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We're very pleased to announce the launch of the Hotshoe Photographers club in London. The club is now accepting new members.

Launched in association with Photoshot, a leading photo library, and in collaboration with Fast Media Magazine the HotShoe Club is a work/meeting/crash place open only to people who work in photography - photographers, artists, picture researchers, agents and curators.

It's a great place to catch up on work whilst on the run or just to relax amongst peers. The club room which opens in January is fully equipped with wireless internet, docking ports, and workstations and a lounge area with newspapers, photo magazines and a large flat screen TV. In addition, there is a meeting room and a kitchen which is fully stocked with tea, coffee and soft drinks and operates an honesty bar.

Conveniently located in Farringdon, 100 metres from the tube, the Club is above the HotShoe Gallery, one of London’s few dedicated photography galleries, and Photoshot and is also near many bars and restaurants.

Picture: Hotshoe Gallery

There are a number of extra benefits for members:

• Invitations to private views at the HotShoe Gallery

• Free admission to talks and lectures in the HotShoe Gallery

• Free use of club computer equipment & software

• Reduced hire rates for private events in the HotShoe Gallery

• Portfolio dispatch service (extra charges apply)

• Free featured listing in the directory for the first 50 members (value £120)

• 25% discount on premium listings, banners and magazine advertising

• Invitation to Fast Media Magazine events

• Free gallery showcase in regular new members’ articles

Opening times are 10 am to 8 pm. Membership is limited to 500 UK mem-bers and 500 overseas members. UK members are invited to join at the intro-ductory rate of £149 per year (£12.42 per month). Corporate membership (3 cards) is £300 per year. Overseas members are invited to join at the introductory rate of £50 per year. Please email Charles Taylor ([email protected]) to join the club.

The HotShoe Club29 – 31 Saffron HillLondon EC1N 8SW

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http://www.hotshoegallery.com

Welcome to the first edition of Fast Media Magazine. In this magazine it’s all about the business of photography. You can find articles from our test issue, the best content from our site and a number of articles that are unique to this issue. We’ve been up and running for 3 months now and are excited to share these articles with you, in fact, we will soon follow up with more issues on specific subjects.

Over the past months we published hundreds of posts about Stock media on our website. We now have thousands of loyal readers and a number of sponsors that believe in the magazine.

We’ve always wanted to connect to users of Stock media as well and that is why we’ve lauched our benefits program; a simple booklet and code that gives advertisers publishers and corporations a way to save money on their favourite products. Please share this with your colleagues and clients so they can get the deal they deserve as well

Finally, we’re part of a great new photographers members club that launched in London in December. This will also be my office for a couple of days a week. I’m enthusiastic about the opportunity and hope you will like it too.

What I’d really like is your active involvement. The directory is open for your free company entry and the forum is there to connect to everyone in the industry and beyond. With so many things going on I believe there is a lot to learn from colleagues, clients, contacts and everyone involved with stock media.

And if you have something you’d like us to write about, just send a quick email and we will do our best to make it happen.

Marco Oonk, [email protected]

Introduction


Not all Stock photography production companies are struggling through the recession or suffer from ever more aggressive pricing demands from clients. Maskot, a Swedish niche photography producer that set up business in 2003 is having a good year. Co-founder Per Levander says this is because they stayed true to the niche they chose 5 years ago.

By not giving in to shortcuts, taking things slowly and choosing hard work over big investments Per and co-founder Mattias Drotte built a company from scratch that is now the leading producer of Scandinavian Royalty Free photography.... And it’s growing too. I talked to Per to find out how this company managed to overcome challenges and pressures on the Stock photography industry Worldwide.

Small market, big salesHow sticking to a niche brought Maskott success

http://www.maskot.se

http://www.maskot.se

When did you start the business?

In 2003, at that time there was no Swedish RF content at all. The RF licensing model in general was quite new in Sweden Our product was very well received, we got a great response immediately. We started with a very small collection. We didn’t realise how small it really was and today we wouldn’t have started with a collection of that size. We didn’t even have 2000 images! Because the need for this type of imagery was huge we made it anyway and sold an image on the first day.

Who shot the images?

We had a couple of photographers doing shoots for us. We didn’t have a huge investment to make so we used people we knew as models and worked with friends that were photographers. Nobody got any money in advance. We knew what would sell because we had been in the industry for a long time. We then went to the shoots to guide the photographers about what to shoot and how to set things up.

What happened next?

We decided to focus on one category and this was business. Most content was very American and this didn’t work in Sweden so there was an opportunity. Even today we have customers that know us for these business images, even though we have more lifestyle now. We launched the business catalogue first to get depth in one category rather than 4 pictures here and 10 there.

How did you start selling, did you sell directly or indirect?

We only sold directly. This is a very small market with a big demand for local con-tent. We had our own direct sales web-site and we’re still doing direct sales in Sweden. This is the only country where we do this. The other Nordic countries had the same issues as Sweden (ed. The need for local content). I don’t remember when we started selling through other Scandinavian distributors but it was pretty soon. Let’s say after half a year. We started doing direct marketing and outbound calls. There was just the two of us in the beginning. We did it all, we were on shoots, did the sales...we were very busy.

Did you have no money at all when you started?

We only had our savings. When I look back at it I think we would have never done it today but we believed in the product so much. We knew people were going to buy it because they were constantly asking for it. I am proud of building the business from scratch. The first year we worked day and night to build the collection.

Do you have a distribution network now beyond the Nordic region?

Yes, we only had Nordic distributors in the beginning. We have a much bigger network now. We were doing really good so after a while we started to reach out to other markets and saw directly we were doing really well. We had great

sales in comparison to the amount of images in the collection. It’s really fun to see how a niche brand can work so well internationally. We did especially well in Germany but we sell images anywhere, even in South Korea and Brasil.

What is the split direct versus indirect sales?

It’s about 60/40 in favour of the resellers. The resellers are the biggest growing market for us. We have been focussing more on resellers now that the Swedish market is pretty set. We’ve been pretty careful and selective though. We sell better when we go through a reseller that does a lot of editing for example.

Did you stay true to your original ideas when you started to generate revenue?

Yes, we have been picky when choosing models for example. We do more shoots and sometimes we can have bigger locations and sets but we still keep the cost in mind

How big is the collection now?

It is a little over 12.000, it’s still pretty small. About 50% of it is wholly owned by us.

How many photographers do you have?

About 40, and they’re all in Sweden. The content they shoot is Swedish. That doesn’t necessarily mean a red wooden house, it’s more about the style.

Locations, offices and houses need to be recognisable of course but it’s also about the style of the imagery. It’s more bright, more real life and not too staged.

How did the team develop?

We’re 4 people now. We started in a photostudio with a couple of photographers and we worked closely with them. We made our calls directly from the studio. This made us pretty fast; we tried to listen closely to our customers and could respond to their needs. If they needed something special we could produce it pretty fast. We could shoot on demand and still do that sometimes. Now we have an office in the city centre of Stockholm and we plan to stay here for a while. We almost always shoot on location so where we are now is better because we can use the offices in the building. Mattias and I are now focussing more on production and the expanding distribution network the other part of our team is doing sales and production.

How do you find your locations?

We use our own network a lot and use social media to find models and locations. We pay for locations sometimes but not that much. You’d be surprised at how many times we can get locations for free. It’s about just asking the question. When we started we had to ask for things for free, this stayed with us and is still working.

“...the fact that we are a niche brand is working in our favor.”

How is the business doing?

We’ve been doing very well. Obviously everybody is talking about the crisis but we’ve been doing well so far, we’re actually doing better than last year. I think the fact that we are a niche brand is working in our favor. We’re also not too dependent on the resellers still expanding our network and direct sales are still growing.

Any issues with pricing?

There’s not too much pressures on us. We don’t have many clients asking for discount. Of course we don’t know how

many clients we’re losing that simply don’t call though. Resellers are always mentioning it but we don’t hear it too much in direct sales.

What makes you successful?

We don’t sign on everyone to sell our images. Some people think that’s crazy but we try to be selective. We also edit our collection pretty hard. When we shoot and when we put our images online we want it to be a tight edited collection. When we started the image of Royalty Free was that is was really cheap and solely sold on disc we wanted to change that, we wanted it to be like

Like most agencies the company started by taking pictures of friends, family and ex-collegues (in this case one of the models is an ex-Getty Images Director)

rights managed. The quality shouldn’t be different just because the licensing model was. That perception has now changed a lot in Sweden.

We’re a small company and stay true to our niche. We don’t sell any other brands here in Sweden because we don’t want to mix up the profile.

Any other things that separate you?

Quality RF, a tight production process and we can work pretty fast. We also work very cost effectively. We literally started with four hands because there was not much money. We know how to keep the quality high, having a high production rate while spending less money than other companies.

What are your plans for next year?

The plan is to focus more on production. We still believe in the product and the niche. It is important to stay true to this. It would be stupid to try and compete with generic brands. We also don’t have plans to launch microstock or anything like that. It would be hard to compete and personally I just don’t want it. We will stay true to our business model of Scandinavian RF images and not be tempted to shift focus. It could have been easy to take on other brands but that would have made us more generic and also less needed.

I’m also planning to go to New York shortly for 3 months. I just want to spend some time there. Mattias went to

Australia last year for 3 months as well. It’s great that it is possible to be that flexible now, to do business from anywhere in the world.

What would you have done differ-ently?

I would have probably started with a bigger collection and expand internationally earlier.

What are you most proud of?

That we started from scratch and got established pretty soon as the Scandinavian RF brand and are still leading in that area. Finally I’m proud that we stayed true to our product. People are glad to find something that is different.

“I’m proud that we stayed true to our product.”

It’s not just about have that special ‘eye’ for seeing things. Knowing yourself, having your inspiration sorted and managing your social skills may be at least as important says Lewis Blackwell in this interview about his latest book; Photowisdom: Great Photographers On Their Art.

In my interview with Lewis he share what makes good photographers great and his personal highlights from the talks with the photographers that tell their stories in the book.

PhotowisdomLewis Blackwell on his latest book

“Warning, this occupation eats your soul”

Photowisdom features commentaries from original interviews with world-leading photographers alongside exquisite reproductions of key images chosen by the artists themselves.The result is an unprecedented collection of 200 images showcasing each master photographer’s work and their unique voice. Featured photographers include Steve Bloom, Albert Watson, Stephen Shore, Tim Flach, David Goldblatt, Joel Meyerowitz, Chuck Close, David LaChapelle and Nadav Kander.

The book will support a project with award-winning charity PhotoVoice to help children in rural Afghanistan express their concerns, and grasp opportunities through photography.

What do you believe makes a good photographer great?

Having something different to say that is important to other people, and not just for one day, or one issue of a magazine, but is of a lasting value… and being able to say it in a unique and remarkable visual way. That could be documenting, or could be pure invention. But you must take your images to a place that has not been achieved before and yet is relevant to our social and artistic devel-opment.

Is there a particular reason for selecting this specific group of photographers for this book?

I wanted photographers that could represent the range of photography – art, photojournalism, conceptual, portraiture, etc. And I wanted individuals with substantial experience, but not always of the older generation. And I wanted it to be very diverse in cultural origin. I achieved some of these objectives better than others. And, of course, I would love to do another book with yet more photographers… there are more out there I admire!

Do you feel that most of the photographers in the book and in your network are self-taught or is there a solid basis of training at the foundation of great photography?

You can be self-taught – the technology is certainly not so demanding that you couldn’t master it by a fair bit of trial and error and by assisting. But that is not the same as being uneducated… one way or other, a great photographer has a great knowledge of the medium.

Stephen Shore, for example, an icon of photography and for many years now an academic, was pretty much a self-taught child prodigy, emerging from the darkroom to go and hang out with Warhol at The Factory as a teenager. He is incredibly learned around the history and theory of photography.

Elliott Erwitt picked up a camera in his tender years and took pictures, made friends and money with it, took some more and kept on going. David Doubilet loved scuba diving perhaps first and foremost, and so he took pictures to record what he saw from the age of 12 – now he has a remarkable, pioneering, archive of underwater photography; Howard Schatz trained and for many years worked as a retinal physician and then one year his part-time passion of photography took the lead. The evidence suggests that whether you have a conventional college education or not, you must be on a constant programme of education, of self-improve-ment, of asking new challenging questions of yourself.

How did the story for the book unfold? Did you start with one interview or did you work from a masterplan or vision from the start?

A bit of both – there was an initial list. But as interviews took place this evolved the prioritising of who might best add something to the mix in the later interviews that were done.

Do luck and circumstances play a role in some of the stories?

Luck and circumstance explains great parts of all of our lives. Perhaps what makes for the most outstanding achievements are where people work hardest to overcome the random nature of things, who, in a way, make their own luck just a little. That certainly unites the participants in Photowisdom – they get themselves into the situations where interesting images can happen, and they are skilled to take advantage of those situations.

Do you have any personal favourite photographs in Photowisdom? And if you do, can you describe what draws you to these pictures?

Obviously I stand fully behind anything in the book, but my favourites just now are those photographers I knew less about before doing the project, or those who were the most enjoyable to interview. It is invidious to pick out names because I appreciate all the participants but here are three examples, just to be specific.

Arno Rafael Minkkinen was a charming man to talk with and impresses for his single-minded pursuit of something very personal over so many years;

Ami Vitale, one of the youngest in the book, impresses as a photojournalist who bravely carves a lone trajectory, making stunning images while inquiring into difficult subjects.

David Goldblatt couples a searing documentary vision with an artist’s sensibility to make pictures that amuse at the same time as they horrify. All are, notably, non-commercial in their pursuits.

Then there are 47 other favourites…

I’ve heard from several photographers that art has been an influence. Steve Bloom, in your interview with him, says Picasso taught him to be less inhibited in his photographic seeing. Do you think it’s important for photographers to appreciate and understand art?

It is hard to imagine a great photographer not having a strong appreciation of art. I have never come across one. You might be a little naïve of art history, but you have to be passionately interested in visual depiction and so inevitably you will draw ideas from any fine art you view.

What was the most surprising quote a photographer gave you about his work?

These questions are getting very hard. Again, so many answers are possible. So just one example, which you might struggle to understand why I was surprised, but I was:

Massimo Vitali unlocked a lot of understanding for me of his work, of his famous ongoing series of beach images, when he explained that he was inspired to start the work by wanting to see and record in some way the people – his fellow Italians – who had voted Silvio Berlusconi into power. That was back in 1995 and Berlusconi is the prime minister today, even less fit for such an office than we might have thought then!

Everything is political, we know, but suddenly this remarkable series of large-format images of crowded beaches became for me an even more searing statement of the human condition, of the human animal. Look at the scenes – their multiple tableaux of families, lovers, children, workers, pensioners, etc. – and you see yourself a little differently. With Massimo’s explanation, I was all the more critical and yet in empathy with the peo-ple portrayed.

Has the career of most photographers been linear or is it generally more eratic?

I think there is much that is linear – you need to work at it in various ways as I have said before. But then often comes

that opportunity, that breakthrough idea or commission or experience, that takes the work on to another level. And then it can go the other way; work can dry up, inspiration can be blocked, or even a great piece of work can be ahead of its time.

Is there a single overriding message from the photographers you spoke to for Photowisdom?

One message? Beware: this occupation eats your soul!

Actually there are many key messages that can be found across the great photographers interviewed in Photowisdom. I will shrink it to three.

Firstly, you need to know yourself, know your own unique qualities enough to make a difference in what images you set out to create.

Secondly, having got the inspiration sorted, you are going to need to add the 99 per cent of perspiration… it is clear that if you want to have more than the odd lucky good picture, you are going to have work ceaselessly to invent and reinvent your work.

Thirdly, it really helps to have some social skills – you might not actually be a very nice person, but as you are usually dealing with people as subjects or as commissioners of the images, you will succeed more if you can charm your way into the opportunities. I think that final point will be debated, but I am sure that the photographers whose careers last

maintain that ability to arrive in situations that give photo opportunities. I have known very talented photographers who are crippled by their incompetence in relating to other people. The Photowisdom participants displayed a very wide range of sophisticated com-munication and interaction skills – not necessarily charming, but effective.

Finally, one thing I haven’t mentioned is the visual talent, that special ‘eye’ for see-ing things. Of course, that is important – but some very good photographers get away without having the most outstand-ing eye and compensate with the other three factors. They learn, borrow and synthesise aspects of what they don’t have through hard work.

I should also emphasise that it doesn’t require any great genius to state these messages – the genius comes in how you apply yourself to the insights. And that is what all my nterviewees in various ways have done or are doing.

“I have known very talented photographers who are crippled by their incompetence in relating to other people”

Lewis Blackwell is the author of the recently published Photowisdom: Great Photog-raphers On Their Art (Chronicle, $50/£35). S

Lewis was for many years the group creative director of Getty Images, where he led a transformation in the qualities and range of stock photography; prior to that he was the Editor and Publisher of Creative Review magazine. He is the editor-at-large for the publishers PQ Blackwell, where he has several other titles in development. One book attracting wide interest is his Life&Love of Trees. His other activities include strategic leadership for several commercial and non-profit organisations. [email protected]

Deb Hendersoninterviews Chris Buck

Getting people in front of the camera

http://www.chrisbuck.com

Getting people in front of the camera


You are hugely successful at getting famous people to try something different and humorous for their portraits. Have you got a favourite story of somebody you thought would be difficult to work with but turned out to be great fun?

It’s far more typical for a subject to be less keen that you expect (or hope) but occasionally a sitter will surprise me and be super open and excited.

From "All Fours" © Chris Buck 2009

Deb Henderson was inspired by a 2008 interview on Rob Haggarts photoeditor Blog and caught up with Chris Buck. A 20 year veteran he was the first recipient of the Arnold Newman portrait price in 2007. He is now based in New York and Los Angeles

My favorite story along these lines was when I shot Casey Affleck. Although he was an ambitious young actor, he also genuinely wanted to do creative work, and that extended to his portrait sessions. Luckily I took the shoot seriously enough to do a number of different and odd set-ups but I wasn’t prepared for how far he wanted to go. By the end of the shoot he was sitting on my bed, with his shirt off, telling me that he wanted us to do some avant-garde shots of him making out with a girl. And he was pretty much open to any girl I could provide on the spot. Boy, was my office manager disappointed that she didn’t come in that day.

I know you’re a big music fan - have you had the chance to meet a lot of your heros/idols? Is there anyone you are still waiting to work with?

Having the chance to do a full sitting with Leonard Cohen was a big treat for me. He’s a national treasure in my homeland of Canada and I listened to him obsessively from my university years onward. I had always been inspired by his life as well as his music so when he invited my assistant and I to stay for a Jewish deli lunch after our shoot it was really a dream come true. He made me a pastrami on rye sandwich, with a side of chopped chicken liver (now a staple for me).

I continue to be a fan of new music, and I’ve had the blessing of having done sessions with many of my favorite artists. But my favorite contemporary artists that I’d like to shoot with would

© Chris Buck

be M.I.A., Tegan & Sara, Art Brut, LCD Soundsystem, Ben Folds and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Of the older, legendary artists I’d love to do proper sittings with Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Burt Bacharach, Chuck Berry, Peter Gabriel, Tom Jones and Madonna.

Guardian’s Weekend Magazine and The Wire. I do enjoy visiting London and touring around (the Freud Museum is fascinating) but what mostly brings it alive for me is visiting with friends there.

You have photographed George W Bush in the past. If you were able to capture him any way you wanted what would be the scenario?

I think that President Bush is a more complicated man than most people take him as. Having met him shortly before he took office I found it frustrating throughout his term that most people misjudged him so far off base. I’m not saying that one has to like him, or his policy decisions, but to dismiss him as a simpleton or a puppet is just not accurate to reality, to my thinking.

I got the sense that the President was more emotionally affected by the turmoil of his years in office, and his connections to the events of the time, than he let on publicly. I am curious as to how it felt to be him as some of the darker times of his presidency.

I made a portrait with a President Bush look-alike in 2006 and it showed something of my take on him at the time. It’s part of a series that I shot of celebrity look-alikes called ISN’T, it will be fully released to the public this spring.

© Chris Buck

Your work is full of humour which is very British I think. Do you ever come over this side of the pond for work? What do you think of London?

I’m flattered that you see British humor in photography, as I am a fan of much of your comedy. I grew up watching Monty Python and enjoy recent shows like The Office (sorry, I can’t watch the American version after seeing the English series). What I like most about it is the dryness of the best of it. Growing up in Canada one gets a healthy splash of Britishness and it makes me stand out a little work-ing in the US market.

I do shoot for some UK based publications but usually only in the US. I’m a regular contributor to The

What is your most memorable experience from starting out good or bad?

What stands out from my early days is how badly many subjects treated me when I was trying to take their photo – insults and disdain. It may have been

© Chris Buck

“I am curious as to how it felt to be him as some of the darker times of his presidency“

because I was young and anxious, or it might have been the large amount of drugs that my sitters were taking.

Can you tell us about your latest assignment?

I recently had the chance to photograph Nigella Lawson for the Guardian Weekend. She’s not as well known here as she is in Britain but my wife works for a restaurant guide so she told me all about her. Having spent a little time with her I can see why people are so fascinated with her – aside from being stunning looking she’s quite thoughtful in her viewpoints.Having achieved so much in your career - what else would you like to accomplish? What’s next for Chris Buck?

I would like to continue shooting my style but with bigger names. I often find the more obscure people more interest-ing, but I won’t really be able to get my point of view out there unless I can make portraits of more household names.

Check out more of Chris Buck’s portfolio www.chrisbuck.com. Thanks to Chris Buck and Deb Henderson who conducted the interview for Moodboard.

This interview was was originally pub-lished by Moodboard for the factory. in May 2009.

(http://thefactory.moodboard.com)

“I would like to continue shooting my style but with bigger names”


In November 2009 I conducted a small survey. I asked photographers one question:

What is the single most important thing that makes you a better or more successful photographer.

I recieved a large number of responses on our site, via linked-in and through email. Here are all the answers in one place, organised in 8 categories: Values, attitude, technique, analysis, training, equipment, networking and business.

It’s become quite an eclectic mix of tips among peers. It becomes clear that photographers do share some opinions with some of the leaders in the filed, as Lewis Blackwell found out in his Photowisdom interviews.

What makes photographers successful? Optinions among peerS

Stock Exchange | Horse | Sue Byford

http://www.fastmediamagazine.com/?p=2053

ValuesInstead of documenting the event, I helped rescue personnel by holding an IV bag and lifting a victim into the ambulance. It was then I learned to look beyond the obvious but search the scene for better story telling moments. | Paul Conrad

I’ve been at this almost 40 years. I’m nice to everyone I work with and have no intention of finishing last. By maintaining a sense of discovery in my work my passion for photography infects those around me. I’ve learned not to be afraid to say, “I don’t know,” or “Please help,” and I return the favor whenever I can. | Douglas Hill

Stay Humble & Remember where you have come from! | Rob Morton

AttitudeResigning my job at a commercial photography studio back home and have the courage to leave all behind and come to the capital work as an assistant photographer in the fashion industry. I’ve learn more in a few months than in more than a year photographing weddings and stuff like that. | Filipe Serralheiro

Coming back to photography. Having started as a medical photographer in mid 1980s and moving to wedding/portraits in the early 1990, I took time out from photography to spend quality time with the family, while they were young and growing up. Now they (children) have a keen interest in this arena and have encouraged me to take up photography again. Hence,here I am.. | Dinendra Haria

There was a key moment at the beginning of my transition from assisting to shooting for myself where I was at a party with lots of ad folks and I decided to take myself seriously, and I presented myself that way. I got my first ad gig from those connections. | Rose Callahan

Shoot more images. When shooting often I tend to need to challenge myself more and therefore tend to push my own limits. The second most important thing is to remember that I don’t know it all and there is a lot to learn. | Michael J. Albany

Study light. Unrepentedly delete. Compare lens work with same subject. Study collection holdings. Test extremes; press limitations. Search for beauty in imperfection. Know art. Sing Mahler, Strauss, Wagner. Become lost in music again. Break insect studies into short intense rounds with substantial breaks. Vary work tasks. Never press mental fatigue. | Mary C Legg

The single besLook at art, real art, on a regular basis.Whether or not it’s photography (and it’s sometimes better if it isn’t), having a library of images in your subconscious can’t help but make you better, the same way having a better vocabulary gives your more choices for expression as a writer | Eric Charles

The single most important thing that I have done to make myself a more successful photographer is to continue to believe that I have what it takes to make my photographic dreams come true! | Cynthia Sperko

To be extremely critical of one’s own work, no matter if the clients love it. Ask yourself if you could have done a better job, did you cut corners, should you have taken more time? Leave your ego out of every shoot and away when you evaluate the results. | Roel Loopers

Amidst all the talented competition that comes with being a photographer, having faith in myself as someone with an original point of view, and the confidence to tell others they should hire me because of it.| Brandee Lucas

The most important lesson that I have learned is to effectively edit galleries down to what is most engaging, unique and conveys my own vision different from what an editor can find from Generic Stock Agency | John Lander

The most important thing I have learned is to see. I was taught to be observant by my first drawing and painting teacher. The camera does nothing without the eyes first seeing. Light, color, composition, content. | Curt Dennison

The most important thing I have done to be a better photographer is to do only the works I love | Valentí Zapater

“Took a risky year to photograph and write about RAF’s aerobatic team, without money or outlet for resulting book. Fought to have it published then gave one copy to an admired writer. Two more books later with him it’s changed peoples’ perception of my photography. Some risks work.” | Richard Baker

The single most important thing that makes me – you a better photographer is the most simple, and the most difficult one: OPEN YOUR EYES | Anno Pieterse

Constantly pushing myself out of the comfort zone | Alex Maxim

The most important thing I have done and continue to do is after getting the “shot” make sure and look around at another way to get the “shot”. That and shoot, shoot, shoot! | Skip Nall

To get better I’d say to simply keep taking more pictures and trying new things. To an extent success, depending on how it is defined, can follow by getting your good im-ages out there and seen| F57

Routine by its nature can easily lead to stagnation. When that happens, we need to look for ways to mix it up a bit, to find inspiration that will help us see our own image-making worlds in new ways | Gerry Thies

Richard Avedon once gave one of my clients one piece of advice and one only to be-come a respected photographer: ALWAYS stick to your guns. If you believe in it, they will too | Martin Mac Gibbon

Take more and more….. and more photographs. Then look back at your older photo-graphs and see how you’ve improved. More successful : don’t photographHone down the vision. Photography taken with a vision or an idea makes the work look so much more interesting rather than seeing something that was just a shutter and a person pressing the release | Jaymes Leavitt

Making a commitment to doing personal work - shooting what I love rather than what I get paid for, to keep the artist alive! This year it was grizzly bears! | Kay Beaton

Stock Exchange | Spanish Landscape | Kate Wanless

TechniqueWhat made me better was the notion that a modern-day advertising and fashion photographer is more like a director. He (or she) is the one who makes everything come together at the right time and makes his (or her) team perform 200% from pre- to postproduction.| Mark van Vugt Photography

Since August 2008, I’ve forced myself to use manual settings 99% of the time. This has taught me so much. I highly recommend it! If you haven’t gone that route, once you do, you’ll know what I mean. | Donal Pearce

First, I started using manual settings again — or almost exclusively. I’m not a fulltime photographer, I’m a writer/editor with a great passion and good eye for photography who sells some prints, so had gotten lazy when I switched to digital from film since my D70’s modes worked so well for general shots | Madelyn Bonnett

18 years ago I started out with a Sinar P 4X5. I built a a darkroom and startedprocessing my own film [B/W,Color & Transparency] in a JOBO ALT 2 Plus. That showed me the possibilities of film. I took that knowledge base and built a digital framework that I’m still using today. | Bob Still

In shooting, shoot like there never was such things as auto,program etc.Shoot manu-ally and know your gear like the back of your hand. Check your viewfinder and then check it again. be meticulous. | Alan Rosenberg

The turning point for me was learning to work with a large-format camera. The inverted view helped me to learn to see better. That got me out shooting more, and since then my photography has improved considerably. I am still learning, naturally; I’ve only been at it for about five years now. | Rakesh Malik

Try to look around and catch the most interesting in my surroundings. Then I freeze the moment and time in one sharge image.| kombizz kashani

Learning to see, being in the right lighting conditions for the shot you want, and ruthless editing. If you can’t see the image before you shoot it, the chance of getting a good image isn’t high. Keep returning if the light doesn’t play. Don’t show the ones that you’re not happy with. | Chiz Dakin

Stock Exchange | Water droplet | PJorge Uzcatequi

AnalysisCarefully analyze what works and more importantly what doesn’t work in yourimages. | Dean Birinyi

The most important thing in stockphotography is to know WHAT you’re photographing. I’m selling because I know more about the backgrounds and I mostly have the right names attached. It didn’t make me a better photographer, but it made me a better selling photographer in this overcrowded part of the stock spectrum.| Martin Stevens

TrainingContinuing Education – the more I can learn from my fellow photographers on an on-going basis the better I become. It may not be a single thing – as each person brings something new and different, but it is absolutely the most important in my book | Georgeann Chambers

worked as a printer for 2 years in a custom black and white lab. Had to print volume, good negs, bad negs, all kinds of subjects. I learned to guess the correct exposure just by looking at a neg. translates to exposing in camera, never needed a light meter again. | Nancy Ostertag

I first learned in a wet darkroom, shooting and developing film, using that knowledge in the digital darkroom, really has made a difference. I also shoot on a regular basis and continue to challenge myself to try new ideas since I don’t have the support system of my classmates anymore now that I have graduated. | Monika Wertman

I joined and got involved with ASMP…American Soicety of Media Photographers.There I learned about the business of photography,met others who helped and influenced me and still do. I also attend seminars and keep up on new techniques and groups. | Matthew Pace

Create a personal project that sound like what your dream contract would be and determine criterias you want to respect. Ask a more experienced visual artist to comment your work and repeat until you improve. | Geoffrey Lemieux

Plain old experience. I learn something new every time I shoot. Lighting, modelling, post processing and more. I am always looking to photograph daily things in our life that we may take for granted. Learning to capture simplistic things and strike an emo-tion within someone who looks at my image | Diana Proemm

Stock Exchange | Burning Mike | Rawku5

The Images in this feature are all from Stock Exchange (www.sxc.hu). I frequently use iamges from this site and thank the shooters for their contributions.

I have been shooting for over 35 years, mostly freelance, now full time. I never get to a point where I think I cannot grow. I still attend a local university and take photographic courses. It tunes yours skills and the reviews can be humbling and make you strive for even higher levels. | Steve Rossini

20 years ago, I was assistant for an artist photographer one year about. Now:restarting to learn from the blogs trying to rebuild my career in a critical economy. | Flavio Massari

I have acquired enough knowledge of photography to be able to recognize the mistakes I am making, and to know (or to know how to find out) how to rectify them. | Stephen Power

Staying eager to learn, and then to learn. Then one can hope to be better… | Adam James

The one thing that has helped me as a photographer is to seek out the advice of other photographers that have done what I am doing | Jacob Ward

A portfolio review at the International Centre for Photography in New York was the turning point for me as a photography. It allowed me to look at my own work from an editors critical point of view. | Doreen Kennedy

Read every morning: ScottKelby.com, Joemcnally.com/blog and fall in love with my D300s so constantly shoot recheck, shoot recheck.| Dwayne Tucker

EquipmentCover a gig armed only with a 50mm f1.8 lens & a 512mb card! You have to make every shot count, and without the luxury of zoom or a wide angle view, you need to work hard to get the shot! | Nick Pickles

Left half my gear at home. took a 5d, 24-70 and 2 fashguns | Mark Bradford

Using a tripod for 99.9% of my shooting. Not only does a tripod keep the camera still enough to produce amazingly sharp images, it helps me slow down and look “outside” the camera photographically. | Cynthia Sperko

NetworkingThis year saw my first Westend Solo show, I raise 8,900 for charity from the sale of Autumn Light. It was the centrepiece of the show and is dedicatedin the memory of my natural father, Antonio Senezio.| David Hall

While at Boston University I left spring break in Key West, FL early to come back up to Glen Falls, NY to shoot a basketball tournament with a professor. I shot the entire tournament with a Nikon D80 with a 50mm f/1.4. I met a lot of good people. The connections since have been priceless. | Nick Welles

In business, network! network! network! get involved,donate, volunteer, a pro-bono gig will often pay you back in spades Be your own bigest critic, always giver your best. Your only as good as your job. | Alan Rosenberg

Find someone you respect as a person as well as a photography professional to co-operate with. Make sure you aren’t a parasite, give as much support, feedback and inspiration as you recive! | Per-Erik Nilsson

I have it is not what you know but who you know. Success is a contact sport | Daniel Posner

Networking, patience, persistance, and creating your own niche. You have to think "outside of the box" and be different from the rest. I still working on being successful. | James Coleman

Sitting in on print competitions at Professional Photographers of Greater NY opened my work with new ways to capture, print, present and play an image combined with workshops by John Woodward, Jay Maisel, Vince Versace. | Alex Wolff

BusinessCreate a clean and simple web site, which serves as a public portfolio and has lots of tags to come up in searches | Juan Laden

My big life changer right now is the launch of my new photographer marketing relay business http://www.ukportraitgroup.co.uk which provides fee paying wedding and portrait clients to qualified photographers | Andrew Eldridge Lmpa

I found that after reading loads on product photography, must did not work. In the end good light blubs made a significant difference. I would advise “new photogra-

phers” to make small investment and try stuff out without buying all the latest gadg-ets that are reviewed and advertised in all the mags. | Nilesh Patel

Keep it simple. Staying relevant, both creatively and technically.Consistently understanding the needs of the client. | James Levin

I photographed for free – it was a great way to not only build my portfolio but also make some great connections. Working in the event planning industry also helped me become a better event photographer, with an eye for capturing the smaller, yet (much more) vital aspects of any production. | Parveen Desa

As in all walks of life… whatever it is, be it corporate lawyer, politician or photographer…. you have to sell yourself | Charles Briscoe-Knight

Developing a long term clientele and seeking out the short term clients that become long term clients | Jay Rosenblatt

understanding my clients’ needs, learning the business side of our profession, and understanding the importance of a good website designed and maintained for Search Engine Optimization | Don B. Stevenson

Start submitting photos to online stock libraries. If your technique isn’t up to snuff, you’ll get feedback very quickly (in the form of QC rejections). This won’t improve your

I keep my clients relaxed and comfortable, allowing them to shine rather than feel nervous in front of the camera. I use lots of ’social lubricant’: Please, Thank You, You’re Welcome, Can I Get You Something? | Nataraj Hauser

Understand what are the real need of the client and delivering as soon as possible. | Tomeu Ozonas

Learn the technical stuff. Learn to see the whole picture. | Chuck Luciano

Stop shooting for editorial clients. 90 to 120 days to pay their already insultingly low rates, meh! Moved on, got better paying work and higher end clients and my business is now more successful than ever. | Asher Canon Kingsley III

whatever just happens to be in front of you, anyone can one do that with the right conditions ; apply you own creativity | Darryl Webb

The thought process and creativity are something that can only be learnt through trial and error , so for me the brain is the most important tool along with your own creativity | Stephen D Bryan

Learn everything from the client about a potential assignment. Key words: Service, Quality, Value and Experience | Jerry Swanson

Stock Exchange | Airplane | Pavel Jadlicka

Extolling the merits of the wandering photographer.A column by Gerry Thies

Copyright Jim Vechi

The self-financing contributing photographer is undoubtably one of the biggest image asset groups to any agency. Within this base of photographers there is a select pack that I like to refer to as the wandering photographer. It is in their DNA to work with a nomadic sensibility. Armed with time, camera and their unique perspective, they canvas the world to capture images that can speak specifically to a culture, to an environment and especially in these times to an economy. On a day-to-day basis they are one with their environment, documenting and preserving a way of life many of us wouldn’t have the chance to see firsthand. Their images play with our emotions and give us new understandings. The wandering photographer adds an element that no art director can plan. For some being a wandering photographer is inherently their modus operandi. Other photographers intermix their normal daily shooting routine with a planned diversion that may for instance include a 3 month zigzag secondary road trip across the United States.

One such fully nomadic wandering photographer is Jim Vecchi. Jim’s nomadic adventures take him throughout his Tuscany landscape, venturing as well to India and the United States. Most of Jim’s photographs are devoid of people, almost like a land forgotten or slowed down by progress, yet we can see the struggle and determination to carry on and move forward. His images show us there is intrigue in the commonplace.

Whatever the impetus for the nomadic travels, the resulting images, as unplanned ahead of time as they may be, bring us closer to the varied existences on our planet. So let your photographers wander. Let them seek the quirky, record the beautifully mundane and present us a world in its everyday splendor.

Gerry Thies is a photography consultant and artist. He worked at Corbis as VP Director of photography for 6 years and has held various creative roles in the industry. www.gerrythies.com

http://www.gerrythies.com

Copyright Jim Vechi

Great learningsWhen I finished the interview with Lewis Blackwell about Photowisdom we talked a bit more about how the lessons from these great photographers can be applied by others. These questions to Lewis are featured exclusively in this magazine and have not been posted previously.

What type of photography impresses you most?

There are single images that just blow me away. That happens often, ideally on a daily basis – and I almost achieve that given my work. It is a great inspiration and reward in life , to be able to explore visually so much, and to be required to look closer. At one level, that initial impact is enough to expect of a photograph.

But the work that really impresses me in the long-haul is where somebody has taken a lot of risk, has really committed themselves all-in and with immense skill to pull off something that is not a lucky shot, not a fortunate commission, but is a great, inspiring, considered statement... and perhaps works as part of a set of images, over time, to say and do a lot. Images, photographic evidence and exploration, can help change the way we see our world and what we go on to make happen.

If as a photographer you can change society a little, then you truly have a place in history. And that doesn't necessarily mean being a documentarist; creative images can also reveal and provoke and motivate action. For example, I think David LaChapelle might be just reaching that point in his career. Interviewing him was a real surprise and a pleasure. I think, I hope, there is a whole other phase of his work to come.

You’ve been seeing and judging a lot of photography over the years. Have there been any surprise discoveries?

I think that's why photography competitions are worthwhile – the real value is not to praise the established stars, albeit that is often what happens. They work best when they pull out the odd image that opens our eyes, or showcase a portfolio of somebody unknown who has been quietly beavering away with real passion and talent for ages. Perhaps my greatest judg-ing pleasure has come with an event like the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award, where you get children compet-ing in categories, and the best ending up showcased alongside the professionals. And you also get that one shot that becomes etched in as a memory, a new way of seeing something.

Can photographers still afford to shoot great work?

Yes – in some ways it is easier, although I doubt whether I will win over many photographer friends with that remark. Some of the technology and distribution gets cheaper. Air travel is cheaper. Free model friends are the same price as ever.

On the other hand, the rewards have been savaged by digital economics and recession, but that undermines the commercial model and not the fundamental ability to take a photograph. Which is why more and more people are taking photography, and more and more are trying their hand at some form of selling their images. And the marketplace

is getting bigger, and more global... but you really have to work super-smart and hard to come out on top in such a competitive environment.

As long as an artist has food, shelter and paint, you would assume there is the potential to paint a great picture. Similar logic applies to photography. Poverty is not an immense hindrance to great art – indeed, it seems closely connected with the condition faced by many artists over the centuries. I am in no way endorsing that as an acceptable way of life, it is just the facts. 'Great work' is not about being paid to shoot celebrities for big bucks; 'great work' is being able to take a picture that says something important about our lives.

Are there any consistent learnings, attitudes or other elements that make photographers successful?

Success can be measured in many ways, as intimated in the previous answer. If you want success in the form of a fat bank balance, then the consistent learning is that you need to combine plenty of business savvy – marketing and financial – to your raw photographic skills. If you want to achieve the reward of work that is highly valued and lasts, then you need to think not of personal success but of the greater social and artistic value of what you are doing. You might get personal success out of that or you might die a bitter and lonely individual whose work is only truly appreciated 20 years afterwards! There is a great history of that happening in art.

So my tips for success: don't let your ego define your world; try to say something fresh and relevant and useful; then understand what that is worth to others and charge accordingly. If you don't like that valuation, do something different where the price is right. This may lead you to be a great photographer or a great business person... but the two are rarely the same.

From your interviews and other experience what would you say is the ratio of talent to training? Is one of them overwhelmingly important in becoming a great photographer? I think I have answered that – talent is important if you are to be outstanding, but you won't get anywhere at all if you don't work at it, train and then work on further development.

How do you get noticed andrecognised as a good or even great photographer? Does quality always gets discovered ultimately or are there things photographers can do to get noticed?

Show your work – and show it in the right context. Never assume that great work is going to find its way without some help. There is so much communication going on out there, you need to work hard and with focus at marketing your offer. That means various things, depending on what kind of work you do. It may involve entering awards, and the kind of awards will vary depending on the work and where your reputation is already at. It may involve having one or more agents, depending on

relevant markets, and it may involve galleries. It now always involves having a website and possibly using various social media – such as a twitter feed. You need to think carefully about how you release and package images: a virtual or actual exhibition programme. Then there is publishing – having the right kind of book published, relevant to where you want to go, can drive your reputation and in time your bank account. Probably the key thing for all photographers, at all times, is building a network of influence and connections that can lead to work and other opportunities. Hence my first remark about those all-important social skills. Oh, and here's one tip about something that photographers sometimes get too hung up about – don't fixate on your 'corporate identity' or logo. Less is more, in this regard. Find a way of letting the images lead your message – that is unless the quality of your photographs is one of the less rewarding aspects of working with you! Which may sound odd, but there are some very successful photographers for whom the image really is simply a hygiene factor in the overall mix of their services. This is not the kind you will find in Photowisdom.

Are there any lessons to be learned for starting photographers and those shooting stock? What can they take away from the experience of these experts?

There is an immense amount to be taken from looking at the masters, especially when they open out frankly about how they started and

progressed, as they do in Photowisdom. We all do best when we avoid some of the pitfalls by learning rapidly from others. We can’t afford to find it all out first-hand ourselves, we have to accelerate our knowledge. And then we have to sift that information for what truly applies in our situation today. The diverse range of photographers in my book give plenty of ingredients so that you can mix up what might work for you to become the next great photographer.

Photowisdom has been picked by PDN as one of its 'Most Notable Books 2009'.

Lewis Blackwell is the author of the recently published Photowisdom: Great Photographers On Their Art (Chronicle, $50/£35). Support your local independent bookshop... or buy it now with an attractive special saving at Amazon.

Lewis was for many years the group creative director of Getty Images, where he led a transformation in the qualities and range of stock photography; prior to that he was the Editor and Publisher of Creative Review magazine. He is the editor-at-large for the publishers PQ Blackwell, where he has several other titles in development. One book attracting wide interest is his Life&Love of Trees. His other activities include strategic leadership for several commercial and non-profit organisations. [email protected]

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