Irony, funniest when captured in photos

(Printed on the bus: "if you don't have GIO Third Party Property Insurance, we suggest you don't hit this bus.")

Its pictures like this that can really make me spit coffee out through my nose. But from a photographers point of view.

Sometimes you just gotta be at the right place, at the right time.

Annie Leibovitz: The Naked Truth

I came across some Disney photos that Annie Leibovitz have been shooting. Together with celebrities and some amazing graphic design work the whole theme just looks amazing.

(Ah, Phelp's with fins. It all makes sense now, how he won those medals.)

However to me it just felt different. Throughout the decades, Annie's iconic photos has always had this sense of realism or raw truth in them. There is no question why so many people have taken those photos to heart.

So I went to search for old photos that made her one of the most sought after photographers in the world. In no particular order here are some of the more popular photos taken by Annie Leibovitz.

Miley Cyrus and her controversial 'bareness'.

To me it looks perfectly fine. Not saying that I can truly appreciate the concepts behind it, but hey its just a picture of a girl showing her back. When I first got news about this I was expecting a more exposed, scandalous image. Clearly, I was disappointed.

So what do you get when you put a sexy British accent, a curvaceous goddess and a fashion mogul together?

This. (Personally, I'd rather be nibbling Scarlett Johansson's ear.)

And to think that Racheal Adam's was suppose to be the one in place of Tom Ford!

Moving on we have Lebron James and Gisele Bundchen.

It was criticised for its racist innuendoes. Apparently the whole pose of the shoot mimicked a certain King Kong cover but I disagree though. In the comic cover, the damsel in distress had her boobs hanging out. I don't see any of those in the Vogue cover. Gisele is doing it all wrong. Oh well.

I'm a guy, I'm not gay and I certainly do not play with dolls. But damn! Isnt this bear the cutest thing you've ever seen.

It has a ridiculous name though. Knut, the polar bear. Haha! Is that why it's staring at Leo's nuts?

Well as the say more is always good. But again, if her hand poses just swapped places, then definitely 'More Demi Moore'.

Gotta wonder what she's looking at though. Possibly a mirror going 'Hmm, does my ass look fat?'

I like this next picture, for no particular reasons really.

I mean, doesn't she look like she is having so much fun. They didn't show the full picture though. There's a giant tub of cookies, ready to be dipped in the milk next to it. Er.... ok never mind, that's just so wrong.

John Lennon, Yoko Ono.

I really dont know what to say here. I've seen this photo many times and in the past hour I've looked at it over and over again. Not because I am trying to spot John Lennon's balls. But rather, there is something magical about it. No? These kind of photos just shows you how even as celebrities, they all have human flaws and animal instincts. However soon after this photo was taken, he was shot dead. This photo is depressing.But it's also my favorite of hers.

Anyway there you have it. While looking for these photos, I managed to learn more about Annie Leibovitz. How she conceptualize photos, the thoughts that goes through her mind, and basically her views on photography.

It did inspire me greatly so from now on my stock photos are going to be amazing now.

Yup, you heard me.

Amazing.

Almost my photos queued on 123rf are getting accepted.

Bing bang ba da boom.

Microsfy

From what I gathered, Bruce Livingstone (creator of Istockphoto) got pissed that he couldn't sell his photos through the proper channels and decided to start selling them at ridiculously low prices.

Hence the creation of microstock.

Now to me I find that an interesting turn of event. Photographers used to be able to command hundreds or even thousands of dollars in licensing but in just a couple of short years, microstock has boomed. And now you can get hundreds of images for dirt cheap prices.

Which got me thinking. What seems to be the driving force behind this phenomenon?

Is it because more ameatur photographers can post their semi decent shots for sale now.

Or is it due to the fact that, people always loved to buy stock photos, just that they couldnt afford them last time. (Lol)

Because clearly you cannot just go into any other industry and microsfy it. Like hey, lawyers are lining up for to give legal aid for dollars and cents. That would seriously be a cause for concern.

Nonethelss what can we do. If the industry is moving towards micropayment and photographers are still doing fine, we gotta do what we gotta do.

No actually, I gotta do what I can do to pay the rent. I dont know about you though.

Hello world!

Yeah right no one is reading this. I've started alot of blogs before, but its the first post that I always have trouble writing. Because in all honesty, who in blue hell is going to be reading this first post anyway. Geez.

Diving in to some juicy news

http://blog.flickr.net/en/2008/07/08/the-flickr-collection-on-getty-images/

Surprised? Not me, oh no.

I remember some time back Flickr had that little fiasco with 123rf. Which goes to show that, Flickr arguably the largest online photo sharing site have been swimming around the stock photography pool for a while now.

I am sure they have been trying to find some ways of making some extra moolah with all that photos they have. And now they are tying up with Getty for some special collection of Royalty-free/Rights Managed photos.

Well things could turn out to be promising or will Flickr pull out as fast as hand touching hot iron?(Ok thats a lame analogy, whatever)

Till next time.