David Alan Harvey on Launching a Photo-j Magazine

“You’ve got to have something to say. It could be conceptual, or you can try to save the world as a photojournalist. But you can’t just be a technician. Everybody’s a technician. You’ve got to have an idea.”

via PDN.

Oyster Hotel Reviews – Hotel Photo Fakeout

I like this new hotel review site, Oyster Hotel Reviews, because they understand how powerful the editorial voice can be when making a buying decision and they understand a photograph will convey the most information in the shortest amount of time. They’ve hired a bunch of writer photographers to go check out hotel properties and show you what they really look like.

My favorite feature is the photo fakeout on their blog (here). Where they shoot their own version of the hotels pool, workout room and hotel room to show you the careful cropping and outright photoshopping the hotels have done to fool you.

photofakeout

photofakeout2

Breaking: Getty Shuts Down The Entire Wholly-Owned Shoot Program

This just in: The entire wholly-owned shoot program at Getty Images has been shut down and the producer and digital tech person at Getty have been laid off.

My source (here).

I’m told: “Wholly owned is when Getty Images would commission photographers for shoots in their creative division. It may also include photographers who were on salary at Getty Images who created content for them.”

Lucie Award Winners

Picture Editor of the year – Steve Fine – Sports Illustrated

Photo Magazine of the Year – www.burnmagazine.org

Fashion Layout of the Year – Harper’s Bazaar – Thriller Fashion by Terry Richardson

Book Publisher of the Year – Verso Limited Editions Bruce Davidson – Central Park

Print Advertising Campaign of the Year – FFL France Wrangler We Are Animals Ryan McGinley

Photography Curator of the Year – Sarah Greenough Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans

International Photographer of the Year – Nadav Kander

Discovery of the Year Award – Elliot Wilcox

International Photographer of the Year, Deeper Perspective Award – Rachel Papo

The Spotlight Award – The W.Eugene Smith Memorial Fund, accepted by Marcel Saba, the fund’s current President.

Shepard Fairey Admits He Lied About Which Photo He Used

FaireyvsGarciaIn a strange twist to an important case with strange twists (photographer Mannie Garcia claims AP has no rights to the image) Shepard Fairey admits that the image he used for his iconic poster was the image that everyone and their dog knew he used: The image that’s an exact match to the poster.

From the NYTimes story (here):

Attorneys for Fairey have withdrawn and, in papers filed Friday in federal court in Manhattan, stated that he misled them. They also amended the original court documents, reflecting that Fairey used a different picture.

”Mr. Fairey was apparently mistaken about the photograph he used when his original complaint for declaratory relief was filed on February 9, 2009,” the papers say. ”After the original complaint was filed, Mr. Fairey realized his mistake. Instead of acknowledging that mistake, Mr. Fairey attempted to delete the electronic files he had used in creating the illustration at issue. He also created, and delivered to his counsel for production, new documents to make it appear as though he had used the Clooney photograph as his reference.”

This has to do serious damage to any fair use argument because obviously he’s trying to cover something up. But, as I’ve discovered by following this case “how much is too much,” when you base your work on someone else’s work can only be determined by a court. In my mind the real test would be how much time and effort was spent by Fairey to find the perfect image to base his poster on and he’s already admitted that he looked at thousands before finding the right shot.

Emailers are now little better then spam

While emailers sounded like a good idea several years ago, they are now little better then spam. Most of the work I get is not appropriate to any need I might possibly have, and lots of it just isn’t good at all. Plus, if the image isn’t displaying in my email window and fast, I’m on to the next one. On the other hand, when I receive a printed promo, at the very least, I look at the image(s). I also notice your attention to detail in your paper and design choice. Most often, email promos feel templated and generic, hence the agency opt-outs.

via HeatherMortonArt buyer.

How Art Producers Find The Right Photographer For The Project

canadian clubI’ve always thought this Canadian Club print campaign was genius, partially because of the vibe but mostly because I couldn’t figure out if the images were 40 years old or shot recently. When I discovered that Liz Miller-Gershfeld, VP and Senior Art Producer at Energy BBDO (the agency that made those ads) reads APE I asked her to tell me how the photography for that campaign went down. Here’s what Liz told me about the campaign (Robert Whitman shot it btw) and the important steps that go into finding the right photographer for any project:

When the creatives approached me about this project they told me they wanted to use real snapshots from the 50’s and 60’s. They were committed to these images feeling absolutely authentic and felt they needed to be historic. The challenge with that was twofold:
1. Liquor advertising has to depict models who are a verifiable 25 years old or older.
2. We already had specific headlines so the images had to match those.

We found some great images on Flickr, but they weren’t fitting the headlines and I couldn’t verify the subjects of the photos were 25 when the images were taken so, we decided to produce photography.

APE: Ok, hold on lets talk about Flickr for a second. Did you immediately go to Flickr when you knew you wanted authentic shots? You’re basically looking for old album shots and shoebox shots so I guess that’s the only source for that kind of material. Right?

I can understand why the topic of Flickr is a contentious issue. Thousands of photographers are in business struggling to create some stability in a marketplace and Flickr is largely made up of amateur photographers, so why are we looking there? I don’t generally look for stock photography on Flickr although a lot of creatives do. With this project in particular we looked everywhere. I reached out to a lot of photographers, but they were looking through their shoeboxes too; we were looking for snapshots that probably would have been taken before a lot of them were pushing a shutter release button. In the end it was too problematic to use Flickr images for this because of model releases and the 25 or older issue.

The Flickr issue is a bigger one however. When we need stock, creatives want access to a wider range of photographers’ work; they don’t always feel the way the big agencies curate their collections fit their visions. In the past, every time we had a project requiring stock I would reach out to as many photographers as I could in the time I had, in addition to larger stock sources. This problem inspired me to start an all-photographer Twitter network that I use to Tweet my stock needs. It’s cool because I really enjoy the chatter, the references and the images people post in an informal way. A lot of equipment chatter I follow to get more informed about, for example, the Red camera, etc. No one really hears from me unless I need stock and then I Tweet it over and over. In theory it’s an attempt to democratize the access to our buying needs so more people get a shot. It’s still an experiment, but why not?

APE: Ok, fair enough. What’s next?

Step one is the creative conversation. This is a step we go back to again and again. The initial creative conversation between art producer and creative attempts to flesh out the nuances lacking in a layout. Layouts convey an idea, but rarely the entire visual story. This conversation gives a map for the search.

Next step: photographer search. This project in particular needed a photographer who had the production chops to authentically pull off a recreation of the past, not only in content but also in the look of the photography. They needed to have a dynamic enough range that it would be believable that different people authored the images. The next piece of criteria was perhaps the most important to us, the most difficult to ascertain and reminds me of a recent APE post when you wrote that you were a fan of luck and unexpected results in photography: we needed someone who had a portfolio filled with lucky shots which were no accident. At its heart, and this is something I look for a lot, I wanted to find someone who is masterful at creating conditions that allow for real human moments to happen.

Next, I look at portfolios and cull what doesn’t apply. Often this process occurs online, but for this project we called the books in first. I then review portfolios with the AD. This isn’t always possible, but I think it is an important step. It tends to slow down the flipping of the pages, gives me a chance to express what I saw and why I’m showing it and most importantly lets me hear honest feedback about what is working and what is missing. With Canadian Club this process went on for a few days; not because the books weren’t hitting the mark, but because there were some really good ones that all went in different directions.

The next step is the creative call with the photographers and it plays a crucial role in deciding who gets the job. It’s really like a job interview. I’ve been a part of many calls where a photographer who was a front-runner disqualified him or herself. I’ve also seen the opposite. It is important to note that to get to this stage a creative team has usually been back to a drawing board several times, has given up weekends and evenings, has sometimes been through focus group testing and has often had strategies and creative briefs changed. They would like to hear that you would like to do the job. They would like to hear what you like about the project. No obsequiousness, just a positive word or two to set a tone and communicate sincere interest.

APE: I’ve heard some grumbling about the creative call, so I just have to ask, what does the phone personality have to do with taking pictures? Have you actually had situations where you went with a photographer who performed miserably on the call and the shoot was bad. Is this truly an indication of something important?

It is a fair question to ask what the phone personality has to do with taking pictures. The first part of what I mentioned, about finding something positive to say really has nothing to do with taking pictures. What I have observed more than once is that it created a competitive edge because it communicated to the AD an emotional investment in the project.

I’ve never had a situation where the call went miserably and the shoot was bad, because if the call goes wrong they don’t get the job. That is why I prescribe listening; many photographers express themselves more eloquently with a camera. Less is more on the call. If you have ideas you want to share at this point do so, but listen first.

You asked if the call is truly an indication of something important. It can be. If it is just a personality showcase then it is a worthless call. If the call is done well then it can elicit responses which indicate creative compatibility and a willingness to collaborate…on both ends. In addition to giving the photographer the information they need to generate a smart estimate, those are the biggest things for everyone to get out of the call.

I have been in situations where we are deciding between two photographers. When we had the calls one said, “Hey, I really like this ad. I’m happy to have a shot, I think it’s going to be great.” The other did not express that sort of sentiment. At the end of the calls the AD said, “Hey, that one guy was fired up, let’s work with him!” It is a good idea on these initial calls to ask the AD to take you through their vision for the project. Layouts don’t tell the whole story and it is a good opportunity to hear what is important to them. Listening also demonstrates collaboration skills. Ask the AD what they saw in your portfolio or what it was about your work that brought you to this phone call. It is a good way to bring the conversation to look and feel in a way that is relevant to the project. It is also a good way to gauge true interest. If they don’t have an answer they aren’t really interested. Ask questions; it shows how you are thinking about things. I have heard more raves after calls where photographers deeply listened and asked intelligent questions than when they did all the talking. It is not that the agency is not interested in the artist’s vision, but it raises the comfort factor that what is important to us is being taken into consideration. If you went into the call with ideas you wanted to share this is a good time for it. If not, that is fine. Tell them you want to think about what you’ve talked about and you will follow up with an estimate and treatment.

APE: A treatment? You think photographers should provide a treatment?

Absolutely. It is not expected of photographers, (it is of directors and with motion and still colliding it is probably a good idea to start that habit) but some photographers do it and if it lines up with and pluses the idea it helps to sell yourself in. I have seen several people move from last to first by submitting a written treatment. A treatment which actively incorporates what was important to the AD (further reinforcing that this will be a collaborative process). It is also important for us as an agency to have confidence that you have thought through the process and the potential problems and that you have solutions. This is not to say you should include proprietary information like lighting specifics, but speak to the look, mood, what you hope to capture with the talent, etc. A treatment also is a clear way in print to attribute your unique ideas to you.

The next step in the process is analyzing the estimates. This is the blueprint. It is important to me as an art producer that the usage language is clear and up front, that there are no hidden costs (with disclaimer language in a very small font size telling me expected items are not included in the bottom line) and that everything we discussed is represented. It is important that the estimate goes into detail. It is important that whoever would be producing the job is involved at this point and can answer my questions which will be very detailed. I have learned the hard way that sometimes agents or other third parties generate estimates. This is making a promise for someone else to keep and almost always leads to a conversation where a producer tells me that they would have put a different plan together and they are just trying to move things around to try to make it work. We no longer work with 10 -15% variances allowed, a sad victim of the economic “downturn.” Those tolerances are gone so it is important to me that you have a stellar producer and that they generate the estimate. (unless the job is small or of limited complexity).

OK, this is the point where people often start calling. Make sure the art producer is clear and specific about when they will award the job so you don’t drive your self crazy waiting to hear. Last minute declarations of enthusiasm are no longer appropriate. Meetings often get moved so give the agency a day, if you haven’t heard send an e-mail for a quick decision status. If you submitted an estimate it is always appropriate to receive a call saying “congratulations!” or “thanks so much but we’re taking this in a different direction.”
I really hope all your readers get a “congratulations” call for projects that fit their talents.

He who wishes to become a painter first must cut out his tongue

We must resist academia as artists. We really must. When Matisse was near death a young man visited him and as he turned to leave Matisse said, “Remember one thing: guard your naiveté. Some day young man, that’s going to be all you’ve got. And now I’m packing my bags for the next world.”

–Robert Bergman

via The Brooklyn Rail.

Peter Yang and Rolling Stone Win Magazine Cover of the Year

yangcoveroftheyear

I’ve sat through too many meetings where badges, sashes, boxes, hairlines and an entire dump truck full of coverlines were added to perfectly good cover images or instead a meeting where perfectly good cover images were thrown out in favor of images that held coverlines better, to not point out the irony of a winner with no coverlines. Sure, Obama was a shoo-in as a winning cover subject but go check out the other category winners (here). Keep in mind that this is an organization of editors (ASME) who decided to let the public pick their favorite cover out of a group of nominees. Of course this proves nothing about selling on newsstands other than the public has better taste than most editors, many magazine owners and every single newsstand director in existence.

Online Symposium: Seeking Justice – Social Activism through Journalism & Documentary Practice

The Centre for Documentary Practice invites you to logon and join the world’s first online journalism and documentary conference on October 15th 2009, starting 12:01am (GMT) (That’s 8PM EST).

Speakers include Paul Fusco, Ed Kashi, Jodi Bieber, Marcus Bleasdale, Shahidul Alam, Gary Knight, Robin Hammond, Adam Ferguson, Travis Beard, Michael Coyne, Masaru Goto, Jack Picone, Megan Lewis, and more to be confirmed.

On October 15th we will connect an international community of documentary practitioners and journalists for one day, to share stories, to stimulate discussion and debate about our discipline, and to inspire each other to continue the fight for justice.

[read more here] thx luca.

A Couple Docs Shot With A Stills Camera

Photographers are doing some amazing things shooting video with the Canon 5D Mark II. Here are a couple that I saw that made me go “wow” when I heard they were shot on a stills camera. I have no idea how they will hold up on a 50″plasma TV, but who’s got time to watch TV anymore. It’s worth noting that both involve some serious hardships to shoot.

First This Documentary on Afghanistan shot by Danfung Dennis. He says “The footage was shot on a custom built rig, using a Canon 5D Mark II, 24-70 f/2.8 L lens, Sennheiser ME-66 and G2 wireless system, Singh-Ray variable ND filter, and Beachtek 2XAs mounted on a Glidecam 2000 HD with custom made aluminum ‘wings.'”

The next one comes from Surf photographer Yassine (Yazzy) Ouhilal:

Since I know Yazzy I asked him a couple questions:

Did you edit, shoot and record all the sound yourself?

I shot  most of the raw footage and time lapses over 44 days in the Arctic. A couple of other members of the expedition shot additional footage as well. Since this was also an editorial photo trip, a lot of the surfing footage had to be shot by someone else as I was usually too busy shooting stills. The rest of the time, it was pretty easy to go from shooting stills to video with the 5DMKII.

The audio was pulled from video interviews and audio recordings I got from some of the expedition members. I loaned an H2 digital audio recorder to the surfers on the expedition and asked them to record their thoughts when they were alone or by themselves in order to get authentic impressions from their experience in the Arctic- which wasn’t without challenges.

A lot of the sound effects were pulled from video clips. The 5DMKII has an audio input jack which allows for hi quality mics to be used.

I edited the film myself in imovie and mixed all the audio/sound/music tracks in Garage Band, two simple yet very effective pieces of software that if properly used can yield pretty incredible results.

The time lapses were animated using Quicktime Pro (by importing image sequences of stills and exporting uncompressed movie files)

What kind of experience do you have doing this kind of stuff?

I actually have a film production background- I spent 6 years at Concordia University in Montreal doing the Film Production program there. That was just before the digital/video era so the majority of the film work I did was in 16 and 35mm using editing tables and optical printers that are a much slower process than today’s digital workflow.

After film school, I found it hard to integrate the industry as a film maker. My two options were to try and get funding for my own films or to start working as a technician on film sets and work my way up the food chain. I opted to pursue my dreams and passions as a surf photographer instead and for the last 10 years, I’ve been roaming the globe shooting off the beaten path locations for magazines and companies. This type of work has given me the freedom to work in a field that I really enjoy and has been a good balance of personal and creative freedom as I have been self funding a lot of my trips on a freelance basis and then (hopefully) recouping my investments by providing the content out to various editorial clients.

Returning to filmmaking has been a natural progression and one that I have been looking forward to for a long time now.The way technology is going now, the line between photography and filmmaking is getting thinner and thinner everyday. It has been really exciting to get to shoot with a camera like the 5DMKII. As a photographer, I really know how to compose my shots and how my glass works. To be able to translate that into a cinematic medium has been really incredible.

The experience I had in film school using a much more traditional and slower workflow, it has definitely helped  me to restrain myself and not get carried away with all the possibilities of the digital workflow.

How much time did it take you to make this shot doc?

While I probably could have put something together for this project in just a few days, I really wanted to make an authentic film about the experience of surfing in the Arctic- with all the drama and the hostility of the environment. The editing process was done over  3 months. Much like with my photography, I like to distance myself from the content so that I can approach it again with a fresher perspective. It allows me to look at the photos/footage objectively rather than to remain attached to certain shots or clips because of the experience involved with obtaining the imagery. I find that in both photography and filmmaking, being able to “let go” is an important part of the process. Maybe an image means a lot to me because I endured many hardships to obtain it, but I have to keep in mind that the audience doesn’t necessarily know that- therefore will often see less value than I do in a particular shot. Distancing myself from the content for a certain period is definitely part of my approach and it really helps to “forget” about it in order to rediscover it.

Over the first month or two, I basically narrowed down the raw footage from around 40hours to about 4hours. Then I separated all the clips into different categories, much like I do with my approach to editing my photos: scenics, action, lifestyles and interviews. I then narrowed down the footage in each category to end up with about 1 hour of footage that in my opinion consisted of the most beautiful imagery that was also the most pertinent to the story I was trying to push through.

The backbone of the story was constructed using audio voice overs and interviews. This was a very long process as well as I had to listen to hours of audio and basically pull the most important and pertinent points that told the story.

I did this by transcribing every single phrase of audio I had (which turned into around 100 pages or so). From there I edited the audio in the text file by cutting and pasting sentences and later applied that to the actual audio tracks.

Once I had the audio backbone and the best clips, it was about 4  days and nights of intense editing. I actually happened to be back in the Arctic for the editing process which I found very conducive to an inspired approach to the post production. I was really impressed with the workflow in iMovie. It was efficient and simple and compared to editing on a steenbeck (16mm editing table) and splicing film with tape, it was a much simpler process. I definitely made sure to stay away from using too many effects and transitions in order to keep this close to what could have been achieved using more traditional methods. I find in the digital workflow, it’s really easy to say “I’ll fix this in Post” or to get carried away with all the options- which can end up ruining the result. I think with today’s incredible advances in technology, a mix of using the technology along with some self constraint can produce some really interesting and authentic results.

the sec­ret of being a suc­cess­ful car­too­nist

“Con­ti­nuity,” he said. “Anyone can draw a good car­toon… ONCE. But not ever­yone can draw a good car­toon, every day, day-in-day-out. It’s something you have to work VERY HARD at for many years before you even get close…”

— Hugh Dodd

via Gapingvoid.

Sam Jones Interview Part 2

Sam at Hollister_1APE: I talked to you about a year ago right after Canon announced the new 5d markII that shoots video. I called because I wanted to talk with someone who was actually a filmmaker and a photographer to get their opinion on the new product. We got into this huge conversation about film vs. digital and I’ve always wanted to get you on the phone again so I could record the conversation and make a post about it.

I think our conversation was actually a challenge to me. I have a great affinity for film, and it has been interesting to really start studying and testing new systems like the Red and the Canon 5d Mark II.

APE: Originally you were still stuck on film, as many people are, because of limitations you’d discovered shooting digital.

I think I will always be stuck on film and anyone who grew up on it will be. I understand the client’s point of view on a movie poster or big advertising campaign and why they need it to be shot digitally. They’re building an image sometimes from 36 files and they don’t want to have to deal with the back-end post production of scanning all that film. I get it. Digital is a really a quick way to do something.

APE: Didn’t you have a retoucher who preferred to scan a negative over getting a digital file?

All of the good ones do. The 6×7 negative, there’s not chip that’s that size and film has it’s own look and color palette. We’re never going to lose that. The retoucher I’m working with now, who has done some of the biggest fashion and advertising work for the last decade, would much rather work from a film negative than a digital file in terms of skin tone and color. In fact, he even still sees photographers who prefer shooting only on 8×10 polaroid and scanning those images. There are cases where he is making a composite with the skin from polaroid and the product from a digital file. So, when money is no object, digital is just another tool.

My feeling is, when film is the best thing to be used in a certain situation and you love film then you should use it. I love the way a negative comes out of my Mamiya camera or my Leica camera. I love the way it looks straight out of the chemicals, the first time you see it. I never feel that way with a digital file. With digital you have to work hard to get that feeling. I think most people who became photographers did so because they had that one moment in the darkroom where something came up and they looked at it and went “wow that’s cool.”

In the long run, the idea is still the key to the whole thing. If it’s not a good idea and it’s not a well executed photograph from the get go it doesn’t matter. You can make a bad picture on film and a great picture on digital. The percentage of bad pictures to good pictures is still the same and it always will be.

samjones13

APE: Tell me about the testing you did?

Well, a large aspect of digital photography is the digital tech, or techs, who come to the shoot and help capture and process files. If you’re a company like Warner Bros. or Fox you want a digital company to manage all those files for you. A photographer comes in does his thing and leaves and you have a digital company manage everything. This has been the bulk of my digital shooting experience, and I wanted to test some of the smaller cameras against the big Hasselblad with the p65 back that we use on big advertising shoots. There is no denying that the file produced this way is very very big and impressive, but it is also a very cumbersome and expensive way to work. So I started comparing those files to the Canon 1ds Mark III and the 5d Mark II.

APE: What’d you come up with?

In some ways I like the Canon better. It looks like a smaller file to someone who isn’t familiar with how things work, but the difference between is negligible in terms of resolution.

APE: What about on a billboard?

I think the distance that you are from the billboard makes it so the resolution is not an issue. You know those billboards they have all over LA now, the digital billboards. Apparently those files are very small, so they have to be down res’d to be usable anyway.

APE: What about the clients? Aren’t they demanding that you shoot with the camera that gives you bigger files?

I’ve been doing both and I show the client on screen and it’s funny how often they pick the shot from the 35mm digital. The Hasselblad is almost too medical in a way. You have to do a lot to it to make the skin look good because it’s so detailed.

APE: Isn’t working with digital difficult on set with publicists and celebrities and the whole gang of people who show up at those shoots? Especially when you’re tethered?

People are now used to seeing everything immediately and so it’s more detrimental to come in and do a job where the client expects immediate gratification and you try and tell them they can’t have it. I think that was also the case making movies in the 70’s and 80’s when all of the sudden the video monitors got good enough that there were separate camps setup so everyone could watch video playback. I’m sure the first generation of directors that were dealing with video assist went absolutely bonkers because their actor was coming up and saying maybe I should do it like this or they were running back to hair and make up. And then they got used to it and figured out ways to make it work.

APE: But, hasn’t that turned a movie production into a $100,000,000 project because they have to do so many different takes?

Yes, but it’s just the inevitable progression of it. People just expect a different kind of thing. That being said, I think there is a conversation to be had with the actor where you say “look I want to photograph you and get you to not think about me photographing you.” And honestly, I don’t think that people who are being photographed want to see it as it’s happening. They think they do but once they see it they really don’t. They think “I did my stupid thing where I turn up the corner of my mouth, I’ve got to remember not to do that.” Then you’re telling them something and they’re only thinking about the corner of their mouth. We would all do it, we’re human. First thing people think of when they see the picture is not the context, but what they look like in the picture.

So, it makes it harder for a photographer to find the picture. I’ll give you an example. I just photographed an actor for the cover of a magazine. I was shooting digital and I wanted to try a little different lighting thing, so before the shoot I tried it on my assistant and it looked really cool. When I got the actor in the same setup, it was awful lighting for his face. That’s just something you can’t know until you get your subject in front of the camera. Now if I’m shooting film I would just keep going and say now let’s try this next and try to find my light. But, I’ve now got the publicist, the hair and make up and his people seeing these pictures coming up on the monitor. For all I know the publicist is standing behind me pointing at the monitor and shaking her head to the actor, and there goes his trust in me.

It’s really important that the subject feels confident that the photographer knows what they’re doing. Because, if you’re a celebrity you can have anyone you want to take your picture and it’s your career and business on the line so if you don’t look however it is you wanted to appear, it’s a serious problem. So, with people being able to see the first frames the photographer shoots, he doesn’t have time to figure out the face. It’s no different than shooting a still life. Just like Edward Weston figuring out how to shoot that particular pepper. Each one is different, and you have to find your way. It is just, with film, you could find your way without everyone on the whole shoot watching you.

APE: So, how do you do this digitally now?

What we’ve started doing is create almost a video village like on commercials where we have a second monitor setup and we tell everyone there’s a 5 min. delay before you will see what we’re doing. I run back after 30 shots, do some quick edits, make adjustments and throw it up on the other monitor. We put a little color and exposure package together digitally so when they do take a look it’s ready for them to see. I’m trying to get it back to a polaroid experience where the monitor is black in the background and there’s not a bunch of thumbnails where the actor comes back and starts pointing at thumbnails and wants to see them. There’s never been a situation in the past where someone has sat down and gone through all your film and It’s very strange when that happens now. I try to make a black box around the tech and keep him a little like the wizard of oz, you know, don’t look behind the curtain, there’s no one there,that type of thing.

I do think a photographer has to make a stand for what process will make the best picture, and take the time to educate the client about the choices he has made. I think everyone is figuring out their system because there is something you miss when you keep interrupting the moment to examine the moment you just captured.

APE: And, that’s working?

Yes, it’s working although by the end of the shoot they end up crossing the barrier, but you still get that first impression. And quite honestly if I’m shooting someone who gets the whole thing they don’t want to see every picture anyway. Once they see what I’m doing they’re ok with it. So, you have to gage the person and see that they can give you what they need.

APE: On one shoot we were on you told me that earlier in your career you would script everything out beforehand and then later on in your career it evolved into being a little bit more loose and finding those moments.

Yeah, when I was young I was just inexperienced and I felt like I had to do more homework so that if nothing presented itself I had backup plans. I use to even come up with questions to ask to get different responses like surprise or laughter or whatever and I would tape these questions to the back of the camera and I would make sure and pick the right music too. I still do my research but I try to leave enough time to get something that surprises me too. If you’re too intent on getting your list then your subject never gets to their list. I learned that almost more from directing than from photography. If you have notes every single take for the actor they’re so busy trying to do what you want them to do that they never get to do what they want to do. They have a list too. You’re dealing with a professional actor and if you can get them acting a little bit you unlock this whole bag of tricks and experience they have.

I remember a line from a biography about one of my favorite directors where he said, always roll one for them after you get the one you like. After I get what I need then I always say now you do what you want to do and I’ll just follow along. Some people are like no, no you tell me what to do, but some really open up at that point, and great stuff can happen. And, you’ve got to indulge them because even if they go over to a spot where the light isn’t as good or the background’s not good, they might give you something new. I think the thing to remember too with shooting pictures is that it’s just a picture right. It’s just clicking the button and you need to quit being such an editor in your head saying oh, that’s not a good picture. The road to a good picture is through a lot of bad ones.

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APE: Do you think you’ll ever switch completely over to digital?

Do you remember the transition from chrome to neg? Photographers used to shoot chrome all the time but then they switched over and for a long time I was shooting both because I couldn’t stop shooting chrome in certain situations, the light was too perfect for it. I’m sure it will be the same way with digital.

APE: Ok but some things are still better on chrome but now you shoot neg. Why is that?

I haven’t shot chrome in forever just because it’s less versatile. It takes longer to shoot, you have to be way more precise and it’s harder to make prints out of so that went away a long long time ago once prints got good enough.

APE: Interesting. So, maybe the same will happen with digital eventually. Digital is way more versatile.

Yes, digital is more versatile but film still looks like film to me.

APE: Yeah but how did you transition from chrome to film because nothing looks like chrome, right?

Yes, you’re absolutely right.

APE: How does the current economic climate affect your decision to take on a job?

In my head there’s always three reasons to do a job. It’s either money, creative or relationship, or a combination of those. So, a job is not always about money, but it certainly is tough when budgets are slashed to the point that you can’t have the support crew you need, or you lose out on a job to another photographer who basically decided to “buy” the job in order to get the work in their portfolio.

APE: Photographers are obviously not happy about fees being reduced, and the practice of undercutting. Is this just the new way, and are we in trouble because of that attitude?

No, because there will always be a fee structure based on ability and experience and there’s only a certain number of people who can do these jobs. I think it will roll more with the economy. If everyone is making money you’re going to hire the best person but if the economy is down you need to cut some corners and people need to adjust and restructure their budgets to make it work.

If you’re a freelancer that’s what you sign on for when you get into it. No one promises you that you will always get the fees that you got last year or that people will still call you. This business is littered with people who had really high years and now can’t get work. That’s on every photographers mind. There’s nobody that’s bullet proof to making a living, so you have to be careful. You can’t assume since it went one way one year it’s going to go that way the next year.

APE: But, you’re still confident that there’s a future for photography, right?

Yes, absolutely. When I’ve been successful it’s because I’ve been trying to do something that’s a challenge and that’s interesting to me. As long as I’ve done that I’ve been ok.

APE: So, what does the future hold for Sam Jones?

Sam DP Malibu Creek_1Shooting pictures is my main emphasis, I just shot U2 for Rolling Stone. I also have some film projects in the works, both dramatic and documentary. One of the things I am excited about is using smaller cameras like the 5d to make films that were simply not affordable a few years ago. I have a few esoteric and decidedly non-commmercial ideas up my sleeve, and being able to make those projects happen without outside financing is very intriguing.

APE: Wait, what? Last time I talked to you we were both trying to figure out how anyone could do something serious with that camera.

Well, they cracked the chip and made it manual so you can manually adjust exposure and shutter speeds and then several companies developed follow focus systems and mounts for it, making it way more viable for a cinematic application than when we last talked.

APE: I think having video in your still camera is awesome but it’s really irrelevant if you have no filmmaking skills, right?

Filmmaking was never about the equipment, except in terms of budget. Filmmaking is storytelling, and if you don’t know how to do that, there is no piece of equipment in the world that will help you.

APE: Ok, so why would you pick a 5d over a Red or 35mm or 16mm then?

Well, I wouldn’t, if I had financing. Having the choice to use any camera at all, I would always still choose 35mm. That is the look all these other systems are trying to duplicate, and it is what I use whenever the money is there. But having the financial freedom to go out and say, make a film about the world’s only giraffe jockey, or a documentary on the best chorizo in Los Angeles, well, maybe the 5d is the perfect camera for that, because you can make something that looks very good for very little money, relatively.

APE: So, you can make a movie in your garage then?

Well, yes and no. You still can’t cut any corners on nuts and bolts of filmmaking. You still need a crew–a soundman, an assistant cameraman, a DP or at least a gaffer, etc. And you can’t skip the finish, it takes a lot of post work to realize the potential of the camera. It’s just an interesting new tool that has many possibilities, and is definitely cheaper than the Red or any film-camera system.

APE: What did you shoot your Wilco documentary on?

16mm black and white film stock. Most of the up front expense of that documentary was in the film, processing, and camera rental. But the post production cost as much as the entire shooting budget.

Look, the bottom line is, there are so many ways to produce a project these days, and there is so much speculation about where the photography and film businesses are heading, but one core thing hasn’t changed. Quality work will always be rewarded, and there will always be an audience for powerful images and storytelling. As equipment becomes more affordable, maybe more people will have a chance to make something interesting, and that is always a good thing.

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Sam Jones Interview Part 1

Sam with Polaroit_1I consider Sam Jones to be one of the top photographers in the country at shooting men. And there are plenty of people who shoot men as people or fashionable or sexy but very few who shoot them “manly,” which is something I love about Sam’s photography. So, that’s a very thin category that I put him in and of course he does a lot of things very well but I’ve worked with him a lot on covers and feature stories because he was at the top of that list. I also discovered that he loves to surf, so I put him on some portrait and cover shoots with the big surfers that worked our really well for me. I also noticed something when working on set with Sam that really makes a difference when he’s shooting celebrities. He knows a lot of Hollywood insiders and not just actors, but the cinematographers, editors and sound guys who are respected by actors for their craft. He’ll get into a conversation at the beginning of a shoot with the subject and start talking about the industry, the people they both know and you can see the I’m-on-a-shoot patina start to fade away. Sam made a critically acclaimed documentary in 2002 on the band Wilco called I Am Trying to Break Your Heart and was rumored to be working on an Infinite Jest movie with David Foster Wallace at the time of his death.

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Here’s part one of the interview:

APE: Tell me how you got started and how you got into shooting actors and doing the Hollywood thing?

In college at Cal State Fullerton I was a photojournalist at our college newspaper and they had a really good daily newspaper that won the equivalent of the pac 10 competition of newspapers. That led to being a stringer for the associated press, where I worked for over 3 years covering news, sports, and entertainment. I moved to downtown LA and lived 2 miles from the bureau and just threw myself in it. I actually had one stretch where I shot for 61 days without a break.

APE: Did you know before college that you wanted to be a photographer?

No, not at all. I was in bands and always thought I was going to be a musician and make records. I was doing both but I got so busy with photography. Working for the AP was amazing, because we were photographing the national news. You weren’t sent in if it didn’t have some kind of national appeal and in LA we had the Dodgers, Raiders, Lakers, UCLA, Academy Awards, Riots, Savings and Loan Fraud, Courthouse Stakeouts; ­that whole era was just crazy. If it was national news and it happened in LA you were expected to shoot it. That was 1989 – 1992.

The Associated Press had a syndication company called AP Wide World at the time and they would syndicate the images we shot to magazines. They would take the photos that stringers made for very little money and resell them to publications like Vanity Fair. They resold some of my Los Angeles Riots images to VF, and the actor Tim Robbins saw it. He was getting ready to direct a movie called Bob Roberts at the time, and he wanted those kinds of photojournalistic pictures to publicize his movie. So, he found me and called up and asked if I knew how to shoot actors. Part of the AP job was you had to go to those 20-minutes-in-a-hotel-room-with-Harrison-Ford-and-make-a-portrait-of-him movie junkets. I was always doing that stuff so I told him yes, no problem.

So, I got hired to be a still photographer on Bob Roberts and got to shoot the movie poster and the whole thing. He had a bunch of big actors playing small rolls in that movie like Susan Sarandon, James Spader and John Cusack. During the shooting of the movie I would pull these actors aside and make large and medium format portraits of them.

APE: Wait, is it common that someone shooting a movie is going to be making portraits on the side too?

No, I don’t think that it was, but this was not a normal shoot at all. Tim wanted the film to have a very realistic feel, so he let me do a lot of my shooting, especially of press scenes, from wherever I wanted. This included being able to walk into the scene, shoot without a blimp, and even bump the cinematographer during press scrums.

APE: You were in the movie too?

Oh yeah, the back of my head is all over the movie. He wanted me to be like a press photographer who was assigned to the beat of this politician [Bob Roberts]. They would set up the scene for a press conference and Tim would go “does this look right?” I remember once telling him that the person handling the press conference should not be saying “you there” because they would know everyone by name.  I told him to use reporters first names, and they actually changed the script to reflect this advice. I was having a blast and was thinking this still photography gig is awesome.

Then I got my rude awakening. Someone referred me to New Line Cinema for another film, and they said we’ll give you a job being a still photographer on this movie but it shoots in Chicago and we can’t afford to send you there so you have to work as a local. I had to call an acquaintance that I went to school with to ask if I could sleep on his floor for $100/month. It was freezing and the crew was pretty shitty to me.

APE: So, you went from acting in a movie you were shooting and giving the director notes to just another guy on set?

Oh yeah and on the Tim Robbins movie his cinematographer was Robert Altman’s cinematographer Jean Lepine and he totally took me under his wing. I used to come in and ask him how he was lighting this scene, why are you doing this, why are you doing that, why are you changing all the bulbs out? I learned so much from him and looking back on it I was probably a total pain in the ass, but he was so nice. So the main people I talked to on set were the DP, Producer and the Actors. Then I go to this job in Chicago and I’m persona non grata. It’s winter and all the shoots are night shoots, the blimp is freezing to my face and the camera would just stop working. It pretty much sucked, and I barely got paid a living wage.

So, I did that and got another New Line job doing a film called Loaded Weapon and I’m a pretty friendly guy so I made friends with Sam Jackson and some other people in the cast and crew.  New Line says they’re going to put me up to do the poster. Then they came back to me and said Emilio Estevez doesn’t want you to shoot the poster he want’s Bonnie Schiffman to shoot it. I was a kid at the time, like 22 and I got kind of pissed off so I walked up the Emilio and said “hey man why didn’t you want me to shoot the poster.” I’m sure he was like, what is this still photographer doing talking to me? After that I decided I wasn’t going to do any more still jobs, because I basically don’t like doing jobs where I’m not wanted. With photojournalism there was a little of that, but being the still photographer on set there was a lot of that. It takes a totally different kind of personality. I think the photographers who do amazing work on films are stealth people who like not being seen and staying in the shadows getting the picture and not talking to anyone.

APE: Yeah, not asking the DP why he’s lighting something a certain way or helping the director with a scene.

Yeah, exactly. If it wasn’t clear what my calling was after that, it was clear it was not doing something behind the scenes.

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APE: So, how did you move past that?

I just started flying to New York and meeting with people. I don’t know if it was just out of stupidity, but when you call a photo editor and they say portfolio drop off day is this and pickup day is this and if you’re out of town FedEx it to here, I just figured my portfolio didn’t have much of a chance of being looked at. I decided I’m just going to go there and tell them that I’ve flown here all the way from LA just to see them. I picked my ten favorite magazines and told them I only have one portfolio and I’m only here for 3 days, so If I drop it off I won’t have it for my next meeting. It worked. Maybe they took pity on me, but I had a lot of face to face meetings, and Entertainment Weekly ended up giving me my first magazine job.

APE: How was your book at the time? Was it a decent book?

It was all 4×5 chromes in these black mattes so you had to look at them on a light table, but 4×5 chromes were impressive to look at. I had Tim Robbins, John Cusack, Susan Sarandon and Gore Vidal. It was pretty much a mixture of the film stuff and some AP portraits.

Then, I started getting little tiny jobs at magazines. My first EW job was a parking space. I had to shoot Tom Arnold’s parking space. It was the dumbest job ever. He was feuding with some other actor over a parking space.

APE: And, you crushed it [laughing].

Oh my god, I must have shot 20 rolls. I brought lights and grabbed some security guard and said ok you walk through the background. I lost sleep over the parking spot shoot thinking, I’ve got to impress them.

APE: Right, you were thinking this has to be the best parking space they’ve ever seen in their life. And it was, right?

Quarter page in the back of EW. They ended up using the shot with the security guard’s feet in it.

APE: And they called you the next week to shoot Tom Cruise?

Ha, No. I moved from parking space to Doogie Howser and that was 1/4 page as well. Then there was also a bunch of business stuff that I was shooting. There were some AP environmental business shots that I had blown up in my portfolio, like the president of Bank of America, that kind of thing. So I ended up getting work from some business magazines right off too.

APE: I think a lot of people want to know how you go from 1/4 page of a parking spot to shooting the cover?

You know what it is? The photo editor sees the whole shoot and so it’s not just the one picture in the magazine that they judge you by. I shot features for a long time before I got to shoot a cover. Even when I was doing a 1 page shot I was always trying 3, 4 and 5 setups. I was shooting like it was a cover and full feature because you never know, it could get bumped up. I think there was a couple photo editors early on at Time, EW, US and Premiere who just started making a case to their Art Director and their Editor that this photographer is working his ass off and is good and they should let him do it. That was the case with me, where someone finally said we should give him the cover, or at least I remember it being a cover try. I think back at what I made actors do for 1 page, because I was telling them it might be more pages, so we need to shoot more setups and try a bunch of ideas and we had extra clothes and locations ready. I was syndicating my pictures with Gamma Liaison at the time and because of all these setups, I actually had several syndicated covers before I was assigned an actual cover. So, those tear sheets were in my book and that helped me out as well.

APE: I recall a really big cover run you had at Esquire and GQ. You seemed to be the cover guy for those magazines.

It was funny because there was a period where I was shooting covers for both, and often in the same month. I don’t think that went over too well.

APE: I don’t think it would really. How did you pull that off.

I didn’t have a contract with either one so in my mind I figured it wasn’t a problem. I had originally thought having a contract was the way to go, especially since a lot of photographers that I admired had them, but for me, it turned out to be a better thing not to have one. I never wanted to have to shoot an assignment I wasn’t interested in, just because I was contracted to do so.

APE: It seems like a lot of actors and publicists have a list of photographers they want to work with, so how much does it help to be on an actors list? Like Clooney, I’ve seen you shoot a lot of George Clooney covers and heard you two are friends.

samjones6That cover with the hats for Esquire was the first shoot I did with him and he didn’t know me from Adam at the time but the magazine suggested me and he said ok. Then I shot him and we had a good time, so we developed a pretty good working relationship. I will say I feel lucky to have done so many shoots with him, because he is not the type of guy to demand a certain photographer. He’s a lot more low maintenance about that kind of stuff. However, he has been very loyal, and he will ask for me when he has a commercial shoot in Japan or something like that, and I’m very grateful for that.

APE: Ok, but on the other hand if I have a Clooney shoot I might hire Sam Jones because I know I’ll get more than 30 minutes, because you guys are friends.

That’s true, but there’s also the other side of that. A magazine isn’t always going to want the same photographer to shoot the same actor, and I get that. No magazine wants to be told they have to use a certain photographer. I have certainly lost out on jobs where the magazine wanted to use me, but the actor requested someone else, so it works both ways. I have, like a lot of photographers, a few actors that regularly request me, and it is great to have that security of knowing you will be asked to do a lot of shoots with that person.

APE: What about the publicists who are pushing certain photographers?

There’s publicists who really know their job and who really want to match up the right photographer with their client. If you’re an actor, one of the things you expect your publicist to do is make sure that when the cover comes out and you’re on it, that the shoot worked out. That is a publicists job, so I understand the really pushing for a photographer they trust. However, this focus can become rather narrow, and it is tough to lose a job you know you are right for because a publicist stayed with a familiar choice. Anyone that’s been taking pictures in Hollywood is so used to not getting the job for some weird reason that makes no sense. You have to accept it too. I was just on hold for two weeks for a movie poster, and had even started production on the job when the lead actor informed the studio he wanted to work with another photographer who is a good friend of his. You have to just say ok, because I’ve been in the position where I’ve done that to another photographer, so it all comes around. And then sometimes you will be in a situation where there’s several actors and publicists involved and one actor says they want to use a different photographer, where the other actors and publicists may not even know or care about the decision, so it’s crazy.

I understand the element of sucking up that goes on, I’m just not very good at it. I always try to come at it from the perspective of making great pictures, and making sure the magazine, or client gets what they need. This may mean pushing for more risky set-ups or pushing the actor a bit to try something new, which can be uncomfortable for some publicists.

APE: That’s probably removed you from a couple lists.

Yes, but also it’s kept me working in the editorial environment, where pictures need to be more than just safe and pretty. I always loved working for magazines because that’s where I started and you go out and spend a day, or a few hours, with an actor and a writer spends a day with them as well and you photograph them at that one moment in their lives where you try to get something that’s revealing, interesting and compelling about them. If the story and pictures work well together it’s still one of my favorite things to read. I always want to be able to do that.

Part 2 tomorrow.

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PicScout Joins LicenseStream In Push To License Images Anywhere

PicScout just announced a new product that will allow photographer to attach some sort of one click licensing to their images (here). This is the same as what LicenseStream has been offering for almost a year now and so there’s nothing revolutionary about it, but it will be very interesting to watch as more companies adopt this business model. There are many people who believe image licensing has a similar problem to what music had, in that people want to license images but there’s not an easy way to do that, so they steal them instead. It’s hard for me to believe this type of licensing amounts to much more than beer money, unless of course you’re handling the transactions and then those pennies add up to millions of dollars as Getty and Corbis discovered in the micro stock business. I do think that it’s good to teach people that images cost money and provide them with an easy way to license them, I don’t think this does much for professional photographers. For pros the more exclusive the image the better.