Health and photography

Health and photography

Importance of health and my love of photography

 

Fyi, this is more of a personal post, but it does talk about both my health and photography.

Last night, was a long night. I was up at 2am and then 4am, which in itself is nothing unusual for me. But, last night as well as not being able to walk, (as there is gout in my foot) for a very brief moment I could not open my eyes. It was frightening, it took me about 30 seconds and then I could open them but they were stinging so much. I have had what feels like grit in my eyes for the last couple of months. But I wonder now if this is to do with the gout, another horrible complication of renal failure. Fortunately the Gp has given me steroids and I really hope that this is quick to work, for my eyes are very sore today.

As I couldn’t sleep, I was just thinking. A past-time I have got particularly good at in the last few months. My thoughts focused on positive mental attitude. I am a firm believer that this makes a difference. If the brain can keep going, the body keeps going too. If the brain gives up, the body has nothing to tell it it needs to fight on, it will be ok, it is worth the pain, and you will get through to the other side. It motivates and mobilises the body to keep fighting. But at the same time, I also think that a positive mental attitude can’t cure you. If major things start to go wrong with the body, you need help. The body is an amazing delicate ecosystem and once things start to go wrong there is a domino effect. All the positivity in the world cannot redress that.

My photography as always has always been a positive force in my life. I am continuing every day to do photoshop work and to take a couple of pictures, even if I am only walking a couple of metres to photograph it. The photography has been my solace ever since my diagnosis, it provides distraction and it is a creative endeavour. It is important to be able to create when your body feels like it is being constantly damaged. My love of photography is uplifting and no pun intended keeps me focused. My health and photography are now completely entwined.

I do remain positive, and I do believe I will be ok. The aches and pains that have been plaguing my body for at least a year, well, the doctors have found the cause. It can be easily rectified by removing a troublesome gland. So, I am positive that I will be able to keep strong, keep going and keep shooting.

Stay well, Victoria x

 

Saunton sands, Devon
Saunton Sands, Devon. Reflections in the water.

 

Saunton Sands, Devon. Reflections in the water.
Saunton Sands, Devon. Reflections in the water.
Saunton Sands, Devon. Reflections in the water.
Saunton Sands, Devon. Reflections in the water.

Stock photography by Victoria Ashman at Alamy

 

 

Digital Backdrop Easter Sale

Digital Backdrop Easter Sale

Digital Backdrop Easter Sale

Easter is fast approaching, although as the weather has been so cold it certainly doesn’t feel like Easter. Etsy has its ‘Etsy on Sale’ over the next few days, and I have decided to join them. Therefore between the 22nd of March and the 25th of March my Etsy shop will be having a 20% sale. The sale is for all of my digital backdrops, and all the backdrops are high resolution. Digital backdrops, primarily are for newborn and baby photographers. But I am toying with the idea of offering a service where after receiving an image of a baby I composite them into the backdrop. There are multiple issues with this though, primarily that if you haven’t got studio lights or good natural light then it will be very difficult to make the baby look anything but superimposed. I certainly need to consider this in more depth.

 

Digital Backdrop Easter Sale
Digital Backdrop Easter Sale

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AuraDigitalBackdrops

 

I had a Christmas sale, which went well, so thought I should try a digital backdrop Easter sale. I have added a few more backdrops since Christmas, although not for the last couple of weeks as I have been working on my stock image portfolio. Both the digital backdrops and stock imagery have enabled me to work on my photoshop skills. This has been very valuable and are skills that can be applied to my outdoor photography portrait shoots.

 

Digital backdrop/background
Digital backdrop, bluebell flowers in a woodland setting with a baby basket

Hopefully, the weather will start to warm up soon, as I am itching to start updating my outdoor digital backdrops. But for now I just have to keep thinking of new ideas and improving my photoshop skills.

Link to my Etsy Shop https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AuraDigitalBackdrops

Microstock Image Libraries

Microstock Image Libraries

I have thrown my hat in the ring in the last few months and joined a few of the microstock image libraries. So far, the earnings have been fairly minimal. But I have found that some are better than others. Alamy is my favourite, but the sales seem to be very slow. But at least they pay well when there is a sale. You can get 50% of the sale from Alamy, most of the other sites only give you a 15% commission.

After Alamy, Shutterstock seems to be the best site. The sales are much more frequent. But they only pay $0.25 for a monthly subscriber image. $0.81 for a small/med on demand image and $1.88 for an on demand image large. When you reach a certain threshold of earnings i.e. $500-$3000 the payment goes up but only minimally (a few cent).

So far, food and drink and some of my historical landscape photos seem to be selling best, so this is where I am concentrating my portfolio, for the moment.

Microstock Image Libraries
Prosecco bottles in ice bucket

I have been on istockphoto for about a year. Initially earnings seemed quite good. But I soon saw that every now and again I was only getting $0.03 an image. I have since left my gallery live, but I have not added any more as it doesn’t warrant the time it takes to keyword and it completely undervalues the pictures that I have online at other sites.

I have also uploaded to Adobe stock, Deposit photos, Crestock and Dreamstime. But it is too early to tell if these sites are going to be successful. Crestock also seems to have an extremely slow review period. Alamy and Shutterstock are the best in terms of review, as images are considered and accepted or rejected within 24 hours, which means I can add to my portfolio every day.

Looking at a lot of research on this subject, I have read a lot of information about how to start selling images microstock image libraries and have come across this book. It may be worth reading for people that are new to the microstock library world and would like a comprehensive guide on how to get started. https://victoriaashmanphotography.co.uk/recommends/817-2/

I have decided that I am going to add the option to download and buy stock images from this website.  Digital backdrops were added last week, and the process seemed fairly easy to setup. But it is quite time consuming. So it should take me a couple of weeks.

To my mind microstock image libraries must be extremely difficult and time consuming for buyers to find what they are looking for, (if they have a specific image in mind). Microstock sites surely will become overwhelmed with images. So maybe there will be a trend for photographers selling stock images independently. Or maybe small niche image libraries will become a stronger force in the market again. For now though I am keeping my hat in the ring.

SHUTTERSTOCK  https://www.shutterstock.com/g/vickyashman?rid=185033396&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ctrbreferral-link

ALAMY  Stock photography by Victoria Ashman at Alamy 

ADOBE STOCK Portfolio https://stock.adobe.com/uk/contributor/239766/victoria%20ashman

Microstock Image Libraries
Sunrise over Icelandic Waterfall

 

Digital backgrounds/backdrops

Digital backgrounds/backdrops

 

Digital backgrounds/backdrops 

Spending more time at home over the pass month I have been able to really get to grips with photoshop, using blending modes and gradient maps. Something which I have stayed away from out of fear. But actually, like anything, once you know how to do it, it’s not that difficult. I have also been trying to make sure I create Digital backgrounds/backdrops every day, keeping the Etsy shop active. I have applied the skills learnt and I’m happy with the results. You can see the new work added to my shop here https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AuraDigitalBackdrops

Rocking the greys…

gray-background-and-nest

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Digital Overlay

Developed this week, an overlay of fairy lights and white wooden floor. At various times in my studio career, I needed an overlay like this. Fairy lights, as most studio photographers will know are difficult to photograph, as studio lights often blow out the fairy lights, (so that they can no longer be seen). Here is an example of the overlay added to this pure white background. This overlay will work particularly well at Christmas and you can change the opacity, so you can change the subtlety of the overlay.

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Digital Backdrop, newborn nest with Teddy:

Parents would often bring little teddies to their newborn photo shoot. The teddies often had sentimental value, but also provided a sense of scale. The brown tones of the flooring and the nest match the teddy so well, and the fluffy sheepskin adds to the earthiness of this image.

wood-floor-with-teddy-and-nest

Here are a few of the other Digital backgrounds/backdrops created in the last couple of weeks. I even had a go at creating an outdoor landscape digital backdrop, which has really highlighted how difficult it is to get the lighting to match the baby.

basket-and-white-floor

basket-and-white-floor-wb

white-floor,-nest-and-roses-wb

Digital backdrop/background
Digital backdrop, bluebell flowers in a woodland setting with a baby basket

 

Change…

Change…

I posted this letter to my Facebook page a few days ago. In the time since I have been taking stock, and now I am feeling better about the future. Sometimes the hardest thing is making a tough decision and then afterwards you can deal with it and move forward. The first thing I did after diagnosis was go out and take photographs, it calms me and fulfils me and after posting this I did the same thing.

heavens-gate-sun-throughh-trees

Hope you are all well. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.

After much procrastination, soul searching, defiance and eventual necessity I have decided to give up my studio shoots (not my outdoor shoots). I have been battling with kidney failure for a long time now, but I am now at the stage where dialysis is in my immediate future. I have been on the waiting list for a transplant for 18 months and if I lose any more kidney function I’ve been told I have to prepare for dialysis. The studio shoots are physical and involve a lot of heavy lifting, both before and after, and it is simply getting too much. I have been stubbornly resisting. But last night I was told that the studio space I rent has been sold and I need to vacate by the end of February. So, the decision has been taken out of my hands.

I had a look through the proofs from my shoots a couple of days ago and I was amazed to see just how many studio shoots I have photographed. It must be more than 500, which really makes me smile.

I will continue the outdoor shoots for as long as I can and I am now focusing on selling digital backdrops to other photographers and selling my stock images through image libraries.

Thank you so much for your continued support. I am not going anywhere just yet and now I need to look forward to a new chapter.

Many thanks always,

Victoria x

Timelapse Video, newborn shoot, youtube

Timelapse Video, newborn shoot, youtube

So, I made a timelapse video of one of my newborn shoots. It’s funny seeing me on the video! But I wanted to give an idea of how it looks during the shoot. You can see me shooting away and you can then (at the end) see the finished pictures.

Timelapse video, newborn shoot, youtube…

My newborn shoots take a fair amount of time, primarily because I wait until the little one is comfortable before posing. I work around them and as I don’t have an assistant I always have Mum or Dad helping me. This is nice for two reasons, I know that I can step back and take a photograph as they are in the safest hands possible. It also includes the parents in the shoot and the pictures we achieve from that shoot.

rafferty-blue rafferty-2 rafferty-website-3

Sebastian’s Newborn Photo Shoot

I have photographed the lovely Osment family for the past four years. Their first shoot was a newborn shoot with their daughter Amelie. Sebastian is their newest arrival and I have just had the pleasure of shooting Sebastian’s newborn photo shoot. Sebastian was born early, so his shoot was much later than usual. But he still really looked like a newborn. He was very sensitive and just wanted to be with his Mum, so it was a challenging shoot. I took my time and we still got some beautiful pictures. His sister Amelie just wanted to cuddle and look after her baby brother and amazes me with her posing – she just seems to pose herself. This image below with Amelie and Sebastian was not engineered by me. I had to be quick though, as Amelie just wanted to hold Sebastian and was a bit overzealous . Sibling and newborn images are generally the most stressful part of the shoot… and sometimes toddlers flat out refuse to get into a picture with their newborn brother or sister. I try every trick in the book and the majority of the time I can get the shot. In this instance though Amelie wanted to be in every picture!

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After the sibling images I began the individual pictures, the first blanket we used was sentimental and belonged to the Osments. They’ve had this blanket since Amelie was born and I always like to use an item that is special to the family. This is the picture that went on the thank you cards that went out to the Osment’s friends and family.

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I used this fur in Amelie’s first shoot so wanted to have some continuity, this was also where I could get a good feet shot..

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In Amelie’s shoot there is a picture where Amelie is in this basket with this fur and she is looking off to the side and she is looking at her Dad. In this picture Sebastian is looking off to the side and he is looking at his Mum. I love that.

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Samantha brought a little outfit and we got some side pose pictures whilst he was in this outfit. I wasn’t sure if we could get this side pose as he was that much older and usually they don’t find it comfortable. But he soon settled and look very relaxed in this pose. If I see that a little one doesn’t like the pose I will take them straight out and find a position that makes sure they are comfortable.

 

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Of course I had to get some pictures of Amelie on her own. These teddie were both bought when Sebastian was born. Sebastian’s teddy is the one facing the background and Amelie’s teddy is looking at her whilst she is looking at me. I got a similar shot when Amelie was 6 months old.

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Finally I wanted to share this picture with Mum, Amelie and Sebastian. Sebastian looks so relaxed in Mum’s arms and I adore this picture. I just see complete happiness and a tenderness from Amelie. A lovely end to Sebastian’s newborn photo shoot.

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Maternity Shoot

Maternity Shoot

I always enjoy photographing a maternity shoot. I don’t photograph many, so I love it when the opportunity comes along. Its even more enjoyable when there is a sibling (to be) that is really excited about being in the pictures! I am used to toddlers and they don’t always do as I say, which can make it challenging but then so rewarding when you get the shot. Big sister Indy was lovely and I just adore these pictures with Indy and Mum’s bump.

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Second time Mum (to be) Lisa was lovely too and up for any of the poses I suggested. She is a fitness trainer so I think this helped keep her so limber. If I remember rightly her son Rafferty was born 10 days after the shoot. I normally do maternity (bump) shoots around 37 weeks so it was a little bit later than usual. I’ve done a few shoots at 35 weeks, but I think around 37 is a good time as the bump is big so you can really see it in the photographs. I’ve also found that Mum’s are still able to do a shoot at this stage. It just gets too uncomfortable any later than 37 weeks.

Maternity Pictures

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We took this image with a view to doing a similar shot in the newborn shoot and then posing the baby on the tummy. As I am writing this I have just literally finished editing the newborn shoot and we did get the shot, which I will share at a later date. We also had to get the hands on the bump shot. This proved to be tricky, not for Dad but for Indy, who’s arms wen’t long enough. We got there in the end though.

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This was one of the last shots and one of my favourites. You can just see the bond between Mum and daughter. All their lives are about to change and it was wonderful marking this special time.

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Newborn Shoots & (possibly) a model call

IMG_8450 with sheepskin and baby 2 mbNewborn Shoots

So, for the last six months I have mostly been photographing newborn shoots. Luckily for me! as I love photographing newborns. It’s such a precious time for my clients and truly so wonderful to be able to capture this special time. Each year I feel I add to my skills and improve them. Above all it takes patience and calm and following the cues of the baby. This area of my business continues to be strong. I think its because newborn shoots are not about simply clicking the shutter. It takes time. I’ve photographed a fair few photographer’s babies and they tell me that they tried but newborn photography wasn’t in their skill set.

I have been posting far fewer pictures on Facebook though, partly because my clients ask for privacy which I completely respect. If a client asks me to post to social media then of course I am more than happy to oblige. I mainly use Facebook now for news or for offers. For example, every year I offer a model shoot. I am hoping to do a model shoot in August. The pictures I take in model newborn shoots are used to update my website, or to try some poses that I would like to master – but don’t want to do so on my paying clients time.

Digital Backdrops

I am also still adding to my catalogue of digital backdrops. there are twenty or so at the moment. I have added a gallery to my website where you can try some of my backdrops (small images) for free before you buy! If you go this gallery http://victoriaashman.zenfolio.com/p259041982 Click on the picture that has ‘Aura Digital Backdrops’ written on it and then click ‘menu’ by hovering over top left of the picture, you can then click download. If you go back to the gallery the picture next to it is an example of what you can do with the image, and the third image is the high resolution download, which you can download and pay for through my website.

Here is a little video with a few of the backdrops that I have on offer. It includes some instructions on how to use them. I sell them at my etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AuraDigitalBackdrops

Easter Digital Backdrops

My Etsy Shop https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/518847367/easter-digital-backdrop-a-digital-prop?ref=shop_home_active_1

 

Easter Digital Backdrops

 

Here are a couple of my Easter digital backdrops. I sell my digital backdrops on Etsy in my Etsy shop, and I also use them in my shoots if they are requested by the parents. I’m using my nest again, but I figured I don’t own anything that says Easter like my newborn nest prop! I added some euphorbia flowers, that were taken from my garden and of course I had to use daffodils. The green/yellow combo is particularly nice against the red/browns of the wooden nest.

easter nest 2_

We photographed the nest on a wooden floor with a damask background. The reddish colours of the wood (in the nest) pops against the wooden floor, I hadn’t really noticed those tones before. I also left a well in the nest so that I could fit a baby inside and it worked beautifully.

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I then decided I wanted to do an image that would allow a baby to sit in the nest. I changed the damask background as I didn’t want it to overpower the baby sat in the nest.

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easter nest 3 with baby_

 

I’m looking forward to Easter now, and I have to admit I had some mini eggs yesterday. Photographing digital backgrounds for Easter just made me think of chocolate!

 

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