Did the title of this post catch your attention? Well the title could very well have been: “PUT YOUR BEST PHOTOS AND VIDEO EVERYWHERE! BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHO MIGHT SEE IT AND CALL YOU AND WANT TO BUY IT” Maybe a little wordy, but the point is that as photographers, we should be sharing our stuff, first and foremost just to share our passion with the world, but also it doesn’t hurt if every now and then someone wants to buy something of yours!
In this case, I received a call a few weeks ago from a production company in Los Angeles. They had found my short video clip of monster waves hitting the icy shore of Tettegouche State Park on Lake Superior during a March gale last year. The editors liked it and included it in the “rough cut” for their client—DiscoverAmerica, an organization promoting tourism TO the U.S. in Europe, Asia and around the World. Well, the 1-second clip survived the cuts and even made it into two TV commercials (shown below).
When I opened the link to the finished product yesterday, I was thrilled with the videos…I had no idea that the whole campaign was built around a music video and original song by ROSEANNE CASH, country-pop-folk-blues-rock star and eldest daughter of Johnny Cash. Fun surprise! …and a great video. It is a 12.3 million dollar project and the “first ever global ad campaign for the United States.” The TV commercials will run in the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Brazil, South Korea and other countries. And the website is very fun too…see it here.
Look for my clip at 1:10 in full length video
Look for my clip at 0:06 in the “See it” short video
No clip of mine in this short, but the outdoor adventure sport clips are fantastic!
Here is the full clip shot at Tettegouche State Park on Lake Superior on March 23, 2011.
So I guess the point is, that sometimes you get lucky! And to get lucky, people have to be able to find and see your stuff…and today that means the internet. To help your odds of being “discovered,” keyword your photos and give your titles/file names common sense searchable names “Waves on Lake Superior” for example (This is how they found my video on vimeo). Also use photo/video sites like photoshelter, smugmug, flickr, google plus, vimeo and youtube to place your galleries and videos. And blogs consistently rank high in searches because they are updated frequently (or should be!).
My video shot with the Canon 7D and Canon 70-200 f4 lens on tripod.
9 responses to “Roseanne Cash & Sparky: Together again?”
Lynelle
May 5th, 2012 at 16:13
That is really cool Sparkydo! I’m sharing this post with my Lake Superior Binational Program colleagues. Lake Superior to the world! via Sparky!
Sparky Stensaas
May 7th, 2012 at 10:24
A visit to Lake Superior should be on everybody’s “bucket list!”
Brenda Rosenbaum (Brenda K of the Milkyway)
May 5th, 2012 at 18:17
Very cool video. I hope you have your Moose leash ready! I will be coming your way June 15th!
Sparky Stensaas
May 7th, 2012 at 10:25
The Moose are ready!
Joan
May 5th, 2012 at 18:21
Fun post this week… It was great to see that video in all its versions.l There were a couple of clips I’ve seen before, so they really did their research.
Kudos to you, too, Sparky!
Now, I’m going to post this on my blog.
🙂
Sparky Stensaas
May 7th, 2012 at 10:26
Thanks for the repost Joan!
Joanne Stensaas
May 5th, 2012 at 22:53
Wow! Think I better get traveling. Enjoyed seeing your shot and the whole video.
Sparky Stensaas
May 7th, 2012 at 10:27
I agree…I better get traveling too! Can’t wait until the boys are a bit older and will really appreciate “the open road.”
Pauline Wahlquist
May 7th, 2012 at 09:56
Very exciting for you. Nice video.
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Mother’s Day Weekend, Fishing Opener May 9th, 2012 at 14:33
[…] Stensaas has had a video clip he made of big waves crashing on the shoreline at Tettegouche State Park in a March gale last year included in a video by DiscoverAmerica, an organization promoting tourism to the U.S. in Europe, Asia and around the World. Check it out here. […]