My Web Host is Bankrupt!

Bloody Hell, just found out why my web site isn't working: Without any kind of warning or notification, my web hosting company (NeedHost) has gone bankrupt and all servers have been shut down.

I will be setting up a new web site ASAP, please stay tuned for updates. Until then, if you need to get in touch, please contact me at
- sorry for the inconvenience...

Merry Christmas!

All the best wishes from all of us to all of you. As you probably can see in the photo, Sabina is now less than two months away from giving birth to our first child!

Although there’s not much Christmas-ado around these latitudes, we do have a little plastic tree and we’re having a little family get-together tonight. Yes, it’s only the 24th, but that’s when we celebrate it in Denmark.

New Project
The last month I’ve been kicking off a new project, launched a web site called Gaia Photos, and it’s now on track to be a showcase platform for great photojournalism and visual story telling from around the world. I think it’s very interesting and I’ve only gotten very positive feedback from the photographers I’ve invited to join so far. The basic idea is that (at least) one photojournalist from every country will display some of his/her work here from time to time. I think together we can get a large audience, much larger that the combined audience of each of us individually, and hopefully professional photo buyers will also make a note of it and visit from time to time to find new and interesting material for publication. It is a bit on hold these days but once all this Christmas thing has settled down, I will find more top photojournalists to join. I could tell you all the great things I hope to accomplish with Gaia, but think I’ll wait till another time. For now, just go have a look at what we have so far, there is some great work up already!

Note
And a little note, my own web site is currently not online due to technical problems with my hosting company. There’s not much I can do about it but wait, it’s been three days now. Don’t like it one bit and I think it’s time to change web hosting company. There has been other glitches in the past with these guys. On the Gaia site I’ve chosen to work with BlueHost and I must say so far I am very pleased. Fast servers, incredible backend functionality, unlimited storage and bandwidth, voted best 24h support in the industry and seems to be a lot more reliable than NeedHost, the company I’m (still) using for my own site.

So just a quick note, if you need to get in touch with me, please use my alternate e-mail address until my site is back in operation, it’s

Bogus assignment?

I just received the following e-mail, looks and smells like a scam that has been going around in the photographic community for a while. The basic idea is that they pay an advance, cancel the assignment, ask me to refund the advance and when that’s done, they’ll cancel their original payment, which can be done within 30 days or so when paying with credit card. Here’s the e-mail, I’ve *-censored some personal details to protect the innocent.


Re : Photo Services
Hello, I want the photographic coverage of 4 of my employees and a translator coming in for tour.Their anticipated date for the tour is 15th of December,2008.The tour will last for 5 days or more pending on my arrangements. Your services will be needed for maximum of three hours each day of their tour.Let me know your cost. I hope you do accept credit. Warm regards, Mr J******** B******. In case you need to speak with me at my honeymoon base with my international roamed London number +44 *** *** *** *.Send replies to b******j****01@yahoo.com.vn


Just wondered, has anyone else out there received this e-mail?

What I did was reply and ask for some clarification. And stating that full payment is required in advance and that there can be no refund. I don’t expect any reply.

It's done...

...updating and watermarking my web photo galleries. It has gotten cold here in Nepal, so haven't really been out and about the last couple of days. Just sitting here at the computer, adding about 100 new photos to my web site. Here's the list if you're interested:

update: links are now pointing to my new site (where possible):

Nepal festival photos : About 10 new photos. A couple of good shots of the Kumari. Since I came to Nepal 3 years ago, I've been waiting for that moment where I could shoot the god-child sitting in her window. Well, last month it finally happened!

Daily life in Nepal : 6 new photos. People washing, eating, drinking etc. I really like this little collection, normal people going about their usual business.

People of Nepal : 10 new photos. Young and old. Classical and environmental portraits. People are always interesting subjects, aren't they?

Children of Nepal : Tightened this gallery up a bit. There's now 48 photos, a handful of new ones including a black-and-white photo of Sabina kissing her new niece that I really like (both the photo and the niece!)

Famous places of Kathmandu : 21 new photos! It was one of the smallest galleries before, so now it's a bit more complete with images from Boudha stupa, "the Monkey temple", Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Pashupatinath and various other Kathmandu landmarks.

Nature & Environment : 9 new photos. Including an old one of lightning striking in Kathmandu!

Photos of the Himalayan Mountains : 9 new photos. It was also a fairly thin gallery before. So added a few new ones, especially like the black-and-white's.

Trekking and Climbing photos : 7 new photos. Just expanded the rock climbing and ice climbing sections a bit.

Hinduism & Buddhism : 14 new photos. Making this the largest Nepal gallery. Religion plays an important part of pretty much everything here in Nepal, so of course I have plenty of these in my archive. And now on my web site.

Religious Art : 10 new photos. This has prooved to be a popular gallery. Perhaps because of the 'sexy' photos of Tantric temple wood carvings;-)

Kenya Safari photos : 24 new photos. A lot of wildlife here. Everything you'd expect, lions, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes etc. But also some of the landscape and human inhabitants of the Masai Mara. From a guided tour I won a few years ago, so not really much chance to work the usual documentary field, but still nice though.

Copenhagen Carnival : Nothing new here, just rearranged things a bit.

Photos of Bornholm : Same old, from 'my island' back in Denmark that I'd recommend everyone to visit some time. Also a bit from Copenhagen.

Black and White : A couple of new ones here. A collection of nice black and white photography - from 3 continents.


And a few from the more documentary / storytelling genre:


Tibetan protests : Photos of this years anti-Chinese demonstrations. A few new ones.

Nepal election photos : We've had two historic elections in Nepal this year. Just one or two new ones in this update round.

The 2006 Peoples Uprising in Nepal : Think I added a few new (old) ones here as well...


That's it. If you have time, go have a look at some of the galleries.

Watermarking my photos...

Decided to make some changes to the photo galleries I have on my web site. Make the photos bigger and watermarking them. There seems to be a trend nowadays, web photos have to be big, fill out the screen. So far I’ve kept the photos on my web site fairly small, mainly to prevent illegal use but also to facilitate quick viewing. But still, on a couple of occasions I’ve had a suspision that small versions of my images have been used illegally. And I’ve heard of other photographers who’ve found their images used under a different name.

I’ve previously spent some time optimizing my web site for search engines which has resulted in a fairly high number of visitors popping in and having a look. I don’t mind that. In fact, I’m happy to show the photos and build a “fan base”, if I can call it that. Many other photographers don’t seem to go that way, they just use their site as a small online portfolio exclusively meant for photo editors to do a quick review and find their contact details. But that’s not me. I like a broader audience and it gives me a small steady stream of little income sources. Posters, advertising etc. Nothing big, but nice with diverse revenue sources.. The downside is of course that surfers might save image copies and use them for their various purposes – without paying me. The internet is a fantastic place, but not really a place dominated by high morality and due respect for copyright.

(If you have the idea to steal some of my images, be aware of the terms and conditions I have: If I find out, I am reserving the right to bill you at 10 times normal rate!)

Ok, so from now on I’m putting a copyright notice onto all my images. As a compensation for the watermarks I’m making the photos bigger, around 750x500 pixels. That should also give users some “reward” for clicking on the small thumbnails. Pop! What a nice, big picture!

At the same time I’m putting a few keywords into the file names in addition to my reference number. Theoretically those two things should make it more likely that they show up in a Google image-search... In a years time or so. But Google’s gotta have a billion images indexed already and it’s not exactly a tool that professional image buyers are using on a daily basis, is it? I just still remember Dan Heller’s estimates, the photo market is 80-90% outside the established agencies! Not my experience so far, but still...

Ok, back to work. It’s not the most interesting work, watermarking, uploading etc. But I’m also adding new photos to the galleries, drinking coffee, listening to some music (REM, Automatic for the People – “Hypnotize the summer, steep it, steep it, Ig-nore-land...”). Luxury! So far I’ve uploaded some new photos of Kathmandu landmarks and children in Nepal. Next are the Himalayan Mountain photos and photos of Nepal’s festivals. Hope it’ll be done soon.

Shanti Sewa Griha

The Shanti Sewa Griha is a home and clinic for handicapped persons here in Nepal, where leprosy and polio patients live together with various mentally and socially disadvantaged people. My photo reportage from there, mainly about leprosy patients, is now viewable on my web site (parts of it, at least). Go have a look if you're curious: Leprosy in Nepal.

Having seen it, perhaps you'd like to support the project. And you can, for free! The Shanti Sewa Griha is one of 12 finalists in the 2008 World Challenge Competition, and there's a couple of weeks left for you to vote. Vote here! I know they'll appreciate it, so many thanks for your support!

Leprosy in Nepal

A few photos from today. I am doing a reportage from a local leprosy hospital/home. Nepal is one of the few countries in the world where people still get leprosy. It’s a double curse here, where fear and superstition results in victims being social outcasts, sometimes even stoned to death.

Sudarsan (12) and his brother Narayan (6) are confined to their bed, while their mother watches over them, feeds them, cleans them etc.

A couple of leprosy hit boys racing up and down the hallway in a wheelchair.

"Sabina". Photo by Morten Svenningsen, all rights reserved.

A new ‘tag’ here, thought I’d post some links to various sites I frequent. Mostly photo related, of course.

First one is a new fashion / glamour photo blog I was invited to have a look at. It looks promising. It’s not really at the heart of what I do, being more about studio portraits than documentary work. In my own portraits I always try to show the deeper character of the person, not just their physical characteristics. The shot above of Sabina is one of the few ‘glamour shots’ I ever did.

I’m a big fan of the guys and girls over at VII. Their tearsheets are always a big source of inspiration.

And one gotta follow the news, right. The Ironic Times is priceless, my favourite that I’ve been following for years!

Happy Tihar!

What a night it was. Whole city turned into Las Vegas for three nights here.

For those of you not familiar with Hindu culture, this is the time to celebrate the victory of good over evil and various other things, the festival of lights also known as Diwali and Dipawali down south. In latin or something, guess it’ll be called a “photo festival”…

Funny culture, first day is the day of Crows, where “there’s no crows to be seen anywhere”. They’ve all magically disappeared… Nevertheless, I saw plenty of those black screeqing birds. Well, next day Dogs are celebrated by smearing their head and feet in red vermillion and third day (which was yesterday) is the first of the three proper holidays and the god Laxmi is worshiped. She’s the god of money and business, so hope she’ll smile at us this year! Sabina did her best (photo above). It was also the day of Cows, and today is the day of Oxens. And tomorrow, it’s “Bhai Tikka”, where sisters take pleasure in giving their brothers “tikka”, the red vermillion coloured rice, in their foreheads. Little brothers travel from all across the country in order to get this tikka. All very significant and an auspicious occasion…

Anyway, yesterday I had one of those rare days where I didn’t have 17 things I had to do. I’ve finished a little update of my web site, put some slideshows on there and there’s also the result of my little experimental photo collaboration project, Celebration of Eid around the World (link removed, my new site is here). Have a look…


And oh, here's Subic "dancing" in a firecracker...

Global Financial Crisis

Spare a few change, Sir? While 2 and 3 digit billion dollar amounts are being thrown around at banks in Europe and America these days, many people in “third world” countries, like Nepal here, are still struggling to get a few rupees for a daily meal.

(Second part of my naïve investigation of “global issues”)

What the heck’s going on here? It seems that all markets in all parts of the world are plummeting now. The global financial crisis wasn’t entirely global before, now it is. Iceland’s economy is heading towards bankruptcy. Governments are desperately trying to turn the tides, pumping money into bad markets and slashing interest rates. It seemed to work for a while this week, but the negative tendency has picked up again.

Let me just try and get a fix on some of the facts here:

US came up with a 700 billion dollar rescue package, following 200b$ in March and an 85b$ “loan” to AIG in September. UK an 88b$ package and an additional 692b$ on stand-by. ECB first tried with 95 billion (9/8 last year), BeNeLux countries poured in 11b$ (28/9’08) and Germany has presented a 50b$ bank rescue package. Australia cut interest rates with 1 percent point, (from 7 to 6, actually 14%!) US and European national banks slashed 0.5% points. All this after previous interest rates cuts since the credit crunch started. The Iceland currency is down 23% in a few days. All Asian stocks seem to be loosing 5-10% of their value each day this week. Think it’s a similar picture in Europe and on Wall Street. And that’s not even all of it, just the main headlines. Hope I got it somewhat right.

Clearly, something isn’t right here!

I think (the Danish economist of sorts) Ross Jackson is on to something when he says that there are some inherent problems in the way the global financial market work. Some of the problems he mentions are the free flow of capital across borders and the domination of short term speculations. He also warns of an even worse economic crisis coming when we start running out of oil. Or more exactly: When we can no-longer produce enough of the stuff to keep up with demand. Historical evidence is that a 5% drop in supply gives a 400% increase in prices (there’s an interesting article on it here). Think everybody agrees on this point, the question is more of a “When?” than an “If?”. It could be as soon as in 5 years time! Are you ready?

I know what it’s like – from living in Kathmandu where fuel and electricity are in constant short supply. Drives me nuts at times…

So, what’s going to happen now? Long-term effects?

I actually doubt Americans will learn the lesson here. Instead of fixing inherently flawed market mechanisms, they’ll probably invade some more countries. China, perhaps! Just over the Himalayan hills from here in Kathmandu, the Chinese banks don’t seem to be bleeding so much. They could do with some better quality control though. And they also seem to be needing more and more energy.

Well, maybe it’ll be China who takes over America. One way or the other. Of course, no-matter what happens in the US election next month, I think it’ll be a political improvement. But how much is the American president actually capable of deciding? I mean, a lot is decided by lobbyists and those financial interests in the USA, isn’t it? Clearly, the current president (and the VP) is closely tied in with oil interests.

If they wanted to stem those short term speculations, they could have implemented the Tobin Tax, as suggested in the 1970’s. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s worth taking a look at. It’s simply a small tax, a 0.1% surcharge or so, on financial transactions. Currency trade, primarily, but why not stock trade as well. The effect? Theoretically at least, it should have little impact on normal peoples money transactions and put a huge damper on speculations aimed at making short term profits. Markets would be more stable, an extremely desirable trait, and a good amount of money would still be generated by the surcharge. They could go into a fund and be used for economic “bail-outs”, easing economic difficulties, perhaps even primarily for poor countries. Making funds available to be used for providing opportunities for the world’s poorest to make a decent living for themselves. I’ve always liked this idea, instead of nationalizing, making new trade barriers, closing down borders and such. If you’re more interested, have a look at the “Association for the Taxation of financial Transactions to Aid Citizens”, in short: ATTAC! - an organization trying to get it implemented.

Eid Mubarak!

The end of the Islam Ramadan month, Eid al-Fitr, was celebrated in Kathmandu (and many other places) yesterday. Nepal's got some 8-900.000 Muslims, and 14.000 of them were in Kathmandu's 2 Muslim mosques yesterday.

I took some 150 photos in little more than one hour, edited them down to 79 on my hard drive and 32 on my web site. There's 7 here in the slideshow. I'd like to do a tighter edit of my web galleri, but as usual it's difficult to decide which ones to remove. If you feel like helping me out, I'd appreciate any comment on which photos should and shouldn't be a part of the gallery. Have a look here, at Muslim Eid al-Fitr, Nepal (link removed, my new site is at http://www.mortensvenningsen.com/) and tell me what you think! (Just use the comment section here on the blog post, thanks!)

Technical Problems

Yours truly, the computer doctor! Copyright Morten Svenningsen 2008.

They never come alone, do they? Problems. First one of my lenses failed. Got an “Error 99” on the camera, which turned out to be the lens aperture control that wasn’t working. That’s now fixed, thanks to the guys at Primax. Yes, we do actually have an authorized Canon service center here in Kathmandu.

Next was my laptop. Think it was a virus infection and a conflict between two anti virus programs. Suddenly, no internet connection. No two ways around it, so I’ve spent all the time since last night re-formatting and re-installing. But nothing lost, except time. After a failed 2 hour attempt to do a repair install, the re-format part was done in an hour. Another hour to re-install drivers and essential software. The real time-killer here is downloading all the security updates and scanning the whole thing again.

But it’s good to start with a fresh installation sometimes. Can’t believe the amount of cookies, registry entries and what not that gets clogged up in the system over time. Oh, well, it’s all good again. Need to get myself involved in some serious documentary photo projects now. Rain’s still pissing down here, but I’m getting ready for a little road trip soon. And I got an idea for a new sort of project. So stay tuned for updates…

Year of Global Crisis

Some Nepalese rupees and 20 US Dollars. Which one's worth most next year? Photo copyright by Morten Svenningsen.

We’ve had the global oil crisis, the global food crisis and now the global financial crisis. Next to that we have the global warming issue and a global war on terrorism. Well, at least a fairly international war on terrorism.

One crisis after another, I’d like to investigate this further so I’ve hereby created this new ‘tag’ on my blog: ‘Global issues’. So let’s begin with a little look at the current crisis, the financial one. (Please give me this chance to demonstrate my ignorance!)

It’s been an expensive week for our friend, George Bush. From what I’ve heard, he’s had to dig out well over 300 billion dollars the last couple of weeks. The thing I’m wondering, they’ve got this huge deficit on the state funds. Obviously they must be loaning all this money. And for what? To loan money to the banks! Anyone else here see the irony? Are they loaning money to each other? Is that sustainable? What if it isn’t? Is the American economy going to crash? And what effect will it have on ordinary people who don’t own a bank, like myself?

Well, maybe it’s a coincidence, but this week I’ve had two high-profile assignments canceled from two renowned American magazines - without explanation. In the big picture, of course, my fees don’t amount to much. But as consumers and advertisers are running out of credit sources, circulations are likely to decrease.

Note that I say credit, not cash. Americans love their credit cards, at least they did when I was there around 1999-2001. They bought everything on credit. Buy now, pay later. Don’t worry. And that, I suppose, is a large contributing factor to the current circumstances. Together with their hopeless war in Iraq. It’s interesting to note how the renowned economist and Nobel laureate, Joseph Stiglitz, explains the crisis: The war has cost the American society around 3 Trillion dollars, roughly 2.9 trillion more than first estimated. Simply stated, it led to rising interest rates and suddenly people couldn’t pay their loans any longer. (update: From 2004 to 2006, US interest rates increased from 1% to 5.35%! source: BBC.) One after another, family houses were foreclosed and businesses didn’t do so well anymore.

And now, as an effect, financial institutions a in ruins.

So where does that leave us, the world at large? Honestly, I don’t really know. There’s a lot of aspects here. The future of capitalism, market economy and speculations? Is money still a tool for us humans or has it become a force we have to obey? Will it become a battle of rich nations against poor ones?

I think I’ll look a bit more into this from now on. It’s feels quite interesting and important. And I’ll blog a bit about my thoughts and realizations. Follow me here if you like...

Finally, it's here! (Canon 5D Mark II pre-review)

I’m really excited today. My new tool has been announced: The Canon 5D2 camera. Here’s the main features and some thoughts:


21.1 Megapixels - rocks! 2.5 times what I’m currently using. Recently, some clients have expressed a little dis-satisfaction with 8.2 MP, although it’s still sufficient for full page 300 dpi! And I can avoid the upsizing process when submitting for my stock agency... And it’s now truly full frame, 24x36mm. (God, how I’ve missed that!) The 5D actually was “only” 99.5%. Pixel density will be 156/mm, same as 20D and more than the 5D’s 122/mm.

ISO 6400 - wow! not the round 10.000-figure I was dreaming of, but really close. And an extended range going to 25.600! A significant help in tricky indoor and nighttime situations.

Video - this is really new. Mainly thinking of using the sound recording for slideshows. With an external mic. (Perhaps won’t make the camera more expensive as I previously thought. It’ll sell more, enabling Canon to achieve those low mass-production costs...)

-------UPDATE-------
Perhaps all those hours learning Final Cut Pro will now pay off - I don't see any video editing software bundled with the camera.
-------

Body - no vertical grip, weight 810g, exactly like 5D1 but slightly larger penta-prism, which leads me to the...

Viewfinder : 98% - small, but significant improvement over 96% (5D) and 95% (20D). Completely ok. So far the press release just sais “high-performance, high-magnification”. Hoping it’ll be significantly more than the 5D’s 0.71x magnification - so I can see what the heck I’m doing...

-------UPDATE-------
On second look at the specs, it is still a 0.71x magnification. Guess there'll still have to be something to differentiate it from the 1D series... It does have ISO read-out in the viewfinder now - that's nice.
-------

Spot meter : 3.5% - like the 5D, ok.

-------UPDATE-------
Talking about exposure, it's worth noting that the ISO menu now has an 'auto' option, and that there is 'highlight tone priority' in the exposure control. All good!
-------

HDR function - yes! New in-camera function. Saves me lengthy Photoshop processing hopefully. This could be really awesome for landscape/travel stuff sometimes!

Still no mirror lock-up button and digital ND-filters (except a 50 ISO setting), it does have the ½-res setting, just not sure if the 3.9 fps will double to 7.8 fps? Anyway, it’s in-between the 3 fps (5D) and 5 fps (20D). Let’s see, if not now then perhaps in the next firmware?

-------UPDATE-------
On second thought, it might not be possible through firmware alone. The camera reportedly(?) has a shutter lag of 73 ms + 145 ms mirror blackout time. That gives a theoretical top rate of 1/(.073+.145) = 4.5 fps. What a pity. Of course if I was using LiveView I'd avoid the mirror time and we'd be speaking of 1/.073 = 13.7 fps! But then we'd run into the limit of not-fast-enough digital signal processing. But I would be willing to take just half the pixels to get, say, 8 fps with a LiveView 'Action Mode'.
-------

Also, there’s a “silent mode” (using the LiveView) and a vignetting corrector. I like it! LiveView has some auto-focus options now. And there’s a nice 3” LCD and improved dust shake-off. Very useful around here (Kathmandu)!

-------UPDATE-------
...and the LCD now has auto-brightness adjustment depending on ambient light + the new anti-reflective surface. Both quite nice improvements. The menu looks a bit more fancy - but Canon's never been good at making GUI's. They've gone back to tab-menus again, which I personally find more confusing than the simple list. In a sharp situation and all. But there's now also a "My Menu" page where I can put those 5-6-7 menu points that I actually use, and leave the 100+ others buried under all the tabs. Cool!
-------

Apparently it has a new battery. No details yet.

-------UPDATE-------
The new battery (LP-E6) has 1800 mAh, old one (511A) has 1390 mAh. Nice 30% increase, sure we'll need it.
-------

And finally another good thing. The price is in the low end of my expectations: $2700. With the current 5D selling for $2250 it makes it a no-brainer to choose. 5D will probably drop to $1800 though, making it a bit more of a choice - if it’ll be continued...

5D2 should be available in November/December, giving me some time to choose a lens. I have the primes (20mm, 50mm, 90mm) and the long tele (100-400mm) but I’ll probably go for a new zoom. The 24-105mm will be bundled for $800 extra. Currently looks like my choice. It’s bundled with the 5D for an extra $675, why not same with 5d2? Oh well... Was hoping for a stabilizer on the 24-70mm (f/2.8), but you can't have everything, I suppose.

-------UPDATE-------
After some consideration, I’ve pretty much decided to go for the 24-70 f/2.8 glass. Without the stabilizer. It’s a close call though, both lenses have excellent image quality and mechanical construction. For me, that’s the 2 most important points. But in the end, the larger aperture made the difference. The stabilizer on the 24-105 is really nice, but not vital in the low end of the focal range. The smaller focal length (up to 70mm in stead of 105mm) is not vital – and with 21 megapixels I should be able to afford to crop the images a bit, if need be. The 24-105 is also lighter in weight and about $300 cheaper – actually $500 when bundled in the kit. But I think I’ll be happier with the greater focus accuracy, slightly brighter viewfinder and more shallow depth of field that the 2.8 aperture provides. I also think the IQ is slightly better on the 24-70. Shooting at f/4, it will be stopped down, while the 24-105 will be working wide open. All in all, can’t wait to get my hands on the new gear!
-------
UPDATE 2:
According to this report there is another significant difference between the two lenses: Barrel distortion. Apparently, the 24-70 f/2.8 outperforms the 24-105 f/4 at the wide end.
-------

All in all, a new dawn for digital photography is on the rise!


Ok, back to work...

Destined Evolution Dreams

Canon’s new camera. From web site teaser, it looks like a 5d2 (/4d/3d/2d). Could it be a new 1d? Buttons and body looks more like 5d, but the eos logo is placed differently. So maybe a 4d/3d/2d name is more likely. Or maybe maybe, I’m just over-thinking it a bit.

The Canon 5D and 1D3

But if it’s anything like Nikon’s new D700 and Sony’s new A900, I’ll have to get it. Considering Canon has been way ahead of both in the digital era, esp. on noise issues, it has to be a beauty this one - unless they’ve slipped up and lost their edge, but I don’t think so. Don’t hope so. Nikon’s now got the noise level, Sony’s now got the megapixels. Sincerely hope that this Canon’ll have’em both!

Wonder about the bottom part though, it’s still blurred out from view. Could it be a new slim vertical grip? There’s a lot of hype and www fuzz going around. People seem to “know” it’ll be 21 or 24 megapixels. That would be awesome! A workable 10.000 ISO - how extreme would that be! The prism house looks well big. Really hoping for a 99-100% viewfinder this time. And big and bright, without the vignetting. I want it to be like a living room in there!

And the now standard trimmings, 3” LCD, 14 bit depth, sensor dust shake-off...

And perhaps some new features, HDR function, digital ND filter, double-fps/half-res setting (news mode), auto-ISO, a 2% spot meter. All this is “just software”, so come on! And a mirror lock-up button + ISO read-out in the view-finder, please. That’ll make it gold.

Not sure about video capabilities, as someone seems to “know” will be there. Sometimes, yes, could be useful. But adds extra weight, price, things that can brake. The LiveView is a must these days, but it’s not really anything I’m craving. Just give me a good viewfinder.

And last, put a stabilizer on the 24-70/2.8L glass, make it a kit and let’s have it for less than $4000!

Guess we’ll have to wait till next weeks full moon to see what’s in store for us. Or perhaps until Sept. 23...

Freedom of speech, movement ??

Think I've mentioned it before here, but it's kind'a important. Tibetans are protesting against Chinese human rights violations in Nepal. Still. Since 10. March. And of course also now, during the Olympics. And despite Nepal's ban on all anti-Chinese activities. I'll not repeat the gruesome details again now, but Chinese torture etc. is well documented. And if you've ever spoken with some of the underground activists, you'll understand their continued protests. But Nepal is ignoring their protests, despite all the talk about a new nepal and such. Friday, at the opening day of the Olympics, Nepal Police had even put up check points around Tibetan settlements in Kathmandu and stopped them from going to the centre of the capital - purely based on them being Tibetan. I'm not sure how many international human rights they broke that day... So thought I'd share this little photo essay with you. I was embedded with about a hundred Tibetans, mostly monks, trying to sneak out of their virtual captivity. Unsuccessfully. They were intercepted and detained...

(again, I forgot my sound recording gear, so no multimedia this time.)



Trying to exercise free speech...



...but met by Nepal's Police...



...and rounded up with some force...



...then loaded up on some overcrowded trucks...



...and driven away to shadow-land.

Changing Media World

Strolling around the stupa. Modern dressed teenagers and a Buddhist monk. Nice mix of old and new. © Morten Svenningsen, 27 July 2008.

The media world is changing and I am sitting here thinking about where it’s going. In-depth journalism is getting rare, everything is happening so fast and no-one have time to dwell on issues from around the world. Professional photojournalism is getting squeezed by market trends, staff photographers are getting laid off and in the US there’s now only 4 (yes, four) newspapers with a foreign editor’s desk! Their presidential candidate, the “experienced” one, McCain, apparently thinks that Iraq and Pakistan are neighbours. And the other one, Obama, is believed to be a Muslim by a large portion of Americans! There clearly is a need for spreading awareness. And what can I do. I’ve become tired of pitching stories to magazines and newspapers. I have reason to believe that most of them never even look at my emails. I know, I should call them in stead. But they are always in a meeting to discuss the appalling sales figures or something.

Meanwhile the web, Google, flickr, blogs like this and all that, they flourish. And it’s all very democratic. But material is unedited, facts and opinions are mixed up and sometimes dubious. I and many other serious photojournalists are left to wonder how we can make a decent living this way. I am thinking of slashing my prices, I don’t like it but lately I’ve mostly been turned down because of one thing: Your price is too high, we don’t usually pay that sort of amount etc. Editor’s expectations are that they can get the material almost for free. Hey, I have expenses too. And try sending your staff photographer to Nepal and get the same photo as me, the same level of background information, then compare the prices.

Stuff is going on in my mind. Perhaps it’s all for the best, the world was never perfect. I just need to figure out a way to get through. Despite the downward spiral, I’m actually ok. Still trying to work in-depth and do some quality reporting. Customers come and go. I have a small but steady revenue stream and enough saved up to get the mythical 5D Mk II camera when (if?) it comes out. September perhaps.

Fingers crossed, gotta run. It’s a high-pace world we’re living in.

New Prez in Nepal

President Ram Baran Yadav outside the BICC / Nepal’s interim parliament. © Morten Svenningsen


We got a new president, a first, here in Nepal yesterday. Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, a 61 year old physician. Much to the dissatisfaction of the Maoists, their candidate didn’t win the secret parlamentary election and they are currently in a meeting to decide on their further participation in government. Fears are that they will pull out completely and return to warfare in light of the new anti-Maoist coalition that has emerged. Chairman Prachanda has called it an “un-holy alliance”, peculiar choice of words for a Maoist. But media are perhaps exaggerating the conflict overtones - wouldn’t be the first time. At the voting venue yesterday there actually was a quite jovial atmosphere among the MP’s. But let’s see.

The last weeks I’ve started to realized what a creative stand-still I’ve been in the last year. Or two. I’m mostly talking about the fields of contemporary photojournalism and world-class environmental portraits. I think I’ve been doing a decent job with the camera for a while but perhaps in a slightly boring way. Very controlled, technically superb but could have stronger appeal. From now on I think I’ve worked out how to improve and get some spontanuity in my documentary photos. It mostly rely on a feeling but in involves taking more of the whole frame into consideration in the shots. Not just the subject and the timing. There’s something for me to work on over the next months. The photo above, I think, is an example of an ok beginning! So stay tuned if you want to follow my progress into the stratosphere of photojournalism!


(By the way, what happened to nice fonts on Blogger and why have all my inbound links to my homepage suddenly disappeared in Google's webmaster control panel? Is Google loosing it??)


...Oh yeah, for photos please contact the photographer here...

June went by so quickly...

Old husband and wife selling vegetables, Kathmandu. Photographed 1. June 2008 / Morten Svenningsen.

It’s been a while since my last post, doesn’t mean that nothing has happened here. What have I been doing?

• Just created the Denmark Nepal Network (DNN) on facebook yesterday. A meeting place for people of the two countries, excited to see what becomes of it... Welcome to join if you feel you qualify!

• I’ve edited text and photos on a big project called Football’s Hidden Story. Covering 16 different countries, it tells the story of how football (soccer) affects the lives of normal people, far away from the glamorous pro games, leagues and tournaments. Parts have now been published by FIFA and Sportingpulse.

• I’ve been optimizing my web-site so it now looks even cooler! And also doing some SEO work with good results. If you google photographer / journalist / photojournalist / stock photos etc. in Nepal, you will find me listed on the first page of the results. Number 2 seems the best so far.

• That'’s also resulted in a lot more visitors on the site, currently with an Alexa rank of 370.000 and still going up. So I’m starting to see a steady sales of stock photos now, although the income doesn’t amount to much. And I’ve even started selling posters as well!

• Also been doing a little work on something called the International Photojournalist Network. It’s a cooperative of photographers from around the world, we’ve been working on a few stories together so far.

• And I’ve written a book! Well, it’s not quite finished yet. But for long time I’ve been taking notes whenever I felt I had an epiphany about photography. So I’ve started putting the notes together in an article series: A Photographer’s Thoughts. Freely available on my site... update, site moved to www.mortensvenningsen.com...

• And I’ve started teaching Danish a couple of times a week. Lots of Nepalis still choose to seek fortune and glory abroad. Last I heard, 5-600 a day!

• Haven’t had much time to actually take any photos, the above one is among the few I did manage.

• And finally there’s been some “family developments” - - - - - - -


Outside the sphere of my own life, nothing big is going on here in Nepal. The ex-king left his palace and went into the jungle, 2 years after the Maoists came out of it.

It’s almost 3 months since the election now, and they still haven’t formed a new government. Looks like perhaps the Maoists and UML might take it into their own hands. The 7+1 party coalition is hanging by a thread.

And the monsoon has made it’s re-entry here. Only a couple of really big showers (torrential grade) so far though. That’s all set to change this month!

Monarchy Abolished

Nepal declared a federal democratic republic. King given 15 days to leave the Palace.

Late last night at 23.30, the first meeting of the newly elected constituent assembly abolished Nepal’s 240 year old monarchy by overwhelming majority. Of 564 members present, only 4 voted against the motion, which is less than 1%.

King Gyanendra is expected to accept the declaration and is now set to live the rest of his life as a normal citizen of Nepal.

It is especially a victory of the Maoists who started a war against the establishment 12 years ago. But the turning point in public opinion against monarchy was the palace massacre that happened 7 years ago. It is now common belief that King Gyanendra orchestrated the massacre of his own brother, the then King Birendra, and his family, in order to assume the throne himself. 3 years ago the king tightened control further by closing the parlament and taking direct control of the country. The coup’d’etat failed in 2006 and since then the King’s powers have been stripped.

Royalist supporting Hindu fundamentalists have detonated small bombs in Kathmandu the last 3 days, but without anybody seriously hurt. Their supporters are few and vanish in the crowds of republic supporters. Embassies still advice caution in public gatherings.

2 days public holiday has been declared Thursday and Friday to celebrate the declaration.

Chasing holy cows

A holy cow in Nepal. Except it’s a bull...
© Morten Svenningsen

We had a little banda here in Kathmandu yesterday, a strike. One Maoist commander had kidnapped one of their own supporters and beat him up together with a couple of regular PLA’s. The poor guy later died of “multiple organ failure and excessive bleeding”. So his family, together with the support of rival party, NC, closed down the capital in protest. Meanwhile, top political leaders of the unelected lame duck government continue their exclusive closed door haggling to decide on vital issues before the newly elected representatives have their first meeting on the 28th. Have they really not understood the concept of democracy yet? To let the elected representatives make the decisions in stead of a handful of party bosses. Apparently not!

On a personal note, the battle continues. I’m still in a writing spree and cranking out articles by the dusin. Pitching some of them, like for instance a story about holy cows. Hence the photo above. (The article is available for publishing if you’re a publisher reading this.) Mostly though, I’m writing small tutorials on being a freelance photographer. Tricks of the trade. I’ve had this book idea for a couple of years now, been taking notes all along. So now I’m writing and editing it down to an article series, and I’ll compile the whole thing into a little eBook. Not sure when it’ll be finished. Every time I write one article, I get an idea for one or two other articles...

Had another couple of sales on Alamy last week, making things look a little more promising on that front. Otherwise just waiting for the 28th...

Nepal update

There’s still ”load-shedding” around here (scheduled power-cuts) but it’s now down from some 40 hours a week to ”only” about 20 hours. The show must go on, so this is what I look like when I’m writing in the evenings.

Hi there, just felt it was time for a little rant about big and small things. Here goes.

This just in: Today the Chinese managed to scale Everest with the Olympic torch. (The summit of Everest is in Nepal, FYI.)

Great. How many torches do they have anyway. A week ago it was on the way up, then it was in Hong Kong and now it’s on top again. And it’s flying around, back and forth across the world. Defeats the whole idea, IMO. The only proper way to carry the torch is by hand, running from Athens to Beijing. And the whole Everest thing. Again, same feeling of couldn’t care less. It’s a freaking government / military operation or whatever. And they’re stopping everybody else from going there in the process. Then what’s the point. Their sorry little media stunt may impress some of their own people, but not me. Scaling Everest’s got to be done with the right spirit, and this is not it. Throwing everybody of the mountain and such, good old Charlie Haviland (my colleague from BBC) and that American guy who’s now expelled from Nepal.

How can the Nepalese government, even the Maoists, support China’s suppression of Tibetan demonstrations? Hell, even do the same thing themselves here in the streets of Kathmandu every day? It’s only 2 years ago that the Nepalese government and Maoists got to power on the basis of exact similar mass uprising by the people! And now you get expelled for peacefully supporting a similar cause. Well, it’s no secret that China is a strategically important partner for Nepal so they’ll apparently go along way to be the good little neighbor.


But enough of that. What’s it like here anyway?

During the last month it’s gotten a lot warmer around here, humidity is on the rise and we’ve started to get thunder and afternoon showers. Is it related to the Burma cyclone? Maybe a little spin-off of the same weather system. I’m not a religious man, but my prayers goes out to the people in Burma these days. Some of the nicest and most innocent people I’ve ever met. Firs the violent suppression of the monks protests and now this. And the whole military regime to begin with.

Election results are out now, Maoist didn’t get majority but they are comfortably the biggest party now. What a turn of events. So now we’re waiting for the first meeting in the new (care-taker) parliament, no date yet but can’t be long. And the de-throning, which they’ve said they’ll try and do peacefully.

And me, I’ve started writing again. Well, I never really stopped but I’m now starting to crank out more stories now. (Newest one here: Hinduism & Buddhism combined.) Putting the ‘J’ back in ‘PJ’ - Photo-Journalist.

And then I’ve also started teaching Danish language to a bunch of Nepali guys who’s going there later in the year. For now it’s just a 2 month gig but if it’s a success, I might continue longer. The institute that hired me already asked me to continue and the word got out -as it always does in Nepal- so another institute contacted me. So sure, there’s still enough work around here, at the same time insisting on having time for the little family and the usual round of domestic chores.

I think that’s about it. Thunder clouds are starting to roll in and the unreliable power is getting more and more unreliable, so I’ll switch of now. ‘Till next time...

Link building for a photo web site

It’s really not as bad as people say, it takes some time but I actually like to do “link building” for my web site. Surfing around trying to navigate the depths of the internet and finding new places. And making a benefit out of it, hopefully.

What benefit?
Well, I’ve now spent several years taking pictures and I think I have about 500 images on my web site. Now I’d like to get some more visitors, not just people looking to hire a photographer in Nepal, but also the “general public”, the silent internet masses surfing around looking for whatever it is they’re seeking. Some of them might occasionally order a poster or something, but that’s not the main point here. If I can get a lot of traffic to my site, it’ll sort of bring some more life to the whole project. Comments, suggestions, more links, referrals etc. I might even start to sell add-space! Getting a diverse audience is part of my own little strategy, since it’ll hopefully make me less reliant on the random fluctuations of any one single market. I’ve never gone to any business school, but I do know that it’s dangerous to rely on just a few customers. Several staff photographers are being laid off these days, they’ve had comfortable jobs for decades now and just forgotten how reliant they’ve become on that one particular job and how difficult it has become to get your foot in another place. That’s not gonna happen to me!

Hence the efforts to make my web site more visible to all sorts of people. That spells making it show up in Google searches. On the first page, not listed on page 17 or something. It’s common knowledge that hardly anyone’s gonna click on your site link if you’re not on the first page. Your placement on Google is determined by your PageRank, which again is determined by the number (and quality) of other sites linking to your site.

Right now my Google PageRank is a disgrace: 1. It used to be 3 and I’m not sure what happened. But I’m determined to get it at least back to where it used to be. PR4 would be quite good, PR5 would be fantastic!

Now there’s many ways to get links to your site and improve your Google PageRank, one of the simplest ways is to get listed in various web directories. That’s what I’ve been trying to do the last few days. If you want to do the same for your site, check out this list of free photo-related web directories I’m using. (- It’s also good if you just want to browse around and see a lot of nice photo sites.)

My efforts are not over yet and it’ll take some time before the results start to show. Check back here from time to time if you’re as interested as me to see how it’ll all turn out.

Nepal: Post-election thoughts

Maoist supporter holding up their well-know symbol.
© Morten Svenningsen 2008

While the ballots are still being counted, it is now safe to say that the Maoists were the big winners of last week constituent assembly election here in Nepal. They’ve secured more than half of the seats in the first-past-the-post election constituency that’s been counted so far (114 out of 207) and about a third of the votes in the proportional representation election so far. If this tendency holds, they stand to get about 250 of the 601 seats in the new all-powerful assembly. It’s not impossible that they will actually get a bit more, giving them an absolute majority! A bit of a shocker to everyone, themselves included I’m sure, despite what some of them have been saying.

The election day went by quite peacefully although the days leading up to it was marred by some violence, with 5 or 6 people killed in various clashes that threatened to make it look like Kenya for a while. But were some of the votes given under duress? These allegations are starting to appear from various quarters, most notably Minister Mahat of the still ruling Congress party who stands to loose control over the government. Re-polling still have to take place in almost a 100 polling stations where the election was cancelled due to irregularities. But by and large, whatever happens, it seems that the election results are being accepted as “free and fair”, if not 100% then at least close enough - enough to accept the election result and continue with the next step.

So what is the next step? Well, first there’s been some “bad omens” here, in the highly superstitious country. Just after Maoist leader Prachanda gave his victory speech, a virulent storm descended on the valley, chasing everybody into shelter. A day later, a 100 feet high pole fell down and injured 12 people during a festival. Same thing happened just before the 2001 royal massacre. And in Bhaktapur where I was celebrating Nepalese New Year, the crowd had to abandon the chariot before it had completed it’s ritual journey (it’s a long explanation). They sacrificed a few roosters the next morning so maybe it’s all cool with the Gods now.

No, seriously, it’s now unavoidable: They’re gonna turn this country into a (communist) republic and abolish the monarchy. (Personally, I can’t wait to see what’s gonna happen to the king!) Then they’ll rewrite the constitution and start to run this country in some way. That’s also gonna be really interesting to witness.

I can’t help but think how the Maoists are gonna manage the task, if they’re up to it. So far their activities have been mostly of a destructive nature, being against the establishment and this and that. Now they are the establishment and they have to show themselves constructive in rebuilding the country and delivering on their promises. I don’t want to be too pessimistic, but I am afraid that they will disappoint the optimistic population who have just given them the chance they have been asking for to lead the country (and turn it into an Asian Switzerland in 10 years, remember Prachanda actually said that?-). Again, with risk of being too much a generalist, some of these voters are really politically naive, IMHO. The Maoists don’t have a magic wand to make it all better overnight and, what’s more interesting, do they have control over their rank and file? - And can they now control and manage the nation and it’s administration without resorting to high-handedness?

Well, maybe they can pull it off. They’ve now got the chance no matter why people voted for them. In fact it might be more correct to say that the people voted, not for the Maoists, but against the old NC and UML party bosses. So from next month, I’ll probably be living in a communist republic! Whooo, what’s that gonna be like?

A time to vote

Nepal deciding on monarchy. Well, sort of. At least in final preparations for holding election to a constituent assembly.
Photo © Morten Svenningsen.

Everybody’s talking ‘bout it here, so thought I’d give you my perspective as well...


We’re entering into uncertain times here in Nepal - again. It’s just 5 days to the election here, and it’s by no means an ordinary one. In fact, it can turn out to be a historic milestone in the country’s path towards democracy. Or it can turn out to be the spark that ignites new strife and civil war. My guess is it’ll turn out to be a little bit of both, typical Nepali style, neither this nor that, yes and no at the same time!


The fact that it’s an important event is not hard to miss. No matter who you talk to these days, the subject always turns to the election. And it seems every office you call, you get the same answer: Come back after the election! Four public holidays have been declared next week, schools closed for two weeks, the border with India sealed for 48 hours, alcohol banned on election day and the city here (Kathmandu) is buzzing with speeches coming out of distorting loudspeakers and international reporters and observers etc. Even good old Jimmy Carter is on his way here.

No, there’s definitely something special going on in Nepal these days!


Personally, I’m hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. The election itself can easily be marred by violence and bomb blasts, but it now seems unstoppable, unlike the previous two occasions where it was postponed - not to mention the general mess when the previous election term expired and they weren’t capable / willing to hold a new one.

So OK, the election is coming and besides the actual election results, there’s some other interesting points up in the air:


What’s the election aftermath going to look like?
- Hopefully not Kenya! While the first election results should start to tick in in the ensuing days, we’ll probably have to wait several weeks for the final result - perhaps even months. The country will be in a state of limbo, and there’ll be plenty of opportunity for disgruntled election losers to stir up trouble in the streets. For instance (but not excluding others) the Maoists have already stated that, since they are sure to win, any other result must be equal to fraud and rigged results by the usual “regressive forces etc.”, and therefore completely unacceptable!

Irregularities are almost sure to arise, but even if they don’t, it won’t exactly be a “free and fair” democratic election. Some of the dubious points already:

1. The Code of Conduct has not been adhered to. There has been election related violence, bomb blasts and killings already. Intimidations have been used. Part of the population are afraid to go and give their vote.

2. The candidates are not selected democratically. They have been appointed by the party leaders who again have the power to decide which candidate should get the seats the party has won. It’s not necessarily the candidate with the most votes who get the seat!

3. Top candidates have been given the “safe” election constituencies. Especially women candidates have been given the constituencies that the respective parties stand to loose.

4. Many voters simply don’t understand the election and how to vote. It has been made fairly complicated with a mixed voting system comprising both the first-past-the-post system and the proportional representation system.

But perfectly free and fair elections aside, it might still turn out to be “good enough and workable” to draw up a new constitution. Then again, it might not...


So what’s gonna happen to the King?
Good question, guess they’ll have to de-throne him somehow. It’s now actually written in the (amendment of the) interim constitution that monarchy will be abolished in the first session of the newly elected “all-powerful assembly”. Funny way of playing democracy, isn’t it? Going through all the trouble of electing 601 representatives who’s duty it then is - not to decide on, but - to implement an already stipulated condition, haggled in place by 3 old, male, upper-caste Pahadi tyrants!


So who’s gonna win the damn thing?
Anybody’s guess, really. Estimates I’ve heard can’t be described as being representative for Nepal’s extremely diverse population. I’m also not gonna dare a guess, so no conclusions here, but Madhav Kumar Nepal’s UML party could get a good share if they don’t loose too much to the Maoists. Maoists probably haven’t won many votes on the basis of their 10 year campaign of violence, but they represent change and so could take a lot of protest votes. The last of the big 3, the now re-unified Congress-niks have traditional support from traditionalists. And Nepal is in many ways a country of tradition. But will they stand this time? No answer here, no conclusion. But wait and see...


PS: However it’s gonna play out, I’ll be posting photo’s of the events on this page : Nepal election photos. - So be sure to check in from time to time.

Is it worth it?

(on Tibet & Alamy)



Norbu Gualtsen Rangzen (28), son of Tibetan refugee in Nepal, sustained injuries on his head, arm and back from police beatings during a peace march to mark the anniversary of the 1959 Lhasa uprising. Kathmandu, Nepal, 10. March 2008.

On Monday the Tibetans here in Kathmandu had a big demonstration, intending to march to the Chinese Embassy to deliver a letter demanding an end to the almost 60 year long Chinese occupation of their country. It was the 49 year anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising a.k.a. the Lhasa Massacre that forced the Dalai Lama to flee into exile in India. Allegedly, the Chinese government had put some pressure on the Nepalese authorities to suppress the event. They don’t want any negative publicity before the Beijing Olympics this summer, I gather. So the Nepal Police met the demonstration with force (see the above photo), but this time the Tibetans actually got within shouting distance of the Chinese Embassy.

Some background: I read somewhere that before the Chinese invasion, Tibet had about 5000 temples and monasteries. Today there’s only 2 left, the remaining 4998 having been demolished by Chinese “development aid”. Officially, Nepal recognizes China’s claim to Tibet, like many other countries. That’s realpolitik, considering China’s position in today’s world economy. Nepal still allows Tibetan refugees to cross into Nepal though, which about 2000 of them still do every year.

Later that night on BBC, some expert said he expects the last remains of Tibet to be gone within 10 years. I sometimes wonder how enlightened Tibetans view this historic development, being firm believers in the karma theory: If something bad happens to you, it’s because of the negative deeds you have performed in your past lives... Since the Tibetan exodus, the before so closed culture and religion have been forced to open up and have now actually gained worldwide popularity and support by Richard Gere, Uma Thurman’s dad and the likes. Is the whole thing some sort of divine play?

My stock photography

On another note, I just discovered last night that I’ve actually had my first 3 sales on Alamy during the last 3 months! One photo for an American school book, one photo for a British magazine and one photo yesterday that went into a large, national British newspaper with a circulation of 1 million. Cool! I quickly did the math and found out, money-wise, that it gives me a RPI of just around 1$. Less cool.

What is RPI?

Return Per Image (Per Year). This is the figure you get when you look at how much you’ve earned compared to how many photos you’ve had on sale for a year. A very useful benchmark in the stock photography business, since you can also use it to estimate your future income. Very useful.

How do you calculate your RPI?

You’ll need to know how many photos you’ve had on sale and for how long. And of course how much they’ve earned you. I’ll show you my numbers this time, so follow the example if you’re also a stock shooter and want to calculate your RPI.

number of photos uploaded		how many months available online		yearly equivalent *
10		8		6.7
278		6.5		150.6
21		4.5		7.9
122		1		10.2

* multiply the two other numbers and divide by 12 (months in a year)

TOTAL EQUIVALENT = 6.7+150.6+7.9+10.2 = 175 photos / yr

Total sales = $265

My cut (65%) = $172

My RPI = $172/175 = $0.98

$1 per photo per year is of course a ridiculous low number when you consider the time spent. I reckon roughly one hour for post-processing, upsizing, spot-checking, keywording, uploading, backing up etc. - not to mention time for research, training, the actual fieldwork, marketing and the investment in camera gear, computer and the whole setup. So is it worth it? -Not if you look at it that way, surely. But I’m also gaining valuable experience in this bizarre marketplace and so I expect to improve my RPI over time. + On long term, the photos will likely keep selling for perhaps 5 years or more. + I get “my name out there”, which has some marketing value, I suppose. + There’s always that chance that one of the photos is gonna get picked up for a global advertising campaign and fetch $10.000 or so.

Conclusion: Doing stock photography is a long term project which, in my case, has just begun. It might actually just be worth it!