Rangefinder Re-design

R R ANGEFINDER

JEREMY COWART GIVING THE GIFT OF PHOTOGRAPHY

ALWAYS FASHIONABLE LINDSAY ADLER

FUSION THE NEW WAVE OF PHOTOGRAPHY

THE BEST INVESTMENT SARAH PETTY

CONTENTS FEATURES // COLUMNS

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LINDSAY ADLER ALWAYS FASHIONABLE Martha Blanchfield

008 JEREMY COWART

FEATURES SARAH PETTY ALWAYS FASHIONABLE

HEART OF GOLD Tiana Kennell

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VANESSA JOY & ROB ADAMS

MR. & MRS. FUSION

Linda L. May

Martha Blanchfield

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046

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016 018 019 030 COLUMNS

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DIGITAL GURU TAKING THE SONY A77 FOR A SPIN John Rettie LEGAL LENS WHY ISN’T IT AN INFRINGEMENT? PART 2 Victor S. Perlman, Esq. DSLR VIDEO ACHIEVING CAMERA MOVEMENT WITH SLIDERS Ibarionex perello [ FIRST EXPOSURE ] ADOBE PHOTOSHOP TOUCH APPS Art P. Suwansang [ FIRST EXPOSURE ] PHASE ONE IQ180 DIGITAL BACK Stan Sholik [ FIRST EXPOSURE ] FOLIOLINK Stan Sholik BEHIND THE SHUTTER HOME-BASED LOCATION, BIG BUSINESS FEEL Sal Cincotta

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LETTER

FRO M T HE EDITOR

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In this Issue of Rangefinder, we begin to look deep into the true gift of photography. Understanding how important it is, it’s very useful for you as the reader to understand how Rangefinder’s monthly subscriptions are so useful. For instance, February is the wedding issue, March focuses on black and white photography, April on Commercial and Lighting, June is travel, July is Portrait, August is children, families and seniors, October is fine art, November is editorial/composition and design and December is images of the year. For this months issue, a professional Photographer, Jeremy Cowart is featured. After reading his story along with the other features, you’ll have no choice but to get excited for photography! What is so very important to understand is that Jeremy, and other photographers featured started somewhere, knowing their aspirations in life. This month’s issue is merely about you, we want you to understand how you can further advance your career as a photographer. That’s very important to us! We are taking a different turn in design elements, showing also, how that one image in the feature can and will immediately inspire someone to create. We believe by the different magazine design, that it not only shows off the images, but also it will contain more useful and beautiful design elements. I have lately understood that it’s not just about the photo; it’s about the photographer.

You are capturing that special moment in time that will be a memory to last forever. It’s up to you as a photographer to take charge, learn, achieve, and inspire to be the best of the best, and of course having as much fun as you can through the process. Here at Rangefinder, we want to encourage our readers that it’s your taste and your personality that we love to see so much through your photos. Have you noticed how each photographer gears towards a different style of photography? There are so many different styles and directions to go. This is all about you, and to help you grow as a photographer. In this month’s issue of Rangefinder, you will notice a lot of differences, but ones that will be very useful and genuinely pleasing to look at. Happy Shooting!

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By: Martha Blanchfield

“I love fashion photography because I can take any idea in my head and make it a reality,” shares Linsday Adler, an emerging NYC photographer whose fast-moving career has just kicked into overdrive in one of the photo industry’s most competitive genres.

“For me, fashion photography is a challenge that involves all aspects of intelligence and creativity—technical and photographic talent, collaboration and vision.”

The rising, young star counts two books, a string of successful workshops, educational DVDs, a growing roster of clients and more to her list of achievements. As of September 2011, the date she hit her first full year of operation with a midtown studio, Adler also added magazines such as Zink, Bullet, Fiasco, Chaos, Papercut, Sublime and Faint as clients, along with a host of private customers.

But fashion photography did not find Adler; she found it. Noting that she tried several other types of photography at the start, she reveals, “I first experimented with nature and photojournalism, but found those genres beset by too many rules that stifled creativity.”

She gave portraiture a try, then wedding photography, where she found an ability to inject more personal style and creative latitude.

Her work soon began including more and more high-style touches.

“I loved fusing concepts that are usually employed for pure fashion photography—such as defined styling, careful selection of backgrounds and locations, specific lighting, props, etc., in an effort to make bold and eye-catching photos for clients.” Adler soon found that aspects of fashion photography really spoke to her; that by bringing more fashion flair to her imagery she was able to go far beyond simply a basic headshot or portrait.

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During her high school years Adler was already earning an income (and building a client base) producing portraits of upperclassmen and shooting weddings. By the time she graduated from Syracuse University after studying political science, photography and entrepreneurship, she was nurturing a vibrant business in an enviable niche that created fashionable imagery, first for a burgeoning wedding and portrait clientele; expanding into editorial/commercial client work in New York City.

Despite her studio’s growing success, Adler took a leap of faith upon graduation and headed overseas for eight months. “I had studied abroad in Europe and felt invigorated by the history, culture and embrace of avant-garde fashion. I felt that it would be a great place to begin to really perfect my creative style,” she

explains. Europe and London afforded ample opportunity to refine a signature. Adler notes that the European fashion and publishing communities impose fewer restrictions on an artist. For example, when hired to shoot for publications she often had only to adhere to the overall editorial theme, thus being allowed to interpret the vision as she wished. She was able to experiment, train and build a portfolio rounded out with both private client work, plus an increasing array of commercial assignments from editions such Chic Today and Sublime.

“While overseas I continued to refine a body of work and grow comfortable with my style,” she says. “London is a great place to become a fashion photographer. While there I traveled a great deal and experienced different cultures which have influenced my experiences and imagery.” But Adler knows New York City is the number one fashion photography market in the world. “That city is really the place I knew I could grow and let my career take flight.” In less than two years after returning from Europe, Adler took the plunge and decided to shift her studio from her hometown of Binghamton, NY, to Manhattan.

But the move was not without careful planning. To her credit she had a strong base of private clients in her hometown, but all the while was making strategic moves in preparation for relocation.

“Fortunately I had been teaming with an influential stylist who helped pave the way for a significant number of assignments in the city.” The stylist, Lisa Smith Craig of 4 Season Style Management, was responsible for building the images of professional women athletes and asked Adler to produce portraiture that presented the WNBA ladies as athletes, professional businesspersons and strong, influential women.

“We would plan several different stylized looks to help express the varied aspects of each woman. I treated them like models, styling each in high-fashion clothing and brands, then creating images that exuded power and success.” In doing these sessions, Adler learned that fashion photographers don’t just make a living photographing clothing or jewelry, but also by creating fashioninfluenced portraiture. “Glance through the pages of Vogue and other fashion magazines and notice how many editorials don’t even contain models, but actors, performers and other influential individuals.

“Had I not nurtured that initial relationship with the stylist,” she continues, “things may have not precipitated as rapidly in my career.” To ensure success in the NYC photo industry, Adler definitely recommends putting oneself out there as much as possible, networking, connecting and exploring. “I also cannot stress enough the power of social media and using the Internet.

While there is no one right tactic or set of tactics to help reach specific objectives, I can definitely say that tools like Twitter and LinkedIn have been boons to my business. Finding and engaging with key targets via the Internet have been made far easier with tools like these.”

Continued Learning/Practice/Workshop With a growing roster of accounts and project assignments, this photographer knows that creating new work is essential. “I try to spend at least one day per week shooting purely for myself, where I practice and experiment. Your portfolio needs to grow.” To stay inspired, she seeks out things that influence, and she allows those references to seep in. She enjoys looking over other photographers’ imagery—both in galleries and online, and permits even the most incongruent things observed set her creativity down a new path.

From a crystal with its multi-faceted edges came a desire to create a set of multiple images.

“I want to keep learning so I challenge myself to invent new techniques. I recently discovered a film director who obscures his lens, and in doing so, produces a dreamy creative effect.” She points out that she purchased a variety of “tools” (usually just plastic or crystals) with which to experiment while trying to imitate the mood and feel of his effect. “These tools help add dimension and mystery to the image, and help me explore styles I have not explored.

Whether it’s a crystal, or certain unfamiliar lighting technique or even a new type of makeup application, I try to reach beyond my comfort zone and experiment in order to grow as an artist.”

Aside from a camera, Adler asserts that software is a strong creative mate. She feels that strong post-processing skills are essential to bringing her images to full potential. Photoshop is a creative necessity, and she advises photographers to truly learn the tool and understand its power.

In her upcoming WPPI workshop, “Creative Portrait and Retouching Techniques,” Adler promises to share numerous

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retouching tips and techniques while walking through many of her own images. She will demonstrate how retouching is essential to her creative process and how the software enhances one’s ability to express an idea. In the workshops she will touch on plug-ins, tools and techniques, including how to fake lens flare, make porcelain skin, add textures, utilize localized coloration and more.

Many of the items covered are touched upon in her recent book, Fashion Flair for Portraiture and Wedding Photography, recently named to Amazon.com’s Top Ten Books of 2011 list in the art photography category. “Mastering the tools a photographer has at hand is imperative for success, but keeping a strong focus on marketing and networking help make a talented photographer into a successful photographer,” she says.

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20 Percent on the Job An incessant marketer, Adler employs any and all means at her disposal, including routine postcard mailings, e-mail blasts, personal visits and a serious dose of AdBase targeting and outreach. She mixes and mingles at select parties, gallery events and industry events. Every month she updates with new work to show growth and evolution. “Even if I’m refreshing to show only images from personal experiment sessions, this grows the portfolio and gives potential clients the impression I remain active.” She also commits to blog posts—but reasonably only once a week. “While my portfolio is home to the best of my work, my blog is where I share current personal and professional projects. I can show outtakes from editorial, offer insight into my creative process and

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further express personality.”

To illustrate the importance of marketing, Adler calculated the amount of time spent pursuing work versus the amount of time actually spent producing work—either shooting or re-touching.

“I’d say on average 20 percent of my time goes to actually photographing for revenue (the actual clicking of the button and on shoot days). An additional 10 percent of time is spent retouching or archiving. Overall I estimate 30 to 40 per-cent of waking hours go to photo-related activities that include the shoot and retouch, gathering my creative team, researching, seeking inspiration.”

That leaves the balance of time dedicated to some sort of business marketing or business generating activities. “Obviously that’s a large chunk of my time, but I’m a workaholic and could spend 24 hours a day in this profession. I love what I do.”

While she acknowledges the necessity to perform rudimentary tasks such as portfolio update and postcard mailing, she’s adamant in pointing out a photographer’s demeanor can also contribute to landing an assignment. “Personality is almost as important as raw talent. I’ve found that being upbeat naturally attracts others. A client wants to hire someone whom they feel can get the job done, so exuding complete confidence is para-mount. How you make others feel about your work and being around you also bring huge bearing onto whether or not you may land the account.”

2012 and Beyond Adler spent 2011 focusing on building her brand and creative style, and worked on developing and refining her portfolio in order to help distinguish herself. In 2012 she plans to focus even more on the client. “Now that I have work I am confident in, I can strive even more to get it in front of clients. I will shoot spec campaigns, organize meetings and do my best to target bigger names. I am proud to have grown (creatively and monetarily) so much in just one year in Manhattan, but now I am in ‘game mode’. I am ready to really make my mark in the industry.”

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RU LG U

The rear of the dust and moisture resistant A77 body has nicely laid out buttons-except for the movie button which is slightly too far away unless you have a long thumb.

Last fall, Sony introduced a new model—the Alpha 77, or A77 as it is commonly called. It has a 24.3-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, which is the highest resolution camera with this size sensor on the market, at least when we went to press.

However, it’s not the sensor that’s the key upgrade in this model but the use of an OLED viewfinder in place of the LCD used in the A55. For those of you who don’t know, OLED (organic lightemitting diodes) displays are replacing small LCD (liquid crystal display) screens because they are more efficient and produce a much better looking display. The major improvement in its use as a viewfinder is the faster refresh rate.

When I review a camera I like to use it for a real photo shoot as it reveals so much more about a camera than just going out and shooting for the sake of shooting. Not that that’s not fun. It just so happened that the two photo assignments I had during the month I had the camera on loan were both indoor events, where I would, unfortunately, have no control over the lighting.

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By: J

It’s been almost 18 months since Sony introduced the Alpha 55, which was the first DSLR camera to use an electronic viewfinder in place of a traditional optical viewfinder. The camera featured a fixed translucent mirror, which introduced several benefits to photographers including continuous focusing when shooting video.

ohn Ret tie

A T I DIG

The first time I tested the camera was while covering the Essen Motor Show in Germany. I photograph a lot of auto shows and avoid using flash as much as possible. In the old days that meant using a tripod, which is fine when you can photograph the cars in a hall without visitors but it’s a luxury that’s not often available. Thanks to the incredible improvement in high ISO of today’s cameras shooting hand-held is perfectly doable.

It so happened that the only chance I had to shoot cars in Essen was on a Saturday when the show was very crowded. I set the ISO at 1600 and fired away. I immediately discovered one of the major advantages, as well as a minor disadvantage, of the OLED viewfinder—as soon as you put the camera up to your eye the OLED viewfinder turns on and you can frame your shot.

The advantage was that if I wanted to hold the camera up high to frame the shot using the rear

screen it was also immediately available as the camera defaults to the rear 920,000-dot LCD screen when you move it away from your eye.

You do not need to push a button and wait for the camera to lock the mirror. Even better, when you push the button the camera immediately fires the shutter; it does not have to wait while the mirror is dropped down for the lens to focus.

The minor disadvantage? After I’ve taken a shot at an auto show I like to immediately check the captured image. No problem; I just set the camera to provide a review. However, I found myself then being confused when I put the camera up to my eye for the next shot as the previous image was still displayed until I touched the shutter button.

It was a minor disadvantage in this situation shooting static objects but a major annoyance shooting action, as I found out the next day.

I had to hit the review button if I wanted to see the shot. It would be good if this image

I cannot justify the cost of switching since I would have to buy new lenses to replace the

could be turned off automatically when you put the camera up to your eye instead of having to touch the shutter button. Another optional setting would be for the shot you’ve just taken to only show up on the rear screen while the eyepiece only displays the live view.

current ones I use with camera bodies from other manufacturers.

The other tremendous advantage of the A77 is the immediate ability to shoot video by just pushing the video shutter button.

However, the video shutter button poorly placed as it is just out of thumb’s reach and I kept on pushing the AEL button instead. I had to take the camera away from my eye to see where to put my finger to fire the video shutter—not good.

Sony’s A77 is a secondgeneration DSLR with translucent mirror. In kit form it includes a new 16-

I went from shooting cars in an exhibition hall to shooting race cars on a temporary race track constructed in a giant football stadium in Dusseldorf, where I was covering the annual Race of Champions. To the human eye the stadium was well lit so I was a little horrified to discover that even at ISO 1600 there was only enough light to use a shutter speed of 1/320 at f/4. The most frustrating thing was that I only had the use of a 16-50mm lens when I really needed a longer lens to get good action shots.

Aside from the lack of light and the lack of a long enough telephoto lens I found the camera to my liking. The 10 fps frame rate is impressive, even when shooting RAW and JPEG as I did most of the time. This time I turned off the automatic image review. Talk about confusing your brain! Of course then

The rear LCD screen is very flexible: it can be rotated 180 degrees and also moved away from the body and turned around for selfportraits or putting yourself in a situation for video capture. Again this is a feature every DSLR should have for professional users. I was impressed with the A55 when I tried it last year.

I know many photographers will disagree with me but I believe the A77 foreshadows the future of professional DSLRs from all manufacturers.

Eliminating the flipping mirror is a distinct benefit as it allows for improvements in usability in so many situations. I haven’t even begun to discuss the other features such as the ability to automatically make panoramic pictures and the ability to shoot multi frames so quickly that it delivers built-in HDR that is as good as the ones you get from the iPhone 4.

The Hand-held Twilight setting is pretty impressive. The camera takes six shots at different settings and then combines them into one reducing noise and blur at the same time. Amazingly it works very effectively.

As the cost of an OLED display comes down and the quality improves it will soon be less expensive than a mirror mechanism. Ironically that might mean camera makers such as Canon and Nikon will introduce their versions of fixed-mirror DSLRs in lower end, or at least mid-range, bodies first.

My only complaint then was the refresh rate of the LCD eye-level viewfinder as well as its so-so resolution. The OLED viewfinder in the A77 overcomes both these shortcomings and is just as good as an optical viewfinder in well-lit scenes and actually better in poorly lit situations.

Overall the camera offers so many advantages over a traditional DSLR that I can highly recommend it. I would seriously consider buying one myself. My only problem, like that of so many others, is that

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LL EN S

A LEG

Last month, I wrote about one of the reasons why people can sometimes come close to duplicating another photographer’s image without actually infringing that photographer’s copyright. The basis for that result was that not all of the elements in an image are copyrightable and that nobody can have copyright protection for an idea or concept. At the end of that article, I said that I would discuss the related subject of “substantial similarity” in a later column. Well, it is now a month later, so here we go. To prove that one photograph is an infringement of another, one of the things that the copyright owner needs to show is that the infringer actually copied the original photograph. In most cases, it is almost impossible to establish that through direct proof, so courts presume that copying took place when the person accused of infringing had access to the first photograph and the allegedly infringing photograph bears a substantial similarity to the original. Before getting to substantial similarity, let’s dispose of the issue of access.

Publication, after all, means that the work has been made available to the public. Even unpublished images can be shown to have been subject to an alleged infringer’s access.

For example, let’s say that you sent your unpublished photo that you created and sent to an ad agency as part of a proposal, but you did not get hired. Now, let’s get to substantial similarity. The test for determining substantial

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I’VE BEEN R I P P E D OFF WHY ISN’T IT AN INFRINGEMENT? PART 2 By: Victor S Perlman, Esq.

similarity is based on the “total concept and feel” of the work. Although “substantial similarity” consists of only two words, it actually represents three requirements: There has to be a similarity, The similarity has to be substantial, The substantial similarity has to be found between the allegedly infringing image and those elements of the allegedly infringed work that are copyrightable. We know from last month that some elements of photographs, such as ideas and concepts, are not copyrightable and that sometimes the idea and any photographic expression of that idea are so intrinsically connected that there must always be similarities between photographs expressing that concept. To make all of this a bit more concrete, let’s look at a case that was decided a number of years ago. New Orleans photographer Louis Sahuc made an iconic black-and-white photograph of Jackson Square in the French Quarter

shrouded in fog (http://www.louissahuc.com/ gallery/main.php). He displayed and sold both fine arts prints and posters of it in his studio in the Quarter. Another photographer named Lee Tucker saw the photo, bought one of the posters, and was apparently inspired by it. He created a color photograph of Jackson Square heavily shrouded in fog. To my eyes, the photographs look very similar (http:// www.leetuckerart.com/catalog/product_info. php? cPath=1&products_id=27 The court agreed with me, but only sort of: It ruled that, the similarities were in the concept, not in the execution. That is, any substantial similarities arose because both images were photographs of Jackson Square in the fog.

That concept is not copyrightable. Those elements that were original, and therefore copyrightable, were things like the framing and focus, and the court found no substantial similarity in those elements. This problem of

being able to show substantial similarity, but only in uncopyrightable elements, is particularly acute when dealing with scenes that already exist, like Jackson Square in the fog. These difficulties are similar to proving infringement of books or articles written about facts, as opposed to fiction.

All copyrighted works that are alleged to be infringed, whether based in fact or imagination, face the challenge of proving that the copy is of original elements, not just the concept. However, photographs that document existing things and situations are more likely to run into the problem of merger (i.e. that there are only very limited ways in which the concept could be expressed) than photographs of staged scenes. For this reason, the copyrights to works like factual or scientific articles are often referred to as “thin.” That is shorthand for saying that the aspects of the work that are protectable by copyright are very limited. Leading legal scholars have, for many years, found this area of the Copyright Act to be extremely confusing and difficult to navigate. For example, to keep this column as simple and close to comprehensible as possible, I haven’t even mentioned the fact that there are actually two substantial similarity analyses that are made at different stages of an infringement case or that those two analyses are somewhat different from each other. As I said, this is tough stuff. The good news is that you only need a cursory understanding of this. The hard part falls into the laps of the lawyers.

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ACHIEVING CAMERA MOVEMENT WITH SLIDERS By: Ibarionex Perello

Introducing camera movement can be an excellent way to improve the production values of your video with HDSLRs. Having the camera moving while shooting provides a visually dynamic alternative to a camera being rooted in place on a tripod. Often referred to as a “dolly movement” in the motion picture industry, the motion of the camera has been traditionally achieved using a rail-based dolly system, which consists of a dual track on which a tripod or cart moves. It can be pushed to follow a moving subject or simply create a sense of motion and energy in an otherwise static scene such as a landscape. However, such units are usually prohibitively large and expensive for filmmakers using HDSLRs.

Hence manufacturers have designed and produced relatively compact slider systems ideally suited for use with these smaller cameras. The design often revolves around a single or dual rail system on which a platform rides up and down its length.

The rail system can be secured to a tripod or even a light stand via standard screw holes, a quick release plate or a custom machined piece. The sliding platform can often accommodate a fluid tripod head (an optional accessory), which provides the means to pan and tilt the camera itself, while the entire kit moves down the length of the rail during recording. Though there are some simple and inexpensive units available that use skateboard-style wheels

along a rail system, the smoothest and more precise movements are achieved with a design that incorporates bearings. The smoothness of the movement is important because even the slightest jarring of the camera can become significantly magnified on the recording. The bearing system also provides for a smooth and clean beginning and ending of the motion, as the initiation and the termination of the camera movement is most often the time when you are facing the greatest risk of camera shake.

The lengths of these sliders can be as short as 3 feet, but don’t let such short distances fool you. Though there are sliders available at lengths of 5 feet and longer, effective movements can be achieved even with short rail lengths. One of the ways to do this is by having a fixed foreground element included in the frame along with your subject. Though your subject may remain relatively static within the composition, the position of the foreground element will change dramatically as the slider and its mounted camera moves right to left or left to right. So, even if your subject is sitting at a table or speaking on the phone, the motion of the camera create a fluid change of perspective. It can also be used in combination with wrack focusing

to bring attention to an important element in the scene such as a bouquet of flowers.

Depending on the design of the slider, you may also be able to move the camera in a vertical direction or even as an inexpensive camera rig. Each of the following models provide a good combination of value and quality as well as adaptability. The Glidetrack SD Hybrid Slider ($404.53) is designed around industrial grade rail made of anodized aluminum. It achieves a smooth movement through the use of Igus® Hybrid bearings and self-lubricating liners, which is made up of both sliding and rolling bearings.

The 3-meter slider weighs just 3.7 pounds.

Shorter lengths of 0.75 and 0.50 meters are also available. (www.glidetrack.com) The Cinevate Atlas 10 LTS DSLR Camera Slider ($629.98) uses a full ball-bearing linear tracking system. It is constructed using steel/aluminum construction with a black satin anodized finish. It supports up to a maximum of 40 pounds and can be easily center-mounted using a tripod plate. It features micro adjustable non-marking feet allowing for secure placement on uneven terrain or when positioned vertically against a wall.

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JEREMY COWART

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By: Tiana Kennell

“I was always pretty hard on myself and never expected much,” says Jeremy Cowart in his signature southern drawl. “Things have always exceeded what I expected. I thought I wouldn’t be a freelancer until I was 40, but that happened by the age of 22.”

Nashville native (and current Los Angeles resident) Jeremy Cowart, 34, has taken his penchant for country grammar to pretty much any place one can imagine.

He has toured with international pop-stars, created national ad campaigns and provided relief for the less fortunate, all with his camera, driven spirit and big heart. And this February he will be convening in Las Vegas, with photographers from all over the world, to grace the stage at WPPI 2012 with his riveting tales and invaluable information on what it takes to use photography for philanthropy.

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PHOTOGRAPHY W IT H THE STARS

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It has been a mere six years since Cowart assumed the title of professional photographer, but art has been his calling since childhood. His focus on painting during his teen years led him to attend college for graphic design; post-graduation he established a career as a freelance graphic designer for several top recording labels. After some time of having to use other’s pictures for his design, he decided to add photography to his résumé.

Photography has led Cowart to opportunities he never imagined with a wide-range of top corporations and celebrities. He has worked extensively with CMT cable network, Sony records, People magazine and more. He toured for three months with Britney Spears and has had photo shoots with countless other celebs including Kristin Chenoweth, Ron Artest, Stan Lee, and, of course, his hometown pal Taylor Swift Cowart has a job that can be quite challenging, yet admittedly comes with its perks. Flip through Cowart’s galleries on his Web site, http://jeremycowart.com/, and it’ll be easy to find images of your favorite actor, athlete, musician or television show.

“Everyday is Christmas,” says Cowart. “I love waking up not knowing what is next, where I’m going to go next or who I’m going to meet next. It’s always a surprise.”

The biggest perk of all for Cowart is being able to share his career with his family. He says his wife of 12 years, Shannon (who is also his producer) and his children Adler, 5, and Eisley, 4, are his inspiration.

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THE worth of a

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ot all of the jobs are filled with glitz and glamour. Cowart stays grounded through his personal work. In 2009, one of his personal projects of “environmental portraits” led to the establishment of the thriving non-profit organization Help-Portrait, which focuses on giving people something that many have never had: a picture.

He planned the event and it received outstanding feedback. “Once I saw other photographers respond to that idea I knew it could be a much bigger event,” says Cowart. “I spent a whole year planning and assembling a team to help me. By 2009 when we launched the idea it really took off around the world.”

“It’s a one-day global event where photographers give to people in need,” explains Cowart. Set up in various locations in more than 50 countries, free services are provided to anyone who comes in.

Volunteers are made up of photographers, makeup artists, hair stylists and more who offer their services for a day of pampering and beauty (inside and out). The photos are taken, edited and later delivered to the recipients.

The testimonials from the participants are numerous and many are heart wrenching, such as a woman from Nashville that Cowart is likely to never forget. The woman told the Help-Portrait volunteers that the scars they saw were from her abusive father pouring acid on her face when she was a child.

Cowart says the idea came to him during a holiday season. “I wanted to give to people in need and my gift has always been my eye and my camera,” he says.

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“She’d always wondered what she’d look like without the scars on her face,” says Cowart.

“At the age of 30-something she came to our event and we were able to help with her hair and makeup enough where she was able to see what she would look like without the scars.”

After her session, the woman left with a photograph and an experience she would always cherish.

“It was a very, very powerful experience,” says Cowart. “Everybody was pretty much in tears.

“At Help-Portrait we are just trying to encourage people to use their gift to help the people around them,” he continues, “by showing them they are beautiful and giving them a sense of dignity and pride in themselves.”

Another memorable shoot Cowart recalls was from one of his journeys to Africa. “I photographed a genocide survivor standing with the person who killed their family, someone who they had reconciled with,” he says. “It was a very intense and powerful project.” (The gallery is currently exhibited on CNN.com.)

“I believe we are supposed to use our gifts to help people,” he says. “It’s just a part of what I do and it always will be.”

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USE

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KNOWING ONES PLACE \\28 IN THE WORLD //

It is near impossible to not be moved

by Cowart’s photographs and personal stories. In such a short time he has had experiences that could never be recreated. Fortunately, WPPI conventioneers will hear the lessons and found wisdom directly from Cowart’s mouth. What people will also realize is that experience has humbled Jeremy Cowart.

“I know that I’m not that great. There are hundreds and hundreds of people better than me,” he says. “I know who else is out there and how much further I have to go.

To think I’m the best photographer in the world is a silly thing.

“As long as I am personally growing and achieving my goals and providing for my family, then I am perfectly content.”

He admits to not having a “secret key to success”, saying that it took “a lot of focus, a lot of drive and a lot of luck” to make it. However, he does believe he can offer lessons from which anyone from any photography background can learn.

He attempts to heed his own advice by finding ways to evolve his art creatively, shooting actively and often, avoiding reading the same blogs, and being careful not to spend too much time distracted on social media sites.

Cowart says he plans to speak at WPPI on his “experiences in Haiti and Rwanda, Help-Portrait and the benefits of thinking of people other than yourself.”

Further guidance on the details of how he perfects his craft is available in his four-hour instructional DVD called LifeFinder. Cowart describes it as a collage of seven photo shoots and a look at his creative process. It also includes a 30-minute documentary on his time in Haiti after the devastating earthquake in 2010.

Also available for purchase are three books of photographs that were each done in collaboration with non-profit organizations. They include photos from Cowart’s travels to more than 20 different countries.

Despite the fact that he’s been to so many places all over the world already, Cowart says he is excited about attending WPPI 2012 in Las Vegas. “I love going to the conference and learning from the different photographers,” he says. “The learning and the friendships are the two things I’ve developed from WPPI.”

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CONTENTS How has multi-touch technology in devices like your cell phone or tablet computer changed the way you interact with computers?

Unquestionably, most of us have experienced multi-touch technology in some capacity since it’s taken over as the mainstream input method for mobile devices. We may not have given it too much thought, but it has greatly transformed the way we view and interact with our images in the past few years. Suddenly, the use of a mouse and keyboard to view, zoom and pan our images seems less intuitive when compared to using our fingers to perform such tasks.

Nav integrates with Photoshop, allowing users to customize toolbars and switch active documents from the touch device. Adobe Color Lava is a painter color palette that allows for mixing and creating harmonious color schemes at the point of inspiration. Adobe Eazel, a painter’s app, is used for sketching ideas and recording inspiration onthe-go for later completion in Photoshop.

BY: ART P.

SUW A NS A NG

pixels with a simple tap on the tablet screen.

ADOBE NAV

Soon, touch technology will change the way you edit and enhance your images too. Companies such as Adobe have already devised new design ideas in touch technology to extend the functionality and creative environment of the desktop application. Adobe, the front-runner in the digital revolution, continues to exert its ingenuity in this cutting-edge realm with the new Adobe Photoshop Touch Apps. And this is only the beginning.

Now that you have a brief overview of the apps, let’s look at them a bit more in depth starting with Adobe Nav. This app was designed to turn your touch tablet device into a Photoshop tool and navigation companion. Nav allows you to select and arrange the tools you use most in Photoshop (fig. 01A) and put them on a grid in the app, enabling easy access to these tools without having to move your cursor across the screen or remembering all of the shortcut keys. To access any of these tools, just tap its icon on the tablet screen and the corresponding tool will activate in Photoshop—it’s that easy.

The Touch Apps Suite incorporates three separate applications—Adobe Nav ($1.99), Color Lava ($2.99) and Eazel ($4.99)—which are designed to work interdependently with 30 Adobe Photoshop on your computer. Adobe

The app also allows you to swap the background and foreground color, including a reset back to default; cycle through the various screen modes; and zoom the active document toward actual

It also has a built-in document browser to view all open documents. This feature makes switching active documents very easy because you can see the document thumbnail on the tablet. A pinch zoom gesture on the thumbnail enlarges it to fill the tablet screen, making it easier to view a graphical representation of the document. A double tap will flip the thumbnail from the image view to a document info view that provides you with information such as file size, pixel dimension, document size and resolution, to name a few. In many instances, if you use this app along with a Wacom tablet, you can pretty much set the keyboard and mouse aside for the majority of the editing session.

Adobe Color Lava The next app in this suite is Adobe Color Lava, a digitized color mixer similar to a painter’s color palette. It enables you to use your fingers to mix and blend color on an empty palette to create a wide variety of shade, tint and hue combinations. This app treats your input in a similar fashion to a brush, with many of its characteristics. Aside from being able to lay down any color on the canvas, there’s also a built-in water well that you can tap, to virtually wet the brush for color blending or clean the brush from color contaminants. The app allows you to create multiple swatch sets of five colors each. Then, when you’re back at the computer, simply link the app to Photoshop, tap the color you want and the corresponding color will show up as the foreground color in the Photoshop toolbar swatch.

This app is very similar to Adobe Kuler (http:// kuler.adobe.com), an online color scheme creation Web site. Though similar in context, Color Lava gives you the ability to create and mix exact color schemes at the point of inception. This eliminates the need for you to memorize colors for later usage, especially

since often the color you see and the one you remember are different. Best of all, the interplay of colors as you blend with your fingers can result in an accidental discovery of new colors, shades or tints that work to further enhance your project.

The final element that seals the deal is the ability to create and store multiple color schemes for later use, so when new inspiration comes, you are ready to review or mix a new set of colors.

Adobe Eazel The third app in the suite is Adobe Eazel, a blank slate for creative infusion. Eazel was created based on the idea that your creative inspiration comes to you in places other than the office or in front of the computer. Here is simply a blank canvas waiting to tell an exciting story with your vision. The brush tool within this app behaves very similarly to a watercolor brush, where one brush stroke can blend and bleed into another, resulting in a fusion of colors. Users can control the color, size and opacity of the brush with a simple slide of the finger, up or down, on the corresponding control icons.

Since Eazel is more of a painting program, I consulted with a friend of mine who is a traditional artist and painter to better understand the application, and collaboratively, we found some interesting facts that will help you with mastery of technique. For instance, the use of a stylus input device for painting is highly advisable. The stylus enables greater control when painting over tight areas and

fine lines; since our fingers can vary in size and shape, app response does as well. Hovering fingers can cause accidental brush applications, which are very difficult to correct. The app only allows the last brush application to be undone— no history states here as in Photoshop, so monitor your brush strokes constantly.

Eazel is not necessarily an app created directly for photography, however, with some creativity it can augment photography and transform it into a mixed-media art form. Use it to construct a new background for an image, changing a pure photograph into an illustration piece that can be used for advertising, on a Web page or simply to satisfy a creative drive (opposite page, top). Best of all, Eazel allows you to create, paint, sketch or illustrate wherever you are with a simple touch, untethering you from the constraints of being in front of the computer.

Here We Go These apps are only just the beginning of the touch revolution. They were created to extend the capability and function of their desktop software counterpart. Touch apps represent a step in the right direction, if not a bridge, to acclimate you to the idea of using touch input for content creation. In all, these apps represent a new kind of tactile interaction that we haven’t had with digital thus far. Surely as apps mature, they will help return to us the personal touch of analog photography from years past.

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PHASE ONE

IQ180

Phase One has taken a lot of negative criticism from reviewers in the past for the simple, four-button interface with minimal controls on its digital backs. I have been in the minority of those who supported the concept, being more concerned with the photographic process of composing and capturing images than the need to navigate through menus to select options that can be adjusted in processing software for mediumformat digital backs. I have also been in the minority that has criticized the Leaf touch screens for their lack of resolution, a sacrifice made to provide touch screen controls.

So, when I was asked to review the new Phase One IQ180, with “improved menu structure” and a touch screen, I was pretty much prejudiced against it before I even saw it. Turns out I was completely wrong.

The IQ180 is the highest resolution of the latest series of Phase One digital backs.

With 80 megapixels resolution, it is joined by the 60.5-megapixel IQ160 and the 40-megapixel IQ140. Those 80 megapixels deliver a 10’328 x 7760-pixel image, which translates to a 34.4 x 25.9-inch image at 300

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I shot with it as much as possible in the studio and on location. The first thing I learned was that hand holding it on a Phase One camera, even with a 55mm lens and a high shutter speed, defeats the purpose of all that resolution. The system requires a solid tripod or studio stand to deliver the sharpness of which it is capable.

By: Stan Sholik dpi. We’re talking about the ability to create really huge images with the IQ180.

But interestingly, while all this resolution is impressive, what makes the IQ180, and I assume the other two IQ backs, so special are the “improved menu structure” and the touch screen. The four “classic” buttons remain on the back, but they surround a 3.2-inch touch screen with 1.15-megapixel resolution, a full inch larger screen than the P-series backs and with five times as many pixels. This isn’t a Leaf touch screen for sure.

the captured image looks on the screen. It is possible to set the arrangement of the capture screen to your personal taste. I left the default, which is a display of the image to the left, with its histogram, highlight/ shadow warnings and focus areas displays stacked to the right. Double-tapping the image enlarges it to 100% at the place where you double-tapped. Using a finger, you can drag the image around at 100%. Double tap again and you return to the previous screen.

The IQ180 touch screen is a closer relative to an Apple touch screen than anything else. It only took a few minutes for me to be converted from buttons to touch screen.

Menu items scroll with a swipe of your finger up or down. A single tap selects a menu option. A “house” icon immediately takes you back to the home screen.

Responsiveness is amazing.

But you aren’t limited to just 6% “fit to screen” or 100% resolution. Touching the left edge of the screen brings up a slider bar that allows you to adjust the image continuously from 4% to 100%. I found this far more useful and accurate than the “pinching out” control to enlarge an image on my iPad. As good and as useful as the new screen is, it is still somewhat difficult to see in full sunlight, although it is better than the P-series backs and far better than the Leaf backs.

What is even more amazing is how good

The IQ180 is such a pleasure to use that

Equally impressive is the speed that the RAW image appears in Capture One software.

In my captures, I created uncompressed RAW images that varied from about 70 MB to 90MB, yet they appeared in the Capture One software faster than the RAW images from a Nikon D3x. A lot of this has to do with the USB 2.0 interface in the D3x versus the FireWire interface in the IQ180, but the result is impressive nonetheless. The IQ180 also incorporates a USB 3.0 interface that should be even faster, but my back lacked the firmware upgrade to make the USB 3.0 interface functional. Equally impressive is the speed that the image transfers from Capture One software to an iPad running the Capture Pilot app. This allowed my model to “interact” during the photo session by watching the iPad, and would also allow clients to follow the creation of an image without gathering around my imaging computer.

Capture speed for photographers used to shooting with digital SLRs isn’t impressive at one capture every 1.4 seconds. This improves to one capture every 1.1 seconds using the reduced resolution 20-megapixel Sensor+ setting. But the IQ180 is a tool that requires more of a view camera approach to imaging than a D3s/EOS-1D Mark IV approach. Shooting still lifes in the studio and landscapes on location, I found a slight

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More information is available on the Phase One Web site, www.phaseone.com.

improvement in image quality by locking the mirror up on the Phase One camera prior to making the capture, and capture rate becomes meaningless for those situations.

Even shooting a model in the studio I didn’t feel slowed down by the capture rate of the full resolution image.

To be honest, there is little to dislike about the IQ180. I personally would trade the Sensor+ feature, which limits the longest exposure to 2 minutes, for an exposure time of 30+ minutes. And I would be certain to label the FireWire cable so I would know which end should be “up” when I insert it into the back. But it’s nearly impossible for me to find

fault with the design or performance of the IQ180 that I tested. And the image quality is truly spectacular. The unfortunate thing about the IQ180 is that, like an Aston Martin or Ferrari, it will mainly be experienced by users with more money than ability to make use of its potential. Yes, a few successful fine art photographers and top commercial

photographers will be able to justify the $44,000 cost of the IQ180 back. For the rest of the photographic community, the Phase One IQ180 stands as an embodiment of the current state of the art in digital capture and a significant step forward for Phase One in digital imaging.

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By: Linda L. May

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definition of “fusion,” according to Webster’s New World Dictionary, is the “melting together or blending of two different things or mediums.” That is just what Vanessa Joy and Rob Adams, owners of Vanessa Joy Photography and Rob Adams Films, respectively, have done. Located in Freehold, NJ, she shoots still wedding photography and he is a filmmaker, specializing in weddings. They fused their photography crafts, skills and talents together and came up with an innovative way to stand out from the crowd while increasing overall sales in the process.

Now, they are teaching what they have learned, so other photographers may benefit by trying something new.

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At WPPI 2012 in Las Vegas this coming February, Vanessa and Rob will be teaching a Platform Class titled, “Photo and Video Fusion,” showing photographers how to incorporate video into their still wedding coverage and create a new product.

The 3- to 4-second video clips mixed in with the still images in a slide show were first created to show potential clients the benefits of hiring both Vanessa and Rob for their weddings. But now, every couple

gets a fusion slide show with video clips, set to music.

“Most photographers have a great video function in their digital cameras, that they rarely, if ever, use,” Rob explains. “My part of the program teaches photographers how to use the video function effectively. I walk them through some basic techniques and show them how to shoot high quality, polished video clips. These short video clips are meant to be incorporated into a slide show. Ours are a hit with our clients. Many photographers feel intimidated by video, so they don’t bother to try it. However, it’s much easier than they think.”

Vanessa adds, “Photographers already possess the necessary information and skills from shooting still photography. They already know about exposure, composition, lighting techniques and what makes a great image, so all they have to do is apply that knowledge to video. Photographers often know a lot more about the art of cinema than many video shooters do; they just haven’t experimented with it yet. That’s what our class is all about.”

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For their fusion products, the pair relies heavily on

FUSION “MELTING TOGETHER OR BLENDING OF TWO DIFFERENT THINGS OF MEDIUMS.”

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Animoto (www.animoto.com), an online slideshow builder, which allows them to upload both the still images and the video clips. The program then mixes the two mediums together according to the instructions given. The result is a 3- to 4-minute slide show set to music, with the photos and video clips playing together. The video clips are meant to enhance the images, not out shine them. Since they have fused their two mediums, providing the rare offering of stills and cinematography at the same location, Vanessa Joy and Rob Adams have seen an increase in revenues and at least 50 percent of their clients book them for both services. They offer a onestop shopping experience, while maintaining a highend, boutique studio. However, they each continue to shoot weddings alone for those clients who don’t want both services, or have already booked another vendor.

Neither photographer ever shoots totally alone, because they both work with a staff of assistants

and second shooters. Rob’s regular crew includes Nino Gallego, who is his second shooter and Leah Peticolas, who acts as his assistant and also as a third shooter. Leah also is in charge of the audio and makes sure the appropriate people are mic’ed and that the sound is rich and clear. Kyleigh Dooley, is Vanessa’s regular assistant. Kyleigh carries bags, runs errands and assists any way she can during the event and also posts images on Facebook. Kyleigh, uploads the images to the client’s online gallery and creates an Animoto slideshow from the favorite photos of the day.

John DeFiora is Vanessa’s primary second shooter.

Both photographers also hire part-time, freelancers when the jobs demand extra assistants and shooters.

Canon cameras and lenses are their favorite. They own and use all prime lenses that Canon has to offer.

Rob uses multiple Canon 5D Mark II cameras, while Vanessa uses the Canon 1D Mark IV. When possible, they both prefer natural light and only use extra

strobes, video lights and reflectors at the reception and to fill in shadow areas. Vanessa comes from a long photographic background because her mother, Marjorie Scavone, was a professional wedding and portrait photographer. At age 4, her mother bought Vanessa her first starter camera to play with. By age 14, she had graduated to a Canon A-1 SLR, and was taking pictures of her friends and family; processing the film and printing the pictures herself. In high school, Vanessa took an elective photography class, and her future photography career began, although she didn’t know it at that time. Her photography education continued through high school and afterwards she shot weddings for her former instructor, who also had a wedding photography business. Her education expanded when she was handed a Canon 10D camera in 2002, and made the switch from film to digital.

Photography was always in her life will attending Brookdale Community College, where she earned four

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“ But by 2009, the romance had blossomed and brown way past friendship. �

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Associate degrees, in Music, Social Sciences, Modern Language and Photography. Later, she earned a BA degree in Spanish and Education from Monmouth University, so she has a well-rounded education, which helps her in her photography business. In 2008, Vanessa Joy opened her studio, specializing in wedding photography.

Rob has been interested in visual arts since childhood.

When he first entered college, he took art classes, but soon realized that was not for him. In the transition, he discovered radio and television broadcasting and filmmaking and ended up earning a BA degree in Radio/Television Communications. For a few years, Rob worked as a TV producer, a production coordinator and was even an on-air radio talent for a while. However, his career in cinematography began quite by accident.

“At the time, I was living on the cheap in Manhattan and needed to find a way to supplement my income. I went to a wedding with a DJ friend to check out that job. But, while I was there, I began watching the guy shooting the video for the event. It occurred to me that I could do that job and probably better than him.

So, later in the evening, I started picking his brain about his profession and how much he made. When he told me he made $1200 per wedding, my interest was piqued. Back then, that was more than I earned in two weeks on my day job. So, I began shooting wedding videos part time. Soon, that part-time job ballooned into a full-time occupation, so I quit my day job and opened my own business in 2006,” Rob says.

In 2005, before either of them opened their businesses, Vanessa and Rob became fast friends after meeting on an assignment. However, they did not start dating immediately because they felt their relationship should remain strictly professional. But by 2009, the romance had blossomed and grown way past friendship. They married and fused their lives and careers together along with sharing a tiny

Pekingese dog named Tico.

The future for these New Jersey image-makers looks upbeat and promising. Since they have only just begun their photography careers, the sky is the limit. They plan to continue building their businesses and doing more destination weddings, because they both love traveling.

Teaching additional workshops and classes around the nation is also on their agenda for the future.

Collectively, they have also solved one of the biggest fears that photographers have about shooting video, the editing process.

By creating a special Photoshop script that can be used to edit their video clips, they took the fear out of video editing, making it simple and easy. For more information on this product, PhVusion Effects, and their upcoming workshops and appearances, visit their Web site, www.PhVusion.com.

“When you’re shooting video with a DSLR, there’s nothing automatic about it. You have to shoot on manual and there’s no auto focus feature either. However, photographers already know how to make the necessary compensations to shoot video, so crossingover is much easier than many think,” Rob says.

“Don’t be afraid of your digital camera’s video function. It’s there to learn and use because in a few years you won’t have a choice. As the photo industry progresses and technology improves, combining the two mediums will become more commonplace. Photographers who don’t know how to shoot video will be left behind. That’s why we teach Fusion, to prepare photographers for the future,” Rob concludes.

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FOLIOLINK

By: Stan Sholik

Run a Google search of “Web designers” and you’ll be inundated with a slew of choices. There’s a lot of competition in the marketplace to create an effective Web site for your photo brand—from independent contractors to template-based sites.

A few years ago I created my first Web portfolio site with Adobe GoLive 4.0. It wasn’t a badly designed site for a novice, but I started noticing Web sites were getting much more sophisticated, and companies were allowing you to manage your site 24/7 for fairly reasonable fees. I started researching these companies to see what they had to offer.

During my investigation I ran across FolioLink, a company that has self- managed Flash and HTML Web portfolio designs. Their Flash designs also generate an HTML Web site for viewers without the Flash application and for search engine visibility—the best of both worlds. I recently changed my Web site portfolio to FolioLink’s new Los Angeles Flash portfolio template. The design scales images to fit any monitor size, allowing you to showcase huge images;

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a 6 x 6 Rollei or digital camera strung around his neck.

He enjoys nothing more than looking at his clients’ work. Raul says, “The FolioLink service was designed to allow artists and photographers creative freedom.

Virtually all Web portfolios can be managed by our photographers/artists on a 24/7 basis. Free technical support is available.”

making changes to the site in the XML code is quite simple.

Flash sites are available with FolioLinks’s Premium and Pro accounts. HTML designs are available to all account levels.

The only problem I have had with FolioLink in over five years is that once their service was down for a few days However none of my site information was lost.

Setting Up Your Web site Raul Jarquin, President of FolioLink, is an avid fine art photographer who is seen most days walking into work with

A FolioLink Web portfolio is easy to use, with all the information you require to create your new site, with little or no technical expertise. To begin, gather all your JPEG images (at the specs specified by FolioLink), text/portfolio information and a browser.

Implementation is easy. You are also able to change to a new or different Web site portfolio design at any time–FolioLink completely redesigns your Web site in seconds at no added cost! All photo and text information is incorporated into a new Web portfolio design automatically. I like the flyaway effect of images I use with my portfolios—you click on a portfolio image and on either side of this image on the monitor are the before and after images in your portfolio–more transparent but recognizable. It has been an excellent tool for marketing my fine art prints and stock photography.

Image Archive and E-Commerce You can complement your Web site portfolio with an Image Archive. The service is designed to organize, display and market your images. This searchable stock photography site is available for thousands of images. It also includes options to sell prints, offer online proofing, showcase videos, deliver large files and create an online catalog of work.

Video Videos up to 2MB can be displayed on the Web portfolios.

Larger video files can be displayed on the Pro Account.

Your videos can easily become a video archive with full permission management capabilities. The iPad and iPhone companion sites will support MP4 videos.

Security and Search FolioLink Photography Web sites are hosted in a stateof-the-art secure server farm, with uninterruptible, AC and DC power, with a Tier 1 IP network and a worldclass transport network with fast peering to international networks. The hosting service includes multilayer physical security control with video surveillance.

Hardware and software investments are kept current providing reliable accessibility and speed.

More information is available at www.foliolink.com Paul Slaughter is a world-traveled photographer and writer, residing in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He specializes in location, stock, and fine art photography. An avid jazz lover, he has an extensive photo collection of the jazz greats. His new book, Paul Slaughter/Jazz Photographs 19692010, is now available. Preview a copy at www.blurb.com. You can also view portfolios of Paul’s work at www.slaughterphoto.com.

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BY: SAL CINCOTTA

Not too long ago, I wrote a piece that discussed the pros and cons of working out of your home vs. opening a brick and mortar studio. There are, without a doubt, benefits to both. However, that article generated a lot of great questions, mostly around the premise of moving out of your home to get away from that mom and pop feel and moving into a more professional space. The main question I kept getting was, “Okay Sal, I have heard you say over and over again that there is a way to run in-studio sales without buying a huge studio space. How can I do it?

Where do I start?”

The first place to start is by understanding the pros and cons of moving out of your home.

Working Out of the Home Face it, we all love working out of our home; it’s just, well, easy. No traffic, no waiting in line for coffee and, for me, I get to actually work in my pajamas during my off months.

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Sorry if I gave anyone a horrific visual on that one, but it’s a perk of the job. Most of all, it means no hard cost for office space. That is a huge part to our business model isn’t it? It’s what makes becoming a “professional” photographer so easy for people. There really is no barrier to entry.

This is fine when you are starting up, but as time goes by and you realize this is a real business you are engaged in and that in order for you to make a profit you need to sell your work, there are definitely some limitations to working out of your home.

And remember, unless you have invested some significant coin into your home studio, bringing a client there can offer up a myriad of issues. As they walk into your home, they will judge your décor, style, taste, smell, cleanliness, etc. And somehow that will all have an impact on the type of photographer you are in their eyes. Superficial? Yes. Welcome to reality.

Working Out of the Studio Investing in a studio space is not without its own set of challenges.

Once you have a studio space, you incur all the risks and expenses of running a brick and mortar business.

For the wedding and location photographer, there is a tremendous expense attached to having a sales space. The reality is, for us, we don’t do a whole lot of studio shooting.

Most of my shoots are on location. And for weddings, well, the truth is, we don’t shoot too many of those in the studio either.

The justification of all these expenses just to have a glorified sales room is very difficult. You have to pay your monthly rent, utilities, décor, cleaning, Internet, create studio samples; the list goes on and on. It’s a tough pill to swallow when we know the space goes unutilized 90% of the time.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom for owning your own space. While we started our company out of our home, we own a studio space today and love every square foot of it.

Having your own space, without a doubt, announces to the world, “This is more than a hobby, we are a bonafide business.” For better or for worse this is how it is perceived by the client and we all know perception is reality. When we moved into our studio space, we had a grand-opening party for clients and the feedback was huge for us. It was a

coming of age for our business.

Suddenly, it became easier to book business. Clients understood the unspoken difference between meeting with that $500 photographer and walking into a professional space. It really made a huge difference to our business.

People talk about dressing for success but that extends past our person and into our business as well. Think about it—dressing up your walls with gorgeous sample canvas and large prints are sure to create excitement for the client. It allows them to envision what a product of that size and cost might look like in their own home, all things not totally possible without the sales space.

You have a professional space to meet clients at a cost that is almost negligible and you have none of the risk associated with owning your own building or the resources needed to maintain it. It is truly a winwin scenario.

I have watched closely over the last two-years as experienced studios have downsized to spaces like this to cut unnecessary costs and new studios have blossomed via this mechanism. It’s a great alternative and one I highly recommend at least exploring.

I checked three cities across the country to get a sense of what the cost might be, along with some of the amenities offered. This is obviously not a definitive guide, but instead a sample of what spending 15 minutes on the Internet yielded me.

The Hybrid Approach

Chicago:

Over the past year, a viable alternative has really been gaining some momentum. The SBA (small business association, sba.gov) has come up with the concept of a business incubator. Every city is different, but each one typically has an SBA presence. The SBA will create a shared office space offering full business services, a reception area, conference rooms, common areas, etc. Best of all, the cost of these spaces can be rented monthly and in some cases, hourly.

CoWorkchicago, http://coworkchicago.com, is a creative workspace available for rent by the day, week or month and according to their slogan, “We are cheap, fun and gosh darnit people like us.” Rates range from $20/day to $300/month. The rates include access to highspeed Internet, a conference room for client meetings and, of course, in-studio sales.

The benefit of working out of an environment like this is that it allows you to enjoy the benefits of both scenarios.

You tell me, is it worth $20 to you to bring a client into the studio to show them their images and sample products live and generate a $1,000-$2,000 sale? Sign me up any day of the week!! And that’s if you just have one meeting. Book three client sales presentations and a wedding consult in a single day and you are gold.

New York City: SoTechieSpaces, http://www.sotechiespaces.com, offers basic membership for $100/month. This includes everything from a shared space to free Internet connections and basic office services. For additional monthly fees, you can upgrade to a dedicated workspace and a host of other business related services. This is a huge find in New York City if you ask me!

San Francisco: CitizenSpace, http://citizenspace.us, is a very cool place to work.

Anywhere from $10/visit to $425/month, this space has it all.

Projectors, private meeting rooms, lounge, copy/fax services, and various other office perks are part of their service offerings. They are even pet friendly.

Located in another part of the country or international?

Check out this link for more information about possible domestic and international locations: http://wiki.coworking. info.

This should be exciting news for everyone. Again, this is a quick list I threw together after a few minutes of research on Google. Check out some of the links to make sure if they are a good fit for you and your business. At the end of the day, there is no reason for you to not have that big-business feel at a very economical price point. Do the research and find a solution that works for you and your situation. When its all said and done, it’s about taking your business to the next level and whether you are a start-up or an established studio, a shared space just might be the answer to some of your business needs.

We know how challenging running a successful photography business can be at times, which is why every little bit of coaching can help. We plan to answer your business questions each month in a new online column titled, “Mind Your Business with Sal Cincotta.” Feel free to ask me anything related to the topics presented here, or any other business matter you have weighing on your mind.

Send your questions to sal@cincottaemail.com (put “Mind Your Business” in the subject line).

Sal Cincotta will be giving three presentations at WPPI 2012.

His two-day PLUS class, “Shoot To Sell,” begins Thursday, February 16, from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. His Platform class “Take Your Business Up A Level,” will be held on Monday, February 20, from 3:00-5:00 p.m. Check wpponline.com for further details Sal Cincotta is an award winning photographer, author, speaker and owner of BehindtheShutter.com, a site dedicated to training professional photographers. Follow Sal on Twitter | @salcincotta

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Taking a pretty picture is easy; the magic lies in capturing the essence of a person—words to live by for award-winning children’s portrait photographer Sarah Petty. Petty likes to capture her subjects’ personalities, in addition to creating beautiful portraits. “I don’t like to take a picture only of what they look like,” she says. “I want more emotion, laughter, hair flying and movement.

That’s what I want to see on my walls, so that’s what I create for my clients.” She points out that it’s important for photographers to create a particular look and feel in their work. “You can’t be all things to all people.” Petty says that the mistake that many photographers make is to try to do too much.

“What they really need is to do fewer things better.

You want to thrill your clients!”

Very much a marketing professional, Petty encourages photographers to find their passion, and in doing so, hone in on a specialty around which they can build a business—something she’s done in her own studio, Sarah Petty Photography, and strives to help others with through her marketing business, The Joy of Marketing.

The Joy of Marketing helps small- to medium-sized businesses reach their full potential. Her clients include primarily photography studios, in addition to other niche specialties. She says that she has great clientele, and loves inspiring people who are running businesses. “I enjoy giving them real tools and strategies so that they can be photographers who make a living at what they love to do.” She emphatically encourages photographers to “Invest in yourself. Go to conferences, study with people and get mentors.” She says, “Make that investment because it’s a long path to making mistakes the hard way that everyone else has already learned.

There’s a faster path to success.”

When asked what her basic advice is to these business owners, she notes that there are three main foundations for success: Branding, pricing and selling. “Branding is very important because you can’t build a strong identity without it,” Petty says. “Many people aren’t priced for profit; they’re guessing at prices, or charging the same prices as their competitors. And finally, there’s selling— many photographers are artists, and very creative.

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Sometimes they think they’re being pushy when they think about selling, but it’s important to learn how to do this!”

Petty also teaches marketing and promotion. “Business owners need to learn how to attract the right clients and make the phone ring, but branding, pricing and selling are where businesses struggle the most.” She says that she believes that marketing is even more important than being a talented photographer. “Learning how to do business, building relationships with other business owners, networking, attracting the right clients and encouraging them to refer you are more important than being a great photographer,” she comments. “Photography skills are very important, but they don’t guarantee that you’re going to have a successful business.”

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To this end, Petty plans on teaching a marketing seminar at WPPI 2012, “My Best Marketing Idea,” in which she will explain how she has built her business and 10 different ways that she has achieved it. “When most people think of marketing, they think of advertising,” she says. “But it’s not about that—it’s about the relationships you build. A lot of it is about

building a database, and building relationships within that database.” She says that you don’t always need to find new customers but instead should focus on what you can do with your current ones. “Create new products and services for the people who already love you, as often as you’re out there looking for new clients.”

She found a niche by building a strong client base with her boutique studio that specializes in children, families and high school seniors.” I photograph children of all ages,” Petty remarks. “I do families too, but mostly kids. Most of my clients are moms who value photography.” She says that her clients’ homes and decorating are also very important to them.

Petty currently shoots with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, and her favorite lenses are the Canon EF 70-200mm, 85mm and 100mm macro. Her studio lighting is Photogenics, and she uses Larson Enterprises Soff Boxes.

In the early days, Petty recalls, “Photography was something I did more as a hobby.

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I always had a camera with me, and was always the one taking pictures.” Back then she worked full-time at an advertising agency but found that she really enjoyed photographing her thenboyfriend/now-husband’s nieces and nephews.

“I was having a blast doing this,” she says. “It was more my passion than something I thought would become a career.” Petty says that her real passion lies in photographing children. “I’m sure that everyone experiences this,” she laughs, “where people say, ‘I love your work, would you photograph my horse?’ “However, taking pictures of animals and other subjects wasn’t what she loved to do. “I always came back to babies, kids and high school seniors,” she says.

“I really love the chaos of the little ones, because you never know what you’re going to get.”

Becoming pregnant with twins marked the turning point in Petty’s career. “I decided I didn’t want to work so many hours anymore,” she says.

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“I also wanted to start my own business—the stars were aligned.” She spent the income she made doing photography on the side to study with professional photographers. “I learned from people who had a style I liked, and who were where I wanted to be.”

Petty also attended conventions, where she learned about the business of photography, pricing, and sales. She opened her first studio in 2001. “I didn’t think my business would grow the way it did. I just wanted to have more time with my twins, to do what I love, and to make a little extra money.” Petty says that she prefers shooting in a studio environment. “I live in central Illinois where we have long winters,” she points out. “When I knew I wanted to do photography, I wondered how I could stay in this box, but I love the box!”

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etty is currently working on a new, exciting studio, one that will share a building with her husband’s architectural firm. For her, family comes first—both her own and her subjects’—so the idea is to keep both businesses closer to home. “We’d like to have the kids come over after school so we can be together more often.” She also wants to travel with the family, as she enjoys traveling to speak to audiences. However, she says, “I love my life, so I don’t see a lot of change.”

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