Monday, August 31, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
The End of My (Barely Begun) Photography Career
I got my camera back in March 2006. An Olympus EVOLT E-500. Not a serious professional camera by any stretch of the imagination, but it was better than the Nikon point-and-shoot I had been using before. It came with two lenses: a 14-45mm (not wide enough to be a useful wide angle lens) and a 40-150mm (not powerful enough to be a really useful zoom). It wasn't professional, but I made do with it, and a lot of people never knew I was only using a cheap entry-level SLR.
For almost three and a half years I shot exclusively with it. I could never afford to buy any other lenses, so everything was shot with the two lenses that came with it. And I was never able to afford to buy another body as back-up. I always knew that if something happened to it, my photography efforts would immediately die -- end of story.
Last weekend, the 40-150mm lens (which I use for about two-thirds of my shooting) went belly-up. All I have now is the 14-45mm. That's not enough to keep pursuing photography.
I have a shoot lined up for this Sunday, and I'm talking to a few people about other shoots. I should be able to finish those shoots using just the 14-45mm lens, though it will be limiting. But I'm going to wind things down after completing the shoots I'm already discussing and planning. I can't afford a new lens, and I certainly can't even DREAM about replacing the low-end, aging Olympus with a more serious camera. My only digital camera is dying, and so my photography career dies with it.
Photography is for wealthy people -- or at least people who are making a profitable living. My girlfriend, a model who has recently been catching some serious good breaks, recently did a shoot in Seattle with somebody who has a $50,000 camera. That's unimaginable to me. I can't afford a modern, more serious camera; I can't even afford to replace the lens that just died. Photography is for the affluent, not the poor -- regardless of passion, and regardless of talent. Talent and passion can't buy you a new camera or replace a broken lens.
I could have been professional, but I needed a business partner. With my full-blown ADD, I needed somebody else to handle the task of promoting my work and contacting clients, magazines, ad agencies, and such to sell my work and commission shoots. It would have been lucrative for me and the business partner, but nobody saw the potential or cared enough. I guess nobody believed in me as much as I believed in myself -- and maybe they were right. So now, my photography career is dead before it really got started.
So I'll now wrap up the last shoots that are in the works, struggling through them with just the 14-45mm lens, and then I'll just put the lights away, dismantle the backdrop support and put it in the closet, and turn away. I just hope these last few shoots can be really outstanding, because I'd rather go out with a bang than a whimper.
I leave you with a few of my favorite shots from my career.
Thank you to all the models who worked with me. I am grateful for the opportunity to photograph you.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
The Small-Time Scam That Can Kill Photography
A note especially for models, but also for photographers:
The vast majority of serious, working professional photographers do not make their money by taking pictures; they make their money by selling the finished photo, by either (1) selling prints of the photo for use or display, or by (2) selling a license to usage rights which allow the photo to be used by another party -- magazines, ad agencies, book publishers, etc. Very little money is ever made from the act of taking photos; it's the sale of the finished product that makes it possible for people to make a living at photography. Without copyright laws to protect the rights of photographers to profit from their work, there would be no such thing as a professional photographer.
Here's how a lot of people make it impossible for photographers to make their living, and essentially rip the photographer off:
A photographer is hired to do some work -- senior portraits, wedding photos, whatever. The photographer shoots the photos for cheap (shooting rates for most photographers are far too low to make a living just by taking the photos). The photographer works with the client to select the final photos, and then he presents them with proofs. The photographer is at this point counting on the client to buy a bunch of prints so that he can stay in business, feed his family, pay bills, and just make his living. The photographer knows that many people who know the client will want prints, and the sale of those prints is where the money is made...
But the client purchases only one print of each photo they like from the photographer. The photographer winds up making no profit on it, or even losing money depending on his investment and how his rates are distributed.
The client takes those single prints to Costo and has Costco make a bunch of copies for less than a dollar each.
This is how professional photography gets killed.
Fortunately, all of the reputable, quality places that make prints of photos will tag any photos that look professional and will insist that the person making prints show a signed "permission to print" form. This way the printer not only makes sure that photography remains a career option, but -- more to their own interest -- makes sure that photographers don't sue the living fuck out of the printer for engaging in obvious copyright infringement.
So, to all models doing TF* shoots, if you want prints then you have to insist that you get the signed "permission to print" form from any photographer whose photos are worth printing. It's for their own protection that such forms are required, and any photographer who isn't a scumbag trying to trick you will be happy that you ask, because it shows you know how professional photography works, and you respect the rights of photographers to make a living.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Friday, August 07, 2009
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Available to shoot Friday, Aug. 7th, in my studio at 7PM. Contact me NOW if interested! See my updated shooting info: http://ping.fm/AsXTh
Just revised & updated my Model Mayhem profile. If you're a model, photog or MUA, have a look! http://ping.fm/IIUn4
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
DEEPLY digging the album preview for "The Incident"! http://ping.fm/29ET3 Holy crap I can't wait to hear it all!
Monday, August 03, 2009
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