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Contract Negotiation

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How does a photographer negotiate their contract?

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, has a Rolling Stone magazine exhibit which includes two letters from 1982 between Rolling Stone magazine’s (then) chief photographer Annie Leibovitz and its publisher Jann Wenner. No idea why the letters are dated March 1982 and Leibovitz signed the contract as being March 1981 (perhaps a typo or bad handwriting?).

Not sure if it was related but Leibovitz left the magazine the following year.

On Wenner’s web site, (9th thumbnail), there’s a self-portrait of Wenner and Leibovitz from 1973 when she was named the magazine’s chief photographer.

 

Flash Forward

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Over the past two months, I photographed in a few Toronto offices, from small to mid-sized. Here are a few random observations:

• Businesses seem to be almost paperless. I can recall when offices had rows and rows of filing cabinets.

• Fax machines are pretty much obsolete.

• At least half of the offices had their employees working on laptops. This may make sense in terms of cost and portability but one wonders about the health cost. Many employees’ necks and shoulders were hunched over as they were working on their laptops.

• No desktop computers meant that the office lacked the familiar sound of keyboard (and mouse) clicking. I guess this keyboard sound will disappear like that of a typewriter.
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Thoughts about business portraits

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Over the past two months, I photographed a total of 49 business portraits for a few small to mid-sized Toronto companies.

What never ceases to amaze me is how different each person looks. If you walk along a street and casually glance around at other people, you may think that everyone looks about the same. But, as with snowflakes, no two people are alike.

Face shape, eyes, ears, nose, smile, hair, skin colour and skin texture are quite different from one person to the next. This is very noticeable when photographing people up-close and later when editing and retouching the pictures.

Speaking of retouching, it’s always better to use a makeup artist and hair stylist before the picture is taken rather than relying on retouching afterward.
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Best Face Forward

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The California Institute of Technology (CalTech) just published a rather silly study under the catchy title of “Perspective Distortion from Interpersonal Distance Is an Implicit Visual Cue for Social Judgments of Faces”. The study claims to show that “the distance at which facial photos are taken influences perception.” The authors of the study even say they’ve broken new ground. (Yes, every photographer is laughing at this.)

Here’s the CalTech press release and the study. Feel free to read them but the study just duplicates what every experienced photographer, model and actor have known for +90 years:

(i) If someone takes your picture with a short lens, the closer they stand to you when taking the picture, the more distorted, or unflattering, the picture will be. (It’s just well-known physics.)

(ii) An unflattering portrait tends to create unfavourable opinions in people who view that portrait. (It’s just well-known human behaviour.)

This CalTech study certainly qualifies for a Captain Obvious award.
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Toronto Film Festival 2012

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With apologies for the length of this post, here’s my annual rant:

The 37th edition of the annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is underway. From a photographers’ point of view, TIFF has always been considered to be very poorly-run event. Although from a movie-goer’s point of view, the film festival might be heaven.

I’ve been covering the film festival since 1988 and little has changed over the years. Off hand, I can count only four positive changes over the past 24 years:

(i) A photo pit was covered to protect against rain;
(ii) Many steel barricades were covered;
(iii) A red carpet was relocated from the small east side of a theatre to the much larger west side;
(iv) The central hub of the film festival (TIFF’s new building) has fast wifi (which works about half of the time – perhaps it’s overloaded during the festival?).

Let’s look at a few things (in no particular order):

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Batter Up

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During yesterday’s Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees game, (the Blue Jays won 8-5), the TV announcers were talking about the value of veteran pitchers.

One announcer explained that, although younger pitchers can often throw the ball faster than the older guys, veteran pitchers have more control and they understand the game better. This means that veteran pitchers can throw exactly the right pitch at the right time and win games. That’s why, the announcer continued, veteran pitchers cost more.

A similar explanation can be used to explain why experienced photographers cost more.

 

Smaller is bigger

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From my own anecdotal viewpoint, it seems that smaller companies often have bigger budgets for corporate photography than do larger companies. For examples:

• Last month, the world’s second largest car manufacturer asked about covering its Toronto press conference. It was apparently budgeting $250 for two hours of shooting, a couple hours of editing, and a disc of images to be used internally and for media handouts.

By comparison, a small publisher in Toronto, with a handful of employees, budgeted $650 to cover its 30-minute press conference with one picture for media handout and a handful of other photos for internal use.

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