No I don’t…

It seems like every day I get a question about whether or not people pay me to post about things. People think I do this because my Klout (meaningless) is 83 and I have over 750,000 followers on Google+ and another 100K or so on Twitter + Facebook, but no, I do not:

• …do paid posts from Nikon for money
• …do paid posts from Sony for money
• …do paid posts from Apple for money
• …do paid posts from Google for money
• …do paid posts from Facebook for money
• …do paid posts from … you name it… SmugMug, American Airlines, Four Seasons, Banyan Tree, Fuji, American Express, etc etc… for money

The thing is… I can’t be bought. The blog is already profitable and we have a healthy and happy team of employees here at StuckInCustoms that I appreciate very much. This means I don’t have to accept money to post on the blog or various social networks to artificially “plug” something. If you ever see me mention a product or service, it’s simply because I wanted to… because it fits in with the story or it is a product or service I recommend.

When people see me write an article that is critical of future Nikon DSLRs and says that I am Sony-curious, some assume that Sony is paying me to say this. That is absurd. I am totally independent.

So, with me, you can be assured you’ll always get my pure opinion.

There are always behind-the-scenes stuff happening that we reject all the time. I’ll listen to any proposal, as long as it does not include me being disingenuous to you, my gentle reader.  If you’d like to read more about this policy and all the ins and outs on the website, visit my Ethics Statement.

There are continually confusing situations that I try to avoid. For example, Lytro offered to send me a free camera in exchange for me sending them my Lytro photos to be featured on their website. That would be seen as an official “endorsement” of sorts by me. Anyway, I told those jokers no way. Even though I would not be actively posting about it, the association could be seen as disruptive and not respectful of you.

Daily Photo – The Lonely Woods, Forever

Here is another photo from our recent Yosemite PhotoWalk last week. The valley floor is full of dense forests that can go on for an eternity. I had a wonderful time exploring these with all my fellow PhotoWalkers. I can’t wait to do it all again soon.