[ebi]

nepotism runs deep in all levels of this and other businesses. Case in point: The top two travel magazines…

Conde Nast Traveler: Pilar Guzman takes over in 2013 – her husband was the publisher at one point but moved over to GQ – another CN mag. Guzman brought on her friend and coworker Yolanda Edwards. Soon thereafter, Edwards husband, Matt Hranek started shooting features for the magazine.

Travel + Leisure recently replaced their creative director with Gretchen Smelter. Shortly thereafter, Frédéric LaGrange started shooting for T+L. LaGrange is married to Smelter.

TL;DR: start fucking the people that do the hiring.

[ebi]

al/uls = beautiful, emotional, inspirational, etc.

 

[ebi]

i thought it was a beautiful poem. don’t be so critical 😉

[ebi]

nvm, i took the www off and it worked.

You need to proofread your about page.

Aside from that, your work belongs in a gallery. It’s beautiful, emotional and original. all the “a/uls”. If you desire to make a living in photography, shop the featured work around to galleries in Seattle. Someone will pick it up. Try to get a show in NYC as well. And keep shooting. You want to attract the attention of industry people for commercial work. And there is definitely some commercial value in this work. If that is what you’d like to achieve, that is.

Looking at your portraits section, I see a potential career in fashion as well. the way you pose your subject. you’ve got skill…the fact that you do video is an added plus.

thanks for sharing.

 

-ebi

[ebi]

i can’t get to your site.

[ebi]

oh hai WCS!

[ebi]

http://niceimages.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/studio60685.jpg – poor model choice

http://niceimages.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/mussels.jpg – boring. badly propped.

http://niceimages.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/madrid-update.jpg – badly lit (i can’t even read the label on the prada bottle). poorly styled and propped.

So there are three examples.

And here is just one example of great product photography.

http://www.darrinhaddad.com/index.php?page=featured

-ebi

[ebi]

@don you haven’t seen great product photography, then. It’s…ok…not great. not even good.

@EyeDocPhotog – I think you need to up your standards. their work is shit. not “the shit”. they evince turds in a litter box…maybe slightly better than that (sorry, my cat just took a shit and it reminded me of their work, which is why I came back here in the middle of the night).  And I can guarantee you, if they are making “real” money in photography it’s only because they are gouging the fuck out of photographers who should be making more than $125 a day. Shit. I made more than that assisting. FUCK. i made more than that waiting tables a shitty diners in the midwest on a decent night.

cue RFP.

[ebi]

25 years ago, no one talked about noise because it was called grain. Noise isn’t the equivalent of grain. It’s a completely different animal. I print 11 x 14 prints for my book all the time.  If the image is noisy, it doesn’t look great. Especially if you compare it side by side to a print made from 800 ISO film. The grain and texture is beautiful and natural. And trying to remove that noise just degrades the detail of the photograph.

Start printing your work and you will start caring about noise. It’s probably fine for event type stuff where your client doesn’t know any better and just wants images to post to their fb fan page, but in my world image quality is incredibly important. Not that it has to be fussy. Just shoot with a good camera at an ISO that you know will produce the best results for the situation you are in. I shoot canon 5D M3 for a lot of stuff. I won’t push above 320. On MeFo I wont go above 800.

-ebi

[ebi]

I print for my book all the time. 11 x 14 prints. If the image is noisy, it doesn’t look great. Especially if you compare it side by side to a print made from 800ISO film. The grain and texture is beautiful and natural.

Start printing your work and you will start caring about noise. It’s probably fine for event type stuff where your client doesn’t know any better and just wants images to post to their fb fan page but in my world, image quality is incredibly important. Not that it has to be fussy. Just shoot with a good camera at an ISO that you know will produce the best results for the situation you are in. I shoot canon 5D M3 for a lot of stuff. I won’t push above 320. On MeFo I wont go above 400.

[ebi]

if this is anything like going for indian food on 1st Avenue, this should be very entertaining.

[ebi]

hey fineday, monoharan says your photography is not very good and you use cheap cameras. He said you don’t do candid. He said they are all staged. Care to respond?

[ebi]

I think it’s pretty common for studios to request that their candidates have working knowledge of the systems they use. Most production studios have several shooting bays and use the same camera model in each bay for consistency. Especially if they are trying to churn out bulk photography in a fast and efficient manner.

The bigger question you should be asking is why are they ONLY paying 80 quid/day (that’s about $125USD, american folks!)??? That’s an absolutely horrible rate for photographers. The lowest rate I’ve seen in NYC at even some of the smaller studios is $500USD.

Their work isn’t actually the least bit impressive either.

[ebi]

I didn’t study photography in college although it was my original intention. Like you I started in computing, studying to become an engineer, realized it didn’t interest me and moved on to graphic design. Loving design but still itching with a desire to shoot, I took every photography course offered and when I graduated from college moved to NYC and started assisting. It was then that I started to really learn how to shoot.

If I had to do it all over again, I’d have taken about a years worth of business and marketing courses. It is as crucial as being a good photographer. Then I would have moved to NYC and started assisting, networking and building a portfolio.

Networking with other photo people will land you 2nd assisting jobs and if the photographer likes you, you move up when the 1st moves on. Learning the tech end will up your day rate and gets you in the seat next to art directors. Who you assist is important as well. I did a stint as an intern at one of the super studios. It was unpaid but I met a lot of 1st assistants that got me on their crews working with some pretty big names. 1sts that have a good portfolio have been known to get awarded jobs that their photographers have passed on – it depends on the relationship.

I could go on and on. But anyways, yes, your portfolio is not good, but everyone’s was when they first started out. So if you think it’s something you want to do, but aren’t ready to leave school yet, at least try a photo course or two. I don’t regret staying in school studying something I wasn’t completely in to. I met the love of my life there and I gained invaluable design skills that made me a rockstar tech to art directors and are crucial in advertising.

-ebi

[ebi]

A really good exercise would be to take your images and do a google reverse image search. The results will be telling. Photographers tell stories, make statements and trigger emotional reactions all without saying a word. Great photographers do it with brilliance and without cliché. Fauxtogs point cameras at things and push a button.

 

-ebi

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