Request for Comment, Critique and Advice

[robert_sholl]

<p>Hi, I am hoping to gets some advice, critique and comment on my pictures.<br>

I am currently in the military and about 5 years from retiring. I love photography and am giving serious thought to making it my full time profession after I retire. Because I will have steady income and medical benefits, I think i can make it work without it becoming work.<br>

I just established a website and started an account with Zenfolio. I also submitted some stock photos to Dreamstime.<br>

My friends and family tell me my pictures are good but I learned a long time ago I needed to get an opinion from someone who isn't on my Christmas list.<br>

I would appreciate any feedback.<br>

My Zenfolio site<br>

http://wildkatphoto.zenfolio.com/<br>

My site<br>

http://wildkatphoto.com</p>

<p>Thanking you in advance,</p>

<p>Rob</p>

[bobcossar]

<p>Hi Robert......I like a lot of what I see on your pages. The question I have is this: How do you see generating a cash flow from the kinds of things you do?<br>

You offer Portraits, Commercial, Landscape and Stock......So you will need carefully designed image folios to present to each of these categories......Stock and Landscape are very difficult cats to break into because there is a <em>gigantic</em> number of people scrabbling in these markets.. Commercial is a similarly limited opportunity to those who haven't done enough of it to be well known......and the professional standards are very high.<br>

Portraits: You need some galleries devoted to that area, and within the area, have a few "specialties" that you bring a unique perspective to.<br>

I wish you all the very best.....Robert</p>

[john_nolan2]

<p>Hello Rob,<br>

I took a look at your website, you have some very nice images. All I would add to the above comments is this.</p>

<ul>

<li>When you decide where you want to focus, only include you best shots in your galleries. I noticed that you have some very strong shots mixed with a couple of shots that are not as strong. </li>

<li>You also have multiple shots of the same image processed differently, it looks like you can't decide which one you like better, I suggest sticking to one version of each photo unless you are specifically trying to show that you can have different treatments on the same photo.</li>

</ul>

<p>All the best,<br>

John</p>

<p> </p>

[robert_sholl]

<p>Robert - Thank you. I was trying to balance being too specialized with being a master of nothing. As for monetizing, my hope is that if people see and like my work, they will choose to pay for it. I am just starting to do serious portraits. I am shooting head shots for a local theater tomorrow so I hope to generate both business and portfolio material (I am donating my time to the theater company). Again, thank you for the advice.</p>

<p>John - Thank you. I have already cleaned up the duplicate shots. My intent was to show different processing but I had not figured out how to express that without getting into geeky lightroom stuff. I also weeded some out that I thought were not 110%.</p>

<p>I greatly appreciate all the feedback.</p>