Lifestyle: Diversity

photo by Jon Ragel

1. OVERVIEW
‘Diversity’ is not so much a category unto itself as it is a basic tenet of all stock photography that should be taken into consideration every time you approach a shoot. If you were to read just two articles out of this entire blog, it would be this one, and ‘Production Values.’

Shooting across ethnicities is one of the best business decisions you will make as a photographer and is also a critical re-orientation that needs to occur in our industry. The need for diverse models is not driven by a feel-good desire to be politically correct – it is driven by the fact that images need to reflect real life. As Senior Art Buyer Leah Hamilton says, ‘Show me the truth or I will have to shoot it myself to get it right.’

Looking at the US alone, 1/3 of our population is non-white; that’s 100 million people. Hispanic and Latino Americans count for half of our annual population growth, and 45% of American children under the age of 5 are non-white. Looking across the world, 92% of the entire human population is non-white. That’s 6 billion consumers – do you think the magazines, advertising agencies, publishers, and corporations we sell our images to are ignoring this population in their sales and marketing plans? Then why are stock photographers?

As individual photographers and as a company, the strongest message we could send to the buyer community would be to suddenly provide them with a fresh batch of lifestyle photography that runs the gamut of ethnicities. Let’s get with the program photographers. Let’s get out there and shoot REAL LIFE.

Heart and Soul, July 2008; photo by Inti St. Clair


2. DEFINITIONS
What exactly do buyers mean when they say they want to see diversity? Does this mean ‘the Benetton ad’ where a group of people includes someone from every corner of the earth? Which ethnicities should I represent?

While there are a lot of questions around how to achieve ‘diversity,’ there are no definitive answers- except probably for ‘all of above.’ But here are some general guidelines to go by as you cast your shoots:

• If you are shooting anything having to do with business, health care, education, or kids, make sure shots including more than one person represent more than one race. In this case, yes, think of that Benetton ad. Also shoot the models individually so you have individual scenarios covered as well.

•  For any other areas, either find gaps in the marketplace and represent them (i.e., there are very few pictures of Indian, Hispanic or Middle Eastern babies) – or just make it a business habit to shoot an assortment of models.

•  If you are from a non-white ethnicity and have access to neighborhoods or scenes that really reflect that culture, then take advantage of that and explore the cultures around you.

photo by Nancy Ney

3. INTRODUCTIONS
Quite literally all but one buyer we talked to emphasized the importance of diversity – and they spoke effusively! We are grateful to all of them, but especially want to thank the following experts for providing us with such dedicated time and energy on the subject:

• Leah Hamilton – Senior Art Buyer at NYC advertising agency
• Karalyn Leavens – AgencyRX (Art Supervisor)
• Lisa Mullenholz – McGraw Hill (Image Editor)
• Doug Schneider – Benchmark Education Company (Director of Photography)
• Lexi Walters – BabyZone.com (Senior Editor)
• Karen Weiss – MTV (Project Manager, Off-Air Creative)
• Susan Wetherby – Discovery Communications (Lead Art Buyer)
• Michael Wichita – AARP Bulletin (Photo Editor)
• Anonymous – Advertising
• Anonymous – Advertising

PHOTOGRAPHERS

• Lauri Lyons
• Nancy Ney
• Inti St. Clair

4. BUYER TIPS

We have tried to consolidate the buyers’ main points into these tips, but they spoke so emphatically and urgently about this issue that we really encourage you to also read the interview excerpts included below to understand first-hand how critical this issue is.

photo by Lauri Lyons; Latina, June/July 2008

• Cover the gamut! Not sure what a non-white model is? The buyers we talked to consistently referenced the races they always portray: Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, and Indian. Several also mentioned that there is a quickly growing need for Middle Eastern images, and a steady need for American Indian images.

• Shoot the same scenarios across ethnicities. You don’t need to do anything special to capture diversity. Buyers often need to produce the same ad in several different versions; not being able to find the same scenario across the races can be the reason they commission photography instead of buying stock. Just rotate different models through the same scenarios.

• Shoot the gaps. But there are some areas where diversity is especially lacking. Buyers repeatedly advised to know the market – do searches on the major stock sites for various scenarios and see which ethnicities are missing. Go shoot these ethnicities – this represents a major business opportunity for you.

• Stay away from stereotypes! This can range from clichéd and heavy-handed cultural cues (bodegas on the corners in urban images), to stereotyped cultural statements (non-white janitor). Think about your own pre-conceptions and be aware of implications your images might make.

• Know your subject. This applies to everybody who wants to shoot a race or a culture different from their own. You need to research that culture and/or get a guide or consultant who can help you learn the nuances. Buyers also noted that the clothing will be styled incorrectly if the stylist doesn’t know the culture in question, and doesn’t do his or her research. If you just approach the culture cold, you will probably misinterpret it and the market will recognize it.

• Keep it natural. Visit a park or a concert and see who is hanging out with each other, and recreate that in casting. Make sure the mix of people looks natural and diverse without seeming forced.

Ebony, July 2008

• Kids learning must be diverse. Ok here, think along the lines of the Benetton ad, you do need a balanced mix of ethnicities – and don’t forget to get individual portraits and scenario shots of all your models. Also include disabled or special needs children if possible.

• There’s a need for 20- and 30-something mixed race imagery. This is another gap consistently cited by our experts – youth culture across the races and within groups of kids – doing everything that kids do.

• Know your sub-cultures. If you are shooting the Latino culture, understand the difference between Puerto Rican, Columbian and Dominican. This gets back to knowing your subject – if you are going to shoot another culture, do the research necessary to shoot it accurately and respectfully. Read the magazines, walk thru the neighborhoods.

• Consider Gay/Lesbian and Special Needs. Beyond ethnic diversity, there is a gap in the market for alternate lifestyles and disabled people. If you have access to people within your family or network who would like to work with you, try including them in your work.

photo by Nancy Ney

• There’s a need for non-white babies. As Lexi Walters says, ‘There seems to be a lack of multi-ethnic babies and kids, from newborns through the toddler stage. There definitely should be a bigger pool of better, more diverse models to choose from.”

• There’s a need for multi-ethnic affluent seniors. This is another huge gap. Think of all the financial and insurance companies out there trying to advertise to seniors across markets. Thu Nguyen at American Express told us that diversity applies to everything they do, and one of the hardest things to find is multi-ethnic affluent seniors.

photo by Inti St. Clair

5. PHOTOGRAPHER TIPS
If you don’t believe us yet – hear it first-hand from photographers who have incorporated diversity into their businesses.

• Diversity images are best sellers. Nancy Ney’s everyday scenes of African American models have been best sellers on Getty Images for almost 10 years. Inti St. Clair spends far less money on Caucasian stock shoots because she knows she won’t get as much of a return on it from sales. For example, she would spend thousands on a Latino Baby Boomers shoot, because she knows there is a lack of that type of imagery in the marketplace. She focused early on the Hispanic market because of its emerging importance to US marketing.

photo by Inti St. Clair

• Diversity images have higher acceptance rates. Tired of submitting entire shoots to stock houses and getting only 2 images accepted, if any? Shoot with non-white models and see your acceptance rates sky rocket (given solid production values of course).

• Research holes in the market. Per above. Shoot the gaps.

• Understand the culture. Per above, if you’re not from the culture, research it or get a guide into it.

Cookie, June 2008; Heart & Soul July 2008

• Cast believable models. As Lauri Lyons says, “For stock, casting has to be believable – you can’t just fill it in with people of different colors. And not only must you believe all these people would actually hang out together, but do they look good together? It still has to work as a strong commercial image.”

• Plan to shoot across ethnicities for shoots. As much as possible, stretch your production investment by arranging to shoot your scenarios across at least 2 different ethnicities. If you are shooting families, yes this means casting 2 entirely different families. Some of Nancy’s best sellers have been shot of pregnant women and babies across several ethnicities – she shot 4 different models for each and has been selling them for years.

• Keep your eyes peeled for great models. Always carry business cards and be ready with your pitch.

photo by Jon Ragel

6. KEYWORDING TIPS

Lexi is right! Always identify:

• • Race
  • Gender
  • Age (specific or general range: use ‘3 months’ for a baby, but ’50s’ for a senior)
  • Any disabilities or special circumstances (i.e., Autistic, learning disabled etc.)
  • If pursuing an alternative lifestyle (Gay, lesbian, etc.)
  • And when you are tagging for different races, cover your bases on racial terms. Don’t just say ‘African American,’ also use ‘Black.’

photo by Inti St. Clair

7. SHOTLIST [download]
The shotlist for diversity is as infinite as the shot list for the entire realm of stock photography. Our main instruction here is to read the shotlists for all of the other articles on School of Stock and shoot them across ethnicities. But buyers from our interviews and our survey did identify some specific gaps, so we will include these here.

General – applies to all races – we need:

• Every other shotlist included in any other section of the School of Stock, but done with models across the major ethnicities
• Diverse kids learning – kids in classrooms, doing homework, any learning scenarios portrayed with diverse groups, and as individual shots across the races. Classroom settings where the teacher is non-white.
• Parent-child scenarios in non-white families (kids being scolded, or riding bikes with parents)
• Portraits across the races
• Multi-ethnic affluent seniors (see Active Seniors shotlist)
• Pictures of different ethnicities outside of America – in Asia, the Middle East, modern Africa (not National Geographic! People in classrooms, teaching, business, families – images portraying day-to-day life.)
• Feet of all colors
• Diversity in the workplace
• Any diverse healthcare images (doctors in a hospital or clinic, doctors with patients) where the doctors and patients are a mix of ethnicities.
• Social diversity – a racially-mixed group of people at a restaurant or party – people of different races hanging out together and having fun
• Women/beauty shots across the races
• Business images showing diverse people over the age of 40
• Fitness images across the races
• Diverse crowds that don’t look staged
• Construction – portraits and group shots of multi-ethnic workers
• Ethnically and age diverse lifestyle shots of normal, lower/middle class people – non-whites are often over-portrayed as geniuses, millionaires or leaders!
• Diverse group of kids in school bus
• Diverse teens hanging out
• Ethnically diverse holidays
• Modern multi-ethnic families
• Babies and toddlers
• • Non-white and non-black babies
  • Non-white babies potty training
  • Kids whare sick – colds and flu’s
  • See extended shotlist under ‘Kids’ article

Middle Eastern and Indian:

• Lifestyle across every possible scenario- from pregnancy and babies, to kids learning, youth culture, families, business and adult situations, and retirement.

African American – existing stock is very dated and recycled:

• • Families
  • Portraits of men and women
  • Women with short hair
  • Beauty pictures of black women (skin, beautiful nudes, feet, body shots)
  • 20-something’s hanging out or studying, using technology (non-steretyped, not looking like MTV – real college kids)
  • 30-something’s hanging out or general lifestyle pictures in this age range
  • Chefs (cool, contemporary chefs, not a hotel dude in a hat!)
  • Mothers/daughters
  • African American seniors
  • African Americans near water or interacting with nature
  • Contemporary lifestyle images of black women
  • Black couples
  • African Americans using technology
  • Black women getting hair done by black stylists
• Asian:

• • Asian seniors
  • Asian bank employees
  • Asian men + women over age 50

Hispanic:

• • Hispanic home owners
  • Children
  • Families
  • Seniors – over 50
  • Couples (show wardrobe isn’t dated!)

Native American:

• • Children
  • Native Americans doing everyday activities (non-ceremonial)

photo by Emily Nathan; Easy Living June 2008

8. PARTICIPATE
Are you a buyer or photographer with extensive experience relevant to this category? We’d love to hear from you! Please email us with any additions to the Shotlist, Tips, or any other sections of this article.