Shoot! Interview: Dan Saelinger Self-Promotes

I received an introductory email from Dan Saelinger the other day (that’s him, above). Turns out he shot the cover of July’s Self-Promotion themed PDN, and was using some newly-inspired guerilla tactics to get himself out there; he sent me some promos and said some humorous things. And you know what– it worked! Saelinger turns out to be an incredibly affable guy, and was kind enough to share some knowledge about his journey through the wilds of this industry we call photo.

Without further ado…. Q&A! GO!

How did you land the PDN cover, and how did the shoot come together?
How did the experience change your approach to self-promotion?

Jeanine Fijol called me for that assignment out of the blue one day. I
had never published in PDN before; she found me through one of my
promos– since the shoot was about self-promotion, I guess you could say
things came full circle! Jeanine came to me with a pretty specific idea
and we were fortunate to have Keren Sachs at Martha Stewart lend us her
promos. I was excited to see one of mine among them. It’s nice to know
your promos don’t always end up in the wastebasket! Anyhow, it was
really inspiring seeing all these great promos, and it really hit home
how special your work needs to be to compete in this industry.

What are
you hoping to accomplish with the new promos you made– what’s your
target audience?

I have a several-pronged approach to my own promotion. The promos I
sent to you are my email promos. Actually clients can even make an
instant version of them on my site. When you browse images, there is an
option to save an image, and it automatically downloads in a nice
little promo-card format. I also send out traditional mailers, normally
two to three times a year. In the spring I sent out a mini 5×5 book
with 25 images in it. In the next month or so I’ll be sending out an
accordion-style promo with about 10 images. I prefer sending out a
sampling of work as opposed to a single image or spread. Since I shoot
a variety of subjects, it allows me to bring it all together in a nice
package. I try to keep the mailing reasonably tight, targeting ad
agencies and magazines.

My favorite one you sent me is the bunny money/ antler hair…
what’s the story of those images– are they personal work?

The images you mentioned were both shot for clients. The bunnies were
shot for Maxim for a story on how to multiply your money. The antlers
shaved into the man’s head were for Field & Stream for a story on
boot camp for hunting. Both were tons of fun to shoot and I think good examples of what can happen when you get the opportunity to really play with the concept of a story.

It looks like, although you do have some advertising clients, that most of your professional work is in the editorial field.

I’ve been shooting professionally about 3 years, so as I think is the case for most photographers, I’m still cutting my teeth on the editorial, finding my vision and honing my skills. I see myself ideally shooting a combo of the two. Obviously with editorial there is a bit of freedom in the assignments that can make a job more enticing, making up sometimes for the lower rates. Though I’ve gotten to the point where if the price isn’t right or the job just doesn’t seem rewarding enough, I’ll pass.

Popular Mechanics/ Inc, 2006/2007

I just remember being younger looking at all these amazing photographs in magazines and thinking, I want my name in here.  I guess it’s a little bit the idea of getting recognition, and the thrill of knowing you have an image that hundreds of thousands people are going to engage with.

Nike, 2007

You seem to have good relationships with many magazines, whom you shoot for repeatedly (I’m seeing Maxim, Men’s Journal, Prevention and some others appear again and again in your portfolio)… how do you keep these relationships fresh?

Repeat clients have really been key in my success and sustaining and growing my business, and I feel very fortunate to have such a great clientele. I like to think that I am pleasant to work with on set and give my clients something they are extremely happy with. Keeping it fresh is definitely important, and I do try to approach each new assignment independently from past assignments. I’ve gotten annual feature packages multiple years in a row and I’ll look what we did before and look to push it in another direction, explore something maybe we didn’t the year before. I also try to make sure my lighting and style are constantly evolving in new directions.

Maxim, 2006

Money Magazine, 2008

Are there specific photo editors you love working with?

Of course I love all the photo editors I work with!

(ed note : touché)

I get so many great assignments from so many amazing photo editors. I definitely want to give a shout out to Amy Berkley at Field & Stream. She gave me my first major editorial assignment and we still work together pretty much every month. Amy strives to keep the art fresh, giving me latitude to be creative, and it’s allowed us to collaborate on some pretty great images. I’ve found the longer you work together and the more comfortable the relationship, the more creative the collaboration becomes.

Field & Stream, 2007

It’s pretty hard for me to distinguish your personal work from your commercial work, which a good sign that a photographer has found his or her niche in the industry. What do you like to shoot best? Still lives, landscapes? It seems like you do a bit more portraiture in your personal work, but it’s pretty close, otherwise. Do you agree?

personal work, 2008

Yeah they do intertwine quite a bit. I think like most photographers, I like to shoot everything. Commercially speaking, still life has definitely been my bread and butter.

personal work, 2008

I started the portraiture as way to get comfortable with people in front of my lens again; actually, when I was in school, I shot only people and fashion, but when you get out you get pigeon-holed very quickly. I wanted to go back to something I was very excited about when I started out.

The landscape work started off as a way for me to get out of the studio
and work solo on my “art.” Now I’m showing it in my book; in fact one
of my landscapes recently got picked up for a big ad campaign.

Savannah, Georgia, 2004

Have you had a rep for most of your career– does that keep you from promoting yourself?

I was very fortunate and very lucky to get a fantastic rep at the beginning of my career. Clare O’Dea (my agent) has been a huge proponent for consistently promoting my work. We have pretty regular conversations and maintain an ongoing advertising plan. I think there is a general belief among photographers that if you have a rep you can sit back and wait for the work to roll in. Where in reality, it’s really a matter of combining your efforts so that both rep and photographer are promoting the work.

I LOVE this fish image: tell me how you made it!

I was shooting something totally different that day – can’t even remember what – but it involved water in plastic cups, I think. Anyhow, it just struck me it would be cool to put a goldfish in there. So I ran to a pet store and made it happen. It’s just a simple plexi background, no digital tricks, just straightforward, somewhat-still life.

Did your Dad’s love of hunting affect your work? I’m seeing a lot of animals, nature, and fishing references in your pictures…

Field & Stream, 2008

Haha, I guess I do have a lot of that in my work. Truthfully I think it’s from shooting so much for Field & Stream, which is appropriate since my dad has been subscribing to it since I can remember.