My Mutant Honey and Her Mutant Flower - iPhone Photo

My Honey!

Photo by Brad Rickerby

Fine Art Prints Available

This is another in my series of iPhone photographs. For a change, I wish I had been using my professional camera. The moment was so great and the light, from the almost setting sun was so even and so soft, that I could easily see this picture being used under the concepts of green, home ownership or gardening. The picture has an edge, which is good sometimes. And the mode, my honey if you couldn't guess that, has the kind of every day attractive look that sells in stock photography.

The light has changed now. So maybe I will try to get her back out there tomorrow. This image is not usable for stock because it is just over 1 MB in size. No stock agency that I know of will use such a small image. We will see if tomorrow I can get all the visuals in this image to work together again.

Fine Art Color Photograph by Brad Rickerby - Jumping for Joy 1

Meg - Jumping for Joy

Photo by Brad Rickerby

Limited Edition Fine Art Prints available

I did a whole series of people (mostly young women) jumping for joy. The image concept and execution are right out of the stock photographers handbook (or they would be, if there were such a book). The image is simple and consistently lit from front to back. The top leaves room for a masthead and both sides leave room for type. The image itself shows an emotion and represents a number of different concepts (joy, achievement, victory, success, youth, energy, craziness, etc.). That last point is crucial. It bears repeating. A good stock photo represents a number of different concepts. The photo will have many possible uses and will therefore sell much more than a single concept image.

This is a recent image and is digital. It was created with a zoom lens at 37 mm. The image was made at f 3.2 at 1/320 of a second at an ISO of 800. I usually don't like to go that high on the ISO (recall that I shot Fuji Velvia 50 for decades) but the light was going so I had no choice. The higher ISO works here and if I were not so picky, would probably work in a variety of other situations.

Prints are available. For more information, please contact me at brad@bradrickerby.com.

If I wrote a book titled, "The Stock Photographers Handbook" would you buy it?

Fine Art Color Abstract Photograph by Brad Rickerby - Hong Kong Harbor Abstract

Hong Kong Harbor Abstract

Photo By Brad Rickerby

Limited Editions Prints Available

This is one of the original images from my "City Lights" series, made on my second trip to Hong Kong. The image is on film, Fuji Velvia 50 (I loved that film).

You have to sit and watch the sun set over Hong Kong Harbor to understand just what a magical event that is. Capturing that magic on camera could be a life time project, there are so very many ways that it could be done. In this case a 200 mm lens was mounted with camera on a tripod. The film was set for a one stop push (to create a little grain and give me a tiny bit more latitude in the camera settings). This is about a ten second exposure with the lens set at f 2.8. During that ten second exposure I kicked the tripod, just a little bit, to give a blur to the overall image. Combine with the minimal grain effect from the film push, the image comes out more of a painting than a photographic likeness. This is exactly what I wanted.

I also waited for a boat to pass in front of me - in this case the Star Ferry leaving from Kowloon - to provide a light streak in the foreground.

I love the density of the modern buildings in the background, the overwhelming number of which have lit windows.

This image sold a lot back in the days when it was made. Buyers have become much more photorealistic these days and have moved away from this type of creativity. So sad!

For more information and to order prints, please contact me at brad@bradrickerby.com.

Fine Art Color Photograph by Brad Rickerby - My Dog Ginger

My Dog Ginger

Photo by Brad Rickerby

Prints and Greeting Cards Available

After two decades of carrying around 100 pounds of camera equipment, I am trying an experiment. I am now shooting with my iphone camera, proving to myself, once again, that it is not the fancy equipment that creates the photo, but rather the photographers eye.

You can see more of my iPhone photographic creations under the iPhone Photos tab on this bolg.

brad@bradrickerby.com

Fine Art Color Portrait of a Couple Photograph by Brad Rickerby

Enchantment

Photo by Brad Rickerby

Limited Edition Prints Available

Enchantment, desire, fantasy, romance, love, lust, desire all of these emotional concept, and so many more apply to this photography. You know that the man is staring at this woman, that his gaze is fixed and while you can't determine what is going through his mind, you know that it involves her. What ever is emotion is, it is not indifference. But what about her. She is soft focused so that all we really know is that the figure is a woman. Does she share his intensity or is she indifferent. Will she jump wildly into his arms, to be consumed in his embrace, or will she shut him down with a shrug and a step away. By virtue of being defocused she brings mystery, a mystery that counters his emotion.

The image tells part of a story, and leaves us wanting more. As a device to deliver information that is a good photograph, but it is a better stock photograph because of the number of concepts it could be used to convey.

The image was created back in the old days of film on a Mamiya RG 67. The film is an Ecktachrome 100. The difficult part of creating this image was the placement of the two models. They had to be far enough apart so that his head would be sharp at f4, while she would be a blur that was identifiable as female. The strong backlight helped to blur her further.

Interested in a print? Contact me at brad@bradrickerby.com

Fine Art Color Cityscape Photograph by Brad Rickerby - Shanghai, China

Green Light

Shanghai China

Photo by Brad Rickerby

Prints Available

This little beauty was taken in Shanghai, China. I can tell you two important things about Shanghai right off the bat. 1) It is a long way from New York City (where I was based at the time I created this image), and 2) The people in Shanghai are utterly bemused at the site of a chubby caucasian guy, dripping camera equipment, with a tri-pod and 300 mm f2.8 lens taking a picture of a traffic light. Of all the places I have been, I appreciate the bemusement of the chinese people the most. I felt utterly safe there, more so than any where else. In fact, it has only been in the USA where I have been hassled by passers-by and the police and only in Los Angeles that I have been robbed, Given me China for safety any day.

This is a great picture for stock. First, it illustrates a concept very simply. Go, start, proceed and others such concepts are all shown by this image. Second, it is simple, yet colorful and has what we used to call in the old days, light box appeal. It jumps off the light box at you because of its color and saturation. A third beauty of this image is that it requires no model release and can't be identified with any specific location.

As I mentioned, this images was created with a 300 f2.8 lens mounted on a tri-pod. It has a narrow aperture to isolate the traffic light against a fuzzy bak ground. The image was created on film (Fuji Velvia 50). Finally, to get the slight blur effect, I kicked (very gently, I didn't want to be accused of tri-pod abuse) the leg of the tri-pod during the exposure. I took a number of these images, varying the kick intensity and duration, so I could be sure I got the effect I wanted (remember, it was in the days of film so I couldn't see the images until I had travelled more than 10,000 miles to the lab I trusted.

Please contact me at brad@bradrickerby.com for more info or prints.  Cheers.

Fine Art Color Photograph by Brad Rickerby - Beautiful Woman

Kristen, Beautiful Woman

Kristen

Photo by Brad Rickerby

Limited Edition Prints Available

I don't do much studio work. I prefer to be outside, where I can try to create harmony from chaos - or something like that. I needed to get some studio shots for a project I was working on. I was in Los Angeles at the and put up an ad on Craigslist for models. I must have gotten about 100 replies. I ended up shooting Kristen and about a half dozen others.

I knew there was something special about Kristen when she walked in the door. She just oozed a depth of sensuality that I hadn't seen in any of the other models I had photographed. I knew I had to capture her sexy eyes staring directly into the camera, challenging any man who might look at the image to be worthy of her. I mussed her hair a little and asked her to part her lips, all in an attempt to bring out her raw sensuality. 

The lighting on this shot was very simple. I had a large soft box off to her right and let window light fill in the left side of her face. The window light was obviously no where near as bright as the soft box so left is darker than her right. If I were doing this over again I would have put a black board to her left so that very little light would be on her left. It would take some experimentation to create mystery without losing her beauty I think.

I have looked at this image hundreds of times. I remain captivated by her eyes. 


brad@bradrickerby.com

Fine Art Color Photograph by Brad Rickerby - Ghostly Runner

Ghostly Runner, Santa Monica, CA

Ghost Runner

Photo by Brad Rickerby

Limited Edition Prints Available

This was a stock shoot for Getty. Typical girl on the beach running at dusk. The concept was fitness, exercise, determination, drive etc. etc. etc. Just another in a long line of standard shoots with an expected outcome to fill the files of a stock agency that has thousands of other images just like it. Right?

Wrong! Not for me. To stand out, to make your product different and therefore more salable ay a premium price, you have to make your image unique. It has to jump off the light table (well, these days, the computer screen - I guess I go back a long way) and say to the buyer, "I am one of a kind. No other image that you can find will be like me".  I repeat this point often, because it is so basic to your survival as a photographer.

To differentiate my image on this day, I had the model, a women, keep running back and forth in front of me. Thirty feet one way, then turn around and go thirty feet back to where she started from. I had her jog rather than run. I knew if she ran fast, I would never get the image I wanted. I set the shutter speed at about a 30th of a second (at around f4) and shot away. In decades of looking at photographs I don't recall seeing many others like this one.

This is another image that has sold well through out the years.

Fine Art Color Photograph by Brad Rickerby - Piccadilly Line Photo

Piccadilly Line, Subway, London England

Piccadilly Line

Photo by Brad Rickerby

Limited Edition Prints Available

To be honest, it was pouring outside, really coming down, when I made this picture. You can see the rain on the windows of the subway car. So I escaped indoors, into the relative dryness of the London Underground where I made this great commercial/stock image. 

What in this image makes it good for commercial use? First, there is a large area at the bottom of the frame that can be used for text. That is really, really important. Advertisers want someplace to write about their message, so you have to leave them room somewhere. 

Second, the vast majority of the people's faces are blurred. They could be anybody, you maybe or your next door neighbor. (As an aside, back when this image was created the rules for model releases where less strict and this image got away for a long time being sold as commercial stock without a model release. That, of course, would never happen today). 

Third, it is a scene that most city dwellers and office workers can relate to. It can be placed in the business category and the business category sells best.

Finally, the blurs suggest action and direction and purpose. Those are there good concepts to have going for your image. Remember, stock photography revolves around the sales of concepts. The better your image illustrates a concept, the better it will sell.

 I created a picture that has sold well commercially and I managed to stay dry while doing so. What more could I ask for from a day of shooting!

Fine Art Color Abstract Photograph by Brad Rickerby - Models at Fashion Show

Abstract Photograph of Models on the Runway at a NYC Fashion Show.

Models on Runway

Photo by Brad Rickerby

Limited Edition Prints Available

When I worked for Reuters I covered the fashion shows in New York City every spring and fall. After several years of practice I came to know when I had the images I needed for my client. This show was of a lower level designer and I knew I had the shot early on. So I set myself the goal of creating something really creative and interesting and conceptual (and yes, salable as stock). I came up with several images that I really liked, including this one (and yes, it has sold very, very well over the years).

If you have ever watched a fashion show it seems all glamour and glitz. That is because the people bringing that image to you are not photographing themselves. To get the images that fashion magazines want, you have to be sitting directly at the end of the runway. That means that eight or ten photographers are going to get that image and all the rest have to settle for second best. The New York photo press photographers are quite a competitive bunch to begin with, but when you add in the photographers from England and France and Italy and Japan and ..... you get the idea, all competing for those few spots, what you get is chaos.

I enjoyed the competition because I figured out a way to get around it, a way to satisfy my client and to create a image that was unique from what everyone else was getting and to avoid the horror of being in the front row. I would find myself a spot in the back row, off center, where no one else really wanted to be and use my creativity to get really good and really different images. I needed large telephoto lens to create these images. This one was done with a 200 mm lens, but I would often use a 300 mm and on occasion go as high as a 600 mm. Then I would try to be a journalist and create an image that told a story about what the fashion show was rather than just what a dress looked like. Reuters was a news agency so this approach went over very well.

It is so important to keep in mind that you try to create something different than what every one else does. If it is for news or art or stock, when you create what every other photographer creates, your product is a commodity and can always be replaced by another photographer's image at a lower price. If you product is different buyers will have to come to you and pay what you are asking. I tend to go back to this point a great deal as it is fundamental to survival in photography.

Fine Art Color Abstract Photograph by Brad Rickerby - Girl in Pool

Abstract Photograph of a Girl Walking at the Bottom of a Swimming Pool.

Girl in Pool

Photo by Brad Rickerby

Limited Edition Prints Available

My agency wanted me to "think outside the box". This is part of what I came up with. Let me tell you, this was not an easy image to create. We had to get the model, Tomi, at the bottom of the pool at the same time that I was swimming down to about mid level. I needed to be looking over her back and have the air bubbles from her jumping in just rising to the surface. She would jump in, I would count to two and follow her. I would have to dive to the right place, figure out where I was, get the camera to my face, focus and then snap the frame. All the while just assuming that the auto exposure was working correctly.

You can bet we both jumped in the water a LOT that day.

More, I was using a Nikonnos back in the film days. Manuel focus and, I had to change film every 36 images. Thankfully I had an assistant that day. Her only job was to dry the camera, keep her hands dry and then change the film without getting water into the camera.

I know that this was taken with a 35 mm lens on Fuji Velvia (50 ASA), but as for shutter speed and f-stop, I can only same that there is a good depth of field and that the shutter speed was high enough to stop the bubbles in mid rise to the surface.

Days like this are why I love photography. You get to be wild and creative, and do something entirely different than the rest of the world. While it is, at times, hard work, you feel very gratified at the end of the day and you sleep well at night.

Limited Edition prints are always available. Please contact me at brad@bradrickerby.com.

Fine Art Color Abstract Photograph by Brad Rickerby - Cityscape Hong Kong

My vision of the crowded streets of Hong Kong at night.

Faceless, Hong Kong

Photo by Brad Rickerby

Limited Edition Prints Available

When the light turns green, when the sign says walk go, you walk. Crossing the street. You go, the mass arounds you go and the mass from the other side of the street goes. You move through each other when you meant. Never looking up, just getting through. The faces are blurs, devoid of features. Maybe they have them, but you never notice, just as they never notice you. In a city of hundreds of thousands or even more, millions, the chance that you will ever see that face that you didn't see the first time around is so small that you figure don't bother. 

I tried to capture this feeling for a long time and finally found it in Hong Kong one night. The two large faces in the foreground are what sell the meaning. (Sadly, because of those blurs, this will image will never work for commercial or stock purposes.)

A 17 - 35 mm lens, set at 29 mm was used to create this image. It was shot at ISO 200, f2.8 at 1/8th second. When the light turned green I just walked out into the intersection and stopped in the middle of the street. I turned sideways and pushed the shutter. I had to do this several times to get an image I liked. People always bump into me when I shot this picture. I just smile and apologize. They shake their heads at the crazy American and go about their businesses.

Fine Art Color Pacific Ocean Photograph by Brad Rickerby - Newport Beach

Newport Beach Dusk

Photo by Brad Rickerby

Limited Edition Prints Available

I haven't the faintest idea why I took this picture. It has almost no value as a stock photo, which was the market I was shooting for at the time. Without model releases I couldn't use it, and I was shooting an ocean scene and had no releases with me. But I took a break from what I was doing to look around and saw these two couples standing on the wet sand. The reflections were perfect. The light was enchanting. The mood was calm and open. The people were obviously happy, content. So I created one frame, then went back to work. I have loved this image ever since. It has never sold, never even gone to an agent, but had this been the only image I created that day, I would have been content.

The important lesson from this photograph is simple. Always take time to stop what you are doing and look around. A great picture is just out of your view, just waiting to be created, if only you will take the time to just see it.

You can see more of my work at www.bradrickerby.com and contact me at brad@bradrickerby.com.

Great quote by one of my favorite photographers

There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are. 


Ernst Haas