Yes, I do think momma would be proud.  At least they didn’t use the nose picker stock photo of me, this time.  I can add yet another feature to my jack of all trades resume: “Todd, Professional Gag Gift Model.”

Talk about a cool tear-sheet… Kohls (a United States based clothing department store chain) used an ArenaCreative.com stock photo in a commercial featuring Jennifer Lopez’s clothing line! What an honor, and a surprise.  At 00:03 during the above video, you can see the stock photo of the NYC Uptown / Bronx subway sign that I shot one day while in the city.

J-Lo is really popular again and in the limelight right now; coming off the whirlwind of being an American Idol judge, having the biggest hit single of her life (On the Floor, featuring Pitbull) and recently being in all of the tabloids regarding her recent split with husband and Latin singer/actor Marc Anthony.  He also has a new clothing line at Kohl’s now, as well.  I had seen this JLO commercial a few times before, but hadn’t paid much attention to it.  As I sat there staring at the TV, realizing that was on of “my babies” on national television, I flipped out.  In this business, we never really know where our images are going to end up.  When we stumble upon them, and see them being used in real life applications, it makes up extra glad we were a part of it.Good old “Jenny from the Block”.  At ArenaCreative.com we are proud to be a part of effective marketing and advertising materials, and want to thank the advertising department at Kohl’s for using one of our images.  To learn more about us and other large corporations that have used our royalty-free stock images, click here.

Following up on this previous post (a discovery of how the company Gigabyte computers used my stock image of me with my finger up my nose in an ad campaign for dockable laptop PCs) here are a few more discoveries from that ad campaign that I wanted to share.

Should I Be Proud of This
Am I embarassed by all of this?  Would you be?  I know some people might, but those probably wouldn’t have shot a photo like this in the first place, and then sold it on the internet through a horde of microstock agencies.  I’ve personally don’t have any shame about this.  Don’t get me wrong, I think the whole ad series hilarious!  It’s good I’m a goofball by nature, and have a reallygood sense of humor.  Let this be a lesson to all of you who have at one time modeled or have sold stock images – you never know where these might end up!  This ad campaign hit youtube, international techie trade shows, was plastered in busy marketplaces, and on the side of buildings in Tapiei, Taiwan, and probably was marketed in print and other web campaigns.   I had no clue it would be used like this, because in this business we are rarely told if, when, and where the photos that are sold end up getting used.  Most of them might even end up on someone’s hard drive collecting dust for years before use.  I know back when I bought a lot of stock imagery, I would stock pile images that I knew might be useful in my future upcoming graphic design projects. Because I thought a photo of a person picking their nose might be a niche stock photo subject, I did it anyway.  It turns out that it was, and someone somewhere found a use for it.

Why It Works
Do I think that it was an effective ad campaign?  Honestly, I don’t see the act of nose picking as something that’s oh so enjoyable, where you can compare it to a dockable laptop. I think that there might have been other more tasteful comparisons made, but if they were going simply for shock factor – they got it.  This ad series definitely gets your attention and then draws you in to figure out what the heck they’re advertising.  I’ll admit, the photo quality isn’t great.  This was an image I originally captured about 5 years ago, when I was still learning.  I had mounted my camera on a tripod in my office, with a white shower curtain on the wall behind me.  The lighting actually is pretty bad, but it was good enough to have enough value in the eyes of the buyer.  This was a photo where I had tungsten lighting mixed with natural window light, and so there were way too many color temps going on in the image.  I guess sometimes a buyer just needs a photo of a dude digging for gold, even though this photo might just land itself on awkwardstockphotos.com

Special thanks for the above gigabyte nose picker ad images were courtesy of micgadget.com and onecuckoosnest.com – click to view their take on the ad campaign, and how they felt about it.

What are some other touchy subjects you might want to stay away from, if you model in stock images?  Things like spousal abuse might make for some interesting dinner conversation, if they happened to end up in a major magazine or newspaper article.  What about topics like sexual incompetency or impotence?  Hemroids?  Drug and alcohol abuse?  Criminal themes?  Some people might not be bothered to “act out” touchy themes like this, but if you’re working with models you need to always be upfront and clear about potential image use.  I would also assume that reputable pharmaceutical companies that advertise sensitive topics would also do the same, and that they wouldn’t be using stock images grabbed from an online stock photo agency to use in that field of marketing.

The original photo is found here:

See how shooting a variety of different expressions and poses during a photoshoot can be useful in marketing?  Whenever I work with new models I always explain to them that because we are shooting for stock, their images will be in use and in action in a variety of different places, if they are in fact sold.  The thing is, you never know where they might appear.  We just have to keep our eyes open, and eventually they will show up somewhere.  I’m not sure how doubtful or sure they are that this will happen, but so far the majority of the models that I’ve worked with have been pleasantly surprised to find their photos in use for some incredible tear sheets to add to their modeling portfolios.

This is the perfect example of why you should never sell a stock image where you’re doing anything embarrassing.  Here I am, digging for gold (picking my nose), featured at a busy international tradeshow blown up at poster size.  Yeah, my mother would be proud.

Gigabyte, a Taiwan based computer company, used myself as well as a few others in an ad campaign geared towards their dockable notebooks.  The point was supposed to be that it gets better once you “stick it in” to its dock.  I can’t say that I think it’s the best marketing concept, but I definitely got a huge laugh out of it

When you post an image up for sale that you don’t think will be used, chances are… someone just might find a way!

I still think I had the best technique in the series

I later found out from another person that the same ad of me picking my nose was plastered on a huge billboard, on the side of a building in Taipei.  Wow, my shining 15 minutes of fame, glory and honor!  My parents always knew I’d grow up to amount to something special hahahahahaha!

Anyways, back when I was a traditional graphic designer, I would horde as many stock images as I could whenever I had a stock photo subscription somewhere such as Photos.com or Shutterstock. That way, anything I had a feeling I might be able to use in the future I would be able to save on my hard drive and then use at a later date. This is something that happens a lot; so basically if you sell stock images, a lot of them are probably laying dormant somewhere on an image buyer’s hard drive. When you have a design position you begin to get a feel for which image themes and what type of imagery you go through the most, and obviously you can’t keep on using the same pics over and over again (unless you want to be a boring designer). I worked at a company that went through tons of sports, fitness, and medical related images in the custom magazines we produced for our clients.  I honestly think at least half of my image sales aren’t ever even used – but who knows?

How can you find some of the images you sell in use? Go to amazon and search for your name or username/that you go by on the micros. Also try google book search in addition to plain old google. Lots of books online even have previews, and sure enough you will find your name credited in at least a couple if some of your images were used. Here are some recent finds my wife and I discovered.

Our beagle is pretty famous (he earns his Pedigree dog food, that’s for sure).  Try searching for your own images if you haven’t already, and start a collection of tear sheets. You will only find a small random percentage of images actually in use, because obviously not everyone will credit your name in searchable text in each instance of use.  If you don’t sell stock, but you do buy it – make a microstocker’s day by emailing them a link, or dropping them an email about how you were able to use their image!  It only takes a minute, and you will no doubt put a huge smile on their face

If you go on amazon.com and search for your username, in my case “thesupe87″, you will see a list of books that have credited you in the text somewhere in the book.

This book featured my 3d cells image as part of the cover:(

Pocket Guide to Colorectal Cancer: Drugs and Treatment, Second Edition (Spiral-bound) by Gail M. Wilkes  ISBN-10: 0763761737  ISBN-13: 978-0763761738

I guess I have an image on page 33 somewhere in this book – I can’t seem to find a preview of it online, though.

Essential ICT for WJEC AS Level: Student Book (Paperback) by Stephen Doyle ISBN-10: 1850084130 ISBN-13: 978-1850084136

I also have an image in this one, on page 7.  Not sure which one, but the section is about the kitchen I guess.

Knack Organizing Your Home: Decluttering Solutions and Storage Ideas (Knack: Make It easy) (Paperback) by Emily Wilska ISBN-10: 1599213877 ISBN-13: 978-1599213873

books.gooogle.com is also a great place to search in order to find some of your images in use. Here are a bunch of mine that I found, with actual previews:

http://books.google.com/books?q=thesupe87&btnG=Search+Books

This is the image.

Here is a link to view the show on the nbc website: NBC Video Rewind

The graphic appears at 1:40 and at the end, when the credits roll.  Maybe in a few other spots – I didn’t have time to watch the whole thing.

You know what’s crazy…I kept watching the show during the first episode, thinking – wait, is that my image? Naah, that’s not one of mine. Can’t be. Now I’m thinking it could be it…crap this is killing me.  It’s darker in the show, so maybe they adjusted the levels – or maybe its not my original image. I tried looking on shutterstock – couldnt find any that got as close as mine.  So they either used the same filter software to render their diamond plate, or mine is just looking a little dark on tv.  They could have tweaked the levels a bit, too.  I used filter software to render this, but this was far from any of the preset settings.  Whenever I use filters to create textures or backgrounds, I always modify them.

What do you think?

http://www.amazon.com/Embattled-Garrisons-Comparative-Politics-Globalism/dp/0691134634/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210774851&sr=8-1

COOL   Thanks Karin, for the tip on searching for your stock username in amazon’s search engine!