Elyse Weissberg - Successful Self-Promotion for Photographers: Expose Yourself Properly

The author and editors wish to credit the following people for their contributions to this book:

Emily Vickers; American Association of Advertising; Amanda Sosa Stone; Trudy Comarnitsky; Katie Wacha; ASMP Articles; Peter Skinner; Lucy Raimengia; SI; Steve Fine & James Colton; JoAnn Giaquinto; Carol Brandwein; Andrea Kaye; Heather Duggan; Brewer-Cantelmo; Keith Gentile; SPAR.

Special thanks go to Ted, Sonny, and Hannah Spero; Katie Wacha; and Amanda Sosa Stone.

B orn in Washington, D.C., on April 9, 1956, Elyse Weissberg grew up in New York City and Rockland County, New York. She studied painting at the Rochester Institute of Technology and in 1978 graduated with a degree in fine art. After spending a few years in Washington pursuing her art career, she returned to New York in 1982. The following year she began her career as a photographers representative.

Elyse brought to her work a wonderful personalityshe was sparkling and smartand high standards of professionalism. She was widely respected in the business by photographers and clients alike. Elyse was known for her innovative ideas as she promoted and provided creative consultations to many of the countrys top photographers. She forged strong personal relationships with people throughout the industry and won top accounts for the people she represented.

A strong supporter of industry trade associations, Elyse often gave presentations and seminars. One of the most popular was Expose Yourself Properly: Proven Strategies for Creating a Successful Portfolio and Marketing Plan, which she used as the basis for this book.

After a long illness, Elyse died on July 21, 2001. Everyone in the industry who knew Elyse will remember her generosity and her consistently upbeat attitudeabout her work, about people, and about life in general.

JAMEY STILLINGS

I n March 1987 I started working at an entry-level advertising job as an art buyer at DArcy Masius Benton & Bowles advertising agency. My previous job had been in public relations, and I knew very little about the workings of an ad agency and absolutely nothing about art buying. During that first day on the job I kept busy leafing through photography sourcebooks, trying to familiarize myself with the world of commercial photography.

Just before noon the phone rang. The very friendly person on the other end identified herself as Elyse Weissberg. She said she was a photographers agent and wanted to set up an appointment to show me portfolios. I was a little afraid to meet with Elyse, as I had never met with a photo agent or seen a portfolio. But she sounded warm and kind, and since my calendar was completely open, we planned to meet the next morning. Ill never forget meeting Elyseshe was like a force of nature. She had such genuine enthusiasm and love for what she did. She cared deeply about her photographers, her fellow agents, and the advertising industry. She made me excited to be a part of it all.

Elyse quickly saw my inexperience and decided to take me on as her personal project. She taught me everything I needed to know to be a successful art buyerthe fundamentals of good photography, the technical aspects of lighting, visual aesthetics, the fine art of negotiation, and how to evaluate a photographers work for commercial applications.

Elyse instilled so much confidence in me that after only two years at my first job I pursued a more senior-level art buying job at another agency, Young & Rubicamand got it. I owed a lot of my quick advancement to Elyses tremendous belief in me and to her support. It was also Elyse who was least surprised when, several years later, I was offered the much-coveted position of Manager of the Art Buying Department of the advertising agency Foote, Cone & Belding.

After working as a photographers agent for many years, Elyse expanded her business to include photography consultations. She said she was so often asked to critique photographers portfolios that perhaps she could turn it into a business opportunity. Elyses consulting business was an immediate and huge success. She consulted photographers individually and traveled the United States speaking to large groups about self-promotion, marketing, and artful negotiation. Elyse was also a mentor to photography students, employing one each college semester to work in her office as an intern. Students everywhere clamored to be chosen by her.

One day in March 1999, as I sat at my desk leafing through photography sourcebooks (kind of like that March day twelve years earlier), the phone rang and it was Elyse. But her voice sounded different. She was in front of my office building and needed to see meto tell me something. She had just come from the doctor and had been diagnosed with melanoma, a serious form of skin cancer. At the time, I was certain that there had to be a cure somewhere and that we just had to find the right doctor and the right medicine. Sadly, in spite of Elyses positive outlook and incredible bravery, and the valiant efforts of her family to find a cure, Elyse lost her battle with melanoma on July 21, 2001. Even in Elyses final days, she worked tirelessly on the completion of this book. She had a huge amount of incredible knowledge and wanted to share it with the photographers she might never get to meet.

I was so very fortunate to have met Elyse and to have become her friend. She was an originalthere was no one like her. Elyse had the trust and respect of clients and colleagues alike. We valued her wisdom, her common sense, her honesty, and, most of all, her passion for her profession. I hope that all the photographers who did not have the good fortune to meet with her will find, in this book, the next best thing to their own personal consultation with Elyse Weissbergphoto agent extraordinaire.

Lucy Raimengia, Vice President, Art Buying Manager, Foote, Cone & Belding, New York City

E lyse Weissberg was the best friend a photographer could ever hope to have. She was visual, and knew a good photograph when she saw one, and she was practical, too, and was a real pro at finding a market for a photograph. After many years working as a photographers representative and creative consultant, and speaking at seminars and conferences, she took an often-repeated question to heart. People would ask, Why dont you write a book filled with your ideas for creating portfolios and marketing yourself in the photography business? So Elyse sat down and did just that. She passed away soon after turning in the manuscript to her publisher, but a team of editors and her talented and gracious former assistant Amanda Sosa Stone took over the project from there.