Remembering Shawn Mortensen

Talented, beloved photographer Shawn Mortensen passed away two days ago at the age of 43.

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Leigh Anderson, his former agent from Montage had this to say:

Shawn was one of the most talented photographers I’ve ever known, but that’s only a part of what made him so remarkable. He was incredibly passionate about art and culture, but humble about his place in that community. He knew everyone, and had the best stories, but never dropped names. Shawn knew what most thoughtful and intelligent people do, that people’s lives, however simple, make the best art. What made him unique was how he executed that. Every subject was given equal respect, equal measure. Not many contemporary photographers could do what he did – reconcile the business of photography with a sincere sense of social responsibility. More important than Shawn’s photography was who he was outside of it – he was a fiercely loyal friend and a true gentleman.

Shawn was the author of “Out of Mind”, a contributor to Vibe, i-D, Blackbook and Nylon among others. He was also a successful advertising photographer with clients such as Nike and AG. At the time of his death he was hard at work on his next book project – “MOR – Monster! Outlaws & Renegades”.

Rockers NYC T.V. Interviews Shawn Mortensen

Vibe Remembers Shawn Mortensen

Black Book – Shawn Mortensen, Rest In Peace

The Daily Swarm – R.I.P. Photographer Shawn Mortensen

Super Touch – In Loving Memory of Shawn Mortensen

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Why Would You Quit Working With A Freelancer

Jonathan a 3rd year photojournalism student at Ohio University’s School of Visual Communication has a Business Practices class taught by Professor, Marcy Nighswander (that’s what I’m told in an email anyways). For their first assignment she asked them to contact photo editors and ask them “to identify why they quit using a freelancer’s services or product.” Basically, Mrs. Nighswander, wants us to ask industry professionals if they stopped using a freelance photographer’s work for some reason such as, and not limited too, a poor professional relationship or lack of commitment.

Jonathan,

I think the vast majority of photography that goes on in the world is simply a business transaction. You sell a product, your customers need it, and they will go elsewhere to get it if you don’t conduct yourself in a professional manner. Customer service, good communication skills, contract writing and all manner of business acumen is required in addition to the ability to take pictures.

Beyond that and I think the higher up you you go in the photography food chain the main reason to stop working with a photographer is if the shoot fails or if you or someone in the chain of command above you decides they don’t like that style of photography.

One of the important jobs photo editors and art buyers do besides finding photographers and working out the details of the shoot is determining beforehand if the photographer you want to work with can execute and deliver the shoot in a professional manner. You call them up on the phone, check out their portfolio and marketing material, look at the client list and generally try to get a feel for it beforehand.

Doug Menuez writes on his blog today (here) about the cold hard truth of shooting for the top news magazines in the 80’s:
At a conference in the 80’s I once heard a young photogapher ask Roxanne Edwards at Business Week what would happen if, you know, somehow the film just did not turn out? Response: “Then you would never work for us again.” Sharp, honest, true answer. But seriously, doh! The other editors on the panel from Time, Newsweek, US News all shook their heads solemnly in agreement. The pressure to get world-class images on deadline against tremendous competition was unrelenting, yet it was also what fueled us.

Flight 1549 Salvage Photos Released

Just in from photographer Stephen Mallon, he is free to post the salvage photos of Flight 1549 to his website and anywhere else. “I have to retouch out the logo if its visible but they are back on line!”

via Stellazine.

Talented Photographers Are 99% A Pain In The Ass To Work With

From the wish I’d said it category:

“It is no surprise that talented photographers are 99% pain in the ass to work with. They have strong opinions, are stubborn, reckless, and most of the time have an extremely bad character. But that is simply because they are constantly challenged by a reality that annoys them. Like being assaulted by mosquitoes, all the time. They don’t have an attitude problem, it’s the world that lacks one.” — From that goddam Bohemian.

My favorite was always when the editor would come stomping into my office all up in arms because the photographer had made all kinds of unreasonable demands on the writer and/or the subject. And, at first I was concerned but then I’d investigate and maybe the subject wasn’t told there would be a photo shoot (a magazine is pictures, words and design you want to write a book go somewhere else) or possibly the writer expected a photographer to follow in their shadows (we need time with the subject to make great pictures) and more likely it’s because creative people are difficult and demanding and it’s not like your writer isn’t a neurotic basket case on deadline, the photo shoot is our deadline. Get over it.

Magazines Are Underwhelming, Not Undervalued

I just don’t think magazine publishers understand — most content today that they produce isn’t worth paying big money for. The topics are predictable. The coverage is bland and generalized. The interviews are cookie-cutter. And so much of the magazine is filled with advertisements that — a) don’t speak to me as a reader, b) fail to provide me with any action that I can easily take, or c) don’t relate in any significant way to the content that I am paying to review — that I barely get any content in the first place.

via WeMedia.com. Thanks, Andy.

Should Photographers Work For Publicists Instead Of Magazines?

Working with publicists has always been tricky for photographers who make a living shooting celebrities. Crossing a publicist can get you removed from the list but too much sucking up can also put you out of favor too, so there’s a very fine line to walk in the business. From the magazine side I’ve had publicists turn down photographers, give me a list of their own or say nothing at all about the choices. It all depends on the client and the agenda. But, in general the publicists can easily exert control of a shoot and a story if they wish. So, what happens if we remove magazines from the equation?

I’ve long thought that some of the business photographers do now producing editorial photography for magazines will become producing editorial images for clients who then distribute the images to magazines and other online sources (advertorial in a sense). I’ve seen this for a long time with products. The products that come with great photography always get more coverage. Not only does a well done picture convince the editor that the product is great it makes it easy to drop into the magazine. Online, it’s obvious that shiny product photography can get you plenty of coverage (some of it just about how shiny the product is). Most savvy product manufacturers produce editorial friendly pictures to go along with press and product releases.

The problem with this of course is that the client has control over “editorial images,” but if you’ve ever worked at a magazine it’s very clear that product manufacturers have been exerting control over their coverage for quite some time. The only reason to leave an advertiser out of a product review is if their product sucked and even then you risk losing the advertising.

Now I’m seeing several instances where photographers are teeming up with celebrities and publicists and cutting magazines out of the equation. Art + Commerce is now “producing our own celebrity shoots independent of commissioning magazines and covering all production costs” (from an email they sent around to publicists after the jump). I have no idea if they’re getting any traction with this (they didn’t respond to an email I sent them) but their roster is impressive and I can’t imagine that publicists aren’t paying attention. One agent I spoke with felt like it would remove all the mid level photographers from the equation because “newer photographers rely on the magazines to put them in the mix for assignments to elevate their career and get them seen.” I also spoke with an Art Director who works on celebrity shoots quite a bit and really thought that taking the voice of the magazine out of the equation would result in some mediocre shoots. I’m not so sure. Certainly magazines that want to remain relevant will need to commission original shoots but there is so much middle ground to cover where the publications don’t care but the opportunity still exists to elevate the coverage with great photography.

I also noticed that photographer Kurt Iswarienko is repped by the mega talent agency ICM (here) and while I didn’t call him to see I’m assuming this gives ICM the opportunity to pair their photographer with their talent.

And, finally we have Madonna one of the most image conscious celebrities in the world releasing sepia toned handout pictures of herself with the child she hopes to adopt in Malawi (here). In the Guardian story Martin Parr says, “Choosing sepia is all to do with trying to make the image look romantic and idealistic. It’s sort of a soft version of propaganda. Remember when the colour supplements used to run black-and-white pictures of famine and hardship? Some still do”

In the end I think these are all positive developments for photographers looking to replace lost editorial magazine shoots. Who knows if it will be good for media.

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Photographers Nominated For A Webby

The Webby honorees (here) and nominees are out (here). Here are the photographers who received an honoree:

Associations

Professional Photographers of America
http://www.PPA.com

Best Navigation/Structure

Wonnacott Photography
http://www.Wonnacott.com

Best Use Of Photography

John Madere: On the Water
http://www.johnmadere.com/otw/

Blog- Culture/Personal

I Like To Tell Stories- Jonathan Saunders
http://www.iliketotellstories.com

Self-Promotion/Portfolio

Joshua Stearns Images
http://www.joshuastearns.com

Lyndon Wade Photography
http://www.lyndonwade.com

Wonnacott Photography
http://www.Wonnacott.com

Here are the photographers who received a nomination:

Art

20×200
http://www.20×200.com

Best Use Of Photography

Lyndon Wade Photography
http://www.lyndonwade.com

Professional Services

cake-factory
http://www.cake-factory.com

Favorite Art Photographers Who’ve Flown Under Radar

The April issue of Modern Painters Magazine is dedicated to photography (here). Curator and critic Vince Aletti introduces some of his favorite photographers who have heretofore flown under the radar (here). It’s always interesting and educational to read why someone is attracted to a series of photographs and here’s a few excerpts from Vince explaining why he picked these 5 photographers.

Mohamed Bourouissa “…he’s one of the few photographers making staged pictures that really feel exciting (a word I use sparingly) and believable…”

Ken Kitano “Japanese photographer Ken Kitano has been making composite portraits of groups of people, layering image upon image until one common face and a rather ghostly body emerges. It sounds gimmicky (and, yes, Nancy Burson was there first) but the results are gorgeous and mysterious…”

Dietmar Busse “…I think he’s reinvented himself over the past few years and is making black-and-white portraits of people in the downtown scene that are for once not bohemian clichés. I’m particularly interested in his double exposures — something I never thought I’d say about anyone…”

Viviane Sassen “Her photographs, taken in Uganda, Zambia, Kenya, and Tanzania, tease fashion conventions but with really witty and unexpected results, partly because her subjects are all young Africans who seem to have enjoyed collaborating with her.”

Bruce Wrighton “He took straightforward and rather artless color photos of people and places, but it’s the portraits that really hooked me. His subjects, mostly posed outdoors standing before building walls in natural sunlight, are stunningly ordinary, and I couldn’t stop looking at them.”

New Ruling Makes Slides And Film Worth $7

Chris Usher has lost his appeal after a seven year battle against Corbis and each of his 12,640 images lost will be compensated for a lousy $7.00 a piece.

This ruling means that from now on, any agency, any magazine, any publisher will never have to worry about losing your photographs, since it will cost them peanuts to pay you back. It will be cheaper for them to trash them then returning them to you.

Over on the Bohemian.

Prince And Gagosian Respond to Cariou Lawsuit

Over on ARTINFO.com they are reporting that Gagosian’s lawyers are claiming fair use in the appropriation of 22 of Patrick Cariou’s images by Richard Prince which is hardly surprising. Prince has also issued the standard “these images are not that distinctive” and “I’ve made them better” probably under the direction of his lawyers or maybe he’s done this enough to know you have to pretend the photographs are not that important to the art work.

As a side note Fairey is doing the same thing with the Mannie Garcia image he used for his Obama poster and has gone so far as to claim he used an image that isn’t an exact match (story here). But, of course he also said he sorted through thousands of images to find the one he wanted to copy for the poster so that doesn’t really sound like “any image will do” now does it.

Cariou feels the same way because he can’t understand why Prince would use 22 of his images if there’s nothing distinctive about them. In the end I think this one will not land in the courts. Apparently Cariou has already received a settlement proposal and it’s just missing a few zeros. And, let’s all be honest here if you saw your photographs selling for $1.5-$3 million after they had been slightly altered “turned into art” wouldn’t you settle for a piece of the action? Or maybe it’s just a matter of paying a licensing fee plus a penalty for not getting it in advance and all will be fine.

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THE ZEN OF FILM vs. DIGITAL GRATIFICATION

“Mulling it over, I couldn’t articulate it fully but definitely, I knew I had become lazy, really lazy. A spectacular sloth by the standards of shooting film. Film is hard. Film is a stone cold unforgiving killing bastard. Film is once in a lifetime, no excuses. F8 and really, really be there: ready, steady, in focus, correct exposure, and pressing the shutter in synch with life.”

via doug menuez 2.0: go fast, don’t crash

Friday Links

Top ten reasons managers become great
8. Self aware, including weaknesses. This is the kicker. Great leaders know what they suck at, and either work on those skills or hire people they know make up for their own weaknesses, and empower them to do so.
via scottberkun.com.

Top ten reasons managers become assholes:
2. They are insecure in their role. The psychology of opposites goes a long way in understanding human nature. Overly aggressive people are often quite scared, and their aggression is a pre-emptive attack driven by fear: they attack first because they believe an attack from you is inevitable. Management makes many people nervous since it’s defined by having have less direct control, but more broad influence. A huge percentage of managers never get over this, and micromanage: a clear sign of insecurity and confusion over their role and yours.
via scottberkun.com.

Review: Milton Rogovin: The Making of a Social Documentary Photographer
Milton Rogovin is one of those underappreciated photographers. His work could maybe be termed the photographic equivalent of Studs Terkel’s radio shows: Rogovin took photos of people who worked hard for their money and who often were very poor.
via  Conscientious.

Dear Designer, You Suck
Sometimes I wonder, then: given that everyone in design seems to more or less know everyone else, are we really having the kinds of meaningful, constructive, critical discourses that we really should be having? Are we pulling our punches too much when discussing the merits of the work that our peers turn out? To put a finer point on it: are we being honest with one another?
via Subtraction.com

Ten Graphic Design Paradoxes
05: For designers, verbal skills are as important as visual skills. Since graphic design should be self-explanatory, designers might be forgiven for thinking that the need to provide a verbal rationale for their work is unimportant. Surely the work should succeed on its own merits without requiring a designer’s advocacy? True. Except there never was a client who didn’t want an explanation for every aspect of every piece of creative work they commissioned.
via Design Observer.

The Photographer as Scientist
The April 2009 issue of Modern Painters is completely devoted to photography. The cover story is about Hiroshi Sugimoto and profiles his recent work and experimentations.

I had not heard about this before but Sugimoto has been buying up early negatives made by William Henry Fox Talbot in the 1830’s and is now using them to make his own work from them. I’m not exactly sure how I feel about that.
via Horses Think.

Magazines Blur Line Between Ad and Article
David Granger, the editor in chief of Esquire, a Hearst magazine, included advertisers in cover compositions he produced for February and May, which the magazine society said it did not object to.

When he and his publisher began working on the projects, Mr. Granger said, “we came to an agreement on certain principles, and one was that there had to be real, viable reader benefit to any of the things we did.” He said that other cover treatments, like ESPN’s and Entertainment Weekly’s, “are pure advertising iterations.”
via  NYTimes.com.

Banging The SEO Gong

The boys over at Photoshelter are furiously banging the SEO gong. If you haven’t tuned in you might want to check it out. There’s plenty of new SEO information for photographers (see that I just gave them SEO love so don’t think I didn’t read it myself).

Behind The Scenes At Marie Claire

This reality series called “Running In Heels” on the style network offers a look into the fashion world through the eyes of editors and interns at Marie Claire Magazine. It’s a little too painful for me to relive office life at a magazine, but some of you may find it entertaining and informative (here). Let me know if you see any photo editors scurrying around.

running-in-heels

Forward Thinking Museum

forwardthinkingelevatorThe Forward Thinking Museum is an entertaining little online museum with good photography (here). No, it doesn’t replace real museums with real prints, but some of us drive desks all day and a little side entertainment is needed once in awhile.

It was created by Joy of Giving Something, Inc. a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to encouraging aesthetic reflection about present realities and future possibilities and contains material from their collection.

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Stephen Shore Video

What I guess goes through my mind when I’m taking a picture is I’m thinking wordlessly about how all these elements relate to each other and I’m thinking again wordlessly about finding a balance that I look for a point that seems central to the picture and when I find that point that tells me where to stand and where exactly to aim the camera.
— Stephen Shore

A work can hold a lot of different things at once. explore the medium, explore perception and explore other psychological levels. I think all these levels operate through work at the same time so I don’t feel like I need to limit what I’m doing, that I can hold all these things.
— Stephen Shore