My interest in photography and photo gear was rekindled in 2006 right before a trip to Hawaii. Although I had used a Pentax ME SLR film camera extensively in high school, I had only been using point-and-shoot cameras since that time due to the lack of time - and money - to spend on photography. I somehow decided that I needed a better camera for this once-in-a-lifetime trip. Since Best Buy was running a special on Nikon D80's, that was where I started. I didn't really do much research beyond reading a few user reviews on the web site. Little did I realize what sort of commitment I was making to a camera system. Nevertheless, the experience with that camera was what rejuvenated my love for photography.
The following summer my brother-in-law asked if I had ever heard about on-line stock photography companies. He told me about iStockPhoto, which is a company that would sell images and give you a royalty for each sale. Although the name iStockPhoto was foreign to me, the desire to make money with my photos was not. We were both part-time (hobby time) photographers. Nevertheless, he had been buying photos for his business through that site. In July of 2007, I took the plunge and joined iStockPhoto as a photo contributor. My start at selling royalty-free photos was a little rocky. While I plan to blog about that soon, suffice it to say that I eventually got a little traction going. Today, I have more than 5,000 royalty-free images for sale on that web site, with more than 20,000 downloads/sales since that small beginning. My portfolio can be viewed here at sshepard on iStockPhoto.com
I feel that today I am at somewhat of a cross-roads with my photography. While I plan to maintain and continue building my stock portfolio as well as my business web site, ShepoPhoto, I want to help others with the few things that I have learned along the way. I also plan to verge out into other areas with my photography. The plan for this blog is to talk about some of my experiences with stock photography, sports photography, gear, and just having fun traveling and taking photos. I also hope to talk about new things that I want to try in 2013. I look forward to this new venture in starting a blog and hope that you as a reader walk away from my posts with at least something positive.
Kindest Regards,
Steve Shepard
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