10 Things that Spell Disaster for Photographers, by Joel Grimes

I really liked this article by Joel Grimes. A lot of what he says here really resonates with me and what I’ve seen as a photographer, but my favorite bullet point from his article is this one:

Member of the Professional Photographer Whining Club (PPWC) - Stop whining. the industry is difficult, clients are difficult but there is no need to talk about this all the time. The solution – Encourage others and be excited about the creative process.

So true. I used to know an illustrator who jumped into freelancing for a while. I would see his posts on Facebook all the time complaining about how this client was wanting another version, or that client was late paying him, or how frustrating meeting with people was…. It had the overall effect that I eventually started to think of him as a terrible illustrator. Even though his work was decent, and he was getting jobs regularly, his constant complaining made me think that he must be terrible, because he’s telling me all the time about how much he’s failing. And of course, I get that it was probably cathartic to complain on Facebook about his clients and meeting people…. but at the cost of damaging his reputation to all those people he knows on Facebook who might have hired him. I wouldn’t hire someone I knew would probably complain about me to his friends. It’s something I try and keep in mind when I say things to people or post things online. Day to day, I love what I’m doing. That’s the message I should be sending out to people. Photography is great!

10 Things that Spell Disaster for Photographers, by Joel Grimes

Edward Hopper homage by Javier Vallhonrat

Javier Vallhonrat 2005 for Fendi and Flair

This picture is by Javier Vallhonrat from 2005 for Fendi and Flair. It is an homage to the american painter Edward Hopper. I really like this picture. Let’s talk about what makes it work for a minute.

The first thing that jumps out at me about this picture is the way the wall behind the model has been painted. It’s really subtle, but it seems to have been painted in layers of wash in order to evoke something similar to the type of brush strokes Edward Hopper used in his work. The low saturation green is a great color contrast to the faded peach/orange dress the model is wearing as well. Putting a warm color in front of a cooler one makes it really stand out, since warm colors seem to move forward in images and cooler colors seem to recede. So that color contrast is great, and really makes the model pop out of the image.

The second thing about it is the lighting. The hard geometric light that looks like it’s coming in from the window is doing an amazing job of creating leading lines to the model’s face, hands and feet. Also notice how the model’s raised leg is at the exact same angle, and almost seems connected to the hard shadow on the wall. There is no way that is coincidence.

So there’s great color, great leading lines, now let’s look at tonal range. The tonal range in this image is fairly low, with one exception. My guess is that there’s a light source in the room, probably very large and high camera left. This light source is preventing the dark parts of the image from getting to be too dark. Notice that there are no heavy, black shadows anywhere in the image. The only part of the image that has any kind of darkness to it is the model’s hair. And, luckily, it’s right next to one of the brightest parts of the image, the front of the model’s face where the “sunlight” is hitting her (not a coincidence… see how her head now has the highest contrast in the image, so the viewer’s eye is drawn straight to it?).

Anyways. It’s a great image, and I’m really digging all the choices made in it. The rest of the Fendi and Flair gallery is great too, I highly recommend taking a few moments to check it out.

Edward Hopper homage by Javier Vallhonrat

Ryan McGinley Commencement Speech 2014

This commencement speech by Ryan Mcginley has some great advice for new photographers. Check it out, it’s pretty great!

 

 

Ryan McGinley Commencement Speech 2014