We were attracted to the weirdness of stock photography

It’s a mixture of Skymall catalogues, aspirational lifestyles, and art references. For one recent story that focussed on disrupting the family-friendly side of stock imagery, we searched stock sites for “wholesome” imagery—finding that term meant fruits and vegetables, household chores, and healthy-lifestyle choices. We combined these elements with censored nudity, off-kilter Old Navy styling, and an unhealthy obsession with flip-flops.

via The New Yorker: PhotoBooth.

The invisible photographer had been caught

“Those are the difficult moments every photographer has to get over and get away with it and not be discouraged,” he says. “Because if one is sensitive, it has an effect on you. So maybe it’s better not to be sensitive as a photographer and just go on. Many photographers today have that but I never had that. I think it’s nice to be sensitive as a photographer and maybe it’s harder.”

via ‘Americans’: The Book That Changed Photography : NPR.

But when does it go beyond the merely seductive and dreamy stage?

The trouble with photographs today is that they are so easy to make and share, so seductive, so representative of our lives at any given moments (friends, the crazy things they do, drugs, risks, sex, school, parties, girlfriends, boys, on and on) and you definitely have an eye! But when does it go beyond the merely seductive and dreamy stage? Only you can answer that question whenever you are ready. I bet in a year your photographs will be totally different.

— Joel Meyerowitz to 18 year old Olivia Bee

via NY Mag.

Studio Manager Meditation: Coiling Cables

any time we’re working with a new assistant for the first time, I’m always curious to see how they coil a cable. It’s not a test, more of an observation – are they cautions, are they thoughtful? Are they paying attention? You can learn a lot about someone’s work ethic from something very small and seemingly trivial.

via Chris Crisman Photography.

This Week In Photography Books – Nicolai Howalt

by Jonathan Blaustein

It was snowing. Lightly. The roads were not yet covered. Entirely. There was a slight sheen on the asphalt, blanketing the black ice like a grandmother’s knitted afghan. (Big ups, Grandma Ruth, wherever you are.)

I was driving East towards the mountains. My skis were in the back, my mind on the foot of fresh powder waiting to be shredded. I didn’t have my cellphone, which was rare. It was waiting for me on the seat of a little Mazda in the Taos Ski Valley parking lot.

My intended companions were two enormous Germans, so big they were nicknamed Triple G. The Gentle German Giants. One was 6’5″, the other 6’8″ and bald. As a 5’7″ Jewish guy, we were guaranteed to make a ridiculous triumvirate, dashing down the slopes.

There was no one on the Rim Road, so named because it sits above a sheer cliff that drops precipitously down to the Valdez valley, several hundred feet below. This being New Mexico, where things don’t always work right, the road actually narrows to one lane in two places. Sketchy.

I motored along in my Volkswagen Passat station-wagon. I bought it used, from a dead lady, as we planned to have our first child. It’s all about the airbags. The car started to break down the week after the check cleared. Thousands, I poured into the piece of shit. The week before, I cursed the vehicle out loud, screaming, begging the gods to take it from me.

Be careful what you wish for.

I saw the Waste Management garbage truck before he saw me. Enormous. He was chugging out of a dirt road, now slick, perpendicular to the Rim Road before me. With all of his mass, I knew he couldn’t stop in time.

He slammed on the brakes, and skidded into my lane, not 30 yards ahead. I was now, unfortunately, completely cut off. Time slowed down. For real. I had two choices. Take the hit, or jerk the wheel left, whereupon I might plunge down the cliff to my death. Awesome.

Without thinking, I took the hit, and smashed nose first into monstrous steel beast. The crunch was sickening, the smoke almost instantaneous. Thank goodness, I’d bought new tires five days earlier. The airbag deployed, as promised.

Garbage truck, snowy mountain road, edge of a cliff. A recipe for disaster. Somehow, I walked away unhurt. The other driver refused to look me in the eye, or admit his faults. Asshole. He waited, silently, for his corporate honcho to arrive and speak on his behalf. Fortunately, his silence prevented him from lying to the State Policeman, who wrote up the report as I described it.
Thankfully, I’d borrowed my wife’s cell phone, and was able to call for a ride back home. I shook for hours.

Do we all have a story like this? I sure hope not. Though it happened three years ago this week, and I’m very happy with the Hyundai I bought as a replacement, my head still quivers at my good luck. Others, of course, fare not-so-well in similar encounters.

This week, I looked at Nicolai Howalt’s “Car Crash Studies,” put out by Etudes Books in Paris. It didn’t take long for my mind to flash back to that dismal, gray day. I can see it all in my mind so clearly. But the book, you say?

The images are cold, formal examinations of bent steel, crunched glass, and dirty interior carpets. It begins with abstract imagery, pictures one might honestly describe as beautiful. If you like that sort of thing.

After a run of abstractions, the photographer pulls back, and we see the aforementioned airbags. Then, the inside of destroyed cars. Little details emerge. A stuffed animal hanging from a rear view mirror. A pink key chain dangling from the ignition block. A pack of cigarettes never to be smoked. They could be installations, or de facto sculptures inside the wreckage.

Near the end, we see the blood. Only one photo, thankfully. On the steering wheel. Any more would have been heavy-handed. (Looking again, I noticed that this image was also on the cover. I would have chosen differently.)

People can’t help but look at car crashes. Rubber-necking is a morbid and pathetic part of the human condition, but there it is. More traffic is caused by twisted curiosity than I care to ponder. Just think of all that latent economic activity.

Always, though, it comes back to tragedy. These pictures imply it, as did Andy Warhol’s excellent painting series on the same subject. Misery and death are hard to stomach, in literal fashion. A photo of a dead person is just that. A photo. Not much metaphor possible. Here, though, our imagination is stimulated. Our memories flood. And that’s good enough for me.

Bottom Line: Formal, abstract visions of car-crash destruction

To Purchase “Car Crash Studies” Visit Photo-Eye

Full Disclosure: Books are provided by Photo-Eye in exchange for links back for purchase.

Books are found in the bookstore and submissions are not accepted.

 

I Would Love To See A Representation Of The World That Isn’t Photographic Clichés

I am looking forward to being surprised by imaginative photography that is original, curious, and thoughtful. I am not concerned at all about what equipment has been used, I am not sure it’s really very relevant. I would love to see a representation of the world that isn’t reductive, that doesn’t represent the world in photographic cliches – old or new cliches. Since the first year I judged the contest, I saw photographers emulating work that had been successful in previous years or plagiarizing the style and vision of someone else.

— Gary Knight, Chair of  2013 World Press Photo Contest

via World Press Photo.

Still Images in Great Advertising- Erik Madigan Heck

Still Images In Great Advertising, is a column where Suzanne Sease discovers great advertising images and then speaks with the photographers about it.

I stumbled across Erik Madigan Heck’s work while looking for great work for this column and I am thrilled I did. When I read Erik’s bio, I was shocked to see what he has accomplished before turning 30. He just received the ICP Infinity award in the applied fashion category. If you check out his work you can see why: www.maisondesprit.com. He is represented by Stockland-Martel (NA) and Wefolk (Europe). Today we are featuring his print campaign for ETRO.

Suzanne: I read in your bio that you love to mix the influences of photography and illustration and this campaign really showcases that. What was your inspiration with this campaign?

For this particular campaign I was looking a lot at Matisse’s later works, and thinking about his use of body positioning, as well as furthering my own interest in the use of frontal primary colors. I’m interested in how reducing colors to block forms creates a sense of flatness, which is more akin to illustration than to photography.

Suzanne: Looking at your work you present the work that is true to your vision and talent. Some clients pull you back while others allow you to showcase your vision, therefore the campaigns stand out. So many artists are scared to show work that is “safer” what is your advice to them?

Safety only comes when one is scared of being uncomfortable, and work should always come from a place of discomfort- otherwise you’re not creating, you’re simply regurgitating.

Suzanne: You got your MFA from Parsons in 2009 and you have all this work created including Neiman-Marcus hiring you in 2012 to shoot their Art of Fashion portfolio and short films. I believe this is because you stayed true to your vision. What was it like to be the youngest photographer that Neiman Marcus ever hired for this legendary campaign?

It was extraordinary to work with a company of this scale and reach, and to work with such a legendary creative director such as Georgia Christensen. I felt very honored, and also felt that I had something original to offer Neiman Marcus- that resonated with what they needed as a brand to differentiate their idea of luxury from the rest of the market.

Suzanne: I love looking at personal work and I was intrigued by “Undercover” What is this story about? And as you can see it creates a dialogue with a buyer. This is why I feel showing your vision in personal work is so important. What are your thoughts on this subject?

Undercover is a Japanese brand actually, its designed by Jun Takahashi, and this was something I created to really push the boundaries of my own idea of high fashion merging with streetwear. It came from a place of referencing photo history with Weegee’s newspaper photographs, as well as bringing in overt political issues such as race and cross continental misunderstandings of what the term “street” even means today. Streetwear has been appropriated by high fashion, and I wanted to bring something raw back to it, but that also was still staged and not based in reality.

Suzanne added to above: I am thrilled that I thought the project was a personal one when in fact it was client assignment. Brilliant.

Suzanne: How do you continue to push your vision while keeping your work so fresh and energetic?

I’m constantly searching for that balance, I tend to do a lot of research in the history of both photography and painting, while also looking a lot to contemporary music, and especially electronic and subversive music cultures. A lot of my work is actually influenced as much by experimental music as it is by art history.

Note: Content for Still Images In Great Advertising is found. Submissions are not accepted.

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.

Be talented. And be nice.

still love old-school promos too, btw. I get a stack of mail everyday, and while 95% of it might go in the trash if there’s that one promo I like I put it on my stack of promos on the shelf (see below). It might be nine or ten months later, but I’ll remember the work and will go look for the promo if we want to consider hiring that person.

–Leslie Baldwin, Texas Monthly Photography Editor

via I Love Texas Photo .

The #1 Rated Super Bowl Commercial Shot By 10 Photographers

Photographers Andy Anderson, William Allard, Jim Arndt, Daniel Beltra, Mark Gooch, Andy Mahr, Kurt Markus, David Spielman, Matt Turley and Olaf Veltman got the call of a lifetime when veteran adman Jimmy Bonner of The Richard’s Group phoned with simple instructions and a mantra from Paul Harvey. He asked them to go spend time with farmers and ranchers and take pictures to be shown in a 2 minute spot for Ram during the Super Bowl. No AD’s or clients or craft service; just photographers and their subjects.

AdWeek is calling it the #1 spot from the Super Bowl and love or hate the sentimental message you’ve got see this as a clear referendum on the power of photography. At nearly $3,800,000 per 30 seconds of air time, Ram and The Richards Group made a huge bet and came up aces. According to Andy Anderson and his blog Rob Baker, and Deb Grisham we’re also involved in the production.

Still Images in Great Advertising- Cade Martin

Still Images In Great Advertising, is a column where Suzanne Sease discovers great advertising images and then speaks with the photographers about it.

Cade Martin has been a long time client of mine and I have been more than thrilled at his continuing success and growth.  This latest campaign is with Starbucks and their TAZO tea brand which came to him through his agents at Greenhouse Reps.



Suzanne:  I see you finessing this style and growing the technique.  Is this because this creative team allowed you to push the envelope more than some past projects?

Working with the Starbucks creative team was an amazing experience. They were collaborative as well as super supportive of anything I wanted to try, and gave the time and space to push it a little bit further and experiment.  For this project I pulled together a team with a lot of feature film experience, which helped take it in the direction I wanted.

Suzanne: Where did you shoot this campaign?  It is so etherial.  But some of that I think is your lighting and technique that you have taken further.

We shot the entire campaign over three days in LA, two days were at Greystone Mansion (a Tudor-style estate where films like There Will Be Blood and The Prestige were filmed) and one day was at the Huntington Botanical Gardens.

We had a number of scenarios and the two locations were perfect in that they allowed us multiple looks that were all completely different.

Suzanne: What are your plans to continue to grow this style of shooting?  It is nice to be known for a unique style but if you don’t push and grow you get pigeon holed.

It’s an interesting question and I’ve faced the pigeon holing at every step of my career. When I first started I worked on a couple of projects for National Geographic & Discovery Channel and I was considered a reportage photographer. I then worked on corporate portraits and I was known as the corporate guy. I did a book project for a ballet company so I was then the dance guy.  I know it’s human nature to want to classify someone but I’d love to be considered just a photographer.  I honestly love the range of the projects that I work on and I think I’m able to draw on each and every one of these different experiences to bring something to a project that maybe wasn’t considered.

Suzanne:  I know that it is wonderful to be doing National and International assignments, but you still love your local clients and the work they do.  How to get the message to local advertising community that you still love their projects, too.

I live in DC, am raising my family in DC and I truly love working in DC. It really is a neat city, an international city, and there is a ton of amazing work being created here – projects large & small and I love being a part of it.   I’ve been very fortunate to have a list of local clients that I love working with and truly enjoy the collaborative nature of our work.  It’s like family.  Photography for me is not just about the grand and faraway – but often, it’s the joy of bringing a new look – or discovering a hidden secret – in your very own backyard.

Note: Content for Still Images In Great Advertising is found. Submissions are not accepted.

Cade Martin is an award-winning photographer for advertising, corporate and fashion clients worldwide. His meticulous attention to detail helps shape an environment that echoes the real world, but with a heightened emotional focus. Specializing in people and location photography, Martin has worked for clients including Tommy Hilfiger, Coors Brewing Company, Zurich, America’s Next Top Model, Discovery Channel, Karla Colletto, IBM, Verizon, Marriott International, Grey Goose, National Geographic Society, Starbucks and other companies and creative agencies.

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.

Jin Zhu, How You Living?

It’s possible to live off of commercial photography, but I don’t think it’s possible to live off art photography full time, or at the least it’s highly unlikely for all but the exceptional few. I did receive an honorarium for a show, which was a pleasant surprise, but every artist I know works a day job or takes commercial gigs.

via American Photo.

Expert Advice: One-On-One Portfolio Reviews

by Kayleen Kauffman, Wonderful Machine

One-on-one portfolio reviews should be an essential part of any photographer’s marketing plan. It’s a great opportunity to get your work literally under the noses of decision makers at ad agencies, magazines and design firms. We’ve found that creatives are more likely to work with photographers they know, and meetings are a great way to solidify those relationships. It’s your opportunity to present your brand, your work and yourself. However, many photographers find the idea of setting up meetings to be somewhat daunting, so I’ve put together a step-by-step guide to securing and preparing for your own portfolio reviews:

Preparing Your Promotional Materials

  • Make sure your print portfolio is up to date and well edited. Get a second opinion on your edit from a friend or consultant (see Sean’s Expert Advice: How To Edit Photographs).
  • Consider whether an iPad portfolio is appropriate for you. Print portfolios still get more attention from clients at our portfolio events than iPads do. But tablets are essential if you shoot motion and they’re also a nice supplement to show recent projects and to go into greater depth on a particular subject.
  • Have an appropriate leave-behind ready to go. A simple postcard can work. However, you’ll score extra points for something unique like a small booklet or even your own app (like Tony Burns’ Shooting The World). Whenever possible your leave-behind should be memorable, inventive and reflective of your brand.
  • Make sure your website is up to date and working properly. Nobody is going to make an appointment with you without first checking out your site. Make sure it’s solid (see Paul’s Expert Advice: Website Dos and Don’ts.)

Research

  • Whether you’re traveling across the country or just across town, you’ll need to do some research to make sure you’re barking up the right trees. Check out each client’s website to make sure that your photography matches up with their needs, so you don’t waste your time or theirs. Start close to home and then branch out from there. You will only be able to meet with a relatively small number of prospects over the course of your career, so you have to make each appointment count.
  • Put together a list of 40-50 clients that you can tackle. List services are a great place to start finding appropriate clients and building prospect lists.  When we’re setting up meetings for a photographer, we’ll first search for prospects in our internal database. Then we’ll visit Agency Access for additional names. As useful as list services are, nothing is more valuable than personal networking. When you find one client who really responds to your work, ask them if they know any others who might be a good match for you.
  • As you start to cultivate relationships with prospective clients, it will be important to keep good records of your interaction with them. See Craig’s Expert Advice: Understanding Contact Databases.

Requesting & Planning for Meetings

  • After you have your list of prospects complied, start reaching out. We’ve found that contacting people roughly a week before you’d like to meet is a good rule of thumb. Do it too far in advance and you risk having them forget about the meeting or cancel on you. Too little notice may find them already booked up. Start with a casual email that includes:
  1. The prospect’s name.
  2. A little about how your skills and interests might match up with their needs.
  3. A link to your site.
  4. The dates and times you’re available.
  • Don’t attach images to your email. I find that this increases the chance of your email getting stuck in spam filters.
  • Give the impression that you’re going to be in town for other meetings (even if you haven’t set up any others yet). You don’t want anyone to feel pressure that you’re making a special trip for them.
  • Don’t ask for too much time. “A few minutes” is what you should ask for. If get more than that, great. Here’s a basic template:

  • After a day or two, if you don’t get a reply, follow up with a phone call. Yes, this can be scary, but it’s good to be proactive. Don’t create an awkward moment by saying, “I was just calling to follow up on an email I sent you…” They will probably not remember your email among the other 100 they got that day. Simply reiterate that you’re going to be in town next week and you were wondering if they might have a few minutes to take a look at your book. Keep it friendly, short and to the point.
  • Sometimes it’s helpful to write out a script and practice it so you’re comfortable with what you’re going to say. You might have to practice it a few hundred times so you don’t sound like a robot. But creating a really succinct message that you can deliver in a relaxed way, will give you the best chance of success. Creating an alternate script for voice mails is a good idea, too.
  • Be assertive, but don’t be a pest. If you send someone an email and you leave a message and they still don’t respond, you should take that to mean that they don’t want to meet with you at this time. There are plenty of fish in the sea. Don’t get hung up on any one client. Just move on to the next one.
  • Once you start booking meetings, make sure you give yourself enough time for each meeting and time to get to the next one. If you’re going to New York, try to book as many meetings as possible within walking distance so you can maximize your time. If you have to drive from one meeting to the next, account for the time it takes to get your car out of the parking garage and then find parking at the next place. Give yourself enough time for meetings to run long. It’s not unusually for a meeting with one person to turn into a meeting with two or three people.
  • Build an itinerary for yourself including time of meetings, contact’s name, phone number, email address, physical address. Plan ahead how you’ll be getting around. (By the way, TripIt is a great (free) app for keeping track of meetings.)

The Meetings

  • Now that you’ve booked your meetings, it wouldn’t hurt to do a little additional research on those clients. Check out their blog and social media sites in addition to their website. You’ll want to demonstrate that you know their business and you’ll want to have enough to talk about. If you’re meeting with an agency because you think you’d be a great fit for their client, make sure they still have that client.
  • Once you’ve arrived at your meeting, it’s time to turn on the charm! Be relaxed but energetic. Start with a little small talk. Then walk them through your portfolio, explaining your creative process and telling interesting stories about your experiences. Listen. Speak. Listen. Speak.
  • Don’t ask clients to critique your photography or your presentation. That’s not their job and it will make you seem like an amateur. Just guide them through your work, then express an interest in their projects. Show that you’re interested in what they’re doing, but no hard sell.
  • Don’t expect to get an assignment on the spot. The purpose of these meetings is for creatives to get to know you and to hopefully build a comfort level so that they will ask you for a bid when an appropriate project comes up.

Follow up

After your meeting, it doesn’t hurt to send a hand-written thank-you note. If you have any “swag” (t-shirts, mugs, notebooks, etc.) or other promo pieces, that would be a good time to send something! From there, an occasional email or print promo update is appropriate (every few months).

If you need a hand building a client list or setting up meetings, please call us. Or you can visit our consulting page to learn more.