a (fashion) shooter » the industry

AFS — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:04:55 +0000

food, dude (off on a tangent)

AFS — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:13:15 +0000

Ok, just so you all know I am not a one-trick pony, i thought I’d post some of my ‘other’ work. And it’s good. Most of these were recently shot with Laurent Lanneau, who was the chef for the French Ambassador for the United Nations in NY at the time.

In New York it is very difficult to be taken seriously in fashion if you admit to shooting anything other than fashion. If so, people think you must be scatter brained, unfocused, unsure. For the most part NY is a very specialized photography market – people expect you to do one thing only. But I am fearless, so here goes

some hot spreads

AFS — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 23:44:44 +0000

A couple recent hot spreads mentioned on Fashiongonerogue. the first one in Italian Marie Claire:

Tiiu Kuik and Michelle Buswell on the beach

and here is the lovely Doutzen Kroes nude in VMan magazine

Magnum photographer at the New York Times

AFS — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:55:18 +0000

Just in case anyone here missed it, Paolo Pellegrin of Magnum Photos has done some relly beautiful work for the Times recently in the 2.28.09 issue of the magazine – Oscar Issue: Great Performances. It’s a somewhat unusual approach to commissioned celebrity photography, and the results are lovely.

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/magazine/20090205-great-performers/

There were also some nice photos by Ryan McGinley in the 1.25.09 article – What Do Women Want?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/magazine/25desire-t.html

good guys

AFS — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:40:55 +0000

As a commercial photographer, it’s always a good idea to have a sense of what’s out there in the market. Here are some photographers whose work, I think, is great.

www.peterlindbergh.com/
www.christophekutner.com/
www.davidferrua.com
www.kotobolofo.com/
www.jedroot.com/photogr/du/uchitel-fashion.php
www.jedroot.com/photogr/jj/jordan-bio.php
www.billphelps.com
www.jacquesolivar.com
www.paoloroversi.com
www.carlbengtsson.com/
www.brunobisang.com/
www.yutsai.com
www.miconworldwide.com/bio-2006.htm

web vs. print

AFS — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 23:21:43 +0000

It seems that in the graphic design/art direction world, web work has increased a lot in status, and now typically pays more than print work (for those who know how to code.) What I am saying is, you can expect to be paid more as a designer/art director at Macys.com than you can at a Macys print design depart.

How are we finding the differences between shooting for commerce for the web as opposed to shooting for print? Is there just more work for the web?

What percentage of your work is for the web vs. for print?

Is the pay more or less?

The Rep: help or hindrance?

AFS — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 23:13:15 +0000

Being in NYC and therefore having a lot of face time with other (fashion) photographers at parties, industry gatherings, galleries, etc., there seems to be a big variety of experience concerning the benefits of having an agency representing you. Some swear by the relationship and say they’d be dead in the water without their agent. Many others who have had one or more agents in the past say that most of them do not do much work, and then want to get paid for it.

So I’m asking you about your personal experience:

If they are not getting you work, then what are they doing?

Do you get the jobs yourself anyway?

Do all agents want a 20% or so commission on existing clients? Should they get it?

What is it that your agent does which makes that person indispensable to you?

what’s in the galleries:

AFS — Fri, 16 May 2008 00:51:47 +0000

Living in lower Manhattan, I visit photo galleries every weekend. (And openings on thursday nighs where the crowd is colorful the wine is free:-) Aside from loving to look at photographs, I like to keep abreast of the state of the art in print quality is.

Saw a wall full of fashion prints large and small yesterday from Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, recently seen prints from Annie Leibowitz (4 feet high and digital), Richard Avedon, Ellen von Unwerth, Irving Penn, Bill Owens, Mike Disfarmer, James Nachtwey, Sally Mann, room-sized digital prints from Gregory Crewdson’s 8×10 scans selling for $60,000, 5 foot high nudes of Pamela Anderson shot by Sante D’Orazio, etc., etc.

In my opinion the prints from the 1Ds Classic (which I have seen and produced many of) easily exceed the traditonal prints from 6×7 film on the gallery walls in terms of sharpness and detail. Especially in sharpness, the darkroom prints simply do not look very sharp next to a well executed digital print, or even a digital C print from a digital camera.

Of course, aside from photo nerds like us, no one who is in the gallery cares which is sharper from 5″ away. They are either intrigued by the content of the image or they are not, and they move along to the next image.

Not sure where I am going with this except to note that we who are shooting digital already have plenty of sharpness and detail compared to the traditional processes up to and past 6×7 film I.M.O.

And if you do not live where there are good gallery shows to see, you should come to NYC in the fall and feast your eyes!

Annie Leibovitz /Miley Cyrus

AFS — Sat, 03 May 2008 20:22:53 +0000

To see a slide show and video footage of the now infamous Annie Leibovitz /Miley Cyrus shoot, visit Vanity Fair. (Annie apparently shot with her Canon 1Ds.) When I heard about the controversy on the news, I wondered if I would have even questioned this sexy approach to shooting a 15 year old, given that her father and the V.F. crew were there…how about you?

Speaking of Annie Leibovitz and nudes, there was a gallery show several years ago of the images she shot for the Pirelli calendar, and it was awesome. The images were of members of the Mark Morris Dance Group. The prints (all digital) were large and amazing. Dark, moody, rich. (I was told they were all from Mamiya RZ scans.) In any case, Annie was there as were many of the NYC photo scene greats. And while she is by no means my favorite photographer, these images (and the quality of the prints) was stunning, and they inspired some of my subsequent “art work.”

The above is an annie leibovitz image from the year 2000 Pirelli calendar.