Art Producers Speak: Erik Madigan Heck

We emailed Art Buyers and Art Producers around the world asking them to submit names of established photographers who were keeping it fresh and up-and-comers who they are keeping their eye on. If you are an Art Buyer/Producer or an Art Director at an agency and want to submit a photographer anonymously for this column email: Suzanne.sease@verizon.net

Anonymous Art producer: I nominate Erik Madigan Heck. I had the pleasure to meet him over a year ago. He has such a thoughtful process and is really going places.

How many years have you been in business?

I started photographing when I was 14, and finding my path in the industry around 23, and since then it’s been about 6 more years of photographing and clarifying what I want to say with photographs.

Are you self-taught or photography school taught?

Technically, I’m self-taught (although I’m not a very technical photographer). I did go on to study photography and film-related media in graduate school. (I received my MFA from Parsons.)

Who was your greatest influence that inspired you to get into this business?

The photographer who I always credit for really whetting my appetite for photography over other mediums in art was Harry Callahan. He was able to create these supremely complex compositions out of very simple elements—and very few elements, I might add. He was the all-time minimalist. However, unlike most minimalist artists, his work retained emotion, and humanity, or a deep sense of love of life. I saw photography as a medium that was actually doing something new when Callahan took photographs, because he had perfected this space where reduction and minimalism were not exclusive to humanity.

How do you find your inspiration to be so fresh, push the envelope, stay true to yourself so that creative folks are noticing you and hiring you?

Honestly, I don’t really pay attention to what I think art buyers or advertising agencies are looking for (that’s who I assume you’re referring to when you say “creatives”). My work doesn’t adhere to a specific time or place, and I don’t think it belongs to a specific photographic and generational movement. In fact, it probably couldn’t be more different from my generation’s photography, which would be easy to argue has very much been defined by Ryan McGinley, and the beautifying and documenting of youth culture. What I think keeps my work fresh is that it isn’t contemporary in its aesthetic stamp, nor does it deal with youth culture. It aims for something much broader, yet at the same time it tries to deal with contemporary ideas about where photography is going and hopefully challenges the idea of belonging to “now.” I think underneath the purposeful beauty of the image lie a lot of questions that are worth asking. Art should always ask questions.

Do you find that some creatives love your work but the client holds you back?

No, clients typically don’t hold me back. I’d like to think if they’ve hired me, they’ve already made a decision to take a risk and are willing to go all in. My work isn’t for everyone. It’s very specific, and it’s not necessarily what the mass public is used to digesting, and I think most clients I work with have come to me for that very reason.

What are you doing to get your vision out to the buying audience?

I release new work almost weekly online on different websites. I’m a huge advocate of publishing online, as opposed to in print. As much as I love the printed object—the beauty of books, and zines, and seeing something in a magazine—the point is for as many people to see and be affected by my work, and the Internet’s reach is far greater any book or magazine.

What is your advice for those who are showing what they think the buyers want to see?

Inherently, art buyers need to be shown what is contemporary by the artists, not the other way around. Artists have the unique position of defining what buyers need, and creating a new mode of thinking and desire. My advice would be to remember as the artist you always are in the position of power, even though it may not appear that way in the commercial landscape anymore.

Are you shooting for yourself and creating new work to keep your artistic talent true to you?

Yes, always. Every project I do is for me, even if it’s a commission. I don’t differentiate from commercial and private work. I see them as always integrated. One ongoing project I’m always working on is photographing flowers, which I’ve found to be one of the most challenging subjects to work with.

How often are you shooting new work?

I try to shoot new work, or at least concept it, every week.

Erik Madigan Heck was born in Excelsior in 1983, to Croatian and Northern Irish parents. He earned his MFA in Photography and Film Related Studies from Parsons School of Design in New York in 2009- where he currently lives and works. Heck is a continuing guest lecturer in both the graduate and undergraduate programs at The School of Visual Arts in New York, and is the creative director of the semi-annual art journalNomenus Quarterly 

Heck’s advertising and editorial clients include Levis, BMW, Neiman Marcus, Eres, Vanity Fair, W Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, TIME, Le Monde, The New Yorker, amongst many others. His fashion clients include Ann Demeulemeester, Haider Ackermann, Giambattista Valli, Kenzo, Mary Katrantzou, and The Row. 

In 2012 Erik Madigan Heck was a recipient of “The Shot” award, and named as one of the top 6 “exhilarating new talents” by W Magazine and the International Center of Photography. In 2011 he received both the Forbes Magazine 30 under 30 Award, as well as the PDN 30 Award. Heck was also nominated for the prestigious ICP Infinity award in the applied fashion category. Heck is also a past National Scholastic Gold Medal recipient.

APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world. She has been involved in the photography and illustration industry since the mid 80s, after founding the art buying department at The Martin Agency then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies. She has a new Twitter fed with helpful marketing information.  Follow her@SuzanneSease.

Pricing & Negotiating: Portraits of Real Customers for Advertising Shoot

by Jess Dudley Wonderful Machine

Shoot Concept: Environmental portraits of real customers/users on location.

Licensing: National Advertising (Print, Web and OOH) and Collateral use (in all media) of up to eight “hero” images for three years from shoot date. We used specific language requested by the agency: unlimited national print, in-store signage, OOH electronic media and online video use.

Location: Four homes/small businesses in Southern California.

Shoot Days: Three.

Photographer: Seasoned East Coast based lifestyle and portrait shooter.

Agency: Large, based in New York.

Client: Prominent electronics manufacturer with a household name.

Here’s the initial estimate:
Click to enlarge.Click to enlarge.

Here’s how I arrived at those numbers:

Concept/Licensing: The agency came to us with four distinct concepts/ads, each portraying a specific product in use at home or in a business. The client had already selected the talent (real customers), from a casting they did using social media, that considered the subject’s look, their space and their story. The photographer was charged with covering two situations with each person at their home or business; one portrait, posed with product, the other candid, product in use. Since two of the locations were relatively close to one another, we were asked to quote it assuming we could double up the talent and locations on one of the three shoot days.

When determining licensing fees, I usually value the first image higher than the rest. It is not uncommon for a client to build a campaign around a single hero image and then have several supporting images. For projects that feature only one concept/product but ask for alternate talent, wardrobe or slight compositional variations, I routinely set the value of the first image based on the licensing, concept and complexity, then determine a percentage value for each additional image, typically dropping down to 50-75% the value of the first image. The reason being that each of the slightly varied additional images doesn’t go that much farther to help the end client convey their message. In cases where the concepts vary to target different audiences, emphasize different product features, or promote different products made by the same client, I will assign a higher percentage to the additional images, 75-100% the value of the first. In this case, the client makes two different product lines, one for business, one for home. They also make a variety of products within each of those segments. For those reasons, I decided to set the fee for the four portraits at one rate, and the candid variation at 50% of that price.

Considering the use, size/prominence of the client & agency, number of images, various brand messages achieved, volume of work/shoot days, and the photographer’s experience, I set the fee at 8000.00 for each of the four portraits and 4000.00 for each of the candids. For the purposes of the estimate, I bundled it all together as an overall licensing/creative fee of 48000.00. Blinkbid’s bid consultant provided a range of 9450.00-13,500.00 per image, or 226,800.00-324,000.00 for all eight. Corbis quoted 17,500.00 per image for the first year and didn’t have a three year option for the quote pack I’d selected. Fotoquote suggested 30,976.00 per image for the use. None of these resources readily factor in any discount for additional images/variations or the prominence of the client, but they still offer great perspective.

Photographer Travel/Tech-Scout Days: The photographer would need two full travel days and a tech/scout day to get a sense of the locations and talent/subjects before the shoot.

Producer Days: The producer (me in this case) is responsible for coordinating travel, scheduling and crew. This takes the pressure off the photographer. It’s the producer’s job to plan and coordinate the logistics so the photographer can focus on the making great pictures. I estimated two prep days, two travel, one tech/scout, three shoot and one wrap day. When the photographer is traveling, it is not unusual to bring his/her local producer.

First Assistant Days: The photographer would be bringing his first assistant. It is standard for a photographer to travel with a first. Since the photographer shoots with minimal lighting, only one trusted photo assistant was necessary.

Digital Tech Days: The photographer would be shooting tethered to allow for immediate image review and layout composting. The rate included the tech’s fee, a supped up 27″ iMac and all the necessary accouterments.

Equipment Rental: The photographer would be shooting with Canon DLSRs and lenses, basic grip equipment and a few Profoto packs/heads for supplemental light (if needed).

Image Processing for Editing: This fee covers the time, equipment and costs to handle the basic color correction, edit and upload of all of the images to an FTP for client review. Depending on number of shoot days and estimated number of scenarios/images, this rate can vary.

Selects Processed for Reproduction: This per image processing fee for the photographer to handle basic processing (color correction and blemish removal) for the client selects. Anything over and above the basic processing would be considered retouching and be billed at 150.00/hr, which is covered in the terms and conditions.

Location Scout Day: Even though the casting process required submission of scouting shots of each subject’s space, we wanted to get a professional out get some quality shots of each of the selected spaces to make sure we weren’t walking into any unusually difficult scenarios. I also wanted him to check out orientation, windows, and parking options.

Wardrobe Styling: We’d need a stylist to source wardrobe for each of the talent. Two options for each, one for the posed, one for the candid. I estimated two days to shop, three days for the shoot and one day to return. We budgeted 200.00 in non-returnable items for each wardrobe change.

Prop Styling: The prop stylist would need to purchase supplemental props to augment or update each space. We estimated two days for shopping, three days of shooting and one day of return for the stylist, one day of prep and three shoot days for the assistant, 500.00 in non-returnable props per location, and five days of prop-truck/van rental.

Groomer: Since we would only be shooting one talent at a time, we could get away with one wardrobe stylist and one make-up stylist who can also handle light wardrobe adjustments on set (a groomer). We included the groomer for all three shoot days

Airfare, Lodging and Car Rentals: Using Kayak, I priced out airfare & baggage costs, lodging and car rentals for the photographer, assistant & producer. I was sure to also include any taxes, fees, insurance and gas necessary.

Catering: I estimated three days of catering for 12 people at 50.00pp/day.

RV Days: Even though we were being provided indoor locations, I wanted to make sure our crew had the space to handle wardrobe, HMU and gear. RV’s also give the client/agency a space to hang out while shots are being set up and catering a place to stage.

Miles, Parking, FTP, Misc: I included costs for traveling meals, dinners, parking (at the hotel and airport), mileage, FTP for file upload and a little bit to cover any miscellaneous expenses that may arise.

Housekeeping: I made sure to indicate that the client/agency would be responsible for providing all advance scouting, casting, talent, locations and releases. Since these are all elements that might normally be included in a production estimate, I wanted to make certain it was clear that, as discussed, we would not be providing any of them and that the client or agency would be responsible for each.  Lastly, I noted that a 50% advance would be required.

At first, the art buyer told me that our numbers looked good, but then she called back a little later to say that they had another photographer who was willing to give them unrestricted use of all the pictures – for $10k less than we were bidding. She asked what we could do to match that. I have to admit, it’s a little annoying when a client asked us to meet another bidder’s licensing terms. After all, you can find any photographer to bid any price and terms. And it’s not reasonable to expect to have the pictures from one photographer at the price of another. I had a good enough relationship with the art buyer that I was able to call her out on this, asking that she ask the other photographer to raise his rates to meet ours. But, she wouldn’t do that. She also told us that the client wanted to license “outtakes” from the shoot to use on their website. And even though the client only wanted to use them on their website, they wanted the licensing to match that of the hero shots. Not being comfortable just licensing some unlimited number of images, we settled on an additional 32 images. Now, just because a client asks for something doesn’t mean you have to do it. I was pretty confident that my photographer was competing on quality rather than price, so while I didn’t feel that we need to match the other photographer’s terms we did decide to bend, coming down 3000.00 on the fee and including use of 40 images. Adding in the additional processing fees for the “outtakes” actually brought us back up above our original quote.

Here’s the final estimate:
Click to enlarge.Click to enlarge.

After a few days, the job was officially awarded to us and I immediately set to work on the production. The shoot went well and the agency, client and photographer were all thrilled with the results.

If you have any questions, or if you need help estimating or producing a project, please give us a call at (610) 260-0200. We’re available to help with any and all pricing and negotiating needs—from small stock sales to big ad campaigns.

Time is the raw material of creation

Wipe away the magic and myth of creating and all that remains is work: the work of becoming expert through study and practice, the work of finding solutions to problems and problems with those solutions, the work of trial and error, the work of thinking and perfecting, the work of creating. Creating consumes. It is all day, every day. It knows neither weekends nor vacations. It is not when we feel like it. It is habit, compulsion, obsession, vocation. The common thread that links creators is how they spend their time. No matter what you read, no matter what they claim, nearly all creators spend nearly all their time on the work of creation. There are few overnight successes and many up-all-night successes.

via Creative People Say No — Thoughts on creativity — Medium.

He has on occasion pulled me back from the abyss

Firstly, I became a photographer. This may sound easy but it went against the very fiber of my upbringing. He helped me allow this part of my life to flourish. There have been so many roadblocks along the way that he helped me fight off and allow me to focus my energies on my work.

But most importantly I began to understand myself and my feelings. How I thwart myself from succeeding, how I made others miserable with my anger and frustration, and most importantly no matter how unhappy or critical I am with myself he always believed in me.

via The End Starts Here.

the do-it-yourself disruption has led to a flourishing of book making creativity and innovation

They have resolutely camped out in no man’s land, bring prose that is more than a caption but less than an essay into direct conversation with individual images, allowing each photograph to open up further. And they have rejected the notion that such a product need thump down on your coffee table, and have instead offered us a physical form that can be enjoyed with unassuming pleasure. All in, Soth and Zellar have taken a bunch of obvious risks and delivered something of unpretentious grace and genius, a product that elegantly fits both who they are and the way they see the world.

via DLK COLLECTION: Book: Alec Soth and Brad Zellar, LBM Dispatch #5: Colorado.

Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Photographer Arne Svenson

The New York photographer who provoked controversy by photographing his neighbors through their apartment windows and exhibiting the images in a show has fended off lawsuit for invasion of privacy. New York State court judge Judge Eileen  A. Rakower dismissed the claim against photographer Arne Svenson, ruling that the photos in question were protected by the First Amendment. She also ruled that the images did not violate New York State civil rights laws, as the plaintiffs had claimed.”An artist may create and sell a work of art that resembles an individual without his or her written consent,” Judge Rakower wrote in her decision, underscoring a central principle of the case.

via PDN.

Don’t go to art school

By their own estimation, the cost of a four year education at RISD is $245,816. As way of comparison, the cost of a diploma from Harvard Law School is a mere $236,100. This is embarrassing. It’s downright shameful. That any art school should deceive its students into believing that this is a smart decision is cruel and unusual. Artists are neither doctors nor lawyers. We do not, on average, make huge six-figure salaries. We can make livable salaries, certainly. Even comfortable salaries. But we ain’t usually making a quarter mil a year. Hate to break it to you.

via Medium.

Being smart is highly overrated, according to Kenneth Goldsmith, the Museum of Modern Art’s first poet laureate.

“Dumb favors re—recontextualization, reframing, redoing, remixing, recycling—rather than having to go through the effort of creating something from scratch. Dumb embraces the messiness of contradiction and revels in the beauty of the ridiculously obvious. … Since dumb has nothing to lose, dumb owes nothing to anyone, and in that way it is free.”

via In Praise of Being Dumb | IdeaFeed | Big Think.

Art Producers Speak: Daeja Fallas

We emailed Art Buyers and Art Producers around the world asking them to submit names of established photographers who were keeping it fresh and up-and-comers who they are keeping their eye on. If you are an Art Buyer/Producer or an Art Director at an agency and want to submit a photographer anonymously for this column email: Suzanne.sease@verizon.net

Anonymous Art Director: I nominate: Daeja Fallas. “She is a good egg and talented”

I was working with a lingerie company on their branding and we fell in love with the song “Cosmic Love” by Florence and the Machine, which lead to the creation of this image.
Billabong recently licensed some of my images to create a capsule collection line of t-shirts. An illustrator friend of mine and I created the graphics using my images and her illustrations then got together again to shoot the collection we named “Coast to Coast”
lucky rainbow!
Raymond Meier and I worked together on this – what an experience! I shot 12 people in Hawaii over 4 days and Raymond worked from New York on the still life. I’ll never forget that!
Michelle, my friend, my silly sister, my little muse.
This was shot on Long Island for a men’s line of surf shorts made from recycled plastic bottles.
Wings
Creating images for a brand of apparel, I really wanted to capture the heat and energy of New York City in the summer. This was an outtake I shot when part of her ice cream fell but it worked out and became one of the images they used in their advertising.
Brooklyn’s Afro Punk Fest
Fall in upstate NY
India Menuez is such a vibrant, interesting young actress. After meeting her and taking a few photos I didn’t feel like we had captured “her” so I ran down to a bodega in Bushwick where we were shooting and bought several bouquets of neon daisies. We pulled the petals off of all of them and I asked her to blow them into my camera lens. When she did I thought, “now, this feels like India.”
Returning home to shoot other female surfers is such a treat. This was made for Free People.

How many years have you been in business?

I finished up my days of assisting and got a studio space in the summer of 2011, so it’s been just under 2 years that I’ve been in business for myself.

Are you self-taught or photography school taught?

I took a few photo classes while in school studying French Lit. When I started to take photos every day one of my teachers noticed and found me an internship at Paris Match, a French news magazine. As an intern, I was given small local assignments. That taught me a lot about working on assignment with edits and deadlines, which was a great education in being a working photographer.

Who was your greatest influence that inspired you to get into this business?

I come from a family of artists so although there have been several photographers whose work has been important to me, my family has been my biggest influence. While in high school my mom bought me a book on photography and showed me the Richard Avedon photo of Dovima with elephants, I’ve been hooked ever since!

How do you find your inspiration to be so fresh, push the envelope, stay true to yourself so that creative folks are noticing you and hiring you?

Growing up my mom would often say, “Mother Nature is the ultimate artist.” My work is, possibly as a result of that, heavily inspired by moods and tone of environment. As nature is always changing, I find my inspiration comes from different places depending on where I am. I love the way the light is constantly changing in New York, throughout the seasons it shifts in position and color, it changes the way my apartment and studio feel with each new season. In Hawaii, where I grew up and spent every day in the ocean, the light is bright and hot and the colors are vibrant and almost glowing sometimes–all of these things affect the way I feel, and therefore how and what I shoot.

Do you find that some creatives love your work but the client holds you back?

I have had the good fortune of working with creatives and clients who have made me a large part of the creative process, giving me freedom to try things and suggest ideas and the ideal environment for me in any working relationship is one where communication is high.

What are you doing to get your vision out to the buying audience?

Although I use social media quite a bit and have had success in using various platforms, I have a weakness for the tangible, so I try to print my work as often as possible. Using different outlets from shooting editorial to printing simple postcards and zines has been a good way to share my work. If someone is drawn to a particular image, I’ll make a print and send it to them.

I remember an art buyer really loving one of my images in particular. She kept returning to it saying “I love this! I can just feel the warmth in this image and I want to live in it!” That was wonderful to hear, so I made her a print.

What is your advice for those who are showing what they think the buyers want to see?

Find your voice and own it! Your perspective is unique to you, so show the images that resonate with you and people will notice.

Are you shooting for yourself and creating new work to keep your artistic talent true to you?

Absolutely. We all start out shooting for ourselves and I think it is important to continue that process and nurture your own creativity.

How often are you shooting new work?

Sometimes I shoot almost every day and other times maybe only once a week–it depends on what I am working on.

Daeja Fallas
www.daejafallas.com
www.tinker-street.com
blog: http://daejafallas.tumblr.com

Daeja Fallas was born in Hawaii and grew surfing on Maui’s North Shore. At the age of 8, her grandfather put a camera in her hands when they set out to drive from Los Angeles to Hershey, Pennsylvania in a Volkswagen bus. Her mission was to photograph every deer and squirrel along the way. Since that summer Daeja has continued to travel with a camera in her pocket documenting the world around her.

Surfing and photography led Daeja and her best friend from Maui to other coast lines and eventually to the small island of Tavarua Fiji to spend their last summer surfing and taking pictures together. This trip led to Daeja’s first published editorial.

Continuing her travels, Daeja moved to Paris where she lived for 6 years completing her studies in French Literature and Art History at the Sorbonne. Soon after college she began photographing her own projects while assisting photographers in Paris and eventually moved to New York where she now resides.

Daeja is represented by Jesse Miller at Tinker Street *.

APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world. She has been involved in the photography and illustration industry since the mid 80s, after founding the art buying department at The Martin Agency then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies. She has a new Twitter fed with helpful marketing information.  Follow her@SuzanneSease.

Instant gratification might not necessarily be a good thing

That seems to be the lesson to take from Mr. Metzker’s long career, and perhaps from Modernism as well. Instant gratification might not necessarily be a good thing, and we could all do with a bit more patience. “If people will give it the time, they’ll find things that speak to them,” said Ms. Tucker. “There is meat on these bones. It challenges and engages us. God knows it’s not the social media world. And that’s maybe its biggest handicap. It’s work that takes time.”

via, NY Times Lens Blog

100 Portraits Before I Die

Photographer Giles Duley worked as a portrait photographer for 10 years before cynicism with celebrity culture took him in the direction of humanitarian issues. He had always hoped to return to portraiture, but while working in Afghanistan in 2011 he stepped on a landmine. It’s a miracle he survived as most soldiers who have an arm and two legs blown off do not make it. During the ensuing 46 days fighting for his life trapped inside his body, Giles imagined all the portraits he wanted to take, aware that now he’d probably never get the chance. He resolved that if by some chance he made it through he’d contact the names on his list and ask them to sit for a portrait.

Two years, 30 operations and a long rehabilitation later he has begun his journey on this website:
http://100portraitsbeforeidie.co.uk

The writing is fantastic:

I’ve had to hire all the equipment and I desperately trying to get it all set up in time with my assistant Noemie. It seems during my ten-year hiatus even the lighting stands have changed. I’m fumbling around trying just to set that up, it’s the most basic piece of kit here, but every time I let go of the stand, it just collapses and keels over. I’m the photographic equivalent of the embarrassing dancing dad at a wedding disco; a head full of fabled disco day memories, a present day of uncoordinated reality.

I decided to make a coffee but even there I’m faced with a NASA style interface and am left bewildered and coffee less.

In my planning I’d always thought the moments leading up to my first portrait would be a time of calm and reflection. A time to consider my subject and to focus on how I was going to record their essence in a single frame. Instead I’m a wreck, sweating like crazy and talking inanely to myself.

I’m also aware that I’ve underestimated the power of the lights. The 2.5k tungsten’s aren’t giving out enough light to make my set-up work as I’d hoped.

And it gets worse; I made a last minute decision to shoot this project on a medium format camera, something I was did all the time when I worked in studios. These larger format cameras are bulkier, but well suited to a studio where the produce much more detail in the finished images.

The last ten years though have seen a revolution. Last time I shot in a studio it was on film. Now I have a digital Hasselblad in my hands and I have no idea how it works. Naively I thought it couldn’t be that complicated, but I can’t even turn it on.

I’m looking forward to following the journey with Giles. Join me.

thx, Myles