Saturday, March 31, 2012

Politics

Photography and politics have always gone hand in hand. Photographs can bring out the best or worst in a person, and politicians have used this to their advantage for centuries. Through social media, politicians can take advantage of photography even more.

The following photographs can have a positive effect on a politician's campaign:

Obama's photograph on Facebook advertising entry to a raffle to win "Dinner with Barack" for a campaign donation of any size.



However, photographs such as the one below can have a negative effect on a politician's campaign:



A very important thing to remember in this day and age is that with social media, photographs such as these affect politics more than ever. Now, it is not only the politicians that can use pictures to their advantage. ANYONE can post a photograph to the internet. ANYONE has the ability to edit or change the photograph to meet their agenda before posting it publicly. It is incredible the amount of influence a picture from an average citizen can have on a person's campaign!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Advocacy

Advocacy for organizations, causes, and issues around the world are seen in the media often these days. A big part of this advocacy is photography! As the saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words," and when it comes to advocacy, it couldn't be more true. Something as simple as a single photograph is enough to spark talks and debates from people around the world. Here are a few examples of photographs that advocate a cause or purpose, or have sparked international debate:


This picture was taken anonymously during the Vancouver riots last year. It sparked an international debate about peace and love being essential to overcoming human nature's draw toward violence.


This image was taken by Eddie Adams during the Vietnam War. It is one of the most iconic and controversial images of the 20th century. It speaks of human nature and sparked international debate about the atrocities committed during war time.

This photograph was taken by Nick Ut during the Vietnam War Napalm bombings in the village of Trang Bang, Vietnam. The image speaks of the horrors of war, and caused international controversy. The picture is said to have "ended the Vietnam War," and became one of the icons of the 1970s Peace Movement.

This final image was taken by Mike Wells in Uganda. It speaks as a reminder of the huge wealth gap that separates developed and 3rd world countries. It also shows the extent of the poverty and starvation that plagues most of Africa's population. It created international controversy about the need for food and aid in Africa.

As you can see, 1 picture is enough to advocate anything you stand for. This doesn't mean that with one photograph you are guaranteed to start a revolution, change national policy or completely change the world, but it does mean that you are capable of speaking to a large audience of people and impacting someone by harnessing your talents and using them for good!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Collaboration

This week I am going to give you some insight into the world of Crowdsourcing and Collaboration. Crowdsourcing is a lot like outsourcing... it involves every day people, like yourselves, using the internet to create content and solve problems. Crowdsourcing also involves a website I touched on briefly last week, iStockPhoto. Like stated before, iStockPhoto is an online stock photography website where you can sell your photographs to people who need them for a reasonable price. iStockPhoto has a few competitors, including Shutter Stock, and Dreamstime. Businesses use these websites to crowdsource some of their work for a cheap price. This provides an opportunity for you to make some money and have your photographs shown in a professional environment; whether in a company's office lobby or on their website. Furthermore, there are websites available for you to discuss stock photography with other photographers, such as the Stock Artist's Alliance.

Collaboration is also a big part of online photography. If you remember the social networking site I mentioned a few weeks ago, Picture Social, that is a great way to collaborate with other artists. Perhaps photography isn't your strongest suit, but Photoshop is. Picture Social is a great way for you to find photographers who perhaps are better at the act of taking the pictures than the processing necessary afterwards. This allows you to collaborate with those other artists and combine your strong suits to come up with some amazing photographs. Don't be afraid to try new things!! You never know, but helping someone with what they are weak at may in turn help you improve your weak points!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Communication

This week I’m going to focus on social media tools that help you create content that web users can browse. There are certain social media tools that allow you to exhibit, and even sell, your photographs. One site, Pinterest, was discussed briefly last week, but I’ll go into further detail today. The other site, iStockphoto, is a great tool for selling your photographs.


Pinterest

Pinterest is an online pinboard style photo-sharing site. As I stated last week, Pinterest requires an invitation to participate. If you visit the site, you can request an invitation via your e-mail address. The site allows you to set up your pinboards however you like—you can have as many boards as you like, and can organize them into any topic or category that interests you. Furthermore, you are able to pin other people’s pictures to your own personal pinboards. This is a great way to gain inspiration for photograph ideas, poses, locations, etc. Furthermore, Pinterest allows users to follow other users, meaning a user will see everything pinned by any user that they follow. This is a great way to spark communication between yourself and other photographers, professionals, and potential clients. Possibly the most important part about Pinterest, for a photographer such as yourself, is the ability to pin your own personal content. This means you are able to upload any of your own photographs straight onto Pinterest for the world to see. The only downside of this is you eventually may not get credit for your photos! Try Photoshopping a watermark or personal symbol in one of the corners of all of the photos you upload to keep your name on your work… what is the point of taking great photographs if no one gives you credit for them?


iStockphoto

iStockphoto is an online stock photography provider. This means that iStockphoto provides photographs for websites, businesses, etc, to use at a low cost. Photographers are able to create an account, upload photographs, and sell them internationally for companies to use in presentations, on websites, etc. This means that you, yes YOU, can be paid for your photographs! It is a great tool to communicate your skills and talents with people across the world. Perhaps if a company likes your photographs a lot, they will hire you to take pictures for them more frequently! The possibilities are endless once you get yourself started! The only downside I see to this site is the amount of money the pictures are being sold for—since this is a “stock” photo site, pictures are sold at a very low cost, which means low income for you. While it’s not a site I would base my intire monthly income on, it is a good way to get started and a fun source of side income!


These are just two of the many great tools available on the internet to communicate with your audience! People, songs, photographs, etc. go “viral” every day, and spark conversations everywhere! Get people talking about you and your great work, and you could see how useful communication can be to becoming successful! Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there—this is only the beginning!