Month: July 2014

Here’s an interesting article in the New York Times about a potential new money-making line for photographers: the professional portrait for use on social media. I rather hate how the NYT writer calls them “glamour shots” though. Ugh. Ick.

I’ve noticed that more and more people, at least men, are using professional photos on dating websites too (yes, I’m a single woman who uses those sites too… don’t judge me…ha!). It can make a big difference in how someone is perceived. If you choose to do that. though, go easy on the post-production. It’s bad enough when they lie about their age…

Anyway, this could be a fun and relatively simple add-on to your services if you are looking for a bump in your bottom-line. Partner up with a great stylist and offer package deals, find some great locations, could be a lucrative line of service.

One thing, though: make sure to use a good model release so that you can use the work at a minimum for your marketing, even if the subject won’t agree to let you license her/his likeness for stock.

The example above is one of several brilliant, simple cards that explain the value of copyright and the craziness of some of the counter-arguments. Although focused on the music side, they still apply for all creative pros.

Oh, I will say, however, that I disagree a bit with the one saying it’s not “stealing” (but still wrong) because I think you can steal the intangible as well as the tangible (trade secrets, for example).

If you aren’t watching Snapshot, with Tim Mantoani, you are missing out.

I’m lucky enough to know Tim and, besides his obvious talent, he’s just a super person. It’s really no surprise to me that he’s as successful as he is since he not only goes after what he wants to do, he does it with graceful passion. I mean, he’s absolutely passionate about his work and he knows he knows his stuff, but he is not a jerk about it. Instead he infuses that passion into the work so that you can’t help but get caught up in it.

If you want to learn to be a great photographer, watching these shows will help. No, not because you’ll learn anything about how to light or some technical thing. Rather you’ll see that Tim does the thing that makes the best connections: he is interesting and interested. Especially if you are a newer photographer who is still uncomfortable talking to clients or subjects, watch how he tells part of the story (especially but not only the visual) and how he frees up his subjects to tell the rest.

You can learn all the technical stuff out there but, in the end, even if you shoot things, you need great people skills to make it. Tim (possibly unconsciously) teaches those skills in these shows.

I rather love this brief interview with Michael Bierut. The whole series is interesting but his really seems to nail so many of the points I hear from all sorts of successful creative pros: take time off, read, use a notebook…

Oooh! This looks like something every photographer should add to her/his book collection. Not just to take up space on the shelf, but a book to read actively, to engage with. If the examples in the article are at all typical of this book’s contents, then you need to go buy this book now.

So many fascinating issues in this NYTimes article about the work left behind after a photographer’s death. In the digital age this will still occur, but not on the same level.

Although I doubt I agree with his evaluation of his friend’s work, I do rather love this quote from John Szarkowski:

To expose film is not quite to photograph.

I take that in a different way than he meant, though. He was talking about the process after exposure–editing, printing, etc. I think that we need to look at the process before exposure as well. It is the thought involved (conscious or not) that compels the photographer to “click” at that moment that, to me, is in first position when one looks for the artist in the photographer.

Still, I’m not ignoring the later steps. I love prints, especially ones from the darkroom. The choices made and the artistry in crafting those… breathtaking. But as one of my favorite sayings goes, you can’t make butter with a toothpick. Here, that means you have to start with something substantial first–the underlying image–and the more thoughtful that is the more one can do with it later.
Or not.
Depending on what the artist chooses.