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	<title>A Photo Editor &#187; Getting Hired</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.aphotoeditor.com/category/getting-hired/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com</link>
	<description>Former Photography Director Rob Haggart</description>
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		<title>The Value Of A News Photograph</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2010/03/04/the-value-of-a-news-photograph/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2010/03/04/the-value-of-a-news-photograph/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:58:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Getting Noticed]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aphotoeditor.com/?p=5188</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I received this question from a reader:
Hey Rob,
I hope this finds you well.
Look I have a question that might be interesting for the other photographers following your blog.
The other day I was on on 6th ave when I saw smoke coming out of a building. I pointed my G9 to it to zoom in to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I received this question from a reader:</p>
<blockquote><p>Hey Rob,</p>
<p>I hope this finds you well.</p>
<p>Look I have a question that might be interesting for the other photographers following your blog.</p>
<p>The other day I was on on 6th ave when I saw smoke coming out of a building. I pointed my G9 to it to zoom in to see better, and BOOM, big explosion which lasted about 2 seconds. I got one shot of the actual explosion.</p>
<p>I immediately phoned a contact at the NYTimes and they said they wanted the low res for the website + the high res for the newspaper the next day. Because I had been talking with them for a while, we agreed on me giving them exclusivity on the pics and them signing me in as freelance. This was all done 15 minutes after the explosion.</p>
<p>In the following minutes, many newspapers and TV stations who had seen my picture on the NYTimes website starting going through every media they could (even my husband&#8217;s facebook) to reach me to buy it. Of course I had signed with the NYTimes so I went along the lines of the exclusivity agreement.</p>
<p>Should I have reacted differently?</p>
<p>What do you do in this kind of situation when time is precious? Who do you call? Can you impose your price and non exclusivity on the NYTimes and others?</p>
<p>People told me I could have made an awful lot of money with this and it&#8217;s not that I regret but I&#8217;d like to know what the reality is.</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>[Redacted]</p></blockquote>
<p>I emailed <a href="http://www.davidburnett.com" target="_blank">David Burnett</a> to gather his thoughts on the situation and here&#8217;s what he had to say:</p>
<p>There was certainly a time when New York, with its many daily papers, and many more magazines, would have offered the enterprising photographer a reasonable sum for their photographs. As competition narrowed, so did the chances of having your picture bid up by interested parties, and reflecting a greater value for the picture.</p>
<p>There certainly is a chance that some major (i.e. catastrophic) event could fetch something extraordinary but these days the big money seems to be paid for celebrity coverage far more than what was once considered &#8220;news.&#8221; That said, it&#8217;s generally not a good idea to simply make a deal with one publication, as you thereby immediately close off other opportunities. The excitement and panache of that &#8220;page one on the Times&#8221; picture wears off quickly, if you have sacrificed future earning power of the photo for an exclusive deal as you mentioned. In a city like New York you should expect to be paid more for the exclusivity, and if that additional money isn&#8217;t forthcoming, there is nothing to be gained by giving up those rights.  </p>
<p>The one exception to that would be an iron-clad deal which enabled you to let the first company  syndicate the work on your behalf, and that your share of secondary sales would be at minimum, 50% of the gross of each sale (not the &#8220;net.&#8221;)  Truthfully, if you are not experienced in these matters you&#8217;re better off making a deal with–-my real first recommendation–-an agency which would syndicate the work. There are fewer agencies than ever, and the overall atmosphere is far less fulsome that it once was for &#8217;scoops&#8217; but for the right picture at the right time, money will come in. And you need someone to guide you, or take over that work.  Again,  50% or so from the gross would be reasonable. Both sides, the agency and the photographer are in the deal together at 50-50 and if there is money to be made both will have the incentive to push the work. Once other outlets see something published in a major publication (i.e. the NY Times) there would naturally be a rush to get that image for themselves.</p>
<p>I have been a founder/partner for 34 years with <a href="http://www.contactpressimages.com/" target="_blank">Contact Press Images</a>, and we often take special cases like this-–scoops which essentially come in off the street. The advantage to an agency (Contact, Polaris, Redux&#8230; etc.) is that their main business is in syndicating material, and you would do better than merely getting a small check and having your material tied up. TO be sure, most pictures do not fall into the category of &#8217;scoop&#8217; but when you find one, do not just give it away.</p>
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		<slash:comments>14</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>What Is England?</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2010/03/01/what-is-england/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2010/03/01/what-is-england/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:17:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Promos]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aphotoeditor.com/?p=5165</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The first installment to the excellent What Is England? project curated by Stuart Pilkington is up (here). The project is the sister of the 50 states project (here) both are intended to paint a picture of a country and its states through photography. Both are excellent sources for finding photographers to hire and represent the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The first installment to the excellent What Is England? project curated by Stuart Pilkington is up (<a href="http://www.whatisengland.co.uk/avon-person.html">here</a>). The project is the sister of the 50 states project (<a href="http://www.50statesproject.net/">here</a>) both are intended to paint a picture of a country and its states through photography. Both are excellent sources for finding photographers to hire and represent the kinds of things the internet is awesome for.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.whatisengland.co.uk/avon-person.html"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-5166" style="border: 1px solid black;" title="WhatIsEngland" src="http://www.aphotoeditor.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/WhatIsEngland-550x350.jpg" alt="WhatIsEngland" width="550" height="350" /></a></p>
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		<item>
		<title>Perception Is Everything</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2009/11/17/perception-is-everything/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2009/11/17/perception-is-everything/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:01:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Getting Noticed]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aphotoeditor.com/?p=4461</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I had several conversations last week with photographers about perception. The people doing the hiring arrive at an initial decision about you by factoring in something they think will happen based on their perception of you. I have no real insights into creating a perception about yourself other than there are many factors that go [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I had several conversations last week with photographers about perception. The people doing the hiring arrive at an initial decision about you by factoring in something they think will happen based on their perception of you. I have no real insights into creating a perception about yourself other than there are many factors that go into it and the traditional marketing methods exist not only to reach potential clients but also to build the perception of who you are. The reason I&#8217;m bringing it up is because 3 examples of perception were brought to my attention suddenly and I wanted to share them.</p>
<p>Seth Goodin has a new name and forward to an old book of his now called, &#8220;All Marketers <del>Are Liars</del> Tell Stories&#8221; (<a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/all_marketers_are_liars/">here</a>). In the new forward he states:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;You believe things that aren’t true.<br />
Let me say that a different way: many things that are true are true because you believe them.</p>
<p>[...]We believe what we want to believe, and once we believe something, it becomes a self-fulfilling truth.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Last month a bombshell dropped in the wine world (<a href="http://www.drvino.com/2009/10/02/blind-tasting-bordeaux-2005-robert-parker">here</a>) when taste maker (and vineyard maker or breaker) Robert Parker blind tasted a group of wines he had previously ranked and said the lowest ranked wine was his favorite (before finding out what it was).</p>
<p>Jonah Lehrer, a contributing editor at Wired and author of &#8220;How We Decide&#8221; weighs in on this remarkable turn of events: </p>
<blockquote><p>When we take a sip of wine, we don&#8217;t taste the wine first, and the cheapness or redness second. We taste everything all at once, in a single gulp of thiswineisred, or thiswineisexpensive. As a result, the wine &#8220;experts&#8221; sincerely believed that the white wine was red, or that Lafite was actually Troplong-Mondot. Such mistakes are inevitable: Our brain has been designed to believe itself, wired so that our prejudices feel like facts, our opinions indistinguishable from the actual sensation. If we think a wine is cheap, it will taste cheap. And if we think we are tasting a grand cru, then we will taste a grand cru.</p></blockquote>
<p>The Wall Street Journal takes the story further (<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703683804574533840282653628.html">here</a>) with this article on the wine-rating system:</p>
<blockquote><p>[Mr. Hodgson] obtained the complete records of wine competitions, listing not only which wines won medals, but which did not. Mr. Hodgson told me that when he started playing with the data he &#8220;noticed that the probability that a wine which won a gold medal in one competition would win nothing in others was high.&#8221; The medals seemed to be spread around at random, with each wine having about a 9% chance of winning a gold medal in any given competition.</p>
<p>[...]The distribution of medals, he wrote, &#8220;mirrors what might be expected should a gold medal be awarded by chance alone.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Finally, <a href="http://www.lisevarrette.com">Lise Varrette</a> sent me this old story from the Washington Post:</p>
<blockquote><p>On a cold January morning in a Washington, DC Metro Station, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time about two thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.</p>
<p>[...]In the end, only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money, but continued to walk at their normal pace.  The man collected a total of $32. When he finished playing, no one applauded, nor was there any recognition.</p>
<p>The violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell had sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>[...]It&#8217;s an old epistemological debate, older, actually, than the koan about the tree in the forest. Plato weighed in on it, and philosophers for two millennia afterward: What is beauty? Is it a measurable fact (Gottfried Leibniz), or merely an opinion (David Hume), or is it a little of each, colored by the immediate state of mind of the observer (Immanuel Kant)?</p>
<p>We&#8217;ll go with Kant, because he&#8217;s obviously right, and because he brings us pretty directly to Joshua Bell, sitting there in a hotel restaurant, picking at his breakfast, wryly trying to figure out what the hell had just happened back there at the Metro.</p>
<p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s say I took one of our more abstract masterpieces, say an Ellsworth Kelly, and removed it from its frame, marched it down the 52 steps that people walk up to get to the National Gallery, past the giant columns, and brought it into a restaurant. It&#8217;s a $5 million painting. And it&#8217;s one of those restaurants where there are pieces of original art for sale, by some industrious kids from the Corcoran School, and I hang that Kelly on the wall with a price tag of $150. No one is going to notice it. An art curator might look up and say: &#8216;Hey, that looks a little like an Ellsworth Kelly. Please pass the salt.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
<p>Leithauser&#8217;s point is that we shouldn&#8217;t be too ready to label the Metro passersby unsophisticated boobs. Context matters.</p>
<p>Kant said the same thing. He took beauty seriously: In his Critique of Aesthetic Judgment, Kant argued that one&#8217;s ability to appreciate beauty is related to one&#8217;s ability to make moral judgments. But there was a caveat. Paul Guyer of the University of Pennsylvania, one of America&#8217;s most prominent Kantian scholars, says the 18th-century German philosopher felt that to properly appreciate beauty, the viewing conditions must be optimal.</p></blockquote>
<p>Read the whole story (<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html">here</a>).</p>
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		<slash:comments>37</slash:comments>
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		<title>A Note From A Young Photographer On The Way Up</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2009/10/30/a-note-from-a-young-photographer-on-the-way-up/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2009/10/30/a-note-from-a-young-photographer-on-the-way-up/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:17:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Getting Noticed]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aphotoeditor.com/?p=4340</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I received this note from a photographer whose work I enjoy and who you might say is a few years past emerging:
Work has still been pretty good this year. it&#8217;s strange because it&#8217;s slowing down, but the jobs I&#8217;ve been getting this year and the last 2 are bigger paying ones so that means the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I received this note from a photographer whose work I enjoy and who you might say is a few years past emerging:</p>
<p>Work has still been pretty good this year. it&#8217;s strange because it&#8217;s slowing down, but the jobs I&#8217;ve been getting this year and the last 2 are bigger paying ones so that means the luxury of more days off to work on strategizing my business. I&#8217;m getting ready to go to press with an elaborate promo I had designed that will probably be mailed out at the beginning of the year. I went back and forth about the fear of whether or not promos were a waste and just end up in the recycling bin, but I decided to go ahead and do it.  Your interview with Selina confirmed my intuitions about promotion and the business so thanks for that.</p>
<p>I went out to New York twice this year to meet with reps and get a feel for their interest in my work. I haven&#8217;t had a rep for the last few years and it gets to be too much to handle at times, but all in all it&#8217;s worked out fine. I&#8217;m finding now, especially since I&#8217;m also doing more fashion and would like to pursue fashion advertising, that it would help to have a rep that has a good foothold in the fashion world and the ad work as well. I have my heart set on going with a bigger established agency so I&#8217;m holding out until I get with one of my top 3 choices. What the hell, live the dream, right?</p>
<p>I wanted to let you know since you asked that I have directly gotten work as a result of PDN 30. The biggest job was an ad campaign for a [redacted] company at the beginning of this year. The ad agency found me because of PDN.  So yes it was great publicity. My book was called in for ad jobs from art buyers I never met. </p>
<p>It was very interesting to hit the pavement in New York in May of this year, for the first time since 2007 (i know, i know). I was there for 2 weeks showing my book to reps, art buyers, and a few magazines. I couldn&#8217;t believe how difficult it had become to get someone on the phone or get an email reply. I&#8217;ve been showing my book in NY 1 &#8211; 2 times a year since 2000, and on the last trip, I still had a rep calling to make those appointments, but this time around, even the people that I usually would meet with in the past were seldom returning my emails. It was depressing and is what everyone talks about, no one has time to do their job and answer phones and meet with people.  </p>
<p>In August I decided to try a different strategy, referrals. I had producers, art directors and photo editors contact people that I wanted to meet and make an introduction. It helped dramatically, People need some sort of filter and I don&#8217;t blame them. I get emails from assistants all the time and chances are I&#8217;m not going to hire them unless someone I know and trust can vouch for that person being a good assistant.</p>
<p>I remember my first trip to NY in the fall of 2000. I was halfway through school, wide eyed and optimistic, sitting in Starbucks on my phone, cold calling and people were answering their phones saying &#8220;come on over.&#8221; I scored 35 meetings that week including my first editorial gig.</p>
<p>Because the market is changing and there seems to be more photographers out there, things may be more difficult now than they were years ago, but (I&#8217;m sure this has been said on your blog) this will just force people to be more creative to figure out how to rise above the rest. There&#8217;s no formula for this one, it&#8217;s going to be a different path for each photographer.</p>
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		<title>The Value Of Behind The Scenes Videos</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2009/09/23/the-value-of-behind-the-scenes-videos/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2009/09/23/the-value-of-behind-the-scenes-videos/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:07:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aphotoeditor.com/?p=4001</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Heather Morton Art buyer blog seems to be in full swing again and she&#8217;s talking about Behind-the-Scenes-Videos today (here). Basically an Art Buyer was asking the rest of the art buyer group if they all liked it when photographers had behind the scenes videos and they all were enthusiastically endorsing them as a great way [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Heather Morton Art buyer blog seems to be in full swing again and she&#8217;s talking about Behind-the-Scenes-Videos today (<a href="http://www.heathermorton.ca/blog/">here</a>). Basically an Art Buyer was asking the rest of the art buyer group if they all liked it when photographers had behind the scenes videos and they all were enthusiastically endorsing them as a great way to gain a little insight into the personality of the photographer and how they behave on set. It seems like we&#8217;ve come a long way in this regard because I remember sitting on a panel in San Francisco, not long after I quit photo editing, endorsing all the great tools available to photographers and talking about all the other parts of a website that I used to check out when making a hiring decision and next to me was the photo editor from a locally based National Magazine who not only didn&#8217;t look at photographers websites but didn&#8217;t read any marketing emails. On the other side of me was a locally based Art Buyer for a National Advertising Company who regarded anything but the portfolio section of the website as a complete waste of time. Needless to say that was a huge reality check for me as I realize many people don&#8217;t view the web with as much enthusiasm as I do. It&#8217;s good to see thats changed a bit.</p>
<p>Now, I&#8217;m sure there&#8217;s a group of you who will see this as a sign the apocalypse has arrived, but I do think there are tasteful ways to do behind the scenes videos and subtly suggest you have the skills and temperament to handle big productions. Just don&#8217;t be the person who&#8217;s better on camera than behind the camera.</p>
<p>Of course it&#8217;s always better if your client makes the video:</p>
<p><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mZn74UsZt4w&#038;hl=en&#038;fs=1&#038;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mZn74UsZt4w&#038;hl=en&#038;fs=1&#038;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object></p>
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		<item>
		<title>After Staff Week On The Resolve Blog</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2009/08/14/after-staff-week-on-the-resolve-blog/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2009/08/14/after-staff-week-on-the-resolve-blog/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2009 21:46:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Getting Noticed]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aphotoeditor.com/?p=3738</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Miki Johnson who runs the Resolve blog had a nice theme running all week called &#8220;after staff&#8221; (here). She interviewed and gathered advise from people who&#8217;ve either moved on or been laid off from a staff job. As a former staffer myself I can tell you&#8230; well, I&#8217;m not a good example because I worked [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Miki Johnson who runs the Resolve blog had a nice theme running all week called &#8220;after staff&#8221; (<a href="http://blog.livebooks.com/" target="_blank">here</a>). She interviewed and gathered advise from people who&#8217;ve either moved on or been laid off from a staff job. As a former staffer myself I can tell you&#8230; well, I&#8217;m not a good example because I worked with freelance photographers before getting a staff job and couldn&#8217;t wait to become a freelancer again some day. One thing that I remember clearly tho is that after many years of having a deadline each and every month, as a freelancer or independent business person you have an unending list of things to get done and no deadlines. That can be somewhat crushing and paralyzing to deal with.</p>
<p>Also, worth mentioning is a Q and A with Maren Levinson founder of <a href="http://www.redeyereps.com/" target="_blank">Redeye Reps</a> who offers more insight into the perpetual question, &#8220;how do photographers land agents?&#8221; I just received an email from an 18 year old photographer who said he&#8217;s ready to start finding one so here you go buddy: (<a href="http://blog.livebooks.com/2009/08/after-staff-expert-of-the-day-maren-levinson-founder-redeye-reps/" target="_blank">One of the questions I hear most from photographers, whether they used to be staffers or not, is, <strong>“How do I get commercial jobs?”</strong> A close second is, “How do I find a commercial rep?”)</a></p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;All of my photographers would be successful without me, but hopefully I make things better– I’m a good collaborator, and I represent where they want to be going and the clients they hope to be in contact with.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
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		<title>Young Photographers Just Don&#8217;t Have A Chance Right Now</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2009/02/26/young-photographers-just-dont-have-a-chance-right-now/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2009/02/26/young-photographers-just-dont-have-a-chance-right-now/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:11:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aphotoeditor.com/?p=2209</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A reader sent me this:
&#8220;I&#8217;d like to thank you for the Simon Norfolk article that you brought to our attention recently, and your thoughts on him saying that all of us will soon become amateur photographers with other professions. This really hit home for me.  In 2007, I graduated from a photography school with [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A reader sent me this:</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d like to thank you for the <a href="http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2009/02/12/simon-norfolk-on-world-press-photo/" target="_blank">Simon Norfolk article</a> that you brought to our attention recently, and your thoughts on him saying that all of us will soon become amateur photographers with other professions. This really hit home for me.  In 2007, I graduated from a photography school with very high hopes. The following year, I moved to New York City, and I worked as a photo assistant sparingly, because the pros there weren&#8217;t getting enough new work to hire me as often or their current assistants (which they had for years), weren&#8217;t moving on to work on their own like they typically would.  Towards, the end of &#8216;08, after running out of money and feeling defeated, I moved back home. Earlier this year, I enrolled in school to get a Masters degree in Accountancy.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;As disappointed as I am, I feel this is the only way to go to have any kind of success for myself in the future. I hope that I can go back to photography in the future once I get my finances together. I understand how the economy may not affect the industry&#8217;s best photographers, and they probably won&#8217;t have to take such drastic actions, but it&#8217;s just really unfortunate that a young photographer such as myself, and my 12 other classmates from photo school, never really had a chance to establish ourselves in the field that we truly love.&#8221;</p>
<p>The industry is shrinking right now so getting in on the ground floor has got to be nearly impossible. The pros fight over the scraps now. Is there a path anymore where you can grow and make mistakes and still make a living? I know there&#8217;s a strong future for photography but it&#8217;s not going to happen until the economy starts growing again. My advice isn&#8217;t necessarily to go find a different profession but to find a way to work on your craft and be poised for the comeback. Easy for me to say&#8230;</p>
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		<title>Shooting Editorial Photography</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/10/07/shooting-editorial-photography/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/10/07/shooting-editorial-photography/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:16:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.aphotoeditor.com/?p=1098</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I gave a lecture last week with Heidi Volpe (former Art Director of the LA Times Magazine) at Art Center in Los Angeles and thought I would highlight a couple things we talked about here for anyone who couldn&#8217;t attend and of course to open it up if anyone wants to chime in. The best [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I gave a lecture last week with <a href="http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/05/29/heidi-volpe-art-director-la-times-magazine/" target="_blank">Heidi Volpe</a> (former Art Director of the LA Times Magazine) at <a href="http://www.artcenter.edu/" target="_blank">Art Center</a> in Los Angeles and thought I would highlight a couple things we talked about here for anyone who couldn&#8217;t attend and of course to open it up if anyone wants to chime in. The best part for me was meeting so many people who are enthusiastic about shooting editorial photography and also the time Heidi and I spent working on the lecture, comparing notes and just sitting around talking about editorial photography. We both love working with photographers and the process of putting a shoot together and seeing the work published on the newsstand. Preparing for a lecture is a good exercise for anybody working in this field because it forces you to analyze the way that you do things and the process behind your actions and I can certainly see how it would it be beneficial working with a staff and in meetings with editors to have it well thought out.</p>
<p>The first part of the talk we got down into the nuts and bolts of editorial photography and magazine making and I&#8217;m not going to rehash the whole thing for you here except for a couple important points that play into the second part of what we talked about.</p>
<p>The office politics and relationship between the DOP, PE, AD, CD, EIC, Publisher and Owner has an effect on the way that photographers are hired and how decisions about photography are made within a magazine. It&#8217;s important to realize that there are forces at work inside the publication that can have a weird influence on the photography.</p>
<p>In the very early stages of picking photographers it has as much to do with pacing out the magazine, creating visual variety, making powerful entry points, tackling old stories in new ways, deciding where to spend big and where to save as it does with matching the right photographer and subject.</p>
<p>Everyone keeps a list of photographers that they work off for these decisions and I&#8217;ve always organized mine with the front page for every photographer I&#8217;ve ever worked with (several columns) then the next page for photographers I want to work with and then several more pages of photographers organized into different categories. Many of these category groups come about because I&#8217;m forced to make a list in a category I&#8217;m unfamiliar with (cars or beauty) and after spending several days working on a list I want to hang onto it for the next time I need someone in that category. After the lecture I got to peek at another PE&#8217;s list who was at the event and saw all the familiar chaos of a list in flux with boxes, stars and highlights and notes running down the side. It&#8217;s always a mess till you retype it again.</p>
<p>After getting through the nuts and bolts we settled into a topic I&#8217;d like to refine even more if we ever give the talk again that we called &#8220;defining your personal style.&#8221; Essentially we wanted to get at the things we pickup on in a photographers work that convince us they are the right person for that particular job. It usually boils down to style and/or expertise in the subject matter and of course there are many other little factors that play into pulling the trigger on someone but we wanted to try and connect the dots with the work in the book and the what was published in the magazine. Heidi and I got a good laugh out of a few of our choices because it looks like any monkey could preform the job when someone who shoots swimmers is hired to shoot swimmers. I&#8217;m not afraid to poke fun at my profession and always tell photographers to not be surprised when their first assignment is the most obvious choice.</p>
<p>At the lecture Heidi and I whipped though 30 photographers and I think that was a mistake as we really just glossed over them and made it all seem so superficial and next time I would not only drill down into a couple of photographer&#8217;s styles (famous and not) but then pick a specific genre and discuss who is on our list for that and why. It really is a good exercise to look at a photographers work and define their style because you find yourself coming up with all kinds of strange words like integrity, crisp, finished and I&#8217;m sure it&#8217;s different for everyone who does it. So, for someone like <a href="http://jakechessum.com/" target="_blank">Jake Chessum</a> who is a personal favorite of mine I put him at the top of the list for portraits that are unguarded moments. The I would also define him in my head as easy to work with, subjects enjoy him, shoots celebrities, lives in NYC, shoots film, cover, feature, color and B/W. Anyway you get the idea on how it works and we provided 30 examples of photographers and the shoots we gave them. Heidi gleefully pointed out that I had nothing but A-listers in my examples which is hardly a good teaching example, but I had only scanned the A-list tears for my portfolio so that&#8217;s what I had to work with. If there&#8217;s another chance to do this lecture again I would certainly include more up and comers and unknown photographers.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.aphotoeditor.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/editorialchessum.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1103" title="editorialchessum" src="http://www.aphotoeditor.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/editorialchessum.png" alt="" width="499" height="349" /></a></p>
<p>Heidi had <a href="http://www.daviddrebin.com/" target="_blank">David Drebin</a> as one of her examples and he&#8217;s someone who was always on my list of people I would like to work with but never have. His style can be described as shooting lifestyle, caught moments with a produced and or finished look to them (lighting, background, props, hair, makeup, set, casting all feel meticulously done). I would also put him in the category of people who shoot rich and dense color, interiors, lit, lives in NYC, shoots women well. Again you can see where this is going and the kinds of terms we use to describe and categorize photographers.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.daviddrebin.com/"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1104" title="editorialdrebin" src="http://www.aphotoeditor.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/editorialdrebin.png" alt="" width="500" height="476" /></a></p>
<p>So, that&#8217;s just a quick overview of what we covered and there were a lot of good questions from the audience that we answered as well. Heidi and I really enjoyed the event and it was cool of Everard and Dennis to bring me out for it.</p>
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		<slash:comments>26</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>There&#8217;s No Shortage of Great Photography</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/07/15/theres-no-shortage-of-great-photography/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/07/15/theres-no-shortage-of-great-photography/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:49:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aphotoeditor.com/?p=844</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There&#8217;s so much great photography out there and sure, if the budget and pages are unlimited and you only answer to god then you can go about your merry way picking from the vast variety of photographers but, under a given set of circumstances where you want a specific genre and someone versed in a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There&#8217;s so much great photography out there and sure, if the budget and pages are unlimited and you only answer to god then you can go about your merry way picking from the vast variety of photographers but, under a given set of circumstances where you want a specific genre and someone versed in a particular subject matter and then you throw in any number of limitations with budget, pages, location, time frame and then add to the mix the tastes of your editor, creative director, publisher, owner and the reader&#8230; well, the group to choose from can become very small. Sometimes there&#8217;s only one who fits the bill.</p>
<p>For many photographers it&#8217;s about finding that group of photo editors and art buyers who love your work and enjoy working with you and know you&#8217;re a perfect match for the assignments they have to make.</p>
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		<slash:comments>27</slash:comments>
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		<title>Dumbo Gallery Walk Video</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/05/02/dumbo-gallery-walk-video/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/05/02/dumbo-gallery-walk-video/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 May 2008 14:30:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aphotoeditor.com/?p=627</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(large video here) from Daniel K. Gebhart
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="200" height="113" data="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=964881&amp;server=www.vimeo.com&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color="><param name="quality" value="best" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="scale" value="showAll" /><param name="movie" value="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=964881&amp;server=www.vimeo.com&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=" /></object><br /><a href="http://www.vimeo.com/964881/l:embed_964881">(large video here)</a> from <br /><a href="http://www.photographer-in-ny.com/">Daniel K. Gebhart</a></p>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<title>Finding the Right Photographer</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/04/29/finding-the-right-photographer/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/04/29/finding-the-right-photographer/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:04:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aphotoeditor.com/2008/04/29/finding-the-right-photographer/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There are only 4 things to consider when looking to hire a photographer.
1. Genre
2. Style
3. Location
4. Price
Ok, there&#8217;s actually a fifth that&#8217;s like a recommendation or an impression we have of you and informs us what it will be like to work with you but I&#8217;m leaving that out of this discussion.
When making an assignment [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There are only 4 things to consider when looking to hire a photographer.</p>
<p>1. Genre<br />
2. Style<br />
3. Location<br />
4. Price</p>
<p>Ok, there&#8217;s actually a fifth that&#8217;s like a recommendation or an impression we have of you and informs us what it will be like to work with you but I&#8217;m leaving that out of this discussion.</p>
<p>When making an assignment several of these variables may be locked down. If the budget is low then the weight of the decision goes to price and certainly location because that can be a big factor in the cost of a shoot. The genre can be wide or narrow depending on how much you want to leave open to chance and interpretation. Color, shoots men or conversely photo journalist specializing in domestic abuse, portraitist who works with older women. And, you either assign stories that match Genre&#8217;s or do the opposite to create something interesting (assigning fashion stories to photojournalists and sending fashion photographers to war zones&#8230; ok that last one&#8217;s probably not a great idea). The style further breaks down the genre into subgroups of similar looking photographs and derivatives and maybe even a few that don&#8217;t really fit anywhere. </p>
<p>For most photographers the Genre and Location are locked down and the price is a function of how busy/new you are. That leaves style as the most important factor in how we find and hire you.</p>
<p>Are you leading, following, pioneering or just pain unsure where you stand?</p>
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		<slash:comments>31</slash:comments>
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		<title>Showing Your Book</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/04/18/showing-your-book/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/04/18/showing-your-book/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:43:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aphotoeditor.com/2008/04/18/showing-your-book/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Bar none, showing your book is the fastest way to get a job in this business. If I meet you and like your work, then shake your hand and look you in the eye, it&#8217;s a virtual lock you&#8217;ll get an assignment. I was such a pushover in this regard that sometimes photographers wouldn&#8217;t even [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Bar none, showing your book is the fastest way to get a job in this business. If I meet you and like your work, then shake your hand and look you in the eye, it&#8217;s a virtual lock you&#8217;ll get an assignment. I was such a pushover in this regard that sometimes photographers wouldn&#8217;t even make it out of the building before getting a call on the cell phone with a job.</p>
<p>Usually what happens is I&#8217;ve got a shoot rolling around in my brain that I can&#8217;t quite land and I meet you and even tho you&#8217;re not perfectly what I was looking for in this particular story, your work is strong and you&#8217;re a nice person so I suddenly really want to hook you up with a job because well, I&#8217;m human. And, usually I can trot you over to the Creative Directors office and they&#8217;ll have the same reaction as I do &#8220;Zoiks Shaggy, let&#8217;s get this person a job.&#8221;</p>
<p>Getting in the door with your book is not easy (sometimes impossible) and if it was, everyone would be standing in line outside the Photography Directors office holding one of those butcher counter numbers waiting to get their assignment, so you get in which ever way you can. Keep trying, &#8220;Hey, I&#8217;m in the neighborhood and thought I&#8217;d drop by if you have time&#8221; or &#8220;I&#8217;m at the newsstand, saw the latest issue and wanted to drop by and show you my work&#8221; or get a meeting with a Jr. Photo Editor or an Art Director or the Fashion Director or the magazine down the hall. Whatever it takes.</p>
<p>If your work is strong and you&#8217;re not a complete jackass, show your book in person, it&#8217;s the best way to land a job.</p>
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		<slash:comments>16</slash:comments>
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		<title>Contact Info for Every Media Company in the World</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/03/12/contact-info-for-every-media-company-in-the-world/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/03/12/contact-info-for-every-media-company-in-the-world/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:30:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aphotoeditor.com/2008/03/12/contact-info-for-every-media-company-in-the-world/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Can be found at MediaPhoneBook.com (here)&#8230; someday&#8230; maybe. For now it&#8217;s got contacts for a handful of magazines, but since it&#8217;s a wiki anybody can add and make changes so eventually it really could contain all the contact info, book drop information, submission guidelines and anything else that might be useful to photographers for every [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Can be found at MediaPhoneBook.com (<a href="http://mediaphonebook.com" target= "_blank" >here</a>)&#8230; someday&#8230; maybe. For now it&#8217;s got contacts for a handful of magazines, but since it&#8217;s a wiki anybody can add and make changes so eventually it really could contain all the contact info, book drop information, submission guidelines and anything else that might be useful to photographers for every media company in the world.</p>
<p>With this project I have that feeling I use to get when I made an assignment that could either be brilliant or get me fired (love that feeling) and so I want to quickly dispel any thoughts that this could somehow be a bad thing.</p>
<p>First, everyone&#8217;s contact info is already available from listing services for a price so I don&#8217;t think you have to worry about getting more spam. People already pay good money to do that.</p>
<p>Second, I think photographers might be worried that by giving away contact info for a client some other photographer will come in and steal a job from them. See the first point.</p>
<p>Lastly, as a Photography Director I would thrilled by the idea that I could tell everyone at once when to drop books, who else to contact in my department for specific things and in general lay down the law on how I want to be reached for work. Wouldn&#8217;t you?</p>
<p>Doesn&#8217;t that sound like a better way to do business?</p>
<p>I think so and I hope people will use it in the spirit that it&#8217;s given, let&#8217;s see what happens.</p>
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		<title>Turning Down Jobs</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/03/04/turning-down-jobs/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/03/04/turning-down-jobs/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:28:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aphotoeditor.com/2008/03/04/turning-down-jobs/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Turning down jobs is one of the smartest things you can do for your photography career.
A reader writes:
&#8220;For me it’s been really instrumental in the last couple of years to take shoots that I really think I can knock out of the park, and shoots that feel like I am a good match for to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Turning down jobs is one of the smartest things you can do for your photography career.</p>
<p>A reader writes:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;For me it’s been really instrumental in the last couple of years to take shoots that I really think I can knock out of the park, and shoots that feel like I am a good match for to get something great.  Also, I make it a point to never go backwards or stay stagnant at a magazine for too long.  If I do a small front-of-the-book portrait as a first job or two, and do a great job and they call for more, I usually try not to take it.  I try to let them know that I would be good for their bigger shoots, and it’s worked out well that way, working my way up to covers in some cases.</p>
<p>In other cases, I was definitely stuck in a quarter pager mode, and was looking for the bigger front of the book portraits.  Turned down the little jobs and never got offered the bigger.  Which is a risk I was willing to take to try to get the better stuff.  I figure sometimes it’s good to leave a magazine and come back to them with a stronger body of work later.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>He&#8217;s not talking about turning down bad money or contracts either just jobs that don&#8217;t jive with your career goals.</p>
<p>When you&#8217;ve established a relationship with someone shooting small front of book or crappy subjects that no one else wants it&#8217;s impossible to graduate them to the big features, fashion or the cover. Try convincing an editor that the photographer who shoots 1/4 pages in the front of the book should shoot this months cover. It ain&#8217;t happening.</p>
<p>Also, when I see someone&#8217;s work in another magazine that I don&#8217;t like, it can take them down a notch on my list. They may have done the job as a favor but I never know the details or difficulties behind the shoot.</p>
<p>So, what&#8217;s the best way to turn down jobs? Don&#8217;t be the photographer who says &#8220;I only shoot fashion or covers&#8221; because that&#8217;s not going to get you a call back to shoot fashion or covers. The usual method is to be busy during the shoot days and that&#8217;s why good agents will never tell you their photographer&#8217;s schedule before they hear the job details.</p>
<p>As a Photo Editor it&#8217;s important to have a couple photographers who will &#8220;shoot anything, anywhere and anytime&#8221; because you can always rely on them to get the job done but for most people this is not the way to advance your career.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve had almost all my favorite photographers turn me down cold at one time or another and even though it stings for a couple days in the end I respect them more for not compromising their vision. Some shoots are just never worth taking no matter how much you need the job because if the the results are bad we may not be working together anymore anyways.</p>
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Have a look (<a href="http://www.aphotofolio.com">here</a>).</p><br />
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		<slash:comments>34</slash:comments>
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		<title>Photographer Website Design</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/01/29/photographer-website-design/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/01/29/photographer-website-design/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:37:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aphotoeditor.com/2008/01/29/photographer-website-design/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So, the other day I cranked through 145 websites in about 3 hours for the consultation demo and then I had a conversation with a magazine art director friend about how we look at photographers websites in obviously different ways (design vs. photo) and I realized something: Design and layout has a powerful effect on [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So, the other day I cranked through 145 websites in about 3 hours for the consultation demo and then I had a conversation with a magazine art director friend about how we look at photographers websites in obviously different ways (design vs. photo) and I realized something: Design and layout has a powerful effect on me. Right off the bat, before I even look at the first picture, the design is working on my brain.</p>
<p>So, here&#8217;s the nut, I&#8217;ve looked at tens-of-thousands of websites and it&#8217;s very apparent that certain photographers (of a similar feather)  hang together. If you&#8217;ve got a Travel &amp; Leisure design happening like so many of the photographers that T&amp;L assigns then I&#8217;m already putting you into that category. Take it one step further, if I&#8217;m the Photography Director at T&amp;L I&#8217;m used to seeing photography surrounded by a specific type of design so if the photographs you present me already look like they belong in my magazine&#8230; voila, one hurdle down 99 to go.</p>
<p>My proof:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fredericlagrange.com/" target="_blank">Frederic Lagrange</a></p>
<p><a href="http://morganowens.com" target="_blank">Morgan and Owens </a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.hughstewart.com/" target="_blank">Hugh Stewart </a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bobbyfisherphoto.com" target="_blank">Bobby Fisher</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.amandapratt.com" target="_blank">Amanda Pratt</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.davidnicolas.com/" target="_blank">David Nicolas</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.martinmorrell.com/" target="_blank">Martin Morrell</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.johnhuba.com/" target="_blank">John Huba</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.andreafazzari.com/" target="_blank">Andrea Fazzari</a></p>
<p>Either that or the Arizona sun has completely baked my brain. Either way it&#8217;s all good.</p>
        ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<p style="background-color:cornsilk;">Looking to buy a new website?<br />
A Photo Folio is a website design company created by A Photo Editor.<br />
Have a look (<a href="http://www.aphotofolio.com">here</a>).</p><br />
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		<slash:comments>42</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Getting Your Foot in the Door</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/01/16/getting-your-foot-in-the-door/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/01/16/getting-your-foot-in-the-door/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:00:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aphotoeditor.com/2008/01/16/getting-your-foot-in-the-door/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A reader asks if it&#8217;s better to approach the Associate or Deputy Photo Editors for a book showing or for sending promos because the Director is usually too busy.
I&#8217;d say targeting the photo editors under the Director is an excellent plan of action.
I&#8217;ve always encouraged all the photo editors in the department to look at [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A reader asks if it&#8217;s better to approach the Associate or Deputy Photo Editors for a book showing or for sending promos because the Director is usually too busy.</p>
<p>I&#8217;d say targeting the photo editors under the Director is an excellent plan of action.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve always encouraged all the photo editors in the department to look at as many books as possible to develop their eye for photography so they can experience the process of discovering new talent and then hiring them for a shoot.</p>
<p>In many cases it was easier for me to drop in on a portfolio showing; to look at the book, grab a promo, shake the hand and get out. That&#8217;s how I saw a lot of books and photographers I normally wouldn&#8217;t have time for with all the stupid meetings I went to everyday.</p>
<p>Eventually, I would get lobbied by the other photo editors to hire photographers they discovered and liked and we always ended up pulling the trigger on a few to see how their discoveries worked out.</p>
<p>And, don&#8217;t forget the Creative Director in your promo mailings. Many times they came into my office with the promo of a photographer they were interested in—just don&#8217;t leave me out of the loop. I always like to already know who they&#8217;re talking about when they bring those in so I look like I know what the hell I&#8217;m doing &#8220;ah, yes Irving Penn and I go waaay back, I&#8217;ll IM him.&#8221;</p>
        ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<p style="background-color:cornsilk;">Looking to buy a new website?<br />
A Photo Folio is a website design company created by A Photo Editor.<br />
Have a look (<a href="http://www.aphotofolio.com">here</a>).</p><br />
                  ]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<title>The Book AKA The Portfolio</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2007/11/20/the-book-aka-the-portfolio/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2007/11/20/the-book-aka-the-portfolio/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:47:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aphotoeditor.com/2007/11/20/the-book-aka-the-portfolio/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Agent at AVS (here) weighs in on the important issue of portfolios (So did Jackanory (here) but his is more about your style of photography) and I couldn&#8217;t agree more with all the points made. He mentions a massive heavy portfolio that was making the rounds awhile back that everyone remembers but no one [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Agent at AVS (<strong><a href="http://www.avisualsociety.com/2007/11/19/portfolios/">here</a></strong>) weighs in on the important issue of portfolios (So did Jackanory (<strong><a href="http://www.whatsthejackanory.com/2007/11/want-to-stand-out-in-crowd.html">here</a></strong>) but his is more about your style of photography) and I couldn&#8217;t agree more with all the points made. He mentions a massive heavy portfolio that was making the rounds awhile back that everyone remembers but no one seems to recall what was on the inside plus it always makes me think when a book is really over the top that someone is compensating for something.</p>
<p>Black, leather bound (possibly the wax), not too big and not too small with 25-35 pages (guessing since I never counted), embossed with your name. Find it here (<strong><a href="http://www.houseofportfolios.com/portfoliobook.asp">link</a></strong>).</p>
<p>I seriously doubt having an incredibly original book would ever get you a job but not having a decent one will certainly be a mark against you. In the end all that matters is the photography.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m more of a website person–clearly–so I don&#8217;t really need to see a book but the oddest thing happened to me a couple weeks ago. Two photographers in a row came in and their books were quite a bit better than their websites. Must be because they tailored the book specifically for me and now I&#8217;m suddenly seeing some problems with the website portfolio.</p>
<p>Before sending the book back I always make sure and huck a promo in the trash. Photographers seem to like that better than my previous practice of not grabbing one.</p>
        ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<p style="background-color:cornsilk;">Looking to buy a new website?<br />
A Photo Folio is a website design company created by A Photo Editor.<br />
Have a look (<a href="http://www.aphotofolio.com">here</a>).</p><br />
                  ]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>39</slash:comments>
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		<title>Hiring New Photographers- In Action</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2007/11/19/hiring-new-photographers-in-action/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2007/11/19/hiring-new-photographers-in-action/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:35:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aphotoeditor.com/2007/11/19/hiring-new-photographers-in-action/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I received an email from a fellow Director of Photography looking for a photographer who shoots like &#8220;so and so&#8221; but is less commercial and does smaller productions (you know, 1 assistant instead of 3, that kind of stuff). So I send her a list of people I like and we get on the phone [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I received an email from a fellow Director of Photography looking for a photographer who shoots like &#8220;so and so&#8221; but is less commercial and does smaller productions (you know, 1 assistant instead of 3, that kind of stuff). So I send her a list of people I like and we get on the phone to discuss.</p>
<p>We&#8217;re both going down the list clicking on websites and she&#8217;s telling me why each one won&#8217;t work for this. &#8220;Last shoot he did didn&#8217;t turn out&#8221; and &#8220;too static&#8221; and &#8220;too quirky&#8221; and &#8220;way to static&#8221; and &#8220;we use him all the time&#8221; and finally heeeeeeeey, who&#8217;s this guy he&#8217;s perfect.</p>
<p>Well, I tell her he&#8217;s been on my list for a year now but I&#8217;ve never hired him. And, she literally does the following: Clicks the client list, &#8220;good clients, lots of people I respect&#8221; and clicks the contact link &#8220;great agent, love the agent, solid reputation and tons of great photographers on their roster.&#8221;</p>
<p>I&#8217;m going to hire him, thanks.</p>
        ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<p style="background-color:cornsilk;">Looking to buy a new website?<br />
A Photo Folio is a website design company created by A Photo Editor.<br />
Have a look (<a href="http://www.aphotofolio.com">here</a>).</p><br />
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		<slash:comments>20</slash:comments>
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		<title>Smiling Happy People</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2007/10/24/smiling-happy-people/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2007/10/24/smiling-happy-people/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Oct 2007 12:19:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aphotoeditor.com/2007/10/24/smiling-happy-people/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A creative director once told me &#8220;I don&#8217;t want to hire that photographer for this because no one is smiling in any of their photographs and we need a smiling person in the photo.&#8221;
Are you kidding me? Are you crazy? All I have to do is tell the goddam photographer to take a smiling photo. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A creative director once told me &#8220;I don&#8217;t want to hire that photographer for this because no one is smiling in any of their photographs and we need a smiling person in the photo.&#8221;</p>
<p>Are you kidding me? Are you crazy? All I have to do is tell the goddam photographer to take a smiling photo. What can be so hard about that?</p>
<p>Plenty, I&#8217;ve discovered.</p>
<p>Taste is the mysterious imprint every photographer leaves on a picture, it&#8217;s what makes them uniquely yours, it&#8217;s the emotional content, it&#8217;s your photographic dna. It&#8217;s impossible to quantify because taste is the sum result of your life and how you see the world.</p>
<p>The clothes, grooming, background, surroundings, body position, subject selection, moment in time you click the shutter, your connection to the subject, the subjects emotional state based on how you&#8217;ve treated them and yes, the expression on their face, are all a reflection of your taste.</p>
<p>There are two types of photographers in this world. Those who shoot smiles well and those who don&#8217;t.</p>
        ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<p style="background-color:cornsilk;">Looking to buy a new website?<br />
A Photo Folio is a website design company created by A Photo Editor.<br />
Have a look (<a href="http://www.aphotofolio.com">here</a>).</p><br />
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		<slash:comments>29</slash:comments>
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		<title>Visually Acceptable</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2007/10/23/visually-acceptable/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2007/10/23/visually-acceptable/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Oct 2007 11:10:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aphotoeditor.com/2007/10/23/visually-acceptable/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Is your photography&#8230; Visually Acceptable?
There&#8217;s a good discussion in the Fly&#8217;n Photographers comments about magazines only hiring from a narrow band of photographic styles that Olivier Laude has coined &#8220;Visually Acceptable,&#8221; (this also holds true for our writing and design).
There are a few magazines that end up setting the agenda for the rest. They win [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Is your photography&#8230; Visually Acceptable?</p>
<p>There&#8217;s a good discussion in the <em><strong><a href="http://aphotoeditor.com/2007/10/19/flyn-photographers/">Fly&#8217;n Photographers</a></strong></em> comments about magazines only hiring from a narrow band of photographic styles that <a href="http://blog.olivierlaude.com/"><em><strong>Olivier Laude</strong></em></a> has coined &#8220;Visually Acceptable,&#8221; (this also holds true for our writing and design).</p>
<p>There are a few magazines that end up setting the agenda for the rest. They win all the awards, maintain a high circulation and and are packed with advertising. This adherence to certain styles of photography is unavoidable because the decision makers at the highest level see this as a sign of a successful magazine. Most CFO&#8217;s couldn&#8217;t name a &#8220;visually acceptable&#8221; photographer if I held them by their feet off the top of our building, but they know what it looks like.</p>
<p>To be successful in the editorial market you need to understand this.</p>
<p>One of my favorite old posts by Alec Soth (RIP his Blog) is: The do&#8217;s and dont&#8217;s of Graduate Studies (<em><strong><a href="http://alecsoth.com/blog/2007/09/06/charles-h-traubs-dos-and-don%e2%80%99ts-of-graduate-studies/" target="_blank">here</a></strong></em>), Maxims from the chair. From the book <em><strong><a href="http://www.photoeye.com/templates/mShowDetailsbycat.cfm?Catalog=ZD015">The Education of a Photographer</a></strong></em> by <em><strong><a href="http://charlestraub.com/">Charles H. Traub</a></strong></em>. Chair of Photography at <em><strong><a href="http://www.schoolofvisualarts.edu/index.jsp?page_id=313&amp;FID=2300">SVA</a></strong></em>.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s so much good material to guide photographers in creating their individual style, just don&#8217;t try and swallow the whole thing at once.</p>
<p>My favorite line is:</p>
<blockquote><p>Photographers are the only creative people that don’t pay attention to their predecessors work—if you imitate something good, you are more likely to succeed.</p></blockquote>
<p>Now, I know my share of photographers who were huge in the 90&#8217;s but are now stuck making prints and books of their old famous shots to know, an acceptable style doesn&#8217;t last forever, so you&#8217;ve got two choices to make.</p>
<p>Either pioneer a new one or get in line.</p>
        ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<p style="background-color:cornsilk;">Looking to buy a new website?<br />
A Photo Folio is a website design company created by A Photo Editor.<br />
Have a look (<a href="http://www.aphotofolio.com">here</a>).</p><br />
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		<slash:comments>21</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Booked</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2007/09/20/booked/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2007/09/20/booked/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:22:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aphotoeditor.com/2007/09/20/booked/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve never really liked it when I call an agent and the photographer is booked so then they push someone else on me at the agency who&#8217;s available on those dates.
It&#8217;s like, what the hell? You think it&#8217;s as easy as just calling a photographer, any photographer, and giving them an assignment? This is what [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;ve never really liked it when I call an agent and the photographer is booked so then they push someone else on me at the agency who&#8217;s available on those dates.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s like, what the hell? You think it&#8217;s as easy as just calling a photographer, any photographer, and giving them an assignment? This is what I&#8217;ve been training for. I made all these lists and visited websites and spent days thinking about it and you&#8217;re gonna throw a name out there like it&#8217;s no big deal. Jesus, I&#8217;ve picked the perfect photographer for this assignment and no one can possibly fathom what I&#8217;m trying to achieve here.</p>
<p>Well, as it turns out, lately I&#8217;ve been hiring a few photographers this way and of course as you&#8217;d expect the results are the same. Amazing photos by people who are not yet as popular as some of the famous names in the business repped by the same agents.</p>
<p>I guess this is an advantage to being at an agency with a well known photographer. As long as know-it-all photo editors will listen to your agent.</p>
        ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<p style="background-color:cornsilk;">Looking to buy a new website?<br />
A Photo Folio is a website design company created by A Photo Editor.<br />
Have a look (<a href="http://www.aphotofolio.com">here</a>).</p><br />
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<title>Everyone Takes Bad Photos</title>
		<link>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2007/09/17/everyone-takes-bad-photos/</link>
		<comments>http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2007/09/17/everyone-takes-bad-photos/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Sep 2007 14:12:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>A Photo Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Getting Hired]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aphotoeditor.com/2007/09/17/everyone-takes-bad-photos/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yes it&#8217;s true. Everyone. All the top editorial photographers take bad photos.
They just don&#8217;t show it to me. Ever.
Thing is&#8230; I know everyone takes bad photos, it happens and it&#8217;s not a big deal&#8230; I just don&#8217;t wanted to be reminded of it when I&#8217;m looking for a photographer.
The promo, website and portfolio are all [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Yes it&#8217;s true. Everyone. All the top editorial photographers take bad photos.</p>
<p>They just don&#8217;t show it to me. Ever.</p>
<p>Thing is&#8230; I know everyone takes bad photos, it happens and it&#8217;s not a big deal&#8230; I just don&#8217;t wanted to be reminded of it when I&#8217;m looking for a photographer.</p>
<p>The promo, website and portfolio are all places where the possibility exists for you to remind me that shoots can sometimes turn out bland and then I suddenly get the feeling that the shoot I was about to hire you for will turn out bland.</p>
<p>I think I know why you do it. You don&#8217;t have enough material yet or you want to show me how you can shoot portraits, food, B&amp;W, color, holga, photoj, etc&#8230;</p>
<p>I want to live in a fantasy world where every single shoot is perfect. The best photographers let me.</p>
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A Photo Folio is a website design company created by A Photo Editor.<br />
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		<slash:comments>15</slash:comments>
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