It’s Great to Be a STOCK – When You’re a Photograper
The only regrets I have about being a STOCK photographer is not nailing down one of those great web names such as STOCKPHOTOS. Somebody was way ahead of me when it came to thinking about the potential in a dot.com world. I settled for STOCKTEAM.com, which actually sounds more like a stock firm.

When I go to conferences and give people one of my older business cards, they can’t believe my last name is STOCK, due to the nature of being a photographer and the coined “stock photos” term. There are actually several or many STOCK – named photographers and at least one who’s been around for decades. It’s not unique in my photo-driven world.

Would you change your name to reflect a passion, career or persona? Most celebrities do so. I have friends who go by different names for multi-careers that they feel don’t blend well together. One girl is in PR/marketing but sings at gigs. I honestly forget what her REAL last name is, since she sometimes tacks on the name of her husband (and sometimes not). At her gigs she performs rock, pop, Motown and blues (to name a few,) and sometimes she puts on the wigs and costumes. She feels her night career could conflict with her daytime job in which Fortune 500 firms rely on her to put their best foot forward to the public and shareholders.

For me, I’ll keep STOCK.