Kenya as a Vacation Destination

Though one of Africa’s most influential economies, Kenya is still a rising country, and thus definite features of the country’s society and communications may appear as a surprise to visitors from urbanized countries who aren’t used to the shortages knowledgeable to many Kenyans.

Even though foreign visitors are now an ordinary sight in a most parts of the country, there still survive huge areas off the beaten track where a fair or yellow appearance will draw cries of “Mzungu! Mzungu!”, or white people, from the kids. Visitors to these regions should be cautious about the long-term effects of their stay on the local society, and should, for example, keep from giving out money or candy – playing with kids, or talking with the locals will provide for far better results than simply giving out contributions.

Getting to Kenya

Kenya Airways is the national airline of Kenya. KQ has extensive regional (Jo’burg-South Africa, Accra-Ghana, etc) and some international connections (Dubai-UAE, Mumbai-India, Frankfurt, etc). Kenya has three international airports: Moi International Airport in Mombasa, Eldoret International Airport, and Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO) in Nairobi. If you are planning a trip, you should always check out Expedia coupons.

Attractions

Kenya has a number of the best game reserves where you fill find the best of Africa’s wildlife. These parks are well-known for giraffes, lions, huge herds of zebras, elephants, and wildebeests. You should check out trip operators before selecting one, to see what’s presently available, who you vibe with, and to get a discounted price.

The anual wildebeest migration from the Maasai Mara to the Serengeti is an amazing sight and best seen in a hot-air balloon safari. Bookings to observe the exodus are best done some months in advance because of the high demand and restricted accommodation accessible in the Mara. Kenya is also transforming into a golf destination, with a great quantity of good-looking courses springing up all around the main city areas.

Kenya is celebrated for its many hand-made goods, which are associated with a specific tribe or region. You will find soap stone carvings, Mkonde wood carvings, Lamu chairs and of course batiks. The greatest assortment of handicrafts can probably be found at the Maasai Market in city center Nairobi each Tuesday, but look forward to hard bargaining and hassling. If you do not want to go to the city center Maasai Market, there is always a Village Market where a little number of sellers sell once a week. Separate from the distinguishing souvenirs, it might be a great idea to purchase one of the great books with photographs of flora and fauna, natural world, or civilization.

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Re-using waste for the future

Right through history, recycling has been around in one way or another. Even as long ago as 400 BC signs of early recycling are known to have taken place. Archaeological reports show that ancient waste dumps contained fewer of what is known nowadays as household waste, such as pots, tools and ash, which shows that people were, even in those days, keen to reuse products at a time when natural resources weren’t so freely available. Little did they know that what they were starting would play such a huge role in shaping the world for future generations

Indeed it could be argued that the old ‘rag-and-bone’ man was just an early recycler collecting unwanted goods on his horse and cart, before reusing or turning the collected items into something new. The 60′s TV series, Steptoe and Son, brought this very much to the public eye and greater attention.

During periods such as the World War Years, recycling and re-use were necessary as natural resources became much more difficult to come by. As well as food being rationed, certain materials such as metal and fibre were largely allowed only for use by the government in support of military operations, to meet manufacturing requirements often in the production of weaponry. There was a desperate need to support the military.

Due to rising energy costs, the need to recycle aluminium increased in the seventies.. As a material aluminium utilises much less energy in the production process than some other materials. Also it was much sought after because of its non rusting properties. The need for aluminium saw the rise of scrap metal merchants who were willing to pay money in exchange for good quality metal. Also, in the 70′s in parts of the United States of America, the first vehicles were seen to be collecting waste with a separate trailer for the collection of recyclable materials being towed behind the vehicle.

To the late 1980′s, early 1990′s and as the awareness of managing the global environmental state increased amongst worldwide governments, the focus upon recycling really started to gather momentum. In the UK, the government imposed recycling targets upon Local Authorities and with the introduction of the new legislation upon the waste industry, recycling schemes really began to take off. The once commonly recognised waste disposal companies, began to call themselves waste management companies and demonstrated through the offer of waste collection and recyclable material collection that waste needed to be managed more effectively. Local skip companies needed to become better at what they did.

Today, many hundreds of materials and products can be recycled, ranging from paper, card, glass and plastics, to mobile phones, electrical items, printer cartridges, textiles, clothing and concrete. The demand for different types of collection receptacles has increased dramatically.

What is Recycling?

The term recycling describes the process of converting used materials into new or nearly new materials to avoid the need for potentially useful materials or products to be discarded. Essentially it is diverting waste from landfill.

Recycling plays a key role in a world where climate change is high on the environmental agenda. It helps to reduce the need to unnecessarily send waste materials and products to landfill or other waste disposal options. This in turn diminishes the need or the reliance upon consuming fresh or new raw materials, reduces energy use and air and water pollution, all of which contribute to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Significant contributions to improving the environment.

Recycling is probably most evident through the recycling services now provided by local authorities for domestic refuse and recycling collections and by modern waste management companies who generally offer a full range of waste and recycling collection services.

There will be many companies across great britain who now provide paper recycling, cardboard recycling, glass recycling, energy from waste , recycling services. But to be sure your waste is really going to be appropriately recycled is it important to find a well well-known and trusted company.

In the waste sector, the common promotional activity surrounds the waste hierarchy – ‘reduce, reuse, recycle and recover’. This four R slogan is a simple message designed for a far reaching audience. Think about how you can reduce your waste. Can the waste products or materials be reused? Can the waste product or material be recycled or recovered? Many questions to consider.

The waste hierarchy is a strategy which many waste management companies and local authorities consider when developing new waste management strategies. The strategy is intended to focus the mind around preventing waste being generated in the first place. Consider the options for reuse and recycling but ultimately minimise the amount of waste produced at the end of the cycle.

So the emphasis is very much on the entire production process. The waste hierarchy extends much wider than to waste management companies and local authorities. Working groups have been set up to bring many sectors together to consider the entire waste cycle. For example, the manufacturer of a product needs to consider how the product is to be manufactured. Can parts be used which can later be recycled or reused? Can the amount of packaging which surrounds the product be reduced? When the product reaches the retailer, is it necessary for the product to be placed within an outer package? Once the retailer sells the product, what will the buyer do with the unwanted elements of the purchase, i.e. the packaging? How will the packaging be collected and where will it go? Will it return to a recycling plant, for onward transfer to a reprocessing plant, where the cycle begins all over again? The process must be simple to manage and implement.

How are Materials Collected for Recycling?

Legislation now dictates that all waste should be treated to divert the amount of recyclables and unnecessary waste going direct to landfill. Since 1996, UK government has applied a landfill levy on all waste disposed of within landfill. The rate of tax has increased considerably in recent years rising from the original level of £8 per ton, to today’s rate of £40 per ton. The UK government has previously announced that this will increase further to £48 per ton by the end of 2010/11. This rate applies to all general waste streams, although there is a lower rate for inert materials. Sending waste directly to landfill is an expensive option and finding suitable methods to divert waste away from landfill is now a priority. For inert materials the rate is £2.50 per ton.

So, the message to everyone is clear, segregate your waste to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. Traditionally, at home or at work, as soon as you place waste in the container , it is forgotten about. Someone else will collect it and take it away. Nowadays, at home and at work, recycling is being encouraged through the provision of bins in which to place specific recyclable materials. At home, the children are often the keen recyclers.

Perhaps the most common materials to be seen being collected for recycling are paper, card, glass, metals and plastics. But the opportunity to recycle a vast number of materials or products continues to grow. Although technically not seen as recycling, food waste and garden waste collections are increasing, where the food or garden waste is taken back to a plant for processing into a reusable or saleable compost product.

There is a substantial range of paper recycling bins could be set at high usage points for instance close to photocopying machines to gather excess papers.

The methods of collecting materials or waste to be recycled is also increasing and becoming more noticeable within local communities. Dedicated collection sites, often referred to as a bring bank sites, are springing up in supermarket car parks to encourage customers of the supermarket to return such items as bottles, newspapers or card to the bins on their way into the supermarket. Shoppers are therefore encouraged to bring back their recyclables.

Local Authority waste collection crews or their appointed contractors will collect refuse and recyclables from the kerbside usually at the front of your home. Collection from domestic premises generally remains the responsibility of the local council and many have now employed the provision of baskets in which to collect specified recyclable materials or products.

In the industrial and commercial sector, waste management contractors offer separate containers in which the customer deposits the appropriate waste stream or recyclable material ready for collection. The bins will often be clearly labeled as to which recyclable product should be placed within that container or bin. Alternatively, the bins will be colour coded to identify which recyclable materials should be placed within which bins. Waste management companies also may have to deal with special requests from the customer.

The key to a successful recycling initiative is informing the public about what can be recycled and how. In the commercial world getting the co-operation of office employees is crucial. The introduction of any recycling scheme must ensure that in asking staff to separate waste for recycling, it does not become time consuming and affect the efficiency of what employees should be doing in their work. The introduction of any recycling scheme should be kept simple.

The Recycling Process

Various collection systems exist for the collection of the recyclable material . Whichever collection system is utilised , the materials are taken to a recycling centre where they will be segregated from other wastes. This could be done manually or by using mechanical separators.

To begin the recycling process from a collection point of view, the more recyclable material which can be separated at source, i.e. at home or in the work place, the more efficient it will be for the waste collector. That is why separate containers are supplied to the waste producer to encourage segregation at source. If card can be collected on a vehicle, which will collect no other waste material, the card will be kept uncontaminated and therefore will have a higher value when it reaches the processing plant. Similarly, dedicated glass collection vehicles are used to collect only glass. Apart from the obvious health and safety reasons and the weight of collected glass, it will have a much higher value if the collected glass load is not mixed with other waste.

Once collected, the recyclable materials can be taken direct to a reprocessing plant, if the load contains only that specific type of material. So a dedicated glass collection vehicle could take the load directly to a glass processing plant. It is more likely that the glass will have to be bulked up for onward shipment to the processor.

If mixed recyclables have been collected such as paper and card within the same container, it may be necessary for the collector to take the load to a drop off point to unload and allow the load to be sorted into separate paper and card bundles for onward transfer to a paper or card processing plant. Whichever method is used, the recyclable material collected will usually be segregated or cleaned before going through to a reprocessing plant to be converted to a new resource and ultimately used as a new product or in manufacturing.

Because of high density populations, the problem of waste disposal requires more innovative solutions than the old landfill ideas. power in waste is just one such solution, turning waste material into electricity.

The Increasing Importance of Recycling

In the UK around 35% of waste collected from households is recycled or composted. Whilst in the commercial and industrial sector, the volume of waste sent to landfill has declined substantially in recent years and the amount of waste now being diverted for recycling or reuse by this sector has risen above the volumes going to landfill.

Landfill continues to play an important role in the management of waste across the UK as not all wastes can be recycled and some are more suited to landfill disposal than by any other means. However, it’s not just the increasing costs of disposing of waste directly in landfill which is making recycling a more attractive option for businesses. Landfill is becoming scarce, with some experts suggesting that the amount of space available across all UK landfill sites, has less than ten years existence remaining before all sites are deemed to be full. Such countries as Dubai have filled parts of the coastline with their waste and created useful land area to extend the boundaries of their country.

In recent years, waste management companies have had to change their focus, and start to consider and invest in new technologies, such as energy from waste plants, anaerobic digestion plants and mechanical biological treatment plants, as alternatives to landfill. Local Authorities have also changed their views by undertaking comprehensive strategic reviews as to how waste under their jurisdiction should be handled. In some cases this has meant that unitary authorities are implementing plans to introduce long term contracts, usually around 25 years in length, through which to manage their entire waste management requirements. These contracts will often include the need to build a facility through which to handle all waste generated across the region by sorting all waste streams. The contracts may also include the collection of all waste and recyclables from homes across the area. So the face of waste management is changing rapidly. The days of just throw it in the dustbin have disappeared and the advent of new technologies are upon us. The introduction of new technologies will play a huge role in the future of waste management.

Conclusion

Recycling is now a way of life and is here to stay. It has evolved over the years from something that was undertaken without any real thought behind it. The trusty rag and bone man was just trying to make a living. Today, many blue chip organisations are setting out plans for a ‘zero to landfill’ waste policy, where the intention is very clear – reduce waste, reuse waste and recycle waste, but no waste must end up in landfill.

Many homes across the country now have some form of bin in which to separate waste for recycling. The need to separate newspapers, aluminium cans and plastic bottles are almost common place. Whilst in industrial and commercial sectors, there is an increasing list of items to consider for recycling such as printer cartridges, office paper, metal and electrical equipment. Even on street corners and airports you see bins to recycle such items as newspapers and drink cans.

Ideally the whole process would be a complete cycle such as it was in the days of the horse. However the advent of new technologies will accelerate further the way in which our waste is to be managed in the future, but it is highly unlikely that we will ever reach the ultimate waste free society. There will always be a need for waste to be disposed of somewhere, somehow.

Make money from Shooting Picture Library Photography

Introduction

Welcome to An Insight into Stock Photography. This article is based on a talk given at Focus on Imaging 2007. I hope you find it interesting. Just remember these are my views only, they are not gospel and have been put together based solely on my experience of shooting and making money from stock photography, primarily through Alamy and photographic magazines.

We’ve seen a lot of change in the markets and the economy in general. This has affected the stock photography market. But don’t lose hope, magazines and newspapers have an insatiable appetite for images.

One Approach

Not having all your eggs in one basket – and finding opportunities to build a business in photography. And stock photography is just part of that – a chance for someone else to market your images for you and to for you to get paid, while off doing something else. It’s like having commission only sales people working for you. The thing is you have to give them something saleable but you can’t give them a kick up the backside if you’re not selling much!!

Some professional photographers don’t do it, some do, some make a living from it. The choices and balance is up to you, as a commercial photographer I do some of it.

It may seem like an uphill challenge but it’s not and it’s within most people’s grasp. Provided you understand the customer. This applies to both the Picture Library and the Ultimate Buyers.

Take a look around you. Pictures are everywhere – the printed media in its widest context has a massive appetite for images on a daily basis.

Humans generally don’t like reading online – well not for very long – they like tactile magazines to flick though and dip into and if they didn’t, the newspaper industry would be long gone by now – wouldn’t it !!

Every magazine, exhibition, web site, company brochure and newspaper all need pictures on a regular basis – and if they don’t have it or can’t send a photographer to go out and shoot it – then they’ll buy it.

Printed media works on deadlines that go right down to the wire, so immediacy is important and the shots can’t be the same old ones turned out time after time .

The picture buyer generally will work to longer lead times and less tight deadlines – but not always – the images they buy can be more general or iconic – like these motivation posters you see in some offices .

Take for instance a sports shot of runners on a track – you might see it in the sports pages of a newspaper for a day, then maybe in a Athletics magazine that month – but it can soon become a poster with a motivational statement “Defeat” or “Winner” that has a whole new market.

So where are you – the photographer – in the pecking order so to speak. Take a look below.

• The Photographer
• The Stock Library
• The Picture Buyer

You’re on the top of the list with the stock library between you and the buyer, but at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to getting paid. But whilst you need to meet the technical requirements of the library and other submission requirements, it’s the picture buyer you must be thinking of long before you even contemplate picking up the camera.

The picture library will do the sales and marketing of your images, for a cut which varies from library to library, but they must have images that buyers want.

Before you sign up, read through the agreement and see if the set up suits your requirements.

Diverse Sectors

Each of these publications, Gossip magazines, The Times Newspaper, Corporate Publications, serve a specific market – but each buy photos from Alamy to mention just one library – they also buy from many others too – in order to make the publication that day, week or month.

So what sort of pictures do these publications buy? Well it’s very varied. Just browse through and look at the side of the shot, it’s likely to have an image source next to it.

• Take a Break – items / products, staged poses – youth etc.
• Daily mail – travel
• Environment – utilities, waste, pollution etc, – front cover.

Get Rich Quick – NO!

Some say it’s a numbers game – true to some extent, but the way I look at it is this, if you’ve got 10,000 images of shots that won’t sell – you’ve got nothing .

For me as a professional photographer that provides photography services, it’s the long term view – looking to grow and maintain a set of saleable images.

Remember pictures are perishable – i.e. – they become stale – and this will vary dependent upon the industry sector or subject they apply to.

Transport, fashion, IT, business, communications all need, in my view, re-shooting each year. For example a man in a suit by a computer the size of a house in the 1950′s isn’t the modern business image of today.

Wildlife, sky scenes, landscapes, travel pictures – less so – but look at any developing city – take London – since the Wheel and the Gherkin went up all the skylines are different, also look at Dubai – changing all the time.

Get rich quick – no it’s not – but you can build up an underlying income if you think about saleable pictures and keep them relevant – remember they have to illustrate a story – so need to tell a story in their own right.

What is Stock

So let’s take a look at how you get accepted and who there is to choose from. Each Library has its own benefits and key target markets, so find one that suits you and what you are good at shooting.

• Getty
• Alamy
• Comstock
• Jupiter
• Superstock
• Fotolibra
• Istockphoto,
• Pixtal
• Jumpimages
• Adams
• Nevstock

Most will have web sites and these will stipulate how to join of make submissions.

$ Sites

Personally I don’t like them and here’s why. I’m going to set you a challenge and at the end of it I will buy the photograph from you. So you go and shoot a subject you like, do your research, do the shoot, post produce the image and upload it to my site and hey presto – I pay you 50p at today’s exchange rate — any takers ? I rest my case!

Submission Rules

All image libraries will set technical requirements and these will vary depending on how much server space they want to invest in.

Alamy work to 48mb TIFF minimum – 1, to keep the bar high enough that only the serious photographer applies and 2, to give their customers’ choice and immediate access to high quality images. Now they’ve changed this from the above to accept JPEG images – so your file size is down to around 8 meg.

Others work on thumbnail sizes then let the buyer contact you. Personally, I think, trying to judge a shot off a 100 or 200k image is not doing the shot justice.

Others specify minimum standards of camera / model, or make you go though an approval or recommendation process. The thing with this is to find a library that matches your needs and capabilities. Also the amount time you have available to dedicate to stock photography.

Licenses

Non-Exclusive License

The buyer pays a licence fee each time they use the picture , but another picture buyer can also purchase and use the image under the same licence.

The picture buyer must specify, each time: intended use, media, territory and duration.

Pricing is based on intended use, media, duration and territory. The territorial pricing will be matched to the specific country.

Exclusive License

The image buyer pays a licence fee each time they use the image.

The picture buyer obtains exclusive use of an image under the terms of the licence: these terms may affect the use, media, territory and/or duration in which the image can by used by other buyers.

Rights protection can be an advantage for high-profile projects such as ad campaigns and promotions.

Royalty Free (RF)

The image buyer pays a one-off fee – they do not have to pay royalties to contributors on a use-by-use basis.

The picture buyer will not know who else is using the image.

The picture buyer should check that the image has the appropriate releases before using the image where a release is required, for example Model release for people and property release for prominent buildings or logos.

Commission

• 50/50
• 60/40 but with global distribution
• 70/30
• 80/20 – Photographers Direct

Again find a library that works for you and also find out when you’ll get paid and any minimum balances you must have to get paid. Sometimes you can wait 3 months for your money.

Work Flow

As a provider of photography services I shoot RAW and make minor adjustments to images. Now I’m using Adobe Lightroom in place of Raw Shooter and it’s speeded up my work flow considerably. Photoshop – I use this far less now but only to colour and touch out any dirt or what might look like dirt – by this I mean the occasional bird in the sky can look like sensor dirt if it’s a way off in the distance. Resize your image. Output the file to the required format.

Then depending on the library upload over the Internet or cut a CD / DVD.

An Example

Take an older camera the Nikon D70 – 6.1 mega pixel camera. Raw files were around 4 or 5 MB and a TIFF was at 17MB with the JPEG at 4MB.

To meet the submission guidelines you need to Interpolate the image – make it bigger. In Photoshop this was Image > Image Size>Percent. Increase by 168% to give a 48 – 50 MB sized image. Then Save as Jpeg – 5 – 7MB.

I now shoot on a Nikon D300. RAW files are now 18 – 19 mb, opened in CS3 at 34 mb – requiring interpolation by only 20%.

What I’ve Sold

Wonderful sunsets, superb travel pictures, glamour images, or maybe my Dad’s cat! These are just a few examples of shots that have sold.
My dad’s cat, police cars, road signs, street scenes in New York, studio models and traffic jams.

Finding More Value

There are plenty of magazines that will promote your sold work, FPME (Now out of print March 2009) is just one of them and if you have sold a shot just let the editor know – chances are it can earn you some more money.

Not only that, look out for sites like Photographer Direct that offer an Image Request service – all you need to do is send 1 email. Also look to the corporate clients – they too may take an image if it fits with their style – be brave, make that approach, but do your research first.

Top Tips

 

Find a picture library that suits you

Don’t be put off by submission rules

Know your end picture buyer

Start shooting what you are comfortable with – then move on

Check out what pictures already exist

Read the Picture Needs

Remember pictures images are perishable

 

Check out how many images of your subject matter already exist in a library, then ask yourself – can these be improved, shot differently or updated.

Read the picture needs issued by Stock libraries, they tell you what sells and what is needed, don’t ignore them.

Thank you for reading this article, I hope you found it interesting, should you have any questions, please feel free to make contact through the web site.

Author : Peter Davey Ma DipM
First edition Feb 2007 – updated March 2008 and March 2009 

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Buying Luxury Homes

Selling expensiveHomesis often a good long term bet, but beware the short term losses. It is clear that high end Houses are devaluing but no one knows where the bottom of the market will be.

Many high end Homes have devalued by as much as 30% over the last year, particularly in places such as Dubai. Dubai expensive Homes have dropped more than any other market, and the market is now being flooded with expensive Homes for sale in Dubai.

The New York expensive Real Estate market is also suffering staggering losses and devaluations. No one seems to know where the bottom of the market will be.

Genuine expensive Homes will always increase|apprecieate|go up in value} over the long term, but if one is highly leveraged, there exists a strong risk element to investing in these areas. Particularly given the current economic crisis.

Sensible investors Are shying away from Villas as an investment, waiting to make money out of the housing crash when they perceive bottom has been reached. Where his will be is anyone’s guess at the moment. But the sensible course of action at the moment is to “wait and see.”

Perhaps the most worrying recent events are the fact that there seems no end in sight to the amount of banking losses and the governments seem intent of pouring vast amounts of dollars into the hole created by the sub-prime mess.

Playng a waiting game also has risks, especially with interest rates at all time lows around the world. The only country offering higher interest rates seems to be Lebanon and India at the moment. A different kind of risk involved there.