nickonkenShoptalk

Knowledge is a Commodity

I've thought a lot about this topic over the last year or so. I think this part the game has become a "new school" evolution. Not that it ever wasn't before, but now that the game has changed and accessibility to pro photographers is so much easier. There is also a lot of free information available online where if people dig enough they can find a lot. I'm finding a lot of successful photographers that learned on their own, and had a college education in something not related to photography. That said, there are things that you will never learn online. A lot of learning comes from observing, and being around the environment that you aspire to be in. Having access to that is much more difficult.

To really get going in this industry you have to learn somehow whether that's going to college for it, taking some sort of course like the workshops in Santa Fe, workshops from other photographers that are teaching. So basically you have to pay to play. Education costs money in any industry or field. It's part of the sacrifice that comes with learning a craft. The essential knowledge will cost you somehow whether it's time or money.

In my opinion the best way to learn is with working professionals. It's been the best way for me to learn. Taking a workshop from someone who's work or business that you admire when they offer one. I did this a few years ago when my friend Stephanie Rausser taught a class at Santa Fe. It cost me a few grand, but in the end, I learned a lot through conversation with them during and now after the workshop. Was it worth it? Of course. A lot of times, photographers of that caliber rarely teach because the commercial world as I've come to learn is extremely crazy and last minute. You can get a call one day and leave 3 days later to shoot it, so it's hard to plan for. Most are focused on being photographers, which is time consuming in it's own right. Taking a workshop is as easy as finding them, signing up for them, and paying for them. They aren't ever cheap.

Another avenue is interning for a photographer, which if you have more time and less money this is a great way. Interning is a great way, and probably a better way because you get to spend time with that photographer. You get exposed to a real working environment which is valuable. In turn for this you're giving your time. Who said picking someones brain was free? Think of all the time, years, and sacrifice that individual has put in to get to where they are at. Think of how valuable that knowledge is. That changes the perspective of "working for free" It now becomes a trade of time and hard work for knowledge, exposure, and experience.

That said, what you get out of it is all what you put into it. The harder you work for that person with a great attitude, and the more questions you ask, the more you will learn. This is with either case of taking workshops, or interning. The move you give, the more you will get back. If you give without expecting in return, the reward is usually much more. Most photographers are willing to share things when people are giving back to them.

Again back to the new school era where there are many aspiring photographers, how do you stand out? How do you get in? How do you get selected for an internship? This is the tricky part. Here are a few thoughts:

Great Attitude: This is the most important asset to anything. Being willing to work hard and happily will get you far. Being energetic and excited to help doing whatever it may be. Even sweeping floors and cleaning toilets.
Have something to offer: A lot of bigger photographers get hit up all the time for internships, assisting, brain picking, etc. Have something to offer, even if that is paying for a meal. It's a nice gesture in trade for their time. More than likely if they can spare the time to even meet with you, you'll learn something. Don't come with an attitude of "tell me everything you know" AKA don't be a leach.
Special Skills: Having a skill that is outside the photography realm can be valuable. If the photographer needs something done in the office, or other types of things that you may have a skill with. Offer that up. It may be a way in the door.
Be Responsible: Being someone the photographer can trust, especially getting a task done well and on time.
Be COOL: I mean this in the personality department. Be someone fun, and excited to learn. Bring something to the table. Be a pleasure to be around, and I'm sure you'll get asked back.
Bring Value: This is semi covered above, but always think of value that you can bring to the team and the photographer. Think ahead of them. The more you give, the more you will receive. That is just a law of nature.
Timing and opportunity: Remember a lot of getting an internship or even the chance to meet with a photographer comes down to timing and opportunity. Be patient.

Jeff Holt has been a great example of this all of these qualities, and in turn he has learned so much. He's been a huge asset to me and has helped me out in so many ways. He approached me in the beginning willing to sweep my floors. He offered his great attitude and acquired skills over the years to bring value. He comes with a giving attitude, and receives greatly for it. What all has he learned? That may be a more specific question for him to answer.

To sum it up, Knowledge has become the currency of our era. As with most things these days you have to pay in some way to gain that knowledge. The more you put in and give, the more you will learn and receive.

New School vs. Old School. Adapt & Change or Get Left Behind

I've had many of conversations with different people lately, and I'm starting to see a trend. New School vs. Old School. The biggest thing I've realized over the last year is that the times are changing. Technology is changing, and changing the game. Social Media is blowing up. Twitter and Facebook are becoming household names. Which by the way if you haven't seen this video on the Social Media Revolution, check it out, the stats will blow your mind. The internet has created a gateway for anyone to be an expert at what they do. It's created a platform for anyone to enter the the world of getting their work out there. This IS an amazing thing… IF you use it to your advantage.

New School vs. Old School. There is a ton of truth to both, and you need a fair amount of the old school to carry into the new school. In the Old School photography world it's about having amazing work and creative, which in turn gets you jobs. Which is 100% true. Hone your craft and do it well. Make amazing images, and someone will recognize you. Ten years ago, hell even 5 years ago it was much harder to get in the game. The internet didn't exist(with the capabilities it does now) which meant to get your great work into the eyeballs of the right people, you had to send physical portfolios, post card promos, prints, and be seen in printed magazines. A rep that was hitting the pavement with your portfolios all the time. This is all VERY expensive. Getting into the game COSTED a lot.

This is exactly why the "Greats" don't all have websites(or have terrible ones). Annie Leibowitz, Ellen Von Unwerth, Patrick Demarchlier, etc. EVERYONE knows who they are (that hire them at least). They've been in the game for years. They ARE established. Being published in all the major magazines is their portfolio. (don't get me wrong would it benefit them to adapt and spend of their cash reservoir on a web presence? of course.)

Now enter the New School: Getting someone to recognize honed craft. With all the benefits of the digital revolution and the ease of putting your work out there into the world wide web of eyeballs, we've encountered a downside. It's made it extremely cheap to get into the game. Let me rephrase that. It's made it FREE to get into the game. In turn, the downside is the volume of people that are doing it creates white noise. Everyone is a "photographer" these days and images are flying around the web like nobody's business. Having amazing work has now just become the entry way to getting anywhere. Anyone not at the "greats" level are struggling to adapt to the times. The older folks who choose not to learn the digital media opportunities. The ones in the game for probably 5-10 years that started in the filmic old school world and just got used to it before it changed. These are the ones that are getting left behind should they not choose to adapt.

Creating your "Personal Brand" is the key to getting anywhere. Create a voice that people remember your work by. Not only graphically, but what you project through social media outlets. The content you put out there to the world creates people's perception of you. Consistency of brand creates longevity.

What am I saying with all this? Move with the current of technology. Adapt, and try to get ahead of where technology is moving. Then use it to your advantage. Use social media and internet connectivity for your business. "Old School" is also a mentality. It really comes down to a choice as all things do. Only YOU can make S#$@ happen.

It's where the world is moving and if you don't get on the train, you may get left at the station. Be a game changer.

The secret is.... Seeing

The more I look around at successful artists, the more I see the common thread of their success. Maybe it's a secret, and maybe it's not. To me the secret IS, there is no secret.

But really, it all lies within that. The secret is "SEEING", which essentially is having a strong refined vision for. Definitely in your craft as an artist, but in other facets of life and business. If you can't see quality, details, and all the little elements that fit together to make a great photograph then maybe it's time to rethink. Success starts from the top. It starts from the decision maker's "Vision" because every decision that is made to execute that vision gets filtered down to the team that comes together to create it. You see this all the time in corporate companies. Look at the successful companies and the CEO's that have taken them there. Apple and Steve Jobs. He has a strong vision for the products and company, therefore that strong vision gets imprinted and controlled into everything the company puts out, including it's branding and advertising. Hulu & Jason Kilar. This month's issue in Fast Company talks about how Fox hired Jason Kilar to revamp what is now known as Hulu.com. He came in with a strong vision and turned the company around. Fired and hired a new crew. Implemented his vision, took risks and now Hulu is rapidly growing and successful. Nike & Phil Knight: Nike is one of the strongest brands in the world. Phil Knight created a great well designed product and had the vision to create a brand that matches and elevates the product. The vision to venture into new medias and try new things, but everything aligns with their vision.

How does this parlay into photography? It has everything to do with it from taking pictures to the business. You have to be able to see a good photograph to be able to make it. The WAY you SEE is WHAT you are hired for as a photographer. Seeing photographs is just one facet of the business, and if you want to make money at photography, you must build a business around it. You have to be able to "SEE" what it takes to have a successful business, so you can make the decisions and execute the elements of that. You must have the vision to hire people that are the best at what they do to make your business better. That especially goes for executing a photograph. Hiring people that do amazing work, only makes the photograph better and close that creative gap between what you "SEE" and what you produce. Seeing also comes into editing and retouching. Choosing the right images and having a vision for retouching is also key.

I have to admit, my technical knowledge is just now catching up with what I envision in my photos. Even at that, I'm constantly working on "SEEING" at a higher and higher level. If you can "SEE" at a high level and produce what you see, you'll get hired for those types of jobs. If you feel you have a hard time "SEEING", then practice. Practice by looking at magazines and good photography. Break images down to the details of what goes into them.

"SEEING" in business is similar. It's a learning and growing process. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to take a business class or connect up with mentors. This field is probably 80% business and 20% photography, that is if you actually want to make a living off of it. You have to be able to "SEE" all assets of the business, especially branding and marketing.

Tech Tip: Submerged CF Card

I was just down in Miami this week shooting an advertising campaign on the edge of a pool. One thing lovely about the 1Ds MKIII is that when you eject a CF card, it likes to launch it as if it were a cannon ball. Seeing that the camera was vertical on a tripod, when I ejected the card, it shot straight out the back faster than I could catch it and it went fumbling into the pool with full of our last series of images.

My assistants quickly rushed it off to the hair department to dry it out with a hair dryer. After some TLC, and some dry heat application we took it over to digital to see if it was ok. Luckily being the solid state memory it was we were able to download the images on the card just fine.

After downloading the card, they taped it up, labeled it "H2O" and told me I should not use it again.

Moral of the story: Don't drop your CF cards in the pool.

A Few Resources for Beginners

If you're just starting out(or intermediate for that matter), and want to get some tutorials, read some good tech articles, here are a few photography websites that will help you out:

Studiolighting.net
Bill and Ed have a great resource here. There are tons of tutorials, lighting tips, and my favorite, interview podcasts from many pro photographers giving insights into their methods. (They interviewed me there as well. Click HERE to listen to my interview)

Strobist.com
Stobist is great for all that you want to know about lighting, including cheap ways of making your own.

dpreview.com
This is a great resource for finding out the latest and greatest on digital cameras. You can find reviews, and they have a great forum where you can post tech questions you may have about certain pieces of gear if you're researching a product to buy.

SantaFe Workshops
If you want to take a week class, the Santa Fe Workshops have a lot of great coarse. A great way to get immersed.

My Blog: nickonkenShoptalk
If you sift through a lot of my previous posts, and other categories I post random tips and pieces of my methods as I'm sure you might have found. For those who haven't, dig around.

More on Assisting...

Just found this great in depth article from my buddy Jeremy Cowart. It's a more in depth version than my last post on Assisting. It's a compilation of responses from a group of photographers from an ASMP forum. Great reading for those of you who want to learn how to be a better assistant!

Check it out here.

Image Cataloging and Lightroom

A few months ago I picked up Adobe Lightroom for the first time. I decided I wanted something a little more advanced for cataloging my images. I'm beginning to love it. I've been using it as a master editing program in my workflow process depending on the project. You can add keywords and ITPC data on import. I'm still using Capture One for the initial edit and image processing. Lightroom is great for organizing, keywording, and building custom contact sheets. You can even integrate your own branding.

My workflow process as follows: Import in to Capture One > Initial edit, contrast, WB, and Exposure adjustements > Process to Jpegs in C1 > Open processed Jpegs in Bridge > Make a more refined edit by starring selected images(these become my "Story" images) > Import Processed Jpegs into master Lightroom catalog

Depending on different jobs, determines what I do with them in Lightroom. I've set up one main catalog with all my select images, and my entire collection of photographs I've taken over the last few years. If the shoot has images I want to use in my portfolio I will add them to the master catalog. Now I can search by keywords if I'm building a promo piece, or creating a new edit for my portfolio.

Sometimes I will create a "job" catalog which allows me to create web contact sheets for the client. For example, this last Nike job, the client will have 3200 images to look through to make their selections. Lightroom made it easy to keyword, select images by keyword, and create a custom contact sheet out of those selected images. I now have a master catalog for the whole job.

Here's a couple screen shots:

Sample Catalog: Click here to see the actual gallery.

On Location Backup

Backing up on location is essential, especially on multi-day jobs. I recently had a friend who was out here on an assignment for a big client. His main drive's images got deleted, and his backup drive failed. Luckily after a couple grand, a few weeks in the drive hospital, and some serious sweating, he was lucky to recover his data. He was mortified as any of us would be.

Today my crew will embark on a 3 week job in Latin America for Nike. We will be going to Mexico City, Buenos Aires, and Sao Paulo. We will have 4 shoot days in each city. I thought I'd share a little bit about my on-location backup system.

We have 3 LaCie 160gb Ruggeds, and 4 SmartDisk 120gb drives. The Ruggeds will be our primary drives. We will double up the images and keep two copies traveling with us. At the end of shooting in each city we will fedex a drive with all the images from that city back to the office here in LA.

Total, we will have 3 copies of all the images by the time we return to the states.

Assisting

I thought I’d take a moment to talk about assisting. I’ve encountered a few recent conversations that have inspired me to post on this. If you’re just starting and getting into photography, assisting is, in my opinion the best way to learn. You can see how other photographers work, learn lighting techniques, how to run a set, etc.

The number of assistants on a job depends on the size and technicality of the job. On bigger sets, the hierarchy starts with the first assistant who runs the set technically for the photographer. He/She must know have a vast knowledge of how to light, set up equipment, and have a good amount of on set experience. They will manage the rest of the assistants. That’s where starting out as a 3rd or 4th assistant is a good place to learn.

Here are a few things I expect from my assistants:

1. Know your role! This is probably the most important. The assistant’s primary job is to take care of the photography related technical aspects of a job so the photographer can focus on the creative and client relations aspect.

2. Do NOT push your own agenda. This is a good way to get yourself kicked straight off of a set. You are there FOR the photographer. Never talk to clients, especially about your own work. It’s very poor etiquette.

3. A good attitude. I can’t begin to tell you how far a good attitude goes. A good attitude to learn, and serve the photographer is extremely valuable. A photographer should not be questioned when they ask something of an assistant.

4. A positive attitude- Goes hand in hand in hand with a Good attitude, but a bit different. Sets can be stressful. A lot of times, the photographer is put under stress from the client. For me, an assistant with a positive attitude that can help me relax is a definite bonus. I want my sets to be positive and fun, and to be surrounded with a crew that add to that vibe.

5. Punctuality. BE ON TIME! Better yet, be early. Make the proper decisions to be able to make it to set on time.

6. Just ask! If you can’t figure it out, ASK. I’d rather you ask what you think is a dumb question(but usually isn’t), then make a mistake that costs money. I am more than happy to teach.

7. Attentiveness. be attentive to the photographer. Anticipate their move, have things ready before they need it.

Depending on the job, most of the times for me assisting isn’t too difficult a task. It’s a very laid back environment, and lighting is minimal. These are some of the things I like from assistants. Everyone photographer is different.

Above all, be willing to sweep the floors to learn and get in. Help a photographer out on a portfolio shoot, and if he likes you he/she may be more willing to hire you for the paid jobs.

Lifestyle Lenses.

Someone recently asked me what my favorite lens is, and obviously it depends for what type of subject. Since I've already posted my favorite lenses for Travel Photography, I thought I would do a post for my lifestyle work. The answers are simple: The Canon 35mm f1.4L, the 85mm f1.2L, and the 20mm f2.8. All of these lenses create a certain look depending on what I'm going for.

*I just noticed that this post looks weird in RSS reader, so you have to view it in the actual blog for the captions to line up with the images.

The 35mm f1.4L
Most of my lifestyle work is a realistic feel, which I use my 35mm probably 85% of the time. Most of the work I've shown in the last year has been with that lens. Here are some examples:
Interaction Group:

Interaction Single subject with environment:

Indoor tight space low light:

One thing I love is when shooting vertical images, you can fit the full body of a person in the frame and still have space to crop to an 8.5x11 crop ratio:

Realistic Action:

The 85mm f1.2L
I love using the 85mm for a more cinematic feel when I still have interaction with the subject. You're farther away from them, but not too far away. You can also get a nice compressed look if you'd like to put your subject in their environment.
Cinematic:

Subject far in environment:

Tighter Compressed:

Compressed Action:

The 20mm f2.8
This lens is fantastic for close dynamic lifestyle shots, or action.

Dynamic Lifestyle:

Dynamic Action: