Emilie Malcorps is a Nice, France based editorial and corporate photographer. Together we built a new website, highlighting her vibrant, seaside location, as well as a print promotion and email campaign. We also created a new body of lifestyle work shot in Morocco. Emilie has started contacting clients for meetings and has already been given assignments from international magazines who were on her dream clients list.
AI-AP's International Motion Art Awards
Submit by August 30, 2013 for AI-AP's International Motion Art Awards: The Year's Best Photography, Illustration, Animation and Design in Motion. The IMAA2 Call For Entries is OPEN. ENTER HERE.
Winners will be presented in New York at AI-AP's BIG TALK Symposium in November and will be shown at The Party celebrating the launch of American Photography 29 and American Illustration 32.
Check out the winners in last year's premier IMAA collection on The Archive. And check out features on the winners on Motion Arts Pro.
Andy Reynolds Portfolio
I've recently wrapped up editing Andy Reynolds' work for his website relaunch. We created 3 galleries with distinctly different moods. Andy is based in Seattle and works with a variety of commercial and editorial clients who appreciate his quirky concepts and ability to capture every day life with wink.
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New photo competition opportunity
Life Framer is new photo competition Every month Life Framer makes a call for submissions for images that best capture the month's competition theme. Life Framer shortlists their favourite images, then they ask a guest judge (Brian Finke is an upcoming judge) to select their winners, and display them to the world on the Lifeframe website, and at the end of the cycle in a special gallery series in London.
For more information about Life Framer click here.
Guardian Picture Editor on Finding and Hiring Photographers in the US
Caroline Hunter is Deputy Picture Editor of The Guardian's Weekend Magazine which features gorgeous photography. I recently spoke with Caroline about the process of finding and hiring American photographers from her vantage in the U.K. How often are you hiring U.S.-based photographers? We hire U.S. photographers every week. I work on a busy picture desk and we often feature contributors and celebrities who are based in the US. Sometimes it feels as though we commission more photography in that part of the world than anywhere else!
Are you more likely to look for someone who is located in the city you have an assignment in, or to fly someone in who has the perfect style for the story? Does that depend on if it’s a big feature or a smaller front of the book story? Yes, basically if it's a big feature or a cover shoot or a very important subject, we'll almost always use someone that we've used before. If the flights aren't too expensive or the distance too great, we'll often fly someone to a particular location - it's just safer and more reassuring to use someone whose work you know very well. If on the other hand, it's for a smaller feature or a a fairly straightforward shoot/job, we'll always prefer to use a local person. This saves massively on budgets - although the end result can be unpredictable !
Walk us through a typical shoot. You get the story from the editorial team. What comes next? If you don’t have someone in mind, where do you begin your search? What are some of your favorite resources for finding people? How much do you rely on recommendations from colleagues? A typical shoot can work in many different ways. Sometimes we'll have the written copy/feature already. This is the best way to commission as you know exactly what the story is about. Quite often though, I might not know much about the feature as it hasn't been written yet. On other occasions, I might commission a shoot that is part of a much bigger and ongoing feature - which will often change as time goes on. Sometimes it will be a celebrity shoot that will require styling, hair and make-up and location scouting.
I'll discuss the shoot with one of the commissioning editors as well as the Art Director and then will have a think about ideas and photographers. I might do some research on the internet for visual ideas as well as looking at online portfolios. If I don't have someone in mind, I might look at the Wonderful Machine website or recent editorial shoots for other magazines that I like. I'll also have a look through the sites of photographers who have contacted me recently - just to refresh my memory. I like looking at websites like Nowness, which is great for visual ideas. I don't rely too much on recommendations - sometimes it's nicer to discover fresh talent.
How can a US photographer get on the radar of an editor in Europe? Obviously they can’t network with you at parties, and planning trips to show their portfolio can be time and cost prohibitive. With all the noise online, how can they get through to you in a memorable way? I think it's quite hard. The most effective way is a meeting - but I know that this is very tricky and expensive to set up. Photo-festivals are a good way of potentially seeing/contacting many editors/agents in a short space of time - but these too can be expensive. Being located in a city where there isn't much competition and you're a 'big fish' in a small pond is quite a good way to get stand out.
Most of the photographers we use are based in NY and LA - two of the most competitive cities for creatives on the planet ! Having an interesting and consistently high standard of work will ensure your work always stands out - and a well-designed, easy to navigate website is essential. Being well-connected and getting known in certain circles is important too. I often get recommendations from other photographers and editors.
Do you have favorite blogs that you follow to stay up to date on what is happening in the US photo scene? I like looking at the NYT lens blog as well the New Yorker Photo booth, Time magazine and blogs like Flak photo and Lens Culture.
Do you make trips to photo festivals or portfolio review events to meet new photographers? I know in the past a lot of European editors went to Visa pour l’Image and Arles, but it seems like travel budgets aren’t what they used to be. Yes, I regularly attend photo festivals. I find them really energizing. I like doing portfolio reviews as it gives me a chance to meet and spend time with new and existing photographers.
What are some of the trends that you’re seeing when it comes to the kinds of photographers that are getting assigned? Any trends in promos you receive? I get a lot of monthly newsletters (always emailed) from photographers who have just done a shoot or e-zines where they're telling me what they've been up to in the last few weeks. I think the trend for highly retouched, digitally remastered images will be with us for some time. This seems to have replaced the very natural-looking painterly style imagery that was fashionable around a decade ago.
Can you share some pet peeves when it comes to photographers courting you? For a photographer, I think that it's important to know the market that you're pitching to. If you're ringing up a photo editor, agent or art buyer - don't expect them to give you a page-by-page description of their product. You should already know which sections you'd like to contribute to and be able to ask questions and comment on recent work that was featured. It's really no point pitching a lifestyle or travel feature to a magazine that only deals with current affairs. It might sound like commonsense but you'd be amazed at how many times this happens.
Caroline Hunter is a magazine photo editor and Deputy Picture Editor of The Guardian's Weekend Magazine. She has over fifteen years experience of commissioning and art-directing portraits, photo-journalism, celebrity shoots, still-life, interiors, beauty and conceptual photography. Previous to the Guardian, she worked for Time Out London, Emap publications and The Saturday Telegraph magazine.
She has degrees in Fashion Journalism and English Literature from the London College of Fashion and the University of London respectively. She is a regular portfolio reviewer and judge at international photo-festivals. She lives and works in London.
American Youth Exhibition and Book
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Produced the American Youth book, a collection of photographs about young people shot by the photographers of Redux Pictures. The book received a lot of great press, including praise from Readers Digest, The Washington Post, Photo District News, NPR, The Daily Beast, Time.com and numerous photo blogs.
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Organized a traveling exhibition which was shown at The New York Photo Festival, LOOK3 The Festival of the Photograph, The Minneapolis Center for Photography and the Rochester Institute of Technology. Each of these exhibitions generated their own press.
Sarah Lim Website, Print Portfolio and Marketing
Sarah Lim, an Austin-based editorial photographer, contacted me because she was having trouble making sense of her various types of images. She had travel and documentary and lit studio portraits and natural light environmental portraits. There were a lot of strong images among the folders on her hard drive, but they were having a hard time getting along. We started by first talking about the kind of work that she would like to be getting. Then we started editing her work so that it was a bit more focused and showed off her strengths. We announced the revised edits via email newsletters and print promos, and since then Sarah has shown work in her custom print portfolio (which she hand carved her logo into... yes, you read that correctly) to a variety of clients at in person meetings and portfolio reviews.
Since reworking her portfolios she has started working with a much wider range of clients including Texas Monthly, Austin Monthly, The New York Times, AAA, Inked and others. Texas Monthly has been using Sarah since September 2012 for their monthly travel column, The Wanderer.
Sarah was kind enough to share her thoughts on the process:
"Jasmine is fantastic! I was just getting started and didn't know my ass from my elbow, but she kicked me into shape. The very day my first mailer landed on photo editor's desks, I booked my first national magazine job, and I continue to turn to her for professional advice as my career progresses! With her re-organization of my website edits, it's like she saw which direction I wanted to head, better than I could and has been instrumental in not only getting me work, but helping me better understand and narrow my own focus as a young photographer.
Seeing it all put together has in turn helped me hone in on my own style. She's a super nice gal, who's personally invested in the success of her clients. Alone, I couldn't even make headway to get people to return an email, but Jasmine's expert advice has helped me get the gears moving in the direction I want to head."
TheDocumentaryProjectFund
TheDocumentaryProjectFund was founded to help make sure that photographers who want to tell the stories of their communities will be able to do so. TheDPF focuses on those photographers who work within their communities. They may work locally but the issues of community are the same as those faced globally. Looking through the lens of a photographer who is committed to his community will translate to communities everywhere.
Submissions for entry will begin May 15, 2013 and run through June 15, 2013. More information can be found here.
YPA Mentoring Program
Calling all students! YPA has finalized the locations for the 2013 mentoring program & has a total of seventeen teams set up around the world.
The program takes place over the summer beginning June 1st, ending August 15th pairing up students with leading industry professionals. Teams will meet for eight two hour sessions, (days and times to be determined by teams at first meeting).
The results of the program will be featured in an exhibition in NYC and will be prominently displayed to a worldwide audience. You will gain experience and insights from your mentors, create new work for your portfolio, develop professional business skills, and with your team will create a local campaign to promote yourselves and your work.
All teams will work on a common theme this year titled “Escape”. We invite you to explore what the word means to you.
If you are interested in participating, click here for more details – Deadline for applications is May 10th.
Jennifer Whitney's Spring Promo
Jennifer Whitney's spring promo is out, and it's a beautiful custom envelope with four different bodies of work each with its own trifold insert. The themes of each card are: Everyday moments that make up our daily lives, commercial work she shot for Cooking Channel during SXSW 2012, food, and her series on election season called “the vote”, including coverage of RNC 2012 in Tampa.
Video interview with KLRU Collective
klru.org/collective
Turning your love of photography into more than a hobby is not an easy task. With the rise in popularity of apps like Instagram, everyone has the ability to be a photographer, but it takes more than just having the right equipment. We’ve got some tips from Austin professionals at the Texas Photo Roundup on how to "develop" your photography.
Music: "You Belong Here" by LEAGUES
KLRU Collective filmed photographer Kimberly Finkel Davis and me at the Texas Photo Roundup!
I talk about what it takes to be a working professional, and Kimberly visits AgavePrint and Cloverleaf Studio for help with her beautiful print portfolio.
Lissa Gotwals Website
Lissa Gotwals is a Durham, North Carolina-based lifestyle, entertaining and portrait photographer. Her work is full of life and energy, showing the connections that people have between each other, the Earth and the food we grow and eat. Amidst the daily celebrations of life, there are quiet moments that are filled with nostalgia without being overly sentimental. The work feels real and genuine. Her new website puts that work front and center, showing off her great use of color and ease of capturing real moments. In the next few weeks, we'll be sending out a print promo announcing the new work. Stay tuned!
Songs about Photography Playlist
Looking for some musical accompaniment to your days spent at the computer? Tune into my "Songs about Photography" playlist on Spotify. Have any suggestions to add?
Case Study: Hilary Duffy
Hilary Duffy is a New York City-based photographer specializing in photography for NGOs, magazines and corporate social responsibility projects. We created a brand new website for her with a new edit that focused on her strengths in storytelling around the world.
Donna Alberico Website
NYC-based commercial and editorial photographer Donna Alberico came to me looking for help with editing her work for a new website. She has a mix of documentary and portrait work, and needed a way to mix the genres that made sense, felt cohesive but kept the documentary spirit of her work front and center. We decided to center her new website around a variety of galleries, including:
4 documentary projects: Truckers, Autism, Slaughter and Day at the Races 2 galleries centered around themes: Pursuit of Beauty (a fascinating look at the lengths people go to attain beauty, from childhood to adulthood) and Hanging with Celebs (a tongue in cheek look at behind the scenes celebrity culture)
David Maurice Smith Website, Portfolio and Marketing
David Maurice Smith is a Canadian photographer living in Sydney, Australia. He came to me looking to revamp his website and get his work in front of top magazines around the world. Together we reworked his web site edit, created a print portfolio, built targeted mailing lists for the kinds of clients he wanted to reach and created a stunning print promo to send to them.
Feedback from David about the process and results:
2 days after I sent out our first promo which you helped design, structure and create the mailing list for, I got a 7 day travel assignment with Monocle Magazine. They absolutely loved the promo and loved my website which you had helped me restructure. I think there was just a level of consistency that came across in all the work I was presenting in print and digital form that inspired confidence in editors. Since then, I have had several magazines reach out from my newsletters to commission work, and word of mouth jobs through editors that originally heard about my work from my print promo and my email promos.
Overall I think I benefited so, so much from having your eyes help to organize, structure and present my work... The pictures were there, it was just a matter of putting them together in a way that spoke more clearly to the needs of picture editors... it inspired so much confidence going into meetings and sending off work.
Aside from that, the feeling of having a plan was unreal... you spend so much time floating solo as a photographer, doing everything yourself and plugging away. Having you in my corner helping me structure a process of what to do, how to do it and when to do it was invaluable.
Gabriella Marks Website
New website edit for Gabriella Marks, a photographer based in New Mexico. We created a variety of galleries grouped around themes, including: Farm, Table, Portraits and Artisans.
Dennis Burnett
Dennis Burnett recently relocated to Austin from Savannah and was looking for help with editing and presenting his work. We put together three presentations:
- A personal projects book (printed by blurb on their new proline paper with cloth cover)
- An iPad presentation of his editorial work
- An editorial magazine leave behind (printed by magcloud)
- A magazine highlighting the work lifestyle, architectural and interiors work he did for SCAD (also printed by magcloud)
Dennis showed this work at the Texas Photo Roundup portfolio reviews and received very encouraging feedback.
Case Study: Tim Calver
Print promo and coordinated e-promo for Tim Calver, a talented photographer based in the Caribbean who specializes in underwater and hospitality industry photography.
Travel by Handstand Photo Editing
Travel by Handstand is a beautiful app for the iPad that features original photography and writing. As photo editor, I was responsible for all research, licensing and commissioning of photography.
Unfortunately, production halted on the app, but I'm hoping that the smart folks at Handstand come back with something bigger and better in the future. It's a great team of highly creative publishers.
Here are some screenshots from some of my favorite stories, including the Pamir Highway by Matthieu Paley and a commissioned assignment on Charleston by Paul Zoeller.