The responsibilities of the photographer in a celebrity/magazine relationship is always a bit tricky. David LaChapel makes these fascinating observations in Nowness, on the occasion of his upcoming Shafrazi show:

What was the process like? Were you on set krumping or moonwalking?
You know, I’m really not going to talk about the Michael Jackson pictures, or what went into them. I shot him in 1999 for the millennium cover of Rolling Stone and that was the start of an acknowledgment that I was a supporter. But I’d rather people look at the photos and decide for themselves. We persecuted him. Every person who ever bought a tabloid or watched the news, we all contributed to his death by taking in that form of gossip.

It is definitely true that celebrities are our modern day gods and goddesses, and we build them up and tear them down.
Madonna has been torn down. Michael Jordan has been torn down. Michael Jackson was destroyed. Like no other person in our times. You have to remember that Michael Jackson was innocent. He was proved innocent in our courts. If you read the transcripts of the trial it is insanity, it should never have gone to court. We spent tens of millions of dollars to prosecute him when we don’t have money for schools in California.

Why is that?
Not because he was a celebrity but because he looked different. He was obsessive about privacy and it made him “other,” it made him different, and he went from being the most famous, most beloved singer to the most reviled, joked about—he couldn’t open a newspaper without reading horror stories about himself.

As an occasional photographer of celebrity, I often wonder what my part is, and where my responsibilities are. Is it to the person being photographed, to the magazine who hired me, to the viewers, or to myself to make what I think is a great picture. These are often in conflict, and I don’t think there is an easy answer.

Two of my favorite canines get their mention in PDN Faces contest this month. Thank you to PDN, and to the amazing people at the Missouri Humane Society.

We create a lot of content over here at DHS. At the moment we are finishing up retouching on a complex 8 image global ad campaign. On the personal side, we are crunching through the video of The SkateBoard Diaries on one station, while the station next to it is working on the thousands of stills. Yesterday we shot all day: video and stills personal project of an artist and her process. Tomorrow we go to Oregon where I will do a motion piece staring my mom. Everyday that I am not on a commercial job, we are either shooting, planning or editing a personal project.

This leads to a couple of things. First, a small fortune in digital backups. Second, image indigestion. This is a good problem, as far as problems go. It means that we are creating content faster than we are editing/retouching/publishing. Of all the problems for someone in the image production business to have, this is a great one. There will always be downtime at some point to work through the backlog. We are on a roll right now, and having been here before, I know these things don’t go on indefinitely. When you are in the flow, dive further in. You can always take time off, but you can’t always turn the dial back up on creativity.

Job: Global launch of a pharmaceutical. 7 primary shots, one still life shot. Budget, low 6 figures.

Tuesday: Hello NYC! Arrived late Sunday, the jet lag is fading, thank you Diet Coke. Meeting Robert Kozek, 1st assist, to test lights at Fotocare. There is some talk from the client about wanting to overpower daylight so we need to determine if this is a 35mm job or a Hasselblad H3D job. Finished the light test in the staging area at Fotocare, wow those guys are so good to me, and now have an hour to kill before heading out to tech scout the location. Really wish I could spend the next hour at a gym, but not today. Meet up with LM, my producer, and load the minivan up with some 7Bs and light modifiers. We meet the AD at the huge 15 acre waterside estate (think Steven King meets Gatsby) and start planing for the next days. I have the Sun Seeker App on my iPhone. Fantastic device, the AD is blown away by it. We shoot tests using the 7Bs for about an hour, loading cards into my laptop. Consensus is to go for a natural look: full frontal late day sun with blue sky in the background. 7 locations scheduled and locked. Good to go.

Weds: Still life day at Noho Studios. Whenever I have a still life component to the layout, I use Mauricio Alejo, a brilliant artist. Today he is on the Hasselblad H3D. The ad layouts are a still life shot of a transparent object with some lifestyle shots dropped in. My job today is to make sure the lifestyle shots are going to synch. We take yesterdays tests and rough them in on CS4 so that we, and everyone from the agency can see the composite. I get Samantha, my super retoucher on the phone to go over things. Formal pre-pro at 3, and everyone is stoked. Especially me, who gets the rest of the day off to finally get to the gym.

Thurs: 11am call. Meet up in the East Village with the RV, gear, crew and talent for the drive to the north shore of LI. The client has added one shot to be done mid day. That, plus the growing overcast sky is going to make my easy daylight day more rock and roll. Luckily, I have a van full of gear so we can handle anything. We start to set up for the first shot: over head 12 x 12 white griff blocks the in and out sun, we fill with an 8 ft Octa 45 degrees off center and a small bank to the other side. I like my Octas without the cover using a 1/2 stop china silk instead. For the next shots though, my blue sky backgrounds have turned into a dim memory as the sky getting more menacing by the minute ( Hey Weather Channel, what are you guys smoking? You say it is currently sunny and I am looking at a grey mess in the sky). The client wants to know how I am going to handle the lack of sun. I say no problem, we got you covered. This is why I have a van stuffed with gear. On a job of this scale, you want to be able to handle anything. The plan is to light the foreground, and the talent with the strobes then strip in the sky later in post. We fire up the 5k genny, fly a Pro8 bare tube w/CTO in a 7″ reflector to about 20ft high and 50 ft from the set. I am getting f8 at ASA 200. Loving those mad Swedish engineers. The guys hook a 7b pack up to a medium white Chimera also with 1/2 CTO at 45 degrees to camera for fill. Talent arrives and we fire off some test shots from the 1DSlll tethered into the Macbook Pro. It looks great. The CD takes a look at the screen and slaps me on the back. Happy CD. I just saved him 100k for a weather day reshoot. When the shit hits the fan, and I guarantee that it will, you are there to get it done no matter what.

All the while that the shoot is going on, Dustin the digi tech, is in the RV with an iMac. He and the agency/client are editing the shots in Capture One, taking the selects into CS4 to drop in as layers of the still life shot we did the day before. He is also running triple backup up on the files. My guys outside are doing capture into a MacBook Pro. If I need to go fast, we shoot to card, if it is more methodical, we go tethered. Switching between the two and keeping track of the shots requires assistants who can rock. My guys are the best. They have my back. Note to others: hire the very best assistants you can find. They will save your butt someday.

2 more setups that day using the same plan. The shots are looking great, portfolio material for sure. Everybody is having a blast, mostly from the stress relief that we were able to do the faux sunlight gag so well. End the shoot day at about 7:30 and by 8:30 we are packed and out of there. Just as we leave location the sun comes out. Grrrrrrrrrr.

One of the great things about this day was the amazing RV that LM booked for us. I have spent countless hours of my life trapped in dark tight RVs. Our super duper Shooting Star RV today has a rear lift gate for a rear door, so the entire back of the thing opens up into a giant lift gate. The wardrobe can be wheeled in on intact racks and brought up the lift gate. Happy stylists. Then when we are on set, the entire back of the RV opens up which is s huge lifestyle improvement for anybody who has to work inside it all day.

Fri: 4 shots today and not a cloud in the sky. Excellent. First shot is a similar setup to the yesterdays with the 12 by and the Octa. No worries, and that blue sky is singing today. Second shot is at 5pm, sun is still a bit high so we fill from the side with a Pro8 on AC current and a medium white Chimera with 1/2 CTO. I set the flash at 1 1/2 stops under ambient. Shot 3 is a boat shot. We noticed from the tech scout that the little creek in at the back of the property has a sizable tidal swing. Being a surfer, I am hip to tide charts. It turns out that the plus to minus swing is about 12ft. Huge. I go down with Alistair the PA to check out the situation and launch the boat with the props. We hit the creek at exactly the high point of the tide, so there is no flow at all. Sweet. In 3 minutes he is out in the boat rowing downstream to the point where the talent will get in and we can do our shot. The sun is falling, and we have 2 more shots to do, so no time to delay. I get on the walkies, muster the crew, agency and talent down to the location. The talent gets into the row boat and I tell him to go back about 30ft and to the right. Surprise! Talent has no idea how to row. Isn’t that one of those things like walking that everyone knows how to do? Wrong. The tide is now shifting and the current is starting to pickup. Executive decision time. Alistair has to jump into the creek and pull the boat to its location and throw anchor. I had warned him about this possibility yesterday, so he was prepared with swim trunks. The boat is now anchored and Michael Preiss, my other assist has a line to the stern from the bank. He can maneuver the boat into the right orientation and I can do the photo. The AD and I are laying on a tarp over a bug invested reed bank. I have a 70-200IS at f8. No time for tethering here. We are shooting to card and every 10 shots or so I show the LCD to the AD for comments. 10 minutes later we are out of there. 7pm, the sun is falling and there is one more shot.

As I am crossing the bridge over the creek to run to the waiting van, I see Alistair in the tiny row boat, piled high with props, struggling to get the boat upstream. The creek is now really running and he is having a hard time of it. Oh well, gotta go buddy. I figure worse comes to worse, we can come down after the last shot is wrapped and pull him up stream. That is if he doesn’t get swept out into Long Island Sound.

Last shot. My talent are ages 74 and 94. Wow. Eddy, my 94 year old is fantastic. Super funny guy. He is an accomplished actor, starred in Black Rain. I quickly get them in position, no need for strobe fill, it looks great as is. We have the shot with about 2 minutes to spare. Phew. That as close. Time to head back to the RV, breakdown the gear, backup files and wrap the set. I see Alisatir the intrepid boat rowing PA. He made it. Took him 3 tries but he got back. Alistair is ex-military and has that never say no gung ho vibe. Love that in a PA.

Saturday: I am flying to LA and Robert is to return the van with the gear to Fotocare. At this point, most of my responsibilities are over. I will consult with the agency about their picks, and help with the retoucher. Hopefully Monday will be a down day and I can get some surfing in.

Crew: Stylist, stylist assistant, prop stylist, hair and makeup person, hair and makeup assistant, producer, PA, 2 photo assistants, digital tech, motor home driver.

Talent: 12 adults, 2 children

Agency: Creative VP, CD, executive CD, AD, junior AD, producer

Client: 2 from the brand group

Vehicles: RV, minivan, 15 pass van, equipment van, cube truck for props, 3 cars for agency and clients.

Gear:

5 motorolla walkies
2 Pro 8 packs
2 Pro 7Bs
4 extra batteries
5 Pro heads
12×12 frame, w/1 stop silk and 12×12 white/black griflon
2 medium rollers
1 high roller
500ft AC cord
Chimera Large, Mediium, Small and XSamll banks
8ft Octabank
18×24 Cookie
1 baby roller
200 ft of rope
(2) Canon 1DSlll
Hassy H3D31
Canon 24-70, 70-200 2.8 IS ll, 135 f2, 50 1.2, 17-40 f4
Hassy 55, 80, 100
6 Lexar 16 gig 600x cards
6 Pocket Wizard trans/receivers
Honda 6500 genny
(18) 35lb sandbags
1 6×6 Scrim Jim w/white,silver, gold and sunlight fabics
6ft ladder
MacBook pro 15inch
iMac
5 portable hard drives

I am often asked, how did I get started? How did go from assisting to shooting? Truth, dumb luck combined with the arrogance of youth. I told people I was a photographer, therefore I was. Cute, but not such a good plan these days. Today is whole other planet than when I started.

This is what I tell people:

-You need a consistent vision, it must be cohesive. Toss anything that doesn’t jibe.
-This vision needs to be carried out in a competent way so that buyers are assured that you can repeat it on demand. Crucial.
-Your vision needs to be relevant. If you are really into some obscure niche, like underwater caves or something, that is great, but not so relevant.
-Your vision needs to be honest. If people think you are faking it, or that it does not come from your heart, it won’t be believed. The ADs want your heart and soul into their job, and if you are not fully committed with your vision, there is someone else out there who is.
-Be spectacular. Do something Spectacular. Be the first person to photograph whatever. Do some large, even if it is not so large, call it something large. Get attention! Do something that people can hang a label on.

Personally, I never book a big job without my printed portfolio being called in. I wish that was not the case, they are a real pain to make, but that is the reality.

The order of the book, and the selection of the images is something I work on with my agent. It is essential to get someone besides yourself to help in the editing. Hopefully that person is very smart and is informed about what is happening in the market.

This is what I do for a portfolio:

The portfolio is about 100-120 images, printed double sided on Inkpress Duo 300GSM 11×17, no acetate sleeves, just raw prints. Doing the double sided prints requirers being organized. We print out a PDF of the book first on 8.5 x 11 paper from the laser printer to use a guide. I use an Epson 4800 printer on 8 pass, centered and size to 11×17. (The default is 13×19.) We keep the top and bottom measurements the same, and let the side to side vary. There is no type, no text in the portfolio except for the contact info. I also only show photographs rather than the images in ad layouts. The prints are then trimmed, 3 hole punched and sprayed with a fixative. The binders to the books are made by Richard at Portfolio Creative Design. I have 4 of them, down from 60 books 10 years ago. Thank god for that. We redo the books about twice a year, and it completely consumes my studio for 2 weeks each time I do it. Bring on the iPad!

If you are starting out, or transitioning from assisting to shooting, one of the huge differences will be your legal liabilities and your responsibilities. I suggest that everyone speak to someone who really knows the drill on this stuff. When I started, back in the Stone Age, I was a lost 22 year old. It was recommended to me that I hire Selina Maitreya to consult with me about how to go about it. I did, and the few hours she spent with me to help me organize myself into a business is the same way I go about it now. There are other people out there who do this sort of thing, but I know Selina, she is a pros pro, so I will recommend her.

Some of this stuff costs money, sometimes a lot of money, you will have to decide what it is worth it for your to do.

-Releases: get them and understand them. Property, model, and location releases. I have been sued twice on this front, and both times I had fully binding releases. In spite of this, it seems an American right to be able to sue anyone one wishes. If I had not had those releases, I would have been toast.

-Copyright. Do it. All your work, I know it is a pain, but just do it. It is a bit more expensive than it used to be, but so worth it. If someone mis-uses your work you will be in a very strong position, so strong they will settle almost immediately. I know, been there, done that.

-Contracts. Get a lawyer who understands business, not a litigator, but someone who understands the nature of making deals. Contracts and lawyers are a big part of my life. Every time I do a job, there is a contract. You need someone to talk to about them until you get comfortable with it yourself. Under no circumstances sign anything ever that you do not understand or do not like. The nature of these things is that it is the job of the counter parties lawyers to get as much from you as possible for as little as possible. Negotiate!

-Insurance. You will need the following: workers comp, disability, a commercial liability package, in addition to the usual health, life and personal disability. The most important are the workers comp and the liabilty. It doesn’t matter that much in the scheme of things if you lose it camera. It sucks, but it is not a game ender. However, if a light stand falls on a models head cutting her face, that my friends is a major problem. Most of my clients insist on a 2$ million liability package and proof of workers comp. You will need that additionally insured ability in order to rent a location. I use Tom Pickard as my insurance agent. He really knows the business and what you need and don’t need.

-Estimates and bids. If you have never done one, hire someone by the job to do one for you. The art buyer will respect you for it.

My best advice here, is to seek out better advice. Get a list, a system, of what you need. Listen to what people out there who really know the business have to say. APA has some good information. Personally, I would not go out and buy self help books on this. There is too much at stake, the books are going to be at least a year old. Hire someone who you can call up and ask a question of, you won’t regret it.

I will be featured on http://www.1prophototv.com next week in an interviewed by James Sullivan discussing this and other fun and games in the professional photo world.

We get a lot of email here from people who are interested in becoming professional photographers/film makers, or who just want to know how to improve their game. I always tell people the same thing: shoot your way out.

There is a story I remember hearing about Andrea Blanche, the big time 80s photographer and Avedon, whom she earlier assisted for. Sorry Andrea if I have the name wrong here, it was a long time go that I read this story. The essence of it was that she went to Avedon saying she was stuck in her professional work, and didn’t quite know what to do. He told he to get out of her studio, take a 35mm camera and some TRIX and spend the summer at Coney Island taking photographs. Essentially, get back to basics and shoot your way out of the problem. My recollection is that it worked out very well for her.

In an effort to further share what goes on here, and how we deal with the constant challange of making better and better images, here is what my summer projects look like:

-Started making a film project of the skaters down at the Venice Skate park. Slow mo with the 7D of the exhibitionist style avengers at the worlds most gorgeous skate park. Along with this I am doing stills with my H3D. Loving this project.

-Doing a series of studio portraits of young people 17-23 dealing with a moment when something unkown is about to happen.

-A short film of my artist friend Kat. Terrifically talented classical painter. Still working on getting a handle on the look for this one.

-Food. ok, this is a total disconnect, but i love eating, and have been taking snap shots of my dinner plate for years. I want to try something simple, long lens, back lit, of some of the things that i like to eat.

-Mom. Going to visit mom in a few weeks and think it would be very interestig to do something with the 5D and her in her world. She is the worlds healthiest most active senior. An absolute model for how to be happy and older.

Its a lot, but I am obsessed. NOW what are you doing this summer?

Many people are confused about what a photographers or other visual artists web site should look like. These are my thoughts based on my experience and my many failures. I preset these hoping to save you some money and grief. The web site is the way we present our work to the world, the portfolio is secondary. Did you know that Richard Avedon had a full time art director and picture editor on staff just to help with his graphic design? He thought it was that important, and he also thought they were better at it than he was. Finding the person to work with is tough, but it is worth the hunt.

Here are my 10 suggestions:

-Keep it simple to navigate. Minimize the amount of clicks your viewer has to make.
-No music, ever, unless it is a video. Unless you are a total genius at sound design, it is going to come off amateur.
-Make it simple to upload and change the content. You want to be able to do add/change photos yourself without contacting a web expert
-Make it about the pictures, period. Reveal more about yourself and what you are into in your blog.
-Really think about the look, and make it personal to your work. Stay away from pre-made corporate looking “photographer” template services.
-Keep in mind your viewer’s attention span-short.
-If possible, format it it to work on an iPhone and iPad.
-Your web designer needs technical skills, but also great page design skills. Hard to find, but worth the search. Look at designers who do art gallery sites.
-Look at photographer’s sites who are working at the top end, study and understand what they are doing right, then apply, don’t copy, it to your work.
-If you do not feel good at editing your own work, hire someone who could help you, like an art buyer, photo editor or rep. You need to show your best most consistent work, and if you are like me, you may not be the best judge of what you do.

Mr Chase Jarvis is a divisive persona at my studio. The breakdown goes something like this: I defend him, my assistants hate him, with a capital H. So lets do the hate argument first because it is more fun. They cannot stand his personality. They find him to be arrogant, self obsessed and seemingly blind to the idea that content without curation is of no value. Just because one can make a lot of stuff, does not mean that any of it is any good. And by the way, he is a half talent who works and lives in a half city so that he can be a big somebody. To them it is all about Chase, and his brilliant self, when there really is no brilliance there to promote, only Chase himself, a cartoon character. Harsh, no? This is from the mouths of the 20 somethings for whom it it easy to criticize.

Just that I am writing this bog entry has them all worked up. How can you write anything about that guy? He is horrible, again capital H. It is to the point now where if I say something in the morning about his blog or what he is up to, they will literal scream. I don’t get it. What is the big problem here?

I disagree with all this anti-Chase meanness. I think the value of Chase is exactly his apparent lack of self questioning, he just does stuff. There is something great and free about this, and I rather wish I had more of it. My assistants have not created much out there so far, and it is easy to nay say from a distance. I would like to see how they handled managing a large studio, a blog, constantly taking pictures professionally , taking pictures personally and putting themselves out like the Chase man does. I have run a big studio, had lots of employees, and have had, and actually still do have a pretty full on adverting photographer lifestyle. It is hard work requiring a lot of balancing and second guessing. I love reading how Chase just acts without any sort of neurotic self reflection. He has this Harry Callahan element to his persona. There is something wonderful about it. Willaim Klein, who I met a few years back, was the same way. Of course my assistants think it is the mark of an ego obsessed jerk. Which he may be, I have no idea, never met the man. What he gives me, is that urge to stop thinking and start doing. Is that so wrong?

What precisely is the problem with taking a bad picture? Is that worse than taking no picture at all? I think not. As my old friend and agent Tony Andriulli used to say ” We are not saving lives here”. Exactly. I have never ever in all my career been able to just think myself into a new way of doing things. What has worked is shooting my way into or out of something. Along the way 98% of the pictures I have taken have been crap. Total crap. But without them, there would be no 2% of the good ones. I am lying, it is more like 99.5% crap. If I woke up in the morning and said I WILL TAKE NO BAD PHOTOS TODAY, that would mean I should just give up being a photographer.

To all those out there who are Chase haters, I say this “Perfection leads to Procrastination which ends up in Paralysis” Stop thinking and start doing. Stop worrying about your feelings on the personality of someone if you can learn something useful from them. Right?

Keep it up Chase man, love your spirit.

One of the wonderful things about being a photographer is the access is gives us to extraordinary people we would never normally have. The above is a book jacket that was signed by Harry, as his idea of a gift to commemorate our short time together. Harry Markowitz won the Noble in economics in 1990. He is an absolutely amazing man. I got to hold his Nobel, (it is really heavy), to see the certificate and the original watercolor it came with and to have a private lecture from Harry, one of the smartest guys in economics, on the nature of portfolio theory . Utterly remarkable. We start out the afternoon with Harry asking me “Are you one of those guys who say it is going to be a couple of shots then ends up taking my afternoon?” How many times have we heard this? But that is not how it turned out. We talked, or mostly I listened, for over 2 hours when the shoot had been scheduled for 20 minutes. This is a very busy guy, but for some reason he decided to just hang out with us, delay his other appointments, and fill us with his considerable wisdom. I love this job, who wouldn’t? Once the pictures are published, I can share them with you, but what I want you to know is that Harry is in his field for the fun of it, and I love him for it. He could be making billions, but instead, he is teaching, lecturing, and just having an amazing time. One of happiest guys I have ever met, and most certainly one of the smartest. Give me the choice between photographing a movie star and a genius and I will take the big brain everytime. No offense to movie stars.

Why did Harry decide to do all this? In my experience, and I have photographed some toughies, if I treat people well, am truly interested in their needs, then they will respond in kind. I once had private a 45 minute 3pt shooting lesson from Allen Iverson. Contrary to what you may have read, Allen is one of the nicest, smartest athletes I ever worked with. Why did Allen decide to do this? Because the moment he walked in, I went right up to him, past the entourage and bodyguards, and said “hey Allen, I know these things really suck for you, and I am going to do my best to get you out of here in 45 minutes”. I did exactly that. And you know what, at the end, rather than walk out, Allen, to the total horror of the Rebok suits, comes straight up to, thumps me in the chest with a basketball, and says, yo man, let me see your jump shot. Huh? He was totally serious. He instructed me in the proper wy to make a 3 pt jump shot and did not leave the gym until he thought I had it down. The whole time this is going on, he is yelling at the Rebok guys ( this was for a big Rebok campaign), to ” feed the man the ball, fed him the ball). He has these dudes in suits, who are terrified of him, scurrying around the gym colecting all my errant shots. Extraordinary.

So this is for all of you out there who are not sure if sticking it out and percevering is worth it. This is the most fun, most rewarding job in the world, it is totally worth it.

Normally, a regular person put in front of seamless paper will not exactly freeze, but be a bit disoriented. They will look at you and want you to tell them what to do. They are relying on you as their guide to help them in this strange environment. This is where the photographer really needs to pay attention. The person out there is wired in a special way and it is your job to very quickly figure out what that is. Everyone is different, and you need to very quickly figure what the correct approach is going to be. My general tack is to never be shocked, to always be enthusiastic, be interested in whatever they are, and to make the studio a place where everything is acceptable. I want them to become unconscious of themselves. In this effort, I have helpers. One of my assistants will sometimes hold up signs with words: sad, you are being watched, your mother is proud of you. At the moment they react to the sign I take the photo. But sometimes this is totally wrong, so I get them into an animated conversation with on of my assistants. This again frees me up to be ready to take the photo when it happens. The unfortunate temptation when I am working with someone who fascinates me, as in tomorrow I am doing a portrait of a Nobel prize winner, is that I want to talk to them and get to know them. This is a mistake. Because if I am talking I am not ready to take the photo when it happens.

I did a job yesterday that was 2 parts, one studio, one easy outdoor location. The guy who was in the shot didn’t really have much experience in front of a camera. I was not that worried about the location shot, as he would be doing something he does often. The studio shot was my concern. It turned out exactly the opposite. He was great in studio, wonderful photos. He loved talking, about himself, his family, how he saw the world. This totally relaxed him. But when we went on location, he became remarkably self aware, which can be death for a photograph. At the end of the day we were going through the shots and I couldn’t believe how much better the studio was. It is almost never like that. As my favorite quote from Neitsche says” The will to systematize indicates a lack of integrity”. Isn’t that the best quote ever? Just goes to show that a little syphilis can focus the mind.

When working with talent, there are 3 sort of categories. Actors, models and street casting-other wise known as real people. I know, isn’t everyone a real person?

Actors: An actor is an artist in his/her own right. Their job is to inhabit a role and to express the feelings and gestures of that role. They are not models, and this is very important to understand. In fact modeling is the antithesis of acting. If you want to make an actor nervous and self conscious, have them model. Modeling involves the actor having to self direct, to be looking at themselves or to move and be in a way that is disconnected from a character. This is not what they do. They do their best work when they are fully in their character, which means they cannot at the same time be watching themselves. It makes them nuts. The way to work with them is to direct, which is very different from working with a model. You direct by giving them a character, by giving them a story, by giving them someone to work off of. There is an excellent book that articulates this much better than I can called ”
Directing Actors: Creating Memorable Performances for Film & Television.” I recommend it.

Models: What models do is give a spontaneous look on command. The good ones are genius at this. They are able to in a second to throw the smile, give the look, and make the walk that you need, and best of all make it believable. Good models are extraordinary. They totally blow my mind that they can do what they do. They do not act, and to work with them as you would with an actor is a huge mistake. It will confuse them. They model, which means that that take direction like smile, jump, role, look back over your shoulder , etc. These are physical moves, not emotional ones.

Street Casting: Working with regular people is great, it gives you a window into some ones life that you wouldn’t have had before. But this is the deal. They can only do what they do. They are not trained, which can be wonderful. But what you see in the casting photos is what you will get. Do not expect them to be able to pull off something new. It is always best when working with regular people to have them in an environment they are comfortable with, and in relationship with people that are really in relationships with. The caveat to that is if the shot calls for something totally over the top, like a group of people screaming at a football game. Then your job as the photographer is to give them the energy and motivation to go wild. Going wild is easy. What is much harder is for them to simulate an emotional response. What the actor does is not simulate the emotional response, they actually do it, which is why it looks so real.

I hope that this is helpful to you. I would love to hear how you handle these sorts of situations.

Many people are confused about what a photographers or other visual artists web site should look like. These are my thoughts based on my experience and my many failures. I preset these hoping to save you some money and grief. The web site is the way we present our work to the world, the portfolio is secondary. Did you know that Richard Avedon had a full time art director and picture editor on staff just to help with his graphic design? He thought it was that important, and he also thought they were better at it than he was. Finding the person to work with is tough, but it is worth the hunt.

Here are my 10 suggestions:

-Keep it simple to navigate. Minimize the amount of clicks your viewer has to make.
-No music, ever, unless it is a video. Unless you are a total genius at sound design, it is going to come off amateur.
-Make it simple to upload and change the content. You want to be able to do add/change photos yourself without contacting a web expert
-Make it about the pictures, period. Reveal more about yourself and what you are into in your blog.
-Really think about the look, and make it personal to your work. Stay away from pre-made corporate looking “photographer” template services.
-Keep in mind your viewer’s attention span-short.
-If possible, format it it to work on an iPhone and iPad.
-Your web designer needs technical skills, but also great page design skills. Hard to find, but worth the search. Look at designers who do art gallery sites.
-Look at photographer’s sites who are working at the top end, study and understand what they are doing right, then apply, don’t copy, it to your work.
-If you do not feel good at editing your own work, hire someone who could help you, like an art buyer, photo editor or rep. You need to show your best most consistent work, and if you are like me, you may not be the best judge of what you do.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and please send me your thoughts on what has worked and not worked for you.

One of the great surprises to me in my exploration of working with motion is that is has been so helpful for my stills work. Shooting motion is an entirely different skill set than doing stills. There is the way the camera moves, there is sound, there is editing, and there is an awful lot of technology. Many things to think about. Thinking is good. With an automatic camera or a good assistant one can do stills on auto pilot and bring back something decent. But not with motion. You must constantly be aware of all these other elements or you will end up with a mess. Video will wake you up to a new way of thinking and seeing. Yes it is hard, and yes it takes forever to complete a project, but is all great for you to do. It’s wonderful to learn these new ways of seeing and producing imagery. I promise you, it will inform your stills work and after 6 weeks of post production on a tiny motion project, make your stills work a joy to do.

A central thing about video and film is that is story driven, in a way that some photography does not need to be. Making a motion piece will focus you on the idea of story. One can shoot still pictures of all manner of things and have them be somewhat interesting, but if you want to be a successful photographer you must learn to tell a story. This is a simple fact, we are storytellers, not just image makers. If you are doing want to do advertising, weddings, news, or any other form of photography, you are a storyteller. In motion you are constantly thinking about the entirety of the piece and about how that will get the story told, other wise you have a lovely piece of abstract art piece. Motion will make you a better storyteller, and that will make you a better photographer.

I know this from my own experience. The making of motion projects is a huge drain on the resources of my studio, and I often ask myself why am I doing this. I do it because I can, and I enjoy it. As a side benefit, I can see the difference in the quality of the stills work I have done in the last couple of months, and I am convinced this is because of the efforts I have made in motion work. Thank you for your attention and if you have any thoughts on this I would love for your to share them.

Some people have been asking me about how to get their first big job, and then what to do when it comes through. These are huge questions and I can’t really answer, but here is a real super simple list of some things that you may find helpful. These are based on my mistakes, and maybe this will save you from making the same ones I did. I hope you find this helpful, and please let me know what you think. Is there anything you would add, and is there anything you would like me to go into detail on, what have your experiences been?

1. Get to know everything about 8 art directors that you have chosen as the ones you want to work for. These are the 8 that you will promote to, and stay in touch with. Forget the mass mailings. Do your home work and get 8 names. You only need 1 big job and one of these people is going to give it to you.

2. Only show what you are good at. Forget variety, show one thing and one thing only. This must be the thing that you do better than anyone. Otherwise, why are they going to hire you? Remember, the art director’s job is on the line, so he has to be sure you can come through.

3. If your book gets called in, and you get as far as the creative call, be absolutely confident you can do the job. Before the call think about what special thing you are bring to the table, and it better not be price. You need to be bring something special and you need to be able to articulate it.

4. If you are not sure how to do the bid, hire someone to do it for you. Most reps will do an estimate for a fee. You need your estimate to look professional, and if you haven’t done it before it won’t.

5. The agency knows this is your first big job, but it is fine. They love to discover new talent. They will also cut you some slack because of it.

6. Practice practice practice! Get the lighting totally dialed in before the shoot, in fact days before the shoot. When the day comes you don’t want to be experimenting on set, you need to know exactly what to do. Think of everything that can go wrong and think about what you are going to do to prevent it from happening.

7. If it is a big job, hire a producer. They will save your butt. Get the best most experienced person you can. They are going to cost you $1000/day for shoot, prep and wrap days. Don’t worry, you will thank them for taking your money. They will allow you to do what you are supposed to be doing: talking with the agency and taking pictures. Do not under an circumstances attempt your first big job by trying to save money and produce it yourself. That is amature hour. You are now a pro. Act like one.

8. You must, at any cost, be a hero on the job. You must, at any cost, deliver to the client a job that makes them so happy they couldn’t imagine anyone else doing it. Remember, this isn’t baseball, you only get one swing and you better hit it the far side of heaven.

9. Listen to whatever the ageny has to say creatively, then tell them honestly what you think, but never argue. Always go along with what they want, but offer your counsel. That is what they hired you for.

10. Have the producer prep the bill. You look at it, check every number on it, have the rep who did the bid look at, then send it in. There is a right and wrong way to do these things, and next time you will know, but this time learn how.

The shot below was my first Coke shoot. It was night, we rented the Orange Bowl in Miami. Crew of 14, cast of 40, 6 from the client. Lighting was the light towers in the stadium (Cue the Tower 3, kabang, massive light comes on) and about 10 2k frenels. They loved the shot, and we went on to do about 40 more ads over the next 3 years.

I had the good fortune to be sitting next to Ed Kashi at the Blend Images spring workshop. More on Ed later. What I want to mention is something he said in passing about how when he shoots video how hard it is on his body. That he gets himself in some uncomfortable position then has to hold it for minutes at a time. As a side note, Ed is in excellent shape, and this is not a criticism of him in any way. If you did what Ed did, and you went to the places did, anything less than excellent health would lead to an early demise. Check his work and you will see what I mean.

Your body is your tripod, it is your fundimental support rig.. If you can’t move smoothly, or steadily, you won’t be able to move the camera to where it needs to be, and there will be problems. I have heard it said that the biggest contribution that a photographer can make to a shoot is his enthusiasm and energy. But what if he can’t bring it because he/she has not been taking care of themselves?

This is such a critical and so often minimized factor. What happens if your knees are sore and you can’t bring the camera down to where iot needs to be to get the shot? What if the shot is from a tree limb and you are too out of shape to get into the tree? Don’t you think this is going to have an impact on your career?

Advertising shoots remind me of something out of “All That Jazz”, its show time! Personally, if I know I have a big ad gig, I purposely rest the preceding couple of days. Think of the great climber Anatoli Boukreev in Everest basecamp. He would rest the week before the climb, critized for loofing, when he was in fact recharging his body.

The thing is, if the body goes, the career goes. Are you ready to sit in a chair next to a tripod with a remote in your hand? No way. Eat as healthy as you possibly can. Research health and how to be healthy as least as much as you research anything else. Exercise every day. Sleep as much as you can. I do yoga, swimming, surfing, skiing, Gold’s Gym, Exhale, everything I can and a 3 or 4 day ad job still kicks my ass. If your body is not at peak health you will not be able to perform at your peak level. You need to take this seriously.

Last week I recieved word from PDN that my series on Rescued Fighting Dogs from Time Magazine had won in their annual contest in the editorial catagory. Wonderful news, and I am thankful and grateful to PDN. Then on Friday we received the following email and photo:

Hello,