Bonnie is the Creative Director for Great Escape Publishing, a regular contributor to The Right Way to Travel, and creator of the Breakfast Stock Club, which helps folks to get up-and-running selling their photos in online stock photo agencies. She got her first travel articles and photos published after attending the Ultimate Travel Writer's Workshop six summers ago in her hometown of Portland, Oregon. Before joining Great Escape Publishing, she taught English in the South of France and vagabonded through South America and South East Asia, dutifully testing all of the local foods and massage techniques.
Favorite travel tip:
Don't book a hotel room when you can rent an apartment! It tends to be cheaper, offers more room, and lets you live like a local, with a kitchen and living area. Recently, some friends and I found a cute apartment right in the middle of Paris with a balcony for half the price we would have paid for a hotel room in the city. I like to use Airbnb.com or Vrbo.com to book.
Stock agencies need near-perfect photos, with little-to-no noise, compression, or focus issues. Even the very best photographers encounter all of these issues in their images now and then. The way around it? Downsizing. Now, this doesn’t work on every image. But if one of your photos has very SLIGHT noise, compression, or focus issues… often […]
One of the scariest things when you’re starting out with stock photography is the idea of your images getting rejected. It sounds so stern and final. But the truth is, many ‘rejected’ photos can actually be re-submitted and turned into great sellers with just a minor tweak or two. While some stock sites give specific […]
If you’ve started signing up for stock agencies and submitting photos, be prepared for a few of those photos to get rejected. The first time I submitted photos to a stock agency, they got rejected for being “too similar in content or subject matter.” It wasn’t a big deal… but I made the mistake of […]
Back when I was shooting with studio lights, my living room would go for days (ok, weeks…) cluttered with light stands, cords, a background, reflectors, and a stool. Anyone who came through the front door had to run the gauntlet, risking the possibility that I’d make them sit for a few quick shots. Here’s a […]
Usually, when a photo buyer is looking through images in a stock photography agency, they know more-or-less what they want. Sometimes it’s a certain concept, like “freedom,” “togetherness,” or “strength.” Other times, it’s more specific, like, “young, ethnic, middle-class family happily unpacking boxes in their new home.” And sometimes, a buyer needs photography featuring a […]
Every so often, we talk about a different kind of stock photo agency, called Alamy. Alamy is intriguing, as each sale tends to be way bigger than at other agencies… and you keep 50%. But it’s also kind of weird… Some folks report NO sales there. Others, like BSC member Marianne Campolongo, consistently make downloads […]
For a few minutes every day, you have the opportunity to create magic with your camera. Sure, photography is always a little magical, allowing us to see things you normally can’t with the naked eye. Stopping time for a split second, making one moment last forever. But one of the most magical times of day […]
It’s 2018! Today, I’m writing to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Jordan and I decided to start the year somewhere new and exciting – so we found an apartment in Buenos Aires and bought a one-way ticket to arrive on New Year’s Eve. Our apartment terrace, where I can’t wait to set up a stock […]
Happy New Year! At Breakfast Stock Club we often talk about setting goals as we welcome in a new year. And goals are great – I love them, but… …this year, let’s focus on something even simpler. Let’s talk about time. Most everyone I chat with seems to agree – time goes way too quickly […]
Ugh, has this ever happened to you… You’re in a moment that is beyond spectacular. Your heart is in love with the light and the beautiful scene in front of you so you raise your camera to your eye, snap a picture, then look at the back of the screen and all you see is […]