I got the email below from John Magnus, a fan of the site. I think it may be a good way to address some of the concerns he has and also answer others who may be thinking of asking or doing the same thing. It is quite a detailed inquiry and I will try to answer as best I can.

I’m trying to expand my photography from hobbyist to a pro so that I’m working full time at it at least by the time I retire; probably 6 years from now. I’m 59. Given my overall life experience and the number of years I’ve been an avid hobbyist, I’m embarrassed to say how much I don’t know about working with models. Thus, the reason for sending you this email rather than posting a stream. I hope you don’t mind this approach.

Initially, I want to work with models breaking into their career and do TF work with them so we can both expand our portfolios. I’m doing this largely because I don’t have the money to pay hourly for an experienced model.

That’s my plan, but I’ll be damned if I know how to get it rolling. I’m signed up as a photog on MM, and have posted a few of the model photos in my Flickr stream on MM. If you look at them, that’s the extent of my experience working with models.

Sorry for the long email, but I had to set this up for you before asking some basic questions. BTW I chose you because I love your work (NO, I’m not complimenting you just to get a response. I’m serious.) and your opinions in streams generally seem to be pretty much in line with mine. Anyway, here goes.

If you were in my shoes, would you approach this differently? How?

When you work with a model, are you the one who has to have the creative ideas/themes or do you depend on the model and/or a client to give you the ideas? How important is it for me to have the poses and ideas myself? (After looking at your work, I’m afraid I may not be that creative.)

I am the idea man so to speak. I see something in my head and then want to shoot it. Constantly scanning the environment and putting this with that and such in my head till something clicks. Clients sometimes offer specific layouts and designs which I must work within, but most of the time the clients want a particular look or feeling to emerge. When working with models I want them to be part of the creative process whenever possible. Some can do that and some can’t - hard to determine in advance, but it is something to consider when working with a talent.

As far as ideas… they can come from all over the place. Makeup Artist may have an idea she wants to try. We discuss, I add my spin to it and we are off. Many times models will have an idea, and it is up to me to finish it off. “I want to shoot with a Mustang Convertible” ends up being something that I make up, as the original idea is quite broad. Comes nitty-gritty it comes to me. I am open to input from all when it gets down there and I love it when they come up with cool ideas that then spur more ideas from me.

How important is it for you to have ideas? Very. Very, very, very. You are the leader and it is ultimately up to you to present what you - and your collaborators - want. Take input, formulate solutions and then execute your vision of what it is that is being done.

As far as not being creative, grab a copy of “W” or “Bazaar” and cut out the shots you love and would like to emulate. It isn’t copying… you couldn’t possibly copy… just use it as a starting point so everyone has the same basic image in their head. Make a tear sheet book, or what some call a ’swipe file’ and keep it filled with images that you love.

You may find yourself buying more fashion magazines than you ever thought you would, but there is no substitute for seeing images within the genre you want to shoot.

Do you have suggestions for me as to what type of poses I should suggest to new models to help them build their portfolios if they don’t know what they need?

Not really specific. I have certain poses that I like to start with and grow into the rest of the shoot. Sometimes the clothes dictate the starting pose, or the idea (sitting vs standing and like that), but most of the time we are looking for a great starting point. Your model should move only small amounts within the pose… working it in every iteration till moving on to the next pose or subset of that pose.

Looking at a models book will reveal what she needs, but the best thing to do is simply ask her what she needs. She knows what is missing. I think it may be the best way to collaborate with models who have more experience than you do. Find out what they want to do. Determine if it is something you can do, and do well, and start to plan the details of it.

Do models normally have their own wardrobe, or am I expected to supply it?

Well, at the beginning of this process, use the girls wardrobe. Suggest she borrow clothes as that will make it more special in that she isn’t wearing something that she has worn time and again. Trying to supply wardrobe is a big hurdle that will prevent you from shooting.

I have a MUA, but I’m not at all sure how/when to use her. Again, I’d prefer not to spend a lot of money building my portfolio, but if an MUA is necessary, that’s at least something I can negotiate with the model. Or isn’t it done that way?

MUA need images for their books as well. A three way trade is a great way to go. Collaborate with them and make sure you are all getting what you want and need. Is it totally necessary to have a MUA? Well, for headshots and beauty, yeah, probably. I work with some models who can do a great job on themselves, but a great team mate MUA is a vital part of your shoot.

Models can help defray the cost if it is something they need as well. Sometimes models will simply pay the MUA knowing that they cannot do the makeup well themselves.

Lots of different ways to shoot with MUA’a. You will discover your own.

There are a couple of local sites that rent out studio space for $12 to $30 per hour that I can use if I need to. However, I have a couple of backdrops and 2-600 Norman and 1-400 Norman monolights, stands, etc. to use at home with enough space to make it work as a small studio. My preference is to go this way. Do you suggest another approach? How about from an equipment perspective?

Booking a few models into a space for 3 hours under a hundred bucks is pretty good. Find other places that you can shoot as well. Garages, lobbies, corridors, abandoned properties in safer areas. All can be quite appealing as a location.

Shooting from my home is not something I have ever done. I know that some do, but I always wanted my studio to be somewhere else and have it be totally devoted to what I do there. I need what I need and setting it up in the living room just never appealed to me. That would be your call and there is no right or wrong answer there.

Equipment list sounds fine. I am not an equipment junkie at all. You have three lights that will give you plenty of power. Control them and get the shots you need.

OK, so let’s say all goes well and I have a lot of photos of different models. What the hell do I do with them? How do the models get anywhere with them? And, maybe more to the point, how do the models benefit from working with me rather than someone else? Other than the obvious I’m a great guy. : - }

Well, I really don’t know the answer to that one. If you are trying to become a professional shooter, they are samples of your work and creativity. If you are shooting for stock sales - third party usage - you will need a release from the models and a good idea of what you are shooting for.

If you are asking me what all those guys on Model Mayhem do with all those T&A shots of girls topless in fishnets and stripper heels? Dude… I have no idea. Get other girls to take their clothes off and don the stripper heels I guess.

Models should benefit from working with you by getting images that show them in a different light, a different emotion, mood, style. Your work should be defining of something. You want your style to come into the shot so that they are proud to show your images.

Some models do it for the sheer joy of doing it. Recreational shooting I call it. (Actually those who know me know that I call it something else, but this is a family blog… heh.) Both photographers and models love the shoot process more than any other aspect of it. The point of a shoot is to develop another shoot. It is fun. It beats watching TV on a Saturday afternoon. Models too. Just shoot shoot shoot… it is something to do.

What they do with the pictures to advance themselves is ultimately not your responsibility. Your job is to get them great images.

How do I sell these photos I’ve taken, or do I? And to whom?

Well… that is something you would have to decide. Stock (third party sales) would mean a great deal of investment into getting enough images together to make a serious . That may not be a way to go initially. Shooting portraits and Senior Pics may be a way to get commissions from the images when they are used as samples and test shots where both shooter and model work to try new things.

There is micro-stock and I would suggest finding a thread or two on the forums to go that way. I am not a big fan of it so I don’t know that much about it.

Print sales like PinUp and R-sexy can sell as prints without releases, but no nudity or implied can. In the US at least. There is certain paperwork that must be filed if it crosses a fairly definitive line. Posters and such. If you are talking about shooting nudes and erotic, there are several websites that will buy your picture sets.

Well, by now you might be thinking what I’m already wondering, why is this guy who is clueless getting into this business? Seriously, your answers to the above and guidance can go a long way toward boosting my morale right now. This is something I’m passionate about, but I’m not at all confident about my abilities at the moment. The good news? I have a full time day job that pays well, and I can retire from it when I choose. Please don’t say keep your day job, unless you really mean it!

The above is not my call. Your questions were not unlike lots I get, but they all came at once on your email. I decided to answer it as an answer to many with the same questions.

Confidence comes with practice. Practice only good work, never bad. Develop and grow. Getting started is a tough part, but there are ways to get the talent you need to get started that aren’t as challenging as some of the online ‘agencies’ are. Gymnasts, dancers, ice skaters, actors, athletes… all are in need of pictures. Try going that way until your portfolio looks even better.

Finally, I’ve heard a lot about your classes. Are you ever coming up to Minnesota? I’d love to attend one of them.

Well, I just don’t know about Minnesota at this point. Check the workshop page for the current itinerary.

I hope that answers some questions a lot of people may have.

David Hobby, the Strobist, just posted on shooting for free and several photographers have weighed in. I have my own take on why it is important to shoot, sometimes at the risk of actually shooting for “Free” I think that making pictures is a skill, like playing trumpet or sculpting clay. It is a harmony between mind and tools, art and science, emotion and technology. Really unlike most other arts.

David wrote:

Tenet Four: Free is Powerful Karma

Big deal, you say. That’s just personal work. Everyone does that.

Sort of, but not really. Personal work is shooting ninjas in a warehouse on your own dime to stretch yourself and grow your book and get better jobs. (That one worked in spades, BTW.)

But pure collaboration also takes into account the subject. Who can best use the kinds of photos I want to take? What can I accomplish? How can they use the photos? How much good can I do?

This is where it gets goose pimply. How much good could you do?

What will you do with your total control? Do you love kids? Will you shoot portraits of young burn victims at a burn camp next summer like my friend Ed Bunyan did for so many years?

Total control. That is so exciting for some photographers. And scary as hell for others.  I shared studio space for a number of years with a photographer who only took photos when someone paid him to do it. Rarely, if ever, shot for himself, or for anyone or anything that wasn’t totally commercial. After a while his assignments grew more and more mundane until he was down to shooting cans of peas on a white background while his clients nit-picked every shot.

That is so not fun… on so many levels.

David has four tenets as he calls them (you really need to read the post, I am not going to copy it here…heh) and they raise some interesting and valid points about why shooting for ‘free’ may not be the terrible thing that so many rail against. And I am not advocating cutting rates or shooting all jobs for free either. But there can be some extremely important growth in one’s eye, work and portfolio by carefully discerning when possibly shooting a gig for free could make total sense. But let’s look at what shooting for free isn’t before going ahead.

Shooting for free does not necessarily mean “shooting on spec” as that is not shooting without encumbrances and with the control that the photographer wants, it is going in with the control of the assignee riding over your neck to ‘get the job.’ But there are times that I would consider shooting for spec if it gave me access to something that would benefit me as much without the compensation as with. Example… “go to Arcosanti and shoot all day and if we like the pictures we will use them and pay you” ain’t cuttin’ it for me. That doesn’t sound appealing because I can go to Arcosanti any time and make pictures all day. “Go to the Cardinals training camp and spend a half day shooting the practice, and here is your paperwork to get in” really sounds appealing because I am going to get access to something that most people can’t, get pictures that would be very powerful in my portfolio and that may get me access to something else even cooler. (This would be especially cool this season as they are actually winning, you know, games.)

I don’t think shooting for ‘free’ means taking assignment work from other photographers as in “Well, I really want this job and I know you bid it out to other photographers, so I will do it free” is not what David or Chase (Jarvis) are talking about either. However, if someone came to me and said I had a chance of shooting Heidi Klum and Kate Moss for an editorial shoot for such and such magazine in Phoenix and there was budget considerations I would tell them… screw the budget, get me in to shoot. Because an opportunity to shoot with those two will most likely NEVER come back to Phoenix and the prestige it would add to my book would be worth more than the $350 editorial would have paid.

Chase Jarvis wrote:

2. FREE has a place. Should all assignment photography be free? Of course not. That’s totally absurd. Only a tiny tiny fraction could ever be considered. Should some people give their work away in some cases to meet certain objectives? Sure, under certain circumstances depending very specifically on level, quality, career stage, business cycle, or perhaps a whole host of other considerations. There are a number of dynamic factors that require consideration, and both wisdom and moderation have their places. But don’t bother with the slippery slope argument or the stigma argument. I ain’t buying it. FREE has a place and it has since the beginning of business. It’s certainly not everywhere and it may not even be often, but it has a place. Why? See point one above.

Let’s take for example a well known musician, someone with broad appeal. Dave Matthews Band is a good example, love em or hate em. I chose him after a quick Google search looking for top grossing music tours. Dave can sell out any stadium. A LOT of people like him. If he does a benefit concert for free, is he selling out his other artist buddies. Is Justin Timberlake suddenly out of business? No. Can Dave turn around and sell out another stadium the following week? You bet. Has this free concert devalued the music industry? No. Other things might be devaluing the music industry, but The Dave Matthews band playing a select benefit show for free is not. I’m banking that, for Dave, at the end of the day, he wants to play music and he wants to balance his playing of music with making a nice, sustainable living and working on interesting and worthwhile projects. Period.

Yep. We live in too much fear and fear of ‘doing something for free’ is somewhat irrational to me.

Chase jarvis looks at shooting for free in a more pragmatic way… carefully considered and with the long view. I have done many jobs for free. Some were not thought out and ultimately didn’t do much, but most of the time I have been able to leverage the work into more work, work that I may not have had access to without doing the initial job. I have never worried about whether it was ‘harmful’ to the business, as I have always considered leveraging access as a part of business. And I also do not see the world as a ‘zero-sum game’ in which there is only so much to go around and my taking some deprives someone else of it. That, dear reader is bullshit.

Vincent Laforet chimed in with a cautionary note:

What worries me - is that most of David Hobby’s readers - are not pros.  And when they offer to do things for free - they don’t have Chase’s business acumen.  And they may do more harm than good to our industry - that is already struggling.  If everyone starts working for free - it’s OVER for everyone.  So I think we need to make this more clear out there - and help define this more carefully for everyone - both for the pros and the advanced amateurs.

So if you want to - do it max once a year.  That’s my suggestion.  DON’T LET IT BECOME A HABIT.

Probably good advice, however shooting all the time should be the goal. Even without compensation.

“Well, isn’t that called personal work?”

Maybe… but probably not in most cases. Personal work is self assigned with only the work itself as a barometer of success or failure. It has no external forces applied, only internal. Shooting a model on the weekend may be a lot of fun, it may build your portfolio and you can learn a lot… but it isn’t the ‘working for free’ concept that David is talking about. Shooting that model for a boutique in your neighborhood who may not have a budget at all for photography, but would supply clothes and location could be considered as a ‘free’ shoot… and yet the photographer benefits from access to clothes, the model for access to the boutique and all for the cool ads that then run in the local magazine. The photographer hasn’t really displaced any other photographer as there was no budget anyway.

Can this be abused. Hell yes, and caution is a great ally to make sure you are not being ‘played’ or screwed by someone who takes your work for granted.

I have a carefully thought out, reasoned, and historically important document that I remember and put into practice. It was hanging in my mechanics shop.

Fees:

Repairs: $50 per hour
If you watch: $75 per hour
If you help: $150 per hour

Yeah. That is exactly how I apply it to my work… free or for charity (which I do whenever possible). If they have a litany of do this do that’s, that is an assignment and if the do’s don’t match my vision then it isn’t something that I want to do. If it allows me to do what I want, with my control, with my vision, then I will consider it. Along with all considerations, for me, is if the client would be willing to pay someone else, but be happy to pocket the money and use me… gut call there, but an important one. If you can’t get that gut thing going, commercial photography may always be a challenge in other ways than pictures.

Of course this does not mean doing inappropriate work because I think hot chicks in micro-bikinis would be my vision of how the homeless shelter web site should look… but again, that gut thing.

Kenneth Jarecke weighed in with this thought toward Photojournalists.

2) A hungry photographer is a better photographer.

I really believe that a photographer, writer, any type of artist really, needs to be balancing on the edge of disaster to produce great work. Gene Smith could have coasted at any point in his career at LIFE. He realized (on some level, maybe it wasn’t completely thought out) that he had to keep raising the stakes on himself in order to continue producing groundbreaking work.

As a photographer you can raise the bar without  threatening to jump out of the window. It might be something as small as standing in exactly the wrong place

Not on the window sill, a different wrong place.

Photojournalism has thus been shooting self assigned stories, many, many of which will never be published, for its entire history. With the internet, publishing the stories can now be possible… and we are seeing great work that didn’t make it past an editor all over the web.

Working for free, whether self-assigned, personal work, charity, pro-bono, or even client based can be an opportunity to finally break out and do all that cool stuff you tell yourself you can’t do because of ‘the man’, ‘the suits’, them… you know, the bullshit excuses we all use for not going 100% on every job we get. Well here’s your chance… take it - shoot the ever-lovin’-hell out of it and then let everyone know.

People like busy people. These days find a lot of photographers sitting with nothing to do. My friend Ken Easley has a slow December. He is planning some much needed self-assignments, a new website (thanks Ken) and some portfolio restructuring. He is getting excited about the self assignments work to fill out his people portfolio, and that leads to some great creativity.

Doug Menuez tells about turning down bad, ugly work, in order to get the jobs that incite creative drive… sometimes at the loss of significant revenue.

I’m here to be witness to the fact this approach does work. Although only recently have I been able to put all the pieces together and articulate the principals of my new philosophy, in retrospect there are a few good instinctive decisions I made during my crazy years that formed the foundation, almost by chance, that I continue building on. The first good thing I did was to create what I called my “fuck you” portfolio. Deep down I knew I had ignored my inner voice and creative needs for years. So I put out a book of work that I felt reflected the real me. My career exploded.

Ironically, that new level of success ultimately led to my own burnout, mainly because I stopped thinking about my choices. I allowed myself to move on the momentum, working endlessly. I was unconscious of the underlying forces at play that were undermining me. I had drifted away again from my true voice and was taking on more and more work I hated and pretty soon I was cooked to the point where all the external success was meaningless to me. That’s when I began looking in earnest for a better way to live, and out of the blue one day I had my three epiphanies. I happened to be in Paris that day, so I can’t discount entirely the geographical cure.

As can be imagined, the comments to David’s assertion on shooting for free range from “right on” to “die you heretic”… but I think the negativity mostly comes from those who are misunderstanding his meaning. I read the post twice and I am sure he is not telling photographers to go into ad agencies or magazines and say “I’ll shoot it for free, baby… gimmee the gig!”

There is a measure of understanding what the assignment does, how it may impact future assignments and what the worth is to a photographer in that given moment, at that point in one’s career. Hey, we’re back to that gut thing, eh.

Many years ago I was walking down a rainy street in San Francisco and heard some amazing jazz coming from a little bar on the corner. I love jazz and walked over for a listen. It quickly became apparent that the pianist was a big fan of Thelonious Monk… same phrasing, same ‘fatfingered’ notes. I had to go in. I found about 30 people sitting and admiring the work of… Thelonious Monk. He was in town, near the bar and came down to ’sit in’… Did it put another pianist out of work or destroy the jazz genre? No, but that cat loved to play… rather play than do most anything else.

Do you love to shoot more than most anything else? If the answer is no, it may be a difficult road. If it is a resounding yes, then the self-assignment, carefully planned story, or even a free gig, can be a great attention getter. And in these days… grabbing attention can be the most important thing a photographer can do.

Michael is a friend of mine and has been in this business for many years. He has seen changes from both sides of the commercial photography business as a photographer and a location scout. Recently he re-designed his web site, so I thought it would be a good time to do this interview. Visit Michael’s site here.

1. How long have you been in business? Was it a slow transition or did you just open shop?
2. How did you get started? Any mentors or great stories here?

I started the Arizona Land Company in 1984. Between 1982 and when I began promoting myself as a location scout I had been working as a freelance photographer’s assistant and then, by way of having met a local stylist at one of the studios here, started working for her as an Art Department assistant.

Some of the television commercials I eventually participated in as Susan’s assistant were really big deals. They were almost-like 15 second or, as in the case of the British projects that found their way out here, 30 and 60 second mini feature films! Some advertisers were using the landscapes and rural and small towns of the American West as the principal story-telling element in their work.

One of the reasons I moved to Arizona was because of my own personal fascination with the ‘Sky King’-John Ford-’Ponderosa’-Saturday-afternoon-at-the-movies mythology I grew up with and the stunning landscapes I had seen when I came out to visit high school friends of mine who had already moved here. As I became more familiar with how compartmentalized film production is, I found the notion of ’scouting locations’ might be a great fit for me. So I began to explore more and made pictures all over the State. Most people bringing projects to the Southwest were looking for long, lonely roads and spectacular landscapes so, of course, it only made sense for me to call my new endeavor the Arizona Land Company.

3. Describe an average week at your studio.
It varies: I go from scouting for a photographer or filmmaker, to spending time editing old scans or series’ from past projects, to working on my personal images I intend to eventually build into a body of ‘art work’.

4. Why Phoenix? Have you considered anywhere else?
I spent several years living in Los Angeles on two occasions. L.A. is an interesting place to reside — if you have the time and the money to ‘live the California lifestyle’. However, it’s an anthill! Though I met some wonderful, beautiful people there, Los Angeles feels, to me, ’soul-less’. (I think the film ‘Crash’ illustrates best how I found L.A. to be — each time I was there as a resident.) I think I much-preferred Phoenix, initially, because it was a smaller city, like Milwaukee where I grew up and because so many people I met here had, and have, a sense of ‘the possible’ in their lives. Many people I meet here in Arizona moved here because the wanted to ‘do something’, not simply escape miserable weather. There is something about being a part of ‘The West’ that draws people here — and New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and the rest. And life, however one cares to re-make where we once started, is more enjoyable in cities and towns much smaller than El Lay for sure!

But there is little diversity here in Phoenix, little sense of ‘community’ I find — no festivals like I remember back in the Midwest: ‘Summerfest’, ‘Chicagofest’, the occasional rural music festival, the little (summer) church festivals in German, Polish, Puerto Rican, Lithuanian, Serbian, Norwegian, Croatian, Belgian, Swedish and Irish parishes throughout the city and the region! A ‘festival’ here, in Phoenix, might be a Cinco de Mayo fiesta or the occasional ‘art fair’ in Tempe or Scottsdale. Woo-hoo!

I think that one day I would like to move to Canada-eh, probably British Columbia or perhaps New Zealand or Australia because of their landscapes more than anything else.

5. What motivates you, or gets you going? What do you use for inspiration?
Each new day. Although that might sound trite or sentimental, any day I walk out onto the patio I built and look around my back-lit half acre of flood irrigated lawn and trees; each morning I drive out to a wilderness area before first light or straggle out along some back road late in the day hoping to find pavement again before light fails and I lose my way back from within the maze I was drawn into, I am excited to witness how this day’s light reveals something I never saw before. No matter how familiar I am with whatever I am looking at, no matter how often I have been to the same spot it’s always something new.

I can still remember the (sort of) compliment I was paid by the Production Designer on my one and only feature film I participated in back in 1991. He was dumbfounded by the pictures I would return for the pre-production meetings where the Director, Producer and he would select from back-alleys, old apartment courtyards, decrepit harbor warehouses and street-lined neighborhood walks I shot.

Shaking his head one day he said, “I’ve lived here my entire life. I walk these streets and poke my nose here and there each and every day and with your pictures it’s like I’m seeing these places all for the first time. I guess it makes sense now, I see why ‘an eye from somewhere else’ is best to find what we need for the film.”

While I disagreed then, and still do today, I kept my big mouth shut. I was just happy as can be to have landed the opportunity to live in Copenhagen in the summer, that summer — and the Production Designer is pretty-much at the top of the food-chain on a feature film production. You don’t argue with The Man.

However, I see something new — at times, dramatically new — each time I return to places I have scouted over and over again in the past and then need to shoot once again for whatever the brief requires this time and to make sure today that the place still looks like the picture I have shared, early-on in the project, from my files. I think it’s the way you look at things, familiar or not.

If I lost the gift of sight I wouldn’t want to get out of bed.

6. What is it you like the most about being a photographer? Do you do anything else for a hobby or avocation?
Looking through the lens: The ‘magic’ of what I see, what I don’t see; and making my reality with the camera and with software. Because I am so easily distracted by the wonders of looking through the viewfinder, as a location scout I have to always remind myself: “Wide-shot, panorama, show it all” THEN go-ahead and record the details, shoot the layout-crop, play Mr. Cinematographer and imagine how I might shoot this place if only I were The Man as part of the package I put together for my clients.

As for hobbies, avocations: I take tremendous pride in my ability as a do-it-yourselfer. Except for electrical work, I pretty-much do it all as I add to the work-in-progress, my home and my yard, my gardens front and back here.

7. Are there any downsides to being a commercial photographer that you would like to change? How would you change them?
If I were able to change the world of advertising projects I participate in — the photo projects and teevee commercials, I would mix the sweetest batch of Time-Management-Kool-Aid for the entire industry to party down with!

The most daunting challenge any location scout or location manager has to deal with, on nearly every single project that falls into our lap, is that profound inability for those at The Top to embrace the most basic concept of Timely Decision-Making.

The ever-present, numbing drone I hear all the time — I’ve heard on nearly-every project since I started back in 1984, “The budget is ridiculously small for what the client wants” is like some tantric mantra. NO! The budget is ridiculously small for doing everything at the last minute!

Why not do a bit of research in advance?! What will it cost to film on the French Riviera rather than making-do with a beach outside Malibu or Santa Barbara instead? And what will it cost to once-again put off the necessary decisions to be made on the client’s behalf, rather than provide whomever the production is awarded-to the time required to have everything done on a realistic schedule, without having to pay overtime and overnight-turnaround and covering all the unforeseen emergencies that are much more likely to rear their ugly little heads when the entire process is put off to the very last possible second? Oh, details, details, details…

There has perhaps never been a time as today, where budget appropriations are at their lowest for all services we all depend upon in our personal and professional lives! If the creative, advertising community wants to continue its grand run on into the future producing unique, award-winning campaigns as in the past it will have to learn to get organized and need to promote individuals who have the huevos required to stand up, take the lead and make timely decisions the entire project team can work with and then muscle that team to execute as agreed upon. Chop, chop!

There are days, honestly; there are times being responsible for every single element of a production working off-of and away-from a studio backlot, on location, feels like a no-win enterprise. You can read it for yourself on every list that location scouts and location managers are members of, where they can vent and decompress after their latest production trial. This is why I have been focusing more on smaller productions, photo productions as my future: Less drama, better focus on a smaller plate of details, a better chance of affecting how things can be done to work more efficiently within those ever-present tight budgets…

8. What was your most memorable assignment?
My summer in Denmark working on ‘A Day in October’.

9. Any ‘war’ stories you would like to share? You know, the ones that always start with “There was this one job where….”
Too many stories, so little time. I will say only this: My decades of work almost exclusively on teevee commercial production has been the crucible for the work I do today, now almost-exclusively in photo production instead. All ad campaigns run on the fuel of adrenalin catalyzed by The Committee’s habit of relegating major decisions to the last possible moment — then changing their minds after awarding the project and depending upon everyone below, working in the trenches, to simply get it done. “I don’t want to know how you did it. Just make it happen.”

Some of the most joyful and personally fulfilling experiences in my life have been while working in this pressure cooker environment solving problems as well as contributing great ideas and solutions. However, as well, some of my worst nightmares have been experiences working with individuals who are personally and professionally out of control! I still remember a colleague in film production exclaiming, in a most-surprised manner, “I can’t believe you actually turn work down; even if you just completed a ball-buster! You’ve got to keep the ball rolling — work is work!”

Whenever I finish a project, it takes me several days to a week to get ‘back on track’, to decompress from the implied — and sometimes directly expressed — necessity to make everything ‘happen yesterday’. There is a segment of this industry that continuously preps each new project as they are wrapping-out on the last campaign, and on and on. Some people never take a break and interpret their non-stop schedule as confirmation of their indispensability and grand importance. When things go wrong it takes an uncommon individual to admit their part in bringing the whole house down and when you’re short on sleep and wired on whatever things can get awful-messy fast! Best not to dwell on the gory details. Everyone has their own horror stories to tell; all best told over rounds of Wild Turkey and beer chasers.

10. What would be your ideal assignment?
More projects like the Belgian Volkswagon campaign I worked on the summer of 2007: Helping someone from another culture find ‘Marlboro Country’ as the backdrop to illustrate a pair of composite photo-illustrations for their market. The photographer, Christophe Gilbert, is phenomenally talented. The agency Art Director was a most congenial collaborator with the photographer, not a compulsive nudge or putz. And all three men (including Christophe’s first assistant and studio manager) had and have a most phenomenal lust to live each moment to its fullest! We started at 4 each morning, worked well past dark late in the day and then, after downloading images and having many a late, late-but-relaxed supper with many bottles of the best wine and good conversation we would start again the next day at 4, intent not to miss the best light of the day.

Simply one of my best memories from that project was after several hours’ work from the crack of dawn. The guys decided it was time to celebrate having Red Rock Crossing all to ourselves, jumping from pool to pool along that short stretch of Oak Creek like a bunch of twelve-year-old boys skipping class one of the last days of school before summer vacation begins — tens of thousands of dollars-worth of equipment piled on the shore. The download could wait ’till later.

11. Future plans for Michael and his photography?
I intend to balance my time equally, continuing to provide location scouting services to ad-makers while I renew my work as a printmaker, trading stone lithography and silk screen printing for ‘giclée’ — NON-silver gelatin — printmaking.

12. Tell us a little about your new work…
I have three interests I spend time with: One is a series of pictures I have made using windows — selectively focusing on elements in front of, behind and reflected on and through these surfaces; A second are panoramic ‘joiners’, an extension or offshoot of a process I have employed in the past for presenting wide-views of locations to clients when I scout for them; and a third area of interest, something I will need to do further experimentation with before I share that work with others, is wanting to make wondrous, believable composite photo-illustrations that challenge ‘reality’.

13 Oh, and what is on the music box right now at your studio?
(yes, it was supposed to be 12, but what the heck…)
What I listen to most often is a collection a friend turned me on to 5 years ago, Jamie Catto’s and Duncan Bridgeman’s CD, 1 Giant Leap. Try this: Listen to the CD several times, then get ahold of the DVD presentation and admire the brilliance of these guys’ concept. Very cool. Also, depending upon my mood at the time

Joshua Targownik is a shooter in LA. His story and approach is like a lot of us just getting started in the world of commercial photography. I thought it would be a great idea to run an interview with him here at Lighting Essentials Magazine.

I hope you enjoy these interviews as much as I do. And take a moment to go and look at Joshuas portfolio and web site. If you would like to be interviewed in LE Magazine, drop me a note and I can send you the questions and instructions.

Now, on to the interview with Josh.

How long have you been in business? Was it a slow transition or did you just open shop?

I’ve been shooting for fun since 2001, as a professional since 2007. It took three months from deciding to try freelancing until I quit my day job. Eight months later I was breaking even, and a few months after that, I was making as much as I did as an engineer, but only working a few days a month. I still can’t believe it.

How did you get started? Any mentors or great stories here?

After moving to from New York to California in 1999, I soon began rock climbing in the National Parks of the region. I quickly developed the urge to photograph those amazing places. I started using my father’s 1976 Canon AE-1 to shoot slides of landscapes, later switching to Nikon digital in order to document my adventure travels. This continued through 2007 when I bought my first flash and began to teach myself how to shoot commercial subjects. In March of 2007 I left my day job and became a full time freelancer.

The bulk of my photography knowledge comes from years of shooting. I’ve never taken a traditional class on photography, but I certainly had teachers. I am a researcher by nature, especially when I am passionate about a subject. The internet provides an immense amount of information, a lot of it in the form of blogs like Lighting Essentials. I started with sites like Ken Rockwell, reading every single post. He gives very frank and casual explanations of camera and photography basics. Moving towards more advanced information about the thought process behind composition, I listened to every podcast on Martin Bailey’s site. Of course what led me to buy a flash in 2007 was David Hobby’s Strobist blog. Again, I read every post he had written, and still follow it, along with many other sites to this day. Once I started attempting more complex lighting setups, I started listening to the LightSource podcast, and yes, listened to all of them.

Describe an average week at your studio.

For the first year, I worked from early morning until late night. There was always something I could be doing to move forward. Teaching myself how to shoot and light, making my own website, learning how to market myself, and generally how to run a business. Now that things are up and running, I am typically managing a few different projects at one time, in various stages of completion. So I may be marketing, taking calls, quoting jobs, scheduling, shooting, editing, post processing, delivering, etc.

However, one of the big bonuses of becoming a freelancer is that I don’t have to work all the time. For example, in September, I made my “month” (minimum income to break even for the month) in just two shooting days. So I basically had the rest of the month off, although I did fill a lot of it with test shoots, web site work, etc.

Why Los Angeles? Have you considered anywhere else?

I’ve lived here since I started shooting. There’s a great market for commercial photography here. I used to live in New York, but not when I was shooting. I would love to go back and see what it’s like there. I’ve heard it is the real center for photography in the US. Of course Paris might be nice too.

What motivates you, or gets you going? What do you use for inspiration?

My desire to learn, and to capture what I see. Subject matter, light, color, form.

What is it you like the most about being a photographer? Do you do anything else for a hobby or avocation?

Aside from being a fun and creative technical art, photography is a great profession because of the work/life balance it can provide. Rather than being a web developer, getting paid for hours logged, a photographer can charge big bucks for a single day’s work. I want to work less, not more. My old desk job paid well, but I couldn’t buy free time.

Being a photographer gets me into many different industries, but it also gives me the time to pursue my personal interests.

I have a degree in mechanical engineering. Before becoming a photographer I was a car designer for Honda. I also worked as a computer graphics instructor, application designer, race car mechanic, and I even sold rock climbing equipment. I’m a rock climber myself, an airplane pilot, and a motorcycle rider. I play the drums, and will be starting an internship as a chef in a famous Los Angeles restaurant. I like to learn about everything.

Are there any downsides to being a commercial photographer that you would like to change? How would you change them?

I wish it was easier to submit and be chosen for big advertising and editorial shoots. It feels like magazines, companies, and agencies have go-to shooters already lined up for everything in the foreseeable future. Effective marketing is difficult, and sometimes it seems impossible to break into the big leagues.

What was your most memorable assignment?

Production stills jobs are actually my most memorable commercial assignments. Spending days with a crew, especially if the subject of the production is interesting, can be a great experience. you become a social family on a small adventure.

Of these, my favorite is probably being the official set photographer for Joel Hodgeson’s (creator of Mystery Science Theater 3000) new project Cinematic Titanic. I was a huge fan as a kid, and still find it surreal when I get a call from him on my cell phone.

Any ‘war’ stories you would like to share? You know, the ones that always start with “There was this one job where….”

There was one job where I had to shoot with a full lighting kit in the middle of an active construction site while sticky foam epoxy insulation was being sprayed everywhere. I ruined a few lens filters that day.

What would be your ideal assignment?

A second shooter on a great production in various scenic locations. I say second shooter because I want to have more freedom over what I’m shooting, rather than being the primary who has to get “the shot” of specific scenes. I may find a crane or landscape more interesting than the on-camera action. I would hope that the shoot would travel to big cities, distant natural locations, industrial areas, etc.

There’s also a part of me that would love to be a war photographer. To shoot images that actually mean something. And to have the freedom to capture what I want, how I want.

Future plans for Joshua Targownik and his photography?

Shoot bigger, better, and more desirable projects in order to make enough money so that I can travel and shoot for fun all over the world.

Tell us a little about your new work…

After building up to 11 lights, I am now finding a lot of joy in single light setups, high fidelity portraits, possibly with medium or large format film.

Oh, and what is on the music box right now at your studio?
(yes, it was supposed to be 12, but what the heck…)

I usually ask the models to bring their iPod, but my own is quite diverse. Sam Phillips was playing most recently.

www.targophoto.com
www.flickr.com/targophoto/sets

You can reach Joshua here.

This is a quiet book full of information, but bubbling with the kind of energy that is created when you realize you can do what you thought you couldn’t.

Lighting can be a daunting subject when you are dealing with all the technology and tools and toys that the modern photographer has at his/her fingertips. Add to that all the thrills of digital instant review and it can be quite the learning curve. And ‘fixing it in Photoshop” is just stupid when you can learn to do it right first.

Kirk Tuck, an Austin photographer who makes his living shooting for clients all over Texas and the southwest is one of the quiet shooters who can come in and get the shot. Whatever the circumstances. Whatever the location, pressures, challenges and pure crap that shooters have to deal with, Kirk gets the shot that the client wanted.

Sometimes this means a truck load of equipment and sometimes it means moving lean and mean with small strobes. Kirk does both, but the book is about how a minimal amount of gear can be all you need to get really professional shots.

He does this with both technical explanations and real world assignment reviews that let you right on to the set with him as he works with subjects in a variety of situations. His mix of talking tech and showing the work makes it come alive for the reader. It makes the book more like a seminar with a master than an assembly of chapters.

The first half of the book is a school of equipment and modifications that every shooter should know. It is the kind of common knowledge that allows professionals to speak to one another and be on the same page. Learning the tools and what they do will make your life so much simpler. Some of us took years to accumulate all this knowledge… Kirk gives it to you in about 50 pages. Tools explained and images to go along with the tools to show what he is talking about in a real world setting.

I had a couple of friends review the book as well. One is a budding shooter who is starting to make a name for himself in the industry and the other is a guy who has been shooting maybe even longer than me, if that is even possible. They both found the book extremely informative. The young shooter had only recently started working with strobes and had purchased some PW’s and a couple of speedlights a few months ago. He found the information “really easy to understand, and that made the book a quick read… and note taking was easy.”

Working with the speedlights more and more, he was finding the limitations a bit challenging without really knowing what to do about it. Remember, he didn’t have years of working with light under his belt to draw on. This is one of the places that Kirk’s book rocks. It is ready to deliver the information to a beginner in terms meant to make it more accessible, not mysterious and ‘magical’ like some others do.

My seasoned pro was really knocked out by the light that Kirk gets from some small lights and modifiers. Generally my old pro buddy carries tons of gear to even a small headshot assignment. After reading the book he has been working at taking less gear… some days more successfully than others, but it is a hard habit to break, ya know. “I was really amazed that the light quality from the SB’s was so nice. I had only thought of it for ‘grip’n grins’ on top of the camera” he told me. Now he has a few of them with triggers and some umbrellas as well. You may still catch him lighting a little insert shot with 2400WS packs turned way down, but recently he was very excited about a shoot he did totally with speedlights.

Personally my favorite part of the book is the second half where Kirk takes us on some assignments with him. Explaining not only the shot, but how the client views the images and what they want to get from the work is invaluable to a budding commercial shooter. It ain’t all glitz and glam… sometimes you just gotta get the shot the client wants you to get. And it has to be right.

Kirk shows you how to do many seemingly simple shots and explains the complexity behind them. This kind of stuff is what photographers need to do more of. Many shooters in smaller markets simply never had the opportunity to assist big time advertising shooters, so they missed the real world teaching moments that come at an assistant daily.

In the title graphic I call it Gear for the Brain. That is exactly what it is. It makes you think about the shot, and the client, and the subject and the finished image… all at the same time. The synergy between the minimalist lighting gear and how Kirk creates the shot with the subject is especially interesting. It isn’t just his gear, it is a whole approach to work that is easy to understand and model for your own work.

Now this is not a book for someone wanting to be ‘knocked out’ by extreme imagery. By Kirk’s own admission, this is workaday work for clients who need clean, well composed and lit images for their corporate work, advertising and PR needs. Kirk delivers what they need and want, and they reward him with more assignments.

Bottom line… if you are wanting a book that introduces you to the equipment in a way that is easy to understand, simple to follow and will open your eyes to the abilities of the speedlights tucked in your bag, this is it. Combining it with David Hobby’s excellent DVD set would be a powerful library of solid information that could transform the way you think about lighting. At least from a minimalist point of view. Your back may thank you for it someday.

See the book here.

– Don Giannatti

This weeks interview is with Keith Taylor, a photographer out of the Atlanta area. Keith has done a bit of everything and his insights into getting started as a photographer are fantastic. Take a few minutes and view his work, and his words and meet this talented shooter.

Meanwhile over on Lighting Essentials, we have a new “Model Behavior” article by Briana, a tutorial on using the sun as a backlight, and a fun article with some images Briana and I did on our big east coast tour. I hope you take a look and like what you see.

Now, on with the interview with Keith Taylor, Atlanta. Be sure to visit his site and blog. Their links are at the end of the article.

How long have you been in business? Was it a slow transition or did you just open shop?

I have been shooting on a professional level since 1999, which is when I started being paid to shoot weddings and portraits. I moved to Atlanta in 2001 and spent two years in the commercial photography program at The Creative Circus. After graduating I assisted for various commercial shooters here in Atlanta for about 2 1/2 years. In the fall of 2006 I was all set to move to Austin, Texas and really pursue things as a shooter. I was offered a full-time job as a staff shooter for a local marketing firm here in Atlanta while in the process of moving — the salary and benefits offered was enough to make me move all my stuff back. I spent a little over a year at that firm until going freelance again in March of this year.

How did you get started? Any mentors or great stories here?

My Dad had a camera around my neck by the time I was eight. My family and I moved to Germany when I was nine and traveled a lot while over there. My dad and a couple of his co-workers were very much into photography. Both of these guys my father worked with had worked on a professional level in photography in the past. Well, we would all get together when our slides got back from the lab and have slide shows. I would always sit and listen to them critique each other’s work as well as mine. They would look through my shots and compliment some of them and tell me how I could make others better. My father would get aggravated when I would do an abstract shot of something like moss growing on a rock — he saw it as a waste of film since he was more of a documentary-type photographer. Well, the other two guys would tell him that he should not discourage this and that it was great that I saw things that way. One of the two guys (Don Farra) gave my dad a Canon T70 with a 28mm F2.8 and 100 mm F2.8 prime lens as well as a Canon 277t dedicated flash that he had laying around. He told my dad to give it all to me as a Christmas gift when I was in fourth grade and mentioned that my father should encourage me if I ever decided to pursue photography as a profession.

I moved back stateside when I was fourteen and did not touch my camera for years until an ex-girlfriend needed headshots for a beauty pageant. She didn’t feel like paying a professional photographer at the time to do them, so I mentioned that I use to be a pretty good photographer. I took her out one day with my 100mm portrait lens and shot four rolls of film with her. Got them back from the lab and maybe 90% of them came out looking really nice. Nice enough that I had other professional photographers tell me that I should maybe look into photography as a profession. Before I knew it, I had people paying me to shoot weddings and portraits for them. Here I am — still at it almost ten years later. I have been lucky to have had a few great teachers and mentors since then.

Describe an average week at your studio.

95% of my work is location work, meaning that a studio space would be an unnecessary overhead expense at this point. When studio space is needed for a job I rent one out by the day.

I work out of my home and when not shooting I spend a good bit of my time in front of the computer doing post-production work, and if I am lucky I will be either invoicing for past jobs or getting together estimates for future jobs. Following up with clients and looking for more work via phone or e-mail is another big part of things. Just trying to get your work in front of Art Directors and Designers can be a huge job in itself.

I think I am going to try and start setting aside one day per week to go out and scout for new locations for future shoots, and just shoot for fun. Leave the business side of it alone for the day and enjoy the creative side of things.

Why Atlanta? Have you considered anywhere else?

Well, as I mentioned above I had planned on really going after things in Austin due to the music industry there and having a couple of AD friends in Texas that really encouraged me to move out that way. Austin is just a great town, anyway.

Nashville has been another thought. Huge music industry and also a great town.

At this point, though, I am thinking I am going to stay here in Atlanta. It is a pretty happening place and I have made all kinds of contacts since moving here 7 years ago… I’m not sure at this point if I could afford to totally start over in a different place — especially with the economy being where it is at this point. It is also only a four-hour drive to my folks’ place in Florida from Atlanta. It’s nice being close to home and getting to see my family and old friends on a regular basis — moving further away would hinder this. I am just comfortable here, I guess. So I may relocate later in my career but Atlanta is good for now.

What motivates you, or gets you going? What do you use for inspiration?

What motivates me is seeing bill after bill come in the mail –
and then actually opening and reading them gets me going.

What do I use for inspiration? A number of things inspire me including (live) music, movies, and being around other creative people. Life in general can be a source of inspiration. There is no reason for not being able to find inspiration on a daily basis if that is what you seek… it’s all a matter of perception.

What is it you like the most about being a photographer?

I love the diversity that goes along with being a commercial photographer and being able to work with so many different types of people. Shooting a portrait of a doctor one day in an operating room and then a pilot on a tarmac the next. I never know what is coming next. You may get a boring job or difficult client to work with… but knowing that you are not going to have to work with them day after day all year long is nice. You just kind of suck it up and look forward to the next cool job.

One really cool job in ten makes the other nine boring jobs and/or difficult clients worth it in the long run.

Are there any downsides to being a commercial photographer that you would like to change? How would you change them?

Yes… but aren’t there downsides to any profession? The only thing I can do to change them is to try and educate people about them. Educate clients who think I make a few thousand dollars for few hours of work, like it appears to them. I try and let them know what all goes on behind the scenes in order to get that few hours’ worth of work and make them aware that this might be a couple weeks of planning and postproduction when they are not around. I try and educate people and let them know that “digital” is not synonymous with “free” and that there are expenses that go along with shooting digital.

As great as digital photography can be, it seems to have destroyed the craft and perceived value of what we as professional photographers do. Digital is here to stay and I can’t change that –but I can wish that it wasn’t.

It think that there was a lot more appreciation for the work photographers did and a job well done by them in the film days.<

What was your most memorable assignment?

Probably one of my most memorable and toughest assignments was a funeral. A close friend of my brother had his two-week-old daughter pass away in the hospital from a blood infection. The father of the little girl was a friend of mine as well. He and his wife asked me to do portraits of the little girl and actually cover the viewing and funeral like you would a wedding… only with more respect. My heart wept for them both so I agreed to do it. It was so heartbreaking seeing this tiny pink coffin when I went to do the portraits, and then having to try and document the viewing and funeral afterwards. The only thing that kept me from breaking down emotionally while covering it all was my camera and being focused on doing the best job I could for them.

I put all my heart into it… my camera just acted as a shield. I ended up having a handmade wedding-type album for the shots made for them, covered with a baby blanket just like the one she was wrapped in when she was buried. The parents seemed so appreciative when I gave it to them but it sure was the toughest job I have ever done. I have no desire to ever attend or photograph a baby’s funeral again if I can help it. The little girl’s name was Sara, by the way.

Any ‘war’ stories you would like to share? You know, the ones that always start with “There was this one job where….”

Well, when I was still assisting I worked a job for 24 hours straight. We were photographing large machinery in a dead-silent room all night long — just another assistant, the photographer, and me. Coming back the next day to finish up was not an option, so we had to get it done. Another job that comes to mind was a location shoot in NYC with the same photographer… multiple locations per day in the fashion district of the city over the course of a few days. I was the person responsible for driving the twelve-passenger van around in Manhattan — what a blast that was. At least I was working with fun people, though. We always had a great time on those trips but it was some very long days we would put it. That’s all part of the business though.

What would be your ideal assignment?

I would love to have somebody pay me well to travel around the world for maybe five or ten years and do portraits of the most interesting looking people I could find. It would be nice to try and make them feel special and interesting while doing so… people that may have never had anybody pay attention to them. Kind of like Avedon’s “In the American West” series… but not being confined to the American west. Maybe spending a year or so on each continent just traveling around, looking for and capturing different personalities. A translator for each area would be great too so I could include written info about each person I photographed.

The only other thing that comes to mind is a full-time position as a staff photographer for something like Rolling Stone, SPIN, Paste or Blender magazine.

Future plans for Keith and his photography?

To be as successful as possible while still enjoying life.

Tell us a little about your new work…

Over the past couple of years I have worked almost exclusively as a portrait photographer and don’t see this changing. I am always willing to shoot just about anything — but working with and shooting people is what I love. Shooting somebody and making him or her feel great about themselves is far more rewarding than photographing some inanimate object to me.

Oh, and what is on the music box right now at your studio?

Right now I have Massive Attack playing, but some other favorites while I am working are: Sonia Leigh, Pink Floyd, The Wood Brothers, Sean Costello, Dire Straits(and Mark Knopfler’s solo stuff), Corinne Bailey Rae, A Perfect Circle, Jack Johnson, The Decemberists, Miles Davis, Norah Jones, Beck’s “Sea Change” album, Bilie Holiday, The Black Keys… I can go on and on for a while, but you get the picture… I love music.

Visit Keith Here:

Website: www.keithtaylorphotography.com

Blog: http://www.keithtaylorphotography.blogspot.com

Flickr Account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/keithtaylorphotography

MySpace Photography Account: http://www.myspace.com/keithtaylorphotography

We spent a lot of time with Laurie when we did the Tampa workshops. Laurie helped put them together and get everything set up for a smooth couple of days. Even the weather somewhat cooperated.

Laurie spends a lot of time with her business and her photography and it shows in the quality of her images. Long before I met Laurie my 11 year old daughter claimed her as “most favorite photographer.” I can remember going through her website just amazed at the creative ways she has with animals.

LEMagazine recently sent Laurie the current 12 question interview and she has spent some time answering the questions so that we could get a glimpse into the vision of a world class animal photographer.

How long have you been in business? Was it a slow transition or did you just open shop?
According to the IRS, I’ve been in business for four years. In reality it started long before that. I just didn’t realize it was happening.

How did you get started? Any mentors or great stories here?
My official business started when I shot some pet portraits to hang in the lobby of my husband’s animal hospital. I had never photographed anyone’s pets but my own. I had no idea about studio lighting or even using flash properly. I picked up some construction lights from home depot and some fabric to set up a makeshift studio. Thinking back, it was pretty crude but it worked. I never intended it to go anywhere but after hanging the photos, I started getting requests from clients to photograph their pets. A friend and fellow photographer introduced me to some photo editors which has led to regular editorial work. I started selling images through some stock sites as well. Things just took off from there. Well, it wasn’t quite that easy. It was (and still is) a lot of work now that I think about it.

As for mentors, there are too many to list here. I’ve had a lot of help along the way. I’ve been tremendously fortunate to meet and learn from some truly talented artists. I think most experienced photographers are happy to pass on the lessons they’ve learned. I’ve made it a point to listen. My father is a composer and my mother was a dancer before she married. They set a great example for following a dream, even when others are telling you to be sensible. My sister is a designer and my harshest critic. She pushes and encourages me as well

Describe an average week at your studio.
There really isn’t an “average” week. Some weeks are solid shooting, others spent mostly in front of the computer editing photos, preparing print orders and working on editorial submissions. This past week was devoted to getting my office in order and working on tax stuff. I managed to get out and shoot for a few hours, working on a personal project. Next week I’ll be focusing on a book project that has been collecting dust for far too long.

Why Florida? Have you considered anywhere else?
I was born and raised in Florida. I love it here. It’s home. I’ve considered other places but for now, this is where I want to be. I love the wildlife, the beaches, the rivers and swamps. People save up all year to vacation in a place I get to enjoy everyday.

What motivates you, or gets you going? What do you use for inspiration?
Mostly, I just love picking up the camera and shooting. It forces me to see things more acutely, even when my eye isn’t plastered to the viewfinder. I’m pretty easily inspired. I just put myself in the company of things that make me happy or I find exciting. Nature shooting is a no-brainer. I love being outdoors. When it comes to shooting pets, it’s the pet and the human-animal bond that inspires me. Something magical happens to people when they interact with animals, myself included. Humans let their guard down and animals become relaxed and playful. It’s a great way to get to know people, as well as pets. I just work on finding my own bond with the subject(s) as I shoot. When the connection happens, that’s inspiring. That’s when the real shooting begins.

What is it you like the most about being a photographer?
I love the interaction. My background is in painting and drawing but they’re mostly removed from the subject. With photography, whether shooting nature, people, or pets, there’s an interaction and immediacy that’s like a drug for me.

I also get really jazzed when I see the faces of my pet portrait clients as they view their final prints. It sounds corny but even the most challenging shoot is worth the effort when the client smiles from ear to ear and gives me a big hug. It’s a very rewarding experience.

Are there any downsides to being a commercial photographer that you would like to change? How would you change them?
I certainly wish I didn’t have to spend the last week working on taxes, organizing my image files, and entering client demographics into a new database. Commercial photography, by it’s nature is treated as a commodity. The thing is, it doesn’t fit neatly into that category as it’s a service, a craft, and an art, all at the same time. Photo Editors and clients, necessarily have budgets, deadlines, and their own ideas of what they want. Their budgets and their expectations don’t always jive. I’m lucky to be in a position to turn down work if the terms of the project don’t meet my expectations. Still, it can be frustrating. Copyright violations are another thorn in my side. My images get pinched on a regular basis. Sadly, it’s a growing problem in the industry with no clear solution except never showing my work in digital format.

What was your most memorable assignment?
I’ve certainly had more exciting assignments and more lucrative assignments but the one that stands out in my memory more than most was a pet portrait shoot. From time to time, I’ll have a client call requesting a “final” portrait sitting for an aging or sick pet. These shoots are always bitter sweet. One in particular continues to stick in my mind. This client had two dogs, both coincidentally diagnosed with terminal cancer in the same week. Since the client and the dogs loved the beach, we scheduled a beach shoot. We spent several hours shooting and playing. The dogs appeared perfectly healthy, were happy as could be chasing seagulls and fetching balls thrown in the water. The results of the shoot were terrific. Still, it was really hard editing the set knowing neither dog would be around in a few months. As hard as it was, I am so glad I was able to provide the images for the client who obviously loved both dogs dearly. I’m not sure why this one touched me even more than the others. It just did. There are several images from the shoot that are really special to me.

Any ‘war’ stories you would like to share? You know, the ones that always start with “There was this one job where….”
You mean like the one where I shot the entire studio portrait session on ISO 800 the whole time amazed that I was getting all the light I needed from my strobes set at such a low power? Or how about the one where I didn’t realize the puppy licked my lens causing a blurry blob in the middle of most of the frames (I thought my glasses were just fogging up as it was hot and humid)? I guess my worst war story was the dog in the pool shoot. It was an editorial shoot. It was one of the first times I shot outdoors with off camera flash. The day was as still as could be, not even the slightest breeze.

I set up an SB800 bounced into an umbrella on one side of the pool, and an SB600 bounced into an umbrella in the other side for some cross lighting. Without warning (actually, all I needed to do was turn around and look at the storm clouds moving in) a gust of wind knocked the SB800 into the pool and the SB600 crashed to the pool deck. I immediately pulled the SB800 out, dumped the batteries and drained as much water from the unit as I could. The flash tube in the SB600 was toast. Luckily, I had two back ups and quickly set them up (without umbrellas this time) and finished the shoot just before the solid sheet of rain hit. Amazingly, despite the fact that the SB800 was flooded, both top and bottom, after drying out for a few weeks, it still works fine. I don’t rely on it for anything important but three years later, it hasn’t yet failed.

What would be your ideal assignment?
Very large studio and an Elephant. Just kidding. Actually, I’m not kidding. That would be cool. The truth is, I get to shoot my ideal assignment on a regular basis. I really love what I do, appreciate my clients, and always have alot of fun. Good things seem to come my way and I think it’s important to recognize them as they’re happening instead of looking for something bigger or “better”. The joy is in the little things, the nuances, the moments in-between. If we’re always chasing down the next big thing, we miss out on the great things right in front of us.

Future plans for Laurie and her photography?
Keep on keeping on. I’ve been working on two book projects, one on photographing pets and one that’s more of a photo book with images and stories. The whole process is a bit daunting as I’m not really a writer. I’ve recently published a few articles which has been a great segue to the book projects. I’m fortunate to have a family member and several friends who are writers that have offered to give me some guidance. I also have several personal photo projects that I’ll continue to develop.

Tell us a little about your new work…
Lately, I’ve been working on including more people in my pet portraits. As I mentioned earlier, one of the things that motivates me is the human-animal bond. It’s a personal goal to find ways to express that bond in each and every shoot.

For my personal work, I’m in an abstract/impressionist frame of mind these days. I love playing with form and color. Taking advantage of slow shutter speeds and camera movement, I’m using my camera more like a paint brush, shooting and seeing familiar scenes in a new way.

Oh, and what is on the music box right now at your studio?
Sting’s “The Shape of My Heart” just finished. Procol Harum’s “A Salty Dog” is now playing. After that, I think I’ll pop in an album, Nuevo Bugaloo, by the Iguanas, a band based in New Orleans.

Website: www.lmeimages.com
Blog: www.lmeimages.com/blog
Email laurie@lmeimages.com

Jay B Sauceda is a hard working, creative shooter in Austin Texas. I have seen his work for some time now and occasionally catch his exploits on my Twitter. Jay has a nice business going there near the heart of Texas, a place he dearly loves, and we thought it would be nice to talk to him a bit.

Jay’s work combines whimsy and color to make a statement that is at once original and comfortable. He has been working in the creative areas most of his life, so making cool images is just second nature to him.

Come on in and meet Jay B Sauceda.

I thought about 12 questions would cover it. Welcome Jay…

How long have you been in business? Was it a slow transition or did you just open shop?
I have been in the creative industry for a while now. I worked at an advertising agency, on a couple of documentary films, and as a creative consultant on some political campaigns. The transition to photography full time has been a slow one and has definitely taken me through some random places. I still get contracted out to freelance on different creative projects that don’t involve photography, but I still primarily work out of my studio in east Austin.

How did you get started? Any mentors or great stories here?
I heard Harry Benson speak my sophomore year of college. He came to the random photojournalism class I had taken (I was a government major) and I thought he had lived the coolest life ever because of the access that the camera had given him. People open up to a still camera in a way that really fascinates me, so immediately I became more drawn to it after hearing all of his cool stories. That wasn’t the moment I picked up a camera and started down this track, but it definitely was a turning point as far as focusing on trying to work in the creative industry. The next week we heard from Andrew Shapter, who was a local fashion photographer for a long time. I dug how humble he was about his work so contacted him and asked if I could assist. Years later here I am. In a roundabout way, Shapter has had the largest impact on me being able to freelance at my age. He really opened a lot of doors for me by letting me follow him around for a couple of years.

Describe an average week at your studio.
An average week here at my studio is generally pretty interesting. Some of the connected offices and loft spaces that we have in our building are rented out to designers, architects, and writers so there are generally lot of really interesting people coming in and out of the space. Each week is really different because of the randomness of my clients though. I shoot editorial stuff for local magazines, but also do a lot of random commercial work for ad agencies and companies. Some weeks are all product, some are all personal work, while others are strictly shooting people. During the summer there are a lot of days that we take off from the studio early and hit up the Deep Eddy wading pool in West Austin to throw the disc around.

Why Austin? Have you considered anywhere else?
I came to school here at the University of Texas. If you’ve ever been to Austin you know why I stayed. It’s a gorgeous city. I consider going to New York for a summer occasionally but I’d prefer to reside here. Austin is on the up and up with the creative industries. So many people from L.A. and New York move here so its easy to make those connections. I guess I just don’t see myself living in any other state. Us Texans are a little obsessed with our state.

What motivates you, or gets you going? What do you use for inspiration?
I’m inspired by movies most of the time. I try to shoot everything as though it were a scene in a movie. Shapter taught me that a long time ago and it has stuck in my head ever since. I’m inspired by other photographers and the people I see daily too. I try to keep my head to the ground and check out other people’s work a lot. My office definitely keeps the creative juices flowing. There’s good energy up here with all the people I surround myself with.

What is it you like the most about being a photographer?
I love the flexibility and instant gratification of photography. Granted I can’t instantly see the images when I shoot film, but you get the point. It’s definitely my hobby too though. The clients I work with a lot normally give me a lot of flexibility in my concepts, so its rare that I feel bogged down by the work I’m doing. People get hobbies when they get bogged down with what they do with the rest of their time. Luckily I love what I do with most of my time. I don’t know if that makes sense….

Are there any downsides to being a commercial photographer that you would like to change?
It’s a little harder to get rolling doing commercial photography. You definitely can’t just start up and say that’s what you want to do. The hardest advice I have ever had to stomach is that you need to focus on one type of photography to be great. Clients that are willing to drop the kind of money that commercial photography brings want to hire a person that shoots a style. It’s hard to convey your style if you shoot a lot of random things. I had to make my transition slowly because if I had just jumped in I would have been broke. It took a while to get to the point at which I can charge what I charge as a day rate. But on the flip side I had to turn down a lot of little projects so I could avoid being labeled as a “fill in the blank” photographer. I love shooting everything so it was hard to turn work down, but in the long run I have definitely benefitted.

What was your most memorable assignment?
I drove out to the West Texas desert to photograph a portrait for Austin Monthly last year. It was a photo of a Texas Santa who is really active here in Austin. We got out there on location and there happened to be a guy riding a beautiful white horse. We asked him if we could borrow it for the shot. He obliged and I ended up with a really nice and quirky portrait for their December issue.

Any ‘war’ stories you would like to share? You know, the ones that always start with “There was this one job where….”
I’m pretty selective about what I’ll work on because of the amount of other creative work I get so I get to avoid a lot of potentially bad clients. Generally my war stories have to do with people taking forever to pay. I am a young guy and don’t have many wrinkles on my face so sometimes people will jerk me around. The worst was when a client printed my images in two separate ad campaigns yet still dragged their feet on payment. I should have gotten money up front but didn’t. All it took was a letter from my lawyer buddy reminding them of the legalese on my invoices and contract to get them to send a check over later that day (two months past due).

What would be your ideal assignment?
I’m going on my ideal assignment next week. I’m spending a week in West Texas again to shoot a personal project for my next show. I love just traveling and shooting random people that I meet. West Texas, or more specifically, Alpine Texas is a great place for that.

Future plans for Jay and his photography?
I take work a week at a time so its hard to say. I am making a bigger push to shoot more national editorial stuff though. I’m about to start looking for a rep too. I think that’s the next biggest step for me being here in Austin and needing to make more connections.

Tell us a little about your new work…
My work has a tendency to be really random but the photos with the orange wall are some of my favorites. It as a shoot for Jelly NYC and The Boxing Club ad agency. They used the images to do an ad for Fader and SPIN magazine. Everything else is just a random collection of stuff I have shot recently for pleasure and for hire.

Oh, and what is on the music box right now at your studio?
(yes, it was supposed to be 12, but what the heck…)
Ha, this is a good question. My answers are going to seem like I only listen to Austin folk. Earlier today we were listening to Spoon but now I’m listening to Ben Kweller.

Thanks Jay.

Jay B Sauceda

What a cool selection of images. Signs from the old hotels, motels, gas stations and other roadside vendors that many of us knew from our youth. The diving girl into the neon pool was one of my favorites from when I was a kid. I wanted to play in a real pool too.

Jimi Giannatti takes us on both a nostalgic, and yet very current view of the signs that were so much a part of our cross city or cross country adventures. Sitting in the back of the station wagon we could mark our route by neon, stucco and paint.

We took some time over the weekend to talk about his images, how long he has been working on them and what to do when a labor of love becomes a true passion. His fashion and beauty work keeps him busy, but this soft, thoughtful side of his imagery is coming into its own.

Thank Jimi for the images. These are really a special set of photographs. What made you start shooting these signs? Was it an assignment that kept on growing?

Well, that’s a good question; I’m just now putting the finishing touches on my new book containing over a hundred and sixty signs and I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting about the early photos, and what got me interested in them to begin with. Growing up in the late 1970s in Phoenix AZ, there was a stretch of road, East McDowell, which had obviously seen better days. The road had actually been part of the famed Route 66 and was home to a group of aged motels built in the late 1940s and early 1950s, catering to the truckers and tourists traveling the interstate. Many the signs had names and designs that were as colorful and unique as they were dilapidated and rundown. Sporting names like: The Liberty, The Lazy A, The Sandman, The Trail’s End, and The Arizona; the signs dotted the roadside and stood in direct contrast with their newer, shinier franchised counterparts such as: Best Western, Motel Six, and Holiday Inn. I was struck by the one-of-a-kind quality that each sign, or sometimes facade, had; and how they differed from each other; one relied on humor, another on its indigenous surroundings, and another on fantasy, etc. Later, in the early Eighties, after relocating in New York City and working as a freelance photographer, I would find myself on various locations around the country and I would spot a variety of old signs: liquor stores, bars, stores, gas stations, you name it — and it just all started, pardon the pun, clicking.

How long have you been working on this project?

Well, as mentioned before, I started noticing the signs in Phoenix as I was growing up in the 70s, but I didn’t really start shooting them until I was traveling around the country, working on different assignments, and that was around 1981, so it’s been – wow! – 27 years! But at first it was just my personal fetish, like any collection, not a photo assignment. I would find myself in places like Fond-Du-Lac, Wisconsin, or Laramie, Wyoming, and I knew I wouldn’t most likely be back there again, so I would shoot the cool signs just to keep for myself.

So it’s safe to say that a lot of these aren’t even around anymore? After that long, ‘progress’ comes along and stuff like this is torn down.

Oh yea! They’re being torn down every day. That’s probably one of the reasons why I started taking my “little hobby” a bit more serious and began searching out new signs and facades whenever I found myself in a new city or town. Without over-sentimentalizing the whole thing, I started revisiting some of the places I had shot earlier and the signs would be missing! Gone, or painted over with a new name. One of my favorites, The Missile Motel, in Oxnard, CA, had its neon ripped down and whitewashed with Tapitio painted across it. You would never know by looking at it today that it was ever the cool sign it had originally been. I’m not condemning the new owners and businesses as if they don’t have the right to do this, I mean it’s the nature of things right? Change happens. Whenever I run across a sign that has been torn down, or painted over, I lament the loss, but I also feel grateful that I have a record of the original that we can all enjoy.

I know that your main subject matter has always been fashion and beauty. Is this something you do to relax from that rigorous, intense world?

Right, that’s what I was doing in New York, working for fashion, fitness, and music magazines such as, Seventeen, Young Miss, McCall’s, Self, and Spin etc. My magazine assignments put me on location all around the U.S. giving me entrée to many cool local signs. BUT! I have to clarify something here – whereas my job put me in proximity of the signs, it wouldn’t necessarily mean it would actually allow me the time and means to access them. I was there to do one job, and I would have to figure out how to do the other one. So I developed a system to accomplish both goals. I would use the fist day scouting locations for my magazine shoots, and I would write down the names and addresses of the signs I would pass on the way. Also, keep in mind that as in all photography, lighting is probably the single most determining feature for technical success (something I know you know quite a bit about!). Early morning and late afternoon usually give me the best lighting I need, so while the models slept, or just before dinner while they were back in there rooms getting ready, I would quietly slip out and do my thing. Although, I would be less than honest if I didn’t tell you that we would often pull into a diner or café for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, that would “just so happen” have a name like “Mom’s” or “Loveless” or “Horseshoe.” Sometimes being the photographer has its perks. As far as shooting signs as a way to relax, well sometimes yes. But more often than not, I have found myself with very limited time at a location without the luxury of scouting. So I’m forced to ask the concierge, desk clerk, gas station attendant, or random guy walking on the street, to where I need to go. Now here’s where it gets tricky – most of my signs and facades are found on the old Interstate Highways that were once popular in the nineteen forties and fifties before the freeways and turnpikes. More often than not these businesses are found on the outskirts of town, and as mentioned before, have seen better days and are now referred to as “seedy,” “rundown,” or, “the bad part of town.” Just as often, these same locations are home for some pretty nefarious businesses and can be down right scary. So now imagine me pulling up in my rental car with my cameras strapped around my neck; getting out and laying on the ground shooting skyward at some random motel sign in front of a place frequented by crack addicts and prostitutes that just happens to be named “The Half Moon” and sporting fantastic yellow and purple neon. It can get at times, a bit dicey and testy and I’ve had to do many “hit and runs” where I have metered another safer sign down the street and then drive right up and “click, click, click!” then get back in the car and drive off . But more often, it’s as simple as me driving home from somewhere and just happening across a fabulous vintage diner and getting out and shooting it from every angle I can imagine. It’s a lot like the feeling I suppose a big game hunter gets when he looks up and is eye to eye with a lion, only my lion is an old pink and blue Frosty Freeze and doesn’t bite. Maybe its not like that at all.

How big is your current collection of these signs?

Well, finished and ready for viewing: around a little less than 200. But I have a lot in the queue that I always look for the time to work on. Sometimes I’ll go back and re-shoot a sign under better circumstances, and sometimes I’ll reprint and rework something I printed ten years ago.

These are traditional silver halide prints, and I know you have some secret processing solutions, but can you share a little on how you achieve this look?

Well if I do, I’ll have to kill you — no! It’s a bit on the slightly-complicated side – mostly because it’s a very unforgiving process – its really straight-up old school darkroom stuff — I print on an old Omega enlarger, on Seagull Oriental fiber-based, multi-grade paper; using a one-to-one mixture of Dektol and water. Often, trying to makeup for harsh or inadequate lighting, or errant wires and stray palm prawns, there is lots of dodging and burning and masking. What makes these prints particularly tricky is that before I fix them, I meticulously wash it, and then aggressively hand-bleach it (I get it deep into the bleach, using constant agitation; manipulating localized areas with my fingers; isolating areas dipping and rubbing, etc.). Then I again rewash it thoroughly and then submerge it into a generous bath of selenium toner. The toner doesn’t seem to like the bleach and you can see the silver permeate to soup. It actually gives the signs and facades an aged, bleached look that (I hope) gives the viewer the same visceral feeling I get seeing the sign in person. The fading, peeling paint; the flaking finish; the rough weathered look that only comes from years and years of sun and bad weather; the seasoning, if you will, that comes from neglect. All of this is important to try to convey to the viewer in the print medium. I think I got it down.

So each print is a unique item? With that much handwork, no two could really be the same, right?

No, you’re right – each print has a quality unto itself. It’s about a six to one ratio for prints I discard to the ones I keep. Because the bleaching process continues or overlap throughout the washing and toning processes, it can get tricky – you have to “lead” each print as you go through every process; removing it seconds before it gets to your preferred finish. In other words, if you wait while it’s in the bleach to reach your desired finish, by the time you take it out and wash it, the bleach will have kept accelerating and it will be over bleached before the toning process. Once it’s in the selenium toner, I have to monitor it closely, because with each print toned, the strength of the toner denigrates, so each print time in each solution is independent of each other – whew! That’s was actually a mouthful! The only thing I may have left out is the cacophony of curse words coming out of my darkroom while I do this process! It does keep me honest though! You know I actually don’t like technique that gets in the way of the image. I often say that the true beauty of the signs is the sign themselves. Just like shooting supermodels in bathing suits in Barbados, it’s hard to mess them up.

You also sell these as Inkjets after scanning the image. Do you scan multiple images or do you choose one and make the scan from it?

Well, the B/W fiber prints are scanned and then I try my best to be true to the color and contrast value as the original. But around eight years ago, like most of my professional comrades, I’ve forgone the most part shooting film and began more and more shooting digitally, and in doing so I’ve ventured into shooting many of my new sign in color. I always hated the way the signs looked in ektachrome, they never achieved the look I wanted. And kodachrome looked pretty close but printing costs were prohibitive. So I’m pretty happy with digital. The lack of shadow detail is quite similar to the pushed tri-x process that use for the B/W. I try to approach the color shots in Photoshop using the same spirit and style as I did with my earlier B/W shots. I try to use a variety of Photoshop techniques as a way to influence the images to have a “quality” that will conjure the visceral feeling I have when standing in person in front of the sign. I print these images using Epson Premium Luster Photo Paper, on my Epson 2000P photo printer. Some of these are quite stunning. Because of the lack of variants, as stated in the before description of my B/W process, this makes it a much more affordable medium for me to sell.

What do you look for when you see a sign? I take it you are still involved in the project?

What do I look for? Well, it’s funny to say out loud, but I honestly have to say the signs and facades speak to me – now stop looking at me that way – they do! They just jump out at me as I’m driving. Sometimes it’s the neon, or the name, or the painting, or the shape, or even the state of decay; whatever! A friend once asked me which sign was my favorite and I answered, “The next one I shoot!” My poor wife and family are used to me slamming on my brakes and cranking a big u-turn so I can go back and check out the sign I just passed! I want people to keep in mind that whereas these are one-of-a-kind items that have a certain amount aesthetic quality, they were after all, intended for the most part, to pull people off the road and spend their hard-earned money at their establishments. I see the signs as the byproduct of “grassroots capitalism.” These are examples of a time before corporate logos and international franchises. I try and imagine the thinking process that went into each sign; the creative and business decisions made by each mom and pop business as they tried to figure out what best to call their place, and how to showcase it on the highway out front. Do they put girls in bathing suits elegantly diving into a pool? Or do they go with a wagon wheel or sombrero? Do they call their business a name drawn from the local area? Or do they name it after their daughter? I continue to appreciate the arbitrariness of the names, designs, and shapes of each sign, and truly dig the rarity of each one.

What is your ultimate goal for this collection… it is wonderfully broad and diverse?

I never started this with a particular goal in mind. But a while ago, around the time I moved to New York, I made a decision to try and always shoot with the idea of using whatever I shoot in context of being part of something larger. What I mean is, instead of shooting hundreds of images that are disjointed and unrelated; I try to contextualize what I shoot as being part of something bigger (whether it’s a collection, a show, a book, magazine editorial etc). As well, I have recently been showing and selling prints up in Ojai, CA in the park which was, at first, outside of my comfort zone; but it has since opened me up to a whole new group of fans that love signs! One of the coolest things about my sharing these images is that I get such positive reactions from total strangers. They share stories with me about specific signs they remember. People recognize signs I have and tell me anecdotes about staying at one of the motels, or eating at one of the restaurants when they were six, etc. A lot of people love old signs. This all has led me to thinking about expanding their presence on my website, or possibly even creating a completely unique home for them on their own dedicated website. It would be great to offer a more interactive presence where people could share their own shots and stories.

Tell me more about the book

I hope to have it out before July – and it’s been quite an undertaking editing down and organizing everything for the final cut. I’m very excited about it all. Although I have to admit, it’s a bit strange lining up photos I shot 20 years ago next to ones I shot two months ago! It gives me a chance to showcase some of my all time favorites, as well as share some of the more esoteric and eclectic ones. It’s actually been a lot of fun!

That’s great! Thanks for taking some time to talk with me about your work. And in full disclosure, JimiG is someone I have known “his” entire life… However he has not known me for my entire life.

And you’ve never missed an opportunity to remind me.

Thanks Bro…

No, thanks to you!

To see more of Jimi Giannatti’s work, visit his site.

I have known Jim Cowlin for, well, way too many years to count. Jim is a staunch defender of our public lands and environs, so it is not unexpected that he is also a fantastic landscape shooter with a love of panoramic images. (There is a great article on shooting and creating a panoramic image after the canyon article… you should check it out.)

Jim’s project is now the road that goes from Canada to Mexico, vertically through the amazing southwestern America. He is founder of the US 89 Appreciation Society, and has been photographing along this route for many years. He lives in Ajo now, and spends a lot of time traveling the ol’ 89.

This post is a glimpse into one of the more interesting places in the Southwest, Paria Canyon.

A Wilderness Adventure
Reprinted with permission of James Cowlin and the US 89 Appreciation Society

I had been thinking about this hike for months. A friend had invited me to join him and a few others on a 5-day backpacking trip down the Paria River. Actually, I have wanted to do this hike for years. The Paria River is a tributary of the Colorado River at Lee’s Ferry and I had been told that it ran through one of the most spectacular canyons on the Colorado Plateau. It is also a remote wilderness area. Once you enter the canyon at the Whitehouse Trailhead off US Route 89 in southern Utah, you have little choice but to complete the 38-mile hike. Five days seemed manageable although carrying 50 pounds on my back was a rather daunting prospect.

Twenty years ago when I did my last long backpacking trip I carried my medium format camera and four lens to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back. But at 30 pounds, I knew that I wasn’t going to carry it this time. I opted for my digital camera with one extra lens. I also brought a light-weight tripod and the newest addition to my equipment, a panoramic tripod head. I have been experimenting with the technique of making panoramic photographs from multiple digital files stitched together. It was time to see how practical it would be under not exactly ideal conditions.

Hiking the Paria River Wilderness

Hiking the Paria River is one of the premier wilderness experiences to be found along US Route 89. Details about obtaining permits and what to expect are available at the Bureau of Land Management Paria Canyon/Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness website.

I want to thank US Route 89 Appreciation Society member Pete Sevin for inviting me and Doug and Rhonda Forsha for making all of the logistical arrangements. I also want to thank Holmes Dumez, Jeremiah Polynone, Cliff Pohlman, Paul Chadwick, and Jan, Bernie and Kelsey Becker for their companionship and encouragement along the way.

Digital Panoramic Photography

In theory making a digital panoramic photograph is straight forward-take a series of shots of a scene and stitch them together in a photo editing program to form a single image. In practice, there is a bit more to it than that. Let me briefly describe how I made the panoramas on the Paria.

Equipment:
I used a Canon 20D digital single lens reflex and a 17 to 105 mm Canon zoom. The zoom was set at 17 mm most of the time, but occasionally, I would set it at around 24 mm. I use a Gitzo tripod that I have had for years specifically for backpacking. Although it is light weight, it is very sturdy and makes a stable platform. (If you are serious about landscape photography, I recommend buying the best tripod you can afford. There is nothing more frustrating than a wobbly, hard to adjust tripod. Next to lenses, it is the most important investment you can make to improve your photography.)

I use a special tripod head designed for making panoramic photographs, the Nodal Ninja. The purpose of this is two-fold. First, it allows me to adjust the camera lens’s “entrance pupil” (also called the “nodal point”) on the correct rotational axis which eliminates parallax error when shooting images side by side. Without parallax error the digital files can be seamlessly stitched together to form the single image. Second, the Nodal Ninja is fitted with detent rings that offer click stops at various degrees of rotation depending on the lens in use. This allows the camera to be quickly and precisely rotated without having to line up each shot manually.

This is the first time I had put the Nodal Ninja through its paces in the field. I was very pleased at how quickly and precisely I was able to set it up. It worked flawlessly and only added marginally to the weight of my pack. I am pleased to have Nodal Ninja as a business member of the US Route 89 Appreciation Society. They are offering a $20 discount to anyone who mentions US Route 89 when ordering.

Capturing the Image:
Once the camera is set up on the tripod, it is important to make sure it is level both horizontally and vertically. The Nodal Ninja’s built-in bubble level made that easy.

I always set my exposure manually. Each frame should be exposed the same. I use Program mode to take a light reading from the most important part of the scene. I note the f-stop and shutter speed, then switch to Manual and enter the values.

The same is true of focus. I turn off auto focus and focus the lens manually. Focus is usually not a problem since I am shooting wide angle where the depth of field is greatest. Image stabilization is also turned off. This should always be done whenever the camera is on a tripod. I also set the while balance that is appropriate for the scene, not on auto.

I prefer to shoot in RAW format rather than JPEG. That way I can use Camera Raw in Photoshop to make any necessary adjustments before stitching the files.

Composition is the tricky part. I am learning the strengths and limitations of this technique and did several compositions on the Paria that didn’t work very well. The wonderful thing about digital is that I am only limited by the amount of storage capacity available. Every time I set up for a panorama, I would try two or three variations, setting the lens at different focal lengths, changing exposure, including more or less in the scene.

Finally, I captured a series of frames each overlapping the next by 20% to 30% to make it easy for the software to blend them together.

Processing the Image:
I do all of my image processing in Photoshop CS3. PhotoMerge in CS3 is vastly improved over its predecessor in CS2. I download the files to the computer and review them in Bridge to select the ones I want to use. I open all of the files to be used for a panoramic in Camera Raw at the same time. Just as it is important to use the same exposure and focus for each image, it is important to make exactly the same adjustments on all of the files.

I select the center photograph and make adjustments to exposure, color, contrast, etc. Then I click on the “select all” button and synchronize the files. At this point you can select the files to be used in Bridge or switch to Photoshop. From either program, open the files with the PhotoMerge command. Click on the OK and let Photoshop do its magic.

The major consideration throughout the process of shooting and processing photographs for a digital panorama is to make sure that all of the files are exposed and processed the same. That ensures that whatever software you use to merge the files will be able to make a seamless blend. For the sake of brevity, I have left out some of the details in this process. If you want to give it a try and have specific questions, feel free to send me an email and I’ll do my best to steer you in the right direction.

Support the “Slow Road” Movement:
Join the US Route 89 Appreciation Society

US Route 89 Appreciation Society

You love driving the two-lane highways that keep you close to the edge of the road so you can see the land at a leisurely pace. You think nothing of stopping along the way to admire the view and smell the fresh air. You seek out unique places to eat where the special of the day depends on what’s in season at the nearby farm. You already appreciate the opportunities offered by a journey on US Route 89.

You are not alone in your passion for a trip on a “slow road.” There are many others like you. Together we can spread the word of the joys of leisurely travel. Join the US Route 89 Appreciation Society and you’ll receive an official membership certificate and button to attest to your belief in the “slow road” movement.

General Membership: $5
Benefits:
· Membership Certificate
· Membership Badge
· Email Newsletter
· Invitations to all project events

See the US 89 Appreciation Society for more information.