Reminiscing

I remember my first paid Photography "job."  I was working as a photographer for the college newspaper, and loved what I did.  I got sent out on all types of journalism assignments, shot photographs of major and minor events, students, teachers, etc.

I was sitting at my desk, editing some images(we shot film back then, so the whole process of editing was significantly different than it is now) when I got a call.  It was an art director for a major magazine out of New York.

Phone rings
Hello, this is Ramon
Hi Ramon, are you the head photographer?
I am.  Who am I speaking with?
Ramon my name is xxx, I'm the Art Director for xxx Magazine.  I need your help.
Oh ok.  Great.  What can I do for you?


The AD went on to explain how his magazine set people up for blind dates, did before and after interviews, and needed a photographer to tail the couple throughout their time together.  It was to take place two hours from then, and he needed a last minute photographer to step in.

That was my first paid photography job.

I knew nothing of pricing, invoices, etc.  As a matter of fact, my invoice was handwritten on a sheet of paper on the counter of the post office when I sent off my rolls of film.

Since then, I've worked on projects both large and small.  National, International, and Local.  All over the Southeastern United States and Caribbean.

Yet I never forget that first job.  That excitement, nervousness, that pride.

If I could go back and do it all over again...would I?

Absolutely!

What advice would I give myself?

For that first job, charge more.  :)  For my career...gain a thorough understanding of business matters much earlier, and build your network.

I'll keep reminiscing, and keep pushing forward, but I take great pride in every job I shoot...that pride I felt my first job, I feel every job.  And I love it!

Photographers Rights

This is, of course, a huge, multifaceted issue.  With so many things happening in our communities today, we've seen a spike in journalist, photojournalist, and civilians with cameras being put in situations against law enforcement or government officials.  Never a very good place to be.

If you are ever caught in this position, as I've been, numerous times in the past, here's a few points to remember:

1.  Be nice.  Be polite, when you can, and make sure your answers, if you have to give any to begin with, are clear, concise, to the point, and...polite polite polite.

2.  Clear view=clear shot.  This is the basic rule to working in the press.  If you are on public property, and what you are photographing is in plain view, you are good.  Nobody can tell you otherwise.  They can request you not shoot...and by all means, there are times where you extending a little bit of professional courtesy is the right thing to do, but it is not against the law to shoot.

3.  Private property=game changer.  This is where the rules change.  If you are on private property, and the property owner request you not photograph while on private property, then you must not do so.

4.  You must still obey laws.  Shooting photographs...not against the law.  Trespassing on private property...against the law.  Kicking in a window to get into a building and photograph...definitely against the law...and so on and so forth.  Obey the laws.

5.  Nobody can delete or confiscate.  Law enforcement wants a look at your images...there are instances where they can do so...LOOK at your images.  Not confiscate.  Not delete.  Look.  And these are in extreme circumstances, where a major issue was occurring.  This is a rare exception.  For cell phones, a warrant is necessary to search, and this is direct from the Supreme Court.

6.  Its not us vs them.  Remember...law enforcement is on our side.  Police officers and order are to be respected, honored, and adhered to, as much as possible.  They are some of the most valuable assets in our world, as civilians, and as artist, and we should remember that...but we must also remember that we have our rights as well.

Obviously there's many more aspects to this subject, but, keeping these points in mind will help you out quite a bit in the long run.

The Balance

We all search for it.  We all long for it.  We all desire it.  Yet not many of us actually achieve it.

Why?

Let's face it.  Especially us American artist are up against a giant wall.  We have to work harder, longer hours, for less earnings, than ever before.

There's several factors for this...but...consider, for one moment...could this be, because of us?!

Outside of all the regular demands of a creative professional, are the internal demands of our perfectionism.

Prime example:  I had a conversation  friend of mine, who often told me she is feels like she's not maximizing her earnings.  We sat down over a cup of coffee and discussed her processes.  Here's what's happening:

She would get paid for something that would take her...say, A hours, to accomplish, X.  Yet the artist/perfectionist in her would want to take B hours, to accomplish Y.

This is the problem with us, creative professionals.

Many times, we become so wrapped up into providing, or, overperforming, with "perfect" work, for clients who aren't willing to pay "perfect" type of rates.

In no way am I excusing providing shit work.  If you are paid to provide a service, you should do so.  To the best of your abilities.  What this post is about is that my good friend, like most of us, was paid, to do something like basic corrections...yet the perfectionist artist in her, wanted to go to the extreme.  As artist, we cannot do that.

We cannot live in a world where we are paid for the basic, yet we provide the extreme.  As we do that, our clients will learn that they can pay us for the basic, while we provide the extreme, no matter the type of creative work we do for them.

How have you crossed this barrier?

Don't hire a wedding photographer.

Vogue Magazine has always been a staple in the fashion industry, with a reputation for having top notch, trend setting style, and photography.  Its history stretches back into the late 1800's.  Recently, Vogue Magazine published an article regarding weddings, and the 10 things you should "ditch."  You can read the article here.

The article was written by the Molly Guy, founder of Stone Fox, a wedding dress boutique specializing in custom wedding dresses, crowns, jewelry.  Interestingly, Ms Guy also has a casual line of clothing labeled "FUCK WEDDINGS."  It is notable to point out that she herself is not married.

The perplexing portion of this article is that Ms Guy, a wedding professional herself, pushes the notion that you should consider not getting wedding rings...yet she has wedding rings on her website, several of which exceed $9,000 each, but, as she notes:

"Historically, they were there to let the world know you were the property of your big strong husband, who was out in the scary mean world skinning bears and slaving away at his important job, while you stayed home, scrubbing the woolen underwear of your six children in the washbasin. Why not get matching tattoos instead? Actually, why get matching anything? Not to get too Stevie Nicks here, but the psychic bond you share is what’s important—not the jewelry."

Now look...I'm not against tattoos.  I agree with the last line...the ring doesn't matter as much as the love, but, it is a beautifully scripted hypocrisy to advocate against readers of a fashion magazine not to buy rings, all while selling rings.  Which one is it?

I won't get into all ten of them as this blog would get much longer than it already will be, very quick, but the ones I won't get into are: The girls, The big reveal, The registry, Something old something new, and feeding each other cake.  These are interesting, to say the least, things to "ditch," but we'll move on.  There are more pressing matters here.

Let's start off with the easiest of the remaining four: the honeymoon.  What I find outright insulting on this one is that the designer who sells $10,000 wedding dresses is lecturing you about how you need to save money and do a staycation, "And while you’re there, ask the hotel manager if the pool could stay open late for a private swim." What?!

Another interesting "suggestion" Guy makes is to skip your first dance.

Sigh.

Look.  I'm a guy's guy.  I drink beer.  And whiskey.  I love me some sports.  As you can tell, I have an undying love of the automobile, and I don't dance...but to take the suggestion to skip the first dance would be outright lunacy.  At the end of it all, you won't remember your newlywed wife's dress nearly as much as you will taking those first steps while a room of loving eyes looks on.  That might be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard from a wedding professional, IF NOT FOR:

DON'T WALK DOWN THE AISLE WITH DADDY.  The man who raised you.  The man who taught you what a man should be.  The man who was the #1 man in your life, until you met your husband.  Fuck em, right?  RIGHT?!  It is every man's dream to walk his little girl down the aisle.  One of the most important moments I'd ever experienced in a wedding was at my sister's wedding, when my father walked her down the aisle.  As they reached the end of the aisle, they embraced each other, as they both wept, and there was not a single dry eye in the house.  My father taught my sister what a man was, and as he gave her away to an equally great man, the symbolism was not lost on anyone in attendance.

Ladies...don't be an idiot.  If you have a father or a father-like figure that was there for you, do it.  You won't regret it.  Neither will he.

The last piece of advice, and seemingly the most intrepidly horrid piece of advice, was to NOT HIRE A WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER.

I get it.  I'm a photographer, so of course I will be against this.  Here's what she states:

"It made sense back in the olden days, pre–Facebook albums and Instagram hashtags, when the whole world didn’t have phones with cameras on them. Having the actual leather-bound album on your coffee table seemed like the only evidence that the whole thing actually took place. If social media is not your thing, why not scatter some disposable cameras around the party and let your drunken guests go to town? You’ll end up with hilarious and candid pictures without the pressure of “likes.”'

Here's the thing:

A few years ago, I shot a wedding at a golf club.  Beautiful wedding, beautiful couple and family, everything went off without a glitch.  GREAT.  I got a second wedding, a referral, off of that first wedding, due to the quality of my work.  While at that wedding, I had a quick conversation with a guest, and it went something like this:

"hey, uh, photographer.  Sorry, I don't know your name."
"Hey, how you doin?!  Ramon."  He was the first brides brother, and we knew each other, but since I was running around shooting, we did not have the pleasure of formally introducing ourselves at the first wedding.
"Ramon, my name is ____, I wanted to share something with you."
"Good to see you, brother.  How can I help you?"
"You see, Ramon, a while back, you shot (first wedding), and you took a portrait of me and my family.  My sister showed me the portrait of me, my wife, and kids, and I fell in love with it.  A few months later, Father's day came, and as a present, my kids got me that portrait, in a nice frame.  It meant so much to me.  That was the first time I had cried since my children were born, and I wanted to come up today and thank you for making such a beautiful image of my family."

No mention of the food.
No mention of the dress.
No mention of the DJ.
No mention of the Music.

While ALL of those things matter...the only part left, was that photograph.

Story #2.  I shot another great wedding at one of the local theme park resorts, which I will not name, but it had, um, characters of the, uh, rodent, variety :).  Beautiful wedding at a gorgeous location...what more could you ask for?

While shooting, I made an image of the bride and her grandfather...she was kissing him on the forehead.  He was in a wheelchair, unable to stand.  That was the last image of them together.  Three days after the wedding, the grandfather, on oxygen at the time of the wedding, passed away.

Wanna entrust those moments, those times, that love, that tenderness, to a couple of drunks with disposable cameras, or a few facebook pics?

The outright lack of respect for other wedding pros displayed by Molly Guy and Stone Fox is a serious shame.  Here we have someone who makes her money by selling $10,000 wedding dresses, has crowns adorned with flowers, selling for over $2,000, and $9,000 wedding rings, sells clothing with the words "FUCK WEDDINGS" all over them, devaluing weddings, wedding professionals, and everything about the wedding industry.  Moreover, the company she runs uses professional photographers, not "drunken guest" or "disposable cameras" to sell their clothing and jewelry. That is an outright shame.

To add insult to injury, what the hell was Vogue Magazine thinking, allowing this garbage to be put on their pages?  This is a magazine that has made their reputation on the backs of iconic journalism AND photography.  The annals of vogue boast images made by all the legends.  They don't use "drunken guest."  To allow such a load of rubbish to pollute their pages is to endorse the outright devaluing of what made them such an icon in the fashion world.

I am calling on Vogue Magazine to speak out against this insult to professional photographers, the wedding industry, and other fashion professionals, immediately.  To allow this to stand is nothing less than a slap in the face to all artist around the world.

Time Magazine and their disgraceful attempt at rights grabs

Early last month, Time Magazine decided to put out new agreements for their freelance photographers.  It was pretty disgraceful.  You can read it Here.

For starters, any time the agreement starts out with a letter, and in the first line of the letter, it reads "Since the 1920's and 30's," you already know which direction this is going to go.  Secondly, it is in familiar fashion, an 8 page contract, outlining all of the ins and outs.  The length of the contract, however, is not nearly as important as the content.

Photographers who sign this contract can expect to lose all abilities to earn any type of licensing revenue.  Where us photographers can expect to earn residual income on some of our best images, this contract takes that ability from us, and that's why this is so important.

Not only will signing this contract take all of your potential for future licensing revenue, this rights grab may also stretch across their entire brand, to include:

Time Magazine
Travel and Leisure
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated Kids
Fortune Magazine
People
People En Espanol
And much, much, more.  In fact, you can read the entire list here.

Over 90 different publications.

The sad part is that this isn't the first time this has happened in recent years.  This contract is a very dangerous shot towards not only photographers but other artist.  It is becoming more and more difficult for upcoming photographers to find work that pays proper rights and pay, and this may very well the biggest infringement upon those rights.  It is up to us as artist not only to protect our current and future earnings, but also to make sure that rights grabs such as this don't completely destroy the future of our industry.  We must stand together and unite in order to overcome such dangerous obstacles like this.  The future of our industry is in the balance.