LightVision

News from Wildlight Photo Agency

Archive for the ‘Flash’


old man Bill goes to Canberra

Well deserved recognition was bestowed last week upon Wildlight photographer Mark Lang, when his print ofOld Man Bill Neidjie by Mark Lang old man Bill Neidjie, a traditional owner, was accepted by the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. Mark spent three years up in Kakadu National Park working as a park ranger, during that time he befriended and sort the mentorship of the late ‘Big Bill’ Neidjie. During his time in the ‘top end’ Mark recorded conversations and photographed the old man and his land, a trust extended to so few non-indigenous people. Mark is currently writing a book about his experiences with the old man.

Mark’s emotive portrait of ‘Big Bill’ Neidjie was gratefully accepted by the Gallery’s board in charge of new acquisitions. The 20″x16″ seven-colour black and white archival print will hang as part of the NPG’s permanent collection in 2009.

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Wild about Wildlight winner

Abstract Earthbook by Richard WoldendorpWe’re very happy to announce the winner of our Wild about Wildlight competition. Cynthia Wardle from John Wiley & Sons Publishing receives a signed copy of Richard Woldendorp’s new book Abstract Earth. Entrants were asked to write a humorous testimonial of 50 words or less about Wildlight Photo Agency and the Australian way of life. Cynthia won the prize with this brilliant piece of creative copy:

“There’s nothing more Australian than bludging, and Wildlight photographers have the biggest bludge of all: wandering round this vast land taking photos of spectacular scenery. Thankfully, they’re really good at it.”

Congratulations Cynthia! We’re not sure that our photographers will be entering Bludger in the occupation box of their immigration cards anytime soon, but they’re bound to get a good laugh from your kind words.

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win a famous Rennie Ellis print

Visitors to the joint Wildlight/Photo New Zealand booth at the PictureHouse Sydney exhibition this coming Wednesday, 17 September at b2 photographic studio, 46 - 62 Maddox Street, Alexandria from 11.30am-7pm have a chance to win an iconic Rennie Ellis limited edition framed artist proof worth $1,590. Just drop your business card or contact details in the lucky draw bowl and make sure you are registered as a trade user on our website site in your own name ready for the drawing which will be on Wednesday, 24 September 2008 at noon. Winner will be notified by email and details will be posted on our home page.Bondi NSW 1997 by Rennie Ellis

Elegantly framed in a black box frame using acid free matting, the C Type digital colour photograph print titled Bondi NSW 1997 (signed verso) is an artist proof and comes complete with a certificate of authenticity mounted at the back of the frame.

Find out more about the Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive and all the limited edition prints available here.

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LightVision Edition:003

New alliance -Today we can announce that Wildlight will be distributing the Photo New Zealand collection in Australia! The Photo New Zealand (PNZ) collection features real Kiwi people, amazing scenery and enviable model-released lifestyle images, shot by leading Kiwi photographers. Photo New ZealandPNZ is a niche, premium library, that shares many core attributes with the Wildlight library. So for the best of Australia and New Zealand you can head to Wildlight. We’ll be launching the new partnership at the PictureHouse Sydney event next Wednesday 17, so pay us a visit. I’ll let you know once the Kiwi collection is available through the Wildlight website, in the meantime go here.

Pictures just in - I’m very happy to say that unlike our competitors we have not uploaded 2 million images this month. Instead we’ve uploaded premium Australian imagery by all rounder, Bill Bachman, tourism, lifestyle and housing pictures by Phil Quirk and iconic beach snapshots by Sheridan Nilsson. See the latest uploads here. Next month we’ll have a fantastic retro collection from the Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive to coincide with a four month long retrospective of Rennie’s work at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne - so dust off your flares or whip into ‘Vinnies’ for some tight fluro slacks and prepare for a flashback!

PictureHouse - Visit us there….

Picturehouse SydneyWildlight will be an exhibitor at the Picturehouse Australia exhibition in Sydney next week on Wednesday, 17 September. Come see us at b2 photographic studio. Unit B2, 46 - 62 Maddox Street, Alexandria, NSW

Picture buyers can register now for a free admission ticket here.

Picturehouse events offer a unique opportunity to discover new sources of imagery, meet the people you only normally contact by phone and email, and network with peers in the industry — all in one location, all in one day! Hope to see you there. We’ll try to sneak in Ernst, the pug!

Hey, don’t take photos! I’ve only been bailed up like this a couple of times, and admittedly I knew I was in the wrong - I was standing on private property taking pictures. I’ve had a few enquiries from photographers, friends and parents at my son’s school, as to what you can and can’t take pictures of without being arrested or called a ‘rock spider‘ and driven out of town. Over the past 10 years there has been such manic social anxiety and political correctness, mostly misguided, regarding the rights of a photographer and the subject. It’s absurd that there should be such uproar about privacy, just look around at all the cameras hanging from street lights and buildings, heck, even at the cafe at lunch, Jean-Marc and I were being watched. Who looks at all this footage, where is it kept? is it safe? Is it already online?No Cameras

The good news is, you can photograph anything (except military installations) and anybody you like from a public space - man, woman or child. Of course there are some reasonable exceptions, you can’t photograph in an inappropriate way, or with the intention to be subversive or obscene or use a photo in a defamatory manner. In addition you can’t photograph a person for commercial use without a signed model release. Commercial use means using a person’s image to promote a product or service. No surprise; you can’t photograph on private land without permission. There is especially fierce paranoia over images of children. Two excellent articles have been written, NSW Photo Rights: Australian Street Photography Legal Rights by Andrew Nemeth BSc (Hons) LLB, the second, Photography is not a Crime by Fairfax Media contributing photographer, Jon Reid. I suggest you read them right through. They make fascinating and informative reading and go a long way to correct the misconceptions about taking pictures in public. On Andrew’s site there is also a helpful fact sheet, which summarises the rights of the subject and the photographer. I recommend everyone print it out and keep it in their camera bag, download it here. Remember this info applies to New South Wales in particular. I’ll check if there are similar handy fact sheets for the other Australian states and territories.

So from a picture library point of view, we can publish pictures of anyone on our website. If we don’t have a model release, the pictures must be marked ‘editorial only’ - our customers can then only use them in magazines, newspapers and book publishing, including online versions of these.

So what about photographing in NSW public schools? As a parent with my son in public school, this is particularly interesting. Today, I called the principal of his school and had a long conversation about photographing the students. I could gauge from the conversation that there was a lot of grey areas, and plenty of individual interpretation. The principal is kindly finding out some info from the Department of Education, and I’m going to be talking to a couple of lawyers for their views. This topic needs much more examination, I’ll post my opinion next month. Hopefully next time you go to your child’s school, you can take a camera without being stoned by the town mob! But just remember it’s a sensitive issue.

What turns you on?

We need feedback about incentives, although we’re not going to offer an incentive for your feedback! What incentives would you like to be offered? Do they really motivate you? How many iPods does anyone need? What loyalty does it gain and at who’s expense?
Some of our competitors use mp3 players, department store gift cards, tropical holidays to gain customer loyalty, however for us at Wildlight, these kind of consumer items have nothing to do with the business of licensing pictures. Other competitors also use big discounts, like buy three get the forth free — we have too, in the past, however, I feel it’s a bit crude and only a last resort. So what tickles your fancy? Basic marketing principles suggest that the incentive must have some relevance to our business and the services we provide. Some of our photographers have published high-quality books, like Richard Woldendorp and David Bettini, do you really want these? They are beautiful and will last countless more years than an iPod. Some of our photographers, like David Moore, Rennie Ellis and Phil Quirk have fine art prints collected by public galleries around the world, worth thousands, are these objects of desire? Would you like to see a valuable framed image on your wall? Is it that photography is not seen as being an art form, and particularly so now that stock pictures are worth
as little as $1. Is it just a trade, if it was I’d make more money being a plumber!

what turns you onIn the second edition of LightVision, I ran a promo, for a signed book by Richard Woldendorp worth $50, a great book, by one of the Australia’s greatest photographers, all that was required was to write a humourous testimonial about Aussies and Wildlight. I didn’t think it was too difficult, however, I didn’t receive a single entry -not one! I’m still unsure as to why it was a resounding failure, perhaps the prize wasn’t sexy enough, perhaps it targeted the wrong demographic, or perhaps it was too much work for a low value product. My reasoning was for my customers to be creative by using some witty copy, not just to whack down the plastic and purchase. So it’s encouraged me to call for your valuable feedback on this nettlesome topic. Leave a comment below and tell me what incentive would or would not instantly make you purchase a picture licence.

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mobile phone coverage

mobile phone coveragenow surely this beats an iPhone hands down… This is one of our favourite images, captured by Nik Gregorkiewitz, on an island off the Pilbara coast in Western Australia. It’s one of a series taken on the island, check out this hilarious collection here.

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iconic places: Bondi Icebergs Club

Bondi Icebergs by Sheridan NilssonWe’ve been loving Sheridan Nilsson’s new images of Australian beach life. You’ll agree that this neat collection of images taken at the Bondi Icebergs Club won’t disappoint. Since 1929, winter swimming races have taken place at the Bondi Iceberg Club on the south end of famous Bondi Beach. The mateship, competition and spectacular setting make this an intrinsic part of our modern cultural fabric. There’ll be lots more vibrant collections from Sheridan uploaded in the coming days - subscribe to the LightVision blog to keep up-to-date.

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LightVision edition:002

With spring at the doorstep, most Aussies already have a weather eye on the beach. Sheridan Nilsson comes to the party with new collections of life defined by surf and sand. Tony Yeates gives us a curtain raiser to the Summer Olympic Games and more of Richard Woldendorp’s dazzling aerials of the Australian landscape are published in his new book, a copy of which can be yours if you win our whacky Wild about Wildlight testimonial competition:


Stronger, faster, higher and China—an Olympic story

Tony Yeates ProfileWildlight Photographer, Tony Yeates, keeps on moving on with his latest commission by VISA (Singapore) for their Visa Moving Images competition. Tony is one of five photographers in the Asia Pacific region to produce a series of images representing themes around the Beijing Olympic Games. The themes were stronger, faster, higher & China. The images were used as examples of subject matter to inspire the amateur photographers entering the competition Visa Moving Images. The commission also involved judging the final work from the entrants.

The Visa Moving Images site contains an in depth section about Tony and the inspiring images he captured in the Featured Photographer section. You can see his imagery, read an interview with Tony and find out more about his photographic career, just click here.


Aerial abstracts prize can well be yours

Abstract Earthbook by Richard WoldendorpLast month we told you about Wildlight photographer Richard Woldendorp’s great new book of aerial images called Abstract Earth. Make a signed copy yours by entering our Wild about Wildlight attestation competition. Write a humorous testimonial of 50 words or less about Wildlight Photo Agency and the Australian way of life. The lucky winner will receive Richard’s book that retails for $50. Here are the submission guidelines: 1. you must be registered on the Wildlight website 2. stay cool with your language to make it fit for publication! Aussie slang is tops! 3. maximum two bravo testimonials per entrant with submission deadline of midnight 15 August 2008. The winner will be announced in our next LightVision during the first week of September and published simultaneously on our home page. Email your sidesplitting testimonials to wild@wildlight.net with your contact details.


Beach as life

Australian Family HolidaySheridan Nilsson conclusively proves that beach is life with her amazing new collections of all-Australian summer images just added to her portfolio at Wildlight. Coming out of winter, the reviving experience of seeing these pictures of invigorating surf and warm sands, almost leaves you with a residue of sea spray on your skin or sand between your toes! Click here to get a head start on the approaching season that transforms Australia.

Picture us there….

Picturehouse SydneyWildlight will be an exhibitor at the Picturehouse Australia exhibition in Sydney, this year on Wednesday, 17 September. Come see us at b2 photographic studio. Unit B2, 46 - 62 Maddox Street, Alexandria, NSW

Picture buyers can register now for a free admission ticket here.

Picturehouse events offer a unique opportunity to discover new sources of imagery, meet the people you only contact by phone and email, and network with peers in the industry — all in one location, all in one day! Hope to see you there. We’ll try and sneak Ernst in!

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flood of pictures

Wildlight Photographer, Jeff Drewitz, has been submitting a flood of images to the library, so it’s no surprise to see one of Jeff’s beautiful landscapes on a book cover, Floodtide by Judy Nunn. Random House used a striking image of Cape Leveque on the Kimberley Coast. Jeff is a specialist landscape stock photographer, and a very successful one at that. He travfels extensively in Australia but also overseas. His recent images of Norway and New Zealand are quite breathtaking, check them out here.

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reverse mufti day at wildlight

Andrew and Jean-Marc at the Wildlight Mufti DayFriday is Mufti Day at Wildlight. If this is dressing down imagine when Andrew and Jean-Marc dress-up! Thanks to Martin Wiseman, VFX Producer from Rising Sun Pictures for the great pictures.

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corporate nomadism

…from the the Virgin Blue Lounge Sydney. Sitting here at Terminal 2, waiting for the 3pm to Melbourne, testing the concept of corporate nomadism. Baggage buzzing around like packets of information through the web. So far I’ve made calls, banged out a few emails, sent a couple of quotes - I could get used to hopping from hot spot to hotspot. Jean-Marc has just about finished virtualising our business, so the physical office is no longer so important. Being away from the office allows you to identify what it’s role really should be -a meeting place for people not paperwork! Now I’m watching the baggage handlers driving around like the grand prix! Better be off now…

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