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Everybody in this part of Kansas grows tulips for some reason...  In the city of Topeka, it's "Tulip Time" where people can visit various local parks and view the special gardens.

I was out taking photos and video on Sunday and caught the eye of an editor for the local paper.  She asked me if I could email her some of my photos, so I sent her some watermarked thumbnails that night.  She emailed me back yesterday asking if I wouldn't mind letting the paper use a few of my photos if they gave me full credit in the article, so I said "sure" and sent her the 4 they asked for.

Two were in this morning's paper and in addition to them crediting me for the photos, they included the web address of my blog in the byline. 

I'm all smiles today...

Oh, on an additional note...  I am loving my new Canon EOS T2i.  I have taken some great photos and video with it and although I've only had it for around a month, I've already had stuff submitted for stock sell.

Got a few thousand hits on my blog today which is about a 40% increase from normal traffic.  So we'll see what happens as far as new business.

My wife works for a local radio station and they put on a huge week long music festival every summer.  Her boss normally takes pictures himself with a P&S camera for use on their web site and such.  My wife volunteered me to take pictures for him today, showing him the stuff in the paper.  So he's going to give me backstage pass for the week and let me sit in on the interviews.  I'm not getting paid, but I get to use the stuff for editorial stock.

I'm just gonna have to get my fat ass in shape for it though...  I only went for 2 days each of the last 4 years and it was hot and I was sore from all the walking.

Yeah, what is it about tulips? They are blooming here in the Midwest, USA. I repeated and stitched this one and it has sold 58 times on DT (I never thought it was that great, must be the pano size).

Yeah, I wasn't even gonna try to submit any of it for stock.  I was mostly taking the pictures because I need LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of practice with my camera and you never know when something might happen (last year I had a couple at that park pay me $20 to take their picture and email the photos to them).

Thank YOU so much for this...  On your advice I decided to go ahead and submit a batch of my tulip photos to several agencies.  So far they've been accepted by all but two.  And one of those is still under review.

The gardens and fields of wildflowers are not well accepted ... for me.  My stuff is mostly table tops.  Get it out of the wind and shoot at f16/f22.  I do, however, use mostly natural light from the kitchen window.  I also get quite a few "focus" rejections at SS.  Not sure why?

Have you tried video of the tulip gardens?  That would solve the wind problem... I think?