An Old Pro

[OzStrat]

Hi All,

I stumbled across this site and thought I would have a squiz.

Some info on me: I have been a pro advertising/commercial photographer in Brisbane for the past 30+ years. My how time flies when you are having fun!
I've shot everything from cars for Mercedes, girls for Penthouse and beer for XXXX, and everything in between. I run one of Brisbane's biggest studios with up to 6 photographers working from my place.

I have allot of experience under my belt and had a stint as secretary of the ACMP in its early days when we advertising photographers were fighting for copyright. Some trivia; Oz photographers lost copyright in the late 60's. New copyright legislation was going through parliament at the time and the AIPP nominated 2 members to lobby our position. The 2 members, remarkably, were based in Broome, WA, and decided Canberra was too far away. No photographer representation was present so the government concluded we didn't want copyright, and didn't get it. As a result, for a good part of my career, a client owned my photo's the moment I accepted his commission, to do with as he/she pleased. I had to seek permission to display my own shots!
The AIPP's focus was on wedding/portrait photographers where copyright was of little concern. When the legislation came before parliament again in the early 90's, the AIPP continued to sit on their hands. This caused the birth of the ACMP, and a successful copyright campaign followed.

Cheers.

[Mary Anne]

Welcome to AP..WOW !!! Thats very interesting only one question what gear do you use.. :D

[ricktas]

Welcome. Looking forward to seeing some of your work and your learned comments on the forums soon

[Kym]

:gday: & Welcome
- lets see some photos in the main CC forums (http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/forumdisplay.php?5) maybe try a competition or 2 and have fun!

[Wayne63]

Welcome to AP, Enjoy the site and look forward to seeing some of your pics and comments in the forums

[OzStrat]

Thanks for the welcomes!
Unfortunately, according to the terms & conditions of this site, I can't post links to my photography websites for fear of promoting myself. I have no problem with that. I do have a website of personal work, but it has links to my business sites, which also falls outside of site rules. I do have a problem with that.
Sorry, too many rules here for me.
Enjoy your photography!

[ricktas]

Thanks for the welcomes!
Unfortunately, according to the terms & conditions of this site, I can't post links to my photography websites for fear of promoting myself. I have no problem with that. I do have a website of personal work, but it has links to my business sites, which also falls outside of site rules. I do have a problem with that.
Sorry, too many rules here for me.
Enjoy your photography!

You can link to your photography websites. You cannot just link to a site that is say only offering workshops, tours etc. However if you site is mostly your photography and an aside is the workshops, that link is OK too, as long as you do not promote any courses/workshops directly here on Ausphotography. If you want to promote your photography workshops, tours, then you need to pay to advertise, as the other workshop advertisers do. After all 18,000+ photographers is a good market to promote to.

The restrictions are purely on accessing the site member base to make money for yourself, by promoting your services to the members, which we ask that you pay an advertiser fee to do. After all Ausphotography is free to be part of, but it costs well over $200.00 a month to maintain the site (hosting, software licencing etc), without incidental costs, prizes for our competitions that I provide, and more. I need to cover those costs by charging those that want to advertise, just like any other business. However, I run the site as a not-for-profit and all funds received are directed back to the site.

So feel free to link to your photography site, but if you want to promote workshops etc, email me : rick@ausphotography.net.au

[OzStrat]

Thanks Rick for clearing that up. I appreciate that you rely on advertising to keep the wheels greased, and I may contribute to that in the future via a studio hire promotion. That would depend on whether I see a demand from members. It is a hi-po studio and likely beyond most members budgets. I don't run workshops but may consider a studio "open day". The first time in a pro studio can be a memorable experience.

I'll start with a link to a site of some personal work. For many years I didn't do any. When slaving over a hot camera all day, one is not prone to do the same after close of play. A few years back I started walking, which bored me to tears, until I started taking a macro equipped camera. I migrated to the Mt Coot-Tha Botanical gardens and must have shot every flower, 3 times at least! The Gardens found the resulting website and I have donated them the shots, which they now use extensively for advertising, post cards etc. www.floraupclose.com

As time permits I will browse the forums and contribute where I can.

[castaway]

sounds like you may have a lot to offer to this comunity

[ricktas]

Some really interesting work on your site. Hope we get to see some up for critique and that your keen eye given to some other members photos with some great guidance and advice for them, too.

[Ionica]

Great gallery. Thanks for the link.

[OzStrat]

Thanks for the kind comments!

I do have a head crammed with info, which I am happy to share. I expect I will learn a few things myself.

When I first started 30 years ago, photographers would cross the street to avoid each other. Techniques were tightly guarded and never revealed. It is a different world now and sharing info has helped raise the industry standard substantially. I look forward to continuing the trend.