Summer 2009 by Resource Magazine

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Summer 2009

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TABLE OF CONTENT SUMMER 2009 6

Table of Contents: You are here.

Masthead: (Mug) shots all around.

Letter from the Editors: I just called.

Letters to the Editors: To say I love you.

Etiquette: Smoking. A bad habit with good manners.

Resource Guide to: Industry Directories. Are you in or are you out?

Industry Tale: The longest day. No, not V-Day, you silly.

Trick of the Trade: Freelance Producer. Ever shot in Uzbekistan?

Unless you try it, you’ll never know how much you’d like it.

SECTION- PHOTO

History: Muhammad Ali as Saint Sebastian. Oh my God! The Champ has been shot!

Gallery: NYPF 2009. DUMBO is yet again invaded by photography-lovers.

Photo Deco-Page: Intimate Lands. La vie de bohème never looked so good.

Technique: Bruce Soyez-Bernard on Beauty Lighting. Metallic laminate backgrounds are a bitch to light.

Interview: Hans Neleman...and his initiative to WIN.

Mini Feature: Guerilla Shooting. No budget, no permit, we’re going commando.

SECTION- CREW

How to: Write an estimate. Do the math.

Mission: Downy Simple Pleasure Fabric Softener. Roses made out of t-shirt never die.

Event: MoPLA. You want Mo’ what?

Interview: Melissa Re, Parts Model. She’s mighty mighty!

Locations: Gods have some kick-ass interior designers.

Mini Feature: The Fashion Trenches of Paris. Ahhhh Paris...La mode, les cigarettes, les steaks frites. J’adore!

SECTION- STUDIO/EQ

Developments: Canoe Studios. A group of Canadians claim a piece of the Starrett-Lehigh Building.

Tech, EQ, & Flow: Digital Tool Chest. The tools you’ll need if you want to look all digital techie and stuff.

Dawn of the Industry: 1985. Right after 1984 and just before 1986. Good times in the studio rnetal world.

Interview: Baldev Duggal. Respect: this man invented the first dip and dunk processing machine.

Mini Feature: Root Brooklyn. A new studio grows in Brooklyn.

SECTION- AGENCY

Birth of a Campaign: Saatchi Saatchi Toronto for So Hip It Hurts. Skaters are hardcore. Ads for skaters are hardcorer.

Interview: Michael Wietzell from Lürzer’s Archive. Archive is like The Bible..no wait, it is The Bible!

Tutorial: How to better communicate between Advertising Creatives and Photographers.

Creative people need to com-mu-ni-ca-te!

Ad Rocks: SunChips. Don’t look now but your chips are green.

Mini Feature: David Ogilvy. The man behind the man with the eyepatch.

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F E AT U R E A R T I C L E S

Productions of the World: Las Vegas. Just skip the shrimp cocktail.

100

Resource Magazine’s Expo Guide. Networking, seminars, discussions, and parties: trade shows rock.

106

The Elephant In The Room. Yes, that would be the economy.

112

Photo Essay: Breaking Concrete. Yield the way for bike messengers, or run the risk of getting hurt.

SECTION- REVIEWS

122

Where to Take your Client: Back Forty and B-Side. Cool places for cool people.

124

Movie Review: Let’s Get Lost and Control. Chet Baker and Joy Division: Have some control and don’t get lost.

125

Book Review: Minimalist Lighting and Light: Science and Magic. Lighting books reviewed by photographers.

126

Go-See: Accessories for Apple. You know you want them.

128

Directory: People we’ve used and re-used and used again.

136

End Page.

Cover and End Images by Koury Angelo - kouryangelo.com

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Summer 2009 Issue EDITORS IN CHIEF Alexandra Niki, Aurelie Jezequel CREATIVE DIRECTORS Alexandra Niki, Aurelie Jezequel ART DIRECTOR Sharon Gamss COPY EDITORS Edine N. James, Sara Roth DESIGN Chris Brody, Sharon Gamss, Katie Iberle, Dylan Kahler, Katherine Lo, Lara Peso, Emil Rivera CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Anthony Lord, Koury Angelo, Kiritin Beyer, Axel Dupeux, Nick Ferrari, Brad Forth, Murray Hall, Jason Lewis, Peter Lippmann, Shane McCauley, Ryan Morris, Tejal Patni, Carissa Pelleteri, Jacob Snavely, Bruce Soyez-Bernard CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Anthony Lord, Evan Benedetto, Sophia Betz, Matthieu Duquette, Meagan Dwyer, Charlie Fish, Jan Jaworski, Alec Kerr, Marla Lacherza, Elizabeth Leitzell, Sarah Louden, Jonathan Melamed, Michael Miller, Ryan Morris, Justin Muschong, Brittany Phillips, Sara Roth, Oleh Sharanevych, Jenny Kate Sherman, Heather Simon, Jeff Siti, Rachel Meade Smith, JJ Sulin, Feifei Sun, Kenny Ulloa, Benjamin Wright

is a quarterly publication from REMAG Inc. 139 Norfolk Street #A - NY, NY 10002 info@resourcemagonline.com Subscriptions: $30 in the US, US$50 in Canada, and US$60 globally. For subscription inquiries, please email info@resourcemagonline.com Special thanks to: Eduardo Citrinblum, Mark Chin, John Engstrom, Kate Hope, Anthony Rivera, and Adam Davids. We welcome letters and comments. Please send any correspondence to info@resourcemagonline.com The entire contents of this magazine are ©2009, REMAG Inc. and may not be reproduced, downloaded, republished, or transferred in any form or by any means, without written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved. For more info, please visit our website, www.resourcemagonline.com FIND US IN BARNES & NOBLES AND BORDERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY!

CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS Natalia Czajkiewicz, Elan Freudenthal, Katie Iberle, Dylan Kahler, Jackson Kelsey, Emil Rivera INTERNS Sarah Bibbo, Liz Clayman, Jennifer Cruz, Jackson Kelsey, Sarah Lifer, Sarah Louden, George Pappas, Lindsay Yacura, Meagan Dwyer PUBLISHER REMAG Inc. DISTRIBUTION info@resourcemagonline.com ADVERTISING Alexandra Niki alex@resourcemagonline.com Aurelie Jezequel aurelie@resourcemagonline.com

Jeff Siti is a writer. He lives in Philadelphia with his cats Pablo and Gadsden. He recently constructed a pretty nifty table out of an old picnic bench he salvaged from his father’s garage where he now eats breakfast and writes.

Sara Roth is leaving Resource to live in the mountains and get rained on in the Pacific Northwest. She will miss the amazing staff, contributors, and friends she has made, and everyone is invited to visit and escape the city.

Justin Muschong is a writer who has contributed to Resource since its first issue. He specializes in screenplays, low budget filmmaking, and emptying his mind at www.justinmuschong.com.

Koury Angelo is a photographer, living the good life in sunny California. He loves shooting bands and has shot MIA, The Kills & The Horrors. He recently had a solo exhibition in L.A. of his iPhone photo series, “ Perspectives.” Big things are coming…

Nick Ferrari is a New York-based still life photographer who has, most recently, finished projects for NBC, Maxim, and Hamptons. He plans on spending the summer shooting at his Brooklyn studio and building LEED-certified energy efficient sand castles.

2 12

Desiderata

by Max Ehrmann (1920s) Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, In the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Fold this up and put it in your wallet. Just some food for thought or even inspiration. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been helpful to us, and hopefully you too can take something from it. Be cheerful! And enjoy the magazine!

Alex and Aurelie

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LETTERS TO THE EDITORS:

To say I love you. Hi Resource Magazine,

Hi Resource,

I’m Danielle and I work at Sinar Bron Imaging. I’m in charge of some new marketing initiatives here. I just wanted to tell you that I LOVE your magazine. I’ve been flipping through the past few issues this morning. (Please consider this to be fan mail!) Really like the look/feel/ navigability of your online version as well.

I went to the last Resource/Dripbook Meet & Greet and had a great time. I scooped up there all the back issues I had missed: it’s fun to see how the magazine has evolved since it started. I think it’s a really great “resource” to have on hand. I look forward to attending other events and following the magazine’s progress.

Keep up the good work! Danielle Sikov

Best, Marc B.

Tell us what you think! Email us at info@resourcemagonline.com.

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ETIQUETTE:

Smoking By Jonathan Melamed I Photo by Nick Ferrari

hen you walk through Midtown around lunch hour, there are always large groups of smokers out in front of office buildings. These poor suckers have to shelter themselves beneath scaffoldings to avoid the rain, and during winter can be seen with their teeth chattering as they often forgot or didn’t bother to grab their coats when they were only just “running out” for a smoke.

The photo industry certainly has its perks as compared to 9 to 5 jobs, even when it comes to smoking. Photo Productionists are often allowed to smoke inside their rented studio space, find themselves outdoors for many hours of the work day, and, if they are lucky enough, they book a shoot at Pier 59 where they can enjoy their cigarette out on the Zen smoking deck.

Always:

Never:

Time your cigarette break so you’re not missed when needed. You can be hanging around for hours with nothing to do, but don’t you know it, in those five minutes that you are off-set sneaking a smoke, they will be looking for you to move that prop table or to fluff some bangs.

Bum incessantly off the clients. Come to think of it, quit bumming off me on the street while you’re at it. Besides, these people are paying for everything else, so buy a fresh pack on your way to the studio and don’t be a mooch.

Get a sense of the studio policy before lighting up in common areas. At some studios, if you know the secret password, the coffee barista will slide you an ashtray so you can light up right there while enjoying your cappuccino. But don’t be fooled, this is not true to all studios, and you may receive an embarrassing lecture from an irate studio manager if you start puffing in the lobby. Keep it low-key if not everybody is smoking. Even if you are shooting outside, be sure to step far away enough from set as to not upset the photographer or subjects. Pop some gum before getting close to models or clients. You may not be able to smell your own breath, but other people sure as hell can. Offer to be the gopher as an excuse to run out for a smoke. Maybe you have to drop rank and offer to fetch that coffee; even if you haven’t had to do that for five years, it’s always a great way to get outside and burn one down.

Leave butts anywhere on location shoots. It’s disrespectful to the location owners and managers. Put butts into soda cans. Use an ashtray or something see-through. I have made the mistake of leaving an unguarded Coke for more than fifteen minutes so many times that I can very easily and vividly conjure up the taste of the ash and soda cocktail. Let me tell you, it is much better to smoke a cigarette than it is to drink it. Work and smoke. You are really lacking class if you let that smoldering Marb Light dangle in between your lips when you’re getting close to a model or coworker. Stub it out and pop it back into your pack for later.

Nick Ferrari www.nickferrari.com. Jonathan Melamed www.jonathanmelamed.com

The only thing the office people have over us is that they have a finite rule when it comes to smoking: under no circumstances can they smoke anywhere inside, and sometimes not even within fifteen feet of their own building. As for us, although smoking is often allowed on set, the proper etiquette of when, where, and in front of whom one can smoke is often as hazy as the nicotine cloud hanging over the models’ dressing area.

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Resource Guide:

Industry Directories By Justin Muschong | illustration by Sharon Gamss

ure, you may be making a healthy profit working a job you love, finding a satisfying balance between artistry and commerce, and are generally happy with your lot in life. But the fact remains: YOU ARE INVISIBLE—unless, that is, you happen to be listed in one of the photo industry’s most prestigious directories. These serve as a “who’s who” of the finest talents working today, or, sometimes, just the finest talents available within your budget and under your circumstances. But how does one get listed in such a treasure trove of the world’s best artists? It’s part luck and part skill, but mostly, it’s money. AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHY

BLACKBOOK

www.ai-ap.com

www.blackbook.com

FEATURES Editorial, advertising, fine art, and experimental work from both emerging and established photographers.

FEATURES Pretty much any position in front of or behind the camera, up to and including animal casting, security, hotels, ice and snow artists, film commisions, special effects, couriers, climate control units, and caterers.

COSTS Subscription: $45/issue Listing: Rates range from a ¼ page B&W photo for $2,100 to a full color spread for $10,000 a pop. Cheap! PROS This is the highest end of directories, producing an annual hard cover book that will look nice on the shelf. As such, it receives thousands of entries every year, so a jury panel winnows out the riff-raff and selects the best of the best. Last year, the jury included The New York Times Magazine’s Photo Editor, Vanity Fair’s Design Director, the Chair of the School of Visual Arts’ Photography Department, and the Executive Director of the Aperture Foundation. In the past, the jury has selected such top names as Helmut Newton, David LaChapelle, Annie Leibovitz, Richard Avedon, and Steven Meisel. If you get in, you’ll be in good company—if you get in. CONS Did you see those prices? Prestigious don’t come for free, son.

AT EDGE www.at-edge.com

COST Subscription: We have no idea. Listing: Prices range from $2,820/pg for one page, $1,287/pg for 10+ pages. Buy in bulk! PROS Never again will you desperately have to call up all your friends at two in the morning in search of the perfect gibbon. Blackbook’s extensive listings will ensure that you can fulfill all of your oddball needs at the touch of a dial (or click of a mouse). The company also created the fashion magazine Black Book and the city guide Insider, and regularly produces award-winning source books like AR100 Award Show, Black Book Illustration, Creative Industry Directory, and The Black Book Photography. CONS If you find one, tell us. We’ve searched far and wide and come up empty.

CREATIVE HANDBOOK www.creativehandbook.com

FEATURES Animals, architecture, car, celebrity, fashion and beauty, food, fine art, landscape, lifestyle, location, portrait, product, sports, still life, travel photography…with other categories we’re forgetting.

FEATURES Camera and lighting equipment, hair and makeup artists, hotels, marketing/PR/design and graphics companies, locations and studios, production companies, props and sets, restaurants and catering, transportation, wardrobe, etc...

COST Subscription: Free if you are an Art Buyer or Art Director. Otherwise, make friends with an Art Buyer or Art Director. Listing: Invite only.

COST Subscription: Free, but you must be either working on a production filming in the L.A. area, or need products and/or services from the L.A, area. Listing: Starts at $150/month.

PROS The by-invitation-only listings ensure a premier level of talent and trendsetting photography. The focus is on innovative photographers, and the company offers a marketing program that helps them get their work seen throughout the year.

PROS It serves as an industry 411, with very thorough listings oriented toward the technical side of the business.

CONS At Edge has a definitive editorial selection process—you either like their aesthetics or you don’t (official Resource position: we do). If your personal tastes don’t jibe with theirs, you’ll find it very hard to get into the cool kids’ club.

CONS With film being the major industry in L.A., the site encompasses many categories that do not apply to Our Thing, which can make searches a cumbersome chore. It’s also limited to the entertainment industry in SOCAL, so if you’re shooting anywhere else, you’re SOL.

THE HUMBLE ARTS FOUNDATION www.humbleartsfoundation.org The Collectors Guide attempts to reduce “the gap between ambitious early-career photographers and often-unapproachable photography professionals and art institutions.” FEATURES In its efforts to reduce “the gap between ambitious early-career photographers and often-unnaproachable photography professionals and art institutions,” the guide concentrates a listing of collectors, art dealers, photo editors, museum professionals, and independent curators who favor fine art over commercial enterprises. COSTS Subscription: Distributed freely to creative industry professionals, with an edition of 100 copies available at $50 per issue. Listing: Invite only. PROS Represents a worldwide selection of 163 emerging fine art photographers. CONS These are fine art photographers—how would they react to the constratint of an ad shoot?

LA 411 & NY 411 www.la411.com

www.newyork411.com

FEATURES Ad agencies and production companies, city guides, crew, grip and lighting equipment, location services, sets and stages, production support, props and wardrobe, etc... COST Subscription: NY edition $59/year, LA edition $79/year. Listing: $200 application fee plus $50 for each additional category listed. PROS An exhaustive and thorough listing of photo production companies and resources. The New York edition has over 14,000 listings and the LA one has over 17,000. CONS A cornucopia of ads for suppliers and random companies clutters up the website, and the focus, once again, is on film production rather than photo production. Also, if you don’t work in LA or NY, you just do not exist.

LE BOOK www.lebook.com FEATURES Separate editions for New York, London, and Paris encompass the usual Rogue’s Gallery of photo production fields. COSTS Subscription: $249/per three volume set (each city has one set) Listing: No idea.

PROS The website is informative and easy to search. The company connects the United States and Europe through Connections trade shows, and through their online “La Creative” search, you can look up specific ad campaigns and see who worked on them. CONS The paper directory is huge and heavy, not too ideal for carrying around, let alone searching through. Worse yet, the listings are not separated by cities, making a search for, say, caterers in New York very confusing. And while the website may be easy to navigate, it only lists the advertisers who are propping up the paper directory.

NYPG www.nypg.com FEATURES Choreographers, location scouts, production managers, stylists, hair and makeup artists, set designers, studio teachers, and more. COSTS Subscriptions: $50 plus tax and shipping. The online database is free to browse. Listings: We couldn’t figure that one out. Sorry. PROS Over 15,000 listings provide thorough information on all areas of the film industry, with the paper edition published annually and the website updated monthly. CONS The key phrase in that above sentence is “film industry.”

PDN’S PHOTO SOURCE www.pdngallery.com/photosource FEATURES Photographers and representatives, equipment and supplies, lab services, studio rentals, location and travel services, stylists, props, repairs, etc... COSTS Subscription: The digital edition is only $65. For print and digital, it’s US $65, Canada $105, International $125. Listing: The basic, boring listing is free, while an enhanced listing is $860/year, including a thirty-six image portfolio PROS This is an all-in-one, creative arts industry resource that publishes four handy guides a year—California, Equipment, Stock Agencies, and Wedding Photography. The directory is easily navigable. CONS The listings are not always up-to-date, which can cause trouble when you need lighting equipment at the last minute and all the companies you call are out of business.

PRODUCTION PARADISE www.productionparadise.com FEATURES Worldwide resources for both the film and photo industries. The magazine is exclusively available online, with over 50,000 subscribers in more than 180 countries. COST Subscription: Free! And easy—you just sign up via their website. Listings: There is a whole range of different options (banner, whole page, etc.) but none of the prices are listed. You need to contact a Production Paradise agent in your area for specific information. PROS The website itself has a TON of readily available information. There is a special iPhone version of the magazine you can subscribe to, as well as a dashboard widget for Mac users. Also, members of Production Paradise receive VIP discounts at specific hotels, studios etc., which are listed on their website. CONS Not many—it is a little unclear how exclusive the selection process. Other than that, the website is so overflowing with information that it would help if it was formatted better.

REVEAL YOURSELF.

WORKBOOK www.workbook.com FEATURES Ad agencies, artist representatives, design studios, illustrators, industry resources, photographers, stock agencies, support services, and more. COST Subscription: $40/issue Listings: Ranges from one page at $3,520/page to ten pages at $2,710/ page. PROS Workbook is an industry classic with an established reputation. It’s exhaustive and thorough, and its online searchable version is well organized and contains work from 1,200 photographers, illustrators, letterers, and designers. The listings are constantly updated, and they offer subscribers targeted mailing lists. CONS While Workbook is slowly opening up to the rest of the world, it remains focused on the U.S. The paper version is organized in alphabetical order, which means, for example, that a landscape photographer will be placed right next to a food photographer. This works if you know who you’re looking for, but if you want to compare photographers working in the same genre, it’s next to impossible.

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INDUSTRY TALES:

Beauty Producer As told to Feifei Sun I Illustrations by Natalia Czajkiewicz

As a beauty TV producer who’s been in this industry for more than ten years, I’ve come across my fair share of—how do I put this aptly?— colorful personalities. But nothing could have prepared me for the dramatic, disaster-filled, 31-hour shoot I endured last March. It’s inevitable that concepts will evolve and change throughout the creative process. In the world of fashion and beauty advertising, everyone likes to think they know everything. Between CEOs, creative directors, stylists, and the clients themselves, everyone has an input. It’s my job to balance them all. For this project, we were to shoot a commercial for a major lipstick company, promoting their new line of rich wine shades. I met with the creative director of the chosen advertising agency, who explained that her concept was to highlight lipstick trends through the ages—from Cleopatra’s fruit stained shades, to the bright poppy reds of the 80s, to the flirty fuchsias of the 90s, and ending on, of course, our client’s wine colors. Over the next two weeks we cast the model, picked a director, and approved the designs for our set. Everything was in its right place. Or so I thought. When I arrived on the set, the model wasn’t dressed yet—first hint of the impending, catastrophic day to come. I pulled the stylist to the side. “Why isn’t she dressed?” I whispered. “She won’t wear the fur,” the stylist answered, monotone. I sighed, rolling my eyes to myself. “What?” “She doesn’t wear fur anymore. She wants us to change her outfit.”

I love it when non-creatives give their input. This was the same model who, on the casting day, told us she was willing to do anything for the job, whether that meant cutting her hair, dying it—”I don’t care, whatever you want,” she had told us so casually. In fact, her blasé attitude was one of the main reasons we had hired her. “And why does her hair look like shit?” I asked. The hair stylist had obviously misinterpreted the “messy, post-sex” look we had written in the creative brief. Instead, the model’s hair just looked like a mess. Was that dandruff I saw? The stylist shrugged her shoulders. I looked around, searching the room for the hair stylist. She was on her Blackberry, texting furiously. In her bin were a couple of clips, a brush, and some Finesse hairspray. It was obvious to me she had never styled for a shoot before in her life. To those outside the industry, a change of clothes seems simple enough, but it’s not. It’s a stressful process to get a client to sign off on stylistic choices of any kind, but it’s particularly gruesome when it comes to wardrobe. Down to the fit, color, and number of beads…they don’t want anything changed after their approval. I grabbed the fur coat off the wardrobe rack and walked to the bathroom. I took off my tights, careful not to let my bangles scratch them up. Slipping off my dress and into the coat, I left with my outfit in my arms. I walked over to the model. “Put these on.” I threw my dress and tights at her. She scowled. “These won’t fit!” I walked away.

Natalia Czajkiewicz: lostteeth.net

Three hours into the shoot, the account manager from the agency arrived unannounced. He was dressed in suit and tie, with black leather loafers to match. The crew and I exchanged glances, speechless. For an account manager to attend a shoot was completely and utterly unheard of. Why was he here? He walked over to the creative director. “Hey guys. I just wanted to drop in and see how things were going,” he said. “Let’s take a look at the boards.” In that moment, all my fears had been realized, and I knew that this shoot would take a dramatic turn for the worse. As the account manager nonchalantly flipped through the storyboards that an assistant had fetched, he frowned and sighed. It was obvious that he didn’t approve. “I think it moves too quickly,” he said, at last. My pulse quickened. I picked at my yellow nail polish. I love it when noncreatives give their input. “What do you mean?” our director asked. “The eras,” he said, “They jump too quickly from one decade to the next. It needs to be smoother.” “This is what the client signed off on,” I pushed back. “This is what we have to deliver.” “I don’t care what they signed off on,” the account manager said. “THIS IS SHIT! These are my clients, and I know they’re going to agree.” The director walked out.

csi

I ran after him, knowing that if he left, we would really be screwed. Five cigarettes and a slew of curse words later, he came back. We sat around the table; all of the crew, creatives, and even the assistants, brainstorming. The account manager wanted us to add six more trends, which meant we were six models and six outfits short, but already over budget. For the next four hours, we shared cigarettes, cursed the account manager, and downed coffee in an attempt to create a totally new commercial—and stay awake, too. We were sleepy and hungry and irritated. “We could include the Jackie Kennedy era,” one art director chirped. The stylist moaned. “What? Do you have a better idea?” “No, but I don’t think we necessarily need to share every one of our thoughts either,” the stylist snapped back. Around 9 p.m., we were finally ready to start filming. It would take the next twelve hours, as we shot and re-shot, until finally the director called it a day. In the end, it was like giving birth. When the shoot wrapped, everyone from the model to the account manager was smiling, and it was hard to remember what had caused such a fuss to begin with. It was, in fact, completely worth the pain, and I saw the commercial with rose-colored glasses: it was perfect. Luckily for me, the client agreed. And even forgave our coming in $300,000 over budget.

TRICKS OF THE TRADE:

Freelance Producer

urricanes, broken bones, lost luggage, and political mutiny are not stopping Lavanya Radhakrishnan, a freelance producer and extreme sports junkie who would rather spend holidays dangling from bungee cords than lounging poolside. Even while in the company of models clad in couture, an esteemed stylist, and a famed photographer on a beach resort in Langawi, Lavanya’s job is more tactical than glamorous. Managing the financial and creative logistics for high-stakes editorial spreads and advertising campaigns such as Ray Ban, Levis, and Reebok is only half her battle—the other half is keeping her clients calm and happy. “Mind-reader” and “shrink” should also be included to her job description. Her motto: Stay Positive. And she can say it in French, Japanese, and Tamil.

Lavanya Radhakrishnan: artifex-productions.com Shane McCauley: shanemccauley.com

By Heather Simon I Photo by Shane McCauley

Kick the concrete, not the client. My number one job is to support the artist’s creative vision. This requires patience and intuition. I support each client differently. Sometimes this means keeping my opinions to myself, but luckily most of the time it means getting involved in more than just the budget. Regardless of where I stand, I always remain positive and keep an open mind. I emigrated with my parents from India to the States when I was five and was the awkward kid wearing striped overalls with a polka dot blouse—I’m the first to recognize that it’s not about my personal taste. I hire as diverse a staff as possible, and I build reference books that reflect a multitude of styles to keep my eye objective. Someone can be the best producer, but if they’re pushing their own agenda, they’re bound to clash with the creative team. I think it’s my optimism and ability to keep it real that win clients over. Even when a client is frantic or mean, I never raise my voice. My response to hysterical behavior is to give the person space. And when I am about to explode, I take my stress out on the concrete and go for a run.

Travel Checklist. [√] Insurance! Every person, every piece of equipment, every shoe is covered. When cutting costs, insurance is never expendable. The world is too unpredictable. [√] Carry-on luggage. Checked luggage gets lost. [√] Locals. Always hire locals. They won’t be jet lagged, and they know the best car service, caterer, and doctor. If there is a disaster, they’ll know what to do. [√] Care Packages for everyone, complete with bottled water, anti-diuretics, power bars, and vitamins. [√] An assistant for the stylist and the production manager who is qualified enough to take over at a moment’s notice. Before hiring someone with a stellar portfolio, I talk to them and make sure they will be easy to work with and are aware that they are an assistant or at most a collaborator. This person should be a local or at least be used to the food. You gotta hit rock bottom. Anyone with the right computer program can draft a budget, and anyone with the right travel agent can find a hot location. But nothing is fool-proof. I trust my staff completely. I don’t correct them when they’re wrong

“My response to hysterical behavior is giving the person space. And when I am about to explode, I take my stress out on the concrete and go for a run.” Just because you’re buff doesn’t mean you have to wear a muscle shirt. In college I majored in industrial design and my first real job was designing tech-savvy gadgets like razorthin Palm Pilots. While my job as a producer requires more management than creative scrutiny, I enjoy strategizing ways to develop my clients’ vision. While some agencies know my background and hire me because I will enhance the creative process, my knowledge of design isn’t something I flaunt. My job is to give the creative team the support and space to ideate with as little limitation as possible, and to make those ideas reality. If my gut tells me a second opinion will cause more tension than inspiration on the set, I refrain. Cutting Cost / Cutting Edge. My rule when drafting an impossible budget: don’t eliminate a person; rather, skim a little off everyone to establish a balance and a sense of camaraderie. One of the best ways to cut costs and remain cutting edge is to shoot in developing countries like Romania, the Czech Republic, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. These untapped beauties offer more services for less. Everyone is shooting in the UK and Germany, but when shooting in a place like Uzbekistan, you are able to develop a relationship with everyone, from the studio heads to the cabbies, and when time comes to negotiate prices they’re more likely to comply.

because it’s important they learn how to spot mistakes. And if I baby them, I’ll never feel comfortable enough to leave them alone while I take a vacation. Yet, it is impossible to prepare for every setback. I was once walking across a grass lawn during a shoot and shattered my ankle and kept working. There is no training manual for maintaining composure in excruciating pain; you have to hit bottom in order to know how you’ll react. Producing for dummies and do-gooders. This isn’t an innocent industry. But since I love my job, I make the best of all its shortcomings. Dove’s positive body image campaign is proof that pencilthin models aren’t the wave of the future. So when sending a positive message, why assume that only a certain geographic audience will appreciate it? It’s so disappointing when people automatically assume that Middle America is lowbrow. Instead of dumbing down ads marketed to people in Nebraska, hold them to the same standards as ads running in SoHo. When choosing a direction for a project, humor rarely fails. When the goal is to make people laugh, everyone on the set works harder and has fun. If I hear about an opportunity to work on a progressive campaign with a positive message that lacks funding, I’ll take it pro bono. And when it comes to those leftover refreshments and apples that didn’t quite make the food stylist’s cut, I make sure they go home with the crew or straight to a shelter.

History PAGE:

Muhammad Ali as Saint Sebastian By Charlie Fish

Photo by Carl Fischer 1968, New York City

hirty-seven years after Carl Fischer photographed (and George Lois art directed) Muhammad Ali posing as Saint Sebastian for the cover of Esquire magazine, Radar spoofed the infamous image by having a Photoshopped Tom Cruise bearing digitally inserted arrows. It was supposed to be a throwback to the days when magazine covers—and their thought-provoking features—caused uproars, public discourse and even cultural shifts.

Long gone are those days. Magazine covers now vie for your attention with oversized fonts describing the 616 summer tips for younger-looking skin, or how Transformers’ star Megan Fox is really pretty to look at, or the importance of knowing the recently-idle Idol alum’s sexuality, or even how the Disney Channel heartthrobs of today will someday rule the world. But in 1968 things were very, very different. Magazine covers (the best of them, anyway) bore little-to-no verbiage at all and relied solely on the power of their visuals to stop newsstand passers-by dead in their tracks and solicit a very audible, “Oh my God!” Take the Ali as Saint Sebastian image, for example. At the time, Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.) had been stripped of his title for refusing to be inducted into the U.S. Armed Forces. Ali, a recent convert to the Nation of Islam, was drafted to serve in the Vietnam War. Citing his religion’s belief that “War is against the teachings of the Holy Qur’an,” Ali attended his induction but refused to step forward when his name was called four times. He was arrested, tried, and convicted within two months. The resulting battle to reclaim his freedom and title led all the way to the Supreme Court.

On working with George Lois: We worked over the telephone. Lois never made layouts, never made drawings for the covers. He just had the idea of what the cover should be and he would call up and say, “We have a story about Ali and the fact that he lost his title. Why don’t we do something with him as Saint Sebastian?” And that’s the way it worked on all the covers. I would work out the problems of how to do it and Lois would sometimes show up at the shoots if they were in New York, which was the case here. On the setup: It was in my downstairs studio. For this shoot I used an 8x10 camera—don’t ask me why. I mostly used Hasselblad for everything, or 35mm, but that day, I was experimenting with a new ring light. It was a very big light, and for some reason it seemed to work better on a big, clumsy 8x10 camera. But there was no reason for the format. I move from one format to another. We set up and shot the day before on a stand-in model to have the exposure and the lighting right—so when we got to the actual shooting we could concentrate just on the shoot, not on the mechanics of it.

Around the same time, Esquire had been featuring controversial covers dreamt up by George Lois, a former ad man. Lois has been widely credited for shaping a generational shift that reflected a turbulent era’s need for change, but he didn’t act alone. For fourteen years, starting in 1963, Carl Fischer consistently photographed the Esquire covers capturing the decade’s revolutionary changes during a time of an unwanted war, a sexual revolution, and a demand for civil rights.

The arrows. Then vs. now: I had the arrows made by a model-maker in New York. I assumed we’d paste them on and that would be the end of it. Unfortunately, when you pasted the arrows on, they hung down. They didn’t stay horizontally as they should. So we made an elaborate device; we put a pole above Ali and hung monofilament lines, little fishing lines, from each arrow up to the pole. You could see the lines, slightly, on the final print, and they were retouched out. But they were hard to see because they were thin and transparent.

Resource met with the legendary photographer to find out what it was like to direct “The Greatest,” why the FBI investigated him, and his experienced take on the future of the magazine industry.

Nowadays, we wouldn’t have had that problem; we would’ve put the arrows in [digitally]. But at the time, they had to be pasted on him physically. It was a long, boring process. Ali had to hold the position for an hour.

On today’s ‘retouch-and-go’ nature vs. yesteryear: There [was] an article in the Times [recently] about makeup. Because of computers, models are being made up to look like figures out of wax. Magazines have always wanted things to be fanciful and unreal. Fashion magazine covers are not going to talk about the depression, inflation, and unemployment. I’m in love with digital photography and computers. I’m not a Luddite. I think all of these technical advances are marvelous. Do we screw it up? Sure, we screw it up. But we screwed it up in the old days as well. Retouching, improving pictures with computers, is great. But there’s a big tendency to overdo it. On retouching the Ali shot: I’ve been going through my files and updating a lot of old pictures that I did. For example, as I had used an early form of a ring light—the first ring lights that ever came out—there was red eye. And it was originally printed that way. Lois didn’t know

about red eye; he didn’t know how to correct that. But now when I reprint it, I take out the red eye. I’ve made a few little minor corrections—dust spots and other little things—which make [the image] better. There are other covers and pictures that had run years ago with little errors in them. [Art Directors] are mostly interested in the design or the layout of the cover or the spread. They’re not so much interested in the photograph. And photographers see things that they don’t see. On “The Greatest”: Ali is true to his reputation: he’s funny, he’s relaxed. There are a lot of people who get so impressed with their position in life that you can hardly talk to them. But Ali was always a big kid. He enjoyed life, and he always enjoyed himself. He was no problem to work with. This shoot was a pain in the ass. Not everybody would stay for an hour in that same position. Taking a stand vs. ego: Ali took a proper cultural stand on this and I have to give him credit for that. But he was also very self-centered. I spent a night with him when Frazier and Foreman—I think—fought for his title after he lost it. I went to Philadelphia to watch the fight with a writer and Ali. When the fight was over, he stood up on his chair and yelled, “I’m the champ! I’m the champ!” He started a virtual riot in the place! And once, I stayed overnight in his Cherry Hill home in New Jersey. As we were driving to New York in the morning, he was speeding and was stopped by a state trooper. He told him, “I’m the champ!” On Parkinson’s having reduced “The Champ”: “Reduced.” That’s the proper word, because he was always so free and easygoing. Now, he’s still free and easygoing, except that he moves and talks slowly. Physically he just can’t do what he did before. And because he was an athlete—and a very clever and graceful athlete—it’s kind of a shame. I don’t know how he feels about it, but I think everybody else feels kind of sad to see him that way. On being investigated by the FBI: I was against the Vietnam War myself. I was part of a lot of people in this country—maybe half of them—who hated the war and thought it was unnecessary, just like the current war is unnecessary. I marched in anti-war parades. I photographed people burning draft cards, and had to suffer through FBI investigations myself. The editors of Ramparts magazine, a liberal magazine published in Los Angeles, wanted to burn their draft cards as a protest. Burning your draft card was illegal. They sent me their draft cards, and I photographed four hands holding [the burning] draft cards. Well, immediately the FBI came around. I called my lawyer and he asked, “You actually burned the draft cards?” And I said, “Well, how else are you going to do it and make it look real?” Besides, I didn’t burn them all. I saved what was left; I saved the pieces. So we went to the FBI office—which, coincidentally, was in the telephone company

building, surprise. We sat in a little Kafka-esque room with just a little desk and a couple of wooden chairs, and you couldn’t even see the microphones.

down with his legs apart. That was a very powerful image. It wasn’t an idea cover, the way they were in the early days, but it was an arresting cover.

One of my assistants, who was a Jamaica resident, hadn’t received his citizenship papers yet. He had actually lighted the cards, while I was at the camera and the stylist was positioning the hands just right. The FBI wanted to know the names of the models and everybody else involved on the shoot. He would have been deported with his whole family. So the deal I made with the FBI was, I’d give them the cards if they would hold me responsible, but not bother the models, stylist, or assistant who had lighted the cards. And that’s what I did.

It’s part of our conservative culture. It’s amazing how much culture has to do with the art that we do every single day. Especially we who are involved in publication art. Fine artists and painters may lag a couple of years. But I think that the new administration is going to make a difference in the way we do our artwork.

My lawyer told me, “They may never indict you.” (The President was having a lot of trouble with the war.) “Why would he want a big, First Amendment court case? He may just let it go.” Well, they didn’t let it go. But they kept postponing it and postponing it, and eventually the war ended so there never was an indictment, there never was a trial. On recent “arresting” magazine covers: There are not so many anymore, but there are some. A few years ago Esquire ran a picture of President Clinton sitting

On the future of magazines: We’re still doing ads, we’re still writing magazine articles, we’re still taking pictures, we’re still drawing illustrations. Artists and writers are still alive. So, without knowing what the change is gonna be—but knowing that there are going to be big changes—I can’t conceive that writers and artists will disappear. Because artists and writers do the content, and it’s the content that publishers, however they publish, need.

GALLERY:

NYPH 2009 By Sophia Betz I Photos by Galia Venguer

he New York Photography Festival—curated by William A. Ewing, Chris Boot, Jody Quon, and Jon Levy—celebrated its second year this May in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood. With the powerful tagline “The Future of Contemporary Photography,” 2009’s NYPH set its standards high, and it certainly lived up to them—if not in the way the seemingly audacious subtitle suggests. At first glance I rolled my eyes at this apparently presumptuous line, but, like much of the innovative photography I saw at the festival, a second look was needed to appreciate its full meaning. The variety and scope of work featured expanded the very definition of photography. In addition to the shows put on by the four main curators, there were several successful satellite exhibits throughout the neighborhood. Some shows featured photography alone, while others included mixed media art. Walking from show to show, I tried to imagine how a curator goes about choosing the best work to fit within a theme and make it both accessible and moving. How do you express without telling? How do you inspire? To call yourself a festival, you have to host more than just exhibits, and NYPH delivered. There were talks ranging from “Blogging in the Photography Community,” with some of the most respected names in the photography blogosphere, to PhotoShelter’s “Click, Tweet, Repeat: Why Taking Good Pictures Isn’t Enough To Succeed In The 21st Century.” A portfolio review at powerHouse Books was open to all, but for a fee. All exhibits, however, were free of charge. The NYPH Awards lauded the best of the festival’s photos in several categories, and held a party to celebrate the winners. There was also an opportunity for attendees to submit their own work to be projected on festival grounds. This submission call, advertised online with the tag, “We are all photographers!” tackles head-on the increasingly blurry, sometimes controversial line between amateur and professional photographers. On the NYPH website, curator William A. Ewing writes, “During photography’s entire history, the amateur and the professional have represented distinct and often contrary approaches to photography, each battling for supremacy. Has the digital revolution tilted the field of battle irrevocably in the amateur’s favor? Or has it swept this traditional rivalry into the dustbin? Can anyone say?” While many artists and critics have resisted the advent of digital and cowered from its ramifications, Ewing and his colleagues address this issue in the most constructive way. They celebrate how technology has enabled more people to express themselves creatively, and challenge the division between onlooker and creator. They also skillfully avoid the trap

of equating legitimately less practiced amateur photographers with those featured in the show by including the submissions within the festival, but not displaying them among the professional artists’ work. The underlying theme of the strong tie between the art of photography and its viewer was present throughout the festival. The exhibit “Gay Men Play,” curated by Chris Boot, featured evocative, sometimes disturbing, portraits of gay men in varying sexual scenarios. Some were studio portraits, others were made (intentionally) in the style of photos found on Internet personals ads. In this latter aesthetic, the process of photography is inextricably tied to the particular expression of its subjects. The act of photographing is more than a means to expression—it, and the voluntary objectification therein, is part of the sexual act. This focus on the medium of photography itself and its interconnectedness with the sexuality of the men pictured asks larger questions about the role of art in one’s life. The seemingly “nichey” nature of the exhibit brings up broader ideas about who we are and how photography can influence and shape us, and how we, in return, can affect it. Just as sexuality is inseparable from identity, the importance of photography and the directions it takes are inseparable from the viewer’s interaction with the medium. For an exhibit to be socially conscious yet not didactic is a rare achievement. A viewer gets far more out of a show if the curator is not trying to impose a specific message, but instead presents an idea or theme that can be interpreted in a number of ways. Such was the case with Jody Quon’s exhibit “I don’t really know what kind of girl I am.” This title, a quote from the main character of the movie Juno, expresses a recognition of both uncertainty and possibility, while providing a cohesive organizing principle behind the exhibit. The declaration of “not knowing” opens up a world of exploration, allowing for a variety of work, and for a kind of interpretive trial and error on the part of the onlookers as they travel through the show, deciding which pieces they do and don’t identify with. Some names I recognized (such as the incomparable Hank Willis Thomas); some were new to me (like Grant Worth). Some sections invited me to sit and take in the totality and grandeur of the pieces; others challenged me to understand their inclusion within the theme. All worked together not toward a certain message, but certainly toward the goal of encouraging the viewers to define their own journey through the photographs. If expressing a precise idea without narrowing the scope of its meaning is the measure of a great show, then Quon’s was a success. From the individual works to the curatorial themes to the audience involvement, the NYPH brought brave voices to the debate on the future of contemporary photography. One of the show’s artists described the process of making his work as creating the pieces of the world in which he wants to live. The New York Photo Festival aspired to this too by asking, not telling, its audience. The viewer became aware of the critical juncture that photography (as a mode, and as a technology) has come to, and that we all have a say in what it becomes. As the four-day festival drew to a close, I began to understand the line “The Future of Contemporary Photography” as a much bolder statement than I previously imagined, for it is not a statement at all. It is a challenge to the artist, to the amateur, and to the attendee, to participate and to contribute.

swell

Photo deco-Page:

Intimate Lands

Axel Dupeux: axeldupeux.com

By Sara Roth | Photos By Axel Dupeux

ew things are as intimate as a photographer’s personal photographs. By day they capture images for others, but nothing compares to the raw eye used to photograph memories of their own lives. Needing an apartment in New York, 22-year-old Parisian Axel Dupeux answered an ad from a photographer seeking a roommate in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Ironically, the photographer turned out to be a good friend from photo school. The apartment was $900 a month with no hot water and no heat. For a moment in time the two lived the ultimate New York bohemian artist’s life, with few material comforts, but the luxury of freedom, time, and imagination. They often walked around Bushwick late at night, photographing the surrounding industrial landscape. Dupeux became especially intrigued by the materials of human existence—the interaction of humans on the spaces they inhabit, and the environments they create. The way people manipulate the natural landscape to produce a fitting habitat. These photographs of Dupeux’s life are his Intimate Lands—the landscapes he inhabited, and how he interacted with his surroundings. They are personal, encapsulating his formative memories in medium format. Dupeux returned for a time to France, not knowing if he would ever come back to New York. Wanting photographs for his own memories, Axel documented his Bushwick existence, and continued to shoot his life’s landscapes in Paris and Southern France. He eventually returned to New York, but things were not quite the same. Stark and minimal yet undeniably rich, these images capture the landscapes of Dupeux’s young life, and echo the fleeting freedom of youth we all once had.

TECHNIQUE:

Bruce Soyez-Bernard on Beauty Lighting By Lizzie Leitzell I Photo and diagram courtesy of the artist

lease describe what the shot was for. It was not a commission; it was a test to show people what I could do. For my book I needed images of a black woman with beautiful hair. I love testing and I test a lot—I like to challenge myself and deal with difficult lighting, especially in studio. I had the idea to use a metallic laminate background. It’s very tough to light so I wanted to see what I could do with it. What obstacles did you come across in the lighting setup? I had to cover the whole studio in black to block everything that could have been reflected on the background. I also had to find the perfect ratio of lights because if it reflected too much it would have been all white, just like if you light a mirror. And if I didn’t put enough light, it would turn very dark and green while I wanted to keep the gold effect. Lighting was definitely very challenging. Metallic laminate sheets are very light and move a lot. They are like flexible mirrors. They kept on moving, reacting to the

air coming from the studio’s open door, so every shot is different. I had to shoot a lot to get the right image. I think I shot four rolls—forty pictures total. I didn’t want to close the door. I thought it was fun to have these little accidents. I really trust accidents in photography— they are part of the process.

silver reflector because it gives the image a little crispness—some punch.

What type of lights did you use? I used Broncolor as flash strobes and had four lights. There were two strobes for the background, one on each side. I had one back light for the hair, and a little white line around the mouth and lips coming from the back. The main light was about twelve feet from the floor, with a medium grid, no gel, and with a little angle so I could light her cheeks, forehead and neck. I put a small silver reflector underneath, about thirty inches away from her chin. I like the

Back Light + Grid +1 Background Light -1

Black Foamcore Main Light + Grid about 12 ft

Silver Reflector Black Flag Black Velvet Mamiya RZ 140mm 160VC f/11

What camera did you use? Mamiya RZ67—that’s my favorite so far—with a f140macro lens. Do you shoot all film? I love shooting film. I’m very old school that way. I love working with film because it’s more natural. Digital is too cold for me. What film did you use? I really love 160VC [Vivid Color] from Kodak for beauty images like this, shot with strobes in a studio. Was there any retouching? Nowadays everything is retouched. Since I’m old school, I’m trying to get perfection on film. I want what I see on film and I do not want to retouch too much. I’m not the type of guy who is going to spend three days on one picture and change everything. The light has to be right from the beginning. So retouching consisted of cleaning and color-correction—especially on the gold makeup: it turned out not gold enough, so I had to push it a little bit. That’s about it. Any words of wisdom to young photographers seeking a future in beauty or fashion? Be patient and keep trying. The world is full of talented people but very few succeed. Very few make anything out of it. If you really want to make it, be patient and perseverant.

Bruce Bernard - brucesoyezbernard.com

Elizabeth Leitzell - edlphotography.com

a j p r o d u c t i o n s | n y, i n c pro du c t i on s - c a s t i n g - l oc a t i on s c outin g

9 1 7 . 2 0 9 . 0 8 2 3 2 1 2 . 9 7 9 . 7 585 www.ajproduc tionsny.c om ajprodnyc @ma c. com

Interview:

Hans Neleman By Charlie Fish | Photo By Tejal Patni

“The work is going to get better because there are more tools, better tools, in their hands.”

ans Neleman has been a rather fortunate man. The Dutch-born photographer earned his first award, Kodak’s Young Photographer of the Year Award, in 1982 while he was still in college. Since then, he has been collecting more awards, including a staggering 80-plus awards, titles, and honors from the USA alone—including being named a Hasselblad Master Photographer (he now shoots primarily with a digital Hasselblad). He has worked on major campaigns such as American Express and Nike. He has shot fashion editorials, created sculptures, directed music videos, published books, and established himself as both a commercial and fine art photographer. All this would be enough to give him a rather well deserved, giant-sized ego. Yet, like much of the work he has done in the past, Neleman prefers defying convention. So, what does the photographer who has done it all decide to do for his next move? Why, help all the other photographers in the world who may not have been as fortunate as he was, of course. Call him the “Patron Saint of Photography” if you will, but Neleman has initiated a rather unorthodox and magnanimous practice. For WIN-Initiative, Neleman essentially finds creative individuals around the globe (fifteen countries so far) who have something to say via photography but may not have the fancy gear—or art school cred—to do so. WIN then

provides the tools (and often the know-how, through its free workshops and lectures) to help turn these fledgling shooters into the talent pool of tomorrow. The result? A library of beautiful, international stock imagery taken from the individuals’ unique point of view. Neleman then distributes these images through Getty, Corbis and, eventually, the WIN website. The profit is shared with the photographers, some of who come from as far away as Russia and China, some as close as our neighboring states. It is—pun intended, however cliché—a win-win situation for all.

Resource had lunch with the ever-creative, if not tangential, photographer to find out more about the future of stock photography. How did the idea for WIN-Initiative come about? I’d been submitting my images for stock for a long time, but it was always an afterthought as opposed to the driving force behind my shoots. The more I traveled, the more I saw the need for pictures from all these different places. I made a lot of connections along the way. People used to invite me to India, for instance, to talk about my work. What else could I talk about? Well, maybe they’d want to know about stock photography—it’s a good

source of income—so let me share my knowledge and see where this goes, I thought. Ten years later I go back to India and my connection tells me, “I know many photographers. If you give me a bunch of lights and some cameras, I‘ll bring all these guys into the fray.” And that’s how we raised a small tribe of four hundred photographers. And now that we’re getting our motor running, it’s becoming kind of like a force and growing super fast. So we’re able to do big things, which is really amazing, and empowering to a lot of photographers. Tell us more about the WIN-Initiative. I started WIN at the end of 2007. WIN stands for Worldwide Image Navigation. I felt that’s what I would be doing, collecting images from photographers, and navigating the images around the world. In doing so, I could help people and I could start and build something. Not many young photographers would know how or where to go to sell their images, and traditional stock isn’t that place. We started the business model because of what people needed. They needed the technology, lighting, and cameras. We would come to different countries and we would leave the equipment with the people we met, our friends and our connections. We called them scouts. How did the first pictures for WIN-Initiative come about? While on a fashion shoot in Uruguay, I met Fernando Perdomo. We became friends and I left equipment with him in case he or any of his friends wanted to take pictures and send them to me. He became our scout and the first photographer to sign with us. He knew a guy, a waiter, who’d assisted a photographer. Fernando found an old warehouse and told him, “Look, I got some lights and a camera. You’ve assisted a photographer; why don’t we shoot some pictures?” That was how I got my first hundred pictures for WIN. They did phenomenally well because they showed real people. They had a good energy and a sense of authenticity. The waiter ended up taking his share of profits and buying a camera and a ticket to New York. He still shoots for us on occasion and his pictures sell. How does WIN-Initiative operate? WIN is, essentially, a shop in the big mall of stock photography. We distribute through the big mall but we’re our own boutique. We’re growing our flagship store, but we’re not inviting many people yet (although many people are hearing about us through the Internet and blogs) because we don’t want clients to come to the shop and not find what they want. We really hand pick our talents. We have three ways of distributing our pictures: Getty, Corbis, and our own website. At the moment we’re still building our collection. In my mind, before we launch—which we are trying to do for Spring of next year—we want to build the collection up to twenty thousand images. We have well over ten thousand now. Do you want to “take on” Corbis and Getty, essentially, in the future? It’s more like we’re partners with them. I have my own work with Getty, so I have a long history of stock because I started at the end of the 80s with Image Bank. Back then, they would just come in, take the pictures you didn’t use, and they would give you half the money they made. Then the Internet came and everything changed because all of a sudden the photographer was not so important anymore; he was a commodity.

How is WIN-Initiative different? WIN has the opposite approach, where we cherish the photographers. We support them, encourage them, and we embrace them, and we care about the content and what they make, whereas that’s not necessarily the same way with the [other] stock agencies that are out there. We let people do what they want and don’t tell them necessarily what to do; we only guide them. And on our website we have a small community where our photographers have their own galleries and can communicate with each other. How did WIN-Initiative get so big, so fast? Fernando, for instance, invited me to the Ukraine, where his wife was a model and knew a bunch of local photographers, assistants, etc. I went there and all of a sudden we’re meeting with fifty people interested in what I was doing with stock photography. We then ended up going to Russia because a guy in Ukraine knew a guy in Russia. The “guy in Russia” happened to be the editor of Zoom Magazine, who introduced us to photographers there. A while later, we have a show in Russia for our best pictures from WIN’s first year. And people would ask, “Wow. How’d you get so big so fast?” “I dunno,” I’d say, “But it’s a free show. Come on in and sign up!” It’s nice because you can give back. We’re at a point now, after two years, that we’re close enough to being self-sufficient and self-funded. What kind of talent are you finding across the globe? What’s good is that we have an across-the-board talent, very diverse. There are two types of people interested in WIN: established photographers [who want to expand their business into stock], and people at the beginning of their career who want to grow with us. For instance, we have two photographers who are fifteen-years old, and one guy who’s eighteen and lives in Chile. He never went to art school; only shot pictures of himself in his room. We just signed five people in China. I’ll be going there for work soon; some of the photographers we sign will come over on the shoot I’m doing and help us. We’ll bring another camera along and we’ll leave it with them. The camera is $2,000, but let four people share it, five people even, and the pictures we get back pay it off in no time. And the work—because we’ve selected people carefully— that they do is going to get better because they have more tools, better tools, in their hands. It has actually been an humbling experience to work with some of these photographers as they are so creative. We go to remote places and find amazing talents and are just blown away. The work is humbling because it’s so much better than what you think you do. Hans Neleman’s photography books are out now: “Night Chicas”,“Moko: Maori Tattoos” and “Silence.” YouTube It: Neleman in the Director’s Chair 1. Hans Neleman has worked with Toad the Wet Sprocket on their Fear album cover and several of their music videos, including “All I Want.” Neleman uses imagery from his sculptures in this sepia-tinged, stillentertaining video shot in ’91. 2. Die Toten Hosen (a German punk band) enlisted Neleman’s aesthetic eye to direct many of their videos, including 1993’s “Alles Aus Liebe” (All Out of Love). 3. The Judybats 1993 “Being Simple” video has a lazy, hazy feel and Neleman’s trademark lighting.

, nef, sye 5 y b d e t a r illust

4:30 IN THE AFTERNOON

. Middle of July. The streets are unbearably hot. All you can think about is how to politely ask how many shots are left without sounding like the impatient, whiny crew member. Fewer layers would have been nice, but a summer scarf reinforces your status within the confines of this fashion bubble. While everyone’s crashing from their post-lunch Red Bulls, our rebel photographer suddenly conjures up the enthusiasm to finish the day with a bang. “Something a little outside the box this time...” he says to his waning clients. You’re starting to regret getting a second portion of that too-greasy-for-summer catering. Similar to Che fighting with his rebels in the jungles of Cuba, this photographer has his target in sight. Instead of navigating past sunken mule tracks and dead comrades, our shutterbug must sift through the crowded streets of Downtown City, USA, and save the world through advertising and fashion. “A couple of shots and that’s it,” the bright-eyed lensman declares with a combination of casual grace and naïveté. During your course in the industry, you’ll realize that this is a common tale. Tight budgets, lack of permits, and plain old discomfort may seem like the signs of an angry God, but in reality they just represent your typical (and frugal) photo shoots.

CS: THE BASI It’s relatively easy to get carried away with the task at hand, so try to keep it simple or before you know it you’ll end up with a dozen members of the photo world unlawfully smoking cigarettes and drinking Pellegrino under the Brooklyn Bridge. Remember that everyone is legally entitled to take photographs in the United States, even if some police officers can be suspicious, even pushy, with photographers.

: NEW YORKAccording to the Mayor’s Office of Theater and Broadcasting, you can legally shoot in almost any public area in New York without a permit as long as you carry hand-held devices that are not considered film/photo equipment by its guidelines. If you are considering a full-fledged production, you will need permission. NYC.gov features exact documents outlining filing procedures. Back in the day, a pair of image taking amateurs would need a permit if their shoot lasted longer than thirty minutes. The outdated rules also stated that any group of five or more working on an image for longer than ten minutes counted as a set. Today, however, rules have gotten more relaxed, and most small groups with hand-held devices can get away with hours of work without being bothered. This means having no stand-alone grip gear, multiple tripods for peripheral equipment or gas powered generators. Unfortunately, most shoots require special lighting and gear that make this an impossible feat by most standards. Essentially, the police will dismiss photo crews with a simple warning if they are caught shooting without permits. However, copious amounts of equipment (i.e. stuff that can hurt people) could lead to a num-

Although we have a right to freely take pictures, we do not have the privilege of street exclusivity unless issued an official city permit. As a citizen, you can shoot almost anywhere—this of course being limited to traditional places considered public areas such as streets and state-owned parks. Property owners, however, have the right to restrain and prohibit photo taking on their premises.

ber of fines for trespassing and blocking pedestrian traffic. Cops are generally only curious, and for the most part very polite, when confronting artists and photographers. So remember to be polite and you’ll be surprised with what you can get away with. Costs: Permits to shoot in the streets are free, but a $1 million Liability Insurance is required for Commercial Photo sets. Most public parks will ask for a minimal donation. NEW YORK SUBWAY: The rules of shooting in the subway can be a mystery at times. Most people don’t know this but it’s totally fine to shoot your camera anywhere in the MTA system. Though some police officers will tell you otherwise, the MTA only considered banning photography amid post-9/11 terror fears. In actuality it’s a perfectly legal activity, only constrained by the guidelines that the shoot cannot be deemed a “Commercial Production,” meaning anything created with the intention of profit. So don’t try to convince the officers otherwise; they can tell a tourist apart from a European fashionista. Generally, being aware of MTA rules such as idling and littering will only help your case.

LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles is a bit trickier since the city is already crowded with film crews, paparazzi, and gawking celeb-spotters. Luckily for still-shoots, getting a permit is relatively straightforward. Organizations such as Film L.A. (www.filmLA.com) were established to ease permit-processing headaches. Their intuitive and informative website is a breeze compared to the dense county government documents you would normally receive if you were to contact the Los Angeles Permit Offices directly. Costs: Permits range in price depending on location. Regardless, a $500,000 Liability Insurance is required for Commercial Photo Sets.

MIAMI: Miami has become a hot spot for fashion catalog photography in the past ten years thanks to its wintertime beach weather. Getting a permit used to be a confusing process as separate forms were required for Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami Beach. Nowadays, like in L.A., you can find places like the Filmiami.org website where all of the hassle is taken care of for a nominal fee. Costs: Going through Filmiami.org will cost you anywhere from $250 and up. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget that a $1 million Liability Insurance is required for Commercial Photo sets.

GENERAL: For location shoots with exclusive locales, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to have to present the following information (this is across the board in all major cities): - Certificate of insurance - Duration of project - Contact information for production members in at tendance - Additional relevant information (e.g equipment/ props/sets being used, number of people and vehicles involved and possible noise levels)

HOTO GUERILLAS P E H T OR GUIDE F LE P M SI A HOUT A PERMIT: WHEN SHOOTING WIT PHOTOGRAPHERS: If you don’t have a permit in a particular area and still have to squeeze out that last shot of the day, don’t fret. Just remember that you, as a “normal citizen,” are legally allowed to take a couple of snapshots of your “friend” (who just so happens to be one of the world’s richest models). In essence, cut the crew and make it just you and your divine subject. This will dispel any law enforcement inquiries and also give a break to your hard-working cohorts. PHOTO ASSISTANTS: Don’t be afraid to be firm with your opinions. Sometimes photographers can get caught in the frenzy of photo making and ignore simple logic. While a train wreck can be a fun thing to witness, it’s still your responsibility to catch onto the little things your boss doesn’t. This may be a no-brainer for most, but to the uninitiated, pay attention: skip the 7-Bs, grab a flex fill and push your ISO. Great editorials can be made with dwindling light conditions and happy accidents. No one will be impressed when you’re hauling an equipment cart filled with needless lights just to “get the right fill.” HAIR/ MAKE-UP: It’s going to be hard getting that RV close to the action, so expect the worst, double-up on that hairspray and don’t adorn yourself with bulky utility belts. Keep your model’s temperature cool until the very last second, then make a dash for your designated shooting location. Keep in mind the beauty (or curse, depending on who you talk to) of post-production. Your artistry is utterly appreciated, but when it’s crunch time it might be easier to step back and let the cameraman run wild. STYLISTS: Like the Hair/Makeup department, a great deal of your work is anticipation. During those fast-paced and cramped location shoots, keep your composure, stay on the same wavelength as your art director and stay on course with the shot list. If abrupt changes occur, remember that you hired that intern to do the running/fetching for you. DIGITAL TECHS: Easy. Use CompactFlash Cards, these things hold up to 8GB+ now. Stash the laptop and shoot to multiple cards until the clandestine shot is complete. Batteries are your best friend—there is nothing more embarrassing than being the Tech without enough mobile power. Similar to Photo Assistants, your job is not only trouble-shooting, it’s planning ahead. Be a good boy scout and be prepared. Keep your back-ups ON YOU, not in the RV. A hustling photographer will destroy anything in the way to capture that magical moment, so don’t ruin the day by having everyone wait fifteen minutes while you grab that extra camera body you should have had on you in the first place.

HOW TO:

Write an Estimate By Jeff Siti he Earth’s belly is littered with the brittle bones of those guilty of underestimation. Yes, the act of underestimation always precedes the loss of life, employment, and the manifestation of every fear you’ve ever known to become reality. Take Custer for example. He underestimated how fiercely opposed Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were to being penned into reservations, and lost both his life and his job—a situation he no doubt feared. A stirring and historic victory to be sure, and the lesson today echoes the ancient but simple Lakota proverb: avoid underestimation. You won’t die bleeding in a field in the Dakota Territory, but you’ll be out of a job, which is the modern day equivalent of dying in a field in the Dakota Territory. Hokahe. When making an estimate, being brutally realistic is key. Like guessing the number of jelly beans in the jar at the town festival, no one expects you to nail the exact number. But giving people a workable, sensible figure makes everyone’s life that much more enjoyable. And that’s just what we want: happy people.

GET ALL THE FOLLOWING INFO FROM THE CLIENT (ART BUYER, ART DIRECTOR, PHOTOGRAPHER, ETC…): 1. Secure a shot list so you can see what you are dealing with. 2. Define the number of shoot days. In the real world people do things almost every day. Even on Tuesday. They’re busy. A finite and blessed schedule always does the trick.

2. The best scenario is to get the Client’s budget so you know what you are working with. The Client will always have an amount they’re shooting for. It helps considerably to stay under or near that number. 3. Think of everything that needs to be there in order to make the job happen. Map out every detail so nothing gets overlooked. 4. Round up people’s numbers to be covered in case of last minute changes and extra requests. Keep some space for error. 5. Always start the estimate from a “best case scenario” place, i.e. reflecting a reasonable budget and good shooting conditions. You can always go back and trim expenses and fees if needed. 6. Do the research to get accurate numbers: guesstimates are potentially dangerous. If you think eight hundred Native Americans are going to show up for the fight and then two thousand appear just over the ridge, you’ve gone and treaded where you shouldn’t have treaded. This also applies to the topic at hand. 7. Have a template with every line item imaginable: you can then just go down the list and fill in or cross off where needed. 8. Check all the math. Don’t just rely on Excel and assistants to count for you, although arithmetic is far more rewarding and accurate when computers or other people do it.

3. If it’s a studio shoot, figure out what type of studio (daylight, cyc, how large, etc…).

9. Spell out your payment requirements: how much you want for cash advance, terms information, etc… Specify cancellation and weather day policies.

4. If it’s a location shoot, find out what type and how many locations will be needed. Do you stay in the US or do you have to travel? If traveling, how many people will need flights and lodging? Is the Client providing the location(s)? Are you shooting at their office / facility? It helps to specify whether you’ll being shooting in a heavily sought-after spot or a barn in northern Pennsylvania.

10. Build a schedule and calculate the days needed for shoot and prep. This will ensure that everyone on the crew, agency, and client are clear of timeline and expectations. Humans must know what is expected of them, or else they don’t know what they are expected to do.

5. Get casting specs and usage to define talent costs. Call a minimum of three talent agencies to get an idea of the budget. Clearly state if talent fees are to be included in your estimate. Ask if the Client is providing the talent, i.e. are you shooting their employees? 6. Ask the photographer for the number of photo assistants needed and to give you an equipment list. Get quotes from a few equipment rental places. 7. Define the type of wardrobe and props needed. 8. Check if the photographer wants to work with specific stylists / crew. If so, contact them to get quotes for their fees and expenses.

GENERAL ADVICE: 1. Estimating is the first part of producing a job: treat it as such. The estimate is like the blueprint of any shoot. Know anybody who ever propped up a tent in the middle of bear country without a blueprint? No, you don’t.

11. Clearly define what you are providing in terms of days worked, services, online postings, etc.… 12. Take your time. Breathe. Stay hydrated. Water.

SMALL DETAILS THAT END UP COSTLY: 1. Food. People love it. They crave it. They need it to maintain energy and stay alive. This makes them more productive and fun to be around. Don’t forget food. 2. All location shoots require transportation to and from for crew, talent, and potentially Clients. This means vans, drivers, tolls, gas, hang gliders, carabiners, and sled dog whips. 3. Some location shoots require portable bathrooms and parking / traffic management. 4. Trash needs to be disposed of. Plan for a dumping fee if it’s a large job. Carbon footprint and all that jazz.

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EVENT:

MOPLA 2009 By Matthieu Duquette I Photos by Koury Angelo

onth of Photography Los Angeles, also known as MOPLA, is a month-long event dedicated to the art and the people of the photographic industry of Los Angeles. It was founded by Hossein Farmani, director of the Lucie Foundation, an organization that honors masters of photography and cultivates emerging talents in the industry. MOPLA’s inaugural effort had something for everyone—collectors, studios, photographers, lovers of photography, as well as anyone who happened to come across the dozens of events throughout the Los Angeles County. In addition to seeing world-class photography and meeting photographers at exhibits and lectures; this being L.A., one could spot celebrities attending various events. Among those seen showing their love for photography were Matthew Perry, Halle Berry, Lindsay Lohan, and Perez Hilton. MOPLA introduced many Los Angelinos to both emerging and veteran photographers, including Alexandra Hedison, Mark Edward Harris, and Markus Klinko. There was a time to be had for all who attended on any given night, but the overarching theme was the evolution of the industry. Not unlike the dot com boom of the late nineties, or the housing boom of the current decade, there has been a bubble growing around the photography industry that many are waiting to burst as bubbles tend to do. Some established photographers have felt the weight of the growing number of fledgling novices emerging from the local camera store every day. Armed with the latest digital camera and retouching software, even the most mediocre of photographers can create images that, to the untrained eye, might be considered near equal to the work of a skilled professional.

As people began to filter in, I noticed that among the usual art crowd there were many attendees who bore striking similarities to the work featured. I looked behind me to see a lofty Hispanic male with a shaved head, goatee and mustache, tattoo-covered arms, and a dash of sophistication in the square-rimmed glasses he wore atop his nose. It was Estevan Oriol, talking to a woman at a table filled with merchandise featuring some of his works. He spoke of how

Koury Angelo: kouryangelo.com

At the A&I Gallery in Hollywood, I saw an exhibition of six Los Angeles photographers and thought about what the works spoke of the City of Angels. One artist in particular strikingly stood out—Estevan Oriol, a veteran photographer native to Los Angeles, best known for his portraits of Hispanic gang members from the area. Viewers watched as a slide projector transitioned from one photo of a heavily tattooed gang member holding a small automatic assault weapon, muzzle toward the camera, to the image of a beautiful Latina woman gazing into the eye of Oriol’s camera.

he has had to change his craft from being solely an artistic photographer dedicated to the use of film, to becoming a multimedia mogul offering clothing, stationary, and even skateboards with his images on them. He has even begun to reluctantly embrace digital photography. Oriol spoke of how it has become harder and harder to solicit work because of the sheer amount of pseudo-photographers over-saturating the market and accepting jobs for a fraction of the cost of true professionals. Oriol, along with many other professional photographers, is anxiously awaiting for this bubble to burst so those who know what they are doing can go back to what they really love to do for a living—taking pictures—and stop multitasking over a plethora of websites and social networks in order to keep up with the crowd. Although these concerns are prevalent throughout the industry today, the finest place to observe the evolution of the human spirit is arguably still—and may always be—through the lens of a camera. Yet a camera is nothing without the beating heart behind it. Photographers are the life givers to the subjects they capture in a moment in time. The subject of a photograph can be manipulated to create anything the artist wishes to portray. The separation point between the act of photography and the birth of a pure piece of art can be difficult to determine at times—much more so than in other mediums such as painting or sculpture. In spite of this, photography will continue to entice us and MOPLA will be there for us next spring to celebrate those who fill our lives with the spirit and talent of Los Angeles.

INTERVIEW:

Melissa Re, Parts Model By Jenny Kate Sherman I Photos by Anthony Lord

hen people look at an advertisement in a magazine, flipping through the pages and glancing at the model holding a perfume bottle, they have no idea that the person in the ad may not be just one person. The crazy world of parts modeling is one in which you can combine one model’s leg with another model’s foot, to create the visual of a perfect body. As Melissa Re says, “If people only knew...” What goes into an ad is not as simple as having a good-looking woman putting on a Sketchers sneaker and smiling for the camera. Hours are spent on casting, with countless models hoping to wear that sneaker. When the finished advertisement comes out, the model will be looking at it saying, “Well, that is my face, but those are not my legs!” While certain body parts get stares in the street, the most common “parts” used in advertising are actually hands, feet, legs, torso, and facial features (such as eyes, lips, or nose). Ironically, there are very few parts model agencies in search of breast or groin models—those just don’t sell eye shadow as well. The world of parts modeling is one that is not as well recognized as traditional modeling. There is no America’s Next Top Parts Model, or at least not yet. However, despite its lack of public recognition, it is in high demand. Many shoots are about fitting together pieces of a puzzle to get the final completed picture—with the pieces belonging to different models. How does one get into the world of parts modeling? Melissa Re has been in the industry for over six years: it all started when she was sent by her agent to a parts “go-see” for eyes and lips. “Photographers would always tell me that I had very good body proportions, and would often comment on my eyes and lips too,” Re says of her experience. She booked the job and was immediately exposed to the wild world of parts modeling. Melissa’s famous parts include “mostly my body and lips, but I also model hands and legs.” Parts models are used to sell everything from shoes, hats, and belts, to juice or cigarettes. One would think that it wouldn’t matter what the hand looked like pouring the juice in a Tropicana commercial, but if you think about it, have you ever seen

a hand in an ad with a blemish or a blue vein sticking out? The qualifications for becoming a parts model are extremely strict and tiresome. It requires flawless skin without wrinkles, vein or blemishes, and perfect proportions. For hands, the shape of the fingernails is even a determining factor. Scars are definitely frowned upon; indeed, anything that would stick out and differentiate a model from the ideal would ultimately block their career. Melissa Re says the best thing about modeling is the variety of the different shoots she works on. There is never a dull day. The worst? “I am a non-smoker, so the most disgusting thing I had to do for a shoot was to smoke a cigarette! The photographer wanted a close-up shot of lips with smoke coming out of them, and I had to smoke about four cigarettes before we got the shot. Otherwise, the most difficult and uncomfortable thing I had to do was to be covered in paint from head to toe. It got into my eyes, and burned badly, but the final pics were worth the discomfort!” Parts modeling is also used in television and movies. Many times when you watch one of your favorite actors and think, “Man, Bill Murray’s butt looks great despite the fact that he must be at least sixty now!,” no offense to Bill, but he most likely used a parts model who was a third of his age. Being a parts model is probably a much harder job than most would think. The camera exposes every inch of your skin, so models have strenuous routines to keep their parts up to par. Melissa Re confides, “I use a lot of moisturizer on my body, and I sometimes mix a shimmer bronzer in with my body moisturizer to give a healthy glow to the skin. I apply hand lotion and cuticle oil constantly throughout the day. I get a lot of sleep every night, and I try to sleep on my back to reduce eye puffiness. Eye de-puffing gel is great for emergency, and I keep eye drops with me at all times, since makeup changes and lights on set can cause my eyes to get bloodshot. Chapstick is a must, and lipgloss with ’plumping’ agents is a secret weapon of mine for lip castings. Tooth whiteners are important as well.”

Melissa Re: partsmodels.com Anthony Lord: anthonylord.com

, . It requires flawless skin, without wrinkles, veins or blemishes. There is even a requirement on the shape of one’s fingernails.

When asked how using only some of her parts makes her feel about her whole body and sense of self, Re has an honest, down-to-earth response: “The modeling industry is tough all-around, so focusing on the parts that aren’t used is not a good habit to get into.” One can only wonder who it is that gets to decide what is camera-friendly or eye-pleasing, and what is not. Why is it that the industry covers up age, flaws, and flab? It must be because, unless you’re buying wart cream, it is

simply not appealing to buy juice from a wart-ridden hand. We are all only human, with flaws and monthly breakouts, but the industry helps us to escape those realities. It makes everything picture perfect, even down to the pinky toe.

MISSION:

Downy Simple Pleasure Fabric Softener By Elizabeth Leitzell I Artwork courtesy of Peter Lippmann

What was the biggest challenge of this shoot? The main difficulty was making the flowers. They could not read like fabric—they had to look like clothing. That was the concept of the whole campaign. We had five visuals to shoot and had to come up with different cloth with a distinctive quality each time, so people could relate to putting it in the washing machine. Was the type of fabric or garment you worked with mandated by the ad agency? No, we only had the layout and general concept and it was up to us to find the right material to use. We showed up at the pre-pro meeting with shopping bags full of t-shirts that Annie Bodin, the stylist, had gotten, and we discussed the various options. The main thing was to use small clothing. That’s really important as the grain can’t look too big in the final image. If you reduce really large objects, you lose all the texture and it gets a little false-looking. These were baby clothes—the smallest clothes we could find. It was crucial to get the right t-shirt to work with, something that would give us the correct look and rigidity. How many tests did the stylist do before getting the desired effect? She made rough flowers to show at the pre-production meeting, knowing that we probably wouldn’t use them, but to get everyone thinking about what they were going to look like. The tests she did in Paris helped her figure out how she was going to do everything. The flower’s shape and fabric choice were defined at the meeting and she had to do the final roses on set. Annie was really perfect: she came with a portable sewing machine and did a great job. What was the shoot day like? I was prepping the field setup while Annie was making the flowers. We would shoot and quickly combine the elements together to get everyone’s feedback. It took much longer than I expected because the flowers were so difficult to make.

Did you have any trouble setting up the background field? It wasn’t easy but I’m used to working with plants. You have so many plants, and you’re trying to make them look like a somewhat convincing field of roses. When you start out it just looks like one big mess. There was a moment when I said, “Jesus, this is gonna look like Chernobyl.” What were you looking for in the perfect rose plant? It’s a little bit like food photography, actually. You want to make the stuff look really appetizing and fresh—just everything people can imagine that is wonderful, and healthy, and never going to die. You don’t want them to realize that there are spots on the roses, and insects have been chomping on it, and it’s going to croak within a day or two. People don’t want to think about those things, so you get the freshest flowers and choose the angle where everything looks just wonderful. What kind of lighting setup was used? I chose soft lighting to make everything as readable as possible. The flowers were relatively small, and I wanted to make sure that people got the idea. I generally don’t like the out-of-focus look, but it seemed appropriate for this job. Was post-production work involved? If so, what elements of the photograph were created or modified through Photoshop? There’s always post-production, especially in still-life, but it was not massive. Nothing was created. The flowers were comped in. Some leaves were moved around, but the field was basically completed at the shoot. What was the feeling in the studio like? A calm, thoughtful process, if I had to define it. Still-life shoots are typically calm. The process demands a tremendous amount of precision, and long, hard concentration to get everything looking the way you want it to, and to make sure you don’t end up with post-production problems. It’s not like there’s techno music playing and everybody’s dancing around the studio. What camera did you use? Sinar Camera with a Phase One back. That’s basically all I use these days. Photographer: Peter Lippmann - www.peterlippmann.com Ad Agency: Grey Worldwide Art Director: Garrett Jewett Art Buyer: Mary Sylvester Producer: ajproductionsny, inc. - www.ajproductionsny.com Stylist: Annie Bodin Retoucher: Lippmann Studio

Elizabther Leizell: edlphotography.com

ission: To recreate roses with fabric.

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LOCATIONS:

Houses of Workship By Meagan Dwyer I Photos by Kiritin Beyer

Houses of worship are visited by tourists in every major city all across the globe. What makes them so attractive? The conjoining of art and spirituality. These are things that simply cannot be found in a studio, no matter how ardently one searches for them. How ironic: they are just around the corner at your neighborhood church. Or mosque. You get the idea.

New York Mosque (Islamic Cultural Center) - 1711 3rd Ave. - New York, NY 10029 - 212.722.5234

Kiritin Bayer: kiritinbeyer.com

t is easy to understand why one is confronted with raised eyebrows when a suggested location for a shoot is a church—or a mosque, temple, or synagogue for that matter. These places are houses of worship—emphasis on worship. Clearly, they are just as intimidating as their fervent dwellers, but now is the time to think outside the box. A crucifix could, if one were to dare, provide an evocative backdrop for that long-anticipated “perfect shot.” A shrine would go great with that dress. Moreover, can one really ignore the beauty of these locations?

Eldridge Street Synagogue - 12 Eldridge St. - New York, NY 10002 - 212.219.0888 - www.eldridgestreet.org

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Mahayana Buddhist Temple - 133 Canal St., New York, NY 10002 - 212.925.8787

The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine - 1047 Amsterdam Ave. - New York, New York 10025 - 212.316.7449 - www.stjohndivine.org

By Michael Miller | Illustrations by Dylan Kahler

ew York Fashion Week: anxiety underscored by monotonous boredom. Another little black dress. Subdued clapping. Everybody smiled pensively. Shuffled out. “What comes next?” was written all over everyone’s face. The last night something different happened. On the border of Little Italy and SoHo, at the Openhouse Gallery, the dark veil was lifted briefly at Rad Hourani’s a/w 2009 show. The first stark black geometrical garment came down the runway, hanging off the emaciated model looking like battle armor. The smiles in the room were less pensive. The future was uncertain, of course, but the garment was the image of protection. With a distorted bass note and shuffled backbeat, New York punk band Suicide began to play on the speakers. “America, America is killing his youth,” the music seemed to address everyone in the room directly. The pains of economic depression were displayed prominently at every show that week. What the designers did with all this instability barely varied from individual to individual. The functionality of the designs was often highlighted only by a dark uncertainty, and these are indeed dark, uncertain times for the industry. In the United States, the emphasis on commercial capital is so strong that when capital is depleted, or entirely gone in some cases, designers respond through a demonstration of practical commercialism. The harsh abrasiveness of Hourani’s collection was, unfortunately, the exception—not the rule. It made sense, though. Hourani made his début, and lives and works, in Paris. While the recession is global, Paris seems surprisingly devoid of the reserved negativity so apparent in New York. Comparing the Fashion Weeks of these two cities is like looking at two different worlds. Consider merely the difference between Marc Jacobs’ ready-to-wear New York collection and his Louis Vuitton show in Paris. Marc by Marc Jacobs held a cracked mirror up to New York Fashion Week. The first two outfits offered a slightly

twisted traditionalism: simple gray and black (how familiar) but with intense details, defying the relative conservativeness in the city. There were cut away fabric producing unorthodox patterns, giant hoop skirts, and diamond details embroidered on the garment. Slowly color became more and more integrated as the collection moved forward. Yellow gloves, a deep red shimmering blouse, a sheer gold cocktail dress that looked like something out of the Jetsons. Now we’re onto something. Instead of black we saw bright green, yellow, and pink. Instead of a traditional wear-it-anywhere silhouette, there were huge shoulder pads and clunky, hyperbolic shapes. The initial minimalism was shattered by audacious experimentation. By offering a scaled-back classicism, then debunking it through an antithetical exploration of color and shape, the collection was indelibly linked to the “hard times” theme of New York designers. It was reactionary. Even in Jacobs’ radicalism there was no escaping the economic depression. Marc Jacobs’ women’s wear collection for Louis Vuitton at Paris Fashion Week was far more consistent. There was no need for social commentary. Throughout the collection, there was a splattering of singular shapes, unbelievably complex patterns, and bunny ears. What we were looking at was art, sculpture, guerilla performance, all ferociously pounding its way down the catwalk. These designs were a lesson on aesthetic experimentation—make the garment a museum piece, not something to convince the stores buyers, “I could purchase this.” Marc Jacobs’ conflicting collections provide a metonym for the rift between American economic anxiety and Parisian impressionism. What we have here is the difference between Melville and Proust—American repressive paranoia and the carefree, highly intellectual genre experiments of French modernism. But what does it all mean?

“Paris is decidedly not doom and gloom,” Jason Campbell, stylist and founder of JCReport.com said. “People are shopping.” Paris’ response to the recession? “C’est la vie.” In fashion, if people aren’t shopping, it’s the apocalypse. This is a very conflicted art form. Yes, it wants to be aesthetically pure and unique, but it also has to sell and people have to wear it, in order for it to exist. The collapse of the free market system results in an identity crisis in America. Once all the money is gone, how does the paranoid American know how to judge himself against his neighbor? Fashion, of course, perpetuates this. Clothes don’t make the man, but they do tell how much money the man makes. It is precisely about judging books by their covers. America the beautiful. Purple pastures, amber waves of grain, and empty

skyscrapers in the business districts. Capital, however, is not the source of French identity. “It’s a cultural thing,” Campbell said. “In France”—he pronounces it Frons—“people are not defined by money, but by the quality of life. Things happen, but we still have to go on.” A rebellious showmanship is what’s happening in mainstream Paris fashion right now. It’s as palpable in Paris as it is absent in New York. Collections from Alexander McQueen, Albert Elbaz’s Lanvin, even the soft femininity of Balenciagia have flashed a bold smile at the masses as the world spins out of orbit. Clashing patterns, extravagant silhouettes, and uncompromising minimalism in Paris are quite a contradiction to America’s current apprehension. Paris is making art. This is

admirable, but can you wear art? Can you afford it? In a time of unprecedented necessity, maybe it’s time for the French to start being worried. Across the world, luxury brands are struggling as people try to save what little money is left in bank accounts. Paris is certainly no exception. Luxury brands and classic design houses like Armani and Gucci have seen net profits drop drastically. Business executives and head designers are being replaced in an effort for greater commercial sales. Nina Ricci kicked out Olivier Theyskens after the designer’s critically lauded runway show at Paris Fashion Week in March. Christian Lacroix is seeking a business partner to bail him out of drooping profit as a result of the increasingly prudent sales orders from U.S. department stores like Neiman Marcus and

Saks. The American financial system is like lying in bed with an elephant; its movements are felt everywhere. But it is the young, up-and-coming designers who are perhaps best equipped to deal with such challenges—and the confidence of their designs is the most blatant of coping mechanisms. Back in March, German-born menswear designer Damir Doma opened his first store in Paris. A sparsely decorated, minimalist setting shrouded by a nameless storefront consisting of a large steel door, the store’s relative modesty opposes Doma’s highly singular clothing. A casual glance at the garments displays a scaled-back color palette of stark white, stark black, and a draped, loose fitting silhouette. Doma’s charm, however, lies in the details.

“You’ll find a lot of different tones of white, so many different grays, so many different blacks [in my outfits],” Doma said. The layers of fabric hang from the body like a new layer of skin, competing with and obscuring more traditional bases like business-influenced blazers and button-up dress shirts. Doma’s clothing is a clash between Parisian classicism and youthful, hungry experimentation. “The day is nothing without the night,” Doma said. Other designers have followed suit—essentially defacing and debunking a traditional aesthetic within their garments. English-born Gareth Pugh is a case in point. Pugh’s designs are precise and architectural, but undeniably based in established fashion conventions. These conventions are being blown apart by Pugh’s nightmarish take. Flowing skirts clash with S&M leather tops, and geometrical pattern work. The designs are a kaleidoscope of futurism contradicting tradition. The contradictions don’t stop here, though. The designer even showcases the tension of his London roots against his Paris current home base, choosing to show his a/w 2009 collection at Paris Fashion Week via a videocast from London. And then of course, there’s Hourani. In New York, the crowd lingered after the designer’s show. Writers and photographers rushed backstage, publicists paced through the benches set up around the runway. It was a taste of Parisian aestheticism in a doom and gloom environment. The collection was a perfect blend of American commercial necessity and French artistic eye. “I created what I wanted,” Hourani said flatly in the chaos backstage. Male and female models stripped out of his clothing as he spoke. “I do it because I create everything for myself.” Selfishness in the face of necessity—it encompasses, at once, American and French ethos. “Everything” may be a projection of narcissism, but narcissism is the meeting ground of Paris and New York. Americans are narcissistic with their money, the French with their art. While the status quo struggles to keep people interested, young designers have rejected traditionalism with their designs. Yes, there’s a global recession, but the recession is a necessary event as the power shifts from old to

young. Young designers like Hourani, Doma, and Pugh are at the forefront of the industry because they form a bridge between American functionality and the beauty of Parisian provocations, between old guard classicism and youthful exuberance. Their intense, expressionist collections have kept in mind fashion’s necessity: people have to buy it and wear it. “At the moment, we are at the beginning of something new,” Doma said of his new store. “We are trying to improve things little by little.” C’est la vie.

Canoe Studios By Justin Muschong I Photos by Murray Hall

“The photo production industry is a service industry. People have forgotten that.”

he view from Canoe Studios’ fourteenth floor location is a three-quarter panorama of the New York metropolitan area. It encompasses the Chelsea Piers, where ant-sized children can be dimly glimpsed playing ice hockey; the expansive vista of the Hudson River bordered by the New Jersey skyline; and the giants of Midtown, with the New Yorker Hotel sign dominant, the MetLife and Chrysler buildings just barely poking their heads above their massive concrete brethren. It is, in short, the sort of amazing and breathtaking view recent New York transplants secretly delight in, even as they hide behind a blasé, been-there-done-that façade. Which is to say, the kind of people Adam Sherwin and everyone at Canoe hope to attract to their inviting new facility. And they are quite nice facilities, loaded down with all the latest in high tech gadgetry and state-of-the-art goodies. Tucked into the Starrett-Lehigh Building on West 26th Street, Canoe offers five shooting studios, in-house post-production services, viewing stations to monitor sets and isolate nosy clients, leisure corners stuffed with Xboxes and Wiis, a café that can cater to large parties or host private dinners, coffee stations with on-staff baristas operating high-end machines, a photo reference library, an outdoor patio and community space, and, most importantly, a bar. Plasma televisions can display CNN, the latest skateboarding accident posted to YouTube, or the photographs taken that day, while wireless speakers in each studio allow individual shoots to enjoy their own custom playlists downloaded from iTunes. Meanwhile, Studio 5 is equipped to act as a multimedia room, able to handle webinars and streamed events ranging from company meetings to yoga classes. Canoe is also striving to become one of New York’s leading green studios, paying out of pocket to make Reduce-Reuse-and-Recycle the company mantra. With plenty of room to spare in its considerable space, Canoe Studios will be making event hosting a major part of their business. They are open to reaching out to any group and any event planner; nothing is too big or too small. Utilizing multiple studios can create an ideal runway for a fashion show or event, while isolating them will provide wedding receptions or bar mitzvahs an ideal private room. It all stems from the egalitarianism that is part and parcel of Canoe’s spirit. “It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’re

doing, no one should be treated better than anyone else,” Sherwin assures us. “We want everyone to have a voice, we want everyone to feel involved. Nothing gets dismissed. If a production assistant has an idea that’s good, it gets accepted. There’s not a negative bone in this space.” Even when it comes to his competition, Sherwin offers a warm hand: “Competition is a healthy thing. Keeps me on my toes. Keeps everyone on their toes. I’m not trying to make enemies. I’m trying to make more friends. I have to be able to reach out to these guys.” Listening to good ideas? Revolutionary! At least, in today’s society it is, as is Sherwin’s dedication to that long forgotten ideal of a bygone era: Customer Service. “The photo production industry is a service industry. People have forgotten that.” Another solid element in Canoe’s foundations is the professionalism its staff shows at every moment. If you seek a studio where cute girls conglomerate at the front desk and pay halfhearted attention to your requests, go somewhere else. The staff at Canoe is dedicated and versatile, able to step into any role when necessary. The secret to keeping stable, functioning employees on hand? Oddly enough, it’s treating them with respect. “The people I have on staff here are friends. No one is any higher up than anyone else. Everyone has a say.” As the Managing Director of Canoe, Sherwin is the man at the eye of the storm, with a personality suited to it. He’s friendly and outgoing, and is the type of person who has the self-confidence and classic integrity to assert that his handshake is his word. “My entire reputation depends on it.” After a lifetime in the photo production industry, where he knows what it feels like to be shunned as a stranger or falsely embraced as a friend, he is now attempting to create a suitable spot for everyone who feels left out. “I just wanna give something back. We want to make it a little more enjoyable for everyone. This is it for me. I’m not going anywhere. They’ll have to carry me out kicking and screaming.” Stepping out onto the patio with its views of the southern tip of Manhattan and the traffic flowing up and down 12th and 11th Avenues, Sherwin gestures to the vista and, in describing the end of the typical day at Canoe Studios, utters what could be the company motto: “Everyone is welcome to watch the sunset.”

Canoe Studios: canoestudios.com

Development:

NIKI

PRODUCTIONS.com

reality is what you make it PRODUCTIONS.com

photographed VincentDixon Dixon photographed byby Vincent

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reality is what you make it

PROPS. SETS. WARDROBE for the rich and famous.

TECH, EQ, flow:

Digital Tool Chest By Ryan Morris

he following article outlines many of the possible programs and additional hardware that can help you to obtain maximum proficiency out of your computer in order to assist your digital capture needs. Although more RAM and a more powerful processor will help you in the long run, choosing the right tools will optimize your time and workflow by allowing you to multitask faster and avoid loading lag and other system shortcomings.

Software to complete your Digital Kit: SMC Fan Control 2.2.2 This fan control allows you to monitor the temperature of your processor and the RPM (rounds per minute) that the internal fan is functioning at. It also allows you to regulate said speed to cool down the equipment and help it work at its maximum efficiency. A necessity when working with a Laptop!

Genuine Fractals Plug-In Used with Photoshop, this is a vector-based program that lets the user sharpen an image and upsize it to a desired proportion, with less grain or distortion, by giving you the use of two additional controls. This little tool is a must for anyone working in reproduction or fine art.

ChronoSync / Syncronize ChronoSync is the ideal backup program that allows you to set multiple destinations and frequency for your image archive without going over ground you have already covered. One of the most essential and time consuming practices is now done with ease during setup! Syncronization is a similar option with a push button backup that is as easy as going from point A to point B. What it lacks in service it makes up for in simplicity.

Roxio Toast Titanium v.9-10 Keeping up with the trend, Toast is now not just for ripping your music, files, and movies to your disc media of choice. It now also handles all of your file format and online publishing needs. Perfect for when the assistant on set needs to put that movie on his iPhone or the Art Director wants a DVD of the selects with a soundtrack of his choice.

CaptureOne 3.7.9 + 4.6.3 This is the preferred program used by most Techs. Capture One offers ease of processing and the ability to batch exposure and color-correction without loading images in their entire proportion, but rather as a sample and preview of the original used as a base before processing. Adobe Photoshop / Light Room jobs you will not have the time to work with Photoshop, as it is be more adept for use with your personal proofing and post-production needs. Hence, Light Room is the ideal tool for any Tech since, like CaptureOne, it gives you the ability to batch-process multiple images without the detriment of large file loading time! Fetch Before YouSendIt, one the only option for large file transfers was to ftp the file on an intermediary server using Fetch. This program will still help you out when your client is trying to send back proofs to home base for approval. All you need now is an Internet connection.

Automator: Batch Rename Workflow Many programs have a batch rename built into them. The only problem is that when the rename takes place, the original meta-data is lost in the process and is often rendered useless if the number of characters exceeds a certain limit when importing into another program. With the Automator, one can keep the sequence congruent while only changing the suffix, date, or name. Aladdin Systems Stuffit Now almost obsolete due to the latest OS systems offerings of a ctrl Archive command. This program that once was the prince of the Web allows files to be compressed in a more portable and manageable system, making ease of size and quantity issues and allowing easy transfer and storage. Zips, Bins, and Dmgs are all extensions of this form of compression software. Hardware to complete your Digital Kit X-Rite iOne Display / Spyder X-Rite Eye-One Display / Spyder Hook one of these little devices up to your computer using the USB, dim the light and get ready for the magic! The ColorNavigator and iMatch programs will allow your computer to output a wide range of its color spectrum, which is then retrieved by the device and transferred into an ICC profile. This profile represents a neutral base that you can build upon, providing seamless accurate color across all of your devices.

Ryan Morris is a Digital Tech at CSI - ryan@csirentals.com - csirentals.com

iOne Match 3.1 / Eizo Color Navigator When working with your color-calibration devices, these two programs for use with your color calibration devices allow you to take full advantage of your CRT, LCD, and now LCD Displays. The Color Navigator gives you more options when using an Eizo on the custom mode, taking full advantage of the contrast and RGB levels in the Display. When working with numbers and in various ambient lighting environments it might not be all that practical (due to flatness in image gamut), but if you are managing contact sheets and doing test prints it is mandatory for obvious reasons of medium parallels.

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Graetag Macbeth CC Chart / QP Card The base of any photograph is its color and contrast, which can be assigned with a simple test shoot and the help of this guide. After setting your whites and blacks with detail from the card via curve, you can be assured that the image and base of the shot are neutral. Belkin USB / FW Hub Repeater 86C Often when working #.. JH$power can be lacking and cause +tethered, communication problems between the camera and computer. This can easily be elevated with the use of a shorter cable or this handy repeater, which boosts the signal strength and allows you to extend the length of the USB / FW cable. Tether Lock Most of the latest generation of camera bodies already has this little feature built-in, but it’s always good to have a tripod bracket for snags that occur along the way. Pins and ports can be bent and files can be lost in transit. It’s always good to have a secure base that doesn’t involve Gaffer’s Tape. Gioto Dust Bomb Most visible dust can easily be cleared of a sensor with the use of a dust bomb. This is a quick fix whenever cleanliness becomes a problem due to zoom lens vacuums and changing. As for smoke film, streaks, and watermarks, a swab and solution is recommended. BatteryGeek Portable Power Station / APC Back-Up When working on location, power is a major concern and you can never have too much. The latest models of the Battery Geeks have life of up to 9+ hours with few heating issues and a compact size. APC’s Back-UPS are a huge save on any shoot as well. With so many plugs for lighting, it’s only a second glance before you’re in a heap of trouble that could threaten to shut a shoot down. Wacom Tablet The preferred utensil of all Retouchers, the Wacom Tablet lets you to use a stylus as opposed to the mouse when doing the small precise maneuvers that are expected of you. Newer models include built-in LCD panels that allow you to work directly on an image. Canon / Epson Printers Being able to proof a physical document for your client is vital and important to the flow of many shoots. This lets you work on layout while shooting, and gives t your clients something concrete to work from. Canon and Epson are the only options when working on location and with little time. The Die-Subs are my preference, being small and producing with speed and quality. CMYKs are the alternative, having better color-reproduction and options in use. Glyph / Lacie / G-Tech / Weibe Tech / Hard Drives Of these four I prefer Glyphs the best; they keep cool and have the best options for space and compatibility. Many of the manufactures use plastic, which insulates the drive and makes it run hot. This is not good for the drive and can cause it to burn out. A good drive will be small, metal, breathe well, and have a variety of sizes in storage, speed, and ports. Space is always limited and you should always have at least one backup and one available for the client if he hasn’t already procured one.

AND Have teamed up to create a new online magazine. NEW CONTENT. EASY NAVIGATION. FUN STUFF. www.photocrew.com/magazine

Dawn of the INDUSTRY:

1985 By Oleh Sharanevych

This is the second part of a two-part series on the history of the rental studio business in New York. When we last left Oleh, it was 1980 and he was working in the photographic retail business. He had just been introduced by Peter Bradshaw to the new Swedish flash system, Profoto, which was quickly taking off.

n 1985 I went to work with Ken Hansen Photographic. We started Ken Hansen Lighting and began renting Profoto. At the time, the problem with renting lighting was that photographers would often not pay their bills. For editorial work, the photographer’s fee would be a couple hundred dollars per shot—or worse, per page—and the lighting rental charge would be considerably more than what the photographer was making. In 1986 I remember getting a call from a magazine editor begging me to rent to a photographer who was on credit hold, and a light bulb went off in this Ukrainian’s head. I asked him if I could bill the magazine directly instead of the photographer. From then on, we started to get our bills paid as magazines became our clients. In 1989 I started a lighting division for Adorama Camera called Flashpoint— Peter Bradshaw came up with the name. The owner was Mendel Mendovits. He taught me many things, among them that if you have nothing good to say about someone, say nothing. That and, “fast nickels are a lot better than slow dollars,” and I thank him for that phrase to this day. I had been courting Danny Wetuk as a possible sales lead for buying Profoto before leaving Adorama. Danny had started the first rental studio in New York, Photo Techniques, back in 1979, and by 1989 he wanted to build a more elegant studio. I partnered with him and we started Sun Studios in 1991. Kim Tylec began Photo Productions in 1986 (the now defunct SoHo Studios). Kim had worked for Danny and Balcar. In the beginning, the business was based on incestuous relationships as many of the studios were

started by people coming from the equipment world or other studios. Steven Ravinsky opened Studio One in 1987 (now Shoot Digital). Industria came on the scene in 1991 with Fabrizio Ferri, followed by Pier 59 Studios with Marco Glaviano and Federico Pignatelli in 1996. In 1997, Drive-in Studios was started by Kimberly Slayton (an ex–booker from Sun Studio). There was a frenzy to get onto the studio gravy train. All of the studio mushrooms were coming into full bloom and it was raining rental studios in New York. I started TREC Rental in 1994. Milk Studios was opened by Erez Shternlitcht and Mazdak Rassi in 1998, Splashlight Studios followed in 2001. Paul Brown, after working at Industria and Sun Studios, started The Space in 1998. I was the main supply house, feeding Profoto equipment to many of the rental studios in New York. Suddenly everyone was in the rental studio business and business was good. Where are we today?

not influence light; it is a neutral light space. Most studio environments in Manhattan actually make photographic quality very difficult to achieve as they have too much white. Fashion and advertising photography is being reduced to pork belly futures. We have children of the Internet age dictating the look. The new buzz in our industry is using a Red One digital movie camera as a still camera—video capture with outtakes of a single frame. But video has never been concerned with sharpness because the eyes see motion in a different way and sharpness is then not critical. Meanwhile still photography is based upon the ability to capture the moment, frame it, and freeze it. Esquire magazine recently ran a cover with an outtake of one frame of a video. Go buy it and see—the quality is not there. If the merging of video and still photography continues, get used to the look of blurred and soft images, all done to give a pseudo good deal to the client and to be hip at the same time.

The business has turned into a discount mud fest between white boxes. It’s all about discounts and the sharks are feeding. Sharks have only one instinct—PRICE. The mushroom studios were based on the idea of making easy money, while the perfect shooting studio is based upon the physics of light. Most studios are all white boxes. I recently discussed this with Gilles Bensimon and Scott Shafer. White boxes with white floors are the worst. Studios with low ceilings are almost as bad. Studios need light neutrality.

We now have too many studios, all looking the same. It’s time for something new. There is a new photo district blooming in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We have been tracking our website traffic at Trec, and saw that three years ago fifteen percent of our traffic came from the Williamsburg area. It represents today fifty percent. Trec has opened an annex on 131 North 14th street. The studios here are the future. They are photographically neutral over the cyc area. Lighting is easy again.

Eighteen percent grey is a mixture of a simple combination of fifty percent of white and black. An eighteen per cent grey environment does

Oleh Sharanevych runs/owns TREC Rental, Drive In Studios, and the new Root Brooklyn in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

NYC Soho 45 Spring Street NYC Soho 45 Spring Street

West Village 49 8th Avenue SAN FRANCISCO Level 3, Westfield Center, 845 Market Street West Village 49 8th Avenue SAN FRANCISCO Level 3, Westfield Center, 845 Market Street

INTERVIEW:

Baldev Duggal By Sara Roth I Photos by Carissa Pelleteri

s a young man, Baldev Duggal immigrated to New York from India with $200, a camera, and a dream to work in the photography business. What happened then can only be described as the ultimate American success story. Baldev Duggal revolutionized the film processing world by creating the first dip and dunk processing machine, and his company, Duggal Visual Solutions, is one of the world’s leading photo service labs. Duggal talked to Resource about how he fell in love with photography, the innovations he’s created, and the green legacy he’s building for the future. How did you design the first dip and dunk processing machine? Everybody was using three-and-a-half gallon tanks and taking the reels from one tank to the other. I came up with the idea of using a deep tank and unrolling the whole film. The first time we did it, halfway through, the tank exploded. So we decided to put the tank inside another water jacket. We filled both tanks with water at the same time so we would neutralize [the pressure], and it didn’t explode. Because it was so huge and we couldn’t lift it, we used a hoist to push it and move it up and down. We still do processing even though a lot of people are giving it up. I always believe the pendulum swings both ways: people are attracted to new technologies but eventually want the old-fashioned experience again. What is your vision for the company? I am driven to make a difference. To me there are three things that will make any business succeed: New Ideas, New Innovations, and New Solutions. And to never take “no” for an answer. Today, we are doing things we never dreamed of. People don’t think of Duggal as a photo lab, but as an innovative visual solutions company with endless possibilities. Duggal today looks nothing like the company that I started; it’s much larger than me, it’s an institution. I am personally committed to everyone who walks in here. I believe that if our business can make people happy, they will come back. If we don’t, we will easily loose our customers.

“That was the beginning. That’s when realized that this was not just going to be a job but a lifelong passion. And that passion has only gotten stronger. But I don’t take pictures anymore.”

Carissa Pelleteri: carissapelleteri.com

How did you begin Duggal Visual Solutions, Inc? I came to America to become a motion picture photographer and joined NBC News. I ended up carrying equipment, and once in a while they would let me peek through the eyepiece. Frankly I was tired of this and I said, “You know, my mother didn’t send me all the way to America to do this.” They told me, “This is the only way to the top when you’re on this side of the bottom.” I decided then I couldn’t work for anybody; I needed to work for myself. I started my processing business in my apartment when I was twenty. I used my bedroom to expose the pictures and my bathtub to wash the prints. I had to sleep in the living room on a convertible sofa. In three months I took over [my building] basement. In those days labs processed film in reels, and I was in shock when I saw that. I said, “That’s how we process film in India. This is America. Why don’t you process them in tanks?” They said, “What? We don’t even have tanks,” and I said, “So we’ll build them.” And sure enough, ten months later I made a big tank without ever knowing that I was making history. I was the first one in the world to make a dip and dunk tank, but I just thought that it made sense. Of course, I went broke. The work was supposed to be done in three months, but it took about ten months to a year. I called up my brother as he was the only one who would work for me for nothing. He did the processing and I did the marketing.

Brittany Philips contributed to this article.

How did you get started in the photography business? My grandpa said he would give me my first camera if I passed high school in the first class (in India they have first, second, or third), and I did. He gave me a Brownie camera but no film. So I started working for a neighborhood portrait studio. One day the owner gave me a sheet of 4x5 film. I cut the film to fit into my camera. I had only one frame and I had a very clear idea of what I was going to do. I found a man who was driving home with his bullock cart, and told him to stand and freeze, and I took his picture. I called it “On His Way Home,” and it won first prize [in a contest]. I went to college and there was another contest. I had only that one picture, so I changed the caption and called it “Sailing into the Sunset.” I won another prize. I entered it into another contest as “Homeward Bound” and won yet another prize. When my mother saw all the awards I was getting, she talked to my dad. He thought of photographers as wedding photographers or paparazzi, and he wanted his son to work in life insurance or for the government. My mother gave me a roll of color film, which you had to send to Bombay to have processed. I presented that new image to Illustrated Weekly of India. I didn’t hear from them so I decided to write to them, telling them they should return my picture. I went again to check the magazine stand, looked through the whole issue, and [didn’t see my image so] I threw it down. I turned around, and my photo was on the cover! I bought every issue and took them to my mother. That was the beginning. That’s when I realized that this was not just going to be a job but a lifelong passion. And that passion has only gotten stronger. But I don’t take pictures anymore. Honestly, I don’t have time, and when I do have time, the last thing I want to do is look at a camera!

What was it like to be the first company to wrap an entire building with a full-color digital mural in 1992? The Limited wanted to wrap their building and everybody told them, “It just can’t be done.” And we did it. The Building Department didn’t know [if they could allow this] because nobody had ever done it. I said, “Instead of asking for permission, let’s ask for forgiveness.” So we went ahead and installed the mural in twenty-three minutes I think, with three cranes. At one point we had to close Madison Avenue down. Nowadays, we have moved beyond photography and even just signage and fixtures. If it’s anything visual, we can do it. What would you say a major difference between fine art and commercial projects is? I really love working with artists. They drive me crazy, they are really very demanding but they are very loyal. They know what they want; they have a vision and they want us to make it a reality. Some people would rather say, “We’ve never done anything like that. We can’t.” At Duggal we don’t know that word. We stick our neck out and two things happen: either we succeed or we learn something. Generally, I feel that mistakes give you the best education. I’ve made more mistakes then you can think of. The people who don’t ever fail don’t ever do anything. For me, the one nice thing about falling down is that you get up again. And when I get up I’m at least four inches higher then when I fell down, and those four inches will turn into feet. What is the Duggal Greenhouse? This is the legacy that I’m leaving. [It’s our new eco-production facility that is] going to combine commerce, art, and science all in one. There is just no end to what we can do here. In the lab business there are chemicals and plastics and adhesives in production. The Greenhouse will feature new machines and technologies that allow us to print directly on wood, printer paper, greatly reducing our environmental impact. These technologies have low to zero VOCs but will still match the longevity & quality that Duggal is known for. Greenhouse features the technology of tomorrow with the craftsmanship of yesterday. Here we will provide an eco-solution to any visual problem. What is your vision for the future of Duggal Visual Solutions, Inc? In my world there are no endings, just new beginnings. I’m very optimistic. The world of visual is going to take on a whole new dimension. People are not going to make c-prints and just mount them up. There are so many exciting technologies coming up. At Duggal we want to stay with [the evolution]—and maybe get a little ahead of it. We keep going. We just don’t stop. But I believe in doing things—there’s just too much talk in this town.

By Heather Simon I Artwork courtesy of Root Brooklyn

This wasn’t a childhood dream; this was just a realization that Williamsburg is the new photo district. —Oleh Sharanevych

“I

am not a salesman,” asserts Oleh, who co-owns Trec Rental and Drive In Studios, and is currently on the brink of a landmark endeavor—opening a

Like most aspiring photographers, Oleh Sharanevych found himself in the Big Apple working a series of assistant, retail, and teaching jobs. 20,000 square foot photo studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Joining the venture is a team of photo-savvy professionals including Oleh’s partner and co-owner at Trec, Isaac Litchfield; general manager Kip McQueen of Drive In Studios; director of digital services Joshua Steen; and bookings manager Aldana Oppizzi. The group decided to name the studio Root Brooklyn, highlighting their

grassroots mentality of offering a space relevant to the flourishing art community in Williamsburg. oot Brooklyn will house four different studios, a bar, an art gallery, and a bamboo garden. The space promises to facilitate video and editorial shoots, budding artists, local musicians, and epic parties. Its

A is a space that is built to be a true creative environment, a home base for the new studio district. —Joshua Steen capture and equipment departments will offer a complete spectrum of digital photography services from rental to full capture scenarios and even postproduction. While other studios already exist in the area, the goal of Root is not to

serve as competition but to help establish Williamsburg as New York’s new photo district. With Trec Rentals and Drive In Studios, they have equipment, connections, and the Manhattan street cred. Their vision turned into blueprints after discovering a warehouse for sale a couple of blocks off Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg’s main thoroughfare. While most of the area is residential, the building is situated on the far end of a commercial

block with unrestricted parking and little foot traffic. Even though the space is far from isolated, there will be no concerns about disturbing neighbors or getting towed. The location offers solidarity and stimulates artistic energy at the same time—and is only a quick walk from the Bedford Avenue station, the first Brooklyn stop on the L train.

Each of the four studios will have a different mood to the decoralthough the studio furniture will vary from one studio to the next; the overall feel is clean, relaxed, and eclectic. — Joan Picone, designer

f Root is going to be the pinnacle of Williamsburg’s photo district it will have to appeal to more than just the industry. The former steel warehouse now wears an Italianate façade with tall windows, decorative lintels, and

be booked for private parties. Next to the bar is a hallway, which will serve as a gallery space for non-photo artists. The artwork will be constantly changing to keep the space feeling new and inspiring. In the back of the studio is a bamboo garden, a place where frenzied photographers can find salvation in fresh air—or smoke a cigarette. When it came to the design of the studios, the team didn’t want Root to feel like every other Manhattan space with white walls, exposed brick, and taut decorum. At the same time they didn’t want to lose the essence of the city altogether. Instead of compromising the identity of the space, the team came up with a better solution. Studio 1 gives the biggest nod to Manhattan Neo-Renaissance aesthetics, with spaciously placed columns and notes of exposed bricks. The old New York feel is modernized with

red leather couches and metal furniture. According to Oleh’s wife Joan, who acted as the interior decorator, Studio 1 is the most cozy and familiar of the four. Studio 2 is the “fierce” studio, with black leather furniture and textured wood screens. Next is Studio 3, funky, yet practical, with a full service kitchen that will accommodate food stylists and hungry clients alike. Most notable is Studio 4; it’s the most spacious studio— large enough to fit an SUV or an elephant. Its two walls of windows allow for ample exposure to natural light, and fabric-wood wallpaper compliments the quirky 1920’s French deco-inspired furniture. Each of the four studios will offer a cyclorama, portable makeup tables, large windows, and soundproof walls for video shoots.

he team is confident that Root will be one of the most knowledgeable, resourceful, and sophisticated studios in Williamsburg—and beyond. While its design is sure to inspire, the studio’s purpose is to facilitate every aspect of the production process. Root will offer in-house equipment rental and capture departments, both of which will have twenty-four hour support. The equipment rental department will coordinate production supplies, expendables, shipping, grip, and generator

including online asset management and postproduction. If the client desires a second opinion, or needs someone to take on the entire production for them, that can be easily accommodated. Root will offer the production services of THE CUSTOM FAMILY, a collective of the best producers, location scouts, and casting directors in the business. And like Root, it guarantees complete support twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. It sounds too good to be true. A studio with free parking

The extensiveness of what Root Brooklyn will provide in resources to this growing photo district will help it grow and sustain the way a root does. — Kip McQueen trucks, electricians, and airport delivery. Additionally, it will offer elite lighting including Briese and the latest in LED technology, as well as the standards in strobe, HMI, Kino and tungsten. For the photographer’s convenience, Root will also sell a wide range of expendables, photo, digital, and production supplies. The capture department will utilize the latest technology and offer scalable packages customized for complete location or studio shoots. Skilled technicians will also be on set at all times to manage the capture, editing, and printing processes, while running instantaneous secure backup. They will see every aspect of the job through final delivery,

that offers twenty-four hour full production support in a place that you wouldn’t mind pulling an all-nighter in? How much? While nothing is free, Oleh has been building a web of connections since his first job selling Kodak film at Olden’s Camera in the 1970s. It’s the relationships he’s built with people like Kip and Josh that allow him the resources to offer this realm of services without the expensive fees. While it’s a place to get the job done, you don’t need a job in the industry to feel welcome. It seeks to be a relaxed place to network and get inspired, the kind of place where a seasoned man like Oleh can pass on his industry wisdom to the next generation.

Birth of a Campaign:

Saatchi & Saatchi Toronto for So Hip It Hurts By Feifei Sun | Artwork courtesy of Saatchi Saatchi Toronto

hen Saatchi & Saatchi art director, Marissa Mastenbroek, and copywriter, Lyranda Martin-Evans, were first handed a brief for Toronto skate shop, So Hip It Hurts, they knew they were working with that rare client who isn’t afraid to make a bold—and possibly offensive—statement. “They’re really authentic, and the store caters to hardcore skaters,” says Mastenbroek. “We wanted our advertising to speak to them, not to the school moms shopping at the mall.” Located in the heart of the shopping district on Queen Street West and known as downtown’s oldest skate shop—their motto reads, “We don’t jump on the bandwagon, we fuckin’ drive it”—Mastenbroek and MartinEvans knew that So Hip It Hurts was willing to take some chances and push the envelope with their advertising. “They are catering to a younger crowd in Toronto, so they didn’t want it to be polite,” Martin-Evans explains. “They were alright to semi-offend.” Assigned to create six ads to be displayed on bus shelters and inside the store itself, the creative team first researched their target audience, watching countless skating and snowboarding videos on YouTube and interviewing local Toronto skaters. The duo discovered that skaters are a tenacious and tough group. “They never give up,” Mastenbroek says. “They’ll try to do a rail slide, fall flat on their faces, and get back up to try it again. It’s do or die.” Martin-Evans adds, “They’re not afraid to be injured. It’s almost a badge of honor for them to totally fall, mess up, and keep going.” The team presented ten ideas to So Hip It Hurts, whose marketing team immediately loved the in-your-face headlines paired with the arresting images of the final campaign. “It was a visceral reaction,” Mastenbroek remembers of their pitch meeting. “They laughed their faces off. I think there was a tear.” After getting the green light to follow through with the project, Mastenbroek contacted New York City photographer Bryan Helm, with whom she had worked on another project, to shoot the attention-grabbing photos. “Bryan was perfect. I know he’s really collaborative and reliable. He sourced all these amazing locations for the shoot.”

On a perfect snowy day, the group braved the Toronto winter and shot their photos downtown. Helm handpicked neighborhoods that would resonate with the skaters So Hip It Hurts caters to, such as local concrete parks and major rails in skate parks. “These are very familiar places to skaters and snowboarders,” says Helm. “They have an instant connection with them.” Although the photos were lightly retouched later, Helm said he tried to capture the rawness and grit with his camera. His dedication didn’t go unnoticed. Mastenbroek fondly recalls, “Bryan was in the freezing cold, mixing blood so it would look authentic.” Mastenbroek herself eventually had to gargle the blood and spit it out onto the snow to make it appear to have the right consistency. The right tooth was not so simple to find either. After searching in various stores, Helm finally called the local university’s dental school. But concerns about sterility and biological waste quickly killed that lead. Ultimately, Helm lucked out and found a cosmetic dentist who happened to have had the perfect tooth on file for more than ten years. After retoucher Mark Tyler put the final pizzazz on the photos, Mastenbroek designed the layouts. Despite their specialized roles at work, this particular team collaborated equally on both the art and copy for this campaign. “We came up with reams and reams of headlines together,” Martin-Evans says. “We kept wanting to push it more and more—to make them really cheeky. The malt liquor line—that’s pretty hardcore.” With his background in sports like skating and snowboarding, the shoot was a particularly exciting project for Helm. “It was such a great concept, and working together was so fun,” he said. Martin-Evans adds: “This campaign was a very unique experience, and I hope we did the store justice.” Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Toronto Creative Director: Brett Channer Art Director: Marissa Mastenbroek Copywriter: Lyranda Martin-Evans Photographer: Bryan Helm Retoucher: Mark Tyler

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INTERVIEW:

LURZERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ARCHIVE By Sara Roth I Artwork courtesy of LĂźrzerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Archive

Ăźrzerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Archive has been the gold standard in documenting advertising trends for over twenty years. The extra-thick, glossy magazine documents what is exciting, breathtaking, and pushing the limits in advertising campaigns internationally. What started as a simple idea of gathering all the best advertising campaigns into one publication has become a must-have anthology, with five international editions published bimonthly. Agencies, photographers, illustrators, reps, art directors, and art buyers all rely on LĂźrzerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Archive to provide inspiration for their own work as well as show them the most creative campaigns and creatives working today. Think of it as porn for the advertising world.

but you have to look through a lot of mediocre or terrible work before finding the brilliant ad campaigns. Someone said that the Internet is a jungle and one needs to make a garden out of it. Our magazine is a kind of garden in the wilderness of the Internet, showing our readers only the best and most interesting ads. How do you choose which ad campaigns to showcase? We get five hundred pieces sent to us each day, submitted by ad agencies. 5-10% of it gets to be featured in the magazine, and we end up covering up to 5% of the global advertising scene. The criteria we use to judge the work are similar to the ones used in advertising festivals the world over: 1. Originality of the idea, which is of course debatableâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;what is originality? And in a business as old as advertising, can there still be originality? Usually the ideas that have not been done yet have not been done for a reason, i.e. they suck. I myself would prefer to say â&#x20AC;&#x153;fresh approach to an idea,â&#x20AC;? rather than â&#x20AC;&#x153;originality.â&#x20AC;? 2 Quality of the execution, meaning art directionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which has, over the past twenty-five years, become more important as there is much more â&#x20AC;&#x153;art

Michael Wietzell has been with Archive since the beginning, and is

direction-led advertisingâ&#x20AC;? than there used to be. This is partially the result

currently the Editor-in-Chief. Resource sat down with Wietzell to get

of the Internet. Now ads are more like sign posts, trying to get consumers

the inside scoop behind LĂźrzerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Archive: how it all started, what really

to read about the product online. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more about the look of an ad than

makes a great ad, and whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in store for the future of the magazine.

what it actually says. Japanese advertising used to completely confuse me. They would show a piece of driftwood, painted, lying on the sand, with the name of a department store at the bottom of the image. They just

What inspired Walter Luerzer to create Archive? The magazine was launched in 1984, in response to the insularity of the advertising scene. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d have to wait for the Cannes Festival to see what

â&#x201A;Ź ,661

other creatives were doingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but festivals are not very much up to date; they

I109.indd 1

sometimes feature work that is two years old. Your other chance to see what was happening was to buy magazines and look for interesting ads. Luerzer started his career as a copywriter and founded a couple of very successful ad agencies in Germany. Thinking back on his time as a copywriter, he remembered how little information about campaigns from all over the world there had been (and still was). Luerzer thought, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s try to do a magazine that features brilliant ad campaigns.â&#x20AC;? He wanted a magazine for photographers and creatives who are looking to be

aimed to create a pleasant experience, seemingly not selling anything, and that was completely alien to Western advertising. But advertising here has started to take this approach too, trying to create an entertaining experience for the consumerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;one that he will link to the brand. Based on my twenty-three years of looking at ads, it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take me a lot of time to see if an idea has been done before. When itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a copy of a previous campaign, the execution should at least be more interesting than the original. Are there ad agencies or clients you refuse to feature? No, absolutely not. There are great recruitment campaigns. Who are we to judge? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the campaign that counts. We just look at the work and decide

whether we like it, whether we think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interesting or not. The judgement www.luerzersarchive.com up-to-date, to see whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going on and what the trends are. Nowadays, we pass is, in a way, a purely aesthetical one. We have to present what we with the Internet, it is of course easier to get this kind of information, think is the best and most interesting work in each category. 27.01.2009 9:41:31 Uhr

What tends to disappoint you about advertisements?

to their loved ones. The performance was filmed by ten hidden cameras,

What I don’t like and don’t select is run-of-the-mill, safe, boring, unimagi-

and the resulting two-minute commercial aired the next day.

native advertising, wallpaper that no one sees anymore—which, from

I liked the idea of advertising picking up on an idea that has been around

what I see, makes up 95% of all advertising.

on the fringes of society—as in what Improv Everywhere was doing—and

It’s a very tricky business. You have to please the client; there are a lot of

using it for its purpose. What is also important is that neither of these

politics so as not to lose the account. That can lead to lame advertising,

commercials looked like “normal” advertising, and were so entertaining

and the lack of courage can be disappointing, even though it’s under-

that you almost forgot you were sold something.

standable—especially in this economic climate. If you want to stand out in advertising, you have to be courageous. Britain is still the country with the most interesting, courageous advertising, and America has

What are Archive’s most significant accomplishments as a magazine? By showcasing the best campaigns, we have brought a greater awareness of what creative advertising can be outside the respective national

pockets of creativity.

ad scenes. And maybe, as we are showing what the standard should be, Can you describe one of your favorite ad campaigns and explain why you liked it so much?

we are able to raise expectations. Creatives look at Archive and say, “We have to try to achieve that kind of level.” Photographers, Illustrators,

From last year I really enjoyed “The Great Shlep” TV commercial, which

and Art Directors use the magazine in job interviews to show their work.

was part of the Obama election campaign. It starred Sarah Silverman

Archive has become a reference point.

urging young people to visit their grandparents in Florida and convince

We’ve also enabled creatives to be in-the-know about trends in print

them to vote for Obama to swing that state’s vote. Great thinking behind

and TV advertising worldwide, in a fashion that is not hugely time-con-

it, and great execution.

suming or costly. The drawback is that some people use Archive to copy

The other commercial I recently liked was Saatchi & Saatchi London’s

ideas from. People need to be more creative.

T-Mobile commercial. It “adapted” (to put it cautiously) the flash mob What do you see ahead for the next five years at Archive?

in London’s Liverpool Street Station. Saatchi placed some 350 dancers

Hopefully it’s going to be the same, with some more readers (we cur-

among the commuters on a weekday morning, then flooded the sound

rently have 40,000 subscribers worldwide). We are planning more spe-

systems with a bunch of dance music titles (from “The Blue Danube,” to

cial issues such as “200 Best Ad Photographers Worldwide” and “200

“Get Down On It,” and “The Only Way Is Up”).

Best Illustrators Worldwide,” extending the 200 Best concept to other

As the dancers went through the choreography, the public either joined

fields such as packaging designers, website designers, etc. And we will

in or used their mobile phones to snap pics of the event and send them

have a stronger focus on our website.

€ 13.50

ISSN 1727-3218

scene originally organized by performance art group Improv Everywhere

www.luerzersarchive.com

TUTORIAL:

How to better communicate between advertising creatives and photographers By Jan Jaworski and Evan Benedetto I Brought to you by The Miami Ad School

verview: Since joining the New York office of Young and Rubicam, life has been O pretty crazy. Living in New York, working on Madison Avenue—working at a big ad

agency definitely has its perks. We don’t profess to know everything, but we hope that this article will help photographers and advertising creatives to better understand one another, and come together to do better work. Because, at the end of the day, that is what it’s really all about: pushing each other to get the best work possible, both for our portfolios and our clients. Graduating from Miami Ad School, we had racked up hundreds of hours of conceptualizing, story-boarding, writing, and designing. When it came to organizing a photo shoot and choosing a photographer, our selection and budget had always been somewhat limited. That’s why we had to learn a whole new set of rules when we started at Y&R just over a year ago. Working at an agency with a roster of Fortune 500 companies as clients gives us access to some of the best photographers and retouchers in the industry. And that’s just the beginning. Teachers: Jan Jaworski and Evan Benedetto Background: Jan Jaworski and Evan Benedetto are a creative team at Young & Rubicam NY and graduates of the Miami Ad School Master’s program. In just over a year at Y&R they have worked on a variety of accounts such as LG, Fisher Price, Campbell’s, Bacardi, Colgate, and various new business pitches. Subject 1: SELECTING A PHOTOGRAPHER When we sell an idea to a client our goal is simple: find the photographer who will help us bring the idea to life in the best way possible. We’ve learned to take a photographer at face value. This means to not expect a photographer to change his or her style for you. When we pick a photographer for a job it almost always means that we are buying a specific style or piece from his or her portfolio. Where ad creatives sometimes go wrong is when they hire a photographer and then assume that he or she will easily be able to change the style or photographic look for your project. This is not to say that the photographer shouldn’t have room to experiment and create something new—what is important is that we identify a photographer’s strengths and play into them. If we select a photographer this way, everyone will be happier with the outcome of the project.

Case Study 1: THE SELECTION PROCESS The first thing that any photographer should know is that creative teams see hundreds of books. Whether we are hunting for a specific photographic style, attending a rep’s portfolio review, or just browsing photographers’ websites, know this: we are inundated with your books. The point here is to make sure your book really sticks out, because we are probably only going to look at it once or twice. One thing we don’t like is when a book is too big, with an overabundance of similarly styled images. If we wanted stock photography we’d be calling a rep at Getty or Corbis. One thing we do like is when photographers write a few sentences explaining their point of view and artistic inspiration for some of their campaigns. Not saying it works for everything, but if you have a particularly interesting story behind a set of images, it might be cool to share as it gives us a view into your creative process.

Subject 2: ART PRODUCERS Often, photographers forget that at a big agency like Y&R, the art producers (art buyers) are the direct line of communication between creatives and photographers. Good creatives should know exactly what they are looking for in a photographer, but it’s often times not the case. Art producers are paid to know everything about photographers and are often the ones showing photographers’ portfolios and recommending people to creative teams. This means that it is crucial for photographers to build strong relationships with art producers.

“Having fun and working together as a team is crucial.”

Subject 3: WORKING WITH THE PHOTOGRAPHER Everyone works differently, but what is most important for us is to have an open line of communication between the creative team, the art producer, and the photographer. This might sound obvious, but it will prove invaluable when last minute adjustments need to be made. And last minute adjustments ALWAYS need to be made. We also like to provide the photographer with as much information as humanly possible. Anything that might be valuable to their creative process—from sketches, to scripts and comps, to visual references, color palettes and mood boards. We also make it a point to have detailed discussions with the photographer long before the shoot, so that we can paint a picture of our vision. We also try to involve the photographer in the creative process as much as possible. We ask them what they think about our concept and how they think we can make it better. Giving photographers room to express themselves is a crucial part because it almost always makes things more interesting. Being flexible while on the shoot and giving the photographers space to do their job is paramount. Case Study 2: WORKING WITH DEADLINES Working on a new business pitch, we assisted a Senior Art Director and a photographer on a shoot that took us around Manhattan and Brooklyn. It was stressful and the timeline was fast with little room for error. At each location we briefed the photographer and models and then tried to get out of the way, looking at the RAW images periodically throughout the process. Sharing opinions openly on the shoot was critical because of our small margin of error and limited time. Having fun and working together as a team is crucial. The goal is always the same: shooting beautiful photography and crafting a killer ad.

AD ROCKS:

SUN CHIPS By Jeff Siti I Artwordk courtesy of BBDO

G et out that laundry list of reasons to be excited about Earth Day 2010 you’ve got tucked away

under the mattress and sharpen your pencil. We found some fresh air, and everyone likes good, clean oxygen. The marketing world has long been a biohazard- reeking cesspool of negativity and we will all no doubt remain too fat, slow, stupid, bald, depressed, undersexed, uncool, and most assuredly equipped with teensy, unused penises to ever realize it. We are sick, untreated corpses and we need more soda and fried meat and Internet friends—in large doses and quickly, or we won’t be invited to pool parties with skinny kids who wear cool hats and do back flips and drink beer that doesn’t have nearly enough alcohol in it to make the sort people who drink it bearable. We are losers and we don’t even know it. And God forbid you drive anything other than a pick-up truck that eats illegal aliens. One commercial shows the biodegradation of a compostable bag that ends by asking, “That’s our small step, what’s yours?” Another reminds us that thirty seconds of sunlight can power the entire U.S. for a day, noting that SunChips in California are made in a solar-powered factory. Another spot shows their brilliantly designed “solar” billboards, on which SunChips is spelled out in shadow, growing throughout the day and disappearing at night. Print ads—none of which are hurt by the inclusion of images of beautiful women in open fields of grass and grains—also have an environmental slant, along with including nutritional facts, jokes, and ideas scrawled playfully as if you doodled them on a magazine while you drank your coffee, all reminding us to “live brightly.”

they offer instructions on how to create your own compost, along with a link to The Green Effect, an initiative from SunChips and National Geographic to inspire people to come up with Earth-saving ideas. Throughout the campaign, the product appears as an afterthought. And that’s the best part. We’ve been aggressively hunted our entire lives, told that we can achieve anything we want by sundown tomorrow if we simply act now. We must act now. But we’ve learned our lesson. SunChips realized this and chose to communicate with their customers as if they were adults who walked upright, a startegy almost unheard of when attempting to sell things to people.

“Big change starts with small ideas.”

Sunchips.com raises the question, “How you will change the world?” And then conveniently proceeds to give us some pointers;

And that’s just one commercial break. Getting through that three minute hail of bullets is like surviving a shark attack. But enough of that ugly jib-jab, we were talking about the environment. More specifically, how not to destroy it while still enjoying tasty treats. Now that the world is simmering down to a bubbling jelly, companies like SunChips are joining a resistance movement against the negative, immediate-results-guaranteed-scare-the-shitout-of-everybody sale philosophy of the last 2,000 years. They are doing the unthinkable good favor of making their customers feel intelligent, healthy, and involved. No longer are chip snackers the sort of people who wedge themselves deep in couches wearing in sweatpants, licking shiny grease from their bulging toe-like fingers. They are informed human beings who care about themselves, the planet, and nutritional value. At first glance tasty treats and environmental awareness appear to be conflicting ideologies, but SunChips is bridging the divide with their new marketing campaign. The company is calling attention to the greenification process it’s undergoing, specifically with their solar powered plant in Modesto, California, and their new 100% compostable bags debuting on Earth Day next year, two things they admit are only steps in the right direction. The initiative of the campaign is not tricky, but relatively new. The focus is not so much the product itself, but rather where it comes from and how consumers who engage in supporting that process can have positive effects on their own health and the health of the planet.

It’s also compelling to see a company acknowledging its shortcomings, as when they admit that their Modesto plant is the only one out of their eight facilities to be powered by solar energy, and that their current packaging is made of only 33% renewable materials. But this is in keeping with the “small steps” idea. People are drawn to self-deprecation. It puts them at ease. Before you know it, you feel good about the world and life, and sunsets and nice things, and you tell yourself maybe you shouldn’t be such a dick to your neighbor, all because you bought a bag of potato chips that won’t still be fully intact until the year 9000. Not bad. There are no doubt skeptics who will say SunChips, along with every other company, are simply exploiting the environmental debate for their own financial gain. But they are the kind of people who believe global warming is a myth, and that only a white-bearded Middle Eastern man can and will destroy the planet. And that’s a bit strange, because “Hey-zues” looks like the sort of laid-back dude that would eat SunChips. They’re also giving their customers the opportunity to get involved and share their own eco-conscious ideas through The Green Effect, which is an

initiative by SunChips and National Geographic to inspire people to begin their own local eco-friendly movements. In addition, SunChips is promoting its involvement with Greensburg, Kansas—a town destroyed in a hurricane, now being rebuilt as “the greenest town in North America.” Though one of the campaign’s themes is “Big change starts with small ideas,” the campaign itself is anything but small. TV, print, billboard (especially impressive), and online ads, all of which are viewable at sunchips.com, have been popping up everywhere, each disarmingly friendly and goofy, and all managing to fall far short of selfimportant and pretentious. Broaching a subject as politicized and debated as the environment has become a dodgy situation, and carries the possibility of insulting customers who may translate the message as accusatory or condescending. However, SunChips seems to have combated this effect by openly calling attention to its own imperfections and shortcomings. The website openly mentions that their facility in Modesto is the only one of their eight factories that is solar powered and that their current packaging is made of only 33% renewable materials. The

idea that goals can be achieved over time is an altogether new idea in marketing. Most products promise never-before-seen results by the time you’ve finished that ice cream sundae you thought you would probably have to cut out of your diet, but now miraculously don’t have to because of this one time limited edition special offer. But the SunChips campaign communicates with its audience on an intelligent level in realistic, fact-based terms, which is also a surprisingly new idea.Convincing people they need your product by scaring them into submission is a valuable tool. Fear mongering. Convincing them that hope is lost, that they are powerless without you. This philosophy is still very alive today, and has a very low chance of failure. Which is why SunChips decision to call attention to its own shortcomings and to empower the customer is such a good idea. The initiative of the campaign is not tricky, but relatively new. The focus is not so much the product itself, which is already well known, but rather where it comes from and how consumers who engage in supporting that process can have positive effects on their own health and the health of the planet.

By Marc Cadiente

As often as we may have been deceived, misled, and misinformed on some issues in our current lives, one man, several decades ago, acknowledged the cognizant human, revolutionizing an industry, pop culture, and the way we view the world around us.

“The consumer is not a moron.” David Ogilvy wrote these words on advertising in the early 1980s, many years after he first recognized that consumers were in fact intelligent—not merely sheep led to the slaughter. Ogilvy transformed the industry with the principle that successful product advertising is based on consumer information. “She is your wife,” Ogilvy continues. “You insult her intelligence if you assume that a mere slogan and a few vapid adjectives will persuade her to buy anything. She wants all the information you can give her.” Early on, someone on the inside was truly looking out for the best interests of everyone—the consumer as well as the client. Before Ogilvy started his own agency in 1948, the

advertising standard was to market mass-produced products to the general public—a quick-sale, hard-sell approach based solely on affable imagery and catchy slogans. There was no substantial information about a product that differentiated it from the next. The folks of Pleasantville were treated to the conventional hum of product advertising—black, white and gray. Enter the big idea. Ogilvy’s business strategy focused on regarding the intelligent consumer— taking advantage of consumer research and targeting specific groups. His radical approach included building brand-name recognition, and

featuring ads with copy that promised a benefit, delivered news, offered a service, quoted a satisfied customer, recognized a problem or told a significant story. A captivating image completed the package. “You cannot bore people into buying your product; you can only interest them in buying it,” Ogilvy wrote. This fresh idea of advertising, accredited to Ogilvy and like-minded Bill Bernbach, founder of Doyle Dane Bernbach in New York, and Leo Burnett, founder of the Leo Burnett agency in Chicago, marked a new era in the industry known as the “Creative Revolution.” All of a sudden, the advertising world, and the world at large, was full of color, information and choices. Images and words mingled happily and provocatively in Ogilvy’s ad campaigns. Even people too young to have seen the original ad would recognize—or at least be intrigued—by “The Man in the Hathaway Shirt” replete with an eye patch. This iconic image from 1951 helped increase Hathaway Shirt company’s sales by 160%—a feat that has placed this ad in industry textbooks of what makes a good advertisement. Besides representing some of the largest companies in the world, including the Coca-Cola Company, Ford, Dove, and Kraft, Ogilvy is credited to one of the most famous car ads of all time. In 1958, Ogilvy wrote: “At sixty miles an hour, the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.” The complex simplicity of Ogilvy’s words helped double Rolls-Royce’s American sales in a year. Ogilvy is known for some of the most memorable campaigns in the history of the industry and his copy still resounds many years after it’s first been issued. “Don’t Leave Home Without It.” Need I say more? Talent is innate, as is the case with Ogilvy, and perhaps it was always in his blood to become known as “the Father of Advertising.” Born in West Horsley, England, in June 1911, David Ogilvy was educated at Fettes College in Edinburgh. After a stint at Oxford, he moved to Paris where he took a job in the kitchen of the Hotel Majestic. During this formative year, Ogilvy learned discipline and management, which shaped his work ethics and principles. Upon returning to England, Ogilvy made a living selling Aga stoves door to door. He was a master

salesman, championing more sales than many of his colleagues combined. Impressed with his success, his superiors asked him to write a guide—which Fortune magazine called “probably the best sales manual ever written.” This document helped earn Ogilvy a copywriting job at the London-based advertising agency of Mather & Crowley, where Ogilvy discovered his passion for advertising. “I loved advertising. I devoured it. I studied and read and took it desperately seriously,” he wrote in his book, Confessions of an Advertising Man. Not long after, Ogilvy was promoted to Account Executive. In his new position, Ogilvy studied American advertising techniques, and in 1938, he moved to the United States. He resigned from Mather & Crowley and worked for the George Gallup Audience Research Institute in New Jersey. This Institute, famous for the Gallup Poll, is where Ogilvy first recognized the importance of consumer research—studying human nature and behavior. He applied his research and what he learned from his mentor George Gallup during World War II, when Ogilvy worked for the Intelligence Service at the British Embassy. After the war, Ogilvy and his wife moved to a farm in Amish country in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where he tried tobacco farming, unsuccessfully. In 1948, with the financial backing of Mather & Crowley, Ogilvy founded Hewitt, Ogilvy, Benson & Mather—the advertising agency that would eventually become known as Ogilvy & Mather. “You will never win fame and fortune unless you invent big ideas.” Taking his own advice—and with zero copywriting experience, a resume that read college dropout, stove salesman, and farmer— Ogilvy went on to build an empire that boosted sales for its clients and garnered admiration and respect from industry colleagues and competition alike. Today, Ogilvy & Mather is one of the largest agencies in the world with several divisions, including OgilvyInteractive, Neo@Ogilvy, Ogilvy PR, and OgilvyAction. Even as new technologies challenge the usual way of doing business, and with a global economic looking insurmountable, Ogilvy’s philosophy continues to be deeply resilient and relevant. Advertising has evolved to adjust to the times. From the first newspaper ad in 1704 to the first radio commercial in 1922, advertisers have

Talent is innate, as is the case with Ogilvy, and perhaps it was always in his blood to become known as “the Father of Advertising.”

been quick to use new media to their advantage. Kenneth Roman, the author of the biography on David Ogilvy, The King of Madison Avenue, writes: “Like all businesses, advertising is changing. This could be the most exciting time to be in advertising. Technology is creating new opportunities to reach consumers—and measure the benefits of spending.” With the advent of new technology, the $350 billion per year worldwide advertising industry must address the consumers’ shorter attention span and the digital devices (such as TiVo and DVR) that allow consumers to avoid commercials altogether. It’s a challenge the advertising industry eagerly accepts. So ads—no matter what the format—have become even more colorful, more provocative, and more entertaining. With the current global economic crisis that threatens to scare consumers from consuming and to shut down businesses, Ogilvy & Mather accepts the challenge and remains optimistic of what is to come. On the company website, Colin Mitchell, Chief Strategy Officer of Ogilvy North America, states, “This downturn is actually an opportunity to innovate. History shows many brands and companies have been successfully launched during recessions, while others have leveraged tough economic conditions to gain significant market advantage.” With the creation of ogilvyonrecession. com, the agency addresses their clients’ needs and concerns, offering the 21 Ogilvy Solutions that help their clients with urgent issues, including searching for growth and revenue, understanding and maximizing the value of the customer, selecting and optimizing channels and driving efficiencies. Ogilvy & Mather provides a beacon of hope for informed marketers, helping them to hold on to the notion of success during difficult times. Despite the current situation, Ogilvy & Mather continues to grow and plans to expand—carrying on the principles that have helped shape the modern world. What is the next step in advertising? It’s anyone’s guess. What is certain is that advertising is not going away. It’s a companion to everything we know in our daily lives, from print and radio, to television and the Internet. The standard that David Ogilvy put into action more than sixty years ago has not faltered, because it’s an approach that recognizes us as intelligent consumers. Yes, we are intelligent and always demanding more, and that, in itself, is the beginning of the next Big Idea.

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...an experience you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to miss. Have them all and expand your mind.

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WORKBOOK

can All will be revealed... Purchase a Workbook Database Subscription for $75 and unfold the layers of information needed to help you target your search for work. Whether it’s the cast of creatives at that groundbreaking advertising agency in Brooklyn or the inspired art buyers at the mega-brand in Minneapolis, Workbook Database can help you develop powerful lists and valuable contacts to reach the people who hire talent. We’ve developed this rich list for over three decades; it is extremely accurate, constantly updated and very simple to use. Also check out our Pro Subscription for a cost-effective solution for your email or snail mail marketing. You may be just a contact away from your next job. To see what’s possible, go to workbook.com/database or contact us for more information at 800.547.2688

Support Services interested in advertising online within Workbook Database section of our website, contact David Pavao at 800.547.2688, ext. 124 or email: david.pavao@workbook.com for more information.

EXPO By Sarah Louden

GUIDE

After reviewing both past and upcoming trade shows and photo expositions, the staff at Resource Magazine has handpicked the most intriguing events. Although these various expos may differ in duration and location, they share one thing in common—they all feature cutting edge information relevant to the different facets of the photography industry. Trade shows are informal social gatherings that attract a wide range of customers and patrons. Expos bring photography enthusiasts with diverse careers, goals, and backgrounds. In the past, trade shows were utilized primarily as marketing and advertising tools for new products. Today however, they focus on the broad ideas of design, creativity, technology, learning, and most importantly for the working professional—networking. So, why should you attend? All of the shows listed here contain unique and interesting features. Yes, there will be endless aisles of booths and vendors trying to advertise their newly released products to you, but the schedules also include forums, presentations, private portfolio reviews, hands-on workshops, promotional giveaways, seminars, symposiums, and art walks. Trade shows attract all the exhibitors you want to see and the industry names with whom you want to network. Attendees from all different parts of the photo industry—stylists, directors, set designers—will all be there, and they’re looking to make new connections, just like you. Trade shows are not only exposure for companies but rather a convenient opportunity for self-promotion. Take a step back from your dozens of bookmarked networking sites, and get out into the world to meet prospective clients and other working professionals. Let yourself enjoy a hands-on opportunity to make vital connections that may potentially help your career. Bring some business cards, mix and mingle, and don’t forget to hit up the parties.

ad:tech

www.ad-tech.com ad:tech Chicago, September 1-2, 2009 ad:tech New York, November 4-6, 2009 ad:tech San Francisco, April 20-22, 2010 Ad:tech is an interactive advertising and technology conference and exhibition. Each event provides brand advertisers, agencies, publishers and vendors a forum that supports the exchange of ideas, best practices and expert opinion. The conference features keynote speakers, panel discussions and hands-on workshops, while the expo offers an efficient “one-stop” opportunity to connect with every type of technology employed in digital marketing today.

make think

AIGA Design Conference www.designconference.aiga.org 2009 conference: MAKE/THINK October 8–11 Memphis Cook Convention Center, Memphis, TN The AIGA Design Conference is a biennial gathering of the design community to celebrate excellence, reinforce and create new friendships and connections, and stimulate thinking about the critical issues that surround design practice. This conference is generally recognized as one of the most engaging, provocative, inspiring and fun conferences offered in the design community.

3. CONNECT PALM SPRINGS PHOTO FESTIVAL AIGA DESIGN CONFERENCE O C T O B E R 8 – 1 1, 2 0 0 9 | M E M P H I S

www.palmspringsphotofestival.com

design conference.aiga.org

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2010 dates: MARCH 28-APRIL 2

CONNECTIONS by Le Book

www.lebook.com/connections Shows annually in mid-June Connections is the place to find talent for all your campaigns, editorials, catalogues, and visual productions. An event specially conceived for high-end professionals in the creative industry, just like you: creative directors, art buyers, image directors, fashion editors and photo editors, and marketing and communication executives.

Creative Freelancer Conference presented by HOW and Marketing Mentor

www.CreativeFreelancerConference.com Approximate Date of Annual Show: August The business conference for designers, copywriters, illustrators, photographers and other creative freelancers. Industry veterans will share pricing strategies, marketing techniques and other best practices for creative solopreneurs to maximize their freelance income and get the projects they want from the clients they want at the price they wantâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and still have time for the life they want.

6. PEACE, LOVE, PRINT! Creative Media & Print Expo www.peaceloveprint.org 2010 Dates and Locations TBA

7. DesigNation 7: ZOOM. Accelerating Your

DMI Design Management Annual 34 www.dmi.org October 18-20, 2009 Marriott Cambridge/ Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Design Career www.obd.org Detroit, October 29 thru November 1, 2009

10.

FOTOFUSION

www.fotofusion.org

HOW Design Conference HOWconference.com

2010 Dates TBA FOTOFUSION is the annual international festival of photography and digital imaging: where creativity and technology fuse.

Approximate Date of Annual Show: June Sponsored by HOW magazine, the creative and business resource for graphic designers, the HOW Design Conference recognizes that graphic design is a business as well as an art. The Conference provides a hands-on, educational program to enable designers to better balance the three key components of graphic design: creativity, business and technology.

11. 12.

Imaging USA

www.imagingusa.org January 10-12, 2010 Nashville, TN

In-HOWse Designer Conference inhowseconference.com Approximate Date of Annual Show: September/October Where design and management meet. This is the business event for in-house design managers. Through a mix of dynamic sessions, speakers and discussions, in-house design managers are given an exclusive chance to learn new strategies and share best practices. Creating value for your team, your work and your talent begins at this Conference!

13. MacWORLD

CONFERENCE & EXPO www.macworldexpo.com February 9-13 The Moscone Center San Francisco, CA

14.

Mind Your Own Business Conference

www.myobconference.com Approximate Date of Annual Show: September/October The Mind Your Own Business Conference, sponsored by HOW magazine, helps design and creative-service principals tackle their toughest business dilemmas. We invite creative leaders to a resort location, and limit the number of attendees, so they can comfortably network with leading consultants and like-minded principals during this mini-sabbatical.

15.

IAB MIXX CONFERENCE & EXPO

www.mixx-expo.com September 21-22, 2009 Fueling Interactive Advertising’s Creative Revolution. The IAB MIXX Conference & Expo brings together advertising’s most prominent and influential leaders to share insights on the hottest topics in the industry. Learn from and network with a powerhouse group of brand marketers, ad agency executives, publishers, media professionals and others.

16. PHOTOPLUS EXPO

17.

www.photoplusexpo.com

PHOTOSHOP WORLD CONFERENCE & EXPO

October 22-24, 2009 Jacob Javits Center, New York, NY

www.photoshopworld.com October 1–3, 2009 Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino Las Vegas, NV Photoshop World Conference & Expo is the official convention of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) and sponsored by Adobe Systems Incorporated. It is the largest Adobe® Photoshop® training event in the world, featuring over 100 classes taught by Photoshop, photography, and design experts.

18.

PMA 2010 International Convention & Trade Show www.pmai.org/pma2010 Exhibits: February 21-23, 2010 / Conferences: February 19 - 23

The leading annual photo imaging event, PMA 09 hosts retail entrepreneurial memory makers from around the world, encouraging the discovery of more opportunities, professional development and the inspiration to act on emerging trends. PMA® attendees and exhibitors help people everywhere create, keep, display and share memories through pictures.

19.

THE MAKEUP SHOW

www.themakeupshow.com

International Shows:

The Makeup Show LA March 2010 California Market Center 110 East 9th Street, Penthouse / 13th floor Los Angeles, CA The Makeup Show NYC May 16-17, 2010 Metropolitan Pavillion 125 West 18th Street New York, NY This is the celebration of the art of makeup featuring celebrity artists, dozens of pro-focused makeup brands, complimentary seminars, panels, keynotes and industry forums. Includes hands-on workshops. Great for all levels of makeup artists, students and all beauty industry professionals with an interest in makeup.

21.

TypeCon2009: Rhythm www.typecon.com

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

PhotoWorld 4/7/2009- 4/9/2009 World Trade Centre Dubai Sheik Zayed Rd., Convention Gate P.O. Box 9292 Dubai, 9292 www.photoworld-dubai.com/organiser.php

20. Tokion Creativity Now www.tokion.com/creativitynow Shows Annually in Mid-May The Great Hall of The Cooper Union Cooper Square New York, NY Presented by The Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA); Type comes alive this summer as Atlanta plays host to TypeCon2009: Rhythm. More than 70 speakers and workshop leaders will be at SOTA’s annual letterfest, including Gail Anderson, Matthew Carter, Mike Cina, Hatch Show Print, Under Consideration, and many more. Space is limited so register now at www.typecon.com.

July 14-19, 2009 Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead Atlanta, Georgia

22.

Voices That Matter: iPhone Developers This is the real deal! Voices that Matter won’t Conference simply touch on iPhone development at this event; this conference is entirely, 100% about developing, testing and distributing applications for the iPhone and the iTouch! This is the event for programmers, architects, developers, user interface designers and mobile applications specialists to come together and make themselves part of the tremendous iPhone development revolution. If you’ve ever returned a love letter because it wasn’t written in Objective-C, if you write your social networking status update in Xcode, if your dog is called Cocoa, then you simply can’t miss this event!

www.voicesthatmatter.com October 17-18, 2009

PARIS, FRANCE Salon de la Photo www.lesalondelaphoto.com 10/15 -19/2009 Hall 4 of the Exhibition Park of Porte de Versailles. Immeuble Le Wilson The Wilson Building 70 avenue du Général de Gaulle 92058 Paris La Defense Cedex Paris Photo - The premier International Photography Fair www.parisphoto.fr/contact.html 11/19/2009- 11/22/2009 Le Carrousel du Louvre 99 rue de Rivoli Paris, 75001

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

PMA Australia 2009 Imaging Technology Show www.pmaaustralia.com.au 6/26/2009- 7/28/2009 Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre Darling Harbour Darling Dr. Sydney, NSW 2009

TORONTO, CANADA

The photographic, Video & Digital Imaging Show May 22-24, 2009 International Centre 6900 Airport Road, Hall 5 Mississauga, Ontario

By Benjamin Wright | Illustrations by Dylan Kahler

The Up-and-comer Ed opens his desk drawer and pulls out a small disposable camera. “I’d never used one of those before last month,” he says with a wry smile. We’re surrounded by several thousands of dollars of high-end equipment arranged in dangerously teetering stacks along the wall, and he’s hunched over a five-dollar piece of plastic and cardboard. He winds it noisily and snaps a picture of me. There’s a brief interruption as his Blackberry buzzes loudly in his pocket. He grabs for it hungrily, his bohemian cool slipping for a second to reveal the desperate hired gun just beneath it. His eyes flit across the screen for a second before he tosses it onto the desk. “Thought it might be work,” he says needlessly. I ask, also needlessly, if he’s had trouble finding gigs. Like a lot of young and unestablished photographers, he has existed in panic mode since moving to New York, even before the bottom dropped out the bucket and set everyone’s struggling to come up with new and increasingly dramatic ways to describe just how badly everything sucks right now. For him finding work has always been a struggle, and now is no different. A week of assisting in April kept the lights on in his apartment, but after that his calendar is one big blank until the middle of June, where a day is circled in red. “I’m supposed to go home for my sister’s birthday, but I don’t know,” he says. “I’m afraid that if I go home, I might stay.” It’s a familiar refrain these days, and one honestly earned—his prop-stylist roommate flew home for Christmas and never came back. “She didn’t call or anything. I was actually starting to wonder if she was dead.” Then the call came. She wasn’t even coming back to get her possessions. “I sold her stuff to cover the rent and used the rest to buy that.” He points to three big cases of instant ramen stacked on top of a pelican case next to the door.

next week the friend returned with two more people in tow, and soon after Ed got a call from someone he’d never even met, asking if the space was available for rent. Today is the third time he’s rented the room, and we’re waiting for the guy to show up. We slip off our shoes and step onto the papered floor. The money isn’t anything special, but on days they don’t work—which these days is a lot —his friends come over for test shoots. When the weather took a turn for the better, they took their cameras outside.

“Things were bad for a while in the 70’s, they were bad for a while in the 80’s, they were bad for a while in the 90’s,” he says with a nonchalance that might suggest – incorrectly – that he has been insulated from the problems besetting the rest of the industry: after two bread-andbutter accounts went belly-up, two long-time assistants quit rather than take a cut in pay. “I

Like a lot of young and unestablished photographers, he has existed in panic mode since moving to New York, even before the bottom dropped out the bucket and set everyone struggling to come up with new and increasingly dramatic ways to describe just how badly everything sucks right now. “At first we were just shooting to keep busy, but then we started coming up with a goal for the day, like a theme or a restriction or something to work around.” He opens up his blog and shows me the photos he’d taken a few days before. There’s a dog in every shot. Another day it was pedestrians framed in windows. Another run is nothing but bicycles chained to poles.

can’t really blame anyone for not wanting to work in the industry, especially right now,” he says. “Both of them liked photography, and both were immensely talented. But neither of them really wanted to do this for a living. It just took this recession for them to see that.”

“It can be cheesy, but it helps keep our spirits up. We make each other shoot every day, no matter what. It’s like a little community.” Shoot every day. I write it down, underline it, circle it.

“I sat them both down and we talked for a long time. We all cried. I love these girls, I wanted to do right by them, but they need something with less uncertainty built into it. They would have realized it eventually. Something else would’ve come along and they would’ve said, screw this, I want be a math teacher!”

There’s a knock on the door. The photographer has shown up with his model. Ed welcomes them in as I say my goodbyes and slip out the door.

The Vet Craigslist turned out the expected parade of weirdos, and for a few weeks he used the empty room as a storage space. Then a friend asked if he could use the room for a shoot. They threw some drop cloth over the windows and tacked a bunch of butcher paper onto the walls and floor and turned the room into a mini studio. The

While a young kid like Ed has the benefit of coming of age in a time of adversity, a vet like Brian has been through bad times and knows how to make it through to the other side.

“Photography itself isn’t going anywhere,” says Brian over the phone, a 30 year veteran who splits his time between Boston and New York. “It’s changing a lot, but it’s important to keep that in mind: things get bad, then they get better.”

Brian insists that the split was amicable.

Would he hire them if they came back and asked for their job? Brian starts to answer, then stops himself. “If they came to me tomorrow, definitely. But if they came to me in a year, or even six months from now?” The thought unwinds itself over a long, silent stretch. “The people who are going to find work when the recession is over are the people who are able to tough it out. If you quit now, you’re done.”

I ask Brian for some solid advice, something concrete I could take to Ed or a thousand other kids just like him just trying to get their start. He just laughs. “Man, those kids are going to be fine! They’re coming out of college, out of SVA, and they’ve been trained to do more for less. That comes naturally to them, and that’s what the industry wants right now,” Brian says with unmistakable admiration in his voice. “They have a much firmer grip on the technology that’s changing the industry. Guys like me can still learn how to use a new program, or a new camera, stuff along those lines. Blogs. But it’s like learning a new language, you know? I can’t think in that

“Don’t ask old guys for advice,” Brian sighs, the bombast in his voice dialed down to zero. “All we can do is throw around a bunch of platitudes. Work hard, don’t give up, you can do it. But stuff like that still applies.” I press him on the matter. Surely there’s some piece, some carryover between the older generation and the new? Brian laughs. “I could argue either side of any piece of advice, but in the end it comes down to hard work. Get a rep or don’t, lower your rates or don’t, take an internship or don’t, go back to school or don’t.” I picture him counting off each option on his fingers. “Everyone is going to tell you to do

for photographers like David LaChapelle and Gilles Bensimon and as a senior executive at Ford Models. He’s now running Creative Procurement, an off-site creative services agency. “I heard someone say that doing okay is the new doing great,” he says with a shrug. “I guess I’m doing okay.” As a businessman in a field of artists, his advice tends to be direct and unsentimental: Re-evaluate yourself and take stock of your brand. Determine your unique skill and try to find ways to stand out in a crowded market. Be realistic about your abilities, find the thing you’re best at and perfect it. For the record, it’s the same advice he would’ve given a few years ago.

In an industry turned upside down, the old guard has found that much of their experience and expertise no longer has any coin. The accepted logic—that the young and inexperienced have the most to fear from trying times—has been knocked back on its ass. language. It’s not natural to me. This generation, it’s amazing how fast these kids are able to handle new technology right away, and figure out how to make the best use of it. I can’t tell you what an advantage that is.” Brian and his contemporaries—a generation going gray at the temples—were part of an industry that faced an entirely different set of challenges, that operated along an entirely different set of rules. In an industry turned upside down, the old guard has found that much of their experience and expertise no longer has any coin. The accepted logic—that the young and inexperienced have the most to fear from trying times—has been knocked back on its ass.

something different, because different things have worked for different people. Johnny has a rep because he’s got a kid and can’t spend all his free time tracking down work. I’ve never had a rep because I lucked into a couple of big clients early on in my career and got my name out there that way. I can’t tell anyone what’s going to work for them.” Brian thinks for a second and sums it up thusly. “You have to do what you have to do to make it work. There’s no one right answer.” Survival of the fittest, I ask. “Survival of the most willing to adapt.”

The Business Guy I’m sitting with Roark Dunn on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, the city still shaking off the last few days of a long and nasty winter. Roark has experienced the business of fashion photography from many angles, having worked as a rep

“I try to look for people who do exactly what I need done. If my client needs someone who can shoot skin, I look hard to find the person who does amazing skin. If it’s landscapes, then of course I try to find someone who does the most gorgeous landscapes,“ he says. “It’s nice to be good at several things, but artists who specialize will always have an easier time standing out.” Since entering the industry over twenty years ago, Roark has seen the field become saturated with cash and talent, with companies eager to pay top-dollar for expertly crafted images and an increasingly deep well of experts to choose from. While the problems facing the industry are certainly amplified by the recent recession, the cracks were already there in the foundation—a long period of ever-inflating budgets and desire to one-up the competition led to an arsenal of bad habits. In this era of what Roark calls “new pragmatism”, however, the people who hold the money are paying a lot more attention to where it goes—and who it goes to. In this new environment, it’s increasingly difficult for talent alone to help anyone stand out—and talent has become so supplemented by technology that it’s considered in some ways less important. Personal relationships matter more than ever before.

Survival of the hippest? “This industry can tend to be a fairly unbusinesslike business,” Roark says. “It’s all about perceived value; so much is negotiable, and my fear is that an increasing number of clients have found that they might not need to spend as much money doing beautiful images because it might not necessarily affect their ultimate bottom line.”

Living in a neighborhood like Brooklyn you come across two to three-hundred people a day walking along with a Pentax k-7 or a Nikon 5000 wrapped around their neck, hoping to capture “the different” with their lens. If you happen to be one of these people, you know exactly what I mean. There is a lot more to a photograph than snapping pictures of homeless models doing expensive drugs. The city needs to be redefined, and this recession is going to bring in its new meaning. The key to surviving this economic struggle is to think outside the box.

Despite the incredible amount of money changing hands, the photography industry has often been as much a bazaar as a business. Much of this has to do with the subjective nature of the medium—it is, after all, more art than science, and with few objective criteria in place to determine how much a given image is worth. Rates vary wildly, often determined as much by the fame and reputation of the photographer as by the harder-to-quantify notion of simply being better. This has in the past led to a relatively small group of highly prized and sought-after artists and technicians selling their services to an eager and well-funded clientele.

Cut the line!

“There was kind of a deification of the top photographers and models,” Roark says. “They could charge whatever they wanted to; they could act like the client was almost bothersome. Now, if you’re not ultra-easy to work with, you’re not going to get much repeat business.” So who gets the work that’s out there? For many, the quickest and easiest thing to do has been to offer lower and lower rates, which has proven to be particularly attractive to cash-strapped corporations and agencies needing more for less. But rates, already bottoming out due to dwindling budgets, have been driven to new lows by aggressive low-balling, and may not rebound when things pick up again. “There’s a difference between making yourself competitive and giving it away. Always start by learning what the project’s budget is, and work within that.” Roark leans in across the table. “It’s a tough call. If you’re concerned about your longevity in the industry, you sometimes have to be able to say no to work. Know your value.” Of course the idea of value is much more far-reaching than the cost or quality of the finished product. That is not to say that quality or cost is irrelevant—far from it—but the fact is that there will always be someone who is better than you, or who will work for less money. Value, then, must

Here are a few ideas to put your motivation to good use: 1) Event Shoot: The human race has been dabbling in interests from microbiology to ancient roman philosophy for centuries. However, the ultimate interest of people is … themselves at parties. People are constantly looking for affordable photographers to cover their event. It might not be the “coolest” or most “edifying” gig you will ever have, but with an open bar and a buffet styled dinner you will find yourself with some pocket change and a full tummy. Tips: Post an ad on Craig’s list; use the word “affordable” in the description for your service. Have business cards that include the words “Event Photographer.” 2) Photography lessons: At fifteen, many kids dream of becoming rock stars, professional athletes, or actors. Some know it’s all in the lighting. Taking a photography class in high school can be challenging and influential, but a bit general. This is where you come in to play. Not only would you be a personal instructor, you could act as a mentor or guide, someone with vast knowledge that can introduce a beginner to the finer things in the industry. Now this may all sound a bit heavy and serious, but if you are aiming to have some fun for an hour a day by showing someone the things you love, this might the ideal side job for you! Tips: Make flyers and place them around college campuses and high schools. Make business cards and leave them inside of bookstores and music shops. 3) We need photographs to capture the world we live in, to help educate future generations.

Take pictures now for “later”, these photographs can be sold to online encyclopedias, school textbooks, and even documentaries. In a time of despair we may stop a lot of things, but learning will never be included on that list. This is also a time to collaborate with film; documentaries require a photographer going out and experiencing the hazards of life that we all tend to stay away from. Save yourself while saving somebody else. Tips: Take full advantage of online networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook, My Space, and other free blog sites. This will get the word circulating.

Small Talk. Big words. I interviewed a select group of photographers and asked them if they had any advice for people in the industry. This particular answer embodies the heart solution. “We are all tapping into our own creativity and expressing it with our camera. There is no need to judge others or constantly be competing with one another. I think in a perfect world our passion would come before the need to live comfortably, but that never seems to be the case. Being a starving artist isn’t really the cool thing to do anymore. At least I don’t think so. But that does not mean an awesome opportunity should be passed up because it does not offer enough money. Certain experiences will always be more important than how much money you make. A camera has the ability to capture the essence of a person. I want to know every person’s life story and be able to have my one photograph tell that story.” – Ilysa Mitofsky, 22 yrs old. Freelance photographer.

Surviving as a Freelancer in a Downturned Economy By Liz Clayman

• Hit up past employers for jobs. There is a lot of talk mentioning that while businesses lay people off, their work load is still the same. They might not have the budget to hire new people, but a freelancer is the perfect fit to come in and help get deadlines met. • Branch out and diversify your work. You used to be above shooting headshots or events? Not anymore…. • Shop your photos—it’s cheaper for publications to use existing images than produce a whole shoot. Try stock agencies like FlashDen, Dreamstime, Veer, Getty, Template Monster, IconBuffet, etc…. • Self-promotion—not easy but definitely necessary. Use the time you used to spend working to put your name out in places so far unexplored. Give your website that much needed update. Put your work out on different industry directories. List yourself on Citisearch (not cheap but worth it). Join networking sites like Biznik, LinkedIn, Dripbook, etc…. Attend conferences you used to be too busy for, and pass out those business cards.

• Try bartering for things or services you normally would purchase.

extend beyond the physical creation and manufacture of an image.

• If you decide that working pro bono is a viable option for you and your portfolio during a slow period, make sure to set yourself a limit on how many hours a month you can afford to work in that manner. Everything in moderation.

“Everyone’s had to become much more serviceoriented. I think the people who work the most are the ones who deliver to their clients more than just the right image. If you get booked, know what it is that the client actually needs. Ask questions and then be a good listener. Let them know you understand their goals and concerns. Think how you might even bring more to the table. Maybe let them see you figure out a way to save them a few dollars. Clients really value people who partner with them to solve problems, so remember you’re there to solve their problems.”

• If you’ve sold photographs to companies with limited usage and let those dates lapse, send your clients a polite letter reminding them their usage is running/ran out. Would they like to renew for another X amount of years? And for X amount of money? • Let your clients know how much you value their business. Consider both the larger clients and the guy you shot one job for three years ago. Talk to them to touch base. Maybe they have a project that’s been put off because they thought they couldn’t afford it. Let them know you have flexibility in pricing and can work with them.

Roark, like Brian and everyone else you talk to these days, admits that adaptation is an absolute necessity for anyone hoping to live long and prosper in the post-recession world, but is less militant in his Darwinism. Those who are keeping their heads above water haven’t made it this far solely by luck. “’Survival of the fittest’ is too cold,” he says contemplatively. “The ones who make it are going to make it because they worked hard and worked smart. Nobody’s doomed to fail.”

Sources:

The Boss

5 Reasons Freelancers Can Succeed in a Shrinking Economy www.thefutureoftheweb.com/blog/5-ways-freelancers-can-succeed-in-bad-economy Essentially, freelancers have the ultimate control over their own overhead and pricing, and that flexibility compared to a large corporations will be the saving grace of freelancers.

Crowded in among scores of photographs and pages from magazines, a map of the world is tacked to the wall above John Engstrom’s desk, bristling with colored thumb tacks that mark the countries he has visited. He points at the map, to a smattering of colored thumb tacks dotting Africa, the Middle East, India. “Times are hard for us here, but go to Gaza or Iraq or Somalia if you want to see real suffering. This is not the end of the world.”

Estetica Design Forum www.estetica-design-forum.com/graphic-design-business-forum/18407-surviving-economy-keeping-clients.html Selling in a Creative Industry www.andy-preston.com/2009/01/selling-in-a-creative-industry/ The Accidental Freelancer’s Survival Kit abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/Story?id=6806042&page 8 Ways Freelancers Can Survive In A Troubled Economy freelancefolder.com/survive-in-a-troubled-economy/ 101 Essential Freelancing Resources www.freelanceswitch.com/general/101-essential-freelancing-resources/ Great list of resources. Categories include stock agencies, ways to promote yourself, legal links, and job boards.

Growing up in Michigan, John saw the bottom fall out of the auto industry and leave behind the smoking wrecks of Detroit and Flint. The experience left him with a sense of perspective; he radiates a calm that seems in short supply among the more volatile types that populate the photo industry. “All industries go through periods of expansion and contraction. This is a period of attraction,”

he says. Then, for the second time, “This is not the end of the world.” It’s almost 5 in the evening at the tail end of a busy day when we meet his office at Sheimflüg Digital. He looks a little ragged around the edges, but good. “For me, I know I will work every day for the rest of my life, and I’ll be

The biggest problem for John, or at least the problem that inflates all the others, is boosting dangerously low morale. He, like every other boss out there, is responsible not only for their own career and wellbeing, but for that of everybody who works for them. But while many companies are hemorrhaging money and talent left and right, Sheimflüg has thus far been able

sitting on a couch in the back, a scene from Mothra flickering on the dark wall overhead. Ed gets up and reappears a minute later with three cans. Jesus Ed, I say, you’re the last person who should be paying for drinks. He grins and shakes his head. “Drinks are on the house,” he says, beaming. “I

“I heard someone say that doing okay is the new doing great,” he says with a shrug. “I’m doing okay.”

okay,” he says with a shrug. “It’s meant a lot of changes, but I’ve been able to evolve with the market and figure out my niche.” Like any business—sorry folks, there’s that word again—the photo industry is subject to the natural and unstoppable ebb and flow of money as it cycles in and out, as businesses open and close or talent floods and flees; and while the world goes Chicken Little around us, it’s absolutely vital to keep in mind that the recession is going to end, and that the people who can take the necessary steps to survive this winter will be the ones reaping the benefits that come with spring. Where will you be for the bounce? “You’ve got to find some way to work just keep your name out there, but you’ve also got to think ahead for when work picks back up,” he

to avoid laying off a single worker, due in part to a newfound attention to the company’s finances (“I saved $18,000 a year just by switching phone companies,” he says, as if he can’t quite believe it himself). He also took advantage of a government-sponsored partial unemployment program that allows his workers to scale back their hours and collect unemployment while keeping their benefits. At times it can be tough to counter the low morale, but John and others like him are taking the long view. “This recession isn’t necessarily a bad thing, if you can learn from it,” he says. “I’ll never go back to just nodding my head and not questioning everything.”

The Up-and-Comer (Slight Return) Two weeks after our interview, Ed calls me up and invites me to go grab a beer. It’s the first

says. “Be more than just the person who’ll do it the cheapest. You don’t want to be the 99 cent store of the industry.”

really hot day of the year, pushing well up into the 80’s, and it isn’t quite dark when I catch up with him at a bar in the L.E.S. The interior is dark and cool, filled with people but not quite crowded. I find him and a couple of his friends

was shooting in Central Park and this guy just jogs up to me and says he needs someone to take pictures of his bar, so I give him the address to my blog and he calls me up that night and hires me.” Right place, right time, I say. “Right place, right time,” he agrees. I accept the beer, and another.

Breaking Concrete:

Bike messengers stop and pose

By Rachel Meade Smith I Photos by Jason Lewis

Jason Lewis: jasonglewis.com

Plodding through the urban jungle, we, as average, foot-wielding pedestrians, often give little thought to those flashes of metal and rubber flying alongside us—besides wondering whose elbows or which cab’s side view mirror will be the first victim to a set of hasty handlebars. We may confuse their rapidity for pedestrian disregard and their agility for recklessness. Or we may not see these mobile paladins at all, weaving so expertly that they leave only a passing wind against our cheeks. But when we are awarded a glance at these phantoms, say, at a red light, it turns out they’re worth catching up to. These are the industry’s bike messengers—the humble heroes of photography production whom the honchos nobly entrust with the goods of a hard day’s, week’s or month’s work. ‘Cause who else would you trust to fly those seventeen rolls of irreplaceable B&W’s up to the lab? To tote all the excess baggage you just can’t be bothered with? And those props you worried wouldn’t even fit in the trunk of a cab? Don’t fret, your bike messenger somehow affixed them to his back wheel—and you love him for it. Like modern day Hermeses, they suffer neither the constraints of traffic patterns nor subway holdups, carrying out their duties on a path of their own and, not to mention, in half the time a mere mortal would take. And while their constant swiftness may lead one to doubt it, Resource has managed to record and prove that they do in fact exist while stagnant, and oh how their brilliance surpasses even the brightest of headlights! But don’t try flagging one of these guys down; they’ve got work to do, and it’s just as vital as that so-called “talent” in front of the camera.

“Ham“

646.508.5198 . gotham09@gmail.com FLASH COURIER 212.777.0077

914.290.3680 . drew@punk.net LEAPFROG COURIERS

Andrew Toews “Drew“

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Juan Saenz

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Ben Snodgarss

347-220-7859 A-Z COURIERS . 212.253.6500

617.799.8472 . bennyxdigital@gmail.com TRAK STAR . 212.982.2553

Hugo Giron “Juice“ Colin Miller

snapdelivery@gmail.com SNAP DELIVERY SERVICE . 347.515.8727

347.497.2116 . colin@snapdeliverybk.com SNAP DELIVERY SERVICE . 347.515.8727

James MacInnon

917.484.0613 . historia.learner@gmail.com MOBILE MESSENGER . 212.751.7765

Katy Chaffin “Peaches“” and Joe Krillz

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Joe: 646-878-9338 . krillz@gmail.com INDUSTRIAL COURIER Katy: 404.457.9024 . washingtonkt@gmail.com TOP NOTCH COURIER . 212.982.0227

Sean Kennedy “Kennedy“

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347.436.3401 . kennedy.son@gmail.com

Kevin Bolger “Squid““”

917.417.3714 . info@cyclehawk.com CYCLE HAWK . 212.245.3121

Rene Jean-Louis 718.450.6437 . jeanloiusrene@yahoo.com URBAN EXPRESS 212.855.5555

Tarik Hunter

718-379-0416 URBAN EXPRESS 212.855.5555

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the

Las Vegas Standing on the Strip, the lights of Las Vegas alone are entertainment. Constantly moving, flashing, and beckoning, they invite wanderers into their casinos, their clubs, their half-price extravaganzas, and their $1 shrimp cocktails that taste like they swam straight out of the toilet. The Strip is shallow, crass, and commercial—an undisguised paean to capitalism where no one hides the fact that all they really care about is extracting the dollars from your wallet. That’s why people love it so much: in spite of the lies, it is, at heart, the most honest place in America.

By Justin Muschong Photos by Koury Angelo Produced by Blair-Schmidt Productions

But climb up high enough— whether on a plane, the Stratosphere’s needle, or on one of the surrounding mountains—and the madness recedes. At a certain point the lights stop cold, providing a clear demarcation between the city and the utter black of the desert night, a stark reminder that according to the rules of Nature, Las Vegas really shouldn’t be there. Human beings have no business living in a scrub wasteland, and yet we have chosen to plant our flag there. We declared the region a free zone for our baser instincts to run rampant, and we have thrived—for the time being. But while we slurp cheap hooch and plunge tokens into slot machines, the desert waits patiently to reclaim its property.

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Jean Dry Lake In a state full of dry lakes, this is one of the more accessible. Littering with trails and sand begging to be driven upon, the site is great for off-roading. Bring a motorcycle and ATV along with your camera and go nuts perfecting your donut.

Nelson Ghost Town Despite the label “ghost town,” a few brave residents still call Nelson home. They live among the rusting, mould-ering remains of houses, gas stations, and stores, and even the wreckage of a downed plane can be found a short distance away. It’s a fantastic post-apocalyptic setting the whole family can enjoy. http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nv/nelson.html

Red Rock Canyon

Though only thirty minutes away from the Strip, Red Rock Canyon offers a strikingly unique location. Wild horses, burros, bighorn sheep, and tortoises roam the grounds, feasting on over six hundred species of plant and watching climbers scramble up the soaring Aztec Sandstone cliffs.

Spring Valley Ranch Formerly home to obscenely wealthy types like Howard Hughes and Vera Krupp, the Spring Mountain Ranch is now a State Park and offers a welcome respite from the surrounding desert. Its green pastures splash against the Nevada red rocks to create a unique, natural color scheme that begs for photography.

702.875.4141 www.parks.nv.gov/smr.htm smrrangers@parks.nv.gov

Ben Norton

Dos Caminos

If you need a car in Las Vegas, Ben Norton is the guy to see. Like a lot of Las Vegas locals, he’s a colorful character, and in the short time you’ll spend together he’ll tell you the story of his life and views on the world while ensuring you get what you’re looking for. Cars are his life: he is constantly buying and repairing them, sometimes going so far as to rebuild them from discarded parts or combining multiple cars to create something entirely new. If the man could hook up Marty and Bobby for Casino, you can be damn sure he’ll be able to take care of you.

A New York City transplant, this Mexican restaurant is located in the Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino, one of the best and most subdued places on the Strip, which you’ll appreciate after a few days of flashing lights and clanging machines. A private room in the back can accommodate eighty people, making it perfect for a movie crew’s dinner or a photo shoot’s wrap party. The decor, designed by David Rockwell, features warm colors and elaborate fake skulls evoking the traditional Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead. After dinner, guests can relax in the Sala Lounge and enjoy the made-to-order guacamole and perfect margaritas.

Classic Cars Productions 7052 W. Meranto Ave. Las Vegas, NV 89124 702.365.1277 702.278.2047 cell bennortonpro@aol.com

3325 Las Vegas Blvd S Las Vegas, NV 89109 702.577.9600 www.brguestrestaurants.com

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Valley of Fire Similar to Red Rock Canyon but larger in scope, Valley of Fire boasts dramatic rock structures, a picturesque winding road, and an amazing contrast between the green of the vegetation and the red of the rocks. A favorite for film and photo shoots, this location is typically used a hundred days out of every year.

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Hoover Dam

Lake Mead was created by the construction of the Hoover Dam, which remains one of historyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most renowned engineering accomplishments some seventy years after its completion. Together, the two supply Las Vegas with water and California with electricity, all while offering a vista that compels tourists to stop and take purty pictures.

200 words) and

Twenty minutes from downtown Las Vegas is a massive oasis, lush with palm trees, golf courses, Mediterranean villas, and a 320-acre lake. Amazingly enough, it’s all man-made. The Lake Las Vegas Resort was developed as a secluded yet expansive shelter in the middle of the desert, fully stocked with restaurants, stores, and a variety of recreational choices. It has the benefits of being both quiet and in the middle of everything—the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Valley of Fire, Red Rock Canyon, and the Colorado River are all just short distances away. When staying at the Resort, you have your choice between three different hotels and a number of mansions, villas, condos, and penthouses, most of which are furnished and make for ideal shooting locations. Fortunately, most rooms and suites are set up for both work and play, so for once in your life you

may actually be able to successfully combine the two and thus achieve every human being’s ultimate dream. One of the hotels, Loews, attempts to recreate Morocco across twenty-five acres of lakefront property. The 493 guest rooms include four actual casbah’s, each one presumably custom designed for rocking. The hotel’s restaurants include Marssa, a Pacific-Rim joint featuring Executive Chef Fuji Fujita, the only master sushi chef in the entire state of Nevada; and Rick’s Café, a recreation of the Casablanca favorite. After a day of shooting, do a round of golf, relax at one of the Spa Moulay’s eleven treatment rooms, or on one of the landscaped pool decks, replete with palmshaded terraces. The Tuscany-inspired MonteLago Village Resort includes shops and galleries among its cobblestoned streets and plazas. And lest you forget you’re in Nevada, the Casino at MonteLago operates 24/7.

Lake Las Vegas Resort

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THE AULD DUBLINER IRISH PUB Situated on the grounds of the resort is this traditional Irish pub, ideal for relaxing after a long day’s shoot. Along with typical American bar food and high-end entrees, the menu includes choice Irish meals such as Bangers & Champ, Corned Beef and Cabbage, and Shepherds Pie. Drinks-wise, sampling the list of available beers and whiskeys will help you forget the day’s troubles, as well as most of the night, and possibly the next morning. 40 Via Bel Canto #100 Henderson, NV 89011 702.567.8002 www.aulddubliner.com

Lake Las Vegas Resort: www.lakelasvegas.com

MonteLago Village Resort: ADDRESS ADRESS www.montelagovillage.com 866-383-1592

Loews Hotel: 101 Montelago Boulevard Henderson, Nevada 89011 702.567.6000 www.loewshotels.com

PORTOFINO STEAK HOUSE AT MONTELAGO CASINO Just a few feet away from the slot machines and roulette tables in the Casino at MonteLago, Portofino Steak House serves up generous portions of choice meat prepared with a Tuscan flair. It’s open twenty-four hours a day, so you can stumble in at any time and eat to your heart’s desire. 702.939.8918

Shooting in Las Vegas is actually very convenient. Because it’s so close to L.A., it’s easy to bring in high-quality crew and equipment when you can’t find them locally. And for anyone on your crew who doesn’t live in either city, you won’t have any trouble bringing them in because we have a major airport and all the airlines fly to Las Vegas direct. It’s also cost effective - to encourage tourism, flight and hotel rates are kept low, so travel and room and board won’t bankrupt your budget.

The Film Commission provides a number of services to aid producers. We can suggest possible locations and show you images of places throughout the states, and we can help facilitate communication with the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees 80% of Nevada’s land and furnishes the necessary permits. We also maintain a database of local crew and production resources. People want to be listed with us, so our database is constantly updated.

Once you’re here, you have your choice between a wide variety of locations: from the Strip and Fremont Street to the desert, 1800s mining towns, oases, and so much more. The desert itself is only thirty minutes from the downtown area. Permits are free, although you usually have to pay a fee if you’re shooting in a national park. That type of natural landscape is definitely the most popular. A lot of car commercials and photo shoots are done there.

The best season to shoot here is definitely the spring. In April, May, and June, the weather is around 70 degrees every day. Fall is also a good time, while winter can sometimes offer snow in the desert, which can make for interesting visuals if you can put up with the cold nights. July and August tend to be too hot, making it difficult to even go outside. The main thing to keep in mind when you’re making plans is to make sure there are no big conventions in town, because they can fill up pretty much every hotel. The Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Committee has the schedule for upcoming events at www.lvcva.com. It’s also good to avoid weekends, when crowds from L.A. come to gamble and have fun. 877.NEV.FILM (877.638.3456) or 702.486.2727 lvnfo@bizopp.state.nv.us www.nevadafilm.com

Justin Muschong: justinmuschong.com Koury Angelo: kouryangelo.com Blair-Schmidt Productions: blair-schmidtproductions.com

Nevada Film Commission

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WHERE TO TAKE YOUR CLIENT OUT:

Back Forty / B-Side By Benjamin Wright I Photos by Jacob Snavely

Located in the middle of the not-quite-but-almost-overlooked Alphabet City, Back Forty takes its name from the forty acres at the outermost boundary of a farm, which were traditionally set aside for experimentation with new crops or techniques. True to its name, Back Forty serves up clever variations on the tried and the true—think home-style, with an emphasis on style—and while it shares the slowfood ethos and ingredients with its sister restaurant Savoy, it would be a mistake to dismiss it as simply a test kitchen. Back Forty has character to burn, which wouldn’t mean much if the food wasn’t so damn good. Lucky for you, it is. It’s a strange bird, striking a remarkable balance between bucolic (onion rings and apple pie—and yes, that’s real farming equipment on the walls) and LES-cool (the onion rings are served with smoked paprika mayo, and the lady next to you is talking about her installation at the New Museum between bites of golden beet and chèvre salad). An air of modest but rewarding experimentation means that the menu is constantly changing, and the expert hand of chef Shanna Pacifico ensures top-notch results. The grass-fed burger ($11) and the cornbread crusted catfish ($16) come highly recommended, classic Americana that has been tweaked to head-slapping perfection, like gifts from another, better universe in which distinctions between hot-plate and haute-plate are meaningless. A good selection of mostly-local beer and cider complements the handmade aesthetic, along with a small but well-chosen wine list. There is also a full bar, with a stable of cocktails ($10 each) including the eponymous Back Forty (Dickel, maple and lemon), and the Loisada Sling (cachaca, ginger beer, and chipotle), which, while certainly passable, were generally too sweet and the only instances when experimentation yielded average results. Hit up the dessert menu for the stout float ($8) if you’ve got a sweet tooth, then go ahead and order that second Oban. You deserve it. With a rear garden open in the spring and summer, Back Forty is a great spot to get away from the shout and noise of the city, if only for an hour. Whether you want to spend a leisurely meal going over the logistics of tomorrow’s shoot, or maybe just grab a slice of pie when it’s all over, this is the place.

Back Forty 190 Avenue B New York, NY 10009 212.388.1990 www.backfortynyc.com

Jacob Snavely: jacobsnavely.net

Price $$ Drinks ** Food **** Ambiance ***

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B B

-Side is not for everyone. Did your client step off the plane and start complaining about how the stewardess in first class wouldn’t let him pour champagne into his Corgi’s dog bowl? B-Side is not for him. Did he demand that you send a limo to meet him at the airport? B-Side is not for him. Did he say he likes New York so much more now that everything is so nice? B-Side is not for him. But did your client step off the plane in a ripped Ramones t-shirt, smelling like sweat and cigarettes, and stare scornfully out the windows of his cab at how everything is so goddamn nice? Did he wipe away an angry tear when he drove past CBGB’s and saw that it’s been hollowed out and turned into a store that sells $8,000 leather shoes? Did he wax nostalgic about the time he assisted on a shoot with the New York Dolls? Alltogether now. A rock bar that fucking means it, B-Side is a throwback to an older, grittier New York that exists now only in movies and memory, where leather jackets don’t come pre-scuffed and the posters on the wall are from shows that somebody here actually saw. Rough around the edges but with a heart of gold, B-Side has a TV above the bar more likely to be playing Dr. No or episodes of The Mighty Boosh than baseball scores, and a back room where brainy Camus-reading post-grads can rub elbows with

graying, noisy punk rockers trading stories about seeing Iggy when that actually meant something. Like the regulars, the jukebox spans genres, but tends to veer toward the super-cool and slightly-dangerous—where else will you hear Serge Gainsbourg and Iron Maiden back to back? Half-off beer and well drinks from 3pm to 8pm means that whatever music is playing, you and your client will be sneering along contentedly. Wednesday nights find bartender and co-owner Sivan mixing ginger margaritas and martinis ($8 and $7 respectively)—and if you’re extremely lucky, a Bloody Mary made with fresh garlic that is so shit-hot you won’t care that it’s not 9 in the morning—though it may be by the time you drag yourself home. Take your client here and show him that New York hasn’t gone anywhere.

Price $$ Drinks *** Ambiance ****

B-Side 204 Avenue B, b/w East 12 and 13th Street New York, NY 10009 212.475.4600 www.bsidebar.com

Restaurants-- Based on three-course dinner, one alcoholic bev, and a 15% tip $ = $25 and under | $$ = $25-$50 | $$$ = $50-$75 | $$$$ = $75 and over

Bars/Lounges-- Based on one alcoholic beverage $ = $6 and under | $$ = $6-12 | $$$ = $12 and over

Food/Drinks 0 | * | ** | *** | ****

Ambiance 0 | * | ** | *** | ****

MOVIE REVIEWS:

Let’s Get Lost and Control By Alec Kerr I Illustration by Emil Rivera

hy do we create art? Art allows us to communicate what resides in our minds, hearts, and souls. It is through art that humanity attempts to answer the unanswerable questions, and through its expression that we feel connected to one another and the world around us. Art, whether it is a threeminute pop song, a black and white photograph, or an abstract painting, allows us to get at the very essence of existence. With this in mind, it would seem one of the most interesting subjects for an artist would be another artist. Exploring someone else’s explorations may lead to new discoveries and revelations. Maybe this was the motivation behind photographers turned filmmakers Bruce Weber and Anton Corbijn’s films about Chet Baker and Ian Curtis. Weber’s Let’s Get Lost takes a documentary look at the life of jazz singer and trumpet player Baker while Corbijn’s Control takes the bio-pic approach, chronicling the raise of Joy Division and the tragic death of the band’s lead singer. Both films are shot in black and white, but aesthetically that’s where the similarities end.

“What’s your favorite kind of high?” Bruce Weber “The kind of high that scares others to death” Chet Baker The look of Weber’s film is that of harsh, high contrast lighting that’s unflattering to its subject matter. The approach allows for every crack and crease to be visible on Baker’s leathery face. The effect is a startling one when placed in juxtaposition with photos of the young Baker who was often referred to as the James Dean of jazz music. As with so many musicians, drugs robbed Baker of much of his career and ultimately, his life. When Weber set out to make Let’s Get Lost he didn’t realize he would be making the last documentary on Baker. The film was shot in 1987—two years later Baker would be found dead in Amsterdam. It is a respectful, but not glowing portrait of a flawed man. Weber doesn’t stray away from asking hard questions to Baker and his family. In the film’s most heartbreaking moment, Weber asks Baker’s mother if her son has disappointed her. She replies with remorse, “Yes, he has, but let’s not get into that.”

Corbijn’s approach is more flattering. Control is directed in a way that is crisp, clean, and doesn’t draw attention to itself— with the exception of the use of jump cuts to get across the sensation of epilepsy, which Curtis suffered from. Curtis (Sam Riley) is portrayed as someone who becomes slowly overwhelmed by the pressures of fronting a band, the stress of his disease, and his guilt over his failing marriage. The screenplay by Matt Greenhalgh from Curtis’ wife’s memoir Touching From a Distance uses voiceover narration sparingly and effectively throughout the film. Dialogue like “When up there singing they don’t understand how much I give and how it affects me. And now they want more and expect me to give more and I don’t know if I can” offers a glimpse into Curtis’ mental state in the days leading to his suicide. Both films pulsate with the music of their subjects. Weber utilizes stock footage to show Baker in his prime as well as his own footage of the aged Baker, whose beautiful voice seems unchanged even though his appearance has. Corbijn’s recreation of Joy Division’s concerts captures the energy of the late seventies post-punk era. In both cases, the black and white photography gives a classic, timeless feel to the music. Although the particulars of each musician’s life are drastically different, Baker and Curtis’ stories are both ultimately about the loss of a great talent. In Baker’s own words, “It was a dream, you know, things like that don’t happen. Just to very few.”

Let’s Get Lost Release Date: March 24, 1989 Director: Bruce Weber Featuring: Chet Baker, William Claxton, Chris Isaak, Lisa Marie Producer: Little Bear Productions Control Release Date: October 13, 2007 Director: Anton Corbijn Writers: Deborah Curtis, Matt Greenhalgh Main Actors: Sam Riley, Samantha Morton, Alexandra Maria Lara Producer: Anton Corbijn

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Book Review:

Lighting Techniques Photos by Nick Ferrari

Minimalist Lighting By Kirk Tuck Review By JJ Sulin

“The next time you run out of toilet paper be sure to save the cardboard core.” Mr. Tuck then advises to cut a piece of foam core and attach it to the toilet paper core to make a snoot for your shoe mount flash. If this sounds like useful advice, then Minimalist Lighting by Kirk Tuck may be the perfect book for you. The author repeatedly refers to “minimalist lighting” as a concept throughout the book. This idea falls short. The minimalist approach discussed is, for the most part, substituting strobe gear for inexpensive shoe mounted flash units. The concept is not so much about less gear but about cheaper, smaller gear.

Light: Science & Magic By Fil Hunter & Paul Fugua

Anthony Lord: anthonylord.com JJ Sulin: jjsulin.com Nick Ferrari: nferrari.com

Review by Anthony Lord

I didn’t think I was going to learn anything about lighting from a book. I’m pleased to say that I was surprised—at what I had actually retained from school, and what little tricks I did manage to pick up while reading this book. This is not primarily a how-to book with only set examples for photographers, students, or working professional. Rather, Light: Science and Magic offers a comprehensive theory of the nature and principles of light that allows individual photographers to use different lighting techniques to express their own creativity and further their career. Numerous photographs and illustrations provide clear examples of the theories discussed. The exercises use minimal equipment and are based on studio still life situations; once understood, the principles can be used anywhere. By controlling the size of the light source, the type of reflection, and the family of the reflections’ angles, the photographer can get the results he or she wants. Step-by-step examples include lighting glass, metal, and shiny textures, as well as shooting black on black and white on white subjects. Film range relating to shadows and highlights and the problems of mixed fluorescent and tungsten lighting are discussed, as are different types of studio lights. This is a great book on lighting. Even if it’s not pertinent to what you’re shooting, it will teach you how to read light and how to modify it to create what you’re trying to achieve. I would recommend this book to those who want to learn, pick up new tricks, and improve their lighting techniques. Light: Science and Magic is about the basics of photography and photographic lighting, and not about cheap tricks and cheesy photographs.

The book opens with an anecdote about a photographer traveling to a photo shoot. The photographer arrives to the shoot an hour and a half late, and the author makes the case that it is because the amount of equipment he has decided to bring has caused many unanticipated delays. The airline hit him with an extra baggage charge and the car rental company did not have a car large enough for all of his equipment. The story is meant to strengthen the rationale for applying Tuck’s techniques when packing your gear for a shoot. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor guy, thinking, “if only he had run out of toilet paper before he left for the shoot, he would have arrived to the set early, built a relationship with the client, and gone on to a successful career.” I believe most professionals reading this book would attribute the dismal result of the shoot to poor planning, not to the wrong equipment.

Minimalist Lighting is better suited for photographers who are looking to turn their hobby into a profession, those trying to expand their knowledge beyond using digital SLR and a single on camera flash, or who simply want to learn more about basic lighting techniques. This is a great book to give Uncle Bob, who always wants to talk photo at family functions, but isn’t heading off to a professional shoot anytime soon.

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GO-SEE:

ACCESSORIES FOR APPLE By Alec Kerr I Photos by Nick Ferrari

Apple In-Ear Headphones Ear bud headphones haven’t necessarily had the best sound, but with a woofer and tweeter in each earpiece, that has changed. Some may call it supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. $79 www.apple.com

iPod Radio Remote Griffin Clarifi

Nick Ferrari: nickferrari.com

If you’re on the go without a camera and stumble upon the perfect subject, Clarifi can boost the resolution of your iPhone camera and save you from missing the moment. $34.99 www.clarifi.com

iPod video did not kill the radio star— especially with this accessory that allows for FM radio listening on your iPod. $49.99 www.apple.com

MyVu Crystal Media Viewer

iPod Shuffle You never knew what you were listening to with the Shuffle, but now that the new model talks, that problem is fixed. Let’s just hope you don’t mistake it for a piece of gum. $79 www.apple.com

These video glasses may look like something out of a bad Keanu Reeves sci-fi flick, but they will forever change your iPod or iPhone viewing experience. $299.95 www.myvu.com

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CATERING

ICE SCULPTURES & WATER EFFECTS

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