Since my last post address some of the changes photographers specifically in newspaper and magazine publications have faced since the 2009 Presidential election, that is a nice segue into revisiting Vincent Laforet and his Reverie video.
That video was viewed by more than 2 million people in a two week period in 2008 and put Laforet in the spotlight. But in certain circles he was already quite well known.
In 2002, he was a Pulitzer Prize awarded photographer on staff with the New York Times—and he wasn’t even 30 years old yet. The future of photography in newspapers didn’t seem bright to him and he wanted to move into directing but needed a demo reel.
He found a way to get his hands on a Canon 5D before they were released and shot Reverie over the weekend. He had his demo reel, his first client, and set-off a trend of shooting with DSLRs that hasn’t slowed down since.
“If you don’t like change, you going to like irrelevance worse.” General Eric Shineski, former U.S. Army Chief of Staff
Please allow me to tell you a story about the good ole days—way back in 2008. It’s hard to believe that a mere six years ago dinosaurs walked the earth. But their sudden demise is why personal projects are so important.
In the months leading up to the 2009 Presidential election I was living in Iowa and hired to shoot video of various presidential candidates. (Including the eventual election winner, President Obama.) It was an exciting time to be around the Iowa caucuses because not only was it the first major electoral event in picking the next President of the United States—but back in ‘o8 both the Democrats and the Republicans were choosing their party’s candidate.
After one event in Waterloo, Iowa that had heavy national press coverage I met a photographer in a restaurant bar who was picking selects and uploading them to his publication. He missed the ole days when he would fly somewhere and all he had to do was take photos and either overnight the film or drop the rolls at a lab.
The odds are good that he doesn’t work for a magazine or a newspaper now because as high-speed internet access became widely accessible, more and more people received their news information online. That resulted in less magazines and newspapers subscriptions, which resulted in less revenue for companies, which resulted in less newspaper and magazine jobs, which meant less photographers.
(Sidenote: The Chicago Tribune just reported that the 75 year old Chicago-based “Calumet Photographic Inc. filed for bankruptcy yesterday and abruptly closed.” Last year the Chicago Sun-Times laid off their entire full time photography staff. And just last week the Orlando Sentinel announced they were replacing their staff photographers in favor of using “mobile photojournalists” who are more “videocentric” using not DSLR but iPhones and iPads. )
And back in 2008 that particular photographer saw the storm coming because his publication wanted him to start shooting video. Today newspapers and magazines have hybrid creatives who not only shoot still photos, but shoot video and edit them as well—and who pitch stories and write articles.
Actually, living in Iowa at that time I saw hybrids years before hybrids were cool. On my Tinker Field personal project I’m set to finish next week I produced, directed, wrote, edited, recorded audio, shot the footage and did the photography. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a long list of special thanks, but the heavy lifting was on my shoulders.
If I could go back to 2008 I’d tell that photographer complaining about picking selects and uploading them to his publication that the world was getting ready to shift and if he wasn’t ready to retire he better get ready to adapt.
Major shifts like this happened in the movie industry in the late 20s and early 30s when silent movies gave way to sync sound, in the 50s when TV gave people less a reason to go to movies theaters, and today because of the Internet. Each transition period opens and closes opportunities.
Personal projects give you an opportunity to grow and challenge yourself. I don’t know what the result of my personal project will be but it’s been a fulfilling process. And aside from the actual production itself I’ve met some interesting people along (and reconnected with some other people as well) and I’ll talk more about that component of personal projects on Monday.
P.S.—If you’re a writer just stepping into the editing side of things—or if you’re in middle school or middle management–take a good look at FCP X. My professional tech friends say that it may not be the best editing system out there (and one I don’t use yet), but the economics of it are going to drive business to use it versus the Adobe Premiere Cloud. Of course, if Black Magic, buys AVID then they might take over the production world.
“The overall importance of personal projects ranges from creative freedom to creating new work. Whether you are an established photographer or filmmaker or transitioning from assistant photographer /filmmaker this is an opportunity to produce something that has no boundaries.”
Andrea Maurio Why Are Personal Projects So Damn Important? PNDonline March 30, 2013
Here’s a photo from my shoot yesterday at Tinker Field in Orlando, Florida. I’m on track to finish this micro doc next week and will post the 2 or 3 minute video on this blog when done.
“I’ve wanted to make these kinds of profiles for a long time. And I think it’s kinda the future of what I do.” Dustin Cohen
It was a video about 91-year-old shoemaker Frank Catafumo that put Dustin Cohen on my radar. Cohen is a commercial photographer who started his Made in Brooklyn project in 2012 with a video called THE VIOLIN MAKER followed by THE WATCH MAKER and THE JEWELRY MAKER.
I recall reading a couple of months ago on PDN (Photo District News) how Cohen created these as personal projects and they have landed him much work.
Last month I began shooting a personal project on Tinker Field in Orlando. I’m on the tail end of editing what will be a micro-documentary just over 2-minutes, and I’ll release it out in the world next week. I thought this would be a good time to talk about personal projects; why they’re important.
The original stadium was built in 1923 and named after Hall-of-Fame player Joe Tinker who was the shortstop the last time the Chicago Cubs won a World Series—in 1908. The current stadium was built in 1963 and some of the greatest players of 60s, 70s, and 80s played spring training games there.
But it’s been more than 20 years since a spring training game has been played there and plans were announced in January to tear down the decaying stadium. The announcement was met with some resistance and the demolition is on hold until further options can be studied.
My micro-doc isn’t for or against tearing the stadium down, but is more of a love letter to the place where I went to my first professional baseball game. A look back and told through visuals of an aging and rusting stadium that is long past its glory days.
In the days leading up to my micro-premeire here next week I’ll show some photos I took while out at Tinker Field as well as tell some stories of personal projects that have actually turned into movements, professional work, and even new careers. Today’s lead off hitter is Humans of New York. Brandon Stanton started HONY as small personal project in 2010 and not only is a popular website, but at the end of last year the book version quickly became a #1 New York Times best seller.
Not your typical personal project, but sometimes when you small and personal turns into big and universal.
Erik Bauer: Do you think a great science fiction film needs to have some kind of a social anchor? I mean, a social relevance, a metaphor, or a statement that it makes?
John Carpenter: “It has to have a thematic concern. Every great work has something that’s thematic about it. Not a message, because I don’t think movies do messages very well. They fall flat. Socially, I mean, some great films were made back in the ’30s and ’40s and you can see that they were placed in the time they were made, but their themes are for all time. The biggest thing is the story, but within that you need some thematic element that gets the audience going, that reaches out to them.”
“No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.”
Photographer Ansel Adams
A couple of months after Ansel Adams died in 1984 I made my first trip to Yosemite. I wanted to see the Half Dome that he capture on film so brilliantly. I wanted to see the rocks, rivers and trees—the beauty that he captured. Out of reverence for Adams I didn’t take a single photo of the majestic scenery on that trip.
My post yesterday stirred up an image in my mind of what I consider the most memorable Sports Illustrated cover ever. It’s of Tony Conigilaro photographed by the great Neil Leifer. The photo screams drama and begs you to know what happened. Even more than 40 years after the cover first ran—and even if you’ve never heard the name Tony Conigilaro before—you want to know what happened to his eye.
Conigilaro—often simply referred to as Tony C— was an up and coming outfielder for the Boston Red Sox and hit his first home run at Fenway Park when he was just 19-years-old. A few years later he was selected to play in the 1967 All Star Game. Later that season he was hit in the face by a pitch thrown by Jack Hamilton. It shattered his left cheekbone and damaged the retina in his left eye and not only ended his season, but essentially his career as various comebacks failed and he retired from baseball in 1971.
He later worked as a radio announcer but in 1982 suffered a heart attack, then followed by a stroke and stayed comatose for eight years until he died in 1990 at age 45. I can’t say that I learned everything about life from sports, but I sure learned at a young age that no one gets to live at the top of the mountain. Some athletes have good games, good seasons, and even great careers—but there are also of plenty of heartbreak stories along the way.
Each year the Tony Conigliaro Award goes to the Major League Baseball player “who have overcome adversity through spirit, determination and courage.”
P.S. It’s spring training time here in Florida and I’ve been working on a personal project—a micro documentary on Tinker Field in Orlando. The historical park where the Minnesota Twins used to train is schedule for demolition. If any readers have marketing connections to MLB, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, the Minnesota Twins, or Brand 47 (in Boston) please email me at info@scottwsmith.com. I’d like see if this micro doc can move beyond a personal project and hit an emotional cord with a larger audience.
“Listen to the advice of people you trust.”
Scott Kelby
“Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life.”
Clay P. Bedford
Yesterday SmugMug Films released the above video on photographer, author and educator Scott Kelby. Kelby started giving Photoshop workshops more than twenty years ago and that passion has morphed into KelbyOne today—their tagline is “online education for creative people.”
So if you’re a creative person I wanted to put them on your radar if they’re not already there. I’ve been a fan of Kelby’s books, seminars, and online training for years. KelbyOne is photography and Photoshop centered with a deep well of instructors that cross-over into various aspects of storytelling, creativity, business, social media, and life.
KelbyOne has a more than 70 instructors and some of my personal favorite online classes they have are taught by Jay Maisel, Jeremy Cowart, Zack Arias and Joe McNally. Even if you consider yourself purely a writer, if you invest just $25 for a single month and watch as many online classes as you can it will help you take better pictures of your family and friends. And even if you don’t want to spend any money you can find free Kelby videos online via The Grid with Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski. They record and broadcast live ever Wednesday at 4pm EST. And you can also find free videos at Kelby’s You Tube channel.
“Photography’s gotten super cool—everybody wants to do it and thanks to technology everyone can. It’s a whole new world.” Peter Reed Miller Sports Illustrated photographer interview with Mia McCormick on KelbyOne
As a side note—speaking of Sports Illustrated— just a few days ago I listened to a 2011 PhotoShelter interview of Steve Fine, former Sports Illustrated Director of Photography, and though I’d been reading Sports Illustrated since I was ten I’d never heard the SI secret photo formula until last week. Fine said what he looked for in a photograph was: 1) Magical moments 2) Sense of place 3) Tears 4) Cheers
(Sounds like a trailer mix of Oscar-winning movies, right? Emotional, right? Check out the post 40 Days of Emotions.)
And if you can get magical moments, a sense of place and tears & cheers in one shot then you really have a great photo. (The same could probably be said for screenplays and movies, too.)
Another part of the SI formula is shooting with either a 600mm or a 28mm lens (and going where most people can’t) and sifting through 250,000 photos that haven’t seen before for each magazine. (No, that’s not a typo—250,000 photos for each issue.)
But not everybody is going to be a Sport Illustrated photographer and Scott Kelby understands that. I remember when I was starting out in photography and film it was very hard for working professions to pass on trade secrets. It’s always been a competitive field and has only gotten tougher for various reasons. But Kelby and others openly pass on those trade secrets which is great—except it makes a competitive field more competitive. But that helps create greater work. There are classic photos that 20 years ago were cover shots for Sports Illustrated that wouldn’t even be selected to be published in the magazine today.
Kelby knows his audience isn’t just professional photographers, but soccer moms, engineers, and the like who just love photography. (And who are often quite serious and talented.) He acknowledges that photo hobbyist and those who make some of their income doing photography are his largest of his audience.
“This idea of Metallica or some rock n’ roll singer being rich, that’s not necessarily going to happen anymore. Because, as we enter into a new age, maybe art will be free.” Five-time Oscar-winning producer/director/writer Francis Ford Coppola
Last year I met a businessman who had a 600mm Nikon lens and loved to shoot surfing photos in Satellite Beach. We’re talking a lens that’s just under $10,000 to buy! And he bought the lens and was shooting just for the joy of it —and he gives the photos away for free. He didn’t seem interested in becoming a professional photographer—and would probably have to take a pay cut to become one. (BTW—According to Merriam-webster the word amateur is a French word that comes from “the Latin amator lover, from amare to love.”)
This isn’t to say you need expensive equipment to become a photographer. (I have lots of photographer and cameraman friends and not a single one personally owns a 600mm lens.) Kelby says many photographers are like amateur golfers thinking that buying the latest golf club will make them a better golfer.
“Don’t worry so much about the gear…there’s not a button on the camera that you press to get better photos.”
Scott Kelby
One of the things I appreciate about Kelby’s teaching is he isn’t saying take this class and get rich and famous. He understands that more often than not it’s the business and marketing side that separates photographers, so he teaches that along with all the fun and creative aspects of photography. So wherever you are on your creative journey check out KelbyOne and see if it gives you a creative (or business) jolt.
Here’s episode #57 of The Grid where Kelby talks with the photographer Joe McNally:
P.S. All this talk about sports photography reminds me of one of my all time favorite photos. I took it when I was 19 and only owned a camera for just over a year. But I knew sports and was a staff photographer for the Sanford Heraldand on this occasion photographed a well executed suicide squeeze play at a high school baseball game. What I love about the shot is I took it using film, with a manual focus fixed lens, and without an auto-winder. Yet despite some technical limitations and lack of experience I believe I captured what photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson called “the decisive moment.”
“There’s no one to tell you it’s bad. So your own grandiosity and pride tells you—’Wow this is great; it couldn’t be any better. I think the audience would be comfortable with a two-hour-twenty-minute comedy. Why not?’ Then you show it to your studio or producers and they go, ‘Ooooh. That’s a little long…do you need this scene?’ At first it’s like someone suggesting you murder your own children. Then you wake up to the fact that you’re not alone in this process and that you are making films for an audience.” Writer/director Harold Ramis (Groundhog Day) on first cuts of films Creative Screenwriting January /February 2004
Screenwriting from Iowa 