I can’t seem to get a photographer I like hired to shoot fashion, because every time I send a link to the fashion director she clicks and the opening image pops up and it’s this horrendous, pretentious, model-y shot that’s dripping with cheese.
The rest of the site is littered with solid gold shots but she can’t get past the fact that this photographer thinks the greatest shot they’ve ever taken, the shot that goes on the opener, blows.
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Options:
1. Send a discreet email explaining the situation.
2. Place a phone call to the shooter and explain the situation.
3. Ask the photographer to buy you some drinks and then explain the situation.
4. Show the fashionista the rest of the site.
5. Blog anonymously.
What a stand up guy/gal you are…….
Too many photographers get caught up in there own work. Terry Richardson’s opening image is the best one I have seen yet. I just makes you want to click an see more.
sounds like maybe your fashion editor kind of sucks too
No she doesn’t suck she just judges photographers differently than I do.
If you really want to get the guy hired, here’s what you do:
Next time you email the site, bypass the first page and go to the second page. Go to the “view” menu (at least that’s what it is in Safari) and select “show address bar”. Copy THAT link and paste it into an email to your fashion editor and send it over. She will not see the first image.
Still, if they guy thinks his bestest, most greatest image is “this horrendous, pretentious, model-y shot that’s dripping with cheese” why do you want to hire the guy so much?
It wouldn’t happen to be FH would it?
Like Aurora Photos Founder once said to me ‘editing your own work is hell’. To bad the Fashion Photo Director doesn’t realise that.
just hire me. ;-)
Ok, I’m dying of curiosity – give us links to fashion websites you like and have been trying to sell your director.
seriously, this is the best photoblog I’ve seen in a long time
keep it going
Flash website so I can’t do the deep link. I love flash but this IS the problem with it.
Flash sucks. Or at least the way people use it. They should at least know how to provide users with internal bookmarkable links like the Balenciaga website. Even if it’s in Flash, the programmer has made it possible to bookmark internal sections.
http://www.balenciaga.com
Anyway, you’re better off sending your fashion editor individual images nabbed from the website.
I had an art buyer tell me candidly that the intro to one of my artists was horrid, and while she could get past it, she knew the creative we were both trying to reach wouldn’t be able to. As it was a Flash site, there wasn’t a URL to provide that jumped past the intro. I had the same candid conversation with my photographer and the next day the intro was gone.
Nope. Didn’t get the job. But the point was made, truth always, that different people appreciate different styles of images and presentation. We can’t please everyone!
If the photographer noted in the starting post thinks that is the best image they’ve done, perhaps their taste is different from the fashion editor’s by a degree that says they aren’t right for each other.
to send an inside page from a flash site….
(works, at least, with Safari):
Cmmd N keys will open the page with your toolbar, address bar etc.
Then you can bookmark it, or use “email this” (or whatever)
to send the page.
btw I’d love your critique of my new site!
my startup image is randomized. its nice to have a webdesigner that thinks outside the box.
Am I the only one here with a physical portfolio? Call it in an show the boss lady, don’t worry about the website. Sometimes the books put more across anyway.
William, (hi!) you are not the only one with a physical portfolio out there. However, in the interest of time and messenger costs saved it is preferable by most clients to look at the website and perhaps request either a book or supplemental material in pdf format or on the web posted specifically for that client on a password protected site.
The portfolio is indeed still a selling tool but I would say that I see the website being in many ways more important as it is often times the means to a first impression. I have recently shot several large ad assignments and the book was not even requested prior to estimating the projects.
The book should reinforce the web in look and feel and vice versa.
Insofar as A PE’s post – you thought highly enough of the photographer you chose to pitch him in the first place. It is a good idea to let him know why he didn’t get the assignment so that you can recommend him next time (after he changes the opener!) and not have to make any excuses. You both end up looking good.
In the meantime every photographer looking at your blog is right now examining their web site!
awesome.
The really scary thing about the whole website thing is — all this work goes into every photographers’ site. And yet, if truth were known, I’d bet that most people don’t get past the third image. Fifth, at most. Just look at this fashion editor’s behavior — I am betting that it is more the norm, rather than the exception. So make damn sure that those first five are strong. It might be the only shot you get.
I’d advise P.E. to do screen grabs of the five best (flash) images of a photographer he’s recommending, and then turn those into a PDF, and send that to the fashion editor. Don’t just forward a URL. It’s about “showing them only what you want them to see”. Yeah, it’s more trouble, but your odds might go way up.
There is a way to bookmark flash site pages; something called “deep linking”, but your friendly neighborhood web designer might not be aware of that.
I’ve always felt like you only had about twenty to thirty second with someone viewing your site — might be interesting to set a stopwatch, and go to your own site, and see how deep you get into your site in the first twenty-thirty seconds. Might surprise you, (or freak you out). Just remember — that person’s entire mental image of you will be formed in thirty seconds. That’s all the time you’ve got.
JH – site stats off your site server will tell you all you need to know about your site: page views and visitor paths.
Steve (what’s up)! I guess my point was not clear. I see the photo editor in this situation as being in a salesman ship position. She makes selections of her favorite photographers and gets an ok to use them for a project. If she really wanted to ‘sell’ the photographers work and the web site was not the strongest, why not use the book to sell their work? I agree that the book and web site should both be strong, however sometimes it is only about presentation.
It’s too late. I sent the link and after initial rejection made a case based on the images I liked but still got rejected so this photographer is done. Oh well there’s always features.
Tell the photog what’s going on. If some photo editor called me and told me my first image was horrible and they could get me some work if I changed it I would have it changed super fast.
it all still sounds silly to me. as in, this is saying more about your office politics than a photogs website.
I still hate all the flash. If the developer sucks balls, it takes a long time to load because of program bloat, and it’s too easy to screw up. I have corp. clients who often do not have the latest web browser (thanks IT guys) and the latest flash player. And nothing is worse then visiting a site, loving the first two photos, and having to wait wait wait for the next page/gallery to load with photos.
And it doesn’t work on the iphone. I suck enough to actually surf photographer’s sites on my phone while hurrying up to wait.
I’d like to know what the relationship is between a photo editor and a fashion editor. Doesn’t a fashion editor make their own choices on a photographer independently of a photo editor?
That totally happened to me. I really wanted to work with a fashion photographer whom you’ve already blogged about actually. Just because I knew he could shoot it, do a great job and not make it look model-y that doesn’t mean anyone else has the understanding or judgement to see the elements that make a good image.
I blew it.
He has great light. Good casting. NIce composition
I totally screwed up by clicking on his site while the editor was standing there and all this imagery came up that was SO WRONG for the job she just couldn’t get past the fact that those were just ONE style he had.
I even went back to the rep and asked them to send me samples of what I was looking for and it was just a non starter. Lesson learned
Pull jpegs off the site and have a little collection, never click on the site esp. if someone has a range.
[…] Great post by A Photo Editor on a photographer they were pushing with an apparently horrible site (or intro) that killed their chance. My own quick thoughts… […]
@anon: It is silly. That’s the point.
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“Model-y shot that’s dripping with cheese”….
I suppose we could call that a Not-Show….
King Of The Hill Sex Porn…
King Of The Hill Sex Porn…
Great post by A Photo Editor on a photographer they were pushing with an apparently horrible site (or intro) that killed their chance.
Hello,
I feel your pain. You may jsut need to dig a little deeper for what you are looking for.
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