The Perceptive Photographer

In this Episode

One of the questions I get asked the most is about starting a photography business. Running your own business isn’t for everyone, but if you are wanting to have the freedom and responsibilities that come with being your own boss, there are some things to consider as you get started that can really help you get off on the right foot. In most cases, people who start their own business think that they are alone, but the key to being successful in business is having great partnerships and partners that can support you along the way. In my own experience, I wish I had lined up a few of these key partners as I was getting started. I know they would have made a huge difference in the beginning. As you get started, there are a lot of forms, pricing, taxes, and host of other concerns that you might have never seen or heard of when you were working for someone else. In this podcast, I share what I think are the 5 key business tips to focus on when starting your business.

5 key business tips

I don’t think the order matters when setting up and thinking about your business as long as you at some point touch on all of these issues.

* Legal. There are a lot of little things that a lawyer can help you out with when you get started. From looking at contracts, estimates, copyright and invoice language to releases and even longer contracts. It is great to know that you have good and clear language in all your written agreements. In many states you can find legal organizations that offer courses, pro-bono or reduced cost services to artist. Such organization as Washington Lawyers for the Arts or California Lawyers for the Arts are in most states and are invaluable resouces as you get started. A quick search for your location, lawyer, and arts should turn up some good options.

* Accounting: You need a good accountant to help you make sense of your business income, expenses and taxes. I recommend that you find one with a background in working with artist. Also you want to seperate your perosnal and business money and have some system to track your business. I personally use Wave Accounting or Quickbooks, but when I started out it was a simple spreadsheet.

* You need to get basic business insurance and an inland marine policy on your equipment.

* Be frugal. Not cheap or free, but smart. Being frugal and knowing what expenses matter and where you can save and cut cost, spend to grow and how to price your services are all critical to have considered when starting out.

* Supportive partners. I have an amazing business and life partner, Lori, who I work with on creative and business projects. We also have a number of other people who we can talk to about the bsuiness and issues we are facing. Most of them are people who we trust and can offer experience, wisdom or a sounding board.

As you get your business up and running, I think you will be on the road to success if you get some of the basics of business handled by others. Let them focus on what they are good at so you can focus on what you are good at.

If you subscribe to the Perceptive Photographer up on in iTunes, I would love to hear some feedback or have you take a few minutes for you to do a quick review up on iTunes it can help others learn about the show.

In this Episode

This week focuses on a couple of key questions to consider when deciding if your work is ready to be shown. With the constant pressure of social media and wanting to get our work seen as much as possible, we are often faced with some difficult decisions on when to show our photos and in what state to show our images. I break this issue down into three major areas. First is knowing when your work is done. Second is getting comfortable with only showing work that you have finished and are happy sharing. Finally, understanding that you are not in control of how the work is going to be seen from person to person and location to location.

Work is meant to be shared

One of the biggest challenges facing people in today's easy to edit over and over again is the idea of when finishing an image. In the chrome days, an image was done straight out of the camera. With Photoshop and other editing tools, it seems like images can be edited forever. In the end, only you can decide when an image is finished. It is a decision that you have gotten the photo into a state where you can see in the print or on screen what you wanted from the image. At times, you might not have the skills to edit the way you want, but those can be learned. You have to make a conscious effort that based on what you know today that the image is done.

You also have to be able to make sure that you are putting your best foot forward. This means you need to edit your work until you are done. Showing your work early would be like a sculptor showing their work when it is still mostly a block of stone and being upset that others can't see the final piece. Don't be afraid to tell people that you need to finish the work. (PS This is also why I don't think you should give away RAW files.)

Finally, you have to accept that you are never going to show your work in an environment where you are going to be in complete control. There will be things that make your images not necessarily look their best. That is ok. You do the work. You put your best work out there. It is more important that your best work is seen then worry about the color of the walls or the temperature of the light.

If you subscribe to the Perceptive Photographer up on in iTunes, I would love to hear some feedback or have you take a few minutes for you to do a quick review up on iTunes it can help others learn about the show.

In this Episode

This week focuses on a couple of key questions to consider when deciding if your work is ready to be shown. With the constant pressure of social media and wanting to get our work seen as much as possible, we are often faced with some difficult decisions on when to show our photos and in what state to show our images. I break this issue down into three major areas. First is knowing when your work is done. Second is getting comfortable with only showing work that you have finished and are happy sharing. Finally, understanding that you are not in control of how the work is going to be seen from person to person and location to location.

Work is meant to be shared

One of the biggest challenges facing people in today’s easy to edit over and over again is the idea of when finishing an image. In the chrome days, an image was done straight out of the camera. With Photoshop and other editing tools, it seems like images can be edited forever. In the end, only you can decide when an image is finished. It is a decision that you have gotten the photo into a state where you can see in the print or on screen what you wanted from the image. At times, you might not have the skills to edit the way you want, but those can be learned. You have to make a conscious effort that based on what you know today that the image is done.

You also have to be able to make sure that you are putting your best foot forward. This means you need to edit your work until you are done. Showing your work early would be like a sculptor showing their work when it is still mostly a block of stone and being upset that others can’t see the final piece. Don’t be afraid to tell people that you need to finish the work. (PS This is also why I don’t think you should give away RAW files.)

Finally, you have to accept that you are never going to show your work in an environment where you are going to be in complete control. There will be things that make your images not necessarily look their best. That is ok. You do the work. You put your best work out there. It is more important that your best work is seen then worry about the color of the walls or the temperature of the light.

If you subscribe to the Perceptive Photographer up on in iTunes, I would love to hear some feedback or have you take a few minutes for you to do a quick review up on iTunes it can help others learn about the show.

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In this Episode

This week focuses on the importance of story and storytelling in photography. Starting off as a conversation about editing (in photoshop) vs editing (for story), it occurs to me that we spend a considerable amount of time working on our photoshop skills but not a lot of time on our story telling skills. In this podcast, we look at the basic narrative structure of a story and how it can be applied to everyday photography.

Storytelling Concepts

Basic fictional stories normally have a simple structure:

subject or main character introduction

conflict arises

action builds

climax or resolution of conflict

denouement

When learning to read a photograph, we should apply the same process of story telling. Can you identify all 5 elements of the story within the image? Can you create a story when looking at a photograph that contains all five elements? When you look at an image does it need other photographs to help it tell a complete story? If so, understanding the story can help you in the editing process.

If you subscribe to the Perceptive Photographer up on in iTunes, I would love to hear some feedback or have you take a few minutes for a quick review up on iTunes it can help others learn about the show.

In this Episode

This week focuses on the importance of story and storytelling in photography. Starting off as a conversation about editing (in photoshop) vs editing (for story), it occurs to me that we spend a considerable amount of time working on our photoshop skills but not a lot of time on our story telling skills. In this podcast, we look at the basic narrative structure of a story and how it can be applied to everyday photography.

Storytelling Concepts

Basic fictional stories normally have a simple structure:

* subject or main character introduction

* conflict arises

* action builds

* climax or resolution of conflict

* denouement

When learning to read a photograph, we should apply the same process of story telling. Can you identify all 5 elements of the story within the image? Can you create a story when looking at a photograph that contains all five elements? When you look at an image does it need other photographs to help it tell a complete story? If so, understanding the story can help you in the editing process.

If you subscribe to the Perceptive Photographer up on in iTunes, I would love to hear some feedback or have you take a few minutes for a quick review up on iTunes it can help others learn about the show.

Twitter

Google+

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Facebook

In this Episode

In this week's episode, we look at some of the key concepts and places to start your workflow from. Based on similar workflows coming out of the film production, many of the choices we made in the past are even more relevant today. When starting to think about workflow, I make sure to start by objectively reviewing the work before I make any edits. I look at point of view, compositional elements and expsoure. Where there things I could have corrected in camera. I also start to think about the areas that need to be corrected in the image. After that, I attempt to do the same basic concpets for each image. While every image is unique, I try to follow the same path over and over again. In many ways this is a hold over from the darkroom, where we would set print times first, contrast second, post-development manipulations and toning decisions. The consistency of the process really helped create consistent prints.

Workflow Concepts

The most important part of a workflow is that you can use it to create meaningful work and do it in a consistent and reliable manner. My key workflow is broken down in three primary areas:

global adjustments

regional adjustments

local adjustments

When you work in this order, you will find that you have less re-edting to do as you work on images and that you can build some consistentcy into your workflow. At each of these phases, I am look at issues with expsoure, color, sharpness, and any other issues. I also try to make sure that all the work is done non-destructively in Photoshop or Camera RAW so that I maintain as much flexibility as possible.

If you subscribe to the Perceptive Photographer up on in iTunes, I would love to hear some feedback or have you take a few minutes for a quick review up on iTunes to help others know about the show.

In this Episode

In this week’s episode, we look at some of the key concepts and places to start your workflow from. Based on similar workflows coming out of the film production, many of the choices we made in the past are even more relevant today. When starting to think about workflow, I make sure to start by objectively reviewing the work before I make any edits. I look at point of view, compositional elements and expsoure. Where there things I could have corrected in camera. I also start to think about the areas that need to be corrected in the image. After that, I attempt to do the same basic concpets for each image. While every image is unique, I try to follow the same path over and over again. In many ways this is a hold over from the darkroom, where we would set print times first, contrast second, post-development manipulations and toning decisions. The consistency of the process really helped create consistent prints.

Workflow Concepts

The most important part of a workflow is that you can use it to create meaningful work and do it in a consistent and reliable manner. My key workflow is broken down in three primary areas:

* global adjustments

* regional adjustments

* local adjustments

When you work in this order, you will find that you have less re-edting to do as you work on images and that you can build some consistentcy into your workflow. At each of these phases, I am look at issues with expsoure, color, sharpness, and any other issues. I also try to make sure that all the work is done non-destructively in Photoshop or Camera RAW so that I maintain as much flexibility as possible.

If you subscribe to the Perceptive Photographer up on in iTunes, I would love to hear some feedback or have you take a few minutes for a quick review up on iTunes to help others know about the show.

Twitter

Google+

LinkedIn

Facebook

Over the past several weeks the same topic has been coming up for me over and over again The question of what makes a good photograph. We talked in part about this a few weeks ago in the two-part episode about Camera Lucida (You can get part 1 here and part 2 here) and the notion of punctum from Roland Barthes. I also had a classroom critique with a student who was showing work on a new project that was technically sound but not that good of images.

As I began to think about what makes for a good photograph, I realized that this is in many ways a moving target. Depending on where you are with your photography, you might find what makes for a good photograph to change from month to month and year to year. In my own understanding, I have broken this down into three areas.

Good photographs when starting out

When we are just starting out, a good photograph might be one that is finally in focus or has a good composition. It might be one where you got the printer to produce a print that meets your expectation. As you are working in different genres it might be one where you have proper lighting techniques and can produce butterfly or 2-to1 ratios. Maybe you can finally create real HDR images. A good photograph when starting out is one that can meet or exceed your core competencies. Even as you learn new skills, you might find your way back here. When I started moving to wildlife work, being able to get a bird in flight to be in focus was a good photograph. However, I don't think this ultimately tells us if a photograph is good or not.

Good photographs in the middle

For me, this is the biggest challenge.  In my three levels, this is the ego level. When judging photographs, I look to see if I could recreate the photograph. Do I understand all the technical aspects the photographer used? Do I think I could have created the image given the same situation? I know that this isn't a flattering position, but I do think a lot of us end up here at some point or another. We judge the quaily of work based on if we could create it or not. I know that this evaluation is not one that can tell us if there is any value in an image or not.

What are good photographs

In the end, I think a good photograph comes down to one thing. Can a photograph show me something I wouldn't have seen even if I was standing at that same place at the same time? Good photographs have so much of the artist inside the image, that when I look at the image not only do I see a photograph that meets a minimally acceptable bar for quality but also something new. When we put aside ego and schooling, ultimately for me, good photographs show me something I wouldn't have otherwise seen.

Over the past several weeks the same topic has been coming up for me over and over again The question of what makes a good photograph. We talked in part about this a few weeks ago in the two-part episode about Camera Lucida (You can get part 1 here and part 2 here) and the notion of punctum from Roland Barthes. I also had a classroom critique with a student who was showing work on a new project that was technically sound but not that good of images.

As I began to think about what makes for a good photograph, I realized that this is in many ways a moving target. Depending on where you are with your photography, you might find what makes for a good photograph to change from month to month and year to year. In my own understanding, I have broken this down into three areas.

Good photographs when starting out

When we are just starting out, a good photograph might be one that is finally in focus or has a good composition. It might be one where you got the printer to produce a print that meets your expectation. As you are working in different genres it might be one where you have proper lighting techniques and can produce butterfly or 2-to1 ratios. Maybe you can finally create real HDR images. A good photograph when starting out is one that can meet or exceed your core competencies. Even as you learn new skills, you might find your way back here. When I started moving to wildlife work, being able to get a bird in flight to be in focus was a good photograph. However, I don’t think this ultimately tells us if a photograph is good or not.

Good photographs in the middle

For me, this is the biggest challenge.  In my three levels, this is the ego level. When judging photographs, I look to see if I could recreate the photograph. Do I understand all the technical aspects the photographer used? Do I think I could have created the image given the same situation? I know that this isn’t a flattering position, but I do think a lot of us end up here at some point or another. We judge the quaily of work based on if we could create it or not. I know that this evaluation is not one that can tell us if there is any value in an image or not.

What are good photographs

In the end, I think a good photograph comes down to one thing. Can a photograph show me something I wouldn’t have seen even if I was standing at that same place at the same time? Good photographs have so much of the artist inside the image, that when I look at the image not only do I see a photograph that meets a minimally acceptable bar for quality but also something new. When we put aside ego and schooling, ultimately for me, good photographs show me something I wouldn’t have otherwise seen.

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In going through some older negatives this week, I found several images that were rather abstract and it was hard for me to initially remember the subject matter. As I stood over the light table, I thought about Alfred Stieglitz's Equivalence work.

Alfred Stieglitz

Influences by Wassily Kandinsky, Stieglitz was interested in understanding how to push photography into a new realm. At the time photography was not really considered an art, and while Stieglitz worked hard to get photography elevated to an art, it was still in many ways stuck in the science and chemistry of its creation. Most images were, in what today's terms would be considered straight photography. The images were often of the real world and didn't expand the medium. Between 1925 and 1934, Stieglitz photographed a number of images of just clouds. He was interested in the emotional, feeling and meaning of the images as abstracts rather than focused on the subject of the clouds. Most of the images were taken without key reference points to aid the viewer in understanding the context of the image. This lack of context forced the view to work with the abstract nature of the photograph to attempt to find meaning. He would eventually call this series of images Equivalence.

Minor White and the California School of Photography

Many photographers associated with the California School of Photography (Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind come to mind) were heavily influenced by this idea of using photography to create abstractions of the real world to convey meaning. Minor White wrote considerably on the topic and broke down much of the ideas and notions we have today of equivalence in photography into understandable chucks. Focusing in on the meaning that the viewer creates when looking at the photograph creates the equivalent moment, White was able to create a framework to understand how and why these images work.

Equivalence Exercises

A couple of exercises to help you create some of your own work that focuses on equivalents.

Create a series of 10 images where the subject is unknown. What emotion, feelings or metaphors do you want to use to create meaning in the work. Focus on the feelings first and how your framing can help or hinder your efforts.

Look back at your work work and see what images you consider equivalents. What makes them such? Is there a pattern to those images? What story does that work tell?

When looking at images (your own or others) that you consider to be equivalents, what shape, form, compositional elements are used to invoke a response. Do you respond more to abstraction, color, form, patterns, or lines? What elements could you add to your own work to make your work stronger.