the industry
The Rep: help or hindrance?
by AFS on Sep.29, 2008, under the industry
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:
by AFS on May.15, 2008, under the industry
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
by AFS on May.03, 2008, under the industry
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.
