We’re having a contest. Tell me which version you like best and why, by posting a comment below.

One lucky winner will receive a complimentary print of your preferred version OR you can choose 1 of 50 images from our Hawaii Collection. See them here.

The image will be printed as a satin photographic paper print (approx 8×12″), and will include free delivery.

The winner will be announced July 4th and will be chosen via a random draw. Good luck!

Here are the two versions:

Profits from print sales are donated to cancer research!

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Any photographer who produces stock photography knows that the stock world has experienced a massive shift. What was typically a resource of high end images has how shifted to a goulash of mixed quality. One would suppose that may give a new meaning to the expression “The media is the message”? But I digress.

Microstock agencies offer royalty free images for a few dollars. Even big agencies such as Getty now sell some pictures for $10. For photographers who specialized in producing stock only, they’ve had to adapt and change to this new reality.

We started offering self-managed stock photography over a year ago when we partnered with Photoshelter to power our Image Archive and Client Area. If some agencies are offering royalty-free pictures for a few dollars which thousands of buyers can purchase, there are just as many buyers, who want to have exclusive rights to pictures in their territory. They don’t want their marketing message watered down by other users using the same image. There is something to be said to having an original image that no else can use. This is why companies want exclusive rights and / or hire us to create original images for them.

By offering our own images, it allows us to keep control of their usage by offering them via managed-rights to users who need them. We offer competitive licence fees, and as we don’t pay commissions to agencies, we can generate more revenue to put into the studio. Our main business is still creating lifestyle imagery, specializing in industrial, corporate, portraits and fine art wedding / family journalism. But as a photographer I’m often able to create images that can sell as stock, including my recent working vacation to photograph Kona, Hawaii.

So, as I was going through our image database I came across some conceptual images I’d created a couple of years ago that hadn’t yet been made available and could be used for a variety of purposes. Surprisingly, when I looked up the definition of “conceptual”, I discovered its meaning wasn’t a simple one to define. There are many variations of the definition, and so just as many potential uses (yes, I do enjoy reading the dictionary).

Windows. There’s a concept. Or is it an object? Obviously it can be both. “Eyes are the windows to the soul”.  ”Large bay windows let in so much natural light”.

conceptual |kənˈsep ch oōəl|
adjective
of, relating to, or based on mental concepts : philosophy deals with conceptual difficulties.
ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: from medieval Latin conceptualis, from Latin concept- ‘conceived,’ from the verb concipere (see concept ).

concept
For other uses, see Concept (disambiguation).
There are two prevailing theories in contemporary philosophy which attempt to explain the nature of concepts (abstract term: conception). The representational theory of mind proposes that concepts are mental representations, while the semantic theory of concepts (originating with Frege’s distinction between concept and object) holds that they are abstract objects.[1] Ideas are taken to be concepts, although abstract concepts do not necessarily appear to the mind as images as some ideas do.[2] Many philosophers consider concepts to be a fundamental ontological category of being.

A concept is a cognitive unit of meaning— an abstract idea or a mental symbol sometimes defined as a “unit of knowledge,” built from other units which act as a concept’s characteristics. A concept is typically associated with a corresponding representation in a language or symbology[citation needed] such as a single meaning of a term.

The meaning of “concept” is explored in mainstream cognitive science, metaphysics, and philosophy of mind. The term “concept” is traced back to 1554–60 (l. conceptum – something conceived),[citation needed] but what is today termed “the classical theory of concepts” is the theory of Aristotle on the definition of terms.

If you’re reading our blog via an RSS reader that doesn’t allow embedding of pictures, click the following links to view the images in this post:

Dean Oros Photo + Design: Kona Hawaii

Dean Oros Photo + Design: Conceptual Window Images

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Local Magazine is available in the Beaches and Leslieville neighbourhoods of Toronto. Editor Sarah Dann is the brains behind it, and I think it’s great.

I contributed one of my Winter Series Beaches neighbourhood images to the current “Early Spring” issue as my little way of supporting local business (no pun intended!). Beaches butcher The Chopping Block (featured in Toronto Life Magazine) can be seen at the top of Willow Avenue.

Winter scene in the Beaches, Toronto Canada.

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These images focus more on the holiday resort aspect of Kona, volcanic rock, and a pretty rare look at an abandoned energy turbine farm in the southern most tip of the USA. Keep an eye out for the cow. Enjoy.

More images to come. Click here to view all the images to date.

A display of nature's perfect symmetry.

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For those that follow this blog regularly, you’ve already seen a larger selection of Hawaii Images.

Click here to view the full Big Island Archive with images that document different aspects of the Big Island, AND with larger versions than available on this blog. (Pssst, more images will be added on an ongoing basis, so check in regularly if you’d like to view additional photos).

All images are available for personal and commercial use.

Click here if you can’t see the following five images. Enjoy!

Tree branches posing as snakes in Kona, Hawaii

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Click here to view all my Hawaii images, and to learn more about this amazing oasis.

Sun sets over lava rock in Kona Hawaii.

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If you’re unable to see these images, click here to view them on our Image Archive.

ABOVE: A view of Mahana Bay showing the steep climb down the cove to reach the Green Sand Beach and Ocean.

ABOVE: Richly coloured sand of reds and browns surrounded by lava rock is part of the view as one walks the 3 miles to Mahana Bay.

ABOVE: Layers of hardened molten lava and volcanic rock formed the cove surrounding the beach of Mahana Bay. We can see where people have attempted to carve letters into the rock.

Mahuna Bay, Hawaii

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I hope you enjoy them. There is a lot more to come, so stay tuned. If you can’t see the images for some reason, click here to view them. Thank you.

ABOVE: Sulpher dioxide gases from Halemaumau Crater are emitted into the air at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the island of Hawaii.

ABOVE: The sun sets behind a silhouetted, waterfront tree at the Waikoloa Resort, Kohala Coast, Hawaii.

ABOVE: Sky reflecting off water in the Waikoloa Anchialine Ponds Preservation Area, Kohala Coast, Hawaii.

ABOVE: Hawaiian palm trees, nestled on the beach at the Waikoloa Resort, Kohala Coast, Hawaii.

ABOVE LEFT: Hawaiian palm trees, shrubs and lava rock live side by side in Kona.
ABOVE RIGHT: A young male diver leaps off a cliff into the ocean at Ka Lae, Hawaii. This was captured in the southern-most tip of the USA.

ABOVE: Palm trees stand next to a parking lot with reserved parking and wheelchair access signs in Waikoloa, Hawaii.

ABOVE: The waterfront at the Waikoloa Resort, Kohala Coast, Hawaii. This mini-dam regulates the ocean’s waterflow to and from a manmade pond where fish are bred in a mix of salt and fresh water.

ABOVE: Dusk in Kona Hawaii brings spectacular colours with its sunsets.

ABOVE: The southern-most tip of the USA, Ka Lae, on the island of Hawaii. The road ends here.

ABOVE: A variety of flowers, trees and shrubs, inlcuding this ohia lehua, manage to blossom out of lava on the Kilauea Iki Trail, at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, island of Hawaii.

ABOVE: Hawaii has a wide variety of beautiful flowers in bloom year round.

Kona, Hawaii

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It was also one of the last times I photographed using 35mm film. Back then I only shot for fun.

I’ve been reviewing hundreds of images to archive, and it was enjoyable finding the Hungary negatives and scanning them into digital images. And so, they’ve been given new life, and are now part of my permanent digital archive.

Following are just a few images. Click here to view the rest of them.

Budapest, Hungary

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Downtown Toronto is starting to look a lot like Times Square in New York, especially at Yonge and Dundas, next to the Eaton Centre.

This image of the Toronto skyline, captured just before dusk, with the CN Tower in the background, shows just how busy our downtown core is. Wouldn’t this photograph look great in a commercial real estate office?

Toronto Cityscape. Click to view full-size version.

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