The first truly professional digital camera, the Canon 1DS came out in 2002. It was a huge success and snapped up quickly by pro shooters. Its exorbitant price kept the amateurs at bay. Being a Nikon user, it kept me away too. I waited for Nikon to release an equivalent camera. They didn’t. In 2004 Canon introduced the 1DS Mark ii, a new and improved model. Nikon still had no answer. In December of 2004 I was in Columbus, Ohio visiting my mother and on such trips I often visited the local camera store just to nose around. The new Canon camera was in huge demand and often not available except on a 6 month wait list. On a whim, I asked a salesman if they had any of the new babies. He said they had 8, but 7 of them were already sold to the local newspaper. And the 8th I asked? It’s available, he said. I whipped out my credit card and just like that bought over $12k in Canon gear. I had made the digital leap and my Nikon film gear was shelved. In an effort to pay for the new equipment, I planned a stock photo shoot for the following February in my studio. Like much of my older stock work, it would be about people. But instead of the more artful approach of the past, I would cater to the current marketplace and make sharp, colorful images that would hopefully sell well. My reps, Donnie and Annie helped me find models. My trusty studio assistants Connie and Doug helped me navigate the very new to me digital workflow. It was a huge learning curve, but also great fun. I generated about 10,000 images over the course of that month. Getty selected about 400 images, far fewer than I expected. And while sales did ultimately pay for the new gear and then some, the stock industry was changing. The digital era was taking off and new stock agencies were creating competition that would force pricing to go down. Newer digital cameras were cheaper, more available. More wannabe photographers. That shoot would be my last major production, as it became no longer profitable to fund such efforts. It was my last hurrah and I went back to shooting commissioned works for clients.
