Jacom Stephens’ stock photography

Nashville Photo Shoot

Oct 29, 2009
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And this past weekend I was in Nashville, Tennessee for another group shoot called Inhauslypse.01 hosted by a new friend of mine (and talented photographer), Dieter Spears. I got home from the event pretty tired since it is the second one in less than two weeks, but I had a great time and made a lot of fun new photos to add to my stock portfolio. Enjoy the trailer:

Inhauslypse video sampler

click here to view this video in HD

Jackson Hole Photo Shoot

Oct 13, 2009
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Hiking Near the Tetons

Real Cowboy in Field

Friends Cooking Together in Cabin

This is the perfect time of year to be up in the mountains in a rustic cabin. I love the smells of burning wood, potpourri, pine pitch, cinnamon, good ol' home cooking, etc.; it's nice to come in out of the cold and warming up by the fireplace. I'm in Jackson Hole with two photographer buddies to make great photos to add to my stock portfolio. We'll be shooting outdoor activities, cabin lifestyles, dining at a brew pub, cowboys, etc. A big thank you to Powder Horn Clothing and Keen Footwear for product support. Stay tuned for more images.

Semi-Glamour Post Processing

Oct 9, 2009
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Young Business Man Portrait-AFTER

I've recently been playing around with a new way of post-processing some of my images. It gives the image a subtle glamour feel without going overboard. (click here to see the original image) My theory has long been to NOT modify the overall look of an image much and leave that up to the designer. The hope is that the image will have a broader appeal in it's original form. As a designer myself, in the past I have found great images that I would have purchased... if only they hadn't been processed black and white, duotone, sepiatone, antique, hyper contrast, etc. A designer can take an original image and apply any of those effects afterward, but it can't be done backwards. But with the introduction of istockphoto's Vetta Collection, I have decided to experiment with some more dramatic post processing (other than just removing facial imperfections, etc.). This treatment works better on certain images than it does on others and could easily become overdone, so I intend to use it sparingly. But I think it gives certain images an appropriate, unique look. Let me know what you think.

Skiing Photos

Sep 28, 2009
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Skier Jumping Off Cliff

No, don't be alarmed... it hasn't snowed already here in Utah. The autumn weather is still a comfortable 70 degrees and the beautiful fall foliage colors will probably be peaking later this week. We probably won't see substantial snowfall for another month or so. But last week I uploaded a short series of skiing photos to my stock portfolio. They were from a shoot I did toward the end of last year's ski season. I decided to upload some of the images immediately and hold onto some of the images to upload them this fall when most ad agencies, design studios and marketing companies are starting to work on advertising for the upcoming winter sales season. I'm curious to see if the timing of uploads makes a significant difference on exposure and sales. Only time will tell.

Vetta Images

Sep 16, 2009
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My Vetta Images

click here to view this video in HD

istockphoto.com recently announced a new, elite photo collection called Vetta. Images are hand picked based on their excellence and uniqueness... and priced accordingly (from 2.5 to 7 times more than normal istock images). I am proud to announce that over 50 of my images have been accepted into the Vetta collection and I will be focusing on creating more images specifically for Vetta in the future. My experience so far has been that Vetta images get more exposure and although they may not sell as frequently, the higher royalties make it worth my time.

My Vetta Images

100,000 Stock Photos Sold!

Sep 2, 2009
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My 100,000th Download!

Hear ye, hear ye! Today marks another milestone for me as I reached 100,000 photos sold on istockphoto.com In addition to the contract commercial photography that I have always done, over the last three years, shooting and selling stock photos has increased my total income significantly and has allowed me the flexibility to travel longer and more frequently to capture more unique images. It has required a lot of time, hard work, and dedication, but I have learned a lot and it has definitely been worth the effort. With the recent announcement of istock's Vetta collection, I am focusing on pushing my work even further to create even higher calibre images (click here to view my Vetta files so far). I look forward to the coming years as I set my sights on the next milestone of 200,000 downloads!

Image Featured In Hot Shots

Sep 1, 2009
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Twice a month, istockphoto sends out an email blast--Hot Shots--showing their favorite eight new images and comparing them to Getty's best new images. In my opinion, the istock images are almost always on par or better than Getty's images, even though the Getty images cost a whole lot more. Today's issue featured my Meticulous Father Cutting the Lawn with Scissors image. It's always nice to receive some kudos and recognition for my work. Thanks istock!

Hot Shots—September 1, 2009

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Best Stock Photo Award

Aug 10, 2009
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Meticulous Dad Cutting the Lawn

I've been in Calgary for the last week attending a big 3-day photo shoot event hosted by istockphoto. They had set up several different stations with models, props and a theme (ie: Impossible Love, Mobster Christmas, Camping, Community Activism, Riot, etc.) that we all rotated through and we each had only 10 minutes to stage, light and photograph the scene. It was a very challenging exercise, especially since I am used to being in control of my shoots, thinking them through ahead of time, and not being limited by time. But it was a great learning experience! There were 50 very talented photographers in attendance, many of who's work I have admired for years. It was great to be able to meet them in person, see how they work, and develop new friendships with other passionate photographers.

Towards the end of the three days, everyone submitted their best three images from the event so they could put together a cool Animoto presentation to showcase the best images that came out of the event. Last night, they announced the winners and much to my shock, I was awarded "Best Stock Photo" of the event. I wasn't sure if they were serious for a while because I was so impressed with all the other images from the other photographers that I had seen. But after pinching myself and lifting my jaw up off the floor, I realized that the image up on the big screen really was mine, and the crowd was cheering for me. Wow, what an honor! A big thanks to everyone involved... I couldn't have done it without all of you.

And here is a little video I put together featuring some of my photos from the event:

istockalypse HQ-video trailer

click here to view this video in HD

Cancun Vacation Photos

Jul 11, 2009
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I'm currently in Cancun (Cozumel today to be exact) enjoying some well-deserved family time. It seems that as a photographer, I end up doing so many shoots outside of the normal M-F 9am-5pm timeframe... early morning shoots, evening shoots, weekend shoots, shoots that require travel away from home, etc. That eats into our personal time as a family, so I try to make up for it with a big family vacation once a year where the family is the first priority instead of the job. Of course, being the photo junkie that I am, I can't help but bring a minimal amount of camera equipment and sneak away once in a while to capture a couple of shots for my stock portfolio. It doesn't hurt to have some cute models with me all the time either. ;-) As I've been going through the images, I've noticed that the number of photos I have of each child rises proportionally with the age of my kids. I think that is due mainly to the fact that their attention span and willingness to be photographed increases with age.