Iowa Public Television has informed me that my new book: "Harker's One-room Schoolhouses: Visions of an Iowa Icon", will be offered as a donation "premium" during their March "Festival" fund drive, along with having a signifcant part in their documentary on Iowa's one-room schools to be aired during Festival.

I am very honored that Deb Herbold, Rich Fuller and Patty Foster at IPT have recognized the importance of my documentary book.

Many cudos to these excellent Iowans!

In today's world of photography, everything reverberates with the seeming magic of "Digital", as if this medium is the be all and do all of the long evolution of the medium. The truth of the matter is that good photography still requires a thorough understanding of photographic theory, light, exposure, grey scale rendition and composition.

For just a moment, think of the art of Picasso. Did he begin as a Cubist? No - he began as a classical painter in the tradition of the European Masters. It was only after he had grasped the old techniques was he able to "transform" art into its most basic design - he learned how to carve away the unessential, in the same way Michealangilo carved away the marble to leave "David" standing.

Digital photography is really all about eliminating the mastering of the classic rendition of photography through the dependence of a camera manufacturer's idea of how the camera should capture the image, rather than using one's own intellect and experience. Photographers who are really good at the digital medium began their photography shooting film. And the film to use that best translates into shooting digital is Kodak Ektachrome 100 Pro S.

If you can get excellent detail in both the shadows and highlights with Ektachrome, then you will be well on your way to mastering the new realm of photography; because both Ektachrome and digital require very accurate exposure and light conrol to attain maximum quality.

Unfortunately, E-6 processing has all but disappeared. If you can find a E-6 lab that is still processing enough film on a daily basis to maintain the balance of the line, try shooting a dozen rolls of Ektachrome under normal and difficult lighting situations. When you have achieved good results you will then understand digital imaging.

With both mediums, overexposure is the death of your image.

Using your camera on automatic, shutter-priority and aperature-priority is a very sure way of loosing the highlight detail.

Learn to shoot in manual mode (underexpose before overexpose!) and pay attention to the results you get from using different shutter speeds and aperatures.

Beginning in January, I will be creating a series of products that incorporate many of my images - greeting cards, postcards, calendars, etc.. These will be available only through my website and will be priced at an affordable rate.

If you are interested in receiving e-mails containg low-resolution versions of my products, you can send me your e-mail address to be added to my customer base.

Your privacy will be respected at all times, there will be no objectionable images and I will never share your e-mail address with anyone!

If you are a regular visitor to my site, then you should be familiar with the content I post. As always, I deeply appreciate your interest in my work and please feel free to visit Harker Photography at any time.

Best Regards,
Michael

My e-mail snafu has been fixed so you can once again contact me through:

Harker@Harkerphotography.com

(or through: Harkers5063@mchsi.com)

either one is okay.

I have been investigating how stock photography agencies work and carefully reading their terms and conditions for signing up with them. I have concluded that the best stock photo agency markets to sell your images on are what are known as "microstock on-line photo agencies".

What are the advantages to using Microstock over bigger Stock agencies?

First, they accept submissions from a much wider range of photographic skill levels.
Second, they pay beter commissions.
Third, they have better "exit" options if you decide to end your participation.
Fourth, they give you the opportunity to make a name for yourself before you
approach the bigger agencies.

Here is a list of seven "Microstock" agencies:

iStockphoto
Shutterstock
Dreamstime
Fotolia
StockXpert
Crestock
123RF

I suggest you visit each of their websites and very carefully read over their terms and conditions. Most of them will want exclusive, world-wide rights to your images; so you have to be selective of what you give them - you won't be able to market those images elsewhere once you commit. Compare their payouts, image resolution parameters, and other important benchmarks. Some agencies are stricter than others.

Also, browse through their image catalogs to acquaint yourself with the type of images they sell. If you want to enter the ranks of professional photography, this is a great place to begin because your start-up costs are very low - a good digital camera and your time.

I have discovcered that I am not receiving my e-mails addressed to:

Harker@Harkerphotography.com

If you are trying to contact me, please use this e-mail address until I get the problem fixed:

Harkers5063@mchsi.com

I apologize for this error and I am in touch with my host to resolve the problem.

Two other excellent avenues for finding a publisher is with university presses and a long list of established presses on the website "Library of Photography". To access the list of the major university presses, visit the website of "Association of American University Presses".

If you have ever tried to find a publisher that would be interested in your photography idea for a book, you probably have wondered where to start. There is a great resource on the internet that lists over twenty publishers in the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and England that "specialize" in publishing photography books.

Use Goggle and type in the following search phrase:

A Photo Editor - Photo Book Publisher

When the site opens, there is a long list of publisher names. By double-clicking with the left mouse button on any of them, you will be taken to their websites. Some will be in German or Italian, but don't worry, as they also have "English" versions available.

They have submission guideleines and contact information listed for each publisher and it seems to me they are for the most part open to new photographers.

Good Luck!