I used to be with it, but then they changed what "it" was. Now what I'm with isn't "it", and what's "it" is weird and scary to me.

Kathy Ryan, the Director of Photography for the New York Times Magazine, went pretty above and beyond this week, assigning several things to people I'm not used to seeing a lot of editorial photography from, ie: Tim Davis, Massimo Vitali (both in the Travel mag), and Katherine Wolkoff. Amy Arbus also shot a piece, and Jenny Gage and Tom Betterton did a fashion story. I don't know how you do it, Kathy. Especially the two magazines in one week. You must have Martha Stewart's sleep patterns. And great assistants.


Kathy ALSO put an animal on the cover, for a politics story, no less. Go trend, Go! This image is by Andrew Bettles, and is by far my favorite of all the images in the Magazine this week.







Tim Davis, for a story on Boulder, Colorado... *although I must admit, I LOVE Davis' personal work, but I thought these were just "eh".



Massimo Vitali, for a story on Tyrol:




One of Katherine Wolkoff's images for the article on the Harvard Chastity club:




Amy Arbus shoots Tom Cole, chairman of the Republican Congressional Committee. Love the square.

I arrived home late last night after a delayed flight back from Maine, and I immediately went to the computer to rustle up a copy of Richard Misrach's On The Beach. I've been waiting to buy this book for months; primarily because whenever I stare at it in a store I am either not in a moneyed way, or am far from my house. And that thing is Big and Heavy. This time it was the "far from my house" excuse, as I saw it in Portland at Books, Etc. So home I come, and I ring up a trusty website to make the $85 purchase. Which seems absolutely bargain basement for what you're getting, which is a 16x20 book with 80 pages of staggeringly beautiful photographs.

Dith Pran, the photojournalist who documented murderous Khmer Rouge-era Cambodia for the New York Times in the '70s, died today at age 65. In Cambodia, Mr. Dith worked alongside American journalist Sydney Schanberg, who was eventually forced out of the country, while Dith was taken prisoner and underwent a harrowing, tortuous ordeal. In the meantime, Schanberg accepted a Pulitzer Prize on their behalf, and worked for years to try to help his lost compatriot. From the Times:

"Mr. Schanberg wrote about Mr. Dith in newspaper articles and in The New York Times Magazine, in a 1980 cover article titled "The Death and Life of Dith Pran." (A book by the same title appeared in 1985.) The story became the basis of the movie "The Killing Fields." The film, directed by Roland Joffé, portrayed Mr. Schanberg, played by Sam Waterston, arranging for Mr. Dith's wife and children to be evacuated from Phnom Penh as danger mounted. Mr. Dith, portrayed by Dr. Haing S. Ngor (who won an Academy Award as best supporting actor), insisted on staying in Cambodia with Mr. Schanberg to keep reporting the news."

Despite false reports of his death (one rumor was that he was eaten by an alligator, but that turned out to be his brother (!)), Dith survived and eventually escaped over the Thai border. Schanberg was there to meet him. He became an American citizen in 1986, and worked for the Times for the remainder of his career.

Here are some images from The Times slideshow:


Dith Pran (right) and Sidney Schanberg in the field in Cambodia, 1973


 Shells being fired near Phnom Penh, 1974. Photo by Dith Pran.



Read more about Pran's story. It's truly amazing.

Keep it gay!

Scott Schuman over at The Sartorialist posted a nice picture of Kanye West today. It's refreshing to see a photo of Mr. West that isn't taken at a club by a Wireimage/Getty stringer. Even if he does have a funny face on, he seems easy, breezy and Beautiful! I like the dude to his left, too. He looks right out of The Inimitable Jeeves. Scowly, though. Pip pip!




ps. The Sartorialist will be at the MET this weekend, with Cathy Horyn, no less. He'll talk about fashion, and blogging. Hallo, it's 2008! Throw on your best Hermes scarf and get over there:

The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium at the Museum on Sunday, March 30, 2008 from 3:00-4:45pm.

A friendly soul emailed me today to ask if I knew how to convert her Canon 30D into an infrared camera. I haven't the foggiest, but I'm going to do some reseach. In any case, this got me thinking about camera conversions, which I think could be an interesting regular feature.

Something I HAVE heard about, and has always intrigued me, has been the conversion of  the old Polaroid roll-film cameras into 4x5 rangefinder cameras. The point of this is to effectively create a large format snapshot camera, which is rad.

The camera generally used is the Pathfinder 110A or the Pathfinder 110B.These cameras were produced in the late fifties and early sixties, and originally retailed for about $170. The best thing about them was the fast and sharp lens: the 127mm f/4.7 Rodenstock Ysarex. They are also set to expose the film fully manually, giving the photographer complete control. However, when roll-film went out of production, they were rendered essentially useless.

But a few brave souls started converting these cameras decades ago to accept standard 4x5 film backs, ready-load holders, or Polaroid and Fuji 4x5 pack film adapters. Most notably, perhaps, was William Littman, who started making the Littman 45 Single decades ago. He was profiled in American Photo a few years ago, which had Bruce Weber shoot a few images with the camera. Here's one.


photo by Bruce Weber


Littman is known as a master craftsman, but as with a Cadillac dealer, he charges the big bucks. There are others who can craft these puppies for you, or you could do it yourself, you lazy bum! Or you can go online and geek out about it. Either way, get yourself some Fuji film, because Polaroid pack film is gone baby gone.



Anyone out there have a converted Pathfinder? Send in sample images!


UPDATE: Robert Schneider sent in an image, and says: "I just found a 110B that had been modified for pack film by Four Designs.  They're out of the Pola conversion biz, but they used to do a beautiful job. I'm still at the goofing around stage, but it's a wonderful camera to use. The person I bought it from even threw in some Type 665 P/N film -- the holy grail!"

 

Travel represents one of the most popular content submission areas for the PhotoShelter Collection, and as such, we are becoming increasingly more selective about the types of images that we accept. The following guidelines are prescriptive for travel photography, although some concepts will extend into the general realm of stock photography.

The guidelines are the same guidelines presented to our photo editors dealing with travel photography. The editors are accorded the latitude to make subjective calls, and therefore, these guidelines are structured so you understand situations where the probability of rejection is higher. We believe this is a more sensible methodology rather than having a blanket enforcement of a rule which is probably not applicable to all images. For example, if you submit a low contrast photo with a blown-out sky of the Afghan Buddhas before they were destroyed by the Taliban, we are very likely to accept it. However, if the structures were still standing, we have a higher probability of rejecting the image. Context, historical importance, and even quality of the caption affect the probability of acceptance.



Travel imagery probably has a rejection rate somewhere in the 40-50% range. This is a reflection of 1) the large amounts of travel photography, 2) the fact that many non-pros shoot and submit travel content, 3) self-editing of travel imagery isn't as stringent as it is in other categories (i.e. a photographer submits many images of the same subject from multiple angles).

What does salable travel imagery look like?
We suggest checking out the following magazines to acquaint you with the style and technical level of photography that is being used commercially today:

-    Travel + Leisure
-    Conde Nast Traveler
-    National Geographic Traveler

Whitney Lawson from Travel + Leisure told us, "We are looking for a filmy look with natural light - nothing that looks [overly] digital, or like PR [press relations material]..."

Remember to shoot a variety of vantage points. No one wants to see just a picture of an entire building. Get some detail. Get some mid-range images. Get some interiors. Create an overall sense of a place. Most importantly, take the time to see what images are being published, and then use a critical eye against your own work. The devil is often in the details, and developing your skills to scrutinize an image will make you a better photographer.

Content Saturation
Certain locations and landmarks are more heavily photographed than others. One way to tell whether an area is saturated or not, is to search the PSC yourself. If an area is saturated, we are more likely to apply a higher level of scrutiny to the image before allowing it. For example, we have many images of London, but not many of Mauna Kea, therefore, we are more likely to accept "average" images of the latter, while being highly selective of London images.



Point of View/Focus
A travel photo must convey enough information to the viewer to give them context of where they are and what they are looking at. If you shoot Big Ben, make sure Big Ben is in focus/exposed, and not the sculpture you're shooting through. Similarly, there are cliché shots (e.g. a narrow street, cars on the street) in travel that are submitted in large numbers to the PSC. Make sure these types of shots have no technical defects whatsoever in order to avoid a higher probability of rejection.

The subject of your photo should also be clear in focus and exposed. We've seen some photos where the the subject is out-of-focus and a foreground element is more prominent. Similarly, framing a photo with a tree or other fauna is ok if the tree isn't obscuring the subject, and you don't have a bright distracting object (e.g. a flower) in the foreground. These types of gaffes will increase the probability of rejection.




Rejected photos often have many characteristics that push it over the threshold of rejection. Creating a great photo requires a lot of thought, planning, and practice!



"Evergreen" areas
Some destinations never seem to grow old, and picture buyers are constantly seeking images of these destinations. These areas include:

• Caribbean
• Hawaii
• Europe
• Italy
• France
• Germany (Berlin is hot now)
• Mexico (specifically the Mayan Riviera)
• American cities (particularly in light of the weak dollar - Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Dallas, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle)
• "Driving Story" destinations (e.g. Napa Valley, National Parks)

Still, even with these areas, the goal should still be to make an iconic picture; one that both is beautiful, but also contains enough contextual elements to avoid being perceived as "this could be anywhere."

Vintage  Images
Images of places shot long ago (e.g. pre-digital) are of interest because of their relative scarcity, and if they convey a sense of a specific time and place, they have a higher probability of being accepted even if there are some technical defects. This does not mean you should start scanning all your old slides. Please still apply scrutiny to your own edit.

Travel represents one of the most popular content submission areas for the PhotoShelter Collection, and as such, we are becoming increasingly more selective about the types of images that we accept. The following guidelines are prescriptive for travel photography, although some concepts will extend into the general realm of stock photography.

The guidelines are the same guidelines presented to our photo editors dealing with travel photography. The editors are accorded the latitude to make subjective calls, and therefore, these guidelines are structured so you understand situations where the probability of rejection is higher. We believe this is a more sensible methodology rather than having a blanket enforcement of a rule which is probably not applicable to all images. For example, if you submit a low contrast photo with a blown-out sky of the Afghan Buddhas before they were destroyed by the Taliban, we are very likely to accept it. However, if the structures were still standing, we have a higher probability of rejecting the image. Context, historical importance, and even quality of the caption affect the probability of acceptance.



Travel imagery probably has a rejection rate somewhere in the 40-50% range. This is a reflection of 1) the large amounts of travel photography, 2) the fact that many non-pros shoot and submit travel content, 3) self-editing of travel imagery isn't as stringent as it is in other categories (i.e. a photographer submits many images of the same subject from multiple angles).

What does salable travel imagery look like?
We suggest checking out the following magazines to acquaint you with the style and technical level of photography that is being used commercially today:

-    Travel + Leisure
-    Conde Nast Traveler
-    National Geographic Traveler

Whitney Lawson from Travel + Leisure told us, "We are looking for a filmy look with natural light - nothing that looks [overly] digital, or like PR [press relations material]..."

Remember to shoot a variety of vantage points. No one wants to see just a picture of an entire building. Get some detail. Get some mid-range images. Get some interiors. Create an overall sense of a place. Most importantly, take the time to see what images are being published, and then use a critical eye against your own work. The devil is often in the details, and developing your skills to scrutinize an image will make you a better photographer.

Content Saturation
Certain locations and landmarks are more heavily photographed than others. One way to tell whether an area is saturated or not, is to search the PSC yourself. If an area is saturated, we are more likely to apply a higher level of scrutiny to the image before allowing it. For example, we have many images of London, but not many of Mauna Kea, therefore, we are more likely to accept "average" images of the latter, while being highly selective of London images.



Point of View/Focus
A travel photo must convey enough information to the viewer to give them context of where they are and what they are looking at. If you shoot Big Ben, make sure Big Ben is in focus/exposed, and not the sculpture you're shooting through. Similarly, there are cliché shots (e.g. a narrow street, cars on the street) in travel that are submitted in large numbers to the PSC. Make sure these types of shots have no technical defects whatsoever in order to avoid a higher probability of rejection.

The subject of your photo should also be clear in focus and exposed. We've seen some photos where the the subject is out-of-focus and a foreground element is more prominent. Similarly, framing a photo with a tree or other fauna is ok if the tree isn't obscuring the subject, and you don't have a bright distracting object (e.g. a flower) in the foreground. These types of gaffes will increase the probability of rejection.




Rejected photos often have many characteristics that push it over the threshold of rejection. Creating a great photo requires a lot of thought, planning, and practice!



"Evergreen" areas
Some destinations never seem to grow old, and picture buyers are constantly seeking images of these destinations. These areas include:

• Caribbean
• Hawaii
• Europe
• Italy
• France
• Germany (Berlin is hot now)
• Mexico (specifically the Mayan Riviera)
• American cities (particularly in light of the weak dollar - Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Dallas, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle)
• "Driving Story" destinations (e.g. Napa Valley, National Parks)

Still, even with these areas, the goal should still be to make an iconic picture; one that both is beautiful, but also contains enough contextual elements to avoid being perceived as "this could be anywhere."

Vintage  Images
Images of places shot long ago (e.g. pre-digital) are of interest because of their relative scarcity, and if they convey a sense of a specific time and place, they have a higher probability of being accepted even if there are some technical defects. This does not mean you should start scanning all your old slides. Please still apply scrutiny to your own edit.

Yawn, or Cheer?

photo by Diego Fernandez


I'll be communing with Hebrew National tonight on 26th street. You?


THURSDAY:
Ion Zupcu "New Works on Paper" Clamp Art
W 25 street, 531

"Coney Island of the Heart" at Bond Street Gallery
Brooklyn, Bond street, 29, 6-9pm

Tamy Ben-Tor at Zach Feuer Gallery (LFL)
W 24 street, 530

PEER at DiVA The Digital and Video Art Fair, 2008
West 26th St. Block Party!
Galleries Open Till 10PM Thursday with video, DJs, hot dog stands,
and limousines as bars on the streets of Chelsea.


FRIDAY:
"Whitney After Hours" at Whitney Museum of American Art
Madison avenue, 945, at 75 street, 6-9pm

ICP Museum Store
Book Signing with BARBARA BLOOM
The Collections of Barbara Bloom.


SATURDAY:



Slideluck Potshow
March 29th at the Chelsea Art Museum
Theme: Patterns

Sean Snyder, Wolfgang Tillmans, Andreas Neumeister "The Real World" at Ludlow 38

Vince Aletti "Disco Files" at White Columns
W 13 street, 320, (entrance on Horatio), 8-10pm 

This one's in the California!:

"SHUDDER" The Photographer's Unwavering Eye
Celebrity Portraits to Personal Projects featuring the works of Jeremy & Claire Weiss,
Patrick Fraser, Dan Monick and Michael Lavine.

ISM: gallery at the Koos Art Center
540 East Broadway
Long Beach, California 

Wassup, Andy! Andy's work can be found in the PhotoShelter Collection and on his website.

Getting this shot.


Wasn't so easy.



Get insurance.

Even Salvador Dali needs more than one take. Or, um, more than twenty-seven.

Philippe Halsman, Dali Atomicus, 1948

Check out the early winners of the NPPA's Best of Photojournalism Contest 2008.

These three images are winners in the "Sports Enterprise" category.


Tomasz Gudzowaty/Yours Gallery

The following are all images that were taken in 1941 and 1942 by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information. These are large-format Kodachromes (4x5) that were posed, as studies for recruitment posters, and exhibits (propaganda, my friend). There are hundreds of them in the Library of Congress FSA/OWI archive, which means they are public domain. I found them on Shorpy, which calls itself the 100-Year-Old Photo Blog, and brings many of these public domain images to light, and also offers high-quality archival prints of them here. I have spent many, many hours on this site, and I just can't get enough of it. I mean, these Kodachromes! Can you believe it? Shorpy has caption information and larger versions of these images here.

I mean, I knew about the FSA photographs (mostly b&w) by the likes of Dorothea Lange and Lewis Hine and Walker Evans and others, but I just totally missed these.

I was going to pipe down about this trend, but then a commenter sent me this. But now I'm done, I promise. I think.

Thanks, Davin.

photo by M. Scott Brauer/PhotoShelter

Journalist David W. Dunlap's terrifying article in the Times detailing his attack by poster-scoundrels was an interesting comment on the collision of two often-marginalized factions.

The gist:

"I began photographing the poster operation. After about two minutes, one man asked me why I was taking pictures. "Because what you're doing is illegal," I replied.

He answered, "Breaking cameras is illegal, too, but if you don't stop taking pictures, I'll break your camera." He modified "camera" with an adjective I am not permitted to repeat here. I identified myself as a reporter from The Times. "I'll break your camera," he said, using that adjective again, "and you can print that in your paper."

I distinctly remember thinking, "No, I can't." Then, rather than antagonize him further, I started taking pictures of the poster-covered scaffold pipes across Broadway."

In this case, the corporate posters were not within their rights, while David was. Plus, they broke his camera (and almost his face), which is just rude. It reminded me of a good post the other day on Photojojo, which listed legal rights of photographers. I've re-printed them below, but find additional excellent tips here. Don't let someone break your face!


The Ten Legal Commandments of Photography

I. Anyone in a public place can take pictures of anything they want. Public places include parks, sidewalks, malls, etc. Malls? Yeah. Even though it's technically private property, being open to the public makes it public space.

II. If you are on public property, you can take pictures of private property. If a building, for example, is visible from the sidewalk, it's fair game.

III. If you are on private property and are asked not to take pictures, you are obligated to honor that request. This includes posted signs.

IV. Sensitive government buildings (military bases, nuclear facilities) can prohibit photography if it is deemed a threat to national security.

V. People can be photographed if they are in public (without their consent) unless they have secluded themselves and can expect a reasonable degree of privacy. Kids swimming in a fountain? Okay. Somebody entering their PIN at the ATM? Not okay.

VI. The following can almost always be photographed from public places, despite popular opinion:

    * accident & fire scenes, criminal activities
    * bridges & other infrastructure, transportation facilities (i.e. airports)
    * industrial facilities, Superfund sites
    * public utilities, residential & commercial buildings
    * children, celebrities, law enforcement officers
    * UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster, Chuck Norris

VII. Although "security" is often given as the reason somebody doesn't want you to take photos, it's rarely valid. Taking a photo of a publicly visible subject does not constitute terrorism, nor does it infringe on a company's trade secrets.

VIII. If you are challenged, you do not have to explain why you are taking pictures, nor to you have to disclose your identity (except in some cases when questioned by a law enforcement officer.)

IX. Private parties have very limited rights to detain you against your will, and can be subject to legal action if they harass you.

X. If someone tries to confiscate your camera and/or film, you don't have to give it to them. If they take it by force or threaten you, they can be liable for things like theft and coercion. Even law enforcement officers need a court order.

I think there's a coffee table book in this. I've had a few testy brides myself. My cousin Becky, for example:

There is only one 50mm f/1.0 lens in production today. It is the legendary Leica f/1.0 Noctilux, which is also the fastest rangefinder lens IN THE WORLD. Cue Tenacious D. You can pick a Noctilux up new for, oh, about $6,000. But you'll need an M-series Leica to pair it with.




Another 50mm f/1.0 lens you can find with a little scouring is made by Canon. This one works with the EOS system, and has been out of production for a few years. It also retails for about 5-6k.

Are these lenses worth the money? Canon also makes an f/1.2, f/1.4, and f/1.8, after all.

I checked in with a friendly photographer, Andrew French, who knows pretty much everything there is to know about lenses. Andy has shot for Coach, Microsoft, Esquire, Smart Money, and Food and Wine, among others, and regularly teaches at NYU and ICP, which is where I met him.

So Andy, what's so great about the f/1.0?

"This f/1.0 thing gives such a depth and presence that is so beautiful, with a little sliver of focus. Set the camera to the lowest ISO, maybe even add an ND filter, then shoot in bright sunlight.. at 1/8000 at f/1.0. It actual reminds me of images from the 1920's and 1930's, when the Leica was new, and 35mm film was around ASA 10-15, making it necessary to shoot at a  wide aperture, even in bright light... at approximately 1/100 at f/5.6 using the sunny 16 rule. Add a yellow filter, and you'd need to open even another stop. You could easily be shooting around f/2.8 or 3.5 at 1/30 in in open shade. (Sorry for the Geeky evaluation, I love photography between the wars in the 20's and 30's...)"

Don't be sorry, Andy, we're geeking out with you. Andy was also kind enough to send over some images samples from the Canon 50mm f/1.0 lens. These were shot over a few hours in Paris, in July 2006. Amazing to see this kind of depth of field in bright light.

OK, so I can find some cool things some of the time, but not all of the cool things all of the time. Once in a while I need to ask for some help. Someone told me Mike Joyce knows what's up. Joyce runs Stereotype-Design, a graphic design studio that works with corporate, cultural, and commercial clients. Also he teaches design at SVA, so he's got all those cool kids telling him things.

I literally asked Mike to tell me what's cool and design-y and photo-y and rad right now, in design circles. Three things! Go!


1. Brooklyn Bunny
As a rabbit owner myself, I'm a bit biased, but Brooklyn Bunny is definitely worth checking out if you've got nothing better to do. Two awesome graphic designers that have a live web cam on their rabbit in Brooklyn. The logo might be the best part--you'll never look at the Brooklyn Bridge the same way.




2. Aesthetic Apparatus' Silkscreen Posters
It seems like everyone and their mother are designing gig posters these days but in my opinion, these guys are heads above the rest--all hand silk screened by two guys in Minneapolis. One day they'll have one of those retrospective shows at the MoMA that makes you feel like you've wasted your life doing commercial work.



3. Harold Lloyd's Hollywood Nudes in 3-D
A book of 1950's pinup girls photographed by the great silent comedian, Harold Lloyd in 3-D with 3-D glasses included. Beautifully designed by my pal Andy Taray of Ohio Boy. Doesn't get much better than that.





Thanks, Mike! (The bunny-feed kills me).

Ok, Tomas Maier, you're getting lazy. Did you borrow Sam Taylor-Wood's studio, or did you rebuild it to look exactly like the one in her personal work? Did you want instant name-recognition, because I certainly knew who took this picture the moment I saw the ad... but for a $3,000 handbag, I'd sort of appreciate more effort.

You are admirably A-list with your photographer choices, however. I bet you never go to Filene's basement.


Sam Taylor-Wood, for Bottega Veneta, Spring/Summer 2008:

PHTHRD II, LVHRD's second live photography competition, is going down TOMORROW: Tuesday, March 25th in DUMBO.

LVHRD events are unique social gatherings a few times a month that support the interaction between diverse creative disciplines. Event locations are secret secret, and only released to the membership on the day of the gathering. It's like that 90210 episode with the egg. You know- when Brandon takes ecstasy? Well, this is like that. Except you have to dress like a grandma.

The Master-Disaster Photography Duel is a timed photography competition between teams of photographers and stylists. Here's the concept for this year:

PHTHRD in NYC invites three artists to tell a story using hundreds of Polaroid pictures to craft a mosaic narrative. That means you watch them do it and you get to be in the pictures.This year's gladiators: Jonathan Harris, Joseph O. Holmes, and Elizabeth Weinberg.

Here are two of last year's competitors (Philip Toledano and Kate and Camilla) going for the gold:





Don't be a wuss, be a grandma! Go get tickets!

Wired asked for self-portrait submissions, and let their readers decide the winners. I like this one by Marshall Marice, but I'm a sucker for gravity-challenging imagery.




One of my all-time favorites:


Yves Klein Leap into the Void, 1960

Today's bunny discussion switches from cats in advertisements and funny studio portrait humping-bunnies to the fine art world, where many serious photographers are utilizing animal imagery in their work. I'm not just talking about the Jill Greenberg set, but rather, the folks who make animal imagery that relates more directly to the human experience. Just this past Friday, after mulling over cats in ads the previous day, I awoke to my daily Flak Photo, and this is what i saw:


This is Sarah Small's Molly and EllyMay, and was included in the recent Humble Arts show.

Kismet?

Another image that has been making the rounds lately is this one, by Hannah Whitaker.




Amy Stein was the one to alert me to this picture (which we both love), and also let me know that the image will be on the cover of next month's BlindSpot, which marks a trend, if you ask me. I LOVE Amy's work and blog, and asked her to weigh in on this animal trend. What does it all mean, Amy?

I don't think it's a secret or a trend that we humans love our charismatic megafauna. Take a walk around your average office building and I bet you will find a goodly percentage of the employees marking their days with a kitten or puppy wall calendar. If you want to move units of beer, tacos or personal liability insurance you are apparently best served by hiring a dog or duck to make your pitch. If you want to grab the attention of 37-year-old photographer who writes a blog and can't stop talking about her very large cat, produce a photo of a rabbit with a rainbow on his back.

Most fine art photographers seem to have an animal shot in their portfolio. I think this has a lot to do with the scattered nature of most photography portfolios and what appears to be the standardized growth process of the modern photographer. Many young photographers start off shooting photos of their quirky friends and then move on to quirky objects. These quirky objects tend to be things found in your average grandma's bedroom, an oddly placed taxidermied deer head or the neighbors pet. If these photos run cute they will get passed around the Internet eliciting real and ironic "ahhhs" and "ohhhs" from a populace raised on a steady diet of Hello Kitty, Hamster Dance and Mr. Winkle.

In contrast there has been a number of very mature and very excellent photos series where animals are a critical part of their narrative. I am thinking of Alessandra Sanguinetti, Simen Johan and Nicolai Howalt and Trine Søndergaard. These photographers are exploring animal and human relationships that run much deeper than our love of furry critters. They are using animals not for the sake of using animals, but as a means to examine various aspects of human behavior and motivation. I like to think my Domesticated work stands in this company.

From Simen Johan's Until the Kingdom Comes:

Annie's on the Trail!

Yesterday was the Vernal Equinox, when the sun rises directly in the east, and day and night are of equal length. Full moon tonight. Some crazy things can happen on the first Spring weekend, so be safe, folks. We'll have more animal pictures for you on Monday.

photo by Robyn Glover

 
There's a pretty cool piece in the Times today by our own Michael Kamber, who's currently working for the Baghdad Bureau.  It's rare to see straight photo-reportage from the field in a major newspaper like this; it's really a striking snippet of war life. The piece is called "Captain as Maestro, Conducting Amid Crisis", and it profiles Captain David Sandoval as he tries to negotiate several crises at once:

"On one phone, he raised his platoon at a combat outpost in the area, directing it toward the intersection. On the second phone, he talked to a helicopter pilot flying over Mosul's deadly east side. On the third, he talked to the spotter. Captain Sandoval was the operation's maestro, coordinating the movements of the three and relaying messages."

Michael Kamber for The New York Times
Capt. David Sandoval in Mosul, speaking with his men out on a difficult mission. "I sleep at least three hours a day," he said.

Date: 2008-03-19, 10:42PM PDT

I am going to pick one person that will be able to assist me on a 2
day photography shoot for a featured fashion spread to run in Southern
California in May 2008. The dates are April 3-4 2008. You will be
learning how I light my fashion images and all the behind the scenes
that goes into making my pictures. The person I pick will pay $800.00
to Tony Florez Photography for the opportunity to work side by side
with me. You must be very responsible and take good direction. I want
someone serious that wants to advance their skills to a much higher
level. This is a great chance for someone to learn right next to one
of the best photographers around.
Please email to me why you think you should be picked for this
assignment. My email address is [redacted]

website: http://www.tonyflorez.com
only emails will be accepted
Student cost is $800.00 to be my personal assistant for 2 days.
It is going to be an amazing experience !!!


location: Orange County
Compensation: Student will pay Tony Florez Photography $800.00 to be
the assistant for 2 full days of shooting
Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
Please, no phone calls about this job!
Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or
commercial interests.

PostingID: 612216950

yeah.

Thanks, Joel.

There's a pretty illsane hilarious post on the PS corporate blog today advising stock photographers on how to take better pictures. With visual aides. The one on saturation speaks to me.


 

OK, smartypantses. Guess who took these pictures. If you guess correctly, and are the first person to do so, you will win an amazing prize. You can see pictures of the prize after the jump. I don't want to fetter this viewing space.


UPDATE: Ok, you guys are all really smart. It's David LaChappelle, from his Recollections in America series. I was surprised, at least. Gordon gets the Paps, since he said it first. Thanks for playing!

You like photography? I like it too. I like it so much, I helped start a company that has "photo" in its name. I like "shelter" too, but that is neither here nor there.

Today we're talking about photography, and specifically, a few pointers for making your photography better. If you're one of those fancy pants guys who already makes thousands of dollars every year from photography, then this post is not for you. This is for the person who believes there are still a few things to learn, and want to become a better photographer.

And just to prove my point, I'm illustrating all the "wrong" things with my photos that suck. You have a few photos that suck too. Don't nod your head like that. I saw them! But hey, no need to be defensive. We're using the power of positive thought to not suck because no one gets paid to suck unless you're on reality TV. Remember, just like Tony Little told us, YOU CAN DO IT!

Lest you think I'm just spouting off like I usually do, let me clear the air. In order to get educated on what to write, I spent a week with our editors. And not just a few minutes here or there. I literally sat with them and reviewed over six thousand images to get a sense of the variety of images we were seeing, and a few trends started to become readily apparent. And when I say "trends" I really mean "things that we don't want to be trends." So let's get started with my first installment of The Final Edit.

The Rule of Thirds & Composition
Never heard of the rule of thirds, huh? Neither has my grandmother. She's so old, she thought Polaroid was new.




The rule of thirds is a compositional theory used in photography and other arts, and it basically helps you create points of interest. There's no rule of halves. No rule of ones. There's a golden rule, but I'm relatively certain that it has nothing to do with photography.

I talked to my buddy Vincent Laforet, about this whole composition thing, and I asked him, "Vince, what do you think makes you such a good photographer?" because he has one of them Pulitzer Prize thingies. He told me it's because his parents made him take drawing classes as a kid. It should be no surprise that artistic principles are important in photography.

So listen Mozart, remember that composition is important.


Clean up your backgrounds
You have a great shot of a soccer player with his leg over his head with the ball right on the tip of his toe and a pained expression on his face, and in the background is some fat guy in a little coat eating a hot dog on the sidelines. And he is also in perfect focus.



The beauty of photography is that you can use a combination of aperture and focal length to selectively focus on the subject of the image. If you have an image that is so unique like Chris Farley on the sidelines the day of his death, we wouldn't reject it. But if you have an average image with a messy background, we'll drop it like it's hot.

The world is not really that saturated
Who can't resist pumping up the saturation a little bit? Sky looks a little bluer, flowers look a little more vibrant. And I remember Fuji Velvia like the next guy, but you are not Timothy Leary, so put the LSD filter down, and back off the saturation control, bro.

Tearsheet is going to be a little different this week; instead of having someone else pick the ad we look at, I'm gonna do it. That's right, this week it's all about me. And all about furry animals. Furry animals who are taking the world by storm! Seriously, not a day goes by that I don't get an IM message sending me to lol cats or cute overload or stuffonmycat or catsinsinks or kittenwar.com.

I would not kick this camera out of my camera bag.

The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) has announced its 2008 finalists.

Radar (go Greg Garry, go Stacey Pittman), Aperture, and Wired are all nominated for the extremely prestigious General Excellence award, which:

"honors the effectiveness with which writing, reporting, editing and design all come together to command readers' attention and fulfill the magazine's unique editorial mission."

Photography category:
This category recognizes excellence in magazine photography. It honors the effectiveness of photography, photojournalism and photo illustration in enhancing a magazine's unique mission and personality.

Gourmet
GQ
Martha Stewart Living
National Geographic
New York
W


Photojournalism category:
This category recognizes the informative photographic documentation of an event or subject in real-time. Although photo essays accompanied by text will be eligible, they will be judged primarily on the strength of the photographs.

Aperture
Mother Jones
National Geographic
The New Yorker
The Virginia Quarterly Review




Anyone feeling burned, shocked, surprised, pleased-as-punch? See more winners.

Matthew Pillsbury is speaking tonight at ICP at 7pm as part of the Spring lecture series. He's presenting work from his series Time Frame. This is work that I think is truly unique; he makes long black and white exposures of rather ordinary scenes and makes them (extra!)ordinary. The result is at once voyeuristic and poetic, which is pretty difficult to do.

I read about the Photography Book Now salon and symposium last night, and thought it was too good to be true. I mean, a contest celebrating self-published photo books? With the promise of MONEY? What What!? But look, they say it is true:

"Join the modern photography book movement. Photographers can now produce books with complete creative control. We're celebrating the most innovative and finest self-published photography books and the people behind them. Submit yours for a chance at $25,000 to finish - or start - that once in a lifetime project."

They're also seeking to engage a community:

"We're hosting Meet-ups in three cities around the globe. Hang out with industry peers, friends, the judges, and symposia participants.  And bring your books - everyone will want to see your work."

You know what that means? Booze. I'll be at that New York event in October for sure. The sponsors of this thing include PDN, American Photography, Flickr and Livebooks. Not too shabby. It's a hip time to be a photographer, my friend.

Speaking, of book publishing, I had tarts and coffee yesterday with Stacy Mehrfar, who has just finished a five-year project called American Palimpsests. She has her edit down to about 50 images, and is hoping to publish it.  From her statement:

"The term 'palimpsest' refers to a parchment or tablet that has been written upon or inscribed several times, where the previous texts have been erased and remain, therefore, somewhat visible. Today the term has come to represent an object, place or area that reflects its history."

Clever, clever, Mehrfar. Seriously, though- the project is stunning. Photographers, keep taking those road trips.

I just saw this on the PS widget and nearly peed my pants. It's rainy and nappy in New York today. More on the animal photography trend later this week....(it all started with cute overload)




photo by Ian McKenzie

I spent a few months this summer as a researcher at Time Inc.Content Solutions. TICS is the leading provider of custom publishing solutions--print or digital--to top companies such as Ford Motor Company, Cingular, Merrill Lynch, and Unilever. They basically create private magazines for these folks. Branding is extremely important to these companies, and let me tell you; you must be SPECIFIC with a brand. Case in point? I worked on a TD Ameritrade newsletter. I needed to find the right kind of businessman. I was terrible at this. I kept finding men that my boss termed as Wachovia dudes. I tried and tried and tried. Then my contract ran out and they sorta didn't renew it.

So here's a question for all you smarty pants: Is this man a Wachovia man, or a TD Ameritrade man? It's easy. you should totally know.

It's about that time: word is starting to trickle in from photographers who have been notified that they'll be included in the AP24 Annual. This one's a big old deal; AI-AP is extremely respected as a resource for buyers and editors. The work is published in a massive, beautiful book, and there's a classy party.

Big friend bear Clayton Cubitt had two images accepted this year, and it's well-deserved. Both are from his work on Katrina.

I was nearly mowed down by a bus in Crown Heights last night, thanks to two martinis and the Pet Shop Boys. But I didn't recognize the irony until I read the morning headlines.

From AdAge:

The owner of Georgi Vodka said he is in talks to put the derriere of former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's call girl on the backside of every bus in New York.

Says the CEO:

"The girl's butt we have on there now is pretty good, but if you can get [Dupre] to do it, and to make some personal appearances, it's like Paris Hilton or something. We are trying to work out a contract."

My IQ dropped 10 points just reading this story. I need more coffee.

 

photo by Phyllis Twatchman for the New York World-Telegram & Sun, 1948

Terry Richardson has just shot a campaign for Supreme with that sexy green 'thang, Kermit. There's even a behind-the-scenes video of it. Steamy! And the wink is for those of us who remember the analogous youtube with Ms. Lohan (from the shoot for GQ) a few years back. See both below.

A photographer friend of mine, Tadge Dryja, sent out the following email yesterday morning:

"So just in case any of y'all read the news and are like "hmm, collapse on 51st street kills 4", don't worry, I'm cool. It was like, half a block away. It was pretty wacky there for a while though this afternoon. Like, at first I thought it was one of those awful noisy trucks, but then people started screaming, and it was too loud for a truck. So I figured, "So they finally got the UN, huh?" and went out and looked that way, but the UN was still standing, then I turned around and was like "ohhh, right, the crane."

Can't say I'm *that* surprised because they always seemed to be doing kind of a shoddy job at that site and would like, swing things over the street and stuff. Anyway...

Most of the crane tower is still there just looming over the street like this awesome monument to hubris or something. I've been shooting it from my roof. I'll just take all these 4x5 photos of it and sell those to some magazine or something. If I was REALLY smart, I'd figure out a way to work this in to my thesis project. "

Pretty classic for an MFA student to be more worried about his thesis project than about the DISASTER that has just happened in his backyard. But pretty amusing, too.

Saturday's Midtown East crane collapse is just one of many city accidents, and soon there will be another. It's just the nature of the beast. However, it was striking to me to see 4x5 images of the scene. Although they're not gory or extremely detailed like some of the digital imagery that ran in the Times, they're quiet and so damn sharp.

I like this one best:

Many of you are by now probably familiar with Noah Kalina's project "Everyday", for which he's taken a picture of himself every day since 2000. This is but a sample:

And you may be familiar with some of the offshoots that project generated when Noah set the images to music and put them on youtube. I'm just guessing, 'cause it was viewed like 9 million times.

 

Noah was in the Times. He was in newspapers all over Europe, Brazil and Asia.
He went to the Big in '06 VH1 awards, and posed with lots of stars, which was awesome and pretty hilarious. (I like the one with  this guy. Remember him?)

Then Noah hit the Simpsons, and that was pretty rad. I mean, it doesn't really get better than that.

Homer Every Day from Noah K. on Vimeo.


And THEN, came the Advertising. Noah started seeing them, people started calling his attention to them, and they were EVERYWHERE. No, he wasn't paid or contacted about any of them. He's just the trendsetter.


Microsoft Istanbul



Dunkin' Donuts Commercial



FSN Baseball Commercial



Melbourne Film Festival Trailer

What ho, my freelance friends! Time to gather those W-2s and those receipts. Here's the view from my neck of the woods.

It's St. Patrick's Day, for better or worse, and some of us around here have received an invite to Patrick McMullan's annual holiday bash. McMullan, of course, is one of New York's original nightlife photographers, and he's given way to many more. One of my favorites is Nikola Tamindzic, who has been pounding the vodka-splashed pavement for the past several years. There are prizes for this sort of thing, and Nikola has won them: Nightlife Photographer of the Year from the Village Voice in 2006, and the same honor in 2007 from Paper Magazine, L Magazine, and Junk Magazine.

Nikola fell into his profession rather accidentally, when he went to Gawker founder Nick Denton's costume party in 2004 as a photographer. He wasn't one at the time, but acted out his part faithfully, and the images found their way back to Denton. A lunch meeting later, and Nikola was the official photographer for Gawker. For real. You can find a whole bunch of these archived party pics at Nikola's old site, Ambrel.net. But for the brand-'spankin new Nikola creations, go to Home of the Vain. Aside from a wide reach and a sync cord, you have to be pretty damn charming to get some of these shots. And let me assure you, Mr. Tamindzic is.

Here's one of my favorites:

 

It's of model-of-the-moment Agyness Deyn at a Fashion Week party. Everyone is in disarrayed party mode, looking drunk and sweaty, but Agyness finds the camera and looks fucking cool. Take THAT, Tyra! I haven't had such a model-crush since Nadja.

 

And here's a pairing that I find interesting, but Nikola thinks is "not that revelatory". I asked him to send me the picture before the picture of one of his recent great shots. Thanks for playing along, my friend. I think it's impressive that it only takes him two tries. This is Annie Lennox and Gina Gershon lounging at a party.

 One shot=perfect

One shot=not quite

More highly trained aesthetes with high tolerances for Grey Goose
and g-strings: Merlin, Clay Enos and The Cobrasnake.

I met Ofer Wolberger in the Artist in the Marketplace Fellowship program at the Bronx Museum of the Arts in 2003. It was all too apparent at the time that he was headed for great things, while I was headed for Crown Heights and a cabinet full of ramen. Ofer was shooting lustrous and large 4x5 and 8x10 imagery, and had few commercial clients. He had recently finished his MFA at SVA. Fast forward a few years, and I'm seeing Ofer's name pop up pretty regularly, most notably (for me) in Wired Magazine, which does such a magnificent job with its editorial photography that it's practically porn. He's also represented by Bransch, and is working on a cool project about a lady named Maggie.

 

I bribed Ofer with some high-sodium instant meals, and he agreed to talk to me about how he makes his work. And about David Lynch. Thanks, Ofer!

 

You seem to have very successfully bridged the gap between personal and commercial work. Many of your assignments for magazines like Wired produce spectacular, gasp-worthy images.  Is some of the commercial work you do as satisfying as the personal?

 

I have definitely enjoyed and found inspiration in many of the editorial assignments I've been given. Those Wired commissions you speak of are dream jobs that don't come around as often as you'd like. Even with the exotic locations and sometimes fascinating subjects of an editorial shoot, it can still be extremely difficult to come up with a killer photograph that satisfies both the needs of the magazine and my own interests. Sometimes I get lucky and the two intersect perfectly. Other times I have to do the best I can with some really difficult situations. But that's the challenge and it can be very rewarding. The good results though do seem to happen most when a magazine hires me to do what I do best and are willing to let me run with it.

 

The image of yours that still staggers me is the top level of the parking garage with buildings looming in the background. I believe it was taken in Atlanta. The scene seems utterly unreal, almost monochrome. Was this image post-produced digitally? When do you use digital to supplement your process, and do you still shoot film primarily?

 

Yes, I'm still shooting film, mostly 4x5 and 8x10, as well as some medium format. But everything ends up going through a digital process of some sort.  I couldn't turn back to doing things the old way once I realized the kind of control digital imaging enabled me to have. I was never the biggest fan of working in a darkroom anyway. Basically with film and traditional printing you are working with the limitations of the medium: the film and paper. With digital there are no limitations. I love that I can have the look of film printed on a traditional c-print paper but with all the control of contrast and color that digital offers. For me it's really about detail, I like to see everything and retain as much shadow and highlight information and for that digital is the best. But I will say that there are many people out there doing things digitally who have no clue what they're doing. It can be very disappointing and you see it in all the museums and galleries, really horrible looking prints that should have been done correctly.

 

The photograph in Atlanta was a lucky fluke. I went up to the parking garage to see the view because I was specifically interested in those repetitive buildings. The day was quickly coming to an end and when I looked at the view, I wasn't sure I could make a picture happen so I focused my 8x10 on a different view. But as the sun began to set I started to see what I wanted. Then I realized that I didn't have a wide enough lens to capture it. My friend who was traveling with me at the time had a 4x5 in the car with a wider lens, so I used that and set it up very quickly. I was ready for the shot when I realized we were out of color negative film. All we had left was one frame of Tungsten chrome. It was a nightmare situation. I shot the frame of chrome and hoped that I made a good exposure, most photographers bracket chrome a stop in each direction and choose the best exposure later. Unfortunately I didn't have that luxury plus I also knew that the color would be completely blue due to the Tungsten balance of the film.

 

It took me a while to realize that I could rescue the shot through digital means but it wasn't easy to get the blue completely out and still have a semi-realistic feeling. That photograph taught me a lot about what interested me in a photograph and how I could go about achieving it.

 

Much of your imagery is city-centric, obviously interested in urban forms and the life that goes on around it. Are you a city-mouse by nature? How does your style change when you go rural?

 

I'm quite tied to the city, especially New York. Sometimes I find it hard to leave because I feel like I might miss out on something exciting. Usually once I'm on the plane or in the car I feel great and ready to explore something else. I also find that if I don't leave the city every two weeks or so, I get a bit stir crazy. I don't know if my style changes when I go rural, but I have been shooting quite a bit of landscape over the past few years. I hope the images retain those hyper-real yet eerie and mysterious qualities found in my cityscapes. 

 

I'm intrigued by your "Maggie" series.  It seems like a departure from your previous work. She feels very fifties to me, and I love the way the mask walks a line between reality and the grotesque. I worry about why she needs that mask! Who is Maggie, and what does she represent?

 

At first I thought the Maggie project was a departure as well, that it didn't fit in with what I normally do. Then I realized that it's actually a combination of many past ideas rolled into one. I like to collage quite a bit and did so very seriously for many years in college and even grad school. That lead to the Crumpled Paper series which to me was always a kind of collage. Then I started photographing the real world leaving the collage aesthetic behind. With the Maggie photos, the two worlds come together. It's like she's the collage element brought out into the real world. You've probably only seen the photographs of her on my website (which feel more personal and private) but I've been working on the project for the past year and there is a whole group of new images that are very different in feeling than those early photographs of her. She's been doing a lot of traveling around the United States as well as France. 

 

I'm glad you picked up on the fifties feeling. As I see it, Maggie is a lost figure from the past trying to find a place where she fits in. She doesn't need the mask, that's just who she is. She's an alienated character.

 Maggie at the Beach, Pensicola, FL, July 23, 2007

Are you working on any other series aside from the Maggie work? On your blog, it's apparent how much time you spend thinking about other photographers and their long-term projects, and you clearly love photography books. Is a book project something you've thought about, or are you quite busy day-to-day with your commercial assignments?

 

I'm working on a bunch of different things right now. I'm really trying not to filter my ideas or methods too much, I had enough of that in school. I'm also trying to work outside of the series. Maggie is really the first photographic series I've worked on since 2001. Until now I've just been making singular images that have similar ideas and themes but I don't really see them as a series or project per se.

 

Horsesthink came out of a desire to share my passion for photography, film and art in general. It's also a great way to sort out my ideas and opinions and practice my writing. I found myself reading a ton of blogs that kept my mind going and really inspired me to keep working.  Of course I love photography books and dream of making one. My plan right now is to work on the Maggie pictures for a bit longer (although I think the project could go on forever and travel all over the world) and then try and put a book together of her travels around America and France. I know how I want to do it, I just need a few more great photographs to make it work.

 

I've recently re-watched all 29 episodes of Twin Peaks, and I've been unable for months to make any pictures that don't either directly correspond, or reference the visual acuity of the Lynch series. Are you visually impressionable in this way? Have you developed any stylistic obsessions after seeing a film or work that intrigues you? 

 

I love Twin Peaks, especially the two-hour pilot episode, it might be one of David Lynch's best and creepiest films ever. I know what you mean about influences and I am extremely visually impressionable. I'm like a sponge but luckily I also have a bad short term memory. I probably see at least 5 films a week in the theater, sometimes more. Most of those films are older films screened at repertory houses like Film Forum, Anthology Film Archives, Lincoln Center or MoMa. For a while I was obsessed with Peter Bogdanovich and then it was Douglas Sirk and his technicolor craziness. In a way the Maggie photographs are indebted to Sirk's colorful and emotional palette. Lately I've been discovering some great color films by Richard Fleischer as well as revisiting some of my all time favorites like Elia Kazan's Splendor in the Grass. Not sure how the influences will manifest themselves but they always seem to rise to the surface.

I'm excited about "Sleeveface". It's a photographic trend that's sweeping the nation!

The PhotoShelter Collection has what we refer to as "edited diversity." Although we allow almost any image to be uploaded, each image is reviewed by our team of photo editors with the goal of removing the stuff we don't think commercial photo buyers will be interested in. The process is a subjective one, we admit, but on the other hand, all of our editors have degrees in photography, and all of them have worked as photo editors prior to landing at PhotoShelter.

But the point of this post isn't too talk about the subjective. It's to talk business.

We often hear from photographers who are upset about an image(s) getting rejected and the fact that we don't include a reason for rejection. So first let me explain how the old stock agencies work. It used to be that in order to even be considered by an agency, you had to submit a body of work of several hundred images. Several hundred really good images to even be considered. If you've never had a portfolio review before, you might not really understand what editors consider to be good because in most cases it simply isn't what you consider to be good.

Then once you've submitted the images, it goes into some blackhole where some staff members review it, and a few months later (no kidding), you get back (some) of your stuff. The agency takes the stuff it likes, and returns the stuff they don't like. There's no note, there's no rejection reason, and that's how it is.

So why is this the case?

A little visual inspiration for the weekend, courtesy of Johan Nilsson.

We've received a ton of positive feedback about our redesign, and we're thrilled. But we have also received some comments about the weight of the type face, the shelter logo, the colors, etc, so I wanted to clear up some misconceptions about the purpose and intent of the redesign.

First the design isn't about the logo. The logo is only a component of the redesign, and while it is the most obvious piece, it by no means represents the total goal. When we started this process with Cinco Design, the first thing they did was sit down and talk to a bunch of different people within our organization to understand what we thought of ourselves and how we are different. They synthesized all of this into a brand position piece. This is vitally important. I like to use Apple as the prototype of the successful brand. Apple isn't a computer company (proof is that they dropped "Computers" from their legal name), but much more. "Clean," "progressive," "cool" are some words that I conjure up thinking about that brand. So the fact that their logo is an apple is irrelevant to the brand. Their industrial design, their ad campaigns, the mystery surrounding new product launches all contribute to defining their brand, and making you want to do business with them.

Cinco then surveyed all of our competitors and looked at how they were positioned and what their brands meant. We believe we're different from everyone else, so we can't have a brand and an identity that looks like a competitor.

So the design of the logo and the design of the site are reflective of their research and our feedback.

Let's talk about the site. Some people said "I like the old site and logo better. It looked more professional." Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but our goal wasn't to just change the look and feel, it was to change the way a user interacts with the site. Specifically, we want to call attention to image buyers and have them do activity that would lead them to buy an image.

We tracked clicks on the homepage using what's known as a "heat map." Here's the old site:

People were searching, clicking on some of the "most recently searched," and clicking some large images. But there were also large swaths of area that weren't being clicked, which means it's a waste of space. We also felt that our most important commodity is our community of photographers, and we wanted to showcase the individuals more visibly on the homepage. Lastly, we also wanted photo buyers to interact with us even on days that they weren't buying, which is one reason we launched our new blog.

Here's the new heat map with one day of data:

Each week, we'll be discussing an ad campaign that has been deemed especially noteworthy by an industry professional. This feature will be called Tearsheet. We'll kick off our first installment with input from Amanda Sosa-Stone, a freelance photography consultant. Before moving to Florida and starting her consulting career, Sosa-Stone was an art buyer at Foote, Cone & Belding in New York. As a consultant, Sosa-Stone advises photographers on portfolio structuring, marketing and promotion, website design, film editing, and more. The lady knows her stuff!  And she's psyched about whiskey. Me, I've always thought it tastes like soap. It's a shortcoming. But I agree with Amanda that the new Canadian Club ads kick some serious ass.

Hey Amanda! Why do you like these CC ads that Robert Whitman shot?

Amanda:  "Robert executed the Art Director's vision to the "T" on this project. With Robert's style and the art director's vision this ad to me was very successful.  With creative copy, a great concept and good photography this is a home run."

 

OK, let's take a look.

First off, I'm pretty happy about the irreverent tone we have here. "Damn Right Your Dad Drank It" is a hilarious tagline. They're treating me like an adult. They're not taking themselves too seriously. Plus, my dad was smokin'! Look at him! This angle seems like it will work for men and women, although presumably a whiskey ad is geared more towards men. So, if I'm pretending to be a man for a second, I'm thinking "My dad was smokin'! I'm smokin' too! Plus, I feel thirsty."

Second, the imagery is outrageously authentic-seeming. Nothing beats a wood-paneled basement with a polka dot dress. These images look like they're really, truly from the '60s. How'd they do that? We'll investigate!

Here is the list of creatives who are responsible for this campaign:

Advertising Agency: Energy BBDO, Chicago, USA
Chief Creative Officer: Marty Orzio
Creative Directors: Derek Sherman, Jason Stanfield
Copywriter: Derek Sherman
Art Director: Jason Stanfield
Designers: Steve Denekas, Jason Hardy
Senior Art Buyer: Liz Miller- Gershfeld
Assistant Art Buyer: Jackie VanWinkle
Print Producer: Linda Dos Santos
Photographer: Robert Whitman
Account Services: Doug Ryan, Marzena Grecki

I spoke with the Senior Art Buyer, Liz Miller-Gershfeld, to understand the process. First, the concept is sold to the client, and BBDO wins their business. This happened in early summer 2007. Art director Jason Stanfield and copywriter Derek Sherman took the lead there.  Then, Liz got involved. I asked Liz if the art buyer position is always clear-cut, and she said no: "It depends on the art director. Art buyer is a shape-shifter role. I've done it for a long time. At its most basic level of collaboration, I'll do a photographer search, and the AD and I narrow down the field together. We bring in some books. I'm very involved in the conversations with the photographers."

In this case, the original idea was to use only actual old family photographs, and not to shoot anything. But this posed some problems. Liz: "Reality comes in and there are a lot of legal issues, especially with a liquor client. Everyone in the image has to be twenty-five. So we looked at people who shot period photography, but we really wanted spontaneity. So we also looked at people who shot reportage." They finally settled on Robert Whitman. Liz had worked with him in the past, and felt that there was "nothing canned about his work." She also knew he'd be willing to experiment until they had the right feel.

Next, Liz helped find a producer who could add cinematic experience to the production. They found a costume designer who understood film, having worked on Walk the Line, and 310 to Yuma. It was critical that the pictures look authentic, especially since they decided to intersperse real imagery with the images that Robert shot. The actual shoot took about a week, and was in Los Angeles.

I spoke with Robert Whitman to see what his thinking was."My approach was to shoot it with old cameras.  We shot mostly with an old Brownie Hawkeye, and found a lab in Colorado that still processes C22 film".

Robert said the experience was amazing, especially since he had the freedom to find the right tone for the imagery. In addition to the Brownie, he experimented with a Contax point and shoot, a Nikon F6, and a Holga. When the final images were made, they were scanned and edited in post to "look a bit more worn".

Liz and everyone at BBDO were thrilled with the results, as was the client. She knew they had nailed it when she got a call one day from someone saying his father was in one of the images, and that the woman he was with was not his wife. Liz's heart sank, thinking somehow a model release hadn't been procured for one of the images that was actually taken in '60s. She was enormously relieved (and proud) when she realized the man was mistaken; he was referring to one of the pictures Robert had made.

Job well done!

See more of the Canadian Club ads after the jump! That link down there. I like that man with the van.

This is everywhere today.

Hey folks- don't be lazy. Enter your photographs in contests! All editors and buyers look for new talent from the pools of contest winners; it means the work has been vetted for them already. Rob Haggart posts briefly on the subject today on A Photo Editor:

"I also wanted to address the question of photography contests which, I'll just say right now to make it perfectly clear, all photo editors and art buyers use contests to find photographers and in many ways they're better then the paid advertising in sourcebooks because you can't just buy an ad to get in, you have to be selected, so that means the junk is usually weeded out."

Take the weekend to submit your images to the CommArts Competition; they just extended their deadline:

FotoFest 2008 is now in full swing. It kicked off on March 7th, and as usual, has a tremendous calendar of exhibitions, events, panels, and workshops. One of the biggest impacts FotoFest has had on the industry has been through its portfolio review segment, called "Meeting Place". These folks wrote the book on the portfolio review; there are fourteen days of meetings scheduled with curators, dealers, reps, collectors, and editors. Participants can register for either a four-day or six-day session, and are guaranteed at least four meetings a day.

My sense has always been that the photographers who are going to get the most out of a time and cost-intensive review like FotoFest are those with already strong and cohesive projects that they're shopping for publication or exhibition (which, as we all know, can keep us in procrastination purgatory forever). But after speaking with Lisa M. Robinson, a FotoFest success story, I feel a little differently.

Robinson, whose beautiful book Snowbound has just been published by Kehrer Verlag, has been a presence at FotoFest since 2004, when she first started showing images from the series and looking for feedback. In 2004, "the work was at a very early stage, and I found the reviews very encouraging. It was really an opportunity to plant seeds on a project that I can now follow through on." Lisa has been very proactive about creating a presence for herself at portfolio events, including PhotoLucida and Rhubarb-Rhubarb. And it has been a process; when the book came out this year, many thought she was on the scene out of the blue, but in fact, she has been "building these relationships for years".

The work itself is stunning, having been produced over five consecutive winters.

Valhalla, 2007

 Solo, 2007

I called Lisa to ask about the festival, and found her super-busy with Snowbound-related activities. She'll be sitting on a panel on Sunday the 16^th called "Publishing Photo Books Today", and she has a book signing on Monday. She's also still showing the imagery to people who have not seen it, specifically international curators. And now she's working on acquisitions.

On that panel will also be Mary Virginia Swanson, a renowned consultant and industry mainstay. She'll also be reviewing portfolios with other reviewers who include Sue Brisk from Magnum, Lesley A. Martin from Aperture, German GEO's Nadja Masri, Paula Gillen from the New Yorker, Brian Clamp of CLAMPART, and MANY more. It's an embarrassment of photo riches.  If you DO go to Houston, don't go unprepared, even if your project is still in its infant stages. Mary Virginia Swanson gives her tips for how to present a portfolio here.

Get thee to Chelsea! Or, um, Long Island City. And Houston! Not a super packed photo calendar this week, but here are a few picks. I'm especially excited about the Rob Conger show at Mixed Greens; he creates photographic needlepoints of cultural figures at important moments. And honestly, the man has a knack for a title. ie: "Tony Hales, CEO of Dunkin Donuts at the Time of the Introduction of The Coollatta, 2008".

I don't think it gets better than that.

Photo above by Iain Masterton/PhotoShelter.

We have an amazing line up of March contributors. Along with a strong revulsion for Davey Havok imagery, I picked up some truly mediocre production skills at Rolling Stone, and I'm putting them to good use here. These folks below represent all corners of the photo world; among them are reps, consultants, bloggers, teachers, editorial directors, war photographers, youtube superstars, lycra-loving art directors, taco enthusiasts, and more!

We'll be rolling out features with all of them in the coming month, so stay-tuned.

Amy Stein: Photographer and Blogger
Bridget O'Neill: Photo Rep and Consultant, TTS Reps
Antonin Kratochvil: Photographer; founding member,VII Agency
Jessica Dimmock: Photographer; member, VII Agency Network
Timothy Archibald: Photographer and Blogger
Xanthe Hohalek: Art Director, TBWA/CHIAT/Day Los Angeles
Emiliano Granado: Photographer
Michael Foley: Director, Foley Gallery
Amanda Sosa-Stone: Consultant and Florida Resource Guide Director
Noah Kalina: Photographer
Ask Wappling: Art Director, Adland
George Pitts: Associate Chair in Photography at Parsons The New School of                         Design; Consulting Director of Photography, Latina Magazine