by Neill on February 13, 2009
in Articles
I’ve been a little lax with my blog this month, partly due to the fact that I’ve been travelling in Sweden, so sorry I didn’t get the monthly calendar shot online.
However, sitting recharging batteries and catching up, I checked out the latest entry on Chase Jarvis’ blog about photographers and survival and was struck at how it corresponded with my friend Nick Wilcox Brown’s entry writen just 24 hours later. Nick writes about how the advance of digital has impacted professional photographers and made ‘everyone a photographer’, giving an example of how an agency tried to emulate his work cheaply. Nick asks how photographers are to survive if quality and the photographer’s eye are not valued.
Just 24 hours earlier in Chase Jarvis’ blog, he wrote about surviving your own photography career and how he found his path. The article he quoted from the Editorial Photographer’s website by Doug Menuez is a superb read and well worth studying by any photographer at whatever stage their career is at. It’s a long post but I don’t think I’ve read anything so insightful in a long time. Some might call it the photographer’s version of a mid-life crisis. I prefer to read it as a kick start to plan your future and something to bookmark and refer back to when you feel you’re losing grip on what you want and where you want to be.
Finally managed to find the time to update my main website a little. It’s not finished yet, but it’s a whole load better than the dated old html version that was last year’s effort. It still needs some work on the front page and some of the writing needs some polish, but I’m much happier with it.
I’ve managed to get my hands on a Canon 5D Mk2 for the first time this week, but I’ve been giving an awful lot of thought to it’s video capabilities, including the possibilities with some of the grip and camera support equipment commonly used in motion footage. As Canon are at pains to point out, probably with mounting frustration, it’s not a video camera, it’s a DSLR that shoots motion, so there are limits to what can be done. But I couldn’t help but wonder what it’s like on a Steadicam Merlin….
I met up with Tiffen UK’s James Elias yesterday to try mounting the 5D Mk2 and see if it worked. A quick feel for the weight and balance and he had it mounted and ready to go in less than five minutes. Robin Thwaites, Tiffen’s European sales director had been insistent that it was worth my trip to Oxford to see first hand how to operate the Merlin and he was right. James might be a young guy, but he’s a highly experienced Steadicam operator and has been flying Steadicams since the age of 14….
My first attempt was a cross between Bambi and a dunken helicopter pilot. Hand the rig back to James and it’s instantly stable again. Hmm…. A few more tries and it’s getting slowly better, but I’m still far too tense and over-controlling. James sends me on my way with the comment, “You MUST watch the DVD and practise, practise, practise….” He’s right. I returned home and tried again and it’s getting better every time I pick it up.
The small size of the Canon 5D and the Merlin gives all sorts of ideas for applications where a bigger rig will be difficult and for sure, I have a new respect for Steadicam operators. It’s an art and both frustrating for a beginner, but also curiosly addictive….
by Neill on January 17, 2009
in Articles
In December, I wrote about Strobist’s blog entry on working for free and the flurry of comments it created. At the time, I said that I’d find the time in January to write about a time when working for free has worked out for me, so here’s one…. Back in February 2004, when my pro-photo career was still young, I had a call from a race instructor pal of mine who was working in Norway, telling me all about driving on frozen lakes and the great time he was having in the unique environment. The business owner at the time was looking for some photography, but the usual ‘no budget, hoping to get something for free’ mentality was prevailing. He would pay for my travel and accommodation, but no chance of wages, he’d just continue to struggle on with the shots he had. “You’ve got to get yourself here, mate”, says Andy on the ‘phone, “You’ll love it.”
He was right, I would love it. I’m lucky enough to make a living doing something I enjoy, but that doesn’t mean I have no bills to pay and ultimately, that’s what it’s about. Time for a checklist: [click to continue…]
Have you ever typed your own name into Google to see what comes up? With luck and you’re doing your job right with Search Engine Optimisation, you’ll be number one on page one. Of course, you might also be dismayed at how many other people there are in the world with the same name as you. If your name can be spelled several ways, try changing that and you’ll be even more disturbed. Type in your name and profession and you might just leap out of your seat at how many other people there are out there, doing your job and with your name!
If you’re like me and nearly everyone spells your name wrong, you can find it frustrating. Makes you find kind of small, doesn’t it? Of course there’s no easy way around this other than hard work. I’ll be writing over on my other website about ways that issue can be resolved later this month, but meanwhile, I’ve written this page to help me along a bit.
And apologies to my mother, who always gets cross when people spell my name the other way!
This month on various photographer’s blogs, there’s been a huge stirring of keyboard activity over the posting on the popular Strobist blog about working for free. I’ve had a very busy December with several short notice projects to tackle as well as trying to plan January, so it’s only now that I’m sitting reading the comments and catching up. So do I ever work for free? [click to continue…]
Probably like many people, it feels rather odd to be writing about me. I’m more used to photographing and writing about others, but in response to queries from many of my clients about the usefulness of blogs in the business environment, I’ve agreed to run this one as an experiment.
What will you find here? Whatever you want to, really. I’m quite happy to comment or write about whatever you think will be of interest in these challenging times, so feel free to comment below and I’ll try and respond. I’m never more than a few hours away from a broadband connection these days, so I’d hope to get a response soon.
