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Photographers and crooks

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Just in case you were wondering:

 … we photographers are nothing but a pack of crooks, thieves and voyeurs. We are to be found everywhere we are not wanted; we betray secrets that were never entrusted to us; we spy shamelessly on things that are not our business; and end up the hoarders of a vast quantity of stolen goods.

— Gyula Halász (aka Brassaï) 20th-century Hungarian photographer/artist.

 

If I’d had the nerve, I’d have become a thief or a gangster, but since I didn’t, I became a photographer.

— Emmanuel Radnitsky (aka Man Ray) 20th-century US photographer/artist.

 

 

Press conferences

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Last week, I covered a large press conference staged by a federal political party inside a big factory. The party’s media flacks told photographers where to stand, what to shoot and what not to shoot. As one of them said, “It’s our press conference. We tell you what to do.”

When reporters asked questions that the party didn’t want to answer, the reply was, “We don’t want to talk about that today” or “We’ve answered that in the past.”

The political party could’ve just sent out a press release but it wanted the photo-op showing its leader standing next to its new slogan-covered sign and mingling with the blue-collar workers at the factory.
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Worth its weight in money

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Everyone has heard the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. According to a real estate study, a (professional) picture is worth at least a thousand dollars.

A 2010 Wall Street Journal article cited a study done by a Seattle brokerage house which showed that professional photography increases the sale price of a home by anywhere from $934 to $116,000.

The reason for this is simple:

Better quality photography => more attention => more customers => more money.
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National Portrait Week

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Another Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone. The day after the US Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday in November) is “Black Friday” (for in-store sales) and the following Monday is “Cyber Monday” (for online sales). Although, some stores now stretch out their sales to last an entire week. In fact, the Thursday before Black Friday (i.e. US Thanksgiving) is now called Gray Thursday.

While these special shopping days are predominantly a US event, they do get some attention here in Canada. Several Canadian retailers hold their own similarly-themed sales on the same days.

What gets little attention, and absolutely no media coverage whatsoever, is that the Saturday between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is “Small Business Saturday”. The Canadian Small Business Saturday, like Canadian Thanksgiving, occurs in October. On Small Business Saturday, the public is urged to shop at a local small business.

However, none of these special shopping days benefit photographers. One could even argue that these shopping events don’t really benefit consumers (also here, here and maybe even here).

Perhaps photographers should create National Portrait Week which could run during National Photography Month (aka May). This would encourage people to get their portrait made, even a business portrait. This might help many photography businesses and it would most definitely benefit consumers.

The lasting value of a portrait is unmatched by any mass-produced, store-bought item.
 
(The Irish Professional Photographers Association has an annual National Portrait Day, which lasts a week. Customers can get a portrait for a nominal fee and all proceeds go to charity.)

 

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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