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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 Kenji Aoki. “Kenji has amazing work. I particularly liked the NY Times piece he illustrated with a tuna fish.”
How many years have you been in the business?
I started my career in Tokyo 22 years ago and moved to NY 2 years ago. I began to only accept still life assignments 15 years ago.
Are you self-taught or photography school taught?
I studied design and photography at Kuwasa Design School in Tokyo. Their curriculum is heavily influenced by the aesthetics of Bauhaus.
Who was your greatest influence that inspired you to get into this business?
There is an opening scene in a movie directed by Alejandro Jodorwsky called EL TOPO, where a tree standing in the dessert, casts a long, bold shadow–I think it was this that made me a photographer.
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?
All of my inspiration comes from geometry. When you have an object that needs to be photographed with a certain concept, you always come across complex visual problems that need to be solved. By thinking of the object as a pure geometric shape such as a circle or square, the speed required to visually communicate the concept of the image and the object itself is accelerated. The space that it’s in, the color, the shadows — balancing all of these elements allow these sensations to penetrate a deeper place.
Do you find that some creatives love your work but the client holds you back?
Understanding the restrictions of any project is the most important factor. Making the effort to face these restrictions means there is a necessity to create work that is beyond my personal aesthetic sensibilities and to provide a better answer. It’s confronting the self and at times an opportunity to rediscover my own uniqueness.
What are you doing to get your vision out to the buying audience?
I think the only way to do this is to believe in your own work. Also my agent, Michael Ash has been making sure my work gets out there. His effort to do so has been beyond simply getting the job done.
What is your advice for those who are showing what they think the buyers want to see?
There are all kinds of photographers out there, which I think is a good thing for art buyers but my advice would be to avoid being swayed or influenced by technology too much, since this may dilute a photographer’s individuality as well as their pursuit for it. I believe it’s necessary to be very careful of this.
Are you shooting for yourself and creating new work to keep your artistic talent true to you?
As of now, I do not shoot separate work for myself. The reason is, I want to keep commissioned work true to my vision and as close to my own work as possible. If I were to create work that satiates this desire in my personal life, there is the danger that my commissioned work would be completely different.
How often are you shooting new work?
I shoot commissioned new work about once a week, if not more. In the future, I would like to meet a publisher and produce an archive of my work as a book.
Born in Tokyo, Kenji Aoki spent his formative years studying variousdesign disciplines at Kuwasa Design School. After 20 successful years inTokyo, Aoki moved to NY permanently in 2009. He has worked with many clients in the U.S. and Europe and was included in a comprehensivearchive of more than 30 years of the finest commissioned imagespublished in The New York Times Magazine. He has received awards from SPD, The Art Directors Club, Communication Arts, American Photography,The New York Times Magazine, and Lurzer’s Archive. Today, Kenji Aoki continues to produce comprehensive visual images.
He is represented by Michael Ash ash@michaelashpartners.com, 212-206-0661
351 West Broadway 2nd Fl.NY, NY 10013
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.
So while Cariou v. Prince can rightly be considered a victory for appropriation art to some extent, what it is not is a victory for clarity, guidance and certainty in the very murky area of fair use and “transformativeness.”
via theiplawblog.com.
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Jonathan Blaustein: You’ve got a publishing company, LBM, that you started in 2008. Is that right?
Alec Soth: Correct.
JB: It’s based in Minneapolis. You built a team of collaborators, and a print studio. How did that come about, and where is it going?
AS: It’s related to how my blogging activity came about. I started the blog around 2006, and did it because I wanted to have these conversations with people. I was hungry for art talk, and there was a new way to do that. One person could just do it.
It was a blast, but it became all-consuming. I felt like I needed to keep feeding this machine. So I quit.
Then, in 2008, I was having a show of work that was basically produced in the previous eight years: “The Last Days of W.” It was election time, and I wanted to mark this moment in time, so I self-published this newspaper. I made 10,000 copies, so I could make it as cheaply as possible. Like so many people do, I found that experience of self-publishing to be thrilling.
I threw this little name of Little Brown Mushroom on it, which has some special meaning attached to some other stuff. I didn’t really know that I was going forward with it.
JB: Is that a little nod to your psychedelic phase?
AS: Not at all.
JB: Truffles, porcinis? Where are we going with this?
AS: None of the above. I never had a psychedelic phase. Like I said, I’m of a pretty conservative background. The name comes from different things. There’s this character in my life, Lester B. Morrison, and his initials are LBM, so I was looking for LBM.
In researching different LBM’s out there, LBM is a mushroom hunter’s term for a Little Brown Mushroom, which is mushroom that is incredibly common, but you can’t identify it because it’s so common. I liked that meaning: making these little average things that are unidentifiable.
JB: Is that Mid-Western humility?
AS: Honest to god, it’s not true any more, but as a kid, I used to say my favorite color was brown. Is that humble, or is that just pathetic? (laughing.) I don’t know.
JB: Peculiar. We’ll go with peculiar instead of pathetic. I’m not going to be the guy to call you pathetic in print. It won’t be me. Idiosyncratic? How about that?
AS: Idiosyncratic. That works. More important was Lester B. Morrison, at the time that I was doing this. I created this name, Little Brown Mushroom, and I thought, that’s fun, I’ll do some more stuff, and get some other little ‘zines. This was all just me doing it myself: my own design, everything.
Then, I got interested in story-telling, and thinking about how children’s’ books are such a great way of combining text and image. I wanted to use that format, so I ended up finding this designer named Hans Seeger, who was excited to work with me on this. I had the idea of using the Little Golden Book structure.
We did one of these with the Australian photographer Trent Parke, and that was hugely successful. It sold out in five days, and was just a thrill. The act of creating a website, and selling this thing… it only cost $18, but it was not my own. It was another artist, and another designer. To be involved with that, and to sell that was just exhilarating. As exhilarating as making my own work.
I wanted to have a place to play with that stuff, but I was really adamant that I didn’t want it to be a grown-up business. I didn’t want the success of the first book to become intoxicating. Like, for the next one, we have to get a bigger name artist, and sell more copies.
The goal has always been to break even; to not lose money. And to have this experimental, fun place. I can try out new stuff, and the stakes aren’t so high.
JB: I noticed that a lot of the things you’re offering through LBM have sold out, including the tote bags and baseball caps. Have you ever considered giving people what they want? If they want more, sell them more? Or is it too much extra work to reproduce things? Have you thought about that? Being able to make money because people want to buy your stuff?
AS: I’ve thought about it a lot. We re-printed one thing, which is “House of Coates,” because Brad, who was the writer on that, really wanted it out there. He wanted more people to have the opportunity to read it. So I did it.
Generally, I have not wanted to do it. The primary reason is that it’s a pain in the ass. Like I said, there’s this enormous thrill about getting together with an artist and designer and making this thing. It is not thrilling, however, to receive the boxes, to put them in little containers, to put them in the mail. It’s full of problems and returns and hassles.
Re-printing an old thing, and trying to promote an old thing, it’s just not exciting. Very simply. With my limited time, I’m not that excited about spending it that way.
JB: We’re talking about Little Brown Mushroom at present, but the initial question reflected the fact that you’re a highly successful artist, and you’re lecturing around the country, constantly. It sounds like it would be enough of a job for anybody.
Are most or all of the folks at LBM based there with you in Minneapolis? I’ve heard a lot of great things about the photo community there. Did you always plan to stay there, or did you ever consider moving to New York or LA?
AS: First of all, not everyone is here. The main designer is in Milwaukee, which is not at all close to here. Another designer is based in Philadelphia, and one in New York. But most of us are here.
In terms of being here, it is a great photo community. It always has been, based largely on good support for the arts in Minnesota.
JB: Some folks actually move there to be able to qualify for the McKnight Fellowship?
AS: Yeah. That is true. I always thought I was going to live in the Bay Area, because it’s…
JB: Insanely nice?
AS: Yeah, it’s insanely nice. And there’s a great photo community.
JB: They’re pretty hot right now, too.
AS: I have a lot of friends out there. I thought that was going to be the case, but real life circumstances kept me here for a variety of reasons. When I had some art world success, I confess that I flirted with the idea of New York. And then, I came to my senses on that one. For a moment I thought about it, and I’m so grateful I didn’t do that.
In terms of staying here, it’s not Paradise. I don’t want to over-romanticize it, at all. It’s freaking April 17th, and I’m looking at snow right now. So it’s ridiculous. But as I travel around, it’s a pretty good place.
JB: And you guys have Kirby Puckett. (pause.) No, that’s right. He died.
AS: (laughing.) Yeah, we no longer have Kirby Puckett.
JB: See that. Even my attempt at topical sports humor crashed because I remembered Kirby Puckett died a while ago.
AS: Not only did he die, there was a big sex scandal before he died, so it’s even more depressing.
JB: Oh my god. I didn’t know that. I read an article a couple of years ago in Sports Illustrated that rattled off the litany of Walter Payton’s indiscretions. He shot some guy. That one crushed any of my childhood sports idealism that was left. If Sweetness was a prick, there’s nobody left to respect.
AS: (laughing) One quick thing, though, I’m not super-engaged with the local community. I don’t want to give that impression. We have a lot of interns from the local schools, but I travel all the time.
When I’m here in Minnesota, I’m either at the studio, or I’m with my family. There’s not much else. But it’s a good place for that, because I don’t have to socialize all the time. If I lived in New York, I’d have to go to a freaking opening every weekend.
JB: We’re clear. If people move to Minnesota to get a McKnight, they should not plan to hang out with Alec Soth all the time.
But as far as bringing people to town, you’re having a camp for introverted storytellers?
AS: Socially awkward. Introverted is your word. If that’s your definition of socially awkward.
JB: I totally pulled that word off the website description. Don’t make me Google it right now.
AS: (laughing) OK.
JB: I know the deadline for submission will have passed by the time this is published, but where did you get the idea to set up a camp?
AS: In the last year, I’ve been doing this project with Brad Zellar, and he and I are doing these road trips. For every one of these, we work with a student assistant. They’ve been incredible encounters. And I like to think we have potentially changed people’s lives.
As I told you at the beginning, I had a teacher who changed my life. So I really want to be a part of that experience. I feel like the traditional educational structure is a way to do that, but it doesn’t have to be the only way to do that.
JB: That structure is in massive flux in 2013 anyway.
AS: Yeah. There are things that can be done with it. I am outside of that structure, but I’m hungry to have that be a part of my life. Doug DuBois is a good friend of mine. He and I teach together one week out of the year in Hartford.
JB: They have a low-residency MFA program there. Is that the term?
AS: Limited residency. Doug teaches at Syracuse, full time, and goes to Hartford for a week. He is clearly one of the great educators. A couple of years ago, Doug was awarded the SPE educator of the year. This parade of students came on stage, one by one, talking about his influence in their life. It was so powerful.
Wow, I thought. It’s such a meaningful thing to do. I want a piece of that. I want to engage with people in that way. So, how to do that?
I thought, why not do something here? I’m invited to do workshops all the time, but it’s always a pain for me, because I travel too much. It’s hard to justify it to my family, to go away, again, for something else.
I thought, why not have people come here, and do it entirely on my own terms, so I can make it what I want to make it. The fact that it’s free was a big part of that, for a number of reasons. One is I didn’t want the expectation of anything. I feel like if you charge $2000 for a workshop, it needs to be officially certified in some way.
JB: You start judging yourself by value added.
AS: Yeah. And it’s also going to attract different people. This is just a big experiment. It’s hard to talk about, since I haven’t done it yet. But I’m really excited about it.
And I continue to be excited about working with these students on the various “Dispatch” trips.
JB: Good luck with it. It sounds exciting.
AS: Thanks.
JB: But we’re deep into this interview, and I realize we haven’t been able to talk about your big career news, that is relatively hot off the presses. By the time we publish this, it will be slightly less fresh. But you were just given your first Guggenheim Fellowship.
AS: Yeah. And last, because I think you can only get it one time now.
JB: Congrats, on behalf of our disparate global band of photo geeks. What project did you propose?
AS: I’m really committed to this “Dispatch” project. To explain what that is, it’s a collaborative, self-published newspaper. Brad Zellar and I do a two-week road trip, in a certain geographical location; usually a state. We tackle whatever issues and topics we feel are pertinent to that area. We’ve done four so far: Ohio, Upstate, (which is Upstate New York,) Michigan, and Three Valleys. (Which is in California.)
JB: San Joaquin, Death Valley, and Silicon Valley?
AS: Right. And then next month, we’re doing Colorado.
JB: Just up the way from here.
AS: We considered doing the Four Corners, but ended up doing Colorado.
JB: I just drove across the state yesterday. I left Jersey, where it was 65 degrees and sunny, and I landed in an actual blizzard in Denver. It was pretty horrendous. Back to the topic though…
AS: We’re continuing that project, and we’re using the Guggenheim funds to expand it in difficult-to-fund regions. We’re doing Texas, and it’s easier to get funding there, than some place like Idaho. It’s a very expensive project because there are three of us traveling, and I pay Brad. Then we produce the newspaper.
It’s a pretty epic project, and the Guggenheim is going towards that. I’m also fund-raising in other ways, for the project, which I’ve never really done before. I just believe in it really strongly.
JB: I can’t wait to see how it evolves. You’ve been so generous with your time, so I know we have to wrap this up. Are there any exhibitions coming up that some of our readers might be able to see?
AS: No.
JB: (laughing) I try to end this with the most average, softball question anyone could ever ask, and I get a one word answer that totally subverts my intentions. That’s awesome. It’s a great ending right there, unless you want to say “Goodnight, Gracie.”
AS: This new work that I’m doing, I talked it over with my galleries, and I’m not selling any of it right now. I want to wait. That’s part of the Guggenheim, and other funding that I’m getting as well.
I’m using it to give myself some space to produce this work without showing it, and selling it, and doing all of those things, until it’s done. It’s like the way one would do with a movie. I’ll release it when it’s time to be released in its entirety. Happily, I don’t have any big shows on the schedule.
These companies don’t just know a great deal about you, they have a license to use your creations and, as the Yahoo!/Tumblr deal shows, they can transfer that license or sublicense it as they see fit. This is a tremendous amount of control and it should make users nervous. Though none of these companies do anything too unscrupulous yet.
via Plagiarism Today.
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Jonathan Blaustein: When did you first start taking photographs? When did it all begin?
Alec Soth: In high school, I had this experience that a lot of people have. I had a great teacher that woke me up. In that case, he was a painting teacher. He did a little session, once, on photography, and I wasn’t particularly drawn to it. But I knew that I wasn’t a painter, deep down.
So I did other things. I made sculptures outdoors, and stuff like that. I went to school thinking I’d be some sort of painter or installation artist. While I was in school, I discovered photography in a new way, partly through photographing these sculptures I was making outdoors.
JB: This is at Sarah Lawrence?
AS: Sarah Lawrence. Correct.
JB: You studied with Joel Sternfeld?
AS: Yes. Joel taught there, but it was impossible to get a class with him. He was too popular. So I took two different summer courses in photography, while I was home in Minnesota. One was at the University of Minnesota, and the other was at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
I got excited about photography, and then finally got into Joel’s classes. I took two classes with him, and it was amazing and fantastic.
JB: What were some of the core concepts that embedded in your young artist consciousness when you worked with him?
AS: It’s curious. At that time, when I fell in love with photography, I was a typical American who was influenced by American things. I was really influenced by that American tradition of photography, in which Joel was a major player.
You know, that whole MoMA, Stephen Shore, Eggleston to Walker Evans trajectory. And I was in love with that. Road photography. The standard stuff.
The curious thing about Joel, as a teacher, he was adamant that people not mimic him. He’s interested in a lot of different things. This was, at the time, 1990 or so. Post-modern, Cindy Sherman, staged photography was the rage. He really encouraged that.
The truth is that I did that sort of work back then. And I didn’t do work like him, or straight photography much at all, at that time. But I wanted to. I just felt that it wasn’t right to.
His influence is a peculiar one. I loved his work, I loved him, but almost out of respect, I didn’t want to work like him. It was only when I was away from school that I started dealing with his influence, and the influence of that generation of photographers.
JB: Do you now feel comfortable seeing your work in that continuum? It’s funny that you mention MoMA, because I was just there, and there was one wall in the permanent collection installation that was totally insane. It has one of Joel’s pictures, and then the Bechers, Stephen Shore, Robert Adams, Eggleston, and then below it were all the Ed Ruscha artist books. It was like 200 square feet of real estate that captured the fantasies and wet dreams of tens of thousands of American photographers.
AS: (laughing.)
JB: So next time MoMA hangs something like that, if one of your pictures is up there next to those guys, what does that do to your head?
AS: (pause.) I don’t know. First of all, with all respect to MoMA, it doesn’t mean what it used to mean. It’s a different world. Without a doubt, my work, whatever its quality, falls in that historical lineage. There’s no getting away from it. That’s cool. I’m an American photographer.
I don’t want to be limited strictly to that. Hopefully I’m not just covering old ground. But I’m fine with that comparison.
JB: You dodged the whole ego question, about people putting your work in that pantheon, which is cool. But I think it’s easy to differentiate you, as it’s easy to differentiate the time in which we’re living. One of my little catchphrases, because as a blogger, it never hurts to have a catchphrase, is I love to talk about the 21st Century Hustle. I’ve got to trademark it one of these days.
AS: (laughing.)
JB: The idea is that today, the old traditions and the old business-models are gone. It seems like most everyone who’s having any success is hybridizing, these days. I’m mostly familiar with your photography, as is everyone. But in addition to being a photographer, you’re a writer, a professor, a publisher, a lecturer, and a camp counselor, if the LBM blog is to be believed. That is the 21st Century hustle, dude.
Was that the plan? Did you build it piecemeal, or did you have a vision to do as many things as possible, both for your creativity, and to pay your bills?
AS: No. It was not a vision. Going back, when I left college, I had a general Bachelor’s degree. No speciality. But I had photographic skills, which were somewhat marketable. I worked in darkrooms, did different things, and ended up working in an art museum. Et cetera.
But the notion of making a living as an artist seemed very unrealistic, particularly living in Minnesota. At a certain point, I thought, it’s just not going to happen. It’s important to tell you, also, that despite going to Sarah Lawrence, I was never a bohemian wild-child type.
I thought it’s always important to have a job. I always feel a sort of responsibility to do the things that Middle-Americans are supposed to do. So I was living a fairly, (not politically conservative,) but conservative lifestyle.
JB: Except for the fact that you were sneaking prints from your job out the back door inside your pants.
AS: (laughing) Exactly. OK. But that’s fairly normal as well.
JB: So that was the exception? No late-night drunken brawls? Just a bit of mild theft that we’re only discussing now because the statute of limitations is up.
AS: Exactly. Mild theft. And there was definitely drunkenness, but it was lonely drunkenness. Not angry drunkenness. Just sad, blubbering-by-myself drunkenness.
The point is that I really didn’t know how to make a living outside of conventional means. Now, I know many other things. If I was twenty again, I’d do things very differently.
JB: You’re actually stealing questions from down my list. I’m trying to be polite, and I don’t want to interrupt your thoughtful responses, but that one’s not supposed to come up until later. But what the hell, I’ll just cross it off the list. What advice would you give your younger self? What are the do-overs?
AS: I’ll get to that.
JB: All right. We’ll keep it going in a natural way. Please continue.
AS: What I’m getting at is, this diversification, I didn’t have a vision for that. My vision was, you need to have an employer, and you have a job, and you go forward. Like that. And I would do my work on the side. So then, once my life changed, (and we can talk about that later,) and I had all sorts of opportunities in the art world, I felt distrustful that that could sustain itself.
I felt a need to have a backup plan. Since I didn’t have a Master’s Degree, and teaching didn’t seem like a real possibility at the time, I started doing editorial photography. And then I started doing blogging. That was not as a commercial activity at all.
I didn’t have a real art community, and I was dealing with the art world mainly through the economics of the art world. I wasn’t having art conversations, so I used blogging to do that. These pieces have been added on over time pretty organically. It wasn’t planned out at all.
How that relates to when I was twenty, and what I’d do over again? I just feel really strongly now that being a creative person means being creative with your life. It doesn’t mean being creative with this one particular activity that you do. Now I see that running a business is a creative activity. How you organize your daily schedule is a creative activity. You can be creative and entrepreneurial in all sorts of different ways.
I think art students should be thinking about that. It’s not just that I go to graduate school, become a teacher, and there’s this formulaic pattern. Be creative.
JB: I like that we went non-linear there, because it’s gorgeous advice. I’m really curious how you’ve done it, because, unlike most of our readers, I wasn’t really familiar with all the different aspects of what you do.
AS: I don’t think most people are familiar with it. We’re in a tiny bubble. Most people, if they’re aware of you, they’re aware of one thing. Sometimes, people that really know my work only know one thing.
It’s a real struggle to communicate Little Brown Mushroom, and what that means.
[Part 2 tomorrow]
Flickr Pro, which had allowed users to pay for more storage space, is going away. “There’s no such thing as Flickr Pro today because [with so many people taking photographs] there’s really no such thing as professional photographers anymore,” Mayer said (though she acknowledged that there are “different skill levels”).
via @zarias more: Tech News and Analysis.
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By Bill Cramer, Wonderful Machine
I recently was approached by a regional fashion magazine needing some advice on their photographer and photo director contracts. They had encountered some push-back on them and they wanted to know what they could do to make the agreements a little more palatable. The documents have three parts, an Independent Contractor Agreement (which would be for all vendors, like photographers, illustrators, stylists, etc.), Schedule A which spells out details specific to each individual contributor, and a Photography Director section explaining the expectations of that job. Here’s what I had to say:
Xxxxxxxx,
I hope you had a nice holiday season. I had a chance to sit down with your contributor contract today, and here are my thoughts (in bold). My main recommendation would be for you to license more limited use of the photos. I can understand why you would want to own all of the photographs outright. However, this provision is so far out of the mainstream that you will have trouble finding a decent photographer to agree to it. Or put another way, a more reasonable contract will afford you the opportunity to work with better photographers.
I think it would be reasonable to ask for first editorial print use in your main magazine and use in your other publications for a period of three months (which matches up with the compensation terms). New uses after that could be compensated with a renewal of the 2% commission for that new period or with a simple rate structure for the different uses you commonly need and then negotiate for anything unusual that might come up.
My other concern is that the language is unnecessarily complex. You’re not really paying photographers enough for them to hire an attorney to review your contract. The stakes are pretty low for you and the photographer/photo director. It would be better to find an attorney who understands the magazine business well enough to simplify the language sufficiently for the average person to understand it while still protecting your interests (and the contractor’s).
I hope that’s helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks!
Bill
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR AGREEMENT
This Agreement is entered into as of the _____ day of __________, ______, between Xxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx, LLC d.b.a. Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx Magazine (“the Company”) and ______________________ (“the Contractor”).
WHEREAS, the Company is in need of assistance in the area of __Photography________; and WHEREAS, Consultant has agreed to perform consulting work for the Company in ____Photography_________________ services and other related activities for the Company;
NOW, THEREFORE, the parties hereby agree as follows:
1. Independent Contractor. Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, the Company hereby engages the Contractor as an independent contractor to perform the services set forth herein, and the Contractor hereby accepts such engagement.
This paragraph should be combined with paragraph 11 and 24 which cover the same ground.
2. Duties, Term, and Compensation. The Contractor’s duties, term of engagement, compensation and provisions for payment thereof shall be as set forth in the estimate previously provided to the Company by the Contractor and which is attached as Exhibit A, which may be amended in writing from time to time, or supplemented with subsequent estimates for services to be rendered by the Contractor and agreed to by the Company, and which collectively are hereby incorporated by reference.
This is vague. Do you mean to say Schedule A (as it’s written below)? It sounds like you’re saying that Exhibit A (Schedule A) constitutes an estimate (it doesn’t appear that way to me.) Do you mean to say that the Contractor is providing the Company with Exhibit A or that the Company is providing it to the Contractor (it is your form)?
3. Expenses. During the term of this Agreement, expenses for the time spent by Contractor in traveling to and from Company assignments shall not be reimbursable unless otherwise pre-approved in writing by the Company.
What about expenses like models, locations, hair & make-up, props, wardrobe, studios, equipment, catering?
4. Written Reports. The Company may request that project plans, progress reports and a final results report be provided by Contractor on a monthly basis. A final results report shall be due at the conclusion of the project and shall be submitted to the Company in a confidential written report at such time. The results report shall be in such form and setting forth such information and data as is reasonably requested by the Company.
This could be simplified and combined with the 3. Expenses paragraph.
5. Inventions. Any and all inventions, discoveries, developments, contacts and innovations conceived by the Contractor during this engagement relative to the duties under this Agreement shall be the exclusive property of the Company; and the Contractor hereby assigns all right, title, and interest in the same to the Company. Any and all inventions, discoveries, developments and innovations conceived by the Contractor prior to the term of this Agreement and utilized by [him or her] in rendering duties to the Company are hereby licensed to the Company for use in its operations and for an infinite duration. This license is non-exclusive, and may be assigned without the Contractor’s prior written approval by the Company to a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company.
This is not reasonable. Photographers (and writers) aren’t in the business of creating inventions for magazines and Xxxxxxxx is not in the business of buying inventions from its contributors. It appears that your attorney is using a standard legal form and didn’t customize it for your purposes. It would be better for both parties to have an agreement specifically edited for photographers in order to minimize confusion.
6. Confidentiality. The Contractor acknowledges that during the engagement [he or she] will have access to and become acquainted with various trade secrets, inventions, innovations, processes, information, records and specifications owned or licensed by the Company and/or used by the Company in connection with the operation of its business including, without limitation, the Company’s business and product processes, methods, customer lists, accounts and procedures. The Contractor agrees that [he or she] will not disclose any of the aforesaid, directly or indirectly, or use any of them in any manner, either during the term of this Agreement or at any time thereafter, except as required in the course of this engagement with the Company. All files, records, contacts, documents, blueprints, specifications, information, letters, notes, media lists, original artwork/creative, notebooks, and similar items relating to the business of the Company, whether prepared by the Contractor or otherwise coming into [his or her] possession, shall remain the exclusive property of the Company. The Contractor shall not retain any copies of the foregoing without the Company’s prior written permission. Upon the expiration or earlier termination of this Agreement, or whenever requested by the Company, the Contractor shall immediately deliver to the Company all such files, records, documents, specifications, information, and other items in [his or her] possession or under [his or her] control.
The confidentiality is fine, but it’s not logical to combine that provision with the ownership of the images. This paragraph says that photographs created by the photographer are the property of the magazine. That’s unnecessarily antagonistic and not reasonable for your modest budget. You’re going to be able to work with a wider pool of talented photographers if you simply license the usage you actually need to produce your magazine and then negotiate additional usages separately.
7. Conflicts of Interest; Non-hire Provision. The Contractor represents that [he or she] is free to enter into this Agreement, and that this engagement does not violate the terms of any agreement between the Contractor and any third party. Further, the Contractor, in rendering [his or her] duties shall not utilize any invention, discovery, development, improvement, innovation, or trade secret in which [he or she] does not have a proprietary interest. During the term of this agreement, the Contractor shall devote as much of [his or her] productive time, energy and abilities to the performance of [his or her] duties hereunder as is necessary to perform the required duties in a timely and productive manner. The Contractor is expressly free to perform services for other parties while performing services for the Company with the exception of services within the same scope of work and responsibility as work performed for the Company (i.e. Fashion Editor for the Company and Fashion Editor for another company). For a period of six months following any termination, the Contractor shall not, directly or indirectly hire, solicit, or encourage to leave the Company’s employment, any employee, consultant, or contractor of the Company or hire any such employee, consultant, or contractor who has left the Company’s employment or contractual engagement within one year of such employment or engagement.
The Non-Hire Provision is reasonable, but it seems to say that a photographer signing this agreement would not be permitted to work as a photographer in a similar capacity for other similar publications. The very nature of being a freelancer is that you have to work for a variety of publications. That part of this paragraph is unreasonable.
8. Right to Injunction. The parties hereto acknowledge that the services to be rendered by the Contractor under this Agreement and the rights and privileges granted to the Company under the Agreement are of a special, unique, unusual, and extraordinary character which gives them a peculiar value, the loss of which cannot be reasonably or adequately compensated by damages in any action at law, and the breach by the Contractor of any of the provisions of this Agreement will cause the Company irreparable injury and damage. The Contractor expressly agrees that the Company shall be entitled to injunctive and other equitable relief in the event of, or to prevent, a breach of any provision of this Agreement by the Contractor. Resort to such equitable relief, however, shall not be construed to be a waiver of any other rights or remedies that the Company may have for damages or otherwise. The various rights and remedies of the Company under this Agreement or otherwise shall be construed to be cumulative, and no one of the them shall be exclusive of any other or of any right or remedy allowed by law.
I’d have to hire an attorney to understand this one better. It would be helpful if you could be more specific about what sort of injunctive relief you would want to exert. This paragraph seems out of proportion to the services you’re requiring and the compensation you’re offering. You’re not really paying the photographer enough for them to agree to this. Why are the laws of North Carolina insufficient to protect you in a case where a photographer does some damage to you?
9. Merger. This Agreement shall not be terminated by the merger or consolidation of the Company into or with any other entity.
Okay.
10. Termination. Either the Contractor or the Company may terminate this Agreement at any time by 10 working days’ written notice to the Contractor. In addition, if the Contractor is convicted of any crime or offense, fails or refuses to comply with the written policies or reasonable directive of the Company, is guilty of serious misconduct in connection with performance hereunder, or materially breaches provisions of this Agreement, the Company at any time may terminate the engagement of the Contractor immediately and without prior written notice to the Contractor.
Okay, but you should add that if anyone at the Company is similarly convicted of a crime or offense that the photographer can get out right away.
11. Independent Contractor. This Agreement shall not render the Contractor an employee, partner, agent of, or joint venturer with the Company for any purpose. The Contractor is and will remain an independent contractor in [his or her] relationship to the Company. The Company shall not be responsible for withholding taxes with respect to the Contractor’s compensation hereunder. The Contractor shall have no claim against the Company hereunder or otherwise for vacation pay, sick leave, retirement benefits, social security, worker’s compensation, health or disability benefits, unemployment insurance benefits, or employee benefits of any kind. Consultant will not represent to be or hold itself out as an employee of the Company and Consultant acknowledges that he/she shall not have the right or entitlement in or to any of the pension, retirement or other benefit programs now or hereafter available to the Company’s regular employees.
Okay, but for clarity and brevity, this paragraph should be merged with paragraph 1. and 24.
12. Insurance and Mutual Indemnification. The Contractor will carry liability insurance if necessary (including malpractice insurance, if warranted) relative to any service that [he or she] performs for the Company. Each Party agrees to indemnify and hold the other harmless from and against any and all claims, damages and liabilities whatsoever, asserted by any person or entity, arising from any action of infringement in relation to any trade mark, patent, copyright or action for passing off resulting directly or indirectly from any breach by the first Party or any of its respective employees or agents, of this Agreement or of any warranty, representation or covenant contained in this Agreement. Such indemnification shall include the payment of all reasonable attorneys’ fees and other costs incurred by the indemnified party in defending any such claim. The Indemnified Party shall promptly inform the indemnifying Party in writing of any such claim, demand or suit and shall fully cooperate in the defense thereof. The Indemnified Party will not agree to the settlement of any such claim, demand or suit prior to the final judgment thereon without the consent of the indemnifying Party, whose consent will not be unreasonably withheld. The indemnified party shall not by any act or omission admit liability or otherwise prejudice or jeopardize the indemnifying party’s actual or potential defense to any claim. The said indemnity is subject to the indemnified party’s duty to mitigate all of its said costs, expenses, damages or liabilities.
Okay.
13. Successors and Assigns. All of the provisions of this Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties hereto and their respective heirs, if any, successors, and assigns.
Okay.
14. Choice of Law. The laws of the state of Xxxxxxxxxxxx shall govern the validity of this Agreement, the construction of its terms and the interpretation of the rights and duties of the parties hereto.
Okay.
15. Arbitration. Any controversies arising out of the terms of this Agreement or its interpretation shall be settled inXxxxxxxxxx in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association, and the judgment upon award may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof.
Arbitration is not a reasonable solution for most disputes involving photographers. The cost can be much more than litigation: http://www.btlg.us/News_and_Press/articles/arbitration.html
16. Headings. Section headings are not to be considered a part of this Agreement and are not intended to be a full and accurate description of the contents hereof.
Okay.
17. Waiver. Waiver by one party hereto of breach of any provision of this Agreement by the other shall not operate or be construed as a continuing waiver.
Okay.
18. Assignment. The Contractor shall not assign any of [his or her] rights under this Agreement, or delegate the performance of any of [his or her] duties hereunder, without the prior written consent of the Company.
Okay.
19. Notices. Any and all notices, demands, or other communications required or desired to be given hereunder by any party shall be in writing and shall be validly given or made to another party if personally served, or if deposited in the United States mail, certified or registered, postage prepaid, return receipt requested. If such notice or demand is served personally, notice shall be deemed constructively made at the time of such personal service. If such notice, demand or other communication is given by mail, such notice shall be conclusively deemed given five days after deposit thereof in the United States mail addressed to the party to whom such notice, demand or other communication is to be given as follows:
If to the Contractor:
______________________________
______________________________
______________________________
If to the Company:
Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx, LLC / Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx Magazine
address
Any party hereto may change its address for purposes of this paragraph by written notice given in the manner provided above.
Okay.
20. Modification or Amendment. No amendment, change or modification of this Agreement shall be valid unless in writing signed by the parties hereto.
Okay, but this could be added to paragraph 21.
21. Entire Understanding. This document and any exhibit attached constitute the entire understanding and agreement of the parties, and any and all prior agreements, understandings, and representations are hereby terminated and canceled in their entirety and are of no further force and effect.
Okay.
22. Unenforceability of Provisions. If any provision of this Agreement, or any portion thereof, is held to be invalid and unenforceable, then the remainder of this Agreement shall nevertheless remain in full force and effect.
Okay.
23. Competent Work/Ownership of Imagery. All work will be done in a competent fashion in accordance with applicable standards of the profession and all services are subject to final approval by a representative of the Company prior to payment. All work, graphics, images, photography captured during this agreement for assignments, or once permission of use is given- The Consultant relinquishes full ownership and rights of imagery to the Company.
It doesn’t make sense to combine the Competent Work provision with the Ownership of Imagery, they’re unrelated (even aside from the fact that it’s not reasonable to expect ownership of the images.)
24. Representations and Warranties. The Consultant will make no representations, warranties, or commitments binding the Company without the Company’s prior consent. The Contractor will not use the Company’s name, image, brand or likeness without the express written consent of the Company.
This should logically be combined with 11. Independent Contractor and 1. Independent Contractor.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have executed this Agreement as of the day and year first written above. The parties hereto agree that facsimile signatures shall be as effective as if originals.
Xxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxx, LLC d.b.a. Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx Magazine
By:____________________________________________
Its:_President/CEO___________________ [title or position]
THE CONTRACTOR
By:____________________________________________
Its:________________________________ [title or position]
SCHEDULE A
DUTIES, TERM, AND COMPENSATION
DUTIES: The Contractor will perform duties as listed in the Photography Director position description. She will report directly to Xxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx, and to any other party designated by Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxx in connection with the performance of the duties under this Agreement and shall fulfill any other duties reasonably requested by the Company and agreed to by the Contractor.
It seems unnecessarily convoluted to have three separate documents for one agreement. You could simplify things by merging Schedule A into the Independent Contractor Agreement.
TERM: This engagement shall commence upon execution of this Agreement and shall continue in full force and effect through the 90 day probationary period, ending ___________ or earlier upon completion of the Contractor’s duties under this Agreement. The Agreement may only be extended thereafter by mutual agreement, unless terminated earlier by operation of and in accordance with this Agreement.
Okay.
COMPENSATION:
A. As full compensation for the services rendered pursuant to this Agreement, the Company shall pay the Contractor __two (2%)____ percent of all advertising sales revenues generated and earned by Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx Magazine betweenNovember 4th, 2012 and February 4th, 2013 . Such compensation shall be payable within 30 days of receipt of advertising sales.
The compensation doesn’t seem to match what the photographer is providing. The photographer is providing use of the pictures forever, while the compensation is limited to three months. In order for this to be meaningful, you have to allow the photographer the option of auditing your records. The compensation seems disingenuous. What are the chances the magazine will continue to cut the photographer in for a piece of the action if it becomes successful? The Photography Director job description may require that you treat that person as an employee rather than an independent contractor. You can read more about this at http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Independent-Contractor-%28Self-Employed%29-or-Employee%3F
B. Contractor will also be paid twenty percent (20%) of all advertising sales to which he personally recruits (solicits, follow up, closes, collection payment).Such compensation shall be payable within 30 days of receipt of advertising sales.
Okay.
—————————————————————————————————————————————
Photography Director
Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx Magazine
| Job Title: | Photography Director | Division/Department | Photography |
| Supervises: | Contributing Photographers | Reports to: | Executive Editor |
| Last Revision Date: | January 10, 2013 | ||
The Photography Director of Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx Magazine manages a magazine’s photography department. The Director supervises and determines assignments for staff and freelance photographers; negotiates with agencies regarding freelance photographers. Screens contact sheets and makes preliminary selections.
The Photography Director primarily oversees the photography for three major publications, The Websitewww.xxxxxxxxxx.com the quarterly Magazine and the weekly electronic newsletter, The Xxxxx Statement. The Director also manages the social media accounts for Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx including Instagram and Tumblr.
The Photography Director sets the publication standards for performance, and motivates and develops the staff. The Photography Director is also responsible for developing and maintaining the publication budget.
The Photography Director will focus on a variety of activities geared towards building the Xxxxxx local presence including:
1. Editorial – Build Xxxxxx audience through photography. Source premium, relevant content ideas and manage editorial calendar. Create independent content including articles across a variety of editorial (Fashion, Beauty, Lifestyle, Arts & Entertainment, Mens)
· Establishes direction of photographic content of the website, e-newsletter and digital magazine.
· Recruits photography staff as needed.
· Responsible for the training and development of staff in which he directly supervises.
· Provide support and direction to the department Editors and Art Director.
· Schedules photographers for events and story assignments as necessary
1. Social Media – Use technology and modern marketing techniques to assist in managing the brand’s social media presence primarily using Instagram and Tumblr and sharing a portion of these photos to Twitter and Facebook.
Education & Experience
1. Two – three years experience in the media industry developing content, producing professional capacity photography and working within an editorial organization to deliver high-quality content on deadline
2. Demonstrated awareness, aptitude and capabilities with web platforms and web technology including Twitter, Facebook, blogging platforms, etc.
3. A person of the utmost integrity and character
Compensation & Time Commitment
The Photography Director should plan 10-15 hours per week to fulfill his fantastic role. The Photography Director will receive two (2)% of advertising revenues generated from the website and the bi-annual digital publication.
Thousands of fashion & style-conscious readers throughout the Xxxxxxxx area rely on Xxxxxxxx to keep them in the know while on-the-go. The online media platform for stylish socialites features a bi-annual digital publication (also available in print), a weekly editorial e- subscription service (The STYLE Statement) and accompanying website, providing highly curated local content. The Xxxxxx reader trust Xxxxxxxx as her go-to resource for what’s hip and new in local cuisine, fashion, beauty, culture, events and stylish living. The Photography Director of Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx Magazine wants readers to live, love, shop, dine and discover in his city as he does.
Most of Xxxxxx’s editorial content is selected locally in addition to various regional, national and international fashion and travel features. A well-connected Photography Director and his team of photographers has a finger on the city’s pulse and is responsible for selecting content, along with networking within his community to grow the Xxxxxx brand.
they questioned why she did not report her problems sooner. But she knew that if she had reported them, should would lose the job she loved so much. “The military had trained me this way — to suck it up,” she said.
“The one thing about PTSD is it’s the war that never ends” she said. “Suicide might seem like a viable option. It’s a permanent solution to a temporary problem.”
( click ad to view today’s visual profile )
I’ve always loved “East of Eden.” Such a brilliant book. My brother and I didn’t get along well, for years, so the novel just made sense to me. I’d never before read anything that resonated on the personal, intellectual and spiritual level. That Steinbeck, man. What a genius.
It’s not the opus most people think of, though, when the great man’s name comes up. Like Walker Evans and the Great Depression, when most hear Steinbeck, they go right to “The Grapes of Wrath.” Dust covers everything. People roam and wander. Desperation wafts thickly. “Okie” is an epithet. And Tom Joad is a character that sticks.
Hell, even Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen mined his well-worn talent, (perhaps for the last time,) when he wrote “The Ghost of Tom Joad” back in ’95. If ever there were a story that sells in America, it’s the wandering vagrant, riding the rails. (Hey Acorn, you got any spare strips a duct tape? Got me ‘nother hole in mah overalls. Landed funny comin’ off that goddamn train.)
Much as I love to tie these reviews back to my own life, today, I’ve got nothing. Sure, I’ve been around, but always from the comfort of a car, bus, plane, or passenger train. I’m just an average, everyday civilian.
As opposed to Mike Brodie, whose project “A Period of Juvenile Prosperity,” recently exhibited at Yossi Milo in New York, and was released earlier this year as a beautifully produced book, by Twin Palms. No, this dude has seen his fair share of disemboweled varmints, festering sores, and never-washed hair. And he seems to be spry, if the pictures are to be believed. (Fence jumping in the opening picture? Great way to kick off the narrative.)
Mr. Brodie spent a few years hopping freight trains, and hanging out with the kind of kids who would emerge from a test-tube birth, if the parents were Ryan McGinley, Nan Goldin, and the aforementioned Californian, John Steinbeck. (What? You can’t have three parents? Says who?) They’d be glamorous, if they weren’t so dirty. They’d be normal, if they weren’t so misunderstood. They’d be happy, if they weren’t so damaged.
These photographs have gone everywhere, (as have the protagonists,) and it’s not hard to understand why. Looking at this book gives you a window into an unseemly world that you wouldn’t otherwise get to see. (Though the Sean Penn film from a few years back with the *Spoiler Alert* super-sad ending did a fair job, I suppose.) It’s the equivalent of US Weekly for the intelligentsia: see how the other half lives; we dare you to put it down.
I love to be surprised, but I don’t know if that happened here. It felt more voyeuristic than truly insightful; more entertaining than informative. But looking at the situation facing members of the artist’s generation, (he’s 27,) maybe this is just the most perfect set of “peoplesymbols” anyone’s come out with yet? It’s a bit cynical, but keeps it real at the same time. Sounds pretty GenY to me.
There are lots of photos looking down, which works very well, and the overall color palette is gorgeous: muted when need be, ugly when appropriate, and glowing at just the right moments. At a time when everyone is talking about Punk, because of the Met’s Fashion exhibition, this book gives us a sense of what the movement’s descendants might look like in 2013.
Basically, this is the ultimate project for now. It’s guaranteed to get people’s attention, well-crafted enough to hold it, yet not brilliant enough to force people to think too hard. It’s easy to tell yourself: boy, I’m glad I didn’t end up like that. But then you think, if I had, I’d be the one sitting on the gold mine photo project.
Is it worth it if you have to poop on toilets hooked up to vacuum cleaners, and change the dressing on your best bud Tray’s ass wound? I don’t know. But it’s too late for you anyway. This merry band of misfit roaming rebels has been photographed already. Find your own subculture.
Bottom Line: Excellent book, super-trendy project
To Purchase “A Period of Juvenile Prosperity” 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.
Someone asked when we would see at Perpignan the likes of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Jean-François Leroy thought it was some kind of joke.
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 Aaron Richter. “I was recently introduced to his work and I really dig it”
How many years have you been in business?
I’ve been taking pictures since February 2009, and by industry standards, I’ve probably been considered a “professional” for the past two years.
Are you self-taught or photography school taught?
I’m self-taught. When I first moved to New York in 2006, I worked as the copy chief for an urban-entertainment magazine called GIANT. When the magazine, which doesn’t exist anymore, started shedding staffers, I was laid off and—inspired by the magazine’s stellar art department of former creatives from The Face, DV, Trace and America—spent my severance on a camera and taught myself how to take pictures. At the time, I was also working (and still work) as the art director for a digital music magazine I helped launch with friends called self-titled (www.self-titledmag.com), and since part of my job involves commissioning all photography in the magazine, I found myself shooting bands and musicians quite a bit. This led to art directors and photo editors noticing my work, and assignments started coming my way.
Who was your greatest influence that inspired you to get into this business?
Absolutely my buddy Ruvan (www.ruvan.com), who takes the most amazing photos. Ruvan was the photographer on the first story that I ever wrote for GIANT (an “In the Studio” piece with the Bravery). Shooting primarily on film, Ruvan takes beautiful photos with such ease and little fuss; watching him work and learn and develop his skills helped me realize that changing my career path was a realistic goal and not just a longshot empty dream—in other words, his development showed me that photography was something I could learn and teach myself with the right motivation and critical eye. Ruvan also frequently throws gallery shows with his work, in which he encourages attendees to take home images that he’s arranged on the walls. His shows always have such a great vibe—a fantastic meeting of friends. For me, photography is a social experience—whereas writing always felt incredibly solitary—and Ruvan’s events always showed me how important the people around us are to truly enjoying what we do.
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?
I moved to New York to be a writer and an editor at magazines. And I did that for three years, and it was not fun for me. I really disliked doing the work at a time when magazine content was shifting more toward blog posts and quantity over quality. Photography gave me the opportunity to create projects for myself, and everything I shot was fun, because I was learning, and getting better and better with every shoot and every time I pushed myself to try something new. As I’ve started working more and shooting projects for myself less, I still look to maintain that sense of fun—in other words, work never really feels like work when I’m taking photos—and I always hold that as the best inspiration.
Do you find that some creatives love your work but the client holds you back?
I’ve never really had a situation like this. Each assignment or job that I get, I always consider it a collaboration between myself and the entire team—rather than specifically my photos. For example, I love smiling, both smiling myself and making my subjects smile. Love it, love it, love it. I love my photos infinitely more where I’ve been able to connect with my subjects in a manner where they have a genuine smile on their faces in the images. But obviously, not every job is going to call for the subjects to be smiling—particularly shooting fashion and moody musicians. Avoiding smiles on a job where the client wants a more serious tone isn’t holding back my vision for the work I want to produce; it’s just a necessary element of collaboration.
What are you doing to get your vision out to the buying audience?
The only thing I know to do is just shoot as much as possible. When paying work dies down for a week or two, as it always will in the freelance life, I fill those days as much as possible with days shooting for myself, whether it’s spending a day with a new model shooting some fashion or catching up with a band that’s in town and taking pictures for my music magazine, self-titled. I also produce an online fashion magazine called Joey (www.joeyzine.com), which I shoot for a bit and commission lots of my photographer friends for. I’ve done five issues over the past two years, but as I’ve gotten busier, it’s become difficult to put out issues on a regular basis. But Joey is great exposure, both for myself and for my contributors. Joey gives me better excuses to shoot whatever I want and present it in a way that’s easily digestible and engaging for anyone online. I, along with pretty much every working photographer that I know, also keep a readily updated Tumblr (aaronrichter.tumblr.com) of new work, whenever it’s published, which seems to have become just as essential as maintaining a portfolio site.
What is your advice for those who are showing what they think the buyers want to see?
If they enjoy shooting the work, then awesome. To me, that’s really all that’s important. If they’re shooting something they don’t enjoy because they want to book a campaign and make money, then that’s kind of a total bummer. But there’s obviously a middle ground here—shooting what you think buyers want to see but doing it in a way that’s enriching for you. Like, I know a lot of photographers that might think “lifestyle” photography can be kinda corny but are able to approach it, because they know they need more of it in their book, in a commercially valid way that isn’t just BBQs and riding bikes. Ultimately, shoot what you like shooting. If you’re good and share your work, someone will see it and dig it.
Are you shooting for yourself and creating new work to keep your artistic talent true to you?
As much as I can, yeah. But really, as I’ve sort of already said, I’m just happy whenever I’m taking pictures, no matter if it’s something more in line with what I personally want to produce or collaborating on a job for a client. I like to think: Would I rather be transcribing interview tapes? Would I rather be blogging about YouTube videos? Would I rather be struggling to figure out how to write a profile of some upcoming singer in 100 words? Would I rather be fretting about commas and verb tense? No way—not for me. Every day I’m taking photos, I’m happy to have a relief from what I used to do for a living.
How often are you shooting new work?
Every week. I love it.
Aaron Richter grew up in the Midwest but now calls Brooklyn home. A displaced writer and magazine editor, he has seen his photos appear in the pages of such titles as GQ, Men’s Health, Spin, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Glamour and Nylon. He’s also produced images for brands including Urban Outfitters, Doo.Ri, Puma, Copperwheat, Casio, Clarks and bebe, and exhibited his backstage portraits from Bonnaroo 2011 at the W Hotel in Times Square. In his spare time, Aaron steers the art direction for self-titled, an iPad- and Web-based publication he helped launch in 2008, and served previously as the editor of MusicMusicMusic, a short-lived magazine that tanked a ton of money but made a few hip people very happy. Aaron enjoys reading Norman Mailer, rewatching the movie DiG!, and metally deliberating about which is the best of the generally bad Rolling Stones albums.
You can contact me directly for anything at studio@aaronrichter.com.
I’m also represented in the US by the awesome JP at Fresh Artist Management (jp@freshartistmgmt.com).
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.
citing his “fierce commitment to photojournalism and endless drive to tell a story.” Munita’s portfolio of work, shot in a wide variety of settings and locales, reflects a strong and nuanced grasp of the human condition. His photographs of refugees in Afghanistan, prisoners in El Salvador and daily life in Cuba all demonstrate just how in touch Munita is with the currents (and undercurrents) of life.
via Time- LightBox.