Paradise Creek, Kenai Fjords National Park

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Kenai Fjords, Photos, Travel 8 Comments

Paradise Creek, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

Paradise Creek, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

Thanks to some challenging water crossings, this area gets few, if any visitors in the summer.  I have skied up here in the winter, and thought the area was beautiful, but have never been able to get up here in the summer.  Thanks to some low water levels, Janine and I along with some friends of ours were finally able to get up here yesterday  for some scouting.

I think the area has some real potential.  I love the clear water, something you don’t see much of around here thanks to the numerous glaciers.  Glacier rivers tend to be very muddy looking thanks to the silt.  This is looking up an unnamed valley where an unnamed creek flows in from the right.  Paradise Creek is coming in from the left.  We were able to make it another mile or two before steep cliffs and swift water blocked our progress.  It was a great day!  And now I know it is a place worth returning to for good light!

My Least Successful Photo

Ron NiebruggeLas Vegas, Nevada, Photos, Travel 15 Comments

Las Vegas Strip, Nevada.

Las Vegas Strip, Nevada.

Well if I’m going to write about my successful photos, it is only fair that I write about my unsuccessful ones as well.

I have plenty of photos that have never, or rarely sell, so why single out this one?  For a few reasons:  not only was it somewhat expensive to produce, but at the time, I really thought I had a winner.  To add insult to injury, I think I may have missed out on even a far bigger marketing opportunity, but more on that later.Read More

The Hangover

Ron NiebruggeLas Vegas, Nevada, Photos, Shameless Self Promotion, Travel 4 Comments

Welcome to Las Vegas sign, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Welcome to Las Vegas sign, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Sorry to disappoint – I don’t have some crazy story about a late night last night!

You see, on June 5th, Warner Bros. is releasing a major motion picture with that name.  Like with most movie releases, the actors perform endless promotional interviews telling everyone just how funny the movie is, and how awesome everyone got along during filming.  But unlike most motion pictures, this time, the actors will be doing their interviews while sitting in front of a collage of Las Vegas photos, including our above photo of the Las Vegas sign!  I think that is pretty cool. 

Hopefully it works out better for them then Viva Laughlin!

Most Popular Photo

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Denali, Photos, Shameless Self Promotion, Travel 12 Comments

This year, I'm very excited to say, we have the cover image for all three Bell's Travel Guides!

This year, I'm very excited to report that we have the cover image for all three Bell's Travel Guides!

In my last post, in response to a question I shared information about our top grossing photos.  I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the above photo.  The boxing bear cub image you see on this travel guide hasn’t been used in an advertising campaign, this kept it off the top grossing list, but in terms of total number of sales, it has to be our most popular image.   Read More

What is your best selling photo in terms of revenue?

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Ask Ron, Chugach, Photos, Travel 12 Comments

A pond with Mt. Alice in the background, Seward, Alaska.

A pond with Mt. Alice in the background, Seward, Alaska.

As part of my Ask Ron series, Phil Cola asked what is my top selling photo in terms of revenue, and what was the location, setup, logistics etc.

It is a great question – I know I’m always fascinated by the annual issue of Photo District News (PDN) in which the major stock agencies share the same information on their most successful image from the prior year.  My most successful images draw on some similar parallels that I will touch on below.  Read More

What to do with my old slides?

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Ask Ron, Photos, Travel 3 Comments

Sentinel Lighthouse, Southeast Alaska.

Sentinel Lighthouse, Southeast Alaska.

One of our regular magazine clients contacted us earlier this week looking for photos of the Sentinel Lighthouse – they were unable to find one on our website.  So we dug through our old slide files and sure enough found this image which we scanned and sent off.  We have thousands of old slides like this that may have some value, but most just sit and take up valuable room in file cabinets.  Read More

Driftwood and Mt Alice

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel 7 Comments

Mount Alice viewed from some beach driftwood, Seward, Alaska.

Mount Alice viewed from some beach driftwood, Seward, Alaska.

I located this cool looking stump on the beach about a month ago, and have intended to photograph it for some time now.  I can see myself returning to this spot and trying different compositions in varying light.   This was from last night at about 10:15.

Since the sun was off the driftwood, I played around with some off camera flash.  It probably would have been better with two flashes, but I just had one with me.  This was with my 24-105mm lens set at 32, with my aperture set at the smallest opening of f/22 to maximize the depth of field.  Shutter speed was 1/5 of a second.  I had to bump the ISO up to 400 to increase the strength of the flash which I had manually set to full strength (1:1).  I hand held the flash off to the left of the driftwood.