Industry Events
December 7th, 2011
by Jess Dudley
With 2011 drawing to a close, and photographers preparing for the 2012 marketing season, Louisa Curtis of Chatterbox Enterprises assembled a phenomenal panel of photo industry pros to discuss what it takes to “stay keen” in the upcoming year. While collecting panelists, Louisa called up Wonderful Machine and asked that we send an expert, so I ended up joining six other heavy hitting panelists. The panel included:
Steve Whittier, Creative Director – Y&R
Andrea Verdone, Photo Editor – Women’s Health
Julie Grahame, Editor-in Chief – aCurator
Stephen Mallon, Photographer
Chris Buck, Photographer
Robert Luessen, Studio Manager – Chris Crisman Photography
Each panelist spent 10-15 minutes reviewing successful promotional pieces, websites and tactics. I presented three examples of avenues taken to generate interest and/or clients:
Throughout the night, the panel stressed the importance of a well edited web site, finding your niche, shooting personal work, using SEO to your advantage, adding video to your arsenal and collaborating with other creatives.
At the end of the presentations, each of us had the opportunity to leave the audience with some parting words. A few common themes included:
Collaboration is key: Consider collaborating with other creatives. It can help build buzz, split costs and expose you to experiences and inspiration you may have missed otherwise.
Be passionate about your work: Keep the creative flame burning. Shoot personal projects that you care about, improve your techniques, read industry blogs, books, newsletters, etc to help your photographic style grow.
Edit your work: (or ask someone to do it for you). It’s important to present a cohesive, well edited, navigable body of work. Creatives like Steve and Andrea can’t spend a lot of time on a site looking for an image or style that fits their story or campaign. The same holds true for iPad portfolios, creatives won’t appreciate having to look through a never ending slideshow.
Don’t procrastinate: Make time for marketing and get it done.
Photo by Hector Rene
November 14th, 2011
By Bill Cramer
The photo nerd in me is always excited to go to Photo Plus Expo at the Javits Center in New York each fall. It’s great seeing the latest gadgets, hearing Photoshop experts talk about cutting edge retouching techniques and once again ask the Canon rep when the new 28-70/2.8 is going to come out. But this year was special because I got invited to participate in the Palm Springs Photo Festival portfolio reviews, which took place on October 27-29. Though the cold slushy weather made me wish we were actually in Palm Springs, the event was a great opportunity for me to rub elbows with all sorts of industry folks.
The PSPF lined up 18 photographers in 20 minute intervals for me to meet. Most were just getting started in the business. Two recent graduates who really stood out were Mark Louis Weinberg who lives in Brooklyn and Felicia Tan from Houston. I met with some veteran photographers too, like the very talented David Lewis Taylor.
All of the photographers were interested in expanding their understanding of the industry and figuring out how they can best fit into it. For me, that meant doing my best to teach them about branding and marketing. I talked as fast as I could to cram as much advice into each session. I pointed out the strengths in their pictures and the weaknesses in their presentations so they could tighten up their message. Then we talked about who their likely audience was and how to best reach them.
During breaks, I got to hang out with some of the other reviewers. I was really impressed with the caliber of talent that Jeff Dunas of PSPF was able to attract. Shannon McMillan of GSD&M made the trip all the way from Austin. Michelle Egiziano was there from Spin. Ali Cohen from Kaplan Thaler Group. Allegra Wilde, who I knew from Workbook, told me about a very cool online portfolio consulting service she’s starting called Eyeist. I got to hear about Bernstein & Andriulli‘s foray into the China market by partner Gregg Lhotsky. Photo District News editor Holly Stuart Hughes was also there. And, most exciting of all, I got to meet Elisabeth Biondi, formerly visuals editor of The New Yorker (and before that, photo director of Vanity Fair), and Robert Pledge of Contact Press Images.
Louis Mendes, one of thousands of photographers attending the expo, looks for his next subject in front of the Javits Center. (He was recently featured in The New York Times.)
The throngs on the convention floor.
That’s me in the middle looking at Cynthia Lynn‘s iPad portfolio.
November 14th, 2011
By Sean Stone
Recently, I headed back up to New York to participate in another thrilling installment of NYCFotoworks at the Canoe Studios in Chelsea. As is usual with Fotoworks, the number of very talented photographers was as impressive as the list of reviewers. It’s safe to say that this review has an excellent reputation. Last spring, I met with one photographer who came from overseas just for Fotoworks; this time, I met with four.
With so many great photographers around, there were of course plenty are Wonderful Machiners to connect with. I had the pleasure of chatting with Jody Horton, Sara Rubinstein, and David Clifford, as well as Fotoworks veterans Robb Scharetg and Kevin Steele.
After a morning of reviews—including some really standout work from Susanna Blåvarg, who recently moved to New York from Sweden, and Marcel Molle, who came all the way from the Netherlands—I headed on to a top secret lunch meeting with Boston-based Michael Piazza. While I can’t yet divulge what when on at lunch, I can tell you that the consulting project we’re working on will knock your socks off just as hard as the pizza Michael and I enjoyed at Co.
After lunch, I headed down to the Half King Pub for a short but sweet happy hour with Kevin Steele, David Clifford, and David’s old pal from his days as a photo editor Stephen Scott Gross.
Kevin, Stephen, David, left to right.
After some enjoyable conversations, and equally enjoyable beer, I had to hustle to catch my bus back to Philly. I ran so fast and so recklessly that my complimentary bottle of portfolio-reviewer-wine jostled right out of my bag and onto the unforgiving New York sidewalk within three steps of the door. It was a sad end to an otherwise great trip.
See you next time, Fotoworks!
