? How do you determine where next?


As you can see, only a bare minimum of preplanning goes into my journeys. I do have one overall plan, however. There are about 220 countries and territories in the world today and there are at least twenty I wouldn't dare visit for safety reasons. A nice round figure of 200 is my goal during my 4005 days of this adventure. I must say, however, that my overriding determination is to make at least one lifelong friend in every country of the world. As each month unfolds, something will trigger me to visit the next place that presents itself.

From reading your blog I understand that you travel very light. What does “traveling light” look like to you (i.e. what gear do you take, etc.)?


Since I must take necessary computer gear and cameras I’ve reduced everything else to a bare minimum: three shirts, three sets of underwear, two pairs of trousers or shorts depending on the climate, one pair of high quality sandals for warm countries, and one pair of lightweight but reasonably good trekking shoes with a couple pairs of socks. By the way, this represents all the clothes that I own in this world. I hand wash almost daily (it only takes a second) and I give clothes away when they wear out or when I change climates. I carry minimal toiletries since they can be bought anywhere. I also stash a few packets of generic antibiotics. Mosquitoes have decided they don’t like to bite me. I almost never get sick from exotic food perhaps because I probably have just about every known amoeba in my system already.
For now, I'm taking one Canon EOS 5D Mark 2 body with five lenses: 24-105mm, 17-40mm f/4, 70-200mm f/4, 14mm full-frame rectilinear, 15mm full-frame fisheye and a tele-extender. I have one flash unit and a small lightweight Gitzo tripod with a ball head. For computer gear I carry the latest 17-inch MacBook Pro fully loaded to the hilt with 8 gigs of RAM, an internal 500 gig hard drive and a matte display for easier editing. I also take an EyeOne Color Calibrator, 4 terabytes of external hard drives containing my full digital archive (two TB for the image files plus DNG and 2 TB for the backup). If I'm in a risky place, I always carry the backups with me in a small bag and leave one set of external drives in the hotel. Note that I backup at least once each day: usually immediately after each Photoshop session. As soon as I get to a fast Internet I upload the DNG files to PhotoShelter for the selected images on which I've worked. I also upload a flattened high rez JPEG of each layered master TIFF image from Photoshop. The layered files are only stored on the external drives. If I lose all the hard drives and the laptop on location, then I at least have a backup of the best DNGs and JPEGs online at PhotoShelter. I also keep an extra full backup copy of everything both in Bali and Los Angeles at friend's houses each time I make a return trip. I try to do as much image manipulation as possible in Lightroom so that all that work is stored as non-destructible metadata embedded into a small DNG which has been uploaded to PhotoShelter. Photoshop layered files are way too big to upload online with all the slow internet I encounter.

On a side note, one can most definitely do final Photoshop corrections using the display of this new Macbook Pro as long as you color calibrate it. One slight downside is that you must train yourself to keep your head dead center to judge correct exposure, saturation and color balance. After I’m finished with all Photoshop corrections, the trick I use is to zoom out on the image to make it smaller and I then place it in the center of the display. Without moving my head up and down or left and right I make one final confirming check on color and exposure across the breadth of the image in one glance. I thought I’d hate this limit of a laptop display but I got used to it very quickly. Hopefully, one day soon Apple will solve this problem too. At least I can now travel continuously never needing to return to a home base and a high-end monitor. I also don’t have to pay for return flights home from the opposite side of the globe every month or so.

Glen, sometimes when I'm traveling I just have to put my camera away for a bit, maybe a half a day or even a whole day, and experience my surroundings. Do you ever put your camera down and just live the experience?


When many photographers travel, they try to combine a vacation with work and may feel they need to capture as many marketable images as possible to make the investment profitable. So there might be a bit of pressure not to relax too much.

I’m always on holiday and I’m not looking for very many images. My goal is just one great photo per day. Now that I do all my post-production work while on the road, I'm moving very slowly when compared to my sojourn in the 90s and that gives me more time to really enjoy my destinations. I made my first trip around the world in 1994 and it was my craziest travel year ever. I had 100 flights in 365 days and only spent three or four days in each city looking for the icon shots. Today I sometimes hang out in cities for a couple of weeks or more and take my time. If I have the slightest inkling I might miss a shot, then I take my camera with me when I go out. However, there are many circumstances when I'm going for lunch, etc., that I don't take my camera. I'm not much of a "grab shot" type of travel photographer. Usually I study my compositions in detail but if I'm in a location with lots of colorful people and spontaneous action, like India, then I carry a camera with me at all times though maybe with just the 24-105mm lens to keep things light, leaving all the other stuff in the hotel room while I wander around looking for good locations.

Do you ever get lonely?

Absolutely never.
Traveling to most countries in the world is not at all like traveling around the United States where it’s possible to traverse the breadth of the country and never talk to another tourist. That’s hardly the case everywhere else. Just imagine all the great travelers I bump into, not to mention colorful local characters I get to know along the way. Just yesterday I met an interesting 71-year-old amateur photographer on the minivan ride from Vang Vieng, Laos, to Luang Prabang. Last month he went on a bicycle trip in Northern Vietnam from Sapa up into the hill tribe areas next to China. Last February in Northern Japan he photographed Macaque monkeys that were swimming in hot springs during a snow storm. He's even bicycled up the silk road from Russia through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to the famous Kashgar Sunday market in the far reaches of western China. He then pedaled across the Himalayas down the Korokorum Highway to Islamabad. How thrilling do you think those stories were? When I made that same trip ten years ago, I was in a boring bus. This guy isn't rich. He's a retired school teacher who taught Spanish in Sitka, Alaska, of all places. Now he's my new lifelong friend. As if my exchange with him wasn't interesting enough, there were also nine great young women on the same minibus with us for seven hours, four girls from Thailand and five girls from Japan, who all spoke reasonably good English.
I thrive on this life. There’s no time to get bored or lonely.

What role does your website play in your business? Do you do your own SEO? Do you do any direct sales? I know you license stock through Getty, do you use any other agencies?


Currently my images are licensed through Getty, Alamy, Evostock, and from years ago a few images still with AGE Fotosock and MIRA. I recently redirected my GlenAllison.com website to Photoshelter where I’ve set up eCommerce for direct sales of stock, T-shirts, puzzles, fine art prints, coffee mugs and greeting cards. I recently spent a few weeks in Bangkok where I had reasonably fast internet connections to set it all up and to upload more images. So far, I have minimal direct sales but they are starting to augment. While in Bangkok I learned a bit of HTML and CSS coding so I could customize my PhotoShelter site but soon I'll have my GlenAllison.com website professionally reformatted to clean up some of my bad code and to incorporate the PS eCommerce into the background. It will also place my travel blog within my own site rather than redirecting it to Wordpress so that I'll start to build better SEO as a result. I simply hate doing all this SEO stuff. John, you are one of the most dedicated people I know who keeps plowing away at it. I'm finding it almost impossible to keep up with those tasks while on the road plus at the same time digging into social media efforts like Twitter and Facebook. Encountering slow Internet where it sometimes takes two minutes just to launch an email is also quite a pain. Today in Luang Prabang it took more than twenty minutes just to download eight email messages into my browser. Then it took another thirty minutes just to open the Citibank homepage where I then attempted to do a bit of internet banking but finally gave up. I read my guidebook in the interim. This internet frustration is the biggest downside of continuous travel when you’re in countries with stone age internet speed. So for now, I've put most of my SEO and social media efforts on the back burner but I plan to keep dabbling in it as I go along. Plus, there's almost no photo I don't spend 2-4 hours working on in Lightroom and Photoshop.
Hey, I need a life too. :-)

What makes a great travel stock photo?


For me, a great travel photo is one that captures your imagination instantly, one that immerses you into the destination making you salivate to be there. It might have some intriguing point of view or perhaps might incorporate a unique juxtaposition of elements. More likely than not, it probably will be steeped in magic light or will capture a brief moment of drama or frivolity that titillates our senses. A great travel photo should whet our appetites and propel our minds toward dreamy destinations--a powerful, magnetic pull we simply cannot resist.

What are a couple of your favorite places to visit…and shoot? Do you have a favorite image of your own that you can share…along with the story behind it?


Well, I'd have to say that my favorite country and my favorite image is my next one.
But here's a fun story and a couple of related photos from the recent past:
I started this current 4005-day sojourn last September. Prior to that in early June (when I was getting bored in Bali and was trying to decide what to do with the rest of my life) I flew to the next door island of Sulawesi—a very intriguing place—which is about 1.5 hours away by air. This was my first shoot in three years. I'd already been there a decade ago to photograph the Tana Toraja funeral effigies in the burial caves and I decided to go once again with a different eye to the viewfinder. I also wanted to visit Manado, the famous dive location. Now I don't dive and don't have underwater housings but the lagoons are shallow there so I figured I could get a few good images from the boat looking down through the crystal clear water at the awesome coral formations. Once on location, however, I realized it would have been best to have hired a couple of nice models to swim around.
On my first morning in Manado, I strolled near the pier where boats departed for the famous Bunaken Island, the nearest and best dive location. Naturally, a boatman asked if I wanted to go and I asked how much. He indicated he had already lined up a couple of other tourists from Norway and I could join them for only ten bucks my share for an entire day on the boat. Sounded like a bargain to me.
But little could I have imagined the Norwegians would be absolutely beautiful, 22-year-old, blond, bikini-clad nubile young ladies who, as it turned out, were more than ecstatic to sign my model releases and tantalize me with their poses for the rest of the day. They seemed absolutely thrilled with the prospect.

I tried to act nonchalant.

But here's the fun part: After an amazing day, I had shot around 500 images, that’s about 20 gigs of RAW files and a massive amount of shooting for me in such a short period. OK, OK, those girls got me a little trigger happy. Then they challenged me to get in the water with them. Hey, I can't swim very well in strong currents. Nevertheless, I put on my bravado and dived in since their enticement couldn’t be resisted. I had already donned my swimming trunks earlier that morning. But in the excitement of the moment I forgot to remove my CF memory card pouch from my pocket. So I frolicked in the water with these energetic mermaids for an hour never realizing what the salt water was doing to my entire day's shoot.

Once I got out of the water and found the saturated CF cards in my pocket, I freaked. I dried them off quickly and anxiously stuck them in the camera one-by-one. But I was only greeted with a "Card Not Readable" message.
SUPER Freakout!! We’re talking about some VERY serious chanting here. :-)
Back at our beach bungalows the girls loaned me a hair dryer. Miraculously, after a couple of hours, I was able to dry out the CF cards and retrieve every single image.

The next day all those cards were completely dead again. Already the salt water corrosion must have taken its toll. Here are a couple of those photos. Now search "Manado, Bunaken Island" at Getty Images to check out the competition. Perhaps I'll earn a few bucks on these pix one day. Capturing them, however, sure was a hellava lot of fun.

Any tips for those of us who want to engage in travel photography, but aren’t so inclined to do such an ambitious itinerary or can't figure out how to get the ball rolling financially?


Sure. In today's stock photo environment if you want to be a travel photographer, you absolutely must measure that determination against how much you are willing to challenge yourself in overcoming the obstacles. Most people’s lives are structured very differently from mine but one certainly doesn't have to go on the road for such extreme trips. If you live in Denver, for example, then one day someone will want a travel photo of Denver and that destination is right in your back yard. You can snap a great photo any time you catch magic light throughout the year. For me, I may only be in Denver for a week when it's raining.

As for making money, there's absolutely a way to somehow mold your own circumstances and desires to make them generate the necessary income for travel. Here are some ideas: I have a friend in Bali who turned his photo hobby into big profit. He shoots amazing macro water drop splash photos with all kinds of colorful reflections. He set up a gallery on Monkey Forest Road in Ubud, which is Bali’s art and cultural destination. There's lots of tourist foot traffic in Ubud. In less than half a year, he's now making 8 to 10 thousand dollars each month in over-the-counter sales, which provides him with abundant travel money. Also, there's a young guy named Nomadic Matt (Google him) who writes a travel blog about his continuous backpacker trips. He's molded it into a very popular blog and now travel related companies beg to place ads on his website. He says he is earning 7 or 8 thousand dollars a month from these sources, which feed’s his travel habit. He gets lots of freebies, too. Note, also, that new five-star hotels in exotic locales always need travel brochures and they hire professional photographers and models and usually pay all travel expenses. How about this idea: one of my travel photo buddies got a free press junket to Phuket, Thailand, last month through SATW so this is another route. I also know a Western shooter in Bali who makes $15,000 a month photographing ten tropical weddings and there are thousands each year on that romantic isle. His Balinese living expenses are efficient and he’s left with abundant travel funds as a result. Naturally, these avenues require extensive behind-the-scene efforts to develop. Nevertheless, there are endless possibilities to generate cash for travel, even in this economy, if we put our creative minds to the task.

Anything is possible with iron determination.

Maybe today trying to earn money solely in the stock photo industry really sucks. But new marketing avenues and technologies will evolve for sure. In the interim we must stimulate our minds and find creative strategies to augment our income without sacrificing our photographic careers.
Just about every single one of us probably has our own unique circumstantial crap we are standing in at the moment, which might seem to mire us down from time to time. Can we find ways to plow through this muck and carve the path to our dream?

Glen Allison
http://www.GlenAllison.com 
http://glenallisontraveler.wordpress.com/