Toronto editorial and portrait photographer

Batter Up

August 30, 2012 No Comments

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

August 27, 2012 No Comments

It sometimes appears that smaller companies have bigger photo budgets than larger companies. Examples:

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

By comparison, a small publisher in Toronto, with a handful of employees, budgeted $750 to cover its 30-minute press conference. One photo was for a media handout and a handful of other photos were for internal use.

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Last-place Finish

July 2, 2012 No Comments

There’s been much criticism, the past few weeks, over some portraits of US Olympic athletes shot by an AFP photographer. Let’s just say these pictures won’t win any medals.

The pictures can be seen here on the Getty Images site. Some of the pictures are okay but many are definite last-place finishers.

To be fair, these types of portrait sessions are usually done in an assembly-line fashion whether it’s Olympic athletes or players on a pro sports team. A number of photographers, all in the same room, will each set up their own mini-studio. The athletes will rotate from one mini-studio to the next, spending only a minute or two with each photographer.
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What’s For Dinner?

June 4, 2012 1 Comment

I received four inquiries for corporate or commercial photography services over the past three weeks.

One request was: “We need a photographer for a conference in Toronto. We don’t have all the details yet but we need your price asap.”

The second: “We are a construction company and we’re looking to have professional photographs taken of an upcoming project. Could you please provide a basic outline of your pricing and what it includes.”

The third: “We’re looking for a photographer for tomorrow from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM. What do you charge?”

The fourth request for a corporate event included only the date, time and location. When I phoned to ask for more information, the public relations person said she couldn’t give out any details, didn’t know what pictures they wanted, and didn’t know how the pictures were going to be used. But she needed a price as soon as possible.
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Importance of Business Portraits

May 25, 2012 No Comments

A company logo is very important to a business since it represents that business. Similarly a business portrait acts like a logo for that person. So why do some people use holiday snapshots or other amateur pictures for their business portrait?

An article written by personal branding expert Daniel Schawbel talks about the importance of having professionally produced portraits:

…get the best possible photo of yourself. For if logos are quintessential to commercial brands, photos are quintessential to personal ones. … pictures – when they display a lucky blend of originality, quality, artistic merit and manage to capture the essence of what you stand for – send a powerful message about you and your brand that colors the perception other parties will have of you across the board. Underestimate the importance of a portrait picture at your own peril.

…today even home-made pictures can have astounding quality and do the job for us – at least temporarily. If you ask me, however, I would never recommend trusting such a crucial piece of your personal brand to luck and my advice has consistently been to always engage the services of a professional photographer…

Here’s another article on the importance of business portraits.

Some information about knowledge

May 15, 2012 No Comments

A company recently hired a Toronto corporate photographer to do an executive portrait of its president.

While watching the photographer set up his camera equipment, the company’s communications manager asked, “Did you know that the sensor in your digital camera is just like a solar panel? Both convert light into electricity.”

The photographer answered, “That’s interesting information.”

As the photographer positioned his lights and made a few test flashes, the manager said, “The xenon gas in your flashes is also used in laser eye surgery.”

The photographer replied, “That’s interesting information.”
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Lines of Sight

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