1. You started quite young, and I am guessing that your first crews were quite young, and now some have gone on to win Oscars. How did you go about chosing the DPs you worked with?

I chose my DPs in what I imagine are the usual ways, first looking at the work of people who were available to me at my low budgets and singling out those whose look I liked for the project, then asking people who had worked with those DPs if they were fast (since our shooting schedules were very short) and worked well with others, and finally interviewing my top candidate to make sure our ideas and personalities meshed.

Because each film I directed was shot in a different part of the world and we didn’t have the money to fly in and house a DP from L.A., I had to find someone new each time. That was a drag, but the upside was that I learned something from each of the DPs I worked with.

One of the first films I worked on as a writer and 2nd unit director, back in 1990, which was directed by someone else, was an $800,000 comedy that was shot by Phedon Papamichael, Wally Pfister, and Janusz Kaminski. I think Mauro Fiore gaffed a few scenes since he was working with Janusz at the time. It’s not the fault of those incredibly talented shooters that the film doesn’t look particularly good — talent is important but you also need resources.

Janusz Kaminski shot the first film I directed, a very low-budget erotic thriller for Roger Corman. During filming he was hired to shoot Schindler’s List and so, for very good reasons, he took his name off the credits. He did a beautiful job, though, and also worked very fast which enabled us complete on our brutally short 16-day schedule. On the day Janusz had his big interview with Spielberg, Mauro Fiore, who was the gaffer, stepped in as D.P.

Talented people like that were looking for work and were available to anyone who had the ability to see how good they were. And that’s still the case.

2. What was it like working under Roger Corman, and do you see any similarities to what is happening with the DSLR revolution in Hollywood?

It was both wonderful and frustrating to work under Roger’s system in the ’90s. Wonderful because things came together fast, and there weren’t a lot of committees to meddle in your creative decisions. The place was a factory to churn out product for the video market, and if you could figure out how to keep your project contained enough to fit through their chute, you could get it done. Certainly, though, no one would lift a finger to help you make your film better — that was entirely up to you and whoever on your crew you could marshall to your cause.

Typically, people would bust their butts on their first few Corman films and then realize that their efforts were kind of wasted. People who stayed there longer than that were generally making garbage just to pick up a few bucks or because they didn’t know what else to do.

I think the DSLR revolution is an entirely different beast. Roger had a market for his films. The digital revolution means we no longer need Roger’s lumber yard full of old cameras, lights, C-stands, Moviolas, and Nagras, but we’re still desperately in need of an audience.

DSLRs are like the portable equipment that appeared in the early 60s allowing the Nouvelle Vague and the Cinema Verite movements to happen. I believe some great things will come, due to the accessibility and portability of these new instruments. They’ll come from independent, self-starting artists, and not from a factory like Corman’s.

3. When you are writing, are you also thinking about who the actors will be, and how you will direct them, or is that a separate process?

When I’m writing, I’m imagining the entire movie in my head, but I know if the film is made it won’t exactly match what I had in mind, because every collaborator will bring something different. Actors, especially, put their own stamp on scenes. I always have an idea of how I’d like a scene done, but once the actors start working that idea might fly out the window because the characters have to belong to the actors. So, in that way, yes, it’s a separate process. Of course, there’s always the opportunity to re-write scenes to fit the actors — that’s one of the advantages of writing and directing.

4. What is your method of working with editors? Are you in there every day, or do you let them do their thing for a while, and then you look at it?

I always want to hang around and edit the film with the editor. But after a while I get the hint that I’m not really needed, and I’ll usually take a break — perhaps my first break away from the film in a year’s time. It’s valuable because I can come back with slightly fresh eyes and it gives the editor a chance to find his/her own voice in the project. So, yes, I like to let the editor surprise me and I try not to micro-manage.

5. I know that sound and music are very important to you. At what point in the process do you start to bring them in? Do you have a thought on that before you start shooting?

I bring them in as early as possible, especially if they are a part of the fictional world you’re creating. Although sounds can always be substituted later, you can take something away from the authenticity of an actor’s performance that way. It’s better to do your work early, so that the cast and crew can benefit from your choices, rather than trying to slide it all it in during post.

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.

Introducing Dan Chapman, AKA Dante. Dan is the newest member of the team here at DHS. Dan is working as a camera operator on all our motion projects, and helping out with post/media management. He comes to us from Orlando,Fl and Full Sail University. We love working with Dan, and we really love having a camera operator that we can call Dante.

Basically, both discuss how the current models were created a hundred years ago and no longer work. VII is taking its destiny in its own hands by going directly to the people for whom their content most matters. Godin is advocating more or less the same thing. He goes on to say book publishers-the people who print books, get them into book stores, give advances-is a model that is broken in the age of Kindle, the iPad, and the internet. What I like about both of these is that a solution is offered, and that the solution can be wonderfully liberating to the content producer.

I can’t yet really connect all the dots here, but there is something related to in these two items that is fascinating, as in a keep me up all night pondering sort of way. It is the same sort of feeling had when the whole 5DII video thing arrived. I would be very grateful to anyone who takes the time to slog through these and send in your thoughts.

Here is a link to my interview in Pop Photo this month I am incredably excited to be part of this and deeply humbled that they chose me to be interviewed.

What I really hope is that from this more people will be making movies. So many people are intimidated by the process, and it really does not have to be that hard. Yes, once you get into splitting feeds, video villages, follow focus motors and the lot, it can be complex. But you can make a very nice professional quality movie with these little cameras with out all that. This is my message in the interview, just point the camera and shoot. Its not so hard. Isn’t that how we started taking photos?

There is a huge amount of information out there. For me, my day starts each and every morning with an email from Planet 5D. Mitch does a great job of searching the web for interesting developments and videos. I am happy to support them. If you are only going to look at one site, it is Planet 5D. They collect information from all over the world and post it. From there, if I see anything interesting, directors, gear, or videos, I drill down to find out more. I can honestly say, that if not for that site and for Shane’s site, I would not being doing what I do today.

Next comes my RSS feed: A Photo Editor, Canon Rumors, PDN pulse, Shane Hurlbut, ProLost, The Creators Project, Heather Morton Art buyer, Chase Jarvis, Philip Bloom, Nowness, Gizmodo, Vincent LaForet. These sites and the people who write have all been my teachers. They put their hearts into letting all of us know what they do, and I am deeply grateful to them. If there is anything that needs more investigation, I do it. The RSS list is constantly changing. I want to keep changing the people I read so that I don’t get too much of any one persons KoolAid. Because, we all have our own special KoolAid if you know what I mean.

If there is something that I want to know even more about, I send an email to the person. Almost never has someone not returned one of my questions. I love connecting to other creators. These connections are fantastic resource. I now have a pretty good network of professionals out there that I can send a question to.

I also read American Cinematographer. I highly recommend reading every word and save every issue. This is a magazine about the real giants. Even though I probably won’t have a 100 strong camera dept any time soon, it is great to read exactly how movies are made by people who are the best in the world at it. My copies look like porcupines with post-it notes sticking out all over them.

Books: In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch. DV Rebels Guide by Stu Maschwitz, Apple Pro Training Series on Final Cut and Color are the basics. Every book I read, I make notes in. My memory may not be so great, but I have an annotated library to back it up.

To me this is not work. In the words of my friend Jeff Hirsch at FotoCare ” It’s like springtime all over again”. I mean, how many chance in life do you get to re-invent yourself?

But then I came across the video below by Brit photog Kalpesh Lathigra. It is silent. Wow, what a revelation. And there is a power to it, it is compelling maybe because it is silent. It is an entirely visually experience, so I don’t want to look away. It is the anti John Williams approach. Ok, John may be a great guy, but it makes me insane when I see a movie he has scored. It is like he thinks I am so dumb, I can’t get the story feeling from the movie, he has to bludgeon me with the soundtrack. Arghhhhhhh.

Which brings us to Vimeo and YouTube. I guess people put bad music on their videos because they think they have to have some music. I am just as much at fault here as anyone else. I mean, if I don’t have music, it will be boring right? But there are so many more options out there. Record street sounds, static, silence, breathing, animal sounds, whale sounds, whatever. Of course, you can always find some $1.99 stock music for your work, but try to make it better. Or try silence, that maybe fantastic, who knows. I know I have become a huge fan Kalpesh Lathigra now. Check out the surfers. Love the wave sounds, and only wave sounds.

1. Get the Ripple Training Series on Final Cut. They are podcasts lessons that I can do when I am on an airplane or otherwise sequestered. This is a nice way to go because you don’t need a book, just a laptop, which is handy if you are stuck in an airplane seat.

2. The Apple Training series of books is excellent. We still refer to the Final Cut and the Color ones whenever we forget a quick key command or some other of the varied minutia that is Final Cut.

3. The Apple In Store classes . This is brilliant, and if anyone is new to FC, you should make a point of taking advantage of the added value you get from owning an overpriced Mac. At certain Apple stores, they give trainings. Usually these are something along the lines of ” How to use iTunes”. But they also do Final Cut lessons. I went every Saturday afternoon for 2 hours for months to the Apple store in Santa Monica to have free classes in FC. The guy who ran the classes was a working TV editor. It was great, and it was free.

This will not make you a great editor, anymore than learning Photoshop will make you a great photographer. But what it will do is give you the tools and the language to start. I knew nothing, zero as far as motion goes, and 3 months later I did a 4 minute piece for TIme Magazine. Now 10 months later I am doing a commercial. None of that would have been possible without forcing myself to learn an editing program. If I can do this, you can. It is not so hard, really it isn’t.

One last thing. Don’t make the mistake I did and buy FC Express for cheap, then try to upgrade later to Studio. You can’t. Just bite the bullet and buy Studio, you won’t regret it.

The Results:

Lexar Pro stackable firewire 800 reader: 1 minute 37 sec
Sandisk firewire 800 reader: 2 minutes 31 seconds
No name USB reader: 2 minutes 56 seconds

THE WINNER IS: LEXAR PRO 800 firewire.

The speed difference here is significant, especially if you have 4 or 5 full 16gig cards laying around. The nice thing about the Lexar is that you can stack them, and copy multiple cards simultaneously into your hard drive.

In The Bag with photographer David Burnett from PhotoShelter.com on Vimeo.

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.

I have a whole box of RedRock tinker toys. Yes they are useful for certain things, but this rig works better than any shoulder mount, chest mount that we have ever used. Something about the way it is tied into the body makes the movement super natural. Yes all you gear babies out there, we have used it with 4 inch rails and a follow focus. Works fine.

Hey Eagle Mountain Flag, could we do this thing in another color?

Keep this fact in mind: If you are a working professional photographer or film maker, you are hired for your vision, your storytelling ability, and your ability to put those skills to work on demand. Gear heads can be hired, creative vision is much harder to come by, and thus worth much more. Steven Meisel didn’t come from a photographic background. He hired good assistants to help him with his vision. Gear is great, knowing the tools of your craft is important, but technical expertise can be hired, vision can not be out sourced.

I have an iPhone. It is a magic device, but the “phone” part just isn’t, well, how to say this, a phone in the normal sense of the word. The reliability level is something on par with carrier pigeons, although I would give the pigeons the edge. On set last week and I saw something fascinating. The AE, who lives by voice communication had an iPhone and a Verizon cell phone. Her iPhone was too unreliable as a phone, so she got a regular Verizon cell phone. This tells me two things. First she loves her iPhone so much that in spite of its failure as a phone, the rest of it was good enough that she didn’t throw it in a lake. The second is that voice counts, and if you want to have a reliable voice conversation, you don’t use an iPhone, you go with Verizon. Hello Apple, pay attention to this. The Google phone is not bad, and it gets better everyday. The killer app there is that it works on Verizon, the best cell system anywhere.

There is rumor that next year the video conferencing function on the iPhone4 will work on the cellular, not just wifi. Can you imagine the effect that will have on the ATT cell service? Are you going to renew your ATT contract once it ends? Are you ready to go with the dual phone solution? Maybe the idea of one device does all is not as good as two devices that do something really well.

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

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.

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!

We produce a lot of content around here, but we also are obsessive consumers of content. Blogs, magazines-tons of them, movies, books, everything we can get our greedy little hands on goes down the hatch. This mornings diet: CNN.com, Interview Magazine, NYTimes Magazine on line, NY Magazine, The National Enquirer, Fantastic Man, Rolling Stone, Elle Decor Brit Edition,Jonathan Waiter’s web site,The Financial Times, Surfers Journal, a brilliant piece in the on line British Journal of Photography. This was all before my assistants came in, and the first thing I do with them in the morning is ask have they seen anything interesting. Advice: Be sound in your point of view, but swallow as much other content as you can.

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.