Seeing the "Big Picture"

Seeing the big picture

I once read an interview with a man who lived in the Canadian Rockies. He was quoted as saying that "…the mountains are OK, but they sure do block the view". I'm not sure that exactly applies to my following thoughts, but hey, I always liked that quote!

Social media is great. I really like the fact that I can let a lot of people know right away when I have new material up by just sending out a tweet, or making a quick post on Facebook. Looking at the "Big Picture" however, I also realize that it is very easy to get caught up in trying to get a lot of followers, and in general, spending an inordinate amount of time perusing various posts. Some of those posts can be very entertaining, but few are actually valuable to my goals. How many SEO tips does one need to read? In one post it was guaranteed that you could be in the top 10 of search results. I wanted to ask what happened if eleven people followed those tips….

I currently have just over four hundred followers on twitter, and something like 200 "friends" on Facebook. I have seen some tweeters (don't know if I am using appropriate terminology) with something like 100,000+ followers! But even if I were ever to get anywhere near that number of followers, would it be worth the effort? I doubt it. To get the kind of traffic I want to get to my site I really need to come up very early in search results. As big a number as 100,000 followers might sound, I want that number of people, or more, landing on my site each month. Those kinds of numbers can be much more efficiently achieved with providing quality content and optimizing for search engines. Social Media can be a part of that effort, but for me it is all too easy to spend too much time scanning posts. I would be much better served creating a new image, putting it up on my site, and making sure it is well key worded; and that my site is thoroughly optimized for those search engines.

For some, who perhaps are seeking a "True Fan" base, or need a more intimate connection with their "clients", perhaps social media is a more important endeavor. For me, I believe I am better off getting back behind the camera, pushing pixels with Photoshop, and doing what I do best: making images relevant to the market for stock photos. OK, I’m off to create an image (and maybe tweet about it).

Shooting a waterfall for stock, or not.

Photographing a waterfall on Oahu for stock

Yesterday I decided to find and shoot a waterfall for an image I want to create. The image I have in mind is a concept stock photo of a man going over a waterfall in a barrel. I photographed the man in the barrel, in my studio, a couple of months ago. However, I don’t have a suitable waterfall image.

So here I am in Oahu, a seemingly great place to shoot a waterfall. Not so fast. It seems that finding a good waterfall to photograph here is actually rather difficult. I did a Google search and didn’t come up with much. The only one that seemed it might do for me is called Manoa falls. The various articles I encountered on the internet indicated it is a relatively easy hike of about one mile in each direction, through lush jungle foliage including a bamboo forest. The falls are 100 to 150 feet in height (depending on which article you read). Sounds pretty good!

Somewhere between a trickle and a vapor

Well, there was some jungle foliage, though the bamboo forest was barely twenty yards long. I have certainly encountered “jungle foliage” that was much more lush, and bamboo forests that were much more impressive, on other Hawaiian islands. The falls themselves fell somewhere between a trickle and vapor. Not exactly what I need for my stock photo.

A magnificent vista

It was good, though, to get some exercise; and I am sure that at some point in the future some of the foliage shots I got will come in handy. One scene in particular did get my adrenalin going. Near the start of the hike there is an open expanse just before the trail starts heading uphill. Thirty yards up the trail, when I turned and looked back, the scene looked like something out of Jurassic Park. It was really a magnificent vista and there is no doubt in my mind that I will find a use for it someday.

A service to others

Even though the falls were not adequate for my waterfall needs, I was glad I did the hike. The hike also led me to something that perhaps is more important than photographing falls. As I reviewed the hike in my mind I realized that I could write an article about my experience and illustrate the article with the pictures I had taken. I am sure I could put together this review of my experience that would very helpful to others in my situation and that are considering photographing waterfalls in Oahu. I could write the article that I wanted to find. My hike could end up being of service to others. These others, in turn, would be brought to my site where they might find a photograph to license, a product to purchase or even click on an ad. I could take that whole experience and turn it into a service to others that would in turn drive traffic to my site.

It further dawned on me that this is a strategy that I can apply to many of my shoots. I can write about the shoots and end-up with more viewers for the images I create, more traffic for my site, and a very satisfying lifestyle. Hmmm, enough blogging for now, I have an article to write!