Luceo Images – Documenting Small Town America

Back in 2008 when I first heard about the new photographers collective Luceo Images I questioned the value a collective creates for the clients. Well, ever since then I’ve seen the name Luceo pop up in all the major contests and generally enter the lexicon of the photography industry, so the value has been clearly shown. As David Banks told me when I initially questioned him about it it “The other reason for all this is our belief in helping each other out and being open in the photo industry rather than the one-for-all mentality that is so ingrained.” So, it’s no surprise that they recently announced a new group project where over the coming year all the members will be “documenting various aspects of life in rural America.” What a fantastic idea. Not only will fans and clients get to watch as the story develops, in the end they will have created an important and original body of work.

From the blog post about it:

LUCEO will be documenting the decline of small town America as a group project over the coming year. Over this course of time, LUCEO members will commit several sessions of 24-48 hours documenting various aspects of life in rural America in different towns across the country. Among our goals is to record history during a unique shift which may very well lead to the demise of these places that once stood as the core of America. One of the most exciting parts of the project to me is working together with my colleagues towards a common goal, and this idea that what we can create as a team is greater than just the sum of our individual parts – one of the same notions that drives our partner network, some of whom we will likely be collaborating with as the project evolves.

vist the post (here) to read more and see an interesting discussion in the comments.

luceo

A lost opportunity?

“Another thought for the Fotofest staff: As photographers we receive advice on how to prepare ourselves for the reviews. Have the reviewers received any advice/training? Some are truly excellent, and I’m personally satisfied if the reviewer actively and honestly engages with my work regardless of whether they like it. Some people can successfully be both reviewers and artists, but I’ve noticed that many artist/reviewers either don’t care about the reviewees at all, or they filter things through the lens of how they would do it in their work.”

via Conscientious.

Le Book Connections 2010

There’s some really interesting information in this video shot at the recent Le Book Connections in NYC (and some not so interesting, but whatev’).

I am told by agents that the only reason the advertise in Le Book is because of this connections event. You can see why it has become so important in the following video:

Love to hear from anyone who attended the productions side of the event.

Ask Anything – DO’s And DON’Ts On A Shoot

Former Art Buyers and current photography consultants Amanda Sosa Stone and Suzanne Sease have agreed to take anonymous questions from photographers and not only give their expert advice but put it out to a wide range of photographers, reps and art buyers to gather a variety of opinions. The goal with this column is to solicit honest questions and answers through anonymity.

QUESTION:

Once on a shoot with creative directors and producers what are some do’s & don’ts as a follow up question to your previous post about the meeting? Be yourself I get, but what about protocol while shooting or even after the shoot?

Amanda and Suzanne: What you do on set is crucial to your success and crucial for a client to consider hiring you again. Many people often read Dos and Don’ts and often say “well that’s obvious” but when you are under pressure or nervous, you too can slip up. We hope these guided tips from our well-respected industry creatives will sink in and help on your next shoot!

ANSWERS:

ART PRODUCER:

The following are other tips beyond what I hope most of the readers will understand to be standard protocol (stay on budget, keep to deadlines, no whining, etc.) I could probably go on and on, but here are a few tips that have tripped up many photographers…

Do:

Describe the ground rules

No later than the pre-pro, clearly outline any ground rules that will be important to enforce in order to achieve a successful shoot. For example, if it’s a closed set for a lingerie shoot, let everyone know who is allowed on set and when. That does NOT mean banishing the client to a closet so they stay out of the way. It may, however, require a description of how any talking on the set tends to distract you from interacting with your crew and the talent, thereby compromising the shot. Reiterate these rules on the day of the shoot prior to clicking a shutter.

Engage with the client

This means both the agency and the client. Let them know you are interested in hearing their input, even if further discussion is needed. Most of the big questions should be answered at the pre-pro, so hopefully there won’t be many curve balls on the day of the shoot – but it does happen more often than I wish it would!

Provide sustenance

It’s difficult to think clearly when hungry. Provide a variety of healthy snacks and beverages. Find out if the client has special food needs, such as food allergies, being a vegetarian, etc. It’s very embarrassing if everyone is eating – except for the vegan, who is only sipping fruit juice because nothing else was edible to them. It doesn’t have to be expensive, just tasty. (If your client is a junk food junkie, then accommodate appropriately.)

Deliver what you promised

This sounds so simple, but I can’t tell you the number of times the photographer didn’t deliver, despite continuous reminders and reassurance that they would. If you agreed to provide all images on a removable hard drive before they left for the day, then be prepared to do so by hiring the necessary digitechs. That means you should promise only what is possible to deliver: “Before you leave for the day, I’ll provide you with low res jpgs for the first 3 shots; low res jpgs for the other 3 shots will be sent to you by Fed Ex for delivery on Friday morning. Once you make selects, I will send you hi res files by FTP.”

Treat your crew well, but professionally

A dysfunctional relationship with your crew is obvious to everyone; even if you think you hide it well. I’ll bet nearly every photo assistant or client has a nightmare story about a jerk photographer, or on the opposite end of the spectrum, one who is too friendly with his crew and won’t ask them to perform basic tasks because they’re friends.

Make the clients feel like the shoot mattered to you

Mundane or exciting, clients want to know you care about the shoot. “Thanks for a great shoot. I sure enjoyed (working with you/the project/getting to know you).” Obviously, keep it truthful, so if you can’t say something nice, just let them know how you’ll wrap things up. “Thanks so much for the project. I’ll be sure to get those files to you on Thursday.”

Make certain you know the “safe zones”

The art buyer that you’re friendly with over the phone may or may not be the person to open up to about the Art Director From Hell. The buyer’s first loyalty will be to the company and you may be the one thrown under the bus if things don’t go well. When in doubt, keep conversation job-related and not editorial.

Get an FTP service

Sending large files via email is not only cumbersome, but it’s possible that they may never make their destination. Share location files, casting shots or production files over 1 mb this way.

Don’t:

Give too much information

They don’t need to know the details of how you’re going to accomplish something, they just need to know you’re going to take care of it. Thinking out loud can make the client wonder if you’ve got a good handle on things. The client also doesn’t need to know that you’re on your third marriage because your other wives were gold-diggers.

Presume you are a close friend of the client

Avoid friending them on Facebook as soon as the shoot is over. They may be kind, but not interested in a more personal relationship. Take your time in nurturing the relationship or you may be identified as creepy rather than friendly. Personally, I use LinkedIn for professional relationships, and it’s not until I know someone on a more personal level that I accept FB invitations from them.

Ask for the next job

I cringe as I write this, but it has happened. Instead of asking, “Are there any other projects in the works that I can bid on?”, say “I sure enjoyed working with you and I hope we can work together again soon.”

ART DIRECTOR:

You have to deliver great photos and that’s a given. Beyond that:

Do:

– Listen to creative concerns and be open to questions.

– Ask questions to figure out what is behind what you consider a “bad” or “stupid” request from AD or from their client. By understanding where the concern comes from, you might be able to troubleshoot a solution that you all can be happy with.

– Always deliver what you are asked for first and then if you have enough time add in any extra shots you are inspired to do

– Make sure AD, client and anyone agency staff feel taken care of – basic courtesies. Beyond doing great work, you can develop client loyalty through genuine little human touches.

PHOTOGRAPHER #1:

I’m not aware of any specific shoot protocol. Here are a couple of things I try to do, though, just ’cause it seems like the right thing to do:

1. Always provide a comfy place for the client to sit and be busy with their work, since more likely than not they will working on other projects while the shoot day details are worked out. This seating area is close enough that they can glance up and see the progress, but not be ‘in the way’ of the behind the scenes work. Internet access a must. Food, bev, all that…

2. If the agency client is in attendance, I make sure to show ‘in progress files’ to the art director only first. If they want to share the in progress stuff, the AD can share with the AE who will in turn show the client.

PHOTOGRAPHER #2:

Do not answer calls, emails or talk about any other project other than what you are working on. I like to make my client think they are the only client on my mind. If they ask about your other clients or what else you’ve been shooting, feel free to answer just don’t ramble.

CONSULTANTS (wonder who they might be):

Do:

Use please and thank you to your crew and models (you are being watched by everyone and your every move is analyzed)

Don’t:

Never yell at your crew (in front of your client or behind the scenes)

To Summarize: On a shoot there is always pressure, but that doesn’t mean you have to break under the pressure. If you are educated on this subject and handle yourself and the project calmly, you will be able to make a positive impression.

Call To Action: Make a list of things you have done well in the past and mistakes you might have had. Learn from both. Repeat the great moments and avoid those mistakes. GOOD LUCK!

If you want more insight from Amanda and Suzanne you can contact them directly (here and here) or tune in once a week or so for more of “Ask Anything.”

Photo Editor And Art Buyer Survey

There are a couple large membership controlled groups of Art Buyers and Photo Editors that I have access to, so I thought I’d do a small survey to see if that might be a good way to find some answers to questions photographers have. I purposely made the survey short (less than 1 min. to complete) to get the most people participating.

I hope you find this useful. Click to see them larger.

companysize

mailersreceived

emailsreceived

directmailopinion

emailmarketingopinion

screensize

otherscreensize

keepupdatedonwork

findnewtalent
Other (respondents can list a source used that is not on the list of answers) :
other

Download a PDF of the Survey Here

Download a PDF with only the Art Buyers answers

Download a PDF with only the Photo Editors answers

Download a PDF with answers only from those who’s company size is: the biggest in the industry

When you are sure about your work, you are ready to be found

So, the question is, “Are you good? “ Simple, easy, and sure way to find out is you. No one can answer this question but yourself. If you aren’t sure if your work is good, then probably your work is not good enough. Don’t ask somebody else. Instead, hang your work and live with it. If it makes you feel good and proud that you made it, your work is good.

–Hiroshi Watanabe

via Two Way Lens.

Working at the National Enquirer Is Just Like Working at Any Other Newspaper — But Weirder

The writing in the tabloids sucks. You know it and I know it — and so do the people who work there.

Well, at least the copydesk knows it. I’ve never seen a media outlet so dependent on its copyeditors. The writers turn in real crap, their editors fix only some of it, and the copyeditors do the rest. That’s standard operating procedure.

At daily newspapers, the copyeditors are often an afterthought. Reporters and editors don’t really talk to them. But at the tabloids, the best journalists work the copydesk — and the editors and reporters are almost as afraid of them as they are of the attorneys.

via Michael Koretzky – HuffPo.

Martin Nachtwey – more famous than Krispy Kreme doughnuts

I always say to young photographers, you’re screwed. They don’t like it, but there it is. If you really must insist on becoming a photographer like myself you need to carve a niche. Incubate your otherness. Detach yourself, and shoot like no-ones watching. Because they won’t be, not at your pictures. And iron your gingham shirts. And get a good agent. And be kind to small animals.

via duckrabbit.

Cheap Music For Your Videos

A lot of photographers are making videos now. Many of the videos I see and get sent are using copyrighted music which clearly has not been licensed, which is lame. When I saw this new service called Friendly Music that is looking to “reduce the inefficiencies of the music licensing business” I thought I’d highlight it for everyone. Now, for $1.99 you can buy a non-commercial license to go on your BTS and test videos and continue to live by the Golden Rule.

Friendly Music lets you upload your videos to YouTube or other websites without having to worry about whether they’ll be muted or taken down because of the music they contain. Friendly Music gives you over 30,000 copyright-cleared songs to choose from by artists from all over the world.

friendlymusic

Design By Committee Must Die

Everyone knows that magazine making is done by committee but nobody ever talks about how awful that is for making something brilliant. The meetings where you sit around and try to come up with something interesting to put in the magazine were particularly painful.

From a Smashing Magazine article:

In a business climate fueled by fear and the “Peter Principle,” as it is today, a decision not made is a tragedy averted. So, decision by committee provides a safe and often anonymous process for finger-pointing down the line… inevitably leading to the creative, of course.

…more here.

From the same piece:

A photographer I know once said, “I’ll give the model a big mole on her face, and the committee focuses on that and are usually satisfied with the momentous change of removing it and leave everything else as is.”

Artist Statements

Sending out a bad artist statement is like sending out a CV printed on crappy paper, with stains on it. It doesn’t help to make you (or your work) look very good.

But aren’t you a photographer, a visual artist? If you had wanted to become a writer you would have done so, right? Over the past few years, I’ve tried all kinds of approaches to deal with this seemingly clever point, and none of them worked very well. So here’s my latest attempt: get over yourself!

See, here’s the thing: If you can’t even talk or write about your own photography doesn’t that tell me that you literally have no clue what it’s all about? Doesn’t it mean that I could simply take the work and define what it’s about, twist and bend its possible meanings to make it fit my own ideas? Is that what you want people to do with your work – after you spent all the time getting it together? Probably not.

via Conscientious Extended.

Unilever to Double Digital Spending This Year

“I think you need to fish where the fish are,” Mr. Weed said during a question-and-answer session with WPP Chief Executive Martin Sorrell. “So I’ve made it fairly clear that I’m driving Unilever to be at the leading edge of digital marketing.”

via Advertising Age.

Real World Estimates – Publicity Pricing and the Value of Subject Follow-Up

By Jess Dudley, Wonderful Machine Producer

A typical magazine assignment generates a modest fee, a couple of portfolio pictures, a little notoriety – and if you’re lucky, it can also provide an opportunity to make valuable connections with people who can give you work. Follow-up is key to capitalizing on those connections.

Though your subject or the contact person on the shoot might not be the ones who hire photographers for their organization, they probably know who does, and they will often have an influence on that process. When you’ve completed your shoot, find out from them who would be most appropriate for you to reach out to.

After a magazine has published the story, it’s normally okay to let the subject and their handlers see the outtakes from the shoot (certainly not before). Sending a print of your favorite picture from the shoot or a link to a web gallery is a great way build on the rapport that you developed during that assignment.

Explain that if they like them, they can license the images from you when the magazine’s embargo period is up. And that they can hire you for assignments as well. All things being equal, people are inclined to work with photographers they’ve met, like, and even better – ones they’ve seen in action. Don’t assume that a subject will know that you’re interested and available to work for them. Tell them so.

This strategy paid off for one of our photographers recently after he photographed a hotel executive for a business magazine. After the article came out, our photographer sent the subject and their corporate communications director a link to the pictures. They responded that they might want to use some of them in their press kits. We sent them a quote, then heard nothing for months. Eventually, they called to say that they needed pictures at a different location instead. So they asked us to work up a price for a new shoot.

Whenever I quote an assignment, I think (broadly speaking) in terms of time, materials, and licensing. I’ll want to understand what the final picture(s) need to look like, what we have to do to create them (factoring in all the production elements), and how the images will be used.

Here’s how the client described the pictures they needed:

Two different group portraits of eight people from their branding team, shot at one of their hotel properties

Here’s the licensing they needed:

Publicity and Internal Collateral Use forever

Here are the questions I had for them, and their answers:

Q. What are the locations that you’d like to consider using?
A. Both were local to the photographer.
(We’ll need one scouting day, paying attention to the time of day in anticipation of any outdoor pictures we might do.)

Q. Would you like to have professional hair/make-up?
A. Yes. (With eight subjects [more than half of them women], we’ll need two people doing hair and make-up. We’ll stagger the subjects’ arrival times somewhat to minimize the wait time for everyone.)

Q. Would you like to have a wardrobe stylist, and pull wardrobe?
A. No. The subjects would each bring two sets of clothes.
(Our regular hair/make-up stylists also have wardrobe styling experience. I’ll have them bring a steamer and they can tweak the wardrobe in a pinch.)

Q. Would you like us to arrange for catering?
A. No. The hotel will provide food and drinks for the cast and crew.

If this had been an advertising job, I wouldn’t have asked any of these questions. We would naturally plan on all of that stuff. But a publicity project like this is naturally going to be more modest in scale. Getting a sense of proportion from the client ahead of time will put our initial estimate pretty close to the mark. And when the client or subject is providing catering, wardrobe, or other production elements, it’s important to specify that in the estimate to avoid any confusion later.

I didn’t need to ask any more questions to decide on the other expense items. I knew it would be overkill to have a separate digital tech on site (in addition to me producing), so I decided to handle both myself. (Turns out we ended up moving around so much, and so quickly, that a digital tech was impractical anyway (and I’m a pretty good assistant when I need to be!) The client was happy to look at the LCD on the camera, using a loupe.) Photographing eight people in a big space would require a moderate amount of lighting equipment and two assistants. That was the extent of the production elements we needed to include in the quote.

In terms of licensing fees, Publicity Use and Internal Collateral Use have moderate value. Publicity Use is when a company gives away photos to publications to encourage them to produce stories about them. It’s impossible to predict how much mileage a company is going to get from those pictures, but it’s somewhat proportional to the size of the company.

Internal Collateral Use has a relatively small audience, generally limited to publications aimed at the company’s employees (usually in the form of a newsletter or intranet use.) So that value is also somewhat proportional to the size of the company.

Then there’s judging the value of “forever”. With some exceptions, publicity images showing staff people are going lose value at a pretty steady rate over the first few years, and be nearly worthless after five years. Clothes, haircuts and trends go out of style, and the subjects will age and change jobs. So licensing the photos forever in this case isn’t as valuable as when the picture is of something that won’t change as much over time. In this case the photographer was shooting group shots of trendy employees of a trendy hotel. So as a practical matter, the shelf life of the photos is just a few years.

I like to build estimates using a per image licensing model. It’s the best way to create a win-win for the client and the photographer. The client doesn’t have to commit to a ton of money for the pictures upfront, and the photographer is incentivized to be really productive.

I decided to quote the pictures at 1500.00 each plus expenses. Here’s how the estimate and terms & conditions looked:

click for hi-res versionclick for hi-res version
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The client signed off on the estimate.

After a quick scout of the two locations, the photographer determined that one of them clearly had more and better options to offer than the other. So that choice was easy. To make the shoot day more productive, the photographer went back to the chosen location and shot about a dozen quick test pictures and printed them out. The morning of the shoot, the photographer and client reviewed prints of the different situations and picked five to concentrate on.

The shoot went well. We ended up squeezing in six situations. The client loved having all the choices, along with the option to license more images in the future. And it was all due to some good-old-fashioned publicity of our own.

If you have any questions or if you need help estimating or producing one of your projects, you can reach me at jess@wonderfulmachine.com.

Engaged Observers

“The journalistic photographer, can have no other than a personal approach; and it is impossible for him to be completely objective. Honest — yes. Objective — no.”

–Eugene Smith, 1948

via  latimes.com.

Ask Anything – Showing Wedding Photography With Editorial And Commercial Work

Former Art Buyers and current photography consultants Amanda Sosa Stone and Suzanne Sease have agreed to take anonymous questions from photographers and not only give their expert advice but put it out to a wide range of photographers, reps and art buyers to gather a variety of opinions. The goal with this column is to solicit honest questions and answers through anonymity.

QUESTION:

I am freelance shooter and have been working in photography for the past 5 years. It is my sole income. I have a wedding and portrait business which is my bread and butter, at this current point in my career and most likely will be for some time. 3 years ago I started investing in a more personal exploration of photography by enrolling in an MFA program. Currently school is on hold as I could no longer justify the expense. I am now working hard towards pursuing personal projects outside of the realm of my business which I hope will eventually lead to opportunities in the Editorial and Fine Art markets and of course some advertising work would be nice too.

For some reason it has always seemed to me that being a wedding photographer has not been looked upon favorably by other areas of the photography world. In fact I have been advised by more than a few people to avoid letting editors, AD’s, galleries, etc know that I shoot weddings! I am curious about how to address this as I begin to market myself to the different tracks that I want to pursue.

Case in point, I have been accepted to Review Santa Fe which I will be attending next week. I am showing a body of work which I believe has potential for both Editorial and Fine Art application. Ultimately I am very proud of what I do and I see it as a collective whole. I also realize that everything has its place so I am trying to be careful about how I promote myself. Regardless all you have to do is google my name and you can find out what I do. So how do you balance all this?

I gotta eat you know…

Amanda and Suzanne: This question is something we tackle everyday in our business.  What to do, who to be and when to be it.  It’s a hard balance to feed your soul, while still finding a way to fill those pockets.  Fortunately, it is possible.  It’s not easy, but possible. You can be both – if you want to be and that is the real question here – WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO and BE?

ANSWERS:

PHOTO EDITOR:

Shooting weddings or any other kind of work has no bearing on how I feel about working with photographers, as long as their non-wedding work is solid and fits what I’m looking for. If anything, a photographer who shoots weddings might be better at dealing with difficult subjects — wedding clients (or, more accurately, their parents) can sometimes be a real pain in the ass.

PHOTOGRAPHER’S REP:

If I were marketing a photographer to the commercial world, one who also happens to shoot weddings as part of their business, I likely would not depict them as a “wedding photographer” to my advertising client base. However I do imagine that some of their beautifully styled, natural, ‘aspirational’ wedding images could be edited into a general lifestyle portfolio with a clear commercial application. Keep in mind that the overall look and style of the collection of images would still have to work together to convey the photographer’s vision. And while I would not promote them as a wedding photographer, I also would not discourage them from continuing to photograph weddings. Not only does everyone “gotta eat”, but a wedding is indeed a complex production and photographing such a demanding event can support the development of their photography and their skills set to help excel in business.

PHOTOGRAPHER #1:

I’m old school and was taught the same thing. Wedding photographers – ew. Commercial photographers – cool. Not sure if that is still the same today but they ARE totally different animals. I coach my friend and colleague who’s in the same boat to run the businesses separate and do everything you can to separate the marketing and websites.

A wedding photographer does not have to market themselves by their name. I suggest they build a business around a moniker.

One of the busiest wedding outfits in Atlanta go by “Our Labor of Love”.

The same person could then market commercial/editorial with their full name and build web presence around that (ie: Douglas Cooper Photography) For fine art: another version of your name: Fine Art by D.G. Cooper.

PHOTOGRAPHER #2 (who has balanced both):

If you shoot everything to the same standard, then none of it will hurt your career in advertising, it will only help. It’s really hard getting started for most photographers; there are tons of expenses and the competition is insane. If you can remain flexible about how you will earn income with your camera, but maintain consistency in your work you will do just fine.

In the past, I’ve taken on a handful of weddings for the very same reasons: they pay the bills (and I enjoy shooting them too). I had an art director call me to shoot her wedding, and it took a long time for the right assignment to follow but it did. Eventually it turned into a couple of great jobs and it built a lovely relationship. There was also a personal project I worked on when I was getting started, something I poured my heart into, as well as a fair amount of resources. The resulting work was very photojournalistic in nature but I shared it with some art buyers and it too turned into a string of great advertising assignments.

PHOTOGRAPHER #3:

YES! If you do a great job with someone’s wedding, they talk about it. Then in the next conversation where photography comes up, you will often be the first to mind. This can pay off because remember, when these people aren’t hanging at a wedding, they could be working at the country’s top companies.

To Summarize: The PHOTOGRAPHER’S REP and PHOTO EDITOR nailed it! Understanding how a wedding is produced is your FIRST schooling to how a major ad shoot is produced. It’s production 101 – and you get paid for it. Secondly, you understand how to manage the client and how to keep everyone happy. Shoot both and market them differently. We recommend (especially in this economy) – shoot both – but be smart how you market them. We received honest (and surprisingly very positive) feedback and at the end of the day – never once did you hear “only do one thing. However the message repeated – be smart how you approach doing both.

Call To Action: When marketing your 2 identities, decide who you are in each market, put a brand to each, get 2 websites and you are off and running. Consider how you will be googled and work around the name issue – like PHOTOGRAPHER #1 mentioned.

If you want more insight from Amanda and Suzanne you can contact them directly (here and here) or tune in once a week or so for more of “Ask Anything.” Amanda and Suzanne review your comments for 2 days, and then they are off researching next week’s question.