So I have been going about a year now and I have really been working on learning what does…and does not sell in Istock. I”m almost to the 100 file mark and that has NOT been easy (believe me). One of the main reasons I went with Istock is because their standards are MUCH higher than anyone else out there. I want to be pushed not only artistically but technically as well.

One thing you need to know about stock photography is that there are many subjects that are SATURATED!! To say the least. The days of taking a picture of a flower, or a sunset, or even a pretty girl and having HUNDREDS of sales are pretty much over. Don’t get me wrong you should still integrate these themes, but it better be a REALLY good picture for it to both sell well or even get into the collection. As of writing this page, there are currently 6,792,598 files in Istock…and that’s just ONE site! So be creative, learn what does and what does not sell, and be patient.

Since I wrote the last post I have learned a few more things that I thought I would mention here. I think personally for new contributors the battle is very uphill. Especially at the beginning. We are fighting against the “Best Match” kind of being against us. The exclusives get their stuff ahead of us in the searches (as they should), they have been around for a long time, so there isn’t the steep learning curve that we have to deal with, and they have a relationship with Istock. I think I had a pretty good idea of this going in, so I haven’t really suffered that much from feeling frustrated. I found a great mentor (Jan you ROCK!) who has proven success in stock, and she really helped me a TON at first, now I just need her every once in a while. Find a mentor, and you need to LIVE in the critique forums…because those people KNOW what they are saying.

So that’s number one here is a link to the Critique Forums : LINK

Here are the common things people are posting and getting rejections over:

CA: Also known as Chromatic Abbrasion, its the fringing that can happen around an image, usually when you have something really light, next to something really dark (or vise versa)

- To Avoid it (and quite frankly you’re not going to always avoid it) Avoid using Cheap Lenses, and learn how to use the brush on the color mode in photoshop to remove it. CA is caused by the lens not the body.

Not Sharp enough: By the way if you have to sharpen it externally, you’re probably in trouble, it’s very obvious when you sharpen an image at 100%. Little bit goes a long ways, and if you have to sharpen it, it has a better chance of being rejected.

Too much noise: I mentioned in the other post that you should shoot at 100 ISO whenever possible. And if you can’t then you probably don’t have enough light in the first place and you need to tripod up. There are some programs out there that smooth and try to remove noise. I can’t speak to them because I haven’t used them.

Trademark Violation: Believe it or not I just got a rejection because a shirt looked like it could be copyrighted. (which I still disagree with for the record!), there is a TON of issues with this lately because some very high profile lawsuits have come down the line. When in doubt, property releases are going to be required.

Isolated images, not pure white: I shoot a TON on white background, and what I have learned is that you MUST make sure that everything is pure white. A cool trick I learned is to put an extra brightness/contrast layer above my touched up picture, take brightness all the way down, and contrast all the way up, it will show you if the images have any issues because you will see dark spots. You can then clone stamp those out and be set! Can I just also say that the NIK filter VIVEZA helps a TON when dealing with pure black and pure white backgrounds. Here is the link to the site : LINK

I think that’s it for now, I”m hoping to buy a 5D Mark 2 this year so that I can start getting into Stock Video along with the Stock Photography. I think Photography is SUPER saturated and even though that will always be my main focus, just having the option to go video will be nice. Also I am hoping to get SCUBA certified this year so I can maybe start some underwater photography!

- Jeff

Let me start by saying I went to Glencoe High School in Hillsboro Oregon. It was a fairly large theatre program with a full proscenium space (approximately 80′ wide by 40′ deep). There were also right around 25 linesets (if my memory serves me right…but I could be wrong LOL). I was taught how to hang my first light in 9th grade by a man named Dwayne Thomas. At the time he worked for a company called Superior Lighting, they were then bought by Hollywood Lights in Portland Oregon. Dwayne now owns his own design firm called Green Light Creative and if you are looking for design or event solutions in the Northwest I would definitely recommend checking him out.

Anyway, back to High School, We did one major Drama and one major Musical a year. My teacher was Janine Stassens and she was amazing. It was cool to have a teacher who used to be a nun in her younger years. We had a great time and I found myself very involved with technical theatre and also acting onstage as well. Some of my closest friends were from the fine arts groups in High School and I have amazing memories with them.Not the least of which was when I was supposed to be in a show, but after not listening to my director and going downhill skiing I ran lights for “Anything Goes” my Junior year. I pretty much focused on lighting from that point on.

I decided on College very late, and decided to go to George Fox University in Newberg Oregon. I really thought I was being called to go into Elementary Education. Or should I say, I knew my passion was lighting but I didn’t know I could make a career out of it. This is where my real serious training began. I studied under Derrick Johnson who was a professor that was brought in to change the program at Fox. He is a visionary and is known all around the world for his work. Something you would know him for is Candle Light at Epcot, he was one of the arrangers for the music. Also he was the creator of voices of liberty at Epcot. Under his tutelage I was taught that it was ok to dream, it was ok to think big and to ALWAYS think outside of the box. He was an amazing mentor and still is a major part of my life.

I also had some amazing mentors who helped me in my journey at George Fox that I will never forget. Mel Schroder was an amazing technical director who has retired now, but he is a great man of God who taught me that I need to be much more patient and there is always a price to how hard I push in regards to my career. Never has a man been so patient with me as I was growing in the beginning part of my career. He was an INCREDIBLE designer, and probably one of the most humble person when it comes to his design talent. We would consistantly learn new things almost daily about him and his career path that we would not have previously known had we not pry’d just a little bit =- )

The second person who had amazing impact on me was Dr Jo Lewis. She was the artistic Director at George Fox and let me say that she was definitely the one who pushed me to a high level of execution. She pushed me to be my best for her shows and she never allowed me to settle for anything less than my very very best. She constantly kept me humble and she never let me forget that I had much more to learn. I appreciated this from her and I thank God that she was in my life.

Beyond this my career really took off. I continued to try and remember the following:

1. Never let your Ego control you (I learned this especially once I started working for my current job at the church)

2. Once I learned that God was in control and my career doesn’t matter, that’s when things really started going well.

3 .Be willing to do absolutely anything. This was really hard for me because I like lighting, but if you have to watch kids because there is a need…then do it.

4. The most important one by far is…be willing to share the knowledge I have with the next generation of lighting designers. Don’t hold back…and make it my goal to help them be better than me.

I of course can’t miss some of the great people that are in my current job!! Jon Marks has been an inspiration and has really been patient in guiding me in the world of how churches work and one of my closest friends who has always stood by my side. Scott Link and the rest of the technical team here consistently keeps me humble and on my toes to push to be the best I possibly can. David Uth is one of the reasons I still work in a church. I found myself ready to leave the church world after two years. His first words to me were literally “I hear you’re thinking about leaving”. After I reponded that I was he said ‘ I hope you will give me a chance’. I am sure glad I did because it’s been an incredible journey that has taken me all over the world. When my life seemed to turn upside down, ths church was here for me, and the members surrounded me. To you all at First Baptist Church Orlando, I truly thank you and I am so thankful that God has used you to touch my life. The students that I work with have educated me as much as I have them, and I am so proud of each and every one of you. A special thank you to Keith and Jackie Harmon…even though you are no longer here at FBCO God used your ministry to help pull me out of some of the darkest days of my life.

As you can see, this post has very little to do with me, but those that God has surrounded me with. My successes are a direct result of others believing me in and God guiding me through it all. So that’s it for now. I hope this gives you a little insight on the path that I have taken and how God has blessed me and my career…and more importantly the people who have been there to help me along the way.

I know I have mentioned a ton here, but this blog just wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t mention our host families. I’m going to not really talk broad strokes here, but talk specifically about the time that Chris Clatterbuck, Vinny, and I had with our host family. Before I do that, I would like to mention that not one person on our team did not enjoy the time spent with their host family. We were honored and served and treated so very well but every person who was at Frontline Community.

We were blessed to be with the Alvey’s. I don’t think any of us expected such an amazing experience with our host family. They had two kids that we all became so close with so very fast. I think this will truly be a friendship that will be there for the long term. When you walk in the door for the first time and Tracy Alvey looks at us and says…yeah ummm every house needs to have a foosball table as far as I’m concerned and we are playing within 10 minutes, you know it’s going to be a good time.

This family took us in as if we were their own. They supported us, they prayed for us, they took us around anywhere we needed to go…and most importantly, they let us have a pretty substantial prank war with their kids (Danielle and Brandon)…WHICH the DAUGHTER STARTED might I add (I mean, are hangers in our beds the best you can do??)!! After the oral gel was used on her toothbrush we will forever be saying “SEWIOUSWY YOU GUYWS..NUBBING CWEAM!”

I know we were here to have impact on the people we came to serve. But I will never forget and I am so thankful for the impact these guys had on me and the rest of our team. I will forever remember the snowball fights, sledding, fireworks in the snow, late night poker and darts, everyone sharing their favorite you tube videos, and who could ever forget the German Football (AKA Soccer) game that we totally FROZE at but had SO much fun! I will crave Sasha’s Döners for at least another year, and I hope they are able to come and visit us in Orlando really soon. Because we have some rollercoaster’s to ride!!

For real you guys, thank you so much and we will be praying and thinking about you often. Yeah, I have a feeling there will be some skype going on with our family in Germany. We miss you already and can’t wait to see you very soon!

After a quick down couple days in Heidelberg Germany, it was off to Ramstein AirForce Base. We knew the schedule was going to be crazy for the next 3 days. And it definitely was…everything from playing at the airport terminal on base, to going to the high school was on the agenda…ohh yeah and we had the marriage conference every night also. Just the logistics to getting us all rides to the different places was a challenge. Although I might mention everything went pretty smooth (well except for when we forgot to pick up a couple team members…and they got stuck all day…oops)

Once we arrived in Ramstein we had to hurry and get ourselves on base. Which was a process in itself. We had to be escorted everywhere by our good friend Tim Carentz. He put a TON of work and effort into helping to open some opportunities for us on base, I know that Mr Alvey helped open some doors also, and a TON of other people that would be too numerous to mention here.

We arrived at the PAX Terminal and the music for the troops had begun..after missing a couple opportunities for the planes that should have been coming in, we went back to the terminal that evening and played for some troops that were getting to go home. It was awesome seeing the faces of our men and women who had been fighting for us everywhere from Bagdad to Afghanistan getting to head home and us being able to play some music for them.

We pretty much had 2-3 teams working at the same time constantly throughout this 3-4 day process. We had childcare going on, the band going on base, tech hop scotching to different venues, and marriage counseling going at the same time. Again I just want to say that when you see tech’s willing to help with childcare, and childcare sitting there helping us with our setups…that’s just exciting to know you can count on your entire team in all aspects of a trip.

The second day we knew was going to be absolutely crazy. We had Mom’s day out that pretty much the entire team (except the band because they were going to sing for some wounded soldiers) needed to jump in and help on. About 3 hours into it, the techs split off and went to the High School and did a setup. And then after that we raced back to the church to do the marriage conference. Was a great but very long day LOL!

Third day we went to our last big setup out of the church and went to a hanger on the base for about 200 troops that move all the gear and supplies for the airforce. It was awesome and I think Mickey Pittman was really able to speak to these guys and encourage them in what they are doing on a daily basis.

Student Concert came on the fourth day and WOW it was great. I have never seen anyone be able to work with the youth like Doug Pierce. He knows just what to say and just what to do to get these students out of their seats and excited and singing right along side him. It was an AMAZING turnout for the student event and it was great to see the gifts we brought out going to some very grateful students (IPODs and XBOX360).

I don’t think that we realized how much the little things mattered to people that are hurting so bad. The thing that I noticed the most on this trip was that, we talk about going to all these sexy places (Africa, Thailand, Brazil), and that is AMAZING and I am so glad we do it. But what about the people who are ensuring that we have freedom.? These people are Americans and they need our help and assistance too. They go from full family units to single parent units at times overnight. Then are expected to act as if everything is fine and perfectly normal. Their husbands are in the direct line of fire, they don’t know when the next phone call is coming, and the pressure and stress that the families are under….words just don’t describe.

I will never forget the testimony that one lady gave. When she went up to the microphone and stated that she was struggling with her husband and he was deployed and had 4 kids that she was struggling to take care of as he was gone. She needed a break, she needed some relief and most of all she needed support. Frontline Community is at the forefront of meeting those needs, and it was an honor to be there even for the short time and give back.

I want to mention one quick thing about Heidelberg Germany. Even though it was a couple down days for us, we didn’t stop having opportunities to share the Love of Christ. One instance in particular I don’t think I will ever forget.

We were getting a tour of the Heidelberg Castle (which was AMAZING might I add). And our tour guide was incredible. He walked us through talking about the castle, how it fell, who lived there, why it was build with different styles in mind…ya know…the normal stuff. But he also shared that he had grown up protestant and near the end of the tour pretty much all but said he wanted to know more about what Christianity was about. David Mclean immediately just went up and asked him if he was doing anything after work…and after buying him a coke, was able to have some GREAT discussion with the man. We didn’t want to do anything tag teaming or aggressive, but we were very excited to hear that the guy was very very open to learning more. So a very awesome seed was planted.

Heidelberg was great (didn’t get the best photo’s because of the weather), and I hope to get to visit again really soon. It was interesting because the new city merged with the old. Some of the buildings were from the 1300s. Very amazing architecture and history surrounded this town.

I know this was a quick one, but tomorrow I will talk about Ramstein AFB!!

- Jeff

As I sit here on the way back from the Europe Mission trip I have decided that I am going to split this blog up into two sections. When we arrived in Zurich, we were extremely excited. The plane ride went so well, and we had a TON of room that was not expected. Almost everyone had their own seat, so we all actually got a TON of sleep.

“Except Doug who sat next to someone on both legs and wasn’t able to sleep at all… but he’s not bitter”

Many of you know that I grew up in the Northwest, so I am used to seeing mountains and snow and beautiful country. But I have never seen peaks like I saw in Switzerland. The mountains towered over us, and at times you had to lean CLEAR back just to see the top of the mountain. It was almost comical watching everyone with their cameras out the van windows taking pictures. The weather was beautiful and the sky was dark blue, it was amazing. After a quick stop at a bridge and some pictures we continued on our way to Lenk Switzerland. It only took a couple hours, to get there, but it was interesting as we worked our way out of the urban city of Zurich and Bern, and made our way through small village after village that were barely two to three blocks long.

Upon arriving in Lenk, I don’t think any of us realized how small of a town it would be, but it was AWESOME to see people playing hockey at the local school, and later that night Curling on their own curling rink. We went directly to the school for setup and it was very clear that we would have an amazing team for this trip. Not one person sat around for setup (including the speakers). Everyone pitched in and we got the entire rig up and running very quickly. It’s great when you see teamwork like this so early in a trip.

The men’s conference was amazing. You could just tell that these guys were thirsty to worship, and be in the presence of God. Doug and his team did not disappoint. These guys were on fire and many came up to us and said that this was just what they needed, and wanted. The best part was when you looked right outside the windows you could see the towering peaks right above us, it was amazing and these images are burned into my mind.

My word for the year is IMPACT. For so long I have wanted to make sure that whatever I am working on, and spending time doing, that I can have impact on the people around me and for the kingdom of God. I felt like the entire team was able to make major impact on these 200+ men and it was a wonderful experience that I hope to be able to be a part of again.

Now of course you can’t go to the base of the Swiss Alps and not have some fun. It was amazing watching some of our team member’s faces as they saw snow for the first time. We went sledding, skiing, and definitely did our share of sliding down the mountain trying not to die. Skiing in the Swiss Alps was absolutely amazing…the first day was a bit rough, but through a little more coaching from Cathy Poole (who used to be a ski instructor) I was able to get out of my cross country ski mentality and definitely into the downhill mode. I did this by falling…A LOT (I think the Advil was being passed around like candy)!! But the second day was fresh powder and it was absolutely incredible! The thing that made the ski trip the best was that everyone was so patient with those of us that were not as skilled, we had a lot of laughs and everyone pretty much waited for those of us that were slower. Believe it or not the only injury that happened was from sledding (both within our group and outside). One of the boys at the retreat broke his leg. I guess when you take sleds down downhill slopes, the risk for injury is a bit higher LOL!

We left Switzerland very excited to go to Germany. God did some amazing things with the men at the retreat…little did we know, this was just the beginning.

I think honestly I have had three very distinguishable moments this year that have made it worth it for me. Neither of which has had anything to do with me. When Chad West went to Elon I was excited for where that could take his career. I was even more excited to hear about the Seniors all wanting a part of him so that they could tap his experience and knowledge that was gained at FBCO.

The Second was definitely watching Luc Detellis continue to grow in his craft. Every time he gets the opportunity to come in and work with me, he has continued to grow. I think you reach a certain point in your career where you just want to give back and see how far others can grow. I know I have definitely reached the point where it really brings me more joy to watch these great students do great things than it is to do yet another large design.

It’s also been great watching Jared Zimmerman and how far he has come. I think we have been working with him for 6 years, and I won’t ever forget him picking up a pencil and paper and just starting to do a magic sheet for me this last year. It’s been great to see him grow and it’s even more exciting to see where God leads his path.He is at a point where he could go and work in this industry right now, and that is a serious accomplishment as a Senior in High School.

CAMP ORLANDO 2009

We started the year off great with some conferences and went directly into Camp Orlando. Every year we have been given the opportunity to impact the youth and we have such a great time building bigger and better sets. This year was no exception. I know it looks like we totally went over the top here, but we actually simplified and came in under budget. I was able to use the new MAC3 moving lights and we are continuing to use the students in all that we do. It’s been GREAT! LED’s and Video servers have really become a staple of what we are using today in lighting.

ROYAL ALBERT HALL LONDON (SING LIVE)

Getting to light the Royal Albert Hall in London was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. Never did I ever think when I started back at George Fox University would I ever have the opportunity to light one of the premier venues in the world. Not only did the show turn out amazing, but I was able to completely pre-program everything before I even stepped foot in the venue. This was a first for me, I have never had to virtually program on a monitor before.

SINGING CHRISTMAS TREES 2009

Singing Christmas Trees were amazing ! And I had some of the latest technology at my fingertips. Here is a clip of the Kabuki drop at the beginning of the show. Having the ability to use DL3s yet again was awesome and I feel even more confortable using these moving head projectors, media servers and of course 75 moving lights. I”m really not sure what element we will bring into play next year to top this year, there is a part of me that just wants to scale everything back and simplify everything. Sometimes simple is better!!

SHARE A LITTLE CHRISTMAS TOUR 2009

I have been able to tour with some of the greatest artists currently in Christian Music! Al Denson called me up a few months ago and asked me to go on tour with him and Kari Jobe. First off, I would like to say I really enjoyed the time with some of my closest friends. Secondly, I woudl like to say that no matter what anyone tells you, touring is extremely exausting and coming off a CRAZY christmas season made this very difficult to get through. But the crew and the band were great to work with and I was so glad that I agreed to work alongside Kari and Al. I can’t really take full credit for this design. It was more of a team effort between Mike Walker and Myself, we took the materials and messed with them until we were happy. This video is one of the tour stops at Mike Haights old church. It was a great time!

Throw in the mix the numerous concerts that we were a part of, helping Al with Night of Joy, and who could even forget having to replace the entire dimming system!! It’s been a crazy year! I hope for things to slow down just a bit this upcoming year, it’s been insane and I need a break. Although I am going to Germany and Switzerland first with Doug Pierce! After that though…here is hoping for a slower season! LOL Yeah Right!

Been incredible this year guys I wish you all a very happy new year and a safe holiday season!

- Jeff Atkisson

By the way, let me just put a disclaimer in right now. I am on the bus on our way back to Dallas, I”m dog tired, and have been up almost 20 hours, so if it seems like I”m rambling a little, it’s because my brain is a little cloudy right now.

So we got through all of our Tree shows and hit the first night of strike and I think only then did it really sink in that I was about to leave for a week long tour with some of my very good friends, and also with some new people I had yet to meet. It wasn’t the first tour I have done, but it was definitely the first gig that I would be on the bus (I had truck duty on the other mini tours I worked on).

I litterally was picked up from the airport and hit the ground running. Mike Walker picked me up and we went straight into production mode. I had been trying to finish up the technical advance so I was on the computer in his car still working as he was on the phone working on final details.

We got the gear prepped and the bus loaded and it was time to leave less than 48 hours later. Definitely had some issues with the console and gear we had rented, but worked through them once we got to the first venue.

It was no suprise that this tour was incredibly successful. Kari Jobe, Ryan Edgar, Al Denson, Lindsey Marks, Ryan Walker, James Mckee, and David Nowak were masterful in their evening execution. And Mike Walker is not only a great production manager, but he’s an incredible audio engineer as well.

It was fun getting to know Kari and her family more, they have an amazing heart for the Lord and they are a TON of fun to hang out with. Having Al’s assistant Marlaina on the tour was definitely one of the highlights for me. She was a BLAST!!! Love her so much and she always keeps things light and fun, even in them midst of SUPER long days.

One of the biggest highlights for me was watching Kari sing a lullaby to Marlaina as she was shoving her into her bunk. We had some amazing bus moments, everyone got along great and I have some memories I am not sure I will forget any time soon.

I have a few specific memories I want to share with you:

1. It was definitely confirmed, that you don’t need fancy lights or huge production for God to show up. I thought the worship we had every night was incredible, but God specifically showed up the last night of the tour in a packed room, that had next to no production in it. 1 video projector, 6 LED pars, and speakers on sticks. God moved, and it had nothing to do with us. It was very cool.

2. I remember Mike Walker coming up to me one night and saying “so what did you learn today”, I said, don’t let Al Denson’s computer that has all the words on it leave my sight ever again. It got kind of messed up at one of the venues and never worked real well after that.

3. I learned I sleep really well on a moving bus, it’s kind of soothing actually. And you become so close with the people you go through the crazy schedule of touring with.

I am very honored and thankful to so many people in regards to this tour. I will include some video and pictures soon. But I wanted to at least post the text version of it his first. Thank you especially to all the crew and volunteers at FBCO that stepped up (specifically Chris Clatterbuck) so that I could go out and assist in this tour that was specifically designed to help out New Missions reach the children of Haiti. In their words…Change the Life of a Child…today. I could probably do 3-4 blog posts on the experiences we had and the crazy things that happen on a tour, but for now, this is definitely enough.

This year the theme is Reflections, it’s a whole bunch of stories that take place in an attic. I”m very excited to see the execution of the show, and we have a very strong and centralized theme this year which I really feel will help tie the entire show together perfectly.

I have already started programming on the mini tree, which I will show a video of. We have also been doing 6-8 videos a day and posting to facebook so everyone can truly see what goes into this MASSIVE show. Even though we are technically in week two of the loadin, many of us have already been going 3-4 weeks, and in the case of Derrick, he has been going almost 6 weeks nonstop!! The tree panels were all completely redone this year, so it should be a brighter, and much less messy tree, Derrick and John Brandt have been amazing collaborators and it’s awesome to see all the planning and work paying off because of our team. I truly feel like there is nothing that our technical team can not pull off. I remember when I wanted to hire outside help a ton…but now am at the point where our team here is so good, we are better than the outside help, and it’s a great feeling.

So lets stop with the mushy stuff and get to the technical stuff.I have 72 moving lights in the air right now, we have 38 motor points. 12 of the motor points are being run off a schonberg motor control system that has chain counters attached to it.I have the following lights for this show:

(24) Martin TW1

(10) MAC3

(10) Mac 2000 Profiles

(8) MAC 600 NT

(8) MAC 250 Wash

(6) Vari Lite 1000

(6) Coemar PanaCycs

(40) AC Lighting DB4 LED Units

(4) High End DL3s

I have over 500′ of truss in the air and probably close to 3000′ feet of control and power cable.

I am running off 8 Universes of DMX also.

Here are a few stats about the tree lighting system:

- We use a 15X6X9 Matrix system that is a MidiLite (www.castlestudios.com) Controlled Tree.

- There are over 11 miles of twinkle lights on the trees alone (that doesn’t include control wiring)

- There are exactly 2736 strings of lights per tree, which makes a total of 5472 strings total.

- This means we have 136,800 twinkle lights per tree, which makes a total of 273,600 twinkle lights total.

- The trees themselves take up 100Amps of Three Phase Power.

- There are 6 colors on the tree: Red, Amber, White, Purple, Blue, and Green

- We try and get everyone around the 6′ mark on the trees, which is why everyone stands on boxes.

Well I think that’s enough for the updates today, I am so busy blog posts usually have to happen in middle of lunch or after work. The process is going smooth and we’re making good progress. Been some long days, but nothing that is a deal breaker yet.Hope to have trees fully programmed by the end of this week, and then we’ll be into main system programming next week.

- Jeff