Bio

Welcome to DBatesPhoto18up.com, My name is Donald Bates. I am a Photographer from Madison, Alabama near Huntsville the Rocket city. I have lived in the area for nearly 35 years moving here when I was 4 months old, but the roots of my family tree have been buried in Alabama Clay for over 300 years on both sides of my family. While I expected to follow my father's foot steps into the military some things along the way caused me to take a different path.

I have worked many jobs over the past 16 years since I first went to work flipping burgers for the King and to be honest this is not what I ever dreamed of doing as a kid. Even though I always dreamed of being a pilot or at least working around Aircraft Photography has always been a major interest of mine. When I first started taking Photography serious back in the late 90s I had already been shooting near 20 years. I picked up my first camera not long after I began walking and bought my first 110 camera while on vacation the summer I turned 6. It was while working in the local club scene that a friend showed me that you did not have to shoot family or class photos to make a good living in photography and I dove in head first.

I truly love to shoot. So I enjoy shooting almost anything. If I do not have a model or friend around to shoot I may grab a tripod and remote to shoot myself like in my photo up above in the Bio section or head to town and shoot anything from trees, flowers, animals, rocks or the river

Anywhere and everywhere. I primarily shoot environmental portraits which is basically a fancy way of saying I shoot outside. What it means is instead of using a cloth or paper background I include natural settings and buildings as more than just a background or prop.  When a shoot needs or a model wants more privacy I can load my gear in the car and set up where ever we want. I have shot in various hotels, living rooms, on the deck of a boat and hundreds of various spots around North Alabama.

I use a Pentax Digital SLR and multiple lenses to shoot, Alien Bee and White Lightning modeling lights to throw a little extra light where it is needed. I have hundreds of various other items from Photo Supply stores, Wal-Mart, Home Depot and the dollar store that I use as backgrounds, props or tools for shoots.

The quick answer is Yes, No and Maybe. Anyone can be a model, but that does not mean they will be a good one and even less will get famous or even make a living doing it. As with any type of entertainer there are a few things that will determine just how far you will ever make it. You need ambition, drive and more important than anything else Confidence. Why did I not mention being attractive? That is a subjective term and while many jobs will require a specific Height, Weight, hair color, skin tone and often even more personal details there is no specific mold. While a pleasant appearance is a must other than that as long as you have the confidence, ambition and drive to succeed you should be able to find work.

While calling yourself a model can be a major ego boost. Working as one can sometimes tear even down the strongest egos. There is a lot to learn about the industry before ever thinking about going at it professionally. If you are just interested in shooting for fun that is great, but there are still a lot of things to watch out for.

As with the previous question. Yes, no and maybe. I don't have Hugh Hefner, Larry Flynt or Bob Guccione on speed dial. I can shoot photos with you and submit our photos to many of the magazines print and online contests and talent searches. That does not mean you will get published, but it is possible. I have seen several local ladies published in various magazines and would love to help some see their face on the cover and in the pages of any of the major magazines. In fact the lady that convinced me to try my hand at being a portrait photographer was published in several national men's magazines and earned a healthy living at it.

This all depends on the type of shoot we do.

If we shoot together on a Trade shoot then we both will have equal rights to the images. You can have the images printed for your print portfolio or post to web portfolios. I can do the same as well. We can both post to photographic forums or websites to promote ourselves. I will not sell your photos without contacting you to make an agreement and require the same as legal written documentation is required by either of us choosing to sell the images no matter what the reason.

If you pay me for a personal or professional shoot then you will have more extensive rights which we will discuss at the time of the shoot. While I will still own the copyright of images your images will be kept private and will not be shown to anyone that you do not choose to show to. I will provide images in a timely manner in a private album for you to view preview images and final images will be stored for as long as space allows. Depending on our agreement whether you will receive images in print or digital format. 

I have various sites that my images are shown on. DBatesPhoto.com has a fairly detailed list on the bio page, but there are really too many to list. To see my latest photos or to contact me though it is best to go to DBatesPhoto.com or come here to DBatesPhoto18up.com.