Billboard Beauty

Someone recently asked me if I sell my photos.  Yes I do…anytime I can.  I’ve sold a good number of prints in a local store and I’m working on stepping up my game and expanding to other markets.

I recently sold one of my photos to a billboard company that ended with an an unexpected and humorous twist. (At least from my perspective.) Here’s the story…

I’m gaining a little bit of a reputation as a local photographer with some good pictures of this area. Last February, a billboard company called me, looking for a picture of the Algoma lighthouse and harbor.  I sent them some samples to choose from.  They wanted something that offered plenty of open space for adding their message and was generally blue in tone.

I asked them what the image would be used for and they said their client, Dairy Dreams, wanted a 12 ft by 6ft billboard to use during an open house they were planning in the spring. I thought it would be pretty cool to have one of my images blown up to 12×6 size.

They selected the photo above.  I had previously posted a cropped version of this photo on this blog under the title Between a Rock and a Calm Place.  (The image to the right.) After we settled on the conditions of use and a price, I re-sized the image to proper proportions for their purposes, sent it to them and asked their design artist to send me a copy of the finished design.

A few weeks later I received email from the designer with an attachment of the billboard image.  Needless to say, I was excited to see how they used my photo. I opened it up, looked at it for a moment and then burst out laughing. (See the image below.)

I never would have guessed they would use my clean, serene, harbor scene to promote Biogas Anaerobic Manure Digesters. I guess it fit with the image they are trying to convey about their manure digesting process.

All in all, I was glad to make the sale and happy that a whole new group of people would see my work.   My only regret was that I never had the chance to go by during their open house to see it in all it’s full-size glory.