Christophe Testi

Is Yelp unethical? How they are manipulating reviews: the proof!

2011-05-08T20:48:00.003-07:00

I personally rely a lot on Yelp.com to find good business, and also to promote my own business.

It used to be a great tool for my customers to find a good local photography studio. Unfortunately things have changed in the past couple of months...

First, Yelp changed the search engine; no matter which option you select, it's impossible to find/compare local photography studio, where you can just walk-in for a passport picture or family portrait, try to find a local photography studio in Mountain View, CA, the first one appears in 4th page, #38! (http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=photographer)

But now another change much worse happened: Yelp is now selectively hiding legitimate reviews from trusted users for some business like mine, but not for other businesses! Let me explain with some facts:

For about 6 months, my business was ranking number 2 for a search on "Photographer" in "Mountain View, CA" and I had around 18 reviews showing.
I have been contacted multiple times by Yelp to advertise with them, but I declined to buy their services
After the last call from Yelp asking for money, my reviews dropped from 18 to 11, then 7, and I'm now showing at position 51 in search results, behind businesses 30+ miles away.
75% of my reviews are now hidden
30% of users who left a now "filtered" review on my business have their other reviews showing for other businesses!

So you might tell me: "Yes, that's because of the search filter, to remove fake reviews from questionable users...". Great! I like the idea to filter out fake reviews, especially being myself so dependent on Yelp as a user. But then I started to look at my "filtered reviews" a little bit closer and I realized that a lot of the "filtered reviews" were from some users that appeared to be pretty active and legitimate in the system. Then I looked at these users even closer and I was so shocked to find out that their reviews were showing for other businesses, but not mine anymore!

I decided to do an investigation on a "clean" brand new computer, never been on Yelp before. The first time I did my test, on 5/2/2011, I found 8 users who had their review on my business hidden, but showing for other businesses!

Then to rule out any possible computer glitch that could have happened last week, I did the same test again today, 5/8/2011, and this time I did screen capture to document how Yelp selectively manipulate reviews, this time 7 users had their review hidden for my business, but showing for other businesses!

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here is the proof.

Today my business has 8 "active" reviews (click on the pictures to enlarge)

Now let's have a closer look to these "24 filtered reviews", 1st page:

Elizabeth M left 3 reviews, but only the one for Creativeshot Photography is not showing!:

Let's have a look at the review that Elizabeth M. left; The one for "Carlos for Hair" is showing!:
Another "filtered review" from user Ori S. on page 2:

Ori S: left 3 reviews, only the one for my business is hidden!

Another user on still on page 2, Caitlin D, left 14 reviews, but the one for my business is hidden:

Again Caitlin D. has her reviews showing for other businesses, but not mine!

Another example, A T, 13 reviews, but the one for my business is hidden:

But as you can see, A T. reviews are showing just fine for other businesses!

I could continue on and on and on, I have documented a total of 7 users out of the 24 "filtered", that have their reviews showing for other businesses, but hidden for my business.

I'm trying to guess the reason for this: could Yelp simply penalize small businesses that do not pay for advisement? These businesses, after being contacted several times, could be flagged to have a much higher percentage of review filtered?

It's difficult to know for sure and I'll let you draw your own conclusion.

In the meantime Yelp shady review handling is impacting my business, with number of views starting to decrease. I'm asking Yelp to be FAIR with all businesses, and to stop manipulating reviews NOW!

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Update #1:

I just found out that my own reviews are showing for most of the businesses that I reviewed, except the one I left for my daughter's daycare!

( http://www.yelp.com/biz/kids-korner-christian-preschool-mountain-view )

Why on Earth Yelp would just hide this review??? No, I'm not related to Kids Korner in anyway, yes, I'm a real people, and yes my daughter LOVE this place!

Yelp: it's time to put your acts together.

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Update #2:

Some of the hidden reviews are now showing, and some of the showing ones are now hidden! It appears to change everyday. How can Yelp filter trust a Yelp review every other day of the week? Interesting part is that overall number of hidden review does not change: 25.

And please don't hesitate to review Yelp on Yelp and tell them what you think about how they handle small businesses:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/yelp-san-francisco

Célia and Léo

2007-12-31T23:05:00.000-08:00

Canon 20D - 17-40L - 38mm - f5.6 - 1/125s

Canon 20D - 17-40L - 35mm - f6.3 - 1/250s

My favorites 2 models :) Note that my studio is not complete yet, so these shots were taken with natural light.

Canon 20D - 17-40L - 33mm - f10 - 1/250s

This one was Léo practicing for his Karate Class.

Magic Redbubble

2007-11-28T22:18:00.000-08:00

Canon 20D - 17-40L - 17mm - f8 - 1/160s
Featured on Redbubble

2 Months already that I started with Redbubble and I have to say that this web site is really addictive! The interaction with other photographers is awesome and everyday you get to find new wonderful artists. So far I sold many cards, including 2 shots in the Havasu Canyon:

Canon 10D - 17-40L - 17mm - f11.0 - 4s
Havasu Falls

Canon 10D - 17-40L - 17mm - f11.0 - 4s
Havasu Creek

My Antelope Canyon shot "God Beam" already sold 4 times including a Laminated print! If you're interested in buying prints or poster from them don't wait because they have a free shipping promotion until November 30th.

Canon 10D - 17-40L - 17mm - f11.0 - 1s
God Beam

"God Beam" was featured on the homepage for one day and is currently the number #15 All time most popular on the redbubble website, with more than 1300 views so far!

2nd Place Winner again!

2007-10-31T22:50:00.001-07:00

Canon Powershot SD800 IS - 28mm - 1/400s - f/2.8

For the second time this year I won the second place at the Stockxpert monthly contest! This time the 2nd prize was $350 and being featured in their newsletter. The theme was "thankful", and the winning image was about a family thankful to spend their first vacation together. I submitted numerous shots of my wife, daughter and son as well.

Stockxpert has been doing extremely well for past 2 months. The growth in sales was really significant. Unfortunately they recently launched a new subscription service, comparable to the one offered by Shutterstock, and since then their website seem to have many issues.

I personally opted out of the subscription model because I don't believe that a microstock can be successful at doing both at the same time.

Let's hope that all the little glitches will be fixed soon and that sales will pick up again. Stockxpert is a microstock with a tremendous potential and I'd really like to see them continue to grow in the industry.

The RedBubble Phenomena

2007-10-23T22:01:00.001-07:00

RedBubble is a refreshing web site were photographers are invited to present the best of their work. Anyone can then buy Framed Prints, Canvas Prints, Mounted Prints, Cards and Laminated Prints. The company is based in Australia and ship their product all around the world on top quality card/paper at a very reasonable price.

Featured Art on RedBubble

The concept behind RedBubble is quite simple and attractive: the photographer can upload the best of his portfolio for free and he decide to add any commission he'd like on top of RedBubble base price. Even though I did not have any sale yet the site is quite addictive and the quality of the pictures is really impressive. The community is great and there are some extremely talented photographers.

Featured Art on RedBubble

In a little bit more than 2 weeks my pictures have been featured already 3 times. I have more than 2,000 views and more than 70 people have added some of my pictures to their favorites.

What I like the most is the community, and all the comments/messages exchanged. It's a great feeling to see how much people can appreciate your work!

Featured Art on RedBubble

Most Popular Picture of the Week: On the Beach

2007-10-15T21:03:00.000-07:00

Canon Powershot SD800 IS - 28mm - 1/400s - f/2.8

This picture is my currently most downloaded with Shutterstock. That was on the Kamaole Beach III right across our resort in Kihei, south west of Maui, the first day that we arrived. My son was really enjoying jumping in the waves...
I was using for the first time my new P&S camera: the Powershot SD800 from Canon has a super wide angle and an optical Image Stabilizer packed with some amazing features for a camera of that size, such as the DIGIC III processor and a face detector. This camera has also an excellent macro mode.

Maui Trip

2007-10-10T23:29:00.000-07:00

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 17mm - 1/100s - f/4.0

I'm back! I've been really busy for past few months building a 700 pictures large stock library and I'm hopping to reach 1,000 by end of the year.

Recently I took my family to a 10 days break in Maui where I captured more than 2,500 images... Thanks god we are now in the digital era :) I kept about 1,500 shots and about 100 of them are good stock photo candidates. The few pictures I already uploaded to Shutterstock have been boosting my sales.

Maui is a wonderful place to spend vacation and take pictures. There are so many opportunities everywhere: flowers, tropical forest, waterfall, beaches, snorkeling, etc.

Highlights of our trip were:
Makena beach (south west) and Kaahanapali beach(north west):

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 17mm - 1/250s - f/7.1

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 17mm - 1/160s - f/10.0
Storm forming above Makena Beach

Maui's sugar cane train in Lahaina: it's a short ride that goes from Lahaina to Kaahanapali, great for kids, but don't expect to go in the middle of a sugar can field!

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 17mm - 1/1000s - f/5.0

Maui Ocean Center is a great place for family. We spend about 3 hours in this amazing place. This 5-acre facility houses the largest aquarium in Hawaii and features one of Hawaii's largest predators: the tiger shark. As you walk past the three dozen or so tanks and numerous exhibits, you'll slowly descend from the "beach" to the deepest part of the ocean, without ever getting wet. Start at the surge pool, where you'll see shallow-water marine life like spiny urchins and cauliflower coral, then move on to the reef tanks, turtle pool, "touch" pool (with starfish and urchins), and eagle-ray pool before reaching the star of the show: the 100-foot-long, 600,000-gallon main tank featuring tiger, gray, and white-tip sharks, as well as tuna, surgeonfish, triggerfish, and numerous other tropicals. A walkway goes right through the tank, so you'll be surrounded on three sides by marine creatures. A very cool place, and well worth the time.

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 17mm - 1/125s - f/5.0 - ISO 1600
Spotted Eagle Ray

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 17mm - 1/125s - f/4.0 - ISO 1600
Whitetip Reef Shark

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 17mm - 1/60s - f/4.0 - ISO 1600
My son amazed by the aquarium

All family had a very relaxing 10 days. September is a great time because it's off season and the weather is mostly dry. There are many other pictures opportunities, especially in the tropical forest. One day we hiked to the swinging bridges, a very cool adventure.

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 17mm - 1/100s - f/5.6
Family shot at sunset

Also Haleakalā or East Maui Volcano is a massive shield volcano that forms more than 75% of the Hawaiian Island of Maui. The crater is at more than 10,000 ft and from the summit you can look down into a massive depression some 11.25 km (7 mi) across, 3.2 km (2 mi) wide, and nearly 800 m (2,600 ft) deep. The surrounding walls are steep and the interior mostly barren-looking with a scattering of volcanic cones. It has been called the largest extinct volcanic crater in the world. Unfortunately we did not have time to go the volcano; the best time to get there is actually at sunrise, which means getting up around 3am (there is a 2 hour drive to reach the summit).

We stayed in a very nice 2 bedroom condo, Kamaole Sands that we rented directly from owner thanks to http://www.vrbo.com/ which is I think a much better way to rent a place like this one (you end up saving a lot of money and you know exactly which unit you'll be staying at).

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 17mm - 20s - f/4.0
Our resort at night

Most Popular Picture of the Week: DFW Airport

2007-05-27T21:57:00.000-07:00

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 19mm - 1/400s - f/4.0

This week my most popular picture on Shutterstoc k is a picture taken in the Dallas Airport. I was waiting for my flight in the newly opened terminal which is a great place to take pictures: modern architecture and bright... But 10 minutes before boarding time I realized that AA changed the gate to another terminal! So I had to rush and take a train that connect all terminals. On my way to the old terminal I just had a few seconds going down the escalator to take this shot!

2nd Place Winner for the Stockxpert Contest!

2007-05-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

Canon 20D - 17-40mm - 40mm - 1/40 - f7.1

My picture "Soon to be Father" won the 2nd prize at the Stockxpert monthly contest. The theme was Parenthood. This picture was taken just 2 weeks before my wife gave birth to our little angel Célia.

Stockxpert is the the first micro stock agency to my knowledge to offer such nice prices... I just received a Video Ipod for being in 2nd place!

Stockxpert is one of my favorite agency because it has the highest commission (50%) for photographers in the micro stock industry. The site is extremely simple to use and the upload process couldn't be easier. I also love the fast review times (never took longer than a few hours to get my images reviewed) and the folders that you can create to organize your images. The site has one of the best user interface, if not the best.

My only deception is that my picture was supposed to be advertised on their front page, and I was counting on that to get a great exposure on my portfolio. Unfortunately they were not able to find a compelling crop for my picture.

This month's theme is "graduation", see the details here.

Most Popular Picture of the Week: Léo

2007-05-14T21:29:00.000-07:00

Canon 20D - 50mm - 1/1250 - f1.6

This week most popular picture on Shutterstock is a picture of my son Léo when he was 8 months old. Léo is now 3 years old and it becomes very difficult to convince him pausing for me!

Canon 20D - 50mm - 1/100s - f5

My daughter Célia is also one of the most popular kid with this portrait. So far she's been very cooperative with my camera... may be a future model?

Happy Chinese New Year!

2007-02-25T22:51:00.001-08:00

Canon 20D - 70-200mm L - 200mm - 1/650s - f2.8

To celebrate Chinese New Year here is one of my picture that recently sold on Alamy.

Chinese New Year is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar. The Chinese year 4705 begins on Feb. 18, 2007.

Chinese months are reckoned by the lunar calendar, with each month beginning on the darkest day. New Year festivities traditionally start on the first day of the month and continue until the fifteenth, when the moon is brightest. In China, people may take weeks of holiday from work to prepare for and celebrate the New Year.

A Piggy Year

Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality. Those born in pig years tend to have excellent manners, make and keep friends, work very hard, and appreciate luxury. They are very loving and make loyal partners. Lucille Ball, Humphrey Bogart, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ernest Hemingway, Alfred Hitchcock, Mahalia Jackson, David Letterman, and Arnold Schwarzenegger were all born in the year of the pig.

Reflections

2007-02-09T21:39:00.000-08:00

Canon 20D - 100mm 2.8 macro - f2.8 - 1/250s

I recently found an incredible PhotoShop plug-in that simulates reflections on water. I applied this filter to a few of my best selling pictures and was quite amazed by the result. There are different predefined settings, but you're free to change any of the parameters that generate the water and the waves. Price for this plug-in is only $20 and it's definitely a great investment.
http://www.flamingpear.com/flood.html

One Year of Stock Photography!

2007-01-05T10:16:00.000-08:00

I started to work with Stock agencies in January 2006. The year went pretty well and this is a review of 9 stock place where you can sell your work. The revenue per picture greatly depend on your portfolio content; mine was travel oriented and then I started to focus on stock images such as every day objects isolated on white background.

Also I'd like to emphasize that I believe Microstock and Regular Stock are two different markets with different customers. I would never sell my "better" (or I should say my "rarest") pictures with micro for just a quarter. I sell newly taken "microstock oriented" (i.e everyday object on white background) or travel shots that did not meet Alamy technical requirements (due to lower resolution). If you check my portfolio with Alamy and with any Micro Stock you'll see what I mean. I obviously prefer to sell a unique picture for a decent amount of money, but I also enjoy getting paid for my "not as rare" pictures.

More than 80% of my revenues came from 4 agencies:

Shutterstock - $5.30/picture/year – 22.7%
iStockPhoto - $5.20/picture/year – 22.3%
StockXpert - $4.95/picture/year – 21.4%
Alamy - $3.70/picture/year – 16%

I made actually a lot more money with Shutterstock alone because I have twice the number of pictures that I have on other sites (in part because they are the only micro accepting Editorial).

The remaining 20% came from another 5 agencies:

Fotolia - $1.43/picture/year – 6.1%
Dreamstime - $1.42/picture/year – 6.1%
123rf - $0.69/picture/year – 3%
BigStockPhoto - $0.40/picture/year – 1.7%
LuckyOliver - $0.18/picture/year – 0.7%

The great thing about the RF model and Microstock is that you can keyword and edit your image once, and then upload it with batch ftp on all servers. Then for most of them you just need to add categories et voila! So submitting the same image to 8 different places does not really take much longer than just one.

In case you'd like to sign up to give it a try I'd appreciate if you'd use one of my referal link: you would still get paid the same but I would get a small commission on each sale... which means more money for us photographers and less for the Microstock companies!

Shutterstock: http://submit.shutterstock.com/?ref=58434
Fotolia: http://www.fotolia.com/partner/103227
Dreamstime: http://www.dreamstime.com/res106166
BigStockPhoto: http://www.bigstockphoto.com/?refid=ITbDINSXMd

#1 - ShutterStock - RF - Subscription Model

Pros:

Because of subscription model buyers buy pictures they might never use
Fast review time
Uncensored and friendly forums
Best referral bonus
Accept editorial shots
Best Enhanced License program
Model release management

Cons:

Need to constantly upload to have pictures in the first search pages and get downloads
0 tolerance for noise or grain in picture
No information on the photog (besides screen name); photog can’t be contacted directly

Top 3 Sellers:

#2 - IStockPhoto - RF

Pros:

Top quality images only
Grainy image ok (film scan ok)
Tags attached to keywords for intelligent translation (unique feature)
Very picky on keywords
Buyer can contact photog directly

Cons:

No direct ftp
Limit to 20 upload per week
Slow review time
No photog referral bonus
No editorial

Top 3 Sellers:

#3 - StockXpert - RF

Pros:

Best payout/picture
Great user interface, extremely simple to use
Fast review times
1st payout after $50
Can advertise own portfolio once a week

Cons:

No editorial
No photog referral bonus

Top 3 Sellers:

#4 - Alamy - RF & RM

Pros:

RM and RF model
High selling price, with 70% commission to photog
Only High Resolution pictures - 16MP or more

Cons:

No ftp, need to send CD or DVD with picture
Slow review times
No paypal

Top Seller:

#5 - Fotolia - RF

Pros:

For each picture sold we know who is the buyer
10% referral bonus

Cons:

Slow user interface
User interface could be improved
No editorial
referral bonus for 365 days only

Top 3 Sellers:

#6 - Dreamstime - RF and Subscription

Pros:

Great user interface
Referral bonus
Model release management
Buyer can contact photog directly

Cons:

minimum payout is $100

Top 3 Sellers:

#7 - 123RF - RF

Pros:

Cons:

Top 3 Sellers:

#8 - BigStockPhoto - RF

Pros:

Minimum payout is $30
Good support for photographers, emails answered quickly

Cons:

Poor user interface

Top 3 Sellers:

#9 - LuckyOliver - RF
Pros:

Inovative user interface, fun site

Cons:

Not many sales so far

Top 3 Sellers:

My First Sale with Alamy!

2006-12-11T20:36:00.000-08:00

Canon 10D - 17-40L - 17mm - f11.0 - 1s

What a good surprise this morning when I found out that my "Sun Beam entering Antelope Canyon" sold on Alamy! Exactly 2 months after being accepted with this stock agency based in UK.

This sale is worth thousand of sales with microstocks, so hopefully there will be many more to come!

Antelope Canyon is the most-visited and most-photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest. It is located on Navajo land near Page, Arizona. Antelope Canyon formed over the course of millions of years by erosion of the Navajo Sandstone, primarily due to flash flooding and secondarily due to wind erosion. Rainwater (especially during monsoon season) runs into the wash that Antelope Canyon is part of, picking up speed and sand as it rushes through the narrow passageways. Over time the passageways are eroded away, making the corridors wider and smoothing hard edges in such a way as to form characteristic 'flowing' shapes in the rock. Upper Antelope Canyon, called Tse bighanilini, "the place where water runs through rocks" by the Navajo, is the most frequently visited by tourists, due to two considerations. First, its entrance and entire length are at ground level, requiring no climbing. Second, beams (shafts of direct sunlight radiating down from openings in the top of the canyon) are much more common in Upper than in Lower. Beams occur most often in the summer months, as they require the sun to be high in the sky.

Most Popular Picture of the Week: Fall Color

2006-11-17T10:31:00.000-08:00

Canon 100mm 2.8 macro - f20 - 0.5s

This macro shot of an orange/red leaf is my most popular picture this week with Shutterstock. I have a few other pictures in the same collection:

Canon 100mm 2.8 macro - f20 - 0.6s

Canon 100mm 2.8 macro - f11 - 1/4s

Célia

2006-11-09T21:29:00.000-08:00

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 29mm - f4 - 1/30s

Our little angel Célia joined big brother Léo on November 6th, 10:27am. She is very healthy and came to home one day after her birth. She's already my new favorite model :) I'm working on a blog for my 2 kids that should be up shortly.

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 35mm - f4 - 1/80s

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 27mm - f4 - 1/160s

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 40mm - f4 - 1/60s

Most Popular Picture of the Week

2006-11-03T21:02:00.000-08:00

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 40mm - f9 - 1/320s
Waves on Half Moon Bay Beach

Waves in Half Moon bay is my most popular picture this week with Shutterstock. We went to Half Moon Bay 2 weeks ago and the weather was gorgeous. The wind was brushing the waves in a beautiful way. Here are a few other interesting pictures taken on the beach:

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 40mm - f9 - 1/400s
Seagulls

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 40mm - f9 - 1/250s
Brushing the Waves

San Francisco at Night - Pier 14

2006-11-01T21:44:00.000-08:00

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 17mm - f10.0 - 25s
Bay Bridge view from Pier 14

10 more days before my office moves to Oakland... and every day is a picture opportunity! Tonight I stopped at the newly opened Pier 14, with a beautiful view on the Port of San Francisco and Ferries Building. The sky was cloudy but luckily I did not get any rain and I managed to get one more time some 20 to 30 seconds long exposures.

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 17mm - f14.0 - 20s
San Francisco Sky Line from Pier 14

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 40mm - f20.0 - 20s
Reflections along Embarcadero

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 32mm - f14.0 - 15s
Ferries Building

San Francisco - Pier 7 at Night

2006-10-30T20:43:00.000-08:00

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 17mm - f13 - 20s

Tonight I went on Pier 7 to do long exposures at dusk. I really enjoy longer (20 to 30 seconds )exposure because it gives a very smooth effect to the water. Temperature dropped rapidly to the mid forties and I promised myself to bring a warm jacket next time!

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 17mm - f5.6 - 3.2s

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 17mm - f18 - 30s

Canon 20D - 17-40mm L - 17mm - f5.6 - 3.2s

Most Popular Picture of the Week

2006-10-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

Canon 10D - 17-40mm L - 17mm - f5.0 - 1/100s

The San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, 101 Market Street between Main Street and Spear Street, is my most popular picture with Shutterstock.

My Pictures now on Sale at Alamy!

2006-10-11T20:58:00.000-07:00

Canon 10D - 17-40mm L - 40mm - f6.7 - 1/90s
Kodachrome Basin State Park, Utah

Alamy is one of the leading Stock agencies with Corbis and Getty Images. I sent my first submission of 10 pictures back in February and all were accepted. But since then I did not have much time to build up my gallery, or even enter keywords for my approved images!
After all that time invested in Micro-Stocks I decided to go a step further and sell some of my best pictures in "Right Managed" with Alamy, and I sent another batch of 94 pictures. To my surprise 92 of them were accepted. One was rejected because I sent the wrong size, the other one because it was too soft...
All Pictures were taken either with my old Canon 10D, or 20D, with the canon 17-40mm L lens, and then up sized to meet their minimum size requirement. They do not have yet an online upload system, so I had to CD a DVD for my first submission, and a CD for the second one.
Here are a few pictures that I'm selling with them:

Canon 10D - 17-40mm - 17mm - f11 - 1s
Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona

Canon 10D - 17-40mm - 17mm - f6.7 - 1/180s
Grand Canyon Overlook

Canon 10D - 17-40mm - 24mm - f11 - 4s
Upper Antelope Canyon, Arizona

Canon 20D - 17-40mm - 40mm - f11 - 1/160s
Climbing Mt Whitney, tallest mountain in continental US

Canon 20D - 50mm - f3.5 - 1/320s
Léo at 7 months

Follow this link to see my gallery: My Alamy Gallery

33 Weeks Pregnant

2006-10-06T22:37:00.000-07:00

Canon 17-40mm - 23mm - f10.0 - 1/25s - handled - natural light

Canon 17-40mm - 30mm - f9.0 - 1/50s - handled - natural light

Soon we're gonna have a little baby girl :) This time my wife's pregnancy is much more difficult; she even got some strong contractions this week!
Hopefully the last few weeks will go smoothly.

Canon 17-40mm - 40mm - f9.0 - 1/20s

Most Popular Image of the Week - Strawberries

2006-10-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

My Organic Strawberries isolated on white background is this week most popular picture with Shutterstock

Canon 100mm 2.8 macro - f6.3 - 0.8s - natural light

The Moon Festival

2006-10-02T22:58:00.000-07:00

The MOON FESTIVAL OF SILICON VALLEY is a cultural fair that will take place in the Cupertino Memorial Park annually on a weekend right before the eighth full moon of the Chinese Calendar. It usually falls in September of the Gregorian Calendar. The event is based on the traditional Chinese celebration of the full moon.

On the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, the moon is round and the Chinese people mark their Moon (or Mid-autumn) Festival. The round shape to a Chinese means family reunion. Therefore the Moon Festival is a holiday for members of a family to get together wherever it is possible.

The Moon Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival is the second largest holiday in East Asia after the Lunar New Year, a type of "Chinese Thanksgiving" which emphasizes family unity.

Smile of the Week - Léo 29 Months

2006-09-27T21:54:00.000-07:00

Canon 17-40mm L - 40mm - f4 - 1/125s - natural light

Portrait of my son Léo taken last weekend in a parc.

San Francisco - Part 3 - 'Passage'

2006-09-26T22:06:00.000-07:00

Canon 17-40mm L - f10 - 1/125s - CP

Today it was a bit foggy in the city. On my way to work I stopped at Pier 14 to take a few pictures of 'Passage', monumental and amazing sculptures representing a mother and child.

The two 30-ft welded sculptures made from recycled metal objects, including horseshoes, herons (and even a kitchen sink :) will remain located at the entrance of the newly opened Pier 14 for another 3 months.

Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito created the sculptures for the Burning Man 2005.

Best Isolation of the Week - Snail

2006-09-24T10:27:00.000-07:00

I had quite some fun trying to capture the perfect "escargot" image. This one was taken outside, an hour or so before sunset, with very minimal photoshop work. I used the 17-40mm; this lens is incredibly versatile.

Canon 17-40mm L - 40mm - f16 - 1/160s

Most Popular Pic of the Week - Clouds

2006-09-23T22:31:00.000-07:00

Every week I'll post my most popular picture on Shutterstock. Their new algorithm is actually pretty cool because it takes into account the number of download and the time the picture has been available. This make the most popular result very dynamic across the weeks.

Canon 17-40mm L - 17mm - f7.1 - 1/500s
This picture was taken at 33,000 feet from a business trip between Dallas and San-Francisco, and was my most popular for about a week.

San Francisco - Part 2

2006-09-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

Today my destinations were the Financial District and the "Old Ladies".

First I found a neat reflection in a skyscraper on Market St:

Then I biked all the way to Alamo Square to find a spot where I could capture the "Old Ladies", Victorian houses that are some of the most photographed place in SF. Unfortunately one of them was being renovated, so I will be back in about a month and try again...

San Francisco - Part 1 - Embarcadero Center

2006-09-21T22:34:00.000-07:00

Today was a beautiful day in San Francisco, perfect to take pictures. I started early morning on my way to the office with a few building shots from Embarcadero Center:

Some beautiful staircase, my 17-40mm was barely enough to capture everything I wanted to put in the frame.

Then for my lunch break I visited the Hyatt on Embarcadero and took some pretty interesting shots. I did not have a tripod with me so the pictures inside were taken at 800 ISO, but they came up pretty well.

For the following two I was glad to have with me my CP to darken the sky and cut the reflection on the glass:

This is the same one as the first one, in black and white:

Canon 17-40mm L - 17mm - f4.0 - 1/40s - handled

Welcome to my photography BLOG!

2006-09-05T21:47:00.000-07:00

Finally I decided to start my own blog :) This one will be exclusively about photography. Several time a week I'll post pictures and articles that I find interesting.

Shutterstock and other micro stocks have been keeping me very busy these days but it's starting to pay off with on average $1 per picture per month across all sites.

I'm also waiting for my second submission to Alamy to be reviewed... Keeping my finger crossed!