A picture is worth a thousands words, but words can be inspiring too.

• A lot of photographers think that if they buy a better camera they’ll be able to take better photographs. A better camera won’t do a thing for you if you don’t have anything in your head or in your heart. – Arnold Newman

• Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory. – Diane Arbus

• Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph. – Matt Hardy

• Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera. – Yousuf Karsh

• Remember that the person you are photographing is 50% of the portrait and you are the other 50%. You need the model as much as he or she needs you. If they don’t want to help you, it will be a very dull picture. – Lord Patrick Lichfield

• I see something special and show it to the camera. The moment is held until someone sees it. Then it is theirs. – Sam Abell

• When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence. – Ansel Adams

• If you are out there shooting, things will happen for you. If you’re not out there, you’ll only hear about it. – Jay Maisel

• Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography. – George Eastman

• Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary. – Cecil Beaton

• When I was on trips I used to put Polaroid’s in a container with sea water, sand and pebbles. I’d swirl it all around to get scratches. It’s this random element that I call ‘the drip’. It’s the drip which might splash onto the other side of the canvas when you’re working on a painting and make you think ‘that is good’, possibly leading you to explore other things. My whole life is spent in search of the drip; it can change everything. – David Bailey

• If the photographer is interested in the people in front of his lens, and if he is compassionate, it’s already a lot. The instrument is not the camera but the photographer. – Eve Arnold

• Pick a theme and work it to exhaustion…the subject must be something you truly love or truly hate. – Dorothea Lange

• One doesn’t stop seeing. One doesn’t stop framing. It doesn’t turn off and turn on. It’s on all the time. – Annie Leibovitz

• Even though fixed in time, a photograph evokes as much feeling as that which comes from music or dance. Whatever the mode – from the snapshot to the decisive moment to multi-media montage – the intent and purpose of photography is to render in visual terms feelings and experiences that often elude the ability of words to describe. In any case, the eyes have it, and the imagination will always soar farther than was expected. – Ralph Gibson

• Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask ‘how’, while others of a more curious nature will ask ‘why’. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information. – Man Ray

• Above all, I know that life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference. Opinion often consists of a kind of criticism. But criticism can come out of love. It is important to see what is invisible to others. – Robert Frank

• There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative. Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever. – Henri Cartier-Bresson

• A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective. – Irving Penn

• Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow. – Imogen Cunningham

If there are any other quotes that you like, feel free to add them to comments.

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This is what the creator Tyler Card says about it.

“For Halloween 2011, I made a fully-functional camera costume. It comes complete with LCD display, built-in flash and shutter-release button. It is also capable of wirelessly triggering my Alienbees strobes, and winning any costume contest with the click of a button.”

The first video (22 seconds) shows the camera in action and the second video (2m 30s) shows a little of how it was built.

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1. 16 Featured Artists
2. 20 Famous Photography Quotes to Inspire You

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A year ago, I started featuring artists/photographers on the homepage of this blog. It’s been great to see so many outstanding portfolios, and I often find it pretty tricky to choose just one image from contributors ports for the homepage. Here are some stats of those featured so far.

16 featured artists
11 countries (Croatia, France, Moldova, Netherlands, Romania, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, UK, Ukraine, USA)
5 agencies represented (Shutterstock, Dreamstime, 123rf, GL, iStock)
13 photographers
1 vector artist
1 photographer/vector artist
1 illustrator

I put a new featured artist on the site approximately every 3 weeks. The queue at the moment is not very big, so as long as you have a port size of at least 150 images in one of the listed agencies, then you have a good chance (but not guaranteed) to be featured. For details on how to become a Featured Artist read this post. To see those who have already been featured, including the first featured artist whose image is above, visit these archive pages. Archive Page 1, Archive Page 2.

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1. Become a Featured Artist on Microstock Posts
2. Newer [Archive] – Part Two of Featured Artists

El Cielo de Canarias / Canary sky – Tenerife from Daniel López on Vimeo.

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1. Shutterstock’s Travel Photo Winner
2. Become a Featured Artist on Microstock Posts

Jim Mills – USA – March/April 2011 (Jim Mills)

Stefan Andronache – Romania – April 2011 (Stefan Andronache)

Victoria Savostianova – Ukraine – May 2011 (Victoria Savostianova)

Mike McDonald – USA – May/June 2011 (Mike McDonald)

Ildikó Balla – Romania – July 2011 (Ildikó Balla)

Corepics – Netherlands – July/August 2011 (Corepics/36clicks)

Leslie Murray – USA – September 2011 (Leslie Murray)

Tony Magdaraog – Philippines – Sep/Oct 2011 (Tony Magdaraog)

Michael Schmeling – Germany – October 2011 (Michael Schmeling)

Melissa Patton – USA – November 2011 (Melissa Patton)

Aleksandar Stojanov – Macedonia – Nov/Dec 2011 (alexskopje)

Laser222 – Bosnia and Herzegovina – December 2011 (Laser222)

Faithie Photography – Italy – January 2012 (Faithiecannoise)

< Back to Featured Artist

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1. Become a Featured Artist on Microstock Posts
2. 16 Featured Artists

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Below is a BBC news report on the gallery.

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I’m always impressed by people who are positive and determined to live life to the fullest, despite adverse circumstances. Read about how Pete Eckert started to take photography seriously after losing his sight. Click on this quote to read the full story. “What I get out of taking photos is the event not the picture. I do the large prints to get sighted people thinking. Talking with people in galleries builds a bridge between my mind’s eye and their vision of my work. Occasionally people refuse to believe I am blind. I am a visual person. I just can’t see.”

Also, below is a short video of him and his achievements, which is really worth watching.

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1. Shutterstock contributor photographs ‘the unseen side’ of Afghanistan
2. This could be the world’s smallest gallery

I never intended to be a photographer. I read Oriental Languages at university with the intention of going to work for the Foreign Office, but the more I worked overseas the more frustrated I became with the “official” view of the places I went. Governments and the media alike seemed to get a sickening thrill from describing my favorite places as war zones, security risks and militant strongholds, or simply ignoring their existence altogether. I never read about or watched a news report on the overwhelming hospitality of Iranians, Pakistani villagers resisting a rising tide of militancy, or Afghanistan’s rich and multi-cultural heritage. A sense of injustice is a strong motivator, and I’ve been writing and photographing the unseen sides of Central Asia, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan ever since.

My aim in Afghanistan, as with all the countries I visit, was to document for myself, for my articles and for stock, the stories going on every day behind the headlines. I particularly like to meet and photograph people who are doing something different, trying to bring about positive change in their community and overcome the adversities presented to them by poverty, the natural environment or the failings of mankind.

My first location was Nechem, a tiny mud-brick village in northeast Afghanistan. I wasn’t entirely sure how I’d be received. My fears were allayed as soon as I stepped foot out of the car. Within seconds I was mobbed by small children (predominantly girls, surprisingly) wanting to have their pictures taken but also to see how the camera worked. The children were not only photogenic but incredibly enthusiastic about the whole process.

From Nechem, I traveled west to Baharak District in Badakhshan. I spent my time visiting rural enterprise schemes where villagers (predominantly women) learn skills to run their own businesses. The income this generates not only enables them to better care for their families, but also increases the status that they have within their communities. When at first I attempted to take portraits, they were exceedingly formal, to the point that the subjects looked miserable. When I showed them their pictures on the D200′s screen, however, they burst out laughing at their own solemnity, and the subsequent photos showed many more smiles.

One young woman was intrigued not by the photos but by the camera itself. I showed her the basic functions (how to zoom, focus, take a picture and review the image) and then didn’t see my camera again for the next half hour. The pictures she came back with were fascinating – intimate portraits of her friends with their children and, in one case, a pregnancy bump. It’s unlikely she’d even seen an illustrated magazine and yet she took to photography like a duck to water.

When I left Afghanistan and went back to the UK on holiday, I visited a class of students to talk to them about Afghanistan. When I told them it was my new favorite place, they looked absolutely horrified. The only images they associated with the country were battlefields in Helmand, burnt out tanks, and the shrouded coffins of heroes returning home. They did not understand, because no one had ever thought to tell them that the vast majority of Afghanistan is peaceful, that not all Afghans are militants, and that Afghan children are, in many ways, just like them. It was only when they saw pictures of their Afghan contemporaries, giggling and larking about in front of the camera, that their questions began to change. They stopped asking about weapons and death and the morality of the war, and instead started asking about schooling, employment opportunities and Afghanistan’s future. These are the questions we all need to be asking, and I believe adamantly that pictures are a powerful tool to get such topics on the agenda.

This article has been edited. To see the full article, click on this link.

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If you want the opportunity to be a featured artist on the homepage of Microstock Posts and increase exposure of your portfolio (photos, illustrations or vectors), simply send a link to your portfolio from any of the following agencies.

1. Dreamstime
2. Shutterstock
3. 123rf
4. Bigstock
5. Graphicleftovers
6. fotolia
7. istock

Each Featured Artist is displayed for approximately 3 weeks. Your portfolio must contain at least 150 images (N.B. increased minimum size on September 1, 2011). Also you must either be following the Microstock Posts Facebook page or subscribe to Microstock Posts via email (privacy guaranteed).

Below are some of those who have already been featured.

Archive

Cristian Casanelles – Spain – Sep 2010 (tempuraslightbulb)

Hank Shiffman – USA – Sep/Oct 2010 (Harris Shiffman)

Danie Nel – South Africa – Oct/Nov 2010 (Danie Nel)

Aldra – Serbia – Nov/Dec 2010 (Aldra)

Tomislav Pinter – Croatia – Dec 2010 (Tomispin)

Snezana Povovic – Serbia – Dec/Jan 2010/11 (mayamaya)

Miodrag Ignjatovic – Serbia – Jan 2011 (Miodrag)

Adrian Hancu – Moldova – Jan/Feb 2011 (Ifeelstock)

Archive – Part Two >

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1. Newer [Archive] – Part Two of Featured Artists
2. 16 Featured Artists

Some really incredible photos were submitted to Shutterstock’s travel photo contest and it must have been a tough decision for the judges to choose a winner. They eventually chose John Batdorff’s photo of the Taj Mahal, you can see the photo here. It’s a wonderful photo and what surprises me is how deserted the scene is. I have stood in this very area a few times myself, but have always found myself surrounded by…everyone in the world who owns a camera . So congratulations John for capturing a great shot and I’m sure you’ll get many more on your trip in South Africa. (More details of the prize here)

Related posts:

1. Shutterstock contributor photographs ‘the unseen side’ of Afghanistan
2. Become a Featured Artist on Microstock Posts

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