Martin Evening - Photographers at Work: Essential Business and Production Skills for Photographers in Editorial, Design, and Advertising

Essential Business and Production Skills for Photographers in Editorial, Design, and Advertising

MARTIN EVENING

Photographers at Work:
Essential Business and Production Skills for Photographers in Editorial, Design, and Advertising
Martin Evening

New Riders
www.newriders.com

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New Riders is an imprint of Peachpit, a division of Pearson Education.

Copyright 2015 by Martin Evening

Acquisitions Editor: Valerie Witte
Developmental and Copy Editor: Peggy Nauts
Proofreader: Bethany Stough
Legal Reviewer: Christopher S. Reed
Composition: Martin Evening
Indexer: Valerie Haynes Perry
Cover Design: Mimi Heft
Interior Design: Mimi Heft, with Martin Evening
Cover Image: Eric Richmond

Notice of Rights

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information on getting permission for reprints and excerpts, contact .

Notice of Liability

The information in this book is distributed on an As Is basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the author nor Peachpit shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software and hardware products described in it.

Trademarks

Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and Peachpit was aware of a trademark claim, the designations appear as requested by the owner of the trademark. All other product names and services identified throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and for the benefit of such companies with no intention of infringement of the trademark. No such use, or the use of any trade name, is intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book.

ISBN-13: 978-0-321-99414-1
ISBN-10: 0-321-99414-0

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed and bound in the United States of America

I would first of all like to thank my wife, Camilla, and daughter, Angelica, for their patience while I was busy researching and writing this book. Next, I want to thank my editor, Valerie Witte, who did a fabulous job helping to guide me from the early planning to the final proof stages, and thank my copy editor, Peggy Nauts, and proofreader, Bethany Stough, who both helped me look good. Eric Richmond (whom I interview in ) was enormously helpful in the early stages of this project, providing me with clarity and useful suggestions, plus a great cover image. Im also grateful to Dr. Ian Smith and Katrin Eismann for their early feedback.

The following publications were used during my research: 2014 Photographers Market, by Mary Burzlaff Bostic (North Light Books); The ABCD of UK Photographic Copyright (EPUK); Beyond the Lens (Association of Photographers); The DAM Book, by Peter Krogh (OReilly); The Digital Print, by Jeff Schewe (Peachpit); Dogs/Gods, Equus, and More Than Human, by Tim Flach (Abrams); Exposed, by Michael Clark (Voices That Matter); The Photographers Guide to Copyright (PhotoShelter and ASMP); The Photographers Right, by Bert P. Krages II; Truth & Lies, by Jillian Edelstein (Granta); the UK Photographers Rights Guide, by Linda Macpherson; and Why Art Photography? by Lucy Soutter (Routledge). Chris Reed provided much valuable help with his legal expertise in reviewing the business chapters, and I also want to thank Rod Wynne-Powell for his technical review of .

For helping me to prepare the video interviews, I would like to thank my assistant, Rob Cadman, who worked with me on all the recordings (additional help on some of the videos came from Selina Jones and Radi Konstantinov). Thanks also go to Loft Studios, Tim White Studios, and Tim Edwards at Plough Studios for use of their studio spaces. And thank you to Sean McCormack for his advice on selecting the most appropriate video equipment. Others who helped with the research and supplied photographs are the Association of Photographers, David Hiser, George Jardine, Christopher Nibley, Camilla Pascucci, and Mike St Maur Sheil.

Most of all, I would like to thank all the individual photographers who agreed to be interviewed by me, let me reproduce their photographs in the book, and generously gave up their time. I couldnt have done this book without them.

In these uncertain times of austerity, the photography industry as a whole has seen a lot of changes, and many photographers are finding it harder than ever to keep their businesses running smoothly. This has been blamed on the recent recession, which has undoubtedly contributed to the problem. But as I found out while researching this book, a lot of what we see going on right now was going to happen anyway. The way technology has popularized photography and brought it into the mainstream has also changed the ways in which images are used and how they are acquired.

I wrote this book because I was interested in exploring the state of the editorial, design, and advertising photography industry as it stands today. I thought the best way to do this would be to talk to experienced photographers who are working in these sectors of the industry and find out how they have managed to maintain successful careers and what advice they would give to those wanting to get started today. I have also drawn upon my own experience as a commercial photographer and summarized here the best ways to set yourself up in business: the stuff thats important, the stuff thats not, and whats best to delegate.

The key points I came across are that professional photographers must be prepared to broaden their skills and that they should specialize. On the face of it, these two statements appear to contradict each other, but the overall message is clear. To have a sustainable career as a photographer you do need to specialize in catering to niche markets that require a high level of knowledge and creative talent, and part of that process will necessarily require you to be skilled in many areas. You need more than a technical knowledge of how to work digitally; you must understand how to market yourself in the digital age as well.

This book has a magazine-style format, which means you can easily dip into any of the different section topics and interviews that take your interest. Ten of the photographer interviews I did have also been recorded as videos. These are around 15 to 20 minutes long, and you can access them via the book website. Or, if you are reading the e-book version, just click on the highlighted links.