By Carlos Miller
If you haven’t noticed the countdown timer in the right-hand corner of my blog, you’ve probably been too infuriated by the articles I’ve been posting.
After all, it’s never a dull moment out there when it comes to taking pictures in public.
So in an attempt to continue allowing this blog to prosper, I’ve enrolled in the Open Sky Project, a new platform that will enable me to sell products to my readers and hopefully make some money.
The official launch date is August 10.
I will review most if not all the products I’m selling, so I can provide honest feedback before anybody makes a purchase.
Considering that many of the products are food-related products, I also plan to launch a new food blog next month.
This will also help me capitalize on readers who have no interest in Photography is Not a Crime.
Also, let me know if you have any products to sell because I can refer you to Open Sky as a seller, which would allow me and other blogs to sell your products.
The ultimate goal is to make a living from blogging. ABC News featured the Open Sky Project in a recent segment.
Popularity: 3% [?]
21 responses so far ↓
1 EdinMiami // Jul 31, 2010 at 12:32 AM
Good luck with your new project.
2 EH // Jul 31, 2010 at 1:15 AM
Do you know what I want to buy? Prints of pictures of people reaching for your camera. Black rectangles to mask identity would be perfectly fine.
3 Rusty Carr // Jul 31, 2010 at 1:46 AM
I don’t see the timer but I’ll keep look’n for it and I look forward to buying some products to support your cause.
4 Rusty Carr // Jul 31, 2010 at 1:48 AM
OK, NOW I see the timer!!
5 Jon Quimbly // Jul 31, 2010 at 3:14 AM
Check this out, Carlos:
“Deputy confiscates woman’s cell phone -
He feared it had been modified into a gun”
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/07/30/deputy-confiscates-womans-cell-phone.html?sid=101
Can’t make stuff like this up. Sounds like this is the start of pig backlash to citizens recording police actions in public.
6 Jon Quimbly // Jul 31, 2010 at 3:15 AM
And congrats on the new project … I’ll definitely give support.
7 KBCraig // Jul 31, 2010 at 4:11 AM
Hmmm, yeah, not seeing anything at all while viewing with NetNewsWire, with no ad blocking.
8 SteelToad // Jul 31, 2010 at 5:57 AM
Carlos,
Just remember that your critics will all jump in line to say that anything you do from now on is commercial because you accept money. If you can do the shop on a separate site, and just link to it from your blog, you ‘might’ save yourself some headaches. Good Luck in any case
9 Hazza // Jul 31, 2010 at 7:18 AM
@SteelToad: You need to recognise the different meanings of “commercial use”:
1. Of and relating to commerce
2. Advertisement
I can take a picture of Tom Cruise, blow it up then sell it, all perfectly legal because it is using meaning 1.
I take that photo put it on a billboard with the slogan “Come Cruise with me”, that is illegal without a release from Tom. That is meaning 2.
Carlos is not using the photos themselves to advertise any products or services. Anyone that thinks he is doing photography for “commercial purposes” is mistaken, they are all editorial use.
10 Simon Jester // Jul 31, 2010 at 8:32 AM
Are you going to sell Press badges?
11 adjinx // Jul 31, 2010 at 6:38 PM
I want a bumper sticker:
“Photography is NOT a crime. It’s a First Amendment Right.”
12 adjinx // Jul 31, 2010 at 6:38 PM
Oh, and hoping you will take PayPal!
13 Hazza // Jul 31, 2010 at 6:52 PM
Putting “First Amendment Right” on the merchandise will limit his market to the US only. We don’t have a bill of rights in Australia, let alone any amendment’s.
Of course if Carlos WANTS to limit is market to the US then he should put that on.
14 Droid // Jul 31, 2010 at 7:48 PM
I’d like to suggest that the food blog be named “Eating Well is Not a Crime”. You know, keeping with a theme and all.
15 genewitch // Aug 1, 2010 at 12:23 AM
Hazza: it would only limit the market on that one item or those specific items.
also, do you guys have grammar school in Australia? An apostrophe isn’t used to make a plural.
16 joedee1969 // Aug 1, 2010 at 6:46 AM
There is nothing wrong about making money. You got to keep this blog going. This blog along with America Speaks ink.com and Antiwar.com are some of my favorites. Carlos, I heard you interview on MSNBC on XM radio while I was driving. I could believe you were on the news. I was so proud saying that is my guy! Hey try to get some pics of these clouds C. Ric h wrote about:
http://americaspeaksink.com/2010/07/bp-oil-spill-toxic-clouds-of-death-in-the-sky/
17 Dave // Aug 1, 2010 at 10:09 AM
Carlos, thanks for your work on this blog and on this important topic.
One thought I had as far as making some $$$…Maybe reviews of personal digital recording gear and links to retailers?
I’m not a videographer but I am a bicyclist. Bicyclists have frequent interactions with cops that like to make up the vehicle code on the spot, so I’d be interested in a recorder.
18 SteelToad // Aug 1, 2010 at 1:27 PM
@Hazza,
I know the difference, but anybody out there who has anything against Carlos (shocking I know, but true) will probably use it as an excuse to say that everything he ever does from now on is commercial, and to benefit his enormous financial empire.
19 Hazza // Aug 1, 2010 at 5:41 PM
@Stelltoad: Yeah, I realised what you meant just after I posted it. It’s such a common mistake I thought you had made it too, my bad.
@genewitch: WTF? With the amount of piss poor spelling and other crap on here you bring up such a small mistake?
20 Rob Molecule // Aug 2, 2010 at 10:21 AM
Why does a blog have to be non-profit. It’s a media site. Make money off it. Show the old media it can be done without charging for content.
21 Rick // Aug 2, 2010 at 7:48 PM
SteelToad
So how is it not commercial if you’re making money from it? Carlos stated that he hoped to make his living from blogging, to my mind that makes every photo he posts here from now on commercial.
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