At a recent auction I picked up this navigation map of the Atlantic Ocean dating to 1780.  It arrived in the mail today.  I will proceed to photograph this map for stock over the next few years. Once I have exhausted the photo possibilities, I will auction it off again.  Usually this results in a profit on the map,or at worse breaking even.  End result is an expensive prop that I use for free.

The photo above this one is a straight shot of the map, and in itself a simple, but effective stock shot.  In this photo I begin to add technique to the map giving it a different look and increasing its stock sales potential.

This sextant is another prop I picked up the same way as the map.  I wanted to do a combination shot of it with the map, but before I did I grabbed this quick image of the sextant by itself -- a stock photo in its own rite.

Finally, here is the combination of the map with the sextant.  So in all, this one new prop of the map along with the sextant resulted in four quick photos, none of which I would have taken had it not been for this daily blog project.  It's  beginning to look like this idea may become quite profitable.  Can't wait to see some results.

The compass rose on the map is emphasized because of its importance as a conceptual element.  It will be interesting to see how many more times this map will be used to create a photo during the year of this project.

One of my favorite ways of shooting macro subjects is to use an unusual lens with an extension tube.  This shot was taken with a 400mm Nikkor lens in a studio setup.  Notice the difference in the squashed perspective between this image and the one below.

On this variation I used a 135mm f/2 defocus Nikkor wide open to achieve a tight perspective and distinct bokeh in the out-of-focus lights in the background.  I also added the cell phone and lipstick smudge on the glass to convert the shot into more of a lifestyle situation.

We had this cat in the studio for a shoot situation we were doing of a veterinarian.  During a break I did some closeups of just the cat.

The idea for this image of time zones came to me while I was on an international conference call last night.

This model was in our studio as part of a  lifestyle couples shoot.  I noticed her large, dark, expressive eyes and asked our stylist if she could put together this shot from props we had on hand. 

I've been waiting for a cloudy day with good detail in the clouds to pull off this "saving for a rainy day" shot.  I used a ring flash converter on my Nikon SB-900 flash to brighten the foreground and keep the clouds dark and ominous.

Best time of year to photograph the facade of Grand Central Station in NYC is December when the sun is very low in the sky at midday, the only time it hits the state head on.

I'll be looking for a lot of Christmas grab shots as I travel about.

Grabbed these shots with the new Nikon D7000 late last night at a Christmas party.  I've been carrying the D7000 around lately to test it at high ISO levels.  Great camera, by the way.  It can take professional stock shots, push to a very high ISO, has 1080HD video, and is small enough so that you can always have it with you for grab shots like this. With the 18-200mm zoom you only need to have one lens with you.

I liked the sky background I used in the egg shot below and wanted to use it again more prominently.  We had this little girl model in the studio for another project so I grabbed a quick shot of her on seamless to combine it.  I then needed a foreground.  It was raining out so I went to a nearby park and grabbed a shot of autumn leaves on grass with pooling rain water.  I put it all together in Photoshop, where I also added the glowing lights, and here it is.