Meet Tracey Pettis, Fantasy Portrait Photographer

Selfies and snapshots can’t capture the inner you.
 But your Fantasy Portrait can.

Tracey Pettis will help you step out of your daily life and into your authentic self by taking a fresh look at the inner you from a completely new perspective.

Every human being wants to be seen, wants to be loved, wants to be understood. Through Fantasy Portraits, you can uncover and experience your special beauty, creativity, and gifts. Learn more by visiting FantasyPortraits.co.

1. What gave you the idea to create Fantasy Portraits?

I have been working in advertising for the past 20 years as a creative/art director. But I felt empty. I realized it was time to leave the world of advertising, feeling that companies were placing more importance on data, templates, and stock photography over the kind of creativity I was interested in.

I have always known I wanted to get back to one of my first loves, photography. But I wanted this version to be more than just creating pretty pictures. I wanted to bring the viewer into the process. I wanted to make the process more experience driven. Thus, Fantasy Portraits was born.

2. What's your process like in determining what an individual's Fantasy Portrait should look like?

We start by getting to know you through a discovery session. You share what you're comfortable sharing: your dreams, desires, hopes, aspirations. The object is for you to let go and explore.

Through this process, a concept will gel. Together, we'll fine-tune it, getting more excited about the portrait as we go.



3. Do you think the #nofilter Instagram selfie and other phone photography has changed how we define portraiture?

I think it's added to our choices immensely! We are changing all the time. Having that instant access to capture ourselves while immersed in an experience is a great advantage. And that's why I knew that Fantasy Portraits had to be something different than "just a portrait." It had to be an experience. As we say, "Selfies and snapshots can't capture the inner you. But your Fantasy Portrait can."


4. How can photos make positive changes in our lives?

So many ways! Our mission at Fantasy Portraits is to help women go deeper and learn how to connect with their inner beauty and deeper soul. Through getting to know and understand your spiritual self, your self-esteem and self-love increases.

A photographic image is a preservation tool. Your Fantasy Portrait becomes part of who you are at this stage of your life's journey.



5. What else would you like readers to know about you and your work as a photographer?

I think if you look at some of the Fantasy Portraits we've created, you'll see the attention to detail that you won't see in some of the other "fantasy" work out there. We put a lot of thought and heart into making each image special and unique, and not what you would expect.

If you'd like to explore creating your Fantasy Portrait, send an email to tracey@fantasyportraits.co.

Thanks, Tracey!

Introducing Stephanie Hopkins' Photography Site

When it comes to an artist's website, I really like learning someone's story: why do they create, how did they get interested in creating in the first place, what keeps them motivated, and so on.

Stephanie Hopkins is a professional photographer based in California's North Bay area who specializes in portraits using natural light. I like her website because she gives you an insight into her life as an artist and why she creates--plus, she gives you an excellent idea of what it would be like to work with her.

On the front page of Stephanie's site, she currently has a video that gives you an inside peek at what it's like to have a senior picture photo session with Stephanie. Clever idea indeed.

Her site also has a blog where you can see a lot of samples of her recent work. This is also fun for people she's photographed as it gives them a way to share a preview of their pictures and also to give family and friends an idea of how they enjoyed their photo session.

In addition to senior photos, Stephanie takes wedding photos, family photos, and more. Do you need headshots for your acting portfolio, a book jacket, or to post on the website for your business? Stephanie's website gives me the impression that she is a warm and engaging person to work with and that she can draw out your true personality and show it in a photo.

You can also follow Stephanie's photography page on Facebook.

Introducing Mosaically: Make Your Own Photo Mosaics

Have you ever seen those cool images that are made from photo mosaics? I've seen them on magazine covers, and I've seen them turned into jigsaw puzzles, but these are just a couple of examples. How would you like to make your own photo mosaic to use on your Facebook page or to have made into a one of a kind print?

If you love photo mosaics, check out Mosaically, a website that lets you create your own photo mosaics with ease! You don't need any design or editing skills to use the tools on the site. All you do is upload pictures from your computer and/or let Mosaically access your Facebook photos, and these images are used to create the mosaic. You also need to choose one picture of yours that you want to be the "big picture" that your other photos create through the mosaic.

Mosaically offers other fun and useful features, too. For example, you can collaborate with other people where you all upload images together that can be used to create a mosaic. This could be great for a team project at work, etc. You can also take an existing photo mosaic and remix it.

You can use the tools on Mosaically to create, share, collaborate, and remix for free. There are some features of the site that have a price attached to them, such as buying a premium luster print or buying a print-ready download.

I think this is a fun site that is definitely worth exploring if you want to make unique images for print or for the web, for work or just for fun gifts.

More Photos by Tom Potter

After my recent post about Tom Potter, a photographer based in Colorado, I found myself thinking about his work and wishing I'd shared more samples of his photos. I suppose it's partly because his work makes me nostalgic for the two road trips I've taken to Colorado so far! It's also because I like his work, and I like to spread the word about indie artists on the blog.

So here are a few more photos of Tom's. Be sure to check out his website, http://tompotterphotography.com, to see even more.

Meet Michael, Owner of SnapMarket, a Marketplace for Royalty Free Photos

SnapMarket is the marketplace for some of the cheapest, most flexibly licensed royalty free photos. SnapMarket has the highest quality photos, images, and illustrations, all from as little as $1. SnapMarket also pays their contributors some of the highest commissions in the micro-stock world. Check out this link to learn more about how to sell your photos on SnapMarket.

1. What gave you the idea to start SnapMarket?

As a web and graphic designer myself, I found that I was always purchasing royalty free stock photos and usually spending a fortune. The idea came about when I spent over $600 worth on photos for a client's website and it got me thinking: there must be a cheaper way to purchase good quality images. I had a good look around and could not find any stock photo websites that were offering high quality photos at a cheap price with flexible licensing terms, so this is when I decided to start SnapMarket.

2. What are the benefits your site offers for webmasters, designers, and other people who need to buy royalty free photos?

The benefits that SnapMarket offers are much cheaper images (from as little as $1), very flexible license terms, and no minimum spend. A lot of the other stock photo websites I have dealt with require that you sign up with them for a subscription or buy copious amounts of credits, even if you only needed just one single image.

3. How do you keep your prices so affordable?

We can keep our prices affordable simply because of repeat business. Our photos are high quality yet very affordable; this is what keeps our users returning and gets new users on board every single day. A website like SnapMarket is quite expensive to run, but we felt we needed to offer something different from all of the other overpriced, tightly licensed micro-stock photo websites.

4. Why do contributors like sharing their work through SnapMarket?

Contributors love sharing their work through SnapMarket because we pay some of the highest commissions in the micro-stock world, our website is user friendly, and we get our contributors' photos sold day in, day out.

5. What are some qualities that make a great photo for the web, in your opinion?

I feel that any photo can make a great photo for the web; it really just depends on what people are looking for. Obviously these photos must be high quality and convey the correct message to the target audience. The image size should also be scaled for fast loading times yet still be of reasonable quality for viewer enjoyment.

Thanks, Michael!

Meet Will and Mark, Commercial Photographers

Will and Mark are two commercial photographers from Dorset and Bournemouth based on the south coast of England. They offer a range of photography services including lifestyle, people, food and drink, interiors and architecture, plus products and pack-shots. Below they share with us about how they work and how they came to setting up their commercial photography business.

1. Why is it important for businesses to hire a commercial photographer?

Images are so important when it comes to first impressions, and also actually selling something. Our commercial photography services are predominantly for clients in the Dorset and Bournemouth area of the United Kingdom, although on many occasions we are required to travel throughout the country.

Our clients range from property developers, restaurants, watch manufacturers, and large retailers. All of them come to us because we manage to capture the moment which places their product or service in the best possible light--and that's our job at the end of the day as commercial photographers--you can see some examples on our commercial website.

2. How do you decide where to take photos for a shoot for a particular client? In other words, are there criteria that help you decide, for example, when to do interior photos and when to go outside on location?

Many of the clients we work with are retail businesses or are manufacturers. Because of that we need to take shots inside the studio. When we shoot in our studio, then the real trick is in the lighting. Any commercial photographer will tell you that you need to understand how light works in order to get the best photographic results. There's also a need to understand the composition and form so you can make the client's product look as good as it can be.

We also do need to go out on location, but this is primarily for clients where their product is used in an outdoor scenario, or our architectural clients. Many of them need great images of their property to help with the sale, so half of the shoot will naturally be outdoors, and the rest will typically be interior shots of the building.

If we can do a plug here, then please head on over to our website and check out the interiors and architectural page which has some of our most recent work examples.

3. What is your background in photography, and how did you decide to become a commercial photographer?

It's at university that we actually met around 10 years ago, but before then had both been keen photographers. Whilst we both had differing methods, styles, and types of photography equipment, we had a connection and thought that we would look at setting up a commercial photography company together.

Since then it's been a successful partnership for both of us and has turned into a solid commercial photography business and partnership that is creative and brings in a profit. We work hard to achieve that.

4. For someone who is looking to hire a photographer for a project, what advice do you have to help ensure a good partnership?

Make sure that it's someone you can get along with! We pride ourselves on our communication and two way approach. We listen to what the client wants from their photography project and take on board their requirements. It's then up to us to impart our professional opinion based on our years of experience as commercial photographers. Any prospective clients can check out a video we've just placed on our YouTube channel about how both of us work as commercial photographers in Dorset. Hope you like it and thanks for the interview!

Thanks, Will and Mark!

Miracle Canvas: An Online Store for Canvas Prints

It seems like every time I go into a home decor or arts/crafts store lately, I see canvas prints. I've seen all sorts of designs, from retro images featuring Hollywood stars and vintage ads, to modern cityscapes of everywhere from Paris to San Francisco. If you like the look of visual art printed onto artist canvas, there are also options to have custom canvas prints made to order, using images of your choosing.

Miracle Canvas has a nice selection of options available for making a unique canvas print to match your individual taste and your home or office decor. You can upload your own photo or choose from their library of images. They can split your image into several parts so that you have a one-of-a-kind sequence of canvases to display on your wall.

The Miracle Canvas blog showcases different ideas for creating and displaying images. See also the company's YouTube page for videos about how the print creation process works.

I browsed the customer reviews on the company's website and found this tidbit from a satisfied customer: "Miracle Canvas took care of things the average eye ignores like a museum quality canvas fabric and stretching; iron clamps fastened canvas that does not sag."

Miracle Canvas is worth a look if you're in the market for canvas prints and would rather create something yourself than buy "off the rack" at your local store.

Meet Jason Wickens, Photographer and Owner of Fotoviva

Jason Wickens is a member of the Fotoviva Art Prints photography team and owner of the online gallery. Offering a unique range of award-winning photographic art, Fotoviva are one of the UK's leading suppliers of wall art, selling photographic art printed as either canvas prints, acrylic prints or poster prints. Fotoviva has been operating since 2006 and offers over 700 images, created by a team of photographers; visitors can also create prints from their own original photos.

1. Could you talk about the different options for prints that you offer through fotoviva and the unique features of each option?

Every one of our art prints can be purchased from the online gallery in a wide range of options which means when you have chosen your favourite picture, you can be sure the final print will match your interior design. We can print the images on canvas, acrylic, or poster. We find most people like the canvas print option as they are ready to hang and in fashion right now. We can print the canvas as a gallery wrap which means the image is wrapped around the wooden frame. This gives a continuous feel to the print. The acrylics are becoming very popular too; the glossy look suits modern interior home designs, and people love the way the light makes the picture look like it has depth. Posters are ideal if you are working on a budget or have an existing frame you want to use. We also offer a range of standard sizes, so you can buy a wall print that suits the blank space in your room. Of course if you need a different size print, we can work out our best price, too. Often we have photographers looking for specific sizes for their clients.

2. What have you looked for when selecting photos over the years to build your catalog of 700+ images?

Our image collection has grown over the years, as has the number of photographers we use. When looking for new images, we only accept photographs which we feel will suit being printed as wall art. Customers tend to look for creative and artistic photo prints, rather than just snapshots of nice locations. The photographers we use always produce really nice images such as the seascapes, black and white work, and the creative modern art series.

We also only use images of the highest resolution which ensures we can print them as large canvas art without losing quality. Some of our canvases have been printed at over three metres, so we need to ensure the image will not look pixelated at large sizes. Our photographers use high-end DSLR cameras and good quality lenses--they are also well-versed in post-processing which means they produce files which are up to the high standard we require.

3. What tips would you offer for people (in terms of composition, photo size/quality, etc) who want to make prints from their own photos?

From our printing service we can transform your own digital photos into canvas or acrylic prints. As a rough guide, for best results you should be shooting at the camera's highest resolution setting. This not only allows us to print the picture bigger, but it also allows scope for any cropping you need. Images from phone cameras are not ideal for large prints as the camera sensors are not up to the job, but they do tend to be OK for the acrylic photo blocks or small canvases. Also, try to shoot in good light so the picture is clear and punchy. You can always send us your photo first, and we can check it out to see if it is suitable for printing from.

4. Your panoramic prints are striking. Do you find that people order these for their homes or businesses or both?

The panoramic canvas prints tend to be ordered for the home, but of course some do go to businesses who want to add some affordable art to their offices or receptions. When you see a panoramic print hanging on a wall it really does look great--I think it is the unusual aspect ratio which catches the eye. Also, the fact you can see so much more of a landscape scene means there is plenty of detail in the picture. Panoramic art is also ideal for wall spaces which don't have enough height for a standard wall print, such as above mantle-pieces or across landings. They do seem to sell particularly well, and some of the panoramic views we have in that collection really are a feast for the eyes!

5. What are your suggestions for people who want to affordably decorate their home and office spaces with unique photographic art?

Of course we have a great collection of photographic art and with prices starting from as little as £16, there is art that's affordable for anyone. However, a great tip for finding other affordable art is to explore the work of local photographers. You might see them displaying their work on stalls or in small local galleries, and by buying direct from the photographer, you can get some affordable art straight from the artist themselves.

Thanks, Jason!