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Pug Puppy Photo found on flickr published in First Magazine for Women

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flickr pays! -- Published on page 94 of First for Women Magazine January 2011If you think posting photos to flickr is a waste of time, and paying the $24 annual fee for a pro membership to flickr is especially a waste of money, well, my pro membership for the next six years has been paid for by selling this one shot.  A person from First (for women) Magazine contacted me by e-mail asking to use the above pug puppy photo in an upcoming issue.  I replied, "possibly, depending on the price."  The person replied promptly with a price list that was acceptable to me, and I made the easiest money in photography I ever had before.  They mailed me the print issue this week (scans above).  

I posted the pug puppy photo to flickr on February 11, 2010, not so recently.  I do not really post photos to flickr with the thought that the ever might sell.  I use flickr to post my favorite shots of the moment, or shots I am not that sure about, and use the feedback I get on the shot to improve my photography skills.  I always find it interesting to see which shots get the most views/comments as compared to others.  The results are not always what I expect.  

So, making the effort to properly publish your photo to flickr, and by properly I mean giving your image an appropriate title, tagging the image with appropriate and creative key words, and writing a full description of the image with exif data and how to contact you for more images/information, if you do this, the results can be one day a nice little windfall comes in the mail for photography work you have long already done.

How Saint Petersburg area dogs might think

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This Australian Sheperd is a great listener

Last Sunday I found myself in several pet photography situations, all with dogs.  It got me to thinking, "what do dogs really think when they meet, play with, and wrestle with each other?"  The above and the following is my attempt at reading their minds.  The black & white Border Collie mix, by the way, is my crazy puppy, Kiki.

"I am not opposed at all to public displays of affection."

 

"Who in the world could ever pick on me, a cuddly 4-month old pug puppy?"

 

Apparently dogs are immune to the cuddliness of their own kind and play rough with one and all!

 

"If they will not play nice then I will just take my ball and go home!"

 

"Is a single blade of grass enough to hide me?"

Please feel free to put in the comments below what you think these dogs might be thinking.  

Pet Photography lesson with Linda at North Shore Dog Park

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DSLR Photography Student Linda with her Yorkshire Terrier Benji

The string of cold, overcast DSLR photography lessons continued yet again for Linda's third lesson in as many weekends.  For this lesson Linda brought along Benji, her Yorkshire Terrier to be her practice model.  She wanted to learn how to photograph Benji in action.  We went to North Shore Dog Park in the old northeast section of Saint Petersburg.  Since there was no sunshine at all that morning we really had to pay close attention to maintaining a fast enough minimum shutter speed in order to keep Benji looking sharp.  So just like in Carmen's lesson the day before, I again advised a student to use the auto-ISO feature.  We set the max ISO to 1600 and the minimum shutter speed to 1/500th of a second as Benji was a quick little guy when he wanted to be.  

4 month old pug puppy, Beatrice, always warmly greeted Linda when she knelt down.

We were not alone in the small dog section of the North Shore Dog park.  Other sub-20 pound dogs were running about including fawn pug Beatrice who never failed to come over and nuzzle and give kisses to anyone she could reach.  She was a very cuddly and sweet puppy.

Linda and I ended the DSLR photography lesson by practicing landscape shots with her new tripod.  The overcast skies did not provide for any stunning views of Tampa Bay, but at least we could practice what settings to use and Linda wisely wrote them down into her notebook so she can practice on her own.  

It was a fun lesson with Linda and Benji, and visiting Beatrice too.