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From Art Buyer to Photographer: Chris Sembrot

Tuesday August 23rd, 2011

Philadelphia-based photographer Chris Sembrot has had a first hand look at both the client and contractor side of our industry. After five years as an art buyer for the Philly agency Red Tettemer, Chris decided to harness his experiences and passion for image making to launch a career as a top-shelf portrait photographer. In part two of our series on clients turned photographers, I caught up with Chris to discuss his career transition and unique insight.

-Craig Oppenheimer

What sparked your interest in photography and when did you pick up your first camera?

I guess the first camera I remember shooting with was my Kodak Tele-Ektra but always remember knowing my mom had a Canon A1 that I was never allowed to touch until my early teens. She kept it “hidden” in the downstairs closet, top shelf to the right.

Where did you go to school? Did you know you wanted to be involved in the photo industry at the time?

I went to Penn State and studied Kinesiology before I got into the photography program. I knew when I first got published in the Philadelphia Daily News Sports section that I was going to be a photojournalist. That was until I graduated and got invited to an ad agency party and saw that the ad world was a perfect fit for my craft and me. Art buying called.

As an art buyer, how often were you searching for stock photography, and about how many projects a year were you commissioning?

I guess when I first started, rights managed imagery accounted for at least 1/2 of all our stock buying purchases. By the time I was about to leave RT, IStock accounted for at least 50-75% of all our stock purchases. Commissioned illustration projects were roughly 5-10 a year. We were shooting at least 15-20 projects a year. About 3-5 of those were larger projects and were awarded via a triple bid process.

How did you keep track of photographers whose work you enjoyed?

I always loved receiving the At Edge books – obviously Comm Arts and Archive mags were always around. But like most, I enjoyed decorating my office with sweet promos.

What did you like the most about your job? What did you like the least?

I always loved the rush of pre-pro during the week of a shoot. Since I acted as agency producer whenever a project was to be shot, I had the responsibility of handling everything from finding the right photographer to making sure the final product was delivered on time and on budget. The worst part of my job was the paperwork. I’ll always hate that part.

Did you shoot any projects for Red Tettemer? How did the bidding and estimating process work when you were involved as a photographer?

From the moment I started working at RT, the agreement was I would be art buyer/producer first, photographer second. My first “shoot” was to photograph a martini glass and superimpose a shark inside it for an invite the agency was creating celebrating the opening of shark tank for a local aquarium. That was about 3 months after my first day. My first major project was for Pennsylvania Tourism’s fall ’08 campaign. My images landed on everything from major magazine print ads, billboards, railcars and transit ads in NYC. It was exhilarating to see it live in real life and not just in my online portfolio. I never directly bid against other photogs for projects. Whenever I got an assignment, it was because the art director wanted to work with me specifically. I did however price out my job according to the guidelines I would follow with bidding out to any other photog for a project. With that, my bid was submitted and approved by account executives and client.

What has your experience taught you about pricing, licensing, and negotiating?

I think being thrown directly into the fire at a young age—negotiating with big named photogs and their agents has been the single greatest learning experience. It’s certainly not something you can learn in school or by assisting other photogs. This is the single biggest reason I wanted to work in the ad world right out of school. The business of buying stock photography/illustration helped me learn what questions to ask when it came time for me to bid projects—I actually sounded like I knew what I was talking about.

What’s been the most difficult part about establishing yourself as a freelance photographer?

The most difficult part in the beginning was learning that it’s a constant to keep your work in front of creatives. There are so many good photographers out there that if you don’t keep up with shooting and sharing your work with the world, there are thousands more out there that will.