Elusive Images in Stock Photography: Ocean, Water, Life

As humans, our strongest emotional responses - both positive and negative - come from visual cues. That's precisely why the old adage, "A picture is worth a thousand words," has more than a ring of truth to it. When you're flipping through a magazine or surfing the Web, the photos are what make you stop and look. Today, the images that are most effective in capturing the attention of readers and web visitors alike can be summed up in three words: ocean, water, life.

Imagery is Everything

Those who are in the business of advertising or web design understand that developing a wonderful product or a website full of useful information is important, but it's only one component of success. Choosing the proper imagery to communicate to the potential customer or visitor can result in resounding success, while selecting the wrong images can be disastrous in terms of sales and web "stickiness."

Carefully selected images can help to establish and reinforce brand awareness, can help to target niche markets, and can help to build customer loyalty. Today, lifestyle photography is the primary means of conveying consumer messages -so much so that product photography is often a small element of a print advertising campaign or a web design.

Lifestyle Photography Conveys Concepts

The primary purpose of lifestyle photography is to convey concepts. For example, a photograph of waves lapping on the beach can convey relaxation, freedom, luxury, and promise. Photography of crashing waves can communicate agitation, strength, and persistence. Images of still water with stormy skies can convey turbulence, doubt, conflict, and confusion. A hand reaching out of the water can relay a message of hope or of hopelessness. Photography that depicts surfing can communicate youthful exuberance or a hip, active lifestyle.

Finding Unique, Captivating Images

If you use these types of ocean, water, and life images in your advertising campaigns or web design work, you know how frustrating it can be to find the right photography to communicate your key concepts. Most, if not all, major stock photography companies have either a limited number of images, or images that are dated. When you're looking for unique images that evoke the proper emotional tone, it often pays to patronize smaller stock photography companies, particularly those that specialize in ocean, water, and life images. The images that will allow you to stand apart from your competition may very well come from a company that is steeped in the surf and water lifestyle.

Besides offering unique stock images, the right stock photography company should be able to offer you exclusive rights, should you so desire, should track the use of all photos, and should consider commission ideas. In other words, if you need a certain type of ocean, water, or life image, the company should consider shooting the image for you and then adding it to their stock catalog.

With ocean, water, and life photography quickly becoming the most common images used in advertising and web design, it's important to find a stock photography company that can deliver the unique images that will give you the edge and set you apart from your competitors.

Are You In The Right Profession?

All of us are busy working in a particular area to earn our living. Some of us are business persons and some are employed. Some are engineers, others doctors, carpenters and so on. We have painters, architects, firemen and all types of professionals.

The question is - Why did you choose a particular profession? Were you tested scientifically in our childhood about your aptitude, or whether it was your family profession, or you wanted to become one because you had fancy for that, or you had nothing else to chose so you chose your current profession?

Along the way in life, we stop asking these questions and continue doing what we are doing. We never think about why we are doing a particular kind of job. We never look around for total change in the job. For example - an engineer would very rarely think about dropping out of his/her profession and becoming a full time musician. Why?

why most of us don't think about changing our profession altogether? Why don't we think in that direction at all? One reason is to maintain status quo, which gives us comfort. We want to live in our comfort zone. The second reason is that we never question ourselves- Am I in a profession that I like fully? Can I choose another profession that will give me more success and joy?

Please think about what I have said and rethink about your profession. You may find something else that may give you not only satisfaction but great success.

Competition - How good?

This is the era of technology. Everyday a new discovery, a new invention is being made. The world is moving ahead in leaps and bounds. People are striving for success and satisfaction in life in the face of fierce competition. Competition is ubiquitous- in every walk, every aspect of life right from childhood to old age. No one escapes competition. It's very essential to know the effects- both positive and negative- of competition on society. Competition is the very force that drives individuals to aim for goals, aim higher. In school, students compete against each other for higher grades. Athletes compete for more wins, more records. Companies vie against each other for better sales, bigger markets. Just because there is competition, a person is forced to work harder, better and efficiently to overcome it, to defeat it. Healthy competition is very important for the overall development of individuals, communities and nations on a broader perspective. Take the Indian car industry for instance. It remained stagnant till the late 80's with only 2 companies offering the same cars for 3 decades. Once the economic reforms came, many companies came into fray and competition increased. In the face of competition, new models, new features, better performing cars are being produced constantly. All this ultimately benefits the customer who gets a wider range to make a choice from. The same example can be applied in every other industry. Competition can only give a thrust to progress. No one can afford to be complacent and sit with fingers crossed. It will only leave one behind in the race. Competition expects and promotes fresh thinking, new ideas, better and more hard work. It makes one sit up and take notice of the world around. As someone aptly said,'there is no business without competition.' Competition in a positive and healthy way is the road to progress. But the moment it is used in a negative way, it can prove harmful. We see the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports- athletes being banned and so on. Companies indulge in malpractices like accounts tampering, publishing false reports to up their stocks. A most apt example to conclude the discussion- This is a story from the heights of competition for supremacy in space between Americans and the Soviets. US astronauts faced difficulty to write with ball point or any other pens in space. NASA spent 12 million dollars and a few years developing a pen which could write anywhere on any surface without any problems. When relations became friendlier, soviet cosmonauts were asked what they used. The answer-a pencil. Competition is ultimately more beneficial than detrimental to society, only if indulged in a healthy way. Unhealthy competition will only lead to destruction of faith, goodwill in society. Related Links: Send Free Inspirational Ecards