Steve's Photo Blog • steve bailey photography

WILDPHOTOMAG.CO.ZA Image of the week – Steve Bailey

April 8th, 2013 | 0 comments

Image of the week – Steve Bailey

April 8,
We are thrilled to announce this weeks “Image of the week”. A remarkable image, by Steve Bailey. His work is phenomenal and I would encourage you to visit his Facebook page to enjoy more of this very talented photographers work.

Thanks very much Steve. It’s an honor for us.

For those who don’t know what the image of the week is about:

We will select one image per week to display on the home page of the main magazine website.

We are constantly amazed at the quality of imagery posted on our FB site and submitted via email. To have one image selected per week from the vast amount posted is quite an accomplishment; and our little way of saying thank you for your support.

The image can be viewed on our home page : www.wildphotomag.co.za

Please make sure to refresh your browser, when visiting the site, as the older site information may still be in your cache (f5 on your keyboard).

From Prize Winner to Prize Giver

December 17th, 2012 — Steve Bailey | 0 comments

Steve Bailey, the winner of our Shamwari Conservation Experience Facebook Follower competition visited Shamwari Conservation Experience last week. He came to donate his prize, a copy of ‘Beat about the Bush: A Field Guide to Mammals’ by Trevor Carnby to representatives from Hendrik Kanise Primary School from Alicedale.

Steve, a successful wildlife photographer living in the Eastern Cape, contacted us after winning the prize to inform us he already had a copy of the book and wanted to donate it to a worthy cause, did we know of any? It was perfect timing as Christine from the Born Free Foundation was organising a fun day for students from Hendrik Kanise Primary School, as they have been her strongest school in the Eco Schools programme this year.
When Steve learnt that the school had recently opened a new library compliments of Coca-Cola and were in need of some more books he offered to donate more than just his prize and arrived armed with a collection of wildlife and environmental books to bulk up the conservation education section of the library.
Steve and SCE Coordinator Cindy met up with the students from Hendrik Kanise School at the Born Free Foundation Big Cat Rescue Centre after an action packed morning game drive. You can see more of the stunning images Steve took during this game drive here.

Steve gave a presentation to the students on his wildlife photography and handed over his prize to a young representative. More books were up for grabs to the students who could answer the questions from the wildlife quiz. He then went on a tour with the kids at Born Free and ended the day with a visit to the three caracal kittens at the Shamwari Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre.

It goes to show that sometimes you can be elevated from being a prize winner to a prize giver! We’re so pleased Steve approached us about donating his prize otherwise this collaboration would of never happened. At the end of the day, we are all champions!

Photography is NOT free

October 3rd, 2011 — Steve Bailey | 0 comments

I’m no longer worried about the recession; I don’t even need to worry ever again about a lack of money or losing my job. I have a plan! I’m off out in a moment to Tesco’s petrol station to fill up my van with diesel. Yes, fuel is very expensive now, but not for me. You see I’m going to make them an offer. I’m going to suggest they let me have their diesel for free, on the basis that they can then enjoy the fact that it’s Tesco’s fuel in my van and not anyone else’s. And if that fails I’ll use my trump card: if simple pleasure is not sufficient an enticement to give me something for nothing, I shall offer to advertise Tesco’s for them. Yes for just a single tank of fuel I will be happy to put a Tesco’s sticker on the back of my van. It can’t fail – I’m on to a winner – I’ll never have to spend any money ever again, as pleasure or a bit of promotion is all anyone seems to want in return for a product or service – or so being a photographer is leading me to believe.

Yes, I had to purchase several thousand pounds worth of camera and lighting equipment. Yes I have running costs, and camera equipment doesn’t last forever. Yes I have a mortgage. And yes I also have to pay utility bills. But don’t worry; I don’t actually want to be paid to work. I just want to work for nothing, content in the knowledge that people are telling me I’m a good photographer, and that I’ll soon have a huge portfolio of work with which to advertise myself, in order to obtain more work people will be happy to pay me nothing for. It’s great – if I don’t earn anything I don’t have to pay any income tax, either. I’ll be rich!

Meanwhile, back on planet Earth…

Sorry to have to let you down, but I can’t actually afford to work for nothing. During my waking hours at least, the ‘barter in return for advertising’ plan doesn’t actually work. No-one is stupid enough to spend money on capital, wear it our using it for work, and then ask for nothing in payment. Well, no-one except photographers, that is.

Photographers – it would seem - are a unique bunch of people: talented, dedicated, hard-working and unimaginably naive. It goes something like this: “if I give away my product or service for nothing, it will act as a loss leader, helping people become aware of me in order for me to start getting paid work.”

There’s a flaw in that logic, and it is this. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. In fact you are not only not alone, but you are multitudinous, numerous, even – it might be said – common. Yep there’s a fair few of you out there, all gaily giving away their wares for free. And the recipients of all these free products and services are not stupid. They are simply never going to pay for something they can get for nothing. Don’t believe me? Well maybe you haven’t noticed just how difficult it’s becoming to get a photo in a magazine and actually get paid for it.

“But it’s only a photo, and it was for a competition!” Well it’s not ONLY A PHOTO actually. It’s YOUR photo. You made it and its worth something. (Well, unless you give it away for nothing.) Do you honestly imagine that the magazine is then going to start handing out copies for free, as it didn’t cost them anything to fill it up with brilliant, beautiful, free images? Nope – they are going to sell it as usual, and make a tidy profit. If you’re really lucky, though, they might send you a free copy in return for your photo, but the council won’t accept that in return for taking your rubbish away each week. Sorry, but you will still have to pay your council tax.

“But I’m just an amateur. I’m not trying to make a living from photography – it’s just nice seeing my work in print.” Well, good for you! Don’t lose any sleep over the fact that - in doing so - you are permanently under-cutting all those hard working pros who ARE trying to make a living out of photography. I would have thought that, as a photographer – even an amateur – you would care enough about the industry sufficiently to support those who rely on it for their livings. It would seem not though. You have a job – you can afford to give away your photos – so hard cheese if you’re actually trying to sell something, you say.

Well, what goes around comes around, and one day you may be the one trying to break into photography as a career, and coming time and time again against the brick wall of “yes we’d love you to do some work for us, but its not actually paid. It will look great in your portfolio though.”

See how you like it then.

So, why the rant? Well, of late I am receiving more and more of these crazy requests for unpaid work, and all the time no-one it’s offering to give me anything for nothing. Indeed all my running costs are all going up and up.

In response to one such generous offer, I even went so far as to agree to a freebie, with the proviso that it would be a one-off, and that any future work would require a modest payment. Their response? Shock and rudeness that I had the audacity even to suggest that I might need to be paid for something else in the future.

Enough is enough photographers. Please don’t do it. You work is worth exactly what you get for it, and if that’s nothing, then you alone have decided that it is valueless – and worse, you devalue everyone else’s work, too.

Mat Mackenzie B.Sc. (hons), Ph.D.
Photographer, Web Designer and Data Management Consultant

01303 770340
07967 964178
mat@matmackenzie.co.uk
www.matmackenzie.co.uk

Our new venture into Africa

June 1st, 2011 — Steve Bailey | 0 comments

This adage is something that Rays Of Africa will also be aspiring to. Your delight will be shared by us as our delight. This is something that no money can ever buy.

Passion

Peter and Steve are deeply passionate about delivering a high quality product and that this is to be delivered on time. They strive to delight their clients in 3 ways.-, i.e.
1. Quality
2. Value for money
3. Service

Energy is conductive and we believe in spreading it positively. As a Ray in Africa warms and lights an area far larger than itself, so we would wish to conduct ourselves.

What is relevant in a successful marketing campaign

It is our opinion that the successful marketing campaign in tourism should include information about these sectors i.e.

Cities and towns of tourism importance
Accommodation and cuisine offered
Cultural aspects of the population
The landscape and unique features
Business opportunities (if relevant)
Wildlife and Natural highlights
Tourism focal points in the area
Transport (how to get to, and around in the country)
Climatic considerations
Specific highlights you can offer your clients. (Once you have sold the destination, you need to sell your specific venture)

Creating a romanticised text description of your lodge is of equal importance but images are usually what stay in the mind of potential clients. The ideal is that the imagery haunts the prospective client and forces them to think and dream constantly and incessantly about what you will offer. The importance on the visual stimulation of their dream cannot be over-emphasized.

                                    A PICTURE CAN SPEAK A THOUSAND WORDS OR MORE

Obtaining the reality of the dream will then secure probable re-visits from the same clients, or at worst, some great word of mouth advertising to their circles of colleagues and friends. Importance should therefore attach to the integrity of the imagery in promotional material, but to show this at its best. Rays Of Africa can do this for you.

Equipment

Both Steve and Peter use upper end quality Canon cameras and lenses and Peter uses Hensel studio lighting, which is relatively portable. Both brands are synonymous with quality, and therefore deliver the type of quality which is to be expected from Rays Of Africa.

Use of social networks

Without beating around the bush (no pun intended), the value of a mere investment of time in good, well targeted, social media marketing can add volumes to marketing potential. This media is often regarded as insignificant as the target market is predominantly the youth. WRONG

Many Companies and business’ have realized the potential of this media and are extremely successful as a result. The youth of yesterday are still using this media and the mere mass of people reached by these media is mind blowing. It should be a vital component of media to be utilised. Not only is it cheap, but incredibly successful.

Rays Of Africa will assist you in this media and can help setup these campaigns and advise on how to maximise your benefit from these networks. Like sunrays, they penetrate markets which may have never been even considered.

In conclusion

Why not discuss your needs with us, we believe the profits will outweigh the reasonable cost tenfold or more.

We are extremely excited about the prospects of Rays Of Africa being an important cog in your marketing wheel.

Of interest to smaller lodges and operators is that you can join with other similar sized organisations in your area and as such, reduce the costs significantly as travel costs as well as generalised area photography can be shared. We will be happy to accommodate small groups of approximately 5 ventures in an area.

We trust that you will find our proposal sufficiently exciting to enable further enquiry in this regard.

Warmest regards

The team at Rays Of Africa

WE ARE ON Facebook

Steve Bailey
+27 82 5546296
SteveBaileyPhoto@r63.co.za
www.stevebailey.co.za

and

Peter Wickham
+27 33 3473369
Mobile - +27 796707356
wickham@telkomsa.net
www.proimpact.co.za

Rays of Africa Photography

May 18th, 2011 — Steve Bailey | 0 comments

Announcing Rays Of Africa, a fresh, innovative and creative pairing of experienced South African photographers, Steve Bailey and Peter Wickham, who recently teamed up as the official photographers for the 2011 Safari Awards.

Steve Bailey

www.pbase.com/mashona
&
www.stevebailey.co.za

Steve, an experienced wildlife and naturescapes photographer has been in the business for several years and is known for his passion for quality. Steve has a unique style making him an outstanding artist of our era. Post processing of his images is sought after in the art world and with Rays Of Africa, it is envisaged that his flair will add artistic punch to marketing campaigns. Steve has also developed a unique HDR treatment of internal and external photography of Lodges, Guest Houses, Hotels etc, one of his clients being PAM GOLDING Property

Steve also has had many years of experience in the printing industry, a vital asset to Rays Of Africa.

Peter Wickham

www.proimpact.co.za

Peter has experience in the commercial and portraiture sectors of the business. He has a natural flair for marketing and a good understanding and feel for trends in the market. As a photographer, Peter has had enormous success in marketing campaigns he has been involved with. He has been rewarded with international awards for portraits he has taken. With a talent for extracting the best out of people, and his understanding of light (and how to use it), he has produced some outstanding cultural images. Rays Of Africa will be making use of his commercial and marketing talents together with his ample skills with camera in hand.

Why Rays Of Africa

Both Peter and Steve are possessed by Africa’s soul and both incredibly passionate about Africa. As sunrays penetrate, illuminate and warm, so we intend penetrating into Africa, Illuminating it for the world to see and warming the communities with successful marketing campaigns which will introduce an influx of much needed investment and spending by tourism into regions.

Why the Partnership

Whilst both Steve and Peter are superb photographers in their own right, the dovetailing of specialist skills gives Rays Of Africa a distinct advantage of covering all marketing related imagery with specialisation rather than adequacy. This will relate to superb marketing campaigns rather than adequate ones.

In this time of tougher economic times, it is necessary, and vital, to maximise marketing opportunities and then turning these opportunities into clients. Once that objective is achieved it is also then necessary to deliver information about your partnered and associated concerns to not only extract maximum benefit from each client, but to give them a complete and memorable package. This is the time to seize the phrase - we don’t just satisfy our clients, we delight them.