APA/NY held a daylong workshop last week called “Fools Rush In” (it was on April 1st), which included portfolio reviews and a panel discussion on “The Bright Future” of photography.
Panel (from L) at Bathhouse Studios : Savannah Spirit, Karen D'Silva, Charlie Fish and Sean Stone. Photo by Bron Imaging.
In the morning, our photo editor/portfolio consultant Sean Stone reviewed portfolios alongside creatives from Martha Stewart Living, McCann Erickson, and Marge Casey, among many other industry consultants and players.
The portfolio reviews were setup like “speed-dating,” with each reviewer spending 15 minutes giving their input on a photographer’s book. This went on for three hours. Sean said it was exciting and exhausting at the same time, because he was held strictly to the 15 minute timeframe, and sometimes he had more that he wanted to say! He also told me that he talked so fast that he could barely catch his breath. However, it was a good way to strip his opinions down to the essential.
In a few instances, Sean felt that photographers were protective of their work and weren’t open to critique (and he’s always cordial in his approach). He recommends that any photographer attending a portfolio review should try to stay open to input. Of course, they should take each reviewer’s opinion with a grain of salt, too, and ultimately balance the feedback with what creative direction they’d like to go in. However, if 20 professionals tell you to remove an image, or drop a series because it’s not as strong or unique, you may want to weight that more heavily. Overall, he tried to convey that it’s always better to show consistency in one or two styles than try to be all things to all art buyers.
After the reviews, Sean spoke on the panel discussion on “The Bright Future” of photography, led by consultant Karen D’Silva. The talk was really about what photographers can do to help themselves in a bad economy (which generally applies to a good economy, too!), and the industry trends that may enhance their opportunities. To paraphrase D’Silva: 2008/2009 were tough years for many photographers, and now it’s time for them to get in control of their own bright future.
A few things that stood out to Sean from the panel discussion:
Creativity
If not enough paying jobs are coming in right now, it’s an opportunity to spend more time shooting portfolio work. Shoot the kind of work you’d like more of, and perfect your technique.
Karen D’Silva also suggested that leaner budgets sometimes push photographers to innovate. Ie. if someone was accustomed to shooting a certain way in the “flush” days of greater budgets, limited resources might inspire a photographer to change their approach and try new ideas.
Stock Photography
In 2005, Getty Images licensed 1.4 million stock images. Last year, that number jumped to 22 million. Photographers can decide if they’d like to be in that game, but the #’s are hard to deny.
New Media / iPad
2010 is the first year that more advertising money is being spent online than in traditional media.
The iPad is on everyone’s mind right now, and magazines and advertisers want to take advantage of this interest.
For magazines, it’s an opportunity to deliver content more cheaply. According to D’Silva, 90% of magazine expenses come from printing, shipping and paper costs — so there’s potential for budgets to be freed up, and the money could be used for more creative content (photography included). Especially as publications like The Wall St. Journal and The New York Times are already figuring out ways to charge readers for their iPad content.
Of course, a larger screen like the iPad’s lends itself to having a digital portfolio that photographers could carry to meetings, or at least to bring to networking events (without the weight/heft of an 11×14 portfolio) — although Sean doesn’t necessarily recommend that as a replacement for a print portfolio. Some of the audience members at the panel discussion worried that everyone’s books would start looking the same, but Sean Stone thought the potential for dynamic presentations was much greater with a digital book. Especially when you consider how relatively few options there are currently for printed portfolios, in comparison with digital presentations.
Additionally, video has become much more valuable to online media, and the panelists recommended that photographers keep an eye on technologies to meet this relatively new need for motion content.
Sean’s suggestions to the audience revolved mainly around the “basics”: photographers should keep their portfolios and websites well-edited, consistent, and targeted. Same with their websites and branding in general. He maintains that good images always trump the flashy container that holds them. And a solid presentation of your work should happen no matter what the economic climate.
I asked Rachel a little more about her background:
NEIL BINKLEY:Reading your bio info has made me realize what a love affair you’ve had with photography, considering how many different areas you’ve been involved!
My impression is that you enjoy capturing the quiet and whimsical moments (skinny-dipping and water seem to be themes). And often from the perspective of a fly on the wall, as if the subject matter wasn’t quite aware of your lens. These seem like real moments in the otherwise unobserved life. Are these people from your personal life? And most importantly: where can I get a cool globe like that?
RACHEL HULIN:You’re right that I like to photograph moments from my own life; I generally have a camera with me whenever I’m at a family function or away for a weekend with friends, and sort of lie in wait for a moment to capture. There are beautiful and unexpected things happening all the time and I like to try to record some of them. It’s funny how these have sort of created a diary for me now; there’s my roommate in my very first apartment in New York, there’s my mom in the hot tub when she was just getting hair back after chemo.
And YES, I love water! So there’s always lots of that.
The Globe is a favorite of mine; it sits in my old bedroom at my parents house, and I can see it when I come up the driveway. I have no idea where it came from. It was recently featured in Jen Bekman’s 20×200.
NB: What kind of clients are you most interested in working for? What have been your most memorable clients, so far?
RH: I’m interested in doing editorial work and commercial work that approximates my own style, essentially snippets of every day life. Environmental portraits, lifestyle and travel imagery…. pictures of people enjoying themselves, having meaningful moments. I recently shot a portrait of an indie actress for Exit Zero Magazine, and they ended up choosing an outtake that I loved for the index image [editor's note: still waiting to be published, so we can't show it yet]. Things like that are often gratifying– when you shoot very much in your own style and the client likes the result. I really don’t believe in a major style divide between my personal and commercial work: I shoot how I shoot.
NB: What was your experience as a photo editor for Rolling Stone online, Nerve.com, Radar, and in production at Conde Nast? Did you learn anything about the business that has helped you on the other side of the contact sheet, now that you’re a photographer in your own right? Did any of those connections help, work-wise, now that you’re shooting?
RH: Oh, I think it’s made a big, big difference. It’s funny, I started out editing after working for several years at the International Center of Photography, so I had so many great, talented, fresh-off-the-photo-boat students I could hire who were eager to build their books out. Now those folks have been working for a long time, and they’re all very supportive and give me great advice. There’s a big circle of us who will assist each other and throw each other jobs. I think like any business, if you treat people well, you’ll be treated well in return.
I’m also still active on many photo editor and art buying message boards, so I know what that perspective is. And the number one thing buyers ask each other when they’re booking someone for a job is “is this photographer a nice person? are they easy to work with?”… That’s almost always the very first consideration. And I am nice! I don’t think there’s any need to put bad energy out into the world; there’s a lot of competition in this business, and it’s important not to get sucked into any negativity.
Also, I have a lot of experience as an online photo editor, and many people are still trying to figure out that landscape. The rules are a little different there, and things are faster and looser. I’m comfortable working within that structure as a photographer…
NB:How much time do you spend blogging each week, on average? Has blogging helped promote your photography? Any specific jobs that came about from that exposure?
RH: Between my two sites- A Photography Blog, and The Photography Post, I’m pretty much blogging or tweeting, or doing something every day. I think that exposure has opened a lot of doors in terms of getting meetings and being active in the community, though thus far I haven’t done a ton of self-promotion on the blogs- TPP is certainly not meant for that purpose at all.
They’ve really been to stay connected and to see what other people are up to and to have a place to chat. I do post new images once in a while on APB and the feedback is really fantastic. It’s like a little critique or salon space, which is very important to my work. It’s easy to just be a little hobbit in your living room, without any wider perspective on what you’re doing. Once in a while I think an image is FABULOUS and I post it and realize… yeah, not so much. And it also works the other way around.
[note: Rachel talks more about her blogging on Glasshouse's informative Stone Thrower blog]
NB: What did curating the New York Photo Festival entail? That seems like a lot of work! Has it led to any fine art or book projects, or opened up any doors?
RH: That was a HUGE opportunity and a HUGE amount of work! Here is the link to the show: www.mzhphoto.com/luci. I’m really glad I got a crack at curating; it was incredible to conceive of all these images together in concept, but to have them hung on the wall together and have the artists come and meet each other was pretty thrilling. It pretty much ate up three months of our lives. The women I worked on it with, Meagan Ziegler-Hanes, Willy Somma and Marla Caplan are all very active in the industry, and maybe we’ll do another show soon. We are still getting feedback; the press was fantastic.
All that said, I don’t think I’m a natural born curator, there was soooo much production involved, so I think I’m happier with online curation.
RH: Yes! Very much so. I love writing as much as I love photography. I’m secretly working on a novel about a photographer. Though I guess it’s not so secret now that I’ve told you.
NB: Anything else we should discuss?
RH: I don’t think so- I suppose you could mention my lobster blog: www.yourocklobster.com. So many blogs, so little time!
Our producers Amanda and Ben are back from a snowy visit to New York, where they shared our photographers’ books at McCann Worldgroup and Avanti Press.
They met first with McCann’s art producers who work on several brands within the agency. Of interest: one of their producers working on the L’Oreal brand regards “elaborate” portfolios as the sign of an amateur photographer. She’d rather see simple books with a good edit, ie. the book isn’t prettier than the pictures inside. She receives a ton of fashion portfolios and likes when they’re small enough to view and transport easily (under 11×17, on average).
McCann’s Applebees’ producers said that they aren’t always looking for clean food shots, but ones that are true to the food itself. Of the books that we brought, Lincoln Barbour‘s (out of Portland) fit that description best to them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xUA5n9AkVo
Their other thoughts on portfolios: they’re not so keen on books that consist of loose prints because looking through them can be cumbersome. Some folks worried about dirtying the prints, as well (Neil note: though that could happen with other types of portfolios, especially ones without sleeves).
Next stop was Avanti Press, a greeting card company who also has creative departments in Detroit and North Carolina. In an industry flooded with stock photos, it might surprise some of you to know that they hire assignment photographers as well. Their creatives are always looking for unusual images, and they prefer to shoot whenever possible. They are also one of the few printers who credit their photographers or agency on the back of their cards.
Avanti was particularly interested in James Quantz Jr.‘s work, as he does a lot of animal composites. Especially this image from his elephant series:
New Zealander Ross Brown‘s monkey photo also stood out to them:
A few other tidbits about Avanti:
In 2008 they won an illustration award from Communication Arts.
They sometimes receive correspondences from concerned animal lovers worrying that the animals on their cards (who are almost always photoshopped) were actually smoking a cigar or playing a guitar.
We’ll have more portfolio reviews to talk about in a few weeks.
