Comments on: Shooting Editorial Photography

By: Nicole

Nicole — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 05:33:44 +0000

Thanks for the great lecture. It was a much needed field trip for our photo department. We read your blog at work and really appreciate having an industry guide specially for photo editors. So much out there is targeted to photographers, it’s nice to finally be focused on. Kudos to Heidi as well.

By: A Photo Editor

A Photo Editor — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:18:16 +0000

@anoon,
No tape or video. Sorry about that.

By: Eric Hamilton

Eric Hamilton — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:21:02 +0000

I like this post. It’s interesting hearing how photo editors think about a photographer’s style. I’d love to learn more details and specific examples on this topic.

By: Sam H

Sam H — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:40:20 +0000

@Smari,

I’m still shooting film. And numerous other photographers whom I know personally are shooting exclusively with film when doing editorial work.

By: anoon

anoon — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:43:37 +0000

Was this talk taped? I’d love to see it…

By: Smari

Smari — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 06:59:36 +0000

It’s interesting that you mention that Jake Chessum shoots film. Do you see that as a plus? I thought film was pretty much dead, at least in advertising photography, but maybe editorial is different? I’d love to hear you expand on that.

Thanks!

By: Ryan Brenizer

Ryan Brenizer — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:23:22 +0000

Wow, I’ve seen Jake’s work but never been by his site to see it all laid out in one spot. Fantastic.

By: lisa kim

lisa kim — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:15:18 +0000

@Ryan Schude,
hey ryan! nice to “see” you on this board, how have you been?

i agree with alan astonish — there have been many times where i’ve clicked on a photographer’s blog and liked them even more. it gave me a more rounded sense of what the photographer’s style was about. also the blog photos are more current, by nature, and i can see what the photographer is perhaps most passionate about. and i always find flickr to be such an invaluable resource for research.

By: Don Cudney

Don Cudney — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:12:45 +0000

Rob and Heidi are experienced photo editors that know the difference between a good editorial photographer and a “I know a” photographer. They comprehend the differences in styles, approach and final product. They also work(ed) for magazines that have real budgets and high expectations. Those “short lists” of theirs are the holy grail to every editorial photographer working today.

But all to often, the inexperienced photo editors hire the “I know a” or the “I have a friend” photographer. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been asked to photograph something completely unrelated to my area of specialty. Did they even look at my website? Apparently not.

Thank you Rob and Heidi for restoring my faith in Photo Editors and Art Directors alike…let’s hope there were a few at your Art Center lecture.

By: Anon

Anon — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:00:16 +0000

@Doktor,

Damn, they gave you $300!?? Consider yourself lucky that it didn’t come all out of your pocket!

By: A Photo Editor

A Photo Editor — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:10:20 +0000

@Anon,
Yeah, I need to scan some more tears. I think I’ll make a post with plenty of examples here on the blog.

By: jonathan beller

jonathan beller — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:31:25 +0000

i would like to know the newer photographers that you like and how i would get on that list.
thanks

jonathan

jonathanbeller.com

By: Doktor

Doktor — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:20:04 +0000

I like the category of “ungarded moments” or “shots women well” much more then the classic categories. Makes much more sense then sport- news- portrait- fashion- auto etc.

I’d like to ad that I have sometimes done my best work when I shot things the very first time -with newarly no connection to my book. A few times editors – I suppose out of sympathy – gave me a job which I didnt really have in my book – some of these have turned out to be the best comissions (its not a rule though)

Also it has happened a lot that I am booked for an aesthetic in my book but editors don’t see that they are asing me to shot it under whole differnet circumstances and on top of it are not giving me any budget to work with. I am supposed to copy “emotional” and “real” of a personal project I worked on for weeks and months with young people in Italy for a portrait of an introverted 80 year old financier. I even can pull it of but at least give me more then 15 minutes, or more then 0 assitent and a 300 $ expense budget including equipment and travel.

By: Sean Johnson

Sean Johnson — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:44:16 +0000

Wow…just discovered you and I have to say great article. Fascinating to see how work may get categorised by editors. Please more guidance, help and advice from the industry insiders! :-)

By: Alan Astonish

Alan Astonish — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:37:24 +0000

@Ryan Schude,

A lot of A-level, professional working photographers DO play on Flickr, JPG…

Personally, I think participating on Flickr allows for an EXPANDED VIEW of a photographer’s work; showing off pictures that otherwise DIDN’T make it onto their online/ physical portfolios… NOT BECAUSE it’s bad, but POSSIBLY because of content, personal preferences, ___________, etc etc.

Only good things can come from showing off great work and Flickr is no exception. Additionally, I suppose it allows for PE’s, AB’s, and XYZ’s to see things they MIGHT HAVE OVERLOOKED from your website the first time around.

By: Ryan Schude

Ryan Schude — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:26:43 +0000

One part of the talk covered promotion which got me thinking about the various amateur photo sites like Flickr and JPG. Would you say photo editors or art buyers, in doing their research on a photographer, would be turned off by participation in these sites?

By: Anon

Anon — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:43:04 +0000

Hey Rob,

Thoroughly enjoyed the talk, so thanks for sharing. Regarding the presentation of the photographers and considering your audience and the location of the talk, I think a lot of us would have gained more from you presenting unknowns who you chose for a first assignment and why. Choosing to hire Anton Corbijn and Martin Schoeller is a bit of a no-brainer.

By: bettina

bettina — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:55:02 +0000

I dont think there is a video. I didn’t see a camera set up at the lecture, but if there is then it would be in the library at art center.

Thanks for coming out Rob and Heidi, it was way useful and quite informative.

By: la.photo.assistant

la.photo.assistant — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:21:01 +0000

I was out of town on a gig…is there a video on this lecture ? Would love to see one !

By: Anon Rant

Anon Rant — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:20:39 +0000

It’s great to see how real photo editors with a desire to push the envelop handles photography at a magazine. Then there’s the other side of the coin. I work at an automotive magazine, you may have heard of us, we put out a year-end award that the winning manufacturers love bragging about. At our company, a multi-billion dollar publishing conglomerate, they decided it would be better to let all the editors have Canon 30D cameras and shoot the features themselves and have two freelancers that shoot the covers for either of the 25+ automotive titles in the company’s stable of books. Ever notice how many of the american car magazines on newsstands have the same front 3/4 rig shot? It’s the same guy shooting them, for the last 12 years. Every year that we save money on freelancers our publisher (the head ad sales guy who gets to tell the editorial side what to do, if you’re not familiar with that term) gets a nice PHAT bonus. My publisher? He bought a Lamborghini earlier this year with his. What do we get on the edit side of the table? We got…er…Adobe Photoshop & InCopy CS3 on our computers, all the photo editors & copy editors and were given the boot and now the Editor and Sr. Editors get to play the role of both. Hell, the company didn’t even throw us a Christmas party, even though they took away the year end bonus for non-sales people.

That’s the other side of the inner workings of how magazines operate and what dictates photography. In case you were wondering why in your favorite magazine the same guy’s name shows up in every issue as a “contributor”.

By: mike b

mike b — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:13:48 +0000

this information ( and most on here ) is truly appreciated.

thanks again.

By: Kevin Knight

Kevin Knight — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:58:06 +0000

I was there… I really enjoyed it, and it was good meeting Rob and Heidi

By: John Scherer

John Scherer — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:28:31 +0000

Hi Rob,

That would have been a very informative lecture, wish I could have attended but its a drive from Minneapolis.

All through school our teachers stressed the importance of picking a topic, cars, portraits, fashion, what ever, and become an expert at it. I have concerns with that but got their point. From your point of view as an editor, is this still something you look for. Can a photographer be great at multiple subjects? You you still categorize him then and how?

Cheers

John

By: TJ Cameron

TJ Cameron — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:17:29 +0000

Hey Rob,
great post. i’ve been enjoying your bog for a while now… i too would like to see more of your favorite photographers.
thanks,
TJ

By: Drayke Larson

Drayke Larson — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:59:28 +0000

Hello Mr. Haggart,

Having checked out both of the photographers that you linked above, and loving their work, I’d be very interested in seeing more of your 30 selections. I’m always eager to see the work of other photographers who excel in their field and I find it to be a great source of inspiration.

I’m a big fan of your blog, thank you for your insights!

-Drayke Larson
http://photosynthetique.com

By: Patrick Cavan Brown

Patrick Cavan Brown — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:39:19 +0000

Thanks, Rob… I recently discovered your blog and I’m loving it. It goes well with oatmeal and tea. I’m relatively new to the editorial field… been shooting for NGO’s and such for the past few years. I’ve found plenty of helpful and intriguing info here, and look forward to much more. Enjoy Tucson… try to make it up the Prescott this fall.

All the best,
-patrick