I criticized Mr. Burtynsky years ago for not being “critical enough” of the criminals responsible for the desecration depicted in his photographs- in a word, I was wrong. There’s no way he could continue to have the access he needs and maintains if he was, in fact, so openly critical. It’s up to us to have the sense to notice, and the willingness to act… if only to save ourselves.
via Reciprocity Failure.
Funny video for your Monday morning entertainment.
For me, the most obvious artist who has consistently demonstrated an openness to use new ideas in photography, who has taken chances with photography and has shown an unwillingness to play it safe is Thomas Ruff. Having worked with all kinds of photographs/images – his own, licensed one, appropriated ones, artificially created one – Ruff’s thinking is far ahead of that of most of contemporary photography. I might not always like each new series, but Ruff’s fearless exploration of the medium photography – of how images can be made – is very, very impressive.
A fine art photographer should have a lot of patience, should never give up, should never subordinate his beliefs to commerce or money and last but not least, the trend should not be his friend.
–Robert Schlaug
via MULL IT OVER.
Continuing on my post from yesterday where I wrote about photography as a commodity (Mark points out in the comments that a better term is fungible product) several of the panelest from the ASMP symposium on sustainable business models have posts up on the strictly business blog that I want to highlight. If you cannot attend in person there will be a live video feed (here) starting at 9am EST Thursday the 27th.
Richard Dale Kelly on organizing the event:
In organizing the Symposium, Sustainable Business Models: Issues & Trends Facing Visual Artists, ASMP’s Education Director, the late Susan Carr, and I focused on three key areas. We decided to start the day with working professionals who, through their own practices, have discovered sustainable solutions they are using today. Next, we wanted a conversation with users and distributors of visual content who are working at the highest levels of the publishing, advertising and technology sectors who could give us a glimpse of the opportunities behind the curtain. Finally, we brought in industry observers to discuss the challenges facing the professional in creating a sustainable career.
Liz Miller-Gershfeld, VP, Sr. Art Producer at Energy BBDO talks about the “new normal” at an agency meeting:
At the table were creatives and account people from the agency side and a team from the digital end of things. On the phone were teams from the promotional agency, the PR agency and international marketing counterparts. There were a few more voices on the phone. I’m still not clear who they were, perhaps a wrong number, probably not… Today clients have multi-channel marketing plans and multiple agencies to accomplish them…and we all have to play nicely.
I need a photographer who has deep human resources…
I need a photographer who can ask good questions…
I need a photographer who can simplify complexity …
I need a photographer whose producer can, at any given time quantify (in terms of time and money) what the inevitable changes and additions mean…
A photographer who is always thinking of the most efficient way to solve any problem and is able to articulate it from that perspective…But perhaps most importantly, I need a photographer who can hold the idea that we brought to them – the one the creatives have spent the last few months and weekends developing, presenting, refining, presenting, selling, testing, presenting, resuscitating, presenting, refining and reselling… A photographer who can hold it like a torch, amidst all the chaos and needs, in their unique style; the reason we came to them.
more (here).
Fiunally, Stephen Mayes CEO of VII Photo talks about the many business models being tested now:
But there’s a hugely expanded appetite for photography and with this comes new opportunities; the greatest obstacles to commercial expansion are the limits of our own imaginations and our fear of uncertainty. I see more and more brilliant business innovations, often sparked by young entrepreneurs with low overheads and little to lose. Some of them are experiencing short-term success, some are not and it’s still too soon to judge which will sustain as the world moves forward.
Right now we’re experiencing the best of times and the worst of times. There will be winners, some by chance and some by vision and sheer hard work, but there will be no rewards for the faint of heart. We can’t step backwards, only forwards, even if it means letting go of some dearly held ways of thinking.
More (here).
thx, Peter.
I believe much of photography is already a commodity and I plan to speak about it during the ASMP Symposium next Thursday the 27th in New York at the Times Center. The topic for the event (more details here) is “Sustainable Business Models: Issues and Trends Facing Visual Artists” which is a topic I’ve been thinking and writing about since I started this blog. the ASMP goes on to say “the rules of the game have changed and it’s no longer business as usual in today’s crowded visual arts marketplace” which to me leads to an obvious conclusion: photography is a commodity.
Commodification is a scary thought. It means you are competing on price and racing to the bottom.
Ok, so that’s the bad news. But, there’s an upside. Before we get to that, let’s destroy this cliché that I hear all the time how “photographers brought it on”, because they didn’t do something to prevent it. All the bitching and whining about weak willed photographers who wont hold the line and clients who wont pay the fees. Commodification is a natural market process. You cannot stop this.
To see the upside you need to take a more nuanced view of photography. You need to consider photography services a value chain and the act of taking a picture, what I like to call being a “camera operator”, as one part of this value chain. You also need to understand that commodification occurs when the improvements to a product overshoot the needs of the client. Better equipment and techniques matter little to the majority of clients. There will always be exceptions, but sadly, it seems we are all past the point of good enough (even if in some parts of the industry good enough is distirbingly low). Nevertheless, don’t dwell on it. Technology that blew your mind ten years ago is now completely commodified. It can’t be stopped.
The upside is that if you have commodification, somewhere else in the value chain a reciprocal process of de-commoditization is at work. In the book I’m reading now (The Innovator’s Solution) author Clayton M. Christensen goes on to say that “commoditization destroys a company’s ability to capture profits by undermining differentiability, de-commoditization affords opportunities to create and capture potentially enormous wealth.”
You just have to find the spot in the value chain where performance is not yet good enough, where you can differentiate yourself by being better than the others. Exciting, right?
I have lots of thoughts on this that I will get into during the symposium but here’s one simple observation.
Not too long ago your personality mattered little in photography. You could be the most abhorrent dick-wad and land all the work you wanted if your photography was awesome. I see plenty of evidence now that this is not longer possible. An art director I sat on a panel with even said “the top 5 photographers for a car shoot are all qualified to do the job. it comes down to personality as to who will get the job” Personality is one tiny part of the value chain, but it’s now more important than the photography. That’s astounding.
Sad if you enjoy operating cameras, but very exciting if you enjoy the entire value chain of photography services. My favorite photographers to work with have always been the creative problem solvers. Now I can clearly see the de-commodization at work.
I think there is a largely silent body of viewers who react to Adams’ work with much less enthusiasm, finding it often ugly, underwhelming, and a bit boring. …I found his images to be like parsnips or kale – things I was supposed to like, that were obviously good for me, but which in all honesty, I found somewhat less than entirely tasty. Over the years, and with a growing shelf full of Adams’ eloquent books in our library, I have gradually moved closer to the supporters point of view, slowly being won over by the consistent craftsmanship, elegance, thoughtfulness, and quiet beauty in even the most distressing and damaged of his photographs.
I love a list of photographers like this. Not because I think there could ever be a definitive list of 100 photographers that most people agree on, but because everyone should have their own list. And everyone should spend time studying the masters. All of my favorite working photographers have the influence of the masters in their pictures.
For anyone who loves serious photography, we live in an incredible time. A quick google search on any of these greats will give you plenty of material to study.
1. Richard Avedon American 1923-2004
2. W. Eugene Smith American 1918-1978
3. Helmut Newton German 1920-2004
4. Irving Penn American 1917- 2009
5. Guy Bourdin French 1928-1991
6. Henri Cartier-Bresson French 1908-2004
7. Diane Arbus American 1923-1971
8.Elliott Erwitt French 1928-
9. Walker Evans American 1903-1975
10. Martin Parr British 1952-
11. Juergen Teller German 1964-
12. Nick Knight British 1958-
13. David Bailey British 1938-
14. Cindy Sherman American 1954-
15. Andreas Gursky German 1955-
16. Edward Weston American 1886-1958
17. Garry Winogrand American 1928-1984
18. Bruce Weber American 1946-
19. Man Ray American 1890-1976
20. Paolo Roversi Italian 1947-
21. Herb Ritts American 1952-2002
22. Annie Leibovitz American 1949-
23. Ansel Adams American 1902-1984
24. David LaChapelle American 1963-
25. William Klein American 1928-
26. Bill Brandt German 1904-1983
27. Ralph Gibson American 1939-
28. Stephen Shore American 1947-
29. Robert Frank Swiss 1924-
30. Andre Kertesz Hungarian 1894-1985
31. Chuck Close American 1940-
32. Robert Mapplethorpe American 1946-1989
33. Steven Meisel American 1954-
34. Peter Lindbergh German 1944-
35. August Sander German 1876-1964
36. Nan Goldin American 1953-
37. Weegee Austrian 1899-1968
38. Don McCullin British 1935-
39. Slim Aarons American 1916-2006
40. William Eggleston American 1939-
41. Joel-Peter WitkinAmerican 1939-
42. Anton Corbijn Dutch 1955-
43. Brassai French 1899-1984
44. Erwin Blumenfeld German 1897-1969
45.Duane Michals American 1932-
46. Mario Testino Peruvian 1954-
47. Mary Ellen Mark American 1940-
48. Larry Clark American 1943-
49. Mert & Marcus Turkish and British 1971-
50. Corinne Day British 1965-
The rest can be found here: http://www.professionalphotographer.co.uk
Enjoying this series. Here’s the next episode.
Curators of festivals are all working for the cultural industry, and as an industry they’re obsessed with being the first to show someone’s work. It’s the competitive spirit applied to culture. For me, the essence of photography is to share. This is why it’s so popular and so democratic.
I can understand the cultural industry point of view. You care about how many people will come see your show. I used to have this conversation with gallerist friends: How do you legitimize photography? They would say: You have a limited edition of three prints, and one artist’s proof. But to me this is not the real essence of photography.
PDN: You’ve suggested elsewhere that multimedia producers should figure out what fee they want for a project, and then double it. What’s the logic of doing that?
BH: You’re always going to be asked to take less [than your asking price]. I also think that it shows that you’re serious. The time I was most successful with that tactic, not only did the client end up paying me more, but they seemed to respect me more because I was charging a lot of money.
The iPhone 4s, which is nearly always located in my shirt pocket, produces (albeit for now as jpeg only) images in bright sunlight and shade nearly just as well as my first ever digital camera, purchased nearly 11 years ago in 2001 to cover the war in Afghanistan — a Nikon 1Dx. At the time it cost well over $6000 USD.
One year our elderly sports writer was driving home from a basketball game when he stumbled upon a peculiar automobile accident. Using his Kodak Instamatic, he snapped a picture of a car suspended in a tree. Though he didn’t know the first thing about F-stops and art history, the old guy managed to win the newspaper associations’s coveted award for spot news. The “real” photographers were sick with envy. That was when I leaned that most great pictures are not about artistry. If I’d been the one to photograph the car in the tree, I’d have won the award. The genius is not in technique; it is in being present.
via Nine stories about my man in Rapidan « Little Brown Mushroom.
Artist Shepard Fairey was sentenced to 300 hours of community service and fined $25,000 today in a federal courtroom in Manhattan today for destroying documents, falsifying evidence “and other misconduct” in his civil litigation two years ago against the Associated Press (AP). He had faced a maximum of six months in jail. Fairey pled guilty to the criminal charge last February.
via PDN Pulse.
I’ve followed Paul Melcher’s Thoughts of a Bohemian blog for many years, because he had an insiders perspective of the stock photography industry and was a harsh critic of the old guard not keeping up with the digital age (similar to my own blogging on magazines back in the early days of APE). So, when I found out about his position at Stipple as the VP of image licensing I took the opportunity to ask him a few questions about the industry and this new company that looks to be very promising for photographers.
APE: Paul, give me a little background on yourself. I know you have been involved in the photography industry and particularly with stock for many years now?
Paul: Photography is in my DNA. As the son of a photographer who later became director of Magnum, I grew up surrounded by great photography and extremely talented photographers. After getting a degree in Economics and desperately trying to deny my calling by becoming a crime story journalist, I realized that images, more than text, was where I should be. My big break was when a French agency with an office in New York called upon me to manage their US office. I moved from Paris, France to Manhattan and quickly embraced the chance to redefine the way images were licensed in the US. From there, I worked at LGI, introducing the first digital news desk and making some of the first fully digital sales. The idea that an image could be taken on the West coast and sold to Newsweek on the East coast within hours was a revelation to me. I was hooked. Before, with Fed Ex or airplane cargos, it was at least a day. LGI was purchased by Corbis in the early 90’s and my hope was that with Bill Gates’ money and Microsoft’s technological knowledge, we could build the first fully digital photo agency. I was quickly disappointed and left after two painful years. It is not before 2000, with the creation of ImageDirect, the first fully 100% digital photo agency, that I could realize my dreams. At the time, magazines still wanted prints made from digital files. We simply said no. We offered CD’s or transmission but no prints. While we might have lost some sales, we were saving so much time and money by avoiding the analog pitfalls that it didn’t matter. After a year, magazines got used to it and after 3 years, Getty Images bought our company.
I then worked at various places, heading the North American bureau of Gamma Press, was VP of sales for DigitalRailroad, as well as stints at Rex Features and Abaca Press. I also consulted for various high tech companies looking to apply their advance research to the photographic world. 18 months ago, when approached by founder Rey Flemings to work at Stipple, I jumped on the chance to be part of what I see as the next revolution in photography. As you know, I also write my blog ( when I have the time ) “Thoughts of a Bohemian” and have two weekly columns in “Le Journal de La photographie”
APE: Stipple looks to me like it solves a very important problem for photographers and image buyers. Talk to me about stipple and how you see photographers using it?
Paul: Stipple solves the age old question everyone who has ever taken a picture has been asking : where are my photographs published and how many people are seeing them ? Today, when an image is published online, it is quickly replicated, blogged, re bloged, pinned, twitted, Tumblred, Facebooked. Even Google, with it’s formidable search engine, cannot keep track of the 250 million new images posted and the 150,000 new urls created each day.
With it’s free and persistent attribution tool, Stipple allows image creators to keep control of their images, wherever they might be. If this wasn’t enough, Stipple also offers powerful storytelling tools via interactive and discreet media tags. Appearing only on mouse-over, those tags can be of embedded videos, music, links, maps, wikipedia entries, Facebook, twitter updates or simple text. They offer photographers the ability to add information directly in the image. Finally Stipple introduces a new way to generate revenue that embraces and takes full advantage of the image sharing culture.
In other words, not only can photographer use Stipple to claim their images and follow their usage, but also use it as a formidable storytelling tool that enhances the way viewers experience their image. It’s the intelligent image.
APE: You’ve been a pretty harsh critic of the stock industry over on Thoughts of a Bohemian. Can you give me a very general “state of the industry” for stock?
Paul: First let me say that you are only a harsh critic of the things or people you love. The photo agency world used to be a place where photographers could freely and strongly practice their trade because they had agents that worked with them to not only create the images but sell them at the highest rates. When two experts connected, the photographer and the agent, it quickly became an incredibly productive symbiosis . Since the arrival of the corporates in the late 90’s, Getty and Corbis, this balanced environment has been destroyed and replaced by number crunchers and surveyors.
Today, everyone is trying to replicate Getty but it is not working. Getty’s model only works for Getty. Not even Corbis has been successful at replicating it, even after throwing millions, if not a billion, at the problem. The stock photo industry today is in survival mode, trying to protect their ‘sales territory’ while trying to find ways to save money. Exactly the opposite of what they should be doing. Let’s face it, the world of image licensing is exploding, or imploding, and will never be the same. Yet those poorly run companies react as this was a passing storm and all they have to do is hold on for a while. They are, and will be, more and more agencies closing in the near future with photographers suffering the most damage from it.
APE: Now what does the future hold? Obviously there’s a lot of photography out there and you’ve got a tool that can be used for licensing. Do you see potential there?
Paul: Yes, a lot. It is always in times of great turmoil that great ideas emerge. Old and antiquated ways of licensing images, like RM and RF, are completely unfit to our world. You do not pay for potatoes based on what you intend to do with them, so why should you for photographs ? Because of this old world licensing model, images are now being stolen and re used at rates never seen before . Even mainstream publishers put your properly licensed images on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest without paying you an extra dime because, well, there is just no licensing model for such usage.
Instead of going against the flow, Stipple allows photographers to embrace it. If people are going to use your photographs without your authorization, why not take advantage of it ? Your image, published a thousand times, becomes valuable real estate from which you can easily profit. With an e-commerce tag, it instantly starts generating revenue, wherever it is. No more need to spend hours tracking where your images are, sending endless take down notices, alienating potential new clients with threats. In fact, with Stipple, the more people use your images, the better it is. And with its live analytics tool, you can, at any time, see where they are published and what traffic they generate.
APE: Anything else we should know about Stipple?
Paul: Yes. It is a great marketing tool. You can immediately see what type of images are the most popular and bring you the most traffic. You can than recalibrate you work accordingly by having a better sense of the public’s reaction to your work. You can also find out what type of images work where and better understand your market.
For photojournalists, it is also a great story telling tool : instead of lengthy captions, you can add information directly in the image, allowing inquisitive viewers to immediately get more information on specific parts of your photographs.
Stipple also works great for wedding photographers, who can add videos, locations, invites, but also more information on who made that beautiful cake or those flower arrangement.
Finally, last but certainly not least, Stipple is also perfect to proactively combat orphan works. Because the photographers ID is persistent and travels with the image, it allows for anyone to trace an image back to its owner with just one click.
I could go on and on about Stipple. The best is for photographers to experience it themselves, since it is free and currently in public beta. Anyone is welcome to sign up for an invitation ( they come quickly) at www.stipple.com.
“When I went to Bosnia [in the 1990s], I didn’t have any support. I went with no money, then went back with £300, then again with £400, and built it up each time. It takes a while. But the initial step was just to go.
Apple was granted a patent that could prevent photos and videos from being taken in particular locations. Other restrictions include forcing the camera to go to sleep so it cann’t be used at all.
via Boing Boing.
Still Images In Great Advertising, is a column where Suzanne Sease discovers great advertising images and then speaks with the photographers about it.
I look at adsoftheworld.com to see what great ads are out there so it was really exciting to see an ad from not only my former ad agency but produced by my former co-worker, Cindy Hicks. Cindy has left the agency world to be a freelance producer (Cindyhicks.RVA@gmail.com ). And another nice element to this series of ads is that is our local photographer, Todd Wright, shot them here in Richmond, VA. Okay, so a little hometown pride this week.
(The Stock Shot from Getty)
Suzanne: Cindy, it is so refreshing to see the agency shooting a National campaign in our local market. How did you decide that Todd was the right photographer? And how come the agency shot it locally?
Cindy: These ads were the brain child of Mike Lear & Dustin Artz, we initially looked into using actual paparazzi images, of course that came with a host of issues, releases, etc. Most stock agencies would not touch it. (One of our images is a stock image from Getty). So when we arrived at the fact we would shoot it, there was no reason not to do it here. Richmond is a great city for shooting & when you know all the places & locations it is easy to visualize. With Modelogic/Wilhelmina based here, I knew Stacie could find the right people. Randy O’Neil; our underwear model, I knew would be perfect, the right personality to pull off the faux celebrity attitude, when you know the talent they are more than a headshot.
Todd, is great with working with the creatives. He & Dustin had worked on a previous Mentos ad, he got what their vision was right away and really has an eye for elevating the paparazzi style & mix in just enough fashion. Todd also puts together a great team, Peg Crowder his producer & I work very well together.
Suzanne: Todd, when you saw the comps for this campaign, what were your first thoughts on how to execute the rawness of the paparazzi style of these ads?
Todd: I initially used the same magazines for inspiration that Dustin and Mike were using for the concepts. It was great trying to get in the mindset of capturing something that was fleeting….of course I had the luxury of shooting it again and again.
I just took each scene and tried to envision how paparazzi would approach it. For the “Guy Who Forgot His Pants” I used a 300mm lens and shot from quite a ways down the street to get that long lens look. I did the same for the “Streaking”. For the “Wardrobe Malfunction” I stood on a step stool, so I had a slight angle down like I was shooting from the Paparazzi bleacher on the red carpet. I don’t know if I am cut out to be Paparazzi, but it was a blast playing pretend for the day.
Suzanne: How do you do a casting like this when certain body parts are so crucial to the ads?
Cindy: I worked on the casting with Stacie, and the art director gave some very specific direction (“enormo boobs”) for our nip slip image! Stacie also was integral in this process, having worked with her since the start of Modelogic, you can have short hand conversations, which will get us the perfect talent with out all the back & forth. Plus we pull this together in about a week.
Todd: We used Modelogic, an East Coast local talent agency that I have a lot of experience with to cast, so I had worked with 2 of the 3 talents that I shot. So I had a pretty good idea of how they would work for each ad, based on my history shooting them. The “Streaking” was an actor that I had never worked with before, but that’s where having a history and trust level with a talent agency is very important. They basically convinced me that he would be great and he was even better than that! The entire crew was crying with laughter every time he made his run through the frame….he must have been working on his dialogue for days even though it was a print concept. He was hilarious!
Suzanne: Todd, what were the challenges for you to create the naturalness of these ads?
Todd: I think it is a challenge to make an image look “caught”, while in reality it is a very carefully thought out production. But in the end it is having all the right people involved, it is such a collaborative thing. I mean, every one on set is SO talented….that it just comes together and of course, there again, is the luxury of saying lets do it “one more time” which really means 15 more times.
Suzanne: Cindy, while you were the agency Art Producer, were you also the producer or did Todd take care of that?
Cindy: It is co-producing, I tend to be very hands on & Todd & Co. understands that, so we make a good team. Todd/ Peg et.al button up all the locations, permits, wardrobe, talent extras and all the parts that making shooting a good experience (good assistants & better food!) It is good working with people you have known for a long time. We had a sketchy weather day, Todd being cautious (exactly what we need) was unsure about calling the day of, I, a bit more of a gambler said, lets do it, we ended up with the perfect mix of real (lovely misting rain on the soccer shot) Looked great & we wrapped before the deluge.
Suzanne: Cindy, you have worked with photographers and producers all over the country. Seeing what works and what doesn’t, this must be a very exciting time for you as a producer?
Cindy: What I adore (and loathe at times) is we are in very changing times, speed is not the same as it was 10, even 5 years ago, everything is we need it yesterday! But you adapt, love that about evolution! Budgets for the most part have gone the way of the dinosaurs, but that creates the opportunity to be nimble and often that pays off in really great ads. Yes, I really miss big budgets, but good work really just requires knowing how to pull it off. I have to say, I was not a fan of these ads, until we shot them. I told that to Mike & Dustin on the shoot! With my background in all parts of the photo world (read my bio! hire me!) it is fun to pull off good work, fast & within the budget & if you like it better than the comps, it is a win all the way around.
Note: Content for Still Images In Great Advertising is found. Submissions are not accepted.
Todd Wright has been shooting stills for about 15 years for clients like Seiko, Wal-Mart, AOL, DuPont, Chase Bank and has recently started directing TV spots. Prior to that he was a tugboat deckhand, bartender, waiter, hotdog cart vendor, auto detailer, airline ticket delivery driver, bank teller, foam insulation installer, telephone marketer, construction worker and many more that he’s long since forgotten.
Cindy Hicks is a photographer, producer, consultant, curator all around awesome get stuff done gal. 15 years as an art producer, the next chapter has yet to be written, but it is shaping up like a hybrid. Whether you need a producer with a photographer’s head or a photographer with a producer’s head. An art producer with a photographer’s eye who will shoot straight about your book and I have seen thousands of books & hundreds of thousands of mailers. Or maybe you need an adjunct studio manager to help you with those estimates. I see this as an organic process. I will be what each job needs me to be. Now a little of how I got here: After cracking opening a 126 film canister & developing it in a tray at age 11, my ties with photography have never wavered. From a high school internship at a the local newspaper that led to a job with them, to a BFA in Communications arts and design, I have done editorial, corporate, advertising, ran a custom darkroom (with a dip & dunk E-6 line!) Studio Manager, Producer, and my own Production / Prop styling company (propiratzi) and all that before 15 years with one of the top Advertising agencies as a senior art producer. In a word: dé•brouil•lard Pronunciation: (dā brOO-yar’), [key] —adj., n., pl. -brouil•lardsPronunciation: (-brOO-yar’). [key] French.—adj. Skilled at adapting to any situation; resourceful. —n. a resourceful person who can act independently or cope with any development. Cindy Hicks : Producer – 804.426.8140Cindyhicks.RVA@gmail.com Tumblr for now : http://cindyhicksphotography.tumblr.com or This if it works: http://cindyhickspix.posterous.com/ and of course twitter https://twitter.com/chicksRVA
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.