Jan 28 2011

Why Wedding Photographers Matter More Than Ever Before

Category: Business & Marketing, The Industry, Viewpoint — Ethan G. Salwen @ 2:00 pm

“I think there is really intrinsic part of human nature in which we validate life by documenting it,” Peter Krogh told me last Fall. He was explaining why he carries his camera almost everywhere he goes, habitually recording his life in photographic captures. He said:

Think about wedding photography. Why does everyone have a photographer documenting their wedding? It’s kind of a weird tradition. It’s because it validates the commitment. The event is more important because it’s documented.

Krogh went on to say:

It’s amazing how a good wedding photographer ends up being kind of a wedding couch. They are there the whole time. They can spend more time with the couple than anyone else. The wedding photographer’s job is much more important than just taking pictures.

It wasn't that Celeste really wanted a picture of her getting makeup applied; she wanted the moment to be documented, to make it more meaningful.

It wasn't so much that Celeste really wanted a picture of her getting makeup applied; she wanted the moment to be documented, to make it more meaningful.

Beyond Pretty Wedding Pictures

Krogh didn’t need to explain what he was talking about. I’ve only photographed a handful of weddings, but I quickly got used to the couples thanking me profusely at the end of the day — without seeing a single image! Obviously they were responding to my presence, and to the fact that I had somehow made their wedding a much better experience.

If you are a wedding photographer, you know this: The images you are making are important, but it’s just as important that you providing an experience that best appeals to the specific couple.

If you would like to be a wedding photographer, or to improve your wedding photography: Think less about perfecting your images, and focus more on how to be the kind of wedding coach that Krogh mentions.

I was amazed how, after only a couple weddings, I was able to provide couples with valuable (and desired) advice about the Big Day. And why shouldn’t I be able to do so? After all, I had been intimately involved in other weddings, seeing them from the most angles and witnessing the most intimate moments.

A Great Time To Be a Wedding Photographer!

Old-fashioned wedding photographers bemoaned the advent of digital; savvy wedding photographers welcomed it.

Now that photography has become so easy for all, if you are interested in wedding photography, you have more and not less opportunities. This is because you don’t have to be stressed out about making the photographs. You can focus on bearing witness and, if you are really good, being a kind of off-the-record wedding coach, even if that’s not how you advertise your services.

As Krogh explained to me, what couples really want, whether they know it or not, is for the photographer to validated their experiences by bearing witness through the act of documenting.

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Jan 26 2011

Older Photographers: Richer Creative Lives

Category: Creative Process, Viewpoint — Ethan G. Salwen @ 10:16 am

AfterCapture Blog_110226_Older Photographers_1-1The majority of photographers I interview are between 45 and 55, and they possess a depth that younger photographers do not. Yes, there’s something wonderful about the raw energy of the younger photographers I meet. It’s just that this energy might fizzle out.

If it doesn’t fizzle out, something very special happens. As photographers continue to work through their decades, they push themselves to embrace new technologies, to redefine their business models in evolving markets, and to take on new creative challenges, even if their clients don’t demand it.

We always say that learning photography is really learning to see, and this is true. But we tend to express this sentiment in relation to a very limited sense of seeing — the visual sense. Older photographers seem to continue to learn to see on a much deeper level, in terms of what it is to be a working artist and, most important, how this relates to their continual growth and satisfaction as an individual.

I share this thought because once again I find myself thinking of something Stewart Cohen told me when I interviewed him for “In Search of Identity” for Rangefinder. I closed the article with this memorable sentiment:

“I’m 49 and I haven’t done anything else except photography since 1983. I was once like any other typical 30-year-old, hotshot photographer — having exploded onto the scene, thinking I had made it. My Identity project has helped me see that, in the arc of my career as an artist, my true style is only just beginning to come out.”

Older photographers seem, almost inevitably, both wiser and more creative and yet also more humble. Like Cohen, they seem to look to the future with more excitement. They are less concerned with the fleeting satisfaction of the external rewards of money or recognition. More than anything, they seem to want to open new doors that will help them continue to develop their sense of vision.

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Jan 24 2011

Two Great Career-Focusing Exercises from “2 Good Things”

Category: Business & Marketing — Ethan G. Salwen @ 9:01 am
AfterCapture Blog_110124_2GoodThings

Look! No Bullshit! I actually did this "Decision Matrix" thing as part of the Values Analysis. It helped!

No! Not “career-focusing exercises”! I’m sure you’ll agree that nothing sounds so unappetizing. But bear with me. I’m not going to ask you to do anything I haven’t done. And boy-oh-boy am I glad I did.

Last week I told you all about Judy Herrmann and how her concepts can help creative professionals “reinvent” our businesses — more money, more satisfaction.

Within that post I mentioned her new blog, 2 Good Things. Within that blog are two amazing exercises that Herrman offers up for free, which makes sense because, 1) she’s a hellava gal, and 2) she has merely modified other, well-proven exercises specifically for members of our community.

If you want to start getting to know yourself a little better in ways that can help in profound, if subtle, ways over time, I strongly suggest you make the time and space to do these:

• Values Analysis

• Dream Job Analysis

Nearly two years ago, while beginning research for “Judy Herrmann: Reinventing Creativity,” I gave these two exercises a go — to know what the heck I was writing about — and I was amazed at what happened. No, I didn’t change over night. No, I didn’t start making loads more money. But, yes — and this is no small thing — I started to became clearer on what I truly want and not what I think I want.

This, in turn, has led me to making better decisions. No, not all the time. But, yes, more of the time.

You Really Got to Do It to Get It

To me, the Values Analysis exercise seemed complex and abstract and, frankly, like total, useless nonsense. And, being frank, I told Herrmann as much.

“I totally understand,” she said gently. “To really understand how the exercise works, you have to do it.”

She was right.

I am deeply grateful that I gave it a try. You might be, too.

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Jan 21 2011

Backup All Your Images NOW: The Simple System

Category: AfterCapture & Rangefinder Articles, Workflow & DAM — Ethan G. Salwen @ 8:38 am

AfterCapture Blog_110121_Simple Backup_AC1010_RAWProcessingSolutions_SalwenScrewed the pooch and already gone south on your New Year’s Resolutions? Smoking again? Not hitting the gym? No worries. Forget health mandates and get on top of what really matters: backing up all your images easy, relatively quickly and with — your favorite! — no thinking.

I’m assuming you need to get on this, Dude, because, 1) You don’t won’t lose your images, and, 2) As, Peter Krogh notes, the vast majority of us silly Homo sapiens don’t backup our stuff.

For total backup security, Dude, just do this:

1) Guesstimate how many megabytes (or terabytes) of data you have.

2) Buy three hard drives that hold at least 20% more data.

3) Copy all your image files from all sources to drive “A.”

4) Backup up “A” to “B.”

5) Backup “A” to “C.”

6) Store “C” off site.

HALA-LUYAH!!!

You can now boast of having your images much better backed up than 85% of your photographer buddies, Dude. But better than bragging rights, Dude, you’ve gained peace-o-mind! And even better than that, Dude, you’ve backed up all your images — and well!

Yes, your images might be a total freekn’ mess, but organization can come later. I mean, you can’t organize what you don’t have. So don’t wait to get organized to get your images totally, awesomely backed up.

Yes, I realize, you did not burn your images to write-once material like DVDs, and that is important. But again, until you have copies of each image file on three drives in two locations, well, Buddy, write-once backup is purely academic. Over thinking this stuff, Dude, can be a real hazard — to your images.

Read the Article

To read a more detailed version of this same backup system (with an, um, more serious tone, Dude), download “Simple, Practical RAW Archive Backup & Organization,” my recent “Raw Processing Solutions” column for AfterCapture. I go into some fun stuff (for neeerds!), like zeroing out hard drives, performing validated data transfers, and “What is an Archive Anyway?”

Honestly, Dude, you really should know what this stuff is, but I don’t fault you if you don’t give a poop. Only neeerds care about this stuff. And someday soon — go technology advances! — you probably won’t need to.

But, um, Dude, until then, you’ve got to at least get your images safely backed up on multiple drives that you store in two locations. And that, Dude, is exactly what going through Steps One through Six steps (see above) will accomplish for you.

It’s easier than quiting smoking or forcing yourself to go to the gym, and it’s definitely better for your health — or, at least, the health of your images.

Start Reading the Article Here: Continue reading “Backup All Your Images NOW: The Simple System”

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Jan 19 2011

Put Down the E-mail!

Category: Business & Marketing — Ethan G. Salwen @ 5:09 am

Please read this great business-life advice by Judy Herrmann if you answer “Yes” to even one of these questions:

1. Do you ever send multiple emails to communicate the same information?

2. Have you ever had critical information in an email ignored?

3. Do you ever get seriously anxious before making a phone call?

4. Have you ever distracted yourself with busy work to put off a critical phone call?

Even kids can do it!

Even kids can do it!

I’m sure you get the punch line. Herrmann’s advice from her Strictly Business post suggests that we pick up the phone more often — especially to overcome the limitations of email.

It’s still valuable to read. Herrmann is a master photographer-businessperson, and her “Pick Up the Phone!” advice is particularly helpful because:

1. She admits that making phone calls can be super nerve racking.

2. She gives us specific examples of when and how the phone trumps email in the business of photography.

Not the Phone!

I, for one, am terrified of the phone. There’s only two things that scare me more than making phone calls — nuclear war and carnies.

This is frustrating because I understood exactly why  Scott Mc Kiernan, founder of ZUMA Press, once told me that photojournalists should publish their phone numbers prominently on their homepage.

Right after reading “Pick Up the Phone!” I took a deep breath and (without — gasp! — making an phone appointment by email), I picked up the phone and called her. We had the best long-distance conversation I’ve had so far in 2011, sharing ideas and emotions and building our relationship in a ways that is simply not possible via email.

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Jan 17 2011

Judy Herrmann: Reinventing Creativity

Category: AfterCapture & Rangefinder Articles, Business & Marketing, Photographers — Ethan G. Salwen @ 3:38 am

After Capture Blog_110117_RF1110_Judy Herrmann_Reinventing Creativity_1“If you really want to earn a living as full-time, self-employed photographer, you’re signing up to work in an industry where you have to watch for every opportunity and be ready to take advantage of them,” says commercial photographer Judy Herrmann. “There is creative vision — a photographer’s artistic voice — and then there is vision for business and career. These two things have to work together, but they are not the same.”

I featured these thoughts from Herrmann in “Judy Herrmann: Reinventing Creativity,” a recent profile for Rangefinder that focuses on Herrmann increasing efforts — through workshops, consulting and her new blog, 2 Good Things — to help creative professionals gain more satisfaction through their carriers, making more money doing more of what they truly love.

“Reinventing Creativity” is probably the most important article I wrote in 2010, but — dangit! — I probably gave it the worst name.

A much better, if less flowery, title (that would have really pissed off the design team) would have been:

“Judy Herrmann: How To Reinvent the Business and Creative Aspects of Your Photography Career in a Harmonious Manner, Over Time, In an Ongoing Process, To Earn More Money and Feel Profoundly More Satisfied In Life.”

That’s what Herrmann’s insights are all about, and there are a few things that make them particularly valuable.

One is that Herrmann is full-time working photographer, and has been for two decades, and her increased interest in supporting other photographers with the challenges of business-creative success comes from an honest passion to help. She says providing consulting services to photographers “is one of the few things in my professional life that actually gives me a deep sense of meaning.”

Another reason Herrmann’s guidance rings true is that she is deep in the reinvention trenches herself, and has been since she was 27-years-old. That’s when she forced herself, for the first time, to figure out how to make more money with more satisfaction through her photography. (I reported on this in “Triumph Over Fear” for Rangefinder a few years back.)

That’s right. I have been talking to Herrmann about this topic for years now, and distilling her insights into less than 2,000 words was painful. This woman has so many valuable insights to offer professional photographers that I’m just dying for you to be aware of her. And then — damn me! — I gave her article a crappy name.

Luckily, you can get in touch with Herrmanns’ ideas directly through her posts on ASMP’s Strictly Business Blog. Good stuff, like “‘If you don’t know where you’re going…you might not get there.’ – Yogi Berra” and “Looking Forward, Looking Back.”

After Capture Blog_110117_RF1110_Judy Herrmann_Reinventing Creativity_2Another reason Herrmann’s reinvention insights rock is because she is adamantly adverse to serving in a counseling capacity. “I make it clear that I am not a therapist,” she told me. “This is not psychiatry. What I’m really teaching people is problem solving. It is defining a problem very, very clearly and then brainstorming solutions.”

“What I’m trying to do is to give people an arsenal of tools,” Herrmann explained. “My goal is to make my client not need me any more.”

One place you can learn from Herrmann how to not need Herrmann is at the ASMP’s Strictly Business 3 conferences (Philadelphia, February 25–27; Chicago, April 1–3).

Yet another reason Herrmann’s strategies are so valuable is that she is not formulaic in her approach for working with photographers. She says, “I don’t think there exists a one-size-fits-all answer to this kind of problem solving.”

Can you see why I think it’s so important to learn about Herrmann’s business reinvention processes?

So, poopy title aside, I urge you to download “Reinventing Creativity” and soak up Herrmann’s ideas.

To be clear, I am not concerned about drumming up consulting business for Herrmann (although, um, I do get a percentage of all fees she earns resulting from this post).

What makes Herrmann’s insights so invaluable is that they don’t depend on her or, for that matter, any other career consultant. Like all great ideas, Herrmann’s strategies are a distillation of other people’s great ideas. And like all great ideas, you can put them to use for yourself on your own.

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Jan 14 2011

Multimedia Easy Start: Still Images with Photographer Voice-over

Category: Multimedia & Video — Ethan G. Salwen @ 10:25 am

“Face-off With a Deadly Predator” is a great video — wonderful story, amazing images. From a tech point of view, it offers great inspiration to those of us moving into motion.

When it comes to video production it doesn’t get much simpler than “Deadly Predator.” Yet, as far as the quality of multimedia storytelling is concerned, it doesn’t get much better. Notice that the decidedly simple approach to the video interview of Paul Nicklen doesn’t detract from the piece — at all.

As you watch “Deadly Predator,” consider how you can put the still images in your collection to motion — adding only your own voice

To be clear: You don’t need to record yourself on video. As Bill Cunningham proves, voice-only voice-overs can work quite effectively when creating a video from still images. (Consider adding a little royalty-free music for drama, as in “Deadly Predator.”

A big thanks to Mary Lynn Price for strongly suggesting I watch this video, when I interviewed her for “Adventures in Motion.” “It’s so simple and yet it’s gotten more than two million hits on YouTube,” she said.

Price told me that as long as we have a good story, multimedia can be as simple as mixing our images with our own thoughts in our own voices.

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Jan 12 2011

In 2011, Is There Such Thing as a Still (Only) Photographer?

Category: Viewpoint — Ethan G. Salwen @ 7:11 pm

In this interview, Gail Mooney explains that at the Professional Photography Teleseminar she will be speaking to “photographers who think they might be interested in moving into motion.” Interviewer Adam of RETV jumps in and says:

Which is just about every photographer out there right now because it is such a huge movement. I mean, it’s very similar to when we switched over from film to digital. You know, you’ve got everyone out there right now trying to pick up a camera and shoot motion because the clients are asking for it.

I had never thought of the move into motion as being analogous to the switch from film to electronic capture and, in many ways, the shift seems to be a more massive one. After all, we’ve come to accept that a “still film photographer” and “still digital photographer” are, fundamentally, one and the same. On the other hand, a “still photographer only” and “still photographer and videographer” — which is how Mooney defines herself — are totally different creatures.

Sure, it’s possible that not every photographer is currently moving into motion as Adam suggests (and this blog assumes). But those photographers not at least interested in the potential of motion seem as rarefied as, say, a 1995-era photographer who insisted on only photographing with black-and-white film using an 11 x 14 view camera.

“Drop the Digital from Photography” Chase Jarvis blogged in November, asking, “Isn’t it time we implore the rest of the world to assimilate the term ‘digital photography’ back into ‘photography’ as a whole?”

As 2011 gets rolling, almost everyone who buys a new point-and-shoot camera or cell phone gains the ability to capture motion, and will so so comfortably. Given this, isn’t it becoming ridiculous, and perhaps self-limiting, to talk about “still photographers”?

I think that each photographer needs to define what his speciality is and what types of image making most interests him. But aren’t we getting to a point when saying “I’m a still photographer” is like saying, if even unintentionally, “I’m against the possibilities of motion”?

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Jan 11 2011

David Julian: Strange Beauty

Category: AfterCapture & Rangefinder Articles, Photographers — Ethan G. Salwen @ 8:55 am

AfterCapture Blog_110111_David Julian_Strange Beauty_1More than once during our three long, intriguing conversations, David Julian apologized for his life not making sense — in a nice, neat linear sort of way. I was interviewing him for “Strange Beauty,” a profile on Julian I penned for AfterCapture. Julian’s apologies were unnecessary. An artist’s life is never easy to distill into clean, clear chronologies, even if that’s what writers attempt to do when we write profiles.

Julian is a photographer, illustrator, sculptor and educator, and his website is a joy to view — especially if you compare the overlapping themes between his fine art photography and his commercial illustrations.

At any one time, Julian is engaged in so many projects using so many types of media for so many clients that I could understand why he apologized for “not being easy to define.” However, by the time I finished “Strange Beauty” it seemed clear to me that throughout Julian’s evolution as a visual artist and educator it is possible to identify a very clear, very consistent thread: his desire to understand himself and the world around him through a process — sometimes feverish, but always grounded — of constantly playing with new techniques and visual media.

AfterCapture Blog_110111_David Julian_Strange Beauty_2“I can now work almost as fast as I can think,” Julian told me of his love of electronic imaging. A master of Photoshop compositing, glancing at Julian’s work is likely to make one think that he’s all about composting, in a modern, technical sense. But Julian has been compositing materials since early childhood, pasting newspaper clippings onto pieces of glass long before he picked up a camera. Yes, Julian continues to thrive with an exploratory use of layers in Photoshop. But ultimately, Julian is concerned about the ideas behind his composites — and his straight captures.

Julian’s idea-driven artistic exploration is clearly illustrated by “Taken From The Heart,” the body of fine art photography he produced in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Photographically, these are straight images. Intellectually and emotionally they are anything but straight.

My profile about Julian opens. . .

“What struck me was as I was walking through this wasteland is that of all of these things—these personal objects dangling in trees—were lost,” David Julian recalls. “They were all tied to people who could not reconnect to them.” It was December 2005, and Julian, a commercial and editorial photo illustrator, fine art photographer and educator, was making his way through the devastation Hurricane Katrina wrought upon New Orleans. Using his camera both to explore, and to try to understand a landscape that overwhelmed his senses, Julian remembers thinking, “whatever had once been outside was forced inside, and what had been inside was now swept outside.”

To continue learn more about the World of David Julian, continue reading “Strange Beauty” by downloading the PDF file.

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Jan 05 2011

Transition Ideas & Themes With Image Sequences, and 9 Other Critical Multimedia Editing Strategies

Category: Multimedia & Video — Ethan G. Salwen @ 6:20 am

AfterCapture Blog_110105_MediaStorm’s Ten Ways To Improve Your Multimedia Production Right NowI made a mistake in my post last Wednesday, but that’s OK. Correcting the mistake has turned into a windfall of the learning. The mistake (now corrected) was that I told you (incorrectly) that the 10 tips from Eric Maierson/MediaStorm came from “MediaStorm’s Ten Ways To Improve Your Multimedia Production Right Now,” when in fact they came from “MediaStorm’s 10 More Ways to Improve Your Multimedia Right Now.” The “More” is critical, and I was silly to miss it, especially since it made me overlook Maierson’s first 10 tips, which are as concisely invaluable as his second ten. I highly suggest you read them.

Maierson’s Editing & Educational Prowess

I’m eager to send major kudos to Maierson, both for his editing genius and for helping us lesser multimedia editors in understanding how he approaches the process.

Beyond the two posts mentioned, Maierson was nice enough to respond to my last post, greatly helping me advance my understanding of what it means to “edit rhythmically.” Very nice of him, indeed.

One great quality of Maierson as an educator is that he links his tips to samples in projects hosted on MediaStrom, so we gain the chance to understand what he is saying in action. This is no small matter. As he wrote when telling me about editing rhythmically, “It sounds a bit oblique written out like this. . . ” Indeed. Samples are required for advancing learning.

Learning To Transition Ideas & Themes Watching “Black Market” by Patrick Brown

Of Maierson’s first 10 multimedia editing suggestions, the one that most caught me attention was #5: “Use image sequences to transitions between ideas or themes.”

“What?” I thought. Maierson explained:

Think of image sequences as paragraph breaks between two big ideas. Sometimes these sequences need only be two photographs long, or on occasion even one will suffice. See the poaching sequence in Black Market for an example.

I loved the idea, but it wouldn’t have meant much if I hadn’t carefully watched “Black Market” by photojournalist Patrick Brown. “Black Market” is powerful, sad and important — classic in-depth photojournalism brought to much fuller affect (and to a much wider audience) thanks to the use of beautifully executed multimedia (produced by Brian Storm and Eric Maierson). And the numerous, well-crafted transitions between ideas are critical to the success of the 10-minute piece.

Watching To Learn, Without Completely Understanding

As I watched “Black Market” I was following Maierson’s advice, carefully on the lookout for the poaching sequence that would help me understand how to use image sequences like “paragraph breaks between two big ideas.” However I admit that I wasn’t sure exactly where to look, even though he had mentioned the “poaching sequence.”

Many times before the poaching sequence arrived I found myself noting breaks between paragraphs, transitions between ideas — especially beautiful transitional moments in the time line at 4:05, 5:00, 5:48 and 8:46 — and so I wasn’t clear if I was totally understanding Maierson’s point, even though I felt like I was seeing it in action.

I’m almost hesitant to share these specific moments in the time line of “Black Market,” as you might head right to them, looking for the answer. But what I’m learning from Maierson’s teaching is that there is no one, specific answer.

I often offer up multimedia and video samples as great inspiration, saying, “Here! Watch this!” But perhaps inspiration on its own is not enough — not if it doesn’t foster our thinking in ways that help us to improve our craft. Maierson is showing me that the best way to learn multimedia is not to:

A) Just watch and be inspired, and also not to:

B) Watch expecting a specific lesson to simply sink in, but instead to:

C) Watch with an idea of what can be learned — with a little guidance from the likes of Maierson — and then try to figure it out myself.

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