I have been meaning to get some new business cards printed for about the last 6 months and never quite got round to it. So last week as part of my bi annual marketing brainstorm I finally bit the bullet and got some made up.
Anyway got them done on Moo, really happy with them, feel good, great quality printing...
I went for a bit of a pocket portfolio so I can give each individual person a card that most fits the kind of work they are enquiring about, all in about 100 different images on them, and then on the back all the boring stuff...
Anyway take a look, if you really need one, ask me at a race etc.
Ta J
A few of the different images on them ( a few that haven't been online yet )
Last week I got a nice new toy, the Canon 550d! I know this may come as a shock to all who know me as a Nikon user, but the video the Canon shoots is just SO much better It was time I made the switch...
Anyway got myself an adapter from Ebay for 30 quid, so now my manual Nikon glass just slots right on.
So last week I was dieing to use it, so called up my mate/local/pinner Ash Mullane and hatched an idea for a video. Shoot only in the last hours of light all on good days on all the tracks at Gawton for a chilled summer riding vid...so that's just what we did...the blurb from Vimeo says it all really: "Ash Mullane has a chilled out ride down at Gawton in Devon in the summer sun... Filmed over 3 evenings during evening light at Gawton on all 3 tracks.
First video I have shot with the Canon 550d using Nikon lens's and an Adapter ring...
10. Be kind to yourself. It can be a big bad world out there and the last thing you need to do is stand in your own way. Besides, all good things in your life start from a friendship with yourself.
9. Keep your word. As well as keeping it, don't give it out so much.
8. Take care of your physical and mental health. Your body and mind are the primary tools of you soul's expression. You wouldn't believe it but I've met my fair share of overweight, unhealthy photographers who eat fast food, don't exercise but take immaculate care of their photo equipment. Weird.
7. Know your intention. Before you comment or act on anything in life; know your intention behind your words/action. Two identical actions can have very different intentions and very different effects.
6. Speak the truth. Tough one, but if you follow step #7 above, it shouldn't be too hard. Truth carries great power and weight and if you use it wisely you'll garner respect; most importantly for yourself.
5. Commit yourself to life long learning. Education didn't stop for me at university. In fact most of my greatest moments of learning came from outside an institution. Seek out your teachers carefully; they hide in some strange places.
4. Know where you've been. Honor your past and where you've come from. You may not be proud of where you've come from or what you've accomplished but as you learn to love and heal your life, you'll come to see it was all a necessary process.
3. Know where you're going. Visualize, but more importantly try to feel what it's going to be like once you reach your goal. That way, you're living your accomplishments now and not later
2. Sit in Silence everyday. Meditation works for all the points above, creating a space between sensory input and reaction. Its this space that differentiates the enlightened being from the Not. You chose the time and length.
1. Always try to work with people more accomplished and better than you. Surround yourself with Masters and with friends who have the same commitment to their craft as you do. This will aid in your progress.
As most of the best photos from each race I go to get held back for print in magazines you the people of the interweb don't get to see them for a month or so after...
Anyway that time is now upon us for photos from BDS 1 that was at Nant G back in mid March...Anyway take a look at these few, and for more work from this race check out the new Dirt and the new WideOpen...
Ta
Jacob
New team for 2011 the Madison/Saracen team and this is top rider Harry Molloy
Micky boswell in the steep woods
Mr Peat in the tight trees and rocks
Unknown rider speeding along the flat bottom section
Nigel Page from the new CRC/Nukeproof team
The Madison/Saracen pits
Just to prove to people it got pretty wet there...
Marc B has been on great form as of late here he is prepping in his pits
Brendog up in the rocks
Marc on track goggling up
CRC/Nukeproof team rider Joe smith getting loose
Madison/Saracen rider Jack G in the tight woods
Unknown rider up in the top steep part of the track
Josh Ratboy Bryceland pinned
North wales looking stunning....
Sweet portrait of Brendog
Joe Smith again...
Brendog and Rich Thomas Albas oiling up
Matti L pinned off the last jump in race runs...
Anyway that about wraps that up, photos from Rd 2 will be up soon enough...
Nothing to amazing work wise in this post im afraid, but if you ride and are reading this you will understand where im coming from though...
im always on the button bashing side of the lens, I ride a lot but you never get to see it, very few people do...
Anyway with all the sun this week, and the fact Tavistocks trails opened a few weeks ago I have been out riding trails on my bmx a fair bit the last week or so...
Riding I think is a big reason why my photos are the way they are, and it is the reason I started taking photos in the first place...
Frame grab from the vid below of me doing a flat table on my rather gareish bmx...
Very rough lid cam vid of all the lines down at our trails, free public trails in my town that a few mates and I got built... if your in devon or passing or coming to ride Gawton, stop by.
Also went on a bit of a riding day trip today to Exeter, 45 mins drive so not to far and some good trails and parks, got the camera out for a few mins, one nice snap of one of the locals Matt and a pic from the GoPro of me training my mate through them...
Matt doing some weird 1 footed bow legger thing...looks good though no?
and me and my mate Jack training through the big line at JLC in Exeter...
On a photo shoot you only get to see as the outside viewer a tiny % of what gets shot...even the clients see very little.
There are so many photos that aren't quite as good as a similar one, lighting tests, trying angles out, Miss timed, out of focus etc that just sit on hard drives all over the world gathering digital dust.
In this video that was inspired by a video by Chase Jarvis I show you EVERY SINGLE image from a whole days photo shoot for Saracen Bikes.
The good ones, the bad ones, the ugly ones... and then a few of the results at the end...
So have a watch and get an idea of what really goes on...
Getting paid is probably the subject I get asked most about... “How much for this?”, “How much that?” etc.
To be honest, it’s never an easy question to answer. How much a photographer should get paid really is one of those ‘how long is a piece of string?’ kind of questions!
First thing to say is:
Don't work for free, and never give up copy right, only sell usage rights.
There are a few things to consider when pricing a job though…
You should also factor in expenses but as a general rule of thumb - the more exposure your work gets the more you charge.
First of all, work out how much all of these factors are going to cost you the photographer:
Gear
Insurance
Petrol
Accommodation
food
time
usage
Total up all of these and the figure you get is your ballpark for a specific job.
Everything on that list is pretty set in stone other than the usage. Usage is the tricky part I’m afraid.
Where and how your work is used will all affect the price. Magazines, companies, video, stills, location etc all affect the price.
Generally, the more they use your shots – the more you should charge. For example, you would generally charge less for an image on a website than you would for a double spread in a magazine.
What about if a company doesn’t have a budget? In that situation you have a choice...
You can say “no thanks” and walk away which is the best thing to do a lot of the time
Or you can take the job because you really want to work with said client, shoot with the particular rider or the opportunity will get you shit loads of exposure. But, it’s always a trade off and you really want to be aiming to get paid. Getting paid pays the bills, fills up the car and keeps you in business.
At the end of the day if you always seem to have more money coming in than you have going out, you’re doing something right... If you don't, maybe give things a second thought!
Anyway here is a link that's great as getting a rough idea of the ball park, but consider this is based on very general pricing, every industry is different and every job is different...So if you have no idea at all have a look here then have a think about everything else... and then get ready to haggle a bit ha
This is the first in an on going series of blog posts where I will try to answer a few of the questions I get asked on an almost daily basis.
Everything from gear, the business side of things, technique etc I seem to attract a lot of questions, and rather than answer the same question 10 times over in the same month I thought I would just blog about them instead...
Right now that's said, this first post is on time usage and how long I spend doing what I do...
One of the best things about what I do is not being a slave to the 9-5 , when I'm out on a shoot its worse than that though , its more like 7-10 ha
If you want to get anywhere in such a competitive market you have to be willing to work your ass off...
( This is my Desk/Bedroom...as you can see this is a day when i have just come back from a trip, and getting ready for another one, so its a bit of a state...camera gear everywhere! )
In an average day at home I'm:
Up at 7-8am depending on if my phone bleeps with an urgent email...
8-10 is sat catching up on emails and urgent edits etc that have come in over night or from the previous evening
12 - is lunch, I'm a slave to my stomach ha i can tell when its 12 without a clock...
Then in the afternoon I either spend it editing photos/videos depending on what deadlines and work I have on, if I'm quiet though I just spend it bodging new camera toys, riding, shooting personal stuff, or working on my site/portfolio/blog etc
They say 10,000 hours at any one thing and you should be pretty much an expert and for me I would say that's nearing the truth...since 2005 I have spent almost all of my spare time buggering about with cameras, photo shop, websites etc , no shit almost every weekend for the last 5 years I have been in the outdoors taking photos, now I'm no mathematician but that has to be nearing those kind of hours...
You cant just coast, do a bit here, and bit there. To really get good at something you have to give your all to it.
So I guess the point I'm trying to make is, despite the rather lovely life I appear to lead managing to post up photos of me on the trails on a Tuesday morning...its not all it seems.
First off sorry for not keeping this thing more up to date...but when your traveling about, shooting everyday and sleeping on peoples floors updating your websites pretty far down the list of things to do...
Anyway apology outa the way on to a bit of what i have been doing that's so busy...
Since the last post I have done a few shoots for Madison, MBR magazine, Dirt, few shoots for WO/Unior, shot for a few days with Josh Bryceland and Sam Dale been to Rd 2 of the BDS at Moelfre and covered more than 1000 miles in the polo in the process...
Anyway a few photos from all that...cant put to much up as its all going places ( keep an eye on the new MBR, Dirt, MBUK ,WO for some work from the last month...
Anyway few shots
( These where all tweeted the day they where shot, so follow me on there to get this stuff as soon as its online @JacobGibbins )
First another Madison/Saracen Add, this time of Harry Molloy riding the Ariel at Woburn on a recent shoot...
Then a few days at home to edit etc before heading up to Manchester to stay with Josh and Sam for a few days to shoot some photos... here Sam scrubs over a bank
And Josh getting some roost going on...
Then it was a day or so's shooting with Unior rider Harry Heath for Wideopen mag , stay tuned for that vid which should be mint in the next week or so...
Then off to Wales yet again for BDS rd 2 and Moelfre, sun was out, track was good, packed Field...and got a LOT of great photos, got some of my fave race shots from the last year or so...
Peek at a banger of race winner Gee in his race run...sun, dust, crowd...its got it all...
And here is the edit I made for the Madison/Saracen team from BDS 2...
Anyway that's the last few weeks for me...the next few have a few shoots for non MTB magazines, few events to cover again non MTB and a lot of riding and building down the trails if this weather keeps up.
In the last few months I have done a few shoot for the new Madison/Saracen team for use in Adverts in 2011... Anyway I have a few Peaks at some of the Ads here and thought I would show you the shots as I get them VS the Ads that go in the magazines...
First off is this shot of Harry Molloy riding the Myst DH bike on a shoot in South Wales before the season which is running in a few mags at the mo including the new Dirt...
The shot I got...
How the Ad looks in Dirt...
This second shot is from BDS 1 in North Wales ( every things in Wales when it comes to DH bikes ) again of the Myst DH bike, not to sure on the rider as I cant see the number board and they all look the same on those bikes and kit...
And this is what one of the Ads using this shot looks like... There are a few different crops of it to fit different page layouts etc but again looks nice! And one that we worked on last week down near Milton Keynes ( Woburn to be exact ) riding the Short trav AM bike the Ariel...
And how one of the crops of the Ad looks... Like I say there are a few different layouts of each Ad to work with different page layouts in mags. This is maybe my fav of the 3 here...not 100% on what mags its going to run in but at a guess MBR, Singletrack, MBUK, Dirt ???
Anyway got a busy week ahead of me next week doing some filming for WO for a few people then off to BDS rd 2 at Molefre...
A few of the different images on them ( a few that haven't been online yet )
Wedding ones...
Bike ones...
Landscape ones....
More bikes... ( come on it is me ? )
All the boring stuff...
