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Posts Tagged ‘Editorial’

Editorial: ‘The world is ending, why are you still writing about cameras?’

18 Mar
Office mascot and all-round Good Boy, Belvedere. Pictured in October, before we all had to pack up and work from home. Good times.

Well, here we are. It seems like a year ago that I was pulling alarming statistics together about the economic impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak, but in fact it’s only been two weeks.

Back then we were still working from our main office here in Seattle, and still mostly going about our normal lives. One of us was on vacation in New York, and one of us was preparing for a short holiday outside of the country. One of us was planning a wedding, in May. I can’t remember what I was doing, but I’m sure it was trivial – it normally is.

At the risk of adding more mud to the landslide of hyperbole that has so far characterized 2020, all of that now feels like a different world.

A couple of weeks ago, I was writing about how – whatever the long-term health impacts of COVID-19 on the global population turned out to be – the virus was ‘already’ having a devastating economic impact. On the photography industry specifically, but across the board. Things have moved quickly. With countries around the globe counting the human cost in terms of suspected cases, confirmed cases, and (sadly – inevitably) deaths, it’s obvious that we’re living in a changed reality.

Here on the west coast, we have the unwelcome distinction of being right in the middle of things in the USA at the moment. As a team, we’ve been working from home and for about two weeks now we’ve been virtually self-isolating. We’re following the guidance of WA state officials and our parent company, keeping ourselves to ourselves, and updating the site remotely from laptops and home computers.

You can expect to see current events reflected in our editorial coverage to some extent, but we’re not going to be plastering our homepage with articles about infection rates

We’re very lucky. We’re not among the thousands of hourly employees in the catering, travel and hospitality industries who are looking at multiple weeks stretching ahead without an income. We review cameras, not ocean cruises. But of course we all have friends and family who are out of work, and others that are employed in health and social care. Still others who are caring for vulnerable relatives. All of them are making sacrifices right now that hopefully the lucky ones among us will never have to fully understand.

We’re working. We can afford to pay our freelance writers, we’re still having the usual daily meetings, and thanks to the impressively high-resolution cameras in our computers and phones (they’re the future, if you hadn’t heard…) we all know a lot more about the state of each others’ respective ‘home offices’ than we’d probably like to. We’re writing, and editing, moderating comments and taking photos. Just like always. As I said, we’re lucky.

We’re doing these things because that’s what you expect us to do. Unlike many ‘tech’ sites, we have a fairly focused editorial remit. You can expect to see current events reflected in our editorial coverage to some extent, as they pertain to the world of photography, but we’re not going to be plastering our homepage with multiple articles about infection rates, death rates, emergency measures or vaccine research. It’s not what we’re good at, and it’s not why you come to our site. It’s not what we do.

Life will get back to normal, eventually, for most of us. Until it does (and with any luck long after it does) we’ll keep on working to bring you the best and most relevant news, analysis, opinion and of course in-depth reviews that we can. Without our daily readers, we wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing. We need you, and we’re going to make sure that whatever else is going on, there will be plenty to distract you (and yes – if you must – plenty to argue about) on DPReview.

Stay safe, and stay in touch.

Barnaby Britton, Senior Editor, DPReview.com

On behalf of every member of the DPReview team:

Editorial:

Allison
Barney
Carey
Dan
Dale
Gannon
Jeff
Richard (B)
Rishi

DPRTV:

Chris
Jordan

Development:

Ram
Richard (L)
Vlad

Business:

Eugene
Scott

And of course, Belvedere.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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What is Royalty-Free Editorial Stock Photography and Can You Earn Money From It?

16 May

The post What is Royalty-Free Editorial Stock Photography and Can You Earn Money From It? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Photographs of just about anything can be sold as royalty-free editorial stock photography. How they are licensed is defined as either editorial or commercial. An image sold with an editorial license can only be used in news or general interest publications like;

  • Blogs
  • Textbooks
  • Magazines
  • Newspapers
Royalty Free Editorial Stock Photography - What is it? Poi Sang Long Festival in Thailand

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

An editorial stock photo cannot be used to directly promote anything for profit.

Photos sold by a stock agency with an editorial license are more limited in how they can be published. Commercially licensed photos can be more broadly used, but there are more restrictions on what they contain.

What’s the difference between editorial and commercial stock photo licensing?

Editorial stock photos do not require model or property releases.

You can submit photos of individuals or whole crowds for editorial licensing and no model release would be requested. If you submit any photos of people for commercial use, signed model releases are required. Whenever a person can identify themselves in a photo, a release is required if the photo is to be sold with a commercial license.

Royalty Free Editorial Stock Photography - What is it? Crowds During Song Khran Festival in Chiang Mai

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Commercial licensing prohibits the inclusion of any copyrighted elements in your photos. Any branding or products must be removed from the photos. This also goes for people and private property. These things must be accompanied by an appropriate release form. If they’re not stock agencies will not accept the images into their collections.

Editorial licensing allows visible branding, products, people and property. However, no manipulation of the content is permitted.

Royalty Free Editorial Stock Photography - What is it? Market Tattoos

I would not be able to submit this for sale under an editorial license because I have removed a logo from the man’s shirt. © Kevin Landwer-Johan

If you have a photo of something containing a logo or company name, you can remove it and still license the photo with a commercial license. When uploading editorial photos, you will be asked to state that you have not manipulated the photo in any way. Editorial stock photos must depict things as they really were when you took the photo.

Most stock agencies have disclaimers attached to editorial licensing of photos. The buyer is in control of how the photos will be used and must be made aware of the restrictions and their responsibilities. Stock photo agencies make it clear they are not liable for how the purchaser uses editorial photos.

Are there restrictions on the types of photos you can upload?

Most royalty-free stock agencies don’t have many restrictions. So long as you are uploading photos within the bounds of common decency, you won’t have any problems. Check with each stock agency where you wish to submit photos. They will be able to provide you with their company policy on what they want you to upload.

The law in most countries allows you to photograph anything you like from a public space. However, in doing so, you must not infringe on the rights of others or abuse their privacy. Photographing military facilities, power plants and other important infrastructure can sometimes get you into trouble. Check with local laws before you do.

Don’t just upload any old pictures. Make sure to only submit your best images. The market has become so saturated with photos that it’s increasingly difficult to make sales. Make sure your pictures stand out from the crowd.

Royalty Free Editorial Stock Photography - What is it? Woman with a SLR Film Camera

I do have a signed model release for the woman in this photo, but because of the branding on the camera I could only sell it with an editorial license. © Kevin Landwer-Johan

How do you know what photos will sell?

You really don’t.

Predicting how well editorial stock may sell is very difficult.

If you have a good photo of a spectacular event or happening of international significance, it will likely sell well. If you were the only photographer to capture this amazing occurrence, then it will certainly sell better. However, these type of situations are extremely rare.

Carrying your camera with you wherever you go will increase your chances. It will also sharpen your awareness of what a good editorial image can be as you learn to focus your attention. If you leave your camera at home, it won’t happen.

Upload a variety of images and build up a large number of your photos in a stock agency website. Doing this gives you practical experience of what will and will not sell. There are many variable factors involved.

If you can build up a solid base of your own photos, you will be able to analyze which ones sell more consistently. You can then use this information to plan what you will photograph.

Royalty Free Editorial Stock Photography - What is it? Checking Their Messages

Annual events can make good subjects for editorial because the can be used year after year. © Kevin Landwer-Johan

Once you have this information to work with you can decide on a niche or two to concentrate on. Look at which of your editorial stock photos sell the best and which of them you enjoyed making the most. This is what you will be best to focus your efforts on.

Royalty-free stock agencies boast collections of millions of photos. They contain photos already of pretty much every subject you can think of. You need to take better images than the ones they are already selling.

Browse these collections for ideas. See what others have done and come up with a new angle. If you see that there is a number of similar images that sell well, and you can produce photos of the same subject, do so. Don’t just copy. Improve on what’s already been done.

Update images you find that might be out of date. Has your city’s skyline changed recently? There may not be many new photos of it online yet.

Has there been some big news recently that you can illustrate with a stock photo? This will have to be ongoing news, or you’ll need to produce and upload your photos quickly so as not to miss the moment.

Royalty Free Editorial Stock Photography - What is it? Flower Parade Float

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

How many agencies can I upload my editorial stock photos to?

You can choose to upload exclusively to just one agency or to as many as you have time to service.

Signing an exclusive contract to supply just one agency has certain benefits. However, you are restricted to only their customers buying your photos.

Supplying to many agencies takes time. Each stock library has its own requirements and contracts, and you must understand these and follow their terms closely. If you don’t, you may find you’ll have many of your photos rejected for one reason or another.

Royalty Free Editorial Stock Photography - What is it? China Girls at New Year

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Conclusion

Do your research and understand what’s required before you start uploading photos to sell as editorial stock. You will probably find you have a huge number of images on your hard drive you can upload.

If they’re only stuck on your computer, you’ll never make any money from them. Uploaded to a stock agency, you won’t get rich overnight, but you will earn something over time.

Taking a business-like approach to stock photography is best if you are serious about it. Treating it too casually, not paying attention to what’s working and what’s not, will not bring you success. You’ll need to stick with it and consistently upload to make a really good go of it.

The post What is Royalty-Free Editorial Stock Photography and Can You Earn Money From It? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.


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Getty Images Reportage shifts from editorial to commercial focus

03 Sep
Getty Images Reportage has gained a reputation for photojournalism and covering important issues.

Getty Images has reportedly communicated a change in strategy for Getty Images Reportage. Launched in 2007, Reportage represented top photojournalists, as well as emerging photographers, with a focus on in-depth features that addressed important issues and stories. Some of these have included the Haiti earthquake, the war in Afghanistan, Nigerian and Somali pirates, and the nuclear legacy of Northeast Kazakhstan.

The company announced that as of October, Reportage will no longer represent its photographers for editorial assignments. In its place, Getty will back a new commercial agency called Verbatim, which will represent Reportage’s photographers to commercial clients instead. According to the report in TIME, Reportage will keep its Emerging Talent program, but will become mainly an archive following the transition.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Concept To Creation: Editorial Versus Campaign

18 Jul

Editorial vs. Campaign

 

 

Hey FashionPhotographyBlog.com readers.

 

Thanks for joining us on our “Concept to Creation” series where we walk you through the process of taking an idea into an image. If you were here with us last time, we investigated examples of how working fashion photographers in the industry turn their inspirations into a concepts.

 

Concept – crucial to binding your images together. You’ll find that any high end magazine only published editorials that has a concept holding the story together so today we are going discuss the difference between editorial and campaign images and how these can affect the concept for your shoots.

 

There’s a bit of a formula to it all. A set of rules that can, and are, broken.. But for the most part hold true to all editorials and campaigns you see.

 

 

Campaigns

 

Typical, successful campaigns do a few things. Obviously, they showcase the clothing. If you can’t see the clothing, you’re not getting paid. In fashion, clothing is king. It comes before all else.

 

You’ll notice that campaigns shot on location tend to stick to one area. If you’re on a sofa in a house- you’re on that sofa, in that house, for all of the images. A lot of campaign images tend to look the same. That’s a job well done! It’s this repetition that makes you remember “Oh, the girl on the blue couch with a million men is that Brian Atwood campaign.” So every time you see a girl on a blue couch with a million men, what do you think? That’s right! Subconsciously you recall Brian Atwood’s name!

 

 

Brian Atwood’s Fall 2012 Campaign by Mert & Marcus:

 

Notice all the images have the same general perspective, are in the same place, and are essentially the same image (with variations).

brian-atwood-fall-2012-campaign-by-mert-and-marcusbrian-atwood-fall-2012-campaign-by-mert-and-marcusbrian-atwood-fall-2012-campaign-by-mert-and-marcus

 

Louis Vuitton Spring 2012 by Steven Meisel

Notice a pattern?louis-vuitton-2012-by-steven-meisellouis-vuitton-2012-by-steven-meisel

EDITORIALS

 

With an editorial, you have more freedom! You’re not glued to one location, you can play with lighting (it should be relatively consistent but doesn’t necessarily have to be exactly the same in every shot), you can play with angles, etc.

 

As long as all the images are tied together via concept, have some fun with it. Editorials do showcase clothing however you can be a bit more liberal and artistic with how it’s shown. And one day, if you have enough power in the fashion world like Steven Meisel or Steven Klein, you can sometimes get away with having the dress you’re supposed to feature laying on the floor or hardly showing. (This only applies to the big players in the fashion photography industry.. don’t get any ideas!)

 

 

Steven Klein for Interview Magazine

 

Observe that there is a definite concept. However, unlike a campaign, there is more variation between the shots.

steven-klein-for-interview-magazinesteven-klein-for-interview-magazinesteven-klein-for-interview-magazinesteven-klein-for-interview-magazine 

Tim Walker (& Tim Burton!) for Harper’s Bazaar

 

tim-walker-and-tim-burton-for-harpers-bazaartim-walker-and-tim-burton-for-harpers-bazaartim-walker-and-tim-burton-for-harpers-bazaartim-walker-and-tim-burton-for-harpers-bazaar

I hope you all enjoyed discovering the difference between editorial and campaign images. It’s definitely something you want to keep in mind when you’re translating your inspirations into concepts. With a better understanding of the concept to creation process, you’ll be able to turn your shoot ideas into reality.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to shoot over an email!

 

Alana

 

 

IMAGE SOURCE:

Feature image & images 1-3: Mert & Marcus for Brian Atwood’s Fall 2012 Campaign

Images 4 & 5: Steven Meisel for Louis Vuitton Spring 2012 by Steven Meisel

Images 6-9: Steven Klein for Interview Magazine

Images 10-13: Tim Walker (& Tim Burton!) for Harper’s Bazaar


Fashion Photography Blog

 
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Concept To Creation: Editorial Versus Campaign

17 Jul

Editorial vs. Campaign

 

 

Hey FashionPhotographyBlog.com readers.

 

Thanks for joining us on our “Concept to Creation” series where we walk you through the process of taking an idea into an image. If you were here with us last time, we investigated examples of how working fashion photographers in the industry turn their inspirations into a concepts.

 

Concept – crucial to binding your images together. You’ll find that any high end magazine only published editorials that has a concept holding the story together so today we are going discuss the difference between editorial and campaign images and how these can affect the concept for your shoots.

 

There’s a bit of a formula to it all. A set of rules that can, and are, broken.. But for the most part hold true to all editorials and campaigns you see.

 

 

Campaigns

 

Typical, successful campaigns do a few things. Obviously, they showcase the clothing. If you can’t see the clothing, you’re not getting paid. In fashion, clothing is king. It comes before all else.

 

You’ll notice that campaigns shot on location tend to stick to one area. If you’re on a sofa in a house- you’re on that sofa, in that house, for all of the images. A lot of campaign images tend to look the same. That’s a job well done! It’s this repetition that makes you remember “Oh, the girl on the blue couch with a million men is that Brian Atwood campaign.” So every time you see a girl on a blue couch with a million men, what do you think? That’s right! Subconsciously you recall Brian Atwood’s name!

 

 

Brian Atwood’s Fall 2012 Campaign by Mert & Marcus:

 

Notice all the images have the same general perspective, are in the same place, and are essentially the same image (with variations).

brian-atwood-fall-2012-campaign-by-mert-and-marcusbrian-atwood-fall-2012-campaign-by-mert-and-marcusbrian-atwood-fall-2012-campaign-by-mert-and-marcus

 

Louis Vuitton Spring 2012 by Steven Meisel

Notice a pattern?louis-vuitton-2012-by-steven-meisellouis-vuitton-2012-by-steven-meisel

EDITORIALS

 

With an editorial, you have more freedom! You’re not glued to one location, you can play with lighting (it should be relatively consistent but doesn’t necessarily have to be exactly the same in every shot), you can play with angles, etc.

 

As long as all the images are tied together via concept, have some fun with it. Editorials do showcase clothing however you can be a bit more liberal and artistic with how it’s shown. And one day, if you have enough power in the fashion world like Steven Meisel or Steven Klein, you can sometimes get away with having the dress you’re supposed to feature laying on the floor or hardly showing. (This only applies to the big players in the fashion photography industry.. don’t get any ideas!)

 

 

Steven Klein for Interview Magazine

 

Observe that there is a definite concept. However, unlike a campaign, there is more variation between the shots.

steven-klein-for-interview-magazinesteven-klein-for-interview-magazinesteven-klein-for-interview-magazinesteven-klein-for-interview-magazine 

Tim Walker (& Tim Burton!) for Harper’s Bazaar

 

tim-walker-and-tim-burton-for-harpers-bazaartim-walker-and-tim-burton-for-harpers-bazaartim-walker-and-tim-burton-for-harpers-bazaartim-walker-and-tim-burton-for-harpers-bazaar

I hope you all enjoyed discovering the difference between editorial and campaign images. It’s definitely something you want to keep in mind when you’re translating your inspirations into concepts. With a better understanding of the concept to creation process, you’ll be able to turn your shoot ideas into reality.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to shoot over an email!

 

Alana

 

 

IMAGE SOURCE:

Feature image & images 1-3: Mert & Marcus for Brian Atwood’s Fall 2012 Campaign

Images 4 & 5: Steven Meisel for Louis Vuitton Spring 2012 by Steven Meisel

Images 6-9: Steven Klein for Interview Magazine

Images 10-13: Tim Walker (& Tim Burton!) for Harper’s Bazaar


Fashion Photography Blog

 
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Concept To Creation: Editorial Versus Campaign

15 Jul

Editorial vs. Campaign

 

 

Hey FashionPhotographyBlog.com readers.

 

Thanks for joining us on our “Concept to Creation” series where we walk you through the process of taking an idea into an image. If you were here with us last time, we investigated examples of how working fashion photographers in the industry turn their inspirations into a concepts.

 

Concept – crucial to binding your images together. You’ll find that any high end magazine only published editorials that has a concept holding the story together so today we are going discuss the difference between editorial and campaign images and how these can affect the concept for your shoots.

 

There’s a bit of a formula to it all. A set of rules that can, and are, broken.. But for the most part hold true to all editorials and campaigns you see.

 

 

Campaigns

 

Typical, successful campaigns do a few things. Obviously, they showcase the clothing. If you can’t see the clothing, you’re not getting paid. In fashion, clothing is king. It comes before all else.

 

You’ll notice that campaigns shot on location tend to stick to one area. If you’re on a sofa in a house- you’re on that sofa, in that house, for all of the images. A lot of campaign images tend to look the same. That’s a job well done! It’s this repetition that makes you remember “Oh, the girl on the blue couch with a million men is that Brian Atwood campaign.” So every time you see a girl on a blue couch with a million men, what do you think? That’s right! Subconsciously you recall Brian Atwood’s name!

 

 

Brian Atwood’s Fall 2012 Campaign by Mert & Marcus:

 

Notice all the images have the same general perspective, are in the same place, and are essentially the same image (with variations).

brian-atwood-fall-2012-campaign-by-mert-and-marcusbrian-atwood-fall-2012-campaign-by-mert-and-marcusbrian-atwood-fall-2012-campaign-by-mert-and-marcus

 

Louis Vuitton Spring 2012 by Steven Meisel

Notice a pattern?
louis-vuitton-2012-by-steven-meisellouis-vuitton-2012-by-steven-meisel

EDITORIALS

 

With an editorial, you have more freedom! You’re not glued to one location, you can play with lighting (it should be relatively consistent but doesn’t necessarily have to be exactly the same in every shot), you can play with angles, etc.

 

As long as all the images are tied together via concept, have some fun with it. Editorials do showcase clothing however you can be a bit more liberal and artistic with how it’s shown. And one day, if you have enough power in the fashion world like Steven Meisel or Steven Klein, you can sometimes get away with having the dress you’re supposed to feature laying on the floor or hardly showing. (This only applies to the big players in the fashion photography industry.. don’t get any ideas!)

 

 

Steven Klein for Interview Magazine

 

Observe that there is a definite concept. However, unlike a campaign, there is more variation between the shots.

steven-klein-for-interview-magazinesteven-klein-for-interview-magazinesteven-klein-for-interview-magazinesteven-klein-for-interview-magazine 

Tim Walker (& Tim Burton!) for Harper’s Bazaar

 

tim-walker-and-tim-burton-for-harpers-bazaartim-walker-and-tim-burton-for-harpers-bazaartim-walker-and-tim-burton-for-harpers-bazaartim-walker-and-tim-burton-for-harpers-bazaar

I hope you all enjoyed discovering the difference between editorial and campaign images. It’s definitely something you want to keep in mind when you’re translating your inspirations into concepts. With a better understanding of the concept to creation process, you’ll be able to turn your shoot ideas into reality.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to shoot over an email!

 

Alana

 

 

IMAGE SOURCE:

Feature image & images 1-3: Mert & Marcus for Brian Atwood’s Fall 2012 Campaign

Images 4 & 5: Steven Meisel for Louis Vuitton Spring 2012 by Steven Meisel

Images 6-9: Steven Klein for Interview Magazine

Images 10-13: Tim Walker (& Tim Burton!) for Harper’s Bazaar


Fashion Photography Blog

 
Comments Off on Concept To Creation: Editorial Versus Campaign

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Tokyo Drifter: Editorial and commercial photographer Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

07 Feb

Tokyo Drifter: Editorial and commercial photographer Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Azusa by Alfie Goodrich

First published in 1991 at the age of 23, portrait photographer Alfie Goodrich has been shooting primarily in Japan since 2007. His eye as a photographer as well as a fluency in both English and Japanese has brought him a diverse portfolio of commercial and editorial clients, including Ferrari, Lamborghini, United Airlines, Condé Nast, Air Asia and so many more.

Goodrich counts on more than just his bilingualism to bring him clients, however. He’s a master of SEO, as well, with a daily blog that pulls in between 40,000 to 80,000 unique visitors a month, a self-produced online magazine and a Google+ page that sports more than a million followers. When he’s not shooting, he also leads workshops and tours for photographers looking to work in Japan, and has even published his own Google guide to photogenic locations throughout urban Tokyo and Japan.

Find out more about Goodrich by clicking through the slideshow and accompanying Q+A. For more imagery, visit his website, www.alfiegoodrich.com and subscribe to his magazine ‘Stekki’. You can also follow him on his blog, Google+, Facebook, Instagram, 500px, and Flickr.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Kamakura by Alfie Goodrich

You began your career as a music portraitist and photojournalist in the UK. What was behind the transition to travel reportage and editorial work?

Actually, pretty much all of my professional photography work in the UK was done within the realm of the music business – which I was involved in from 1992 to 2002. Whilst I was PR Director for Nimbus Records, I shot a lot of stuff for CD covers, at recording sessions and events I was organising. Later, whilst general manager for Black Box Music in London, I did more of the same. Once I left music and started my own business, I started to mix up the subject matter a little more, providing a one-stop shop for people needing PR, websites, hosting and photography to promote and market their own companies. As my career changed, so did the subject of my photography.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Akari by Alfie Goodrich

When did you decide to make the move from England to Japan, and why did you decide to stay there?

My wife is Japanese. We met in the UK and lived together there for seven years, having two of our three children during that time. We’d been thinking of moving to Japan for some time. I lost both my parents within six months of each other, in 2005 and 2006. After that, we needed a change of scene. My parents had been very active in the local community, as had I. They were good times but, yes, a change was required.

I had some friends in business, some of whom were doing very well from diverse, international businesses built up over decades. People like that generally have a good sense for what’s in the wind. One of them, who had some experience of business in Asia, warned me that he felt Europe had some hard times ahead and that my thinking about a move to Japan was a good idea.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Fuji by Alfie Goodrich

(cont.) We left the UK in October 2007 when the yen was 210 to the Pound. Under a year later, Lehman happened and the Yen-Pound rate dropped to 105 at one point. My friend was right. Asia and Japan have weathered the financial crisis a little easier than friends of mine have back in the UK. For me to work in the way I do in Japan but do that back in the UK, we’d be looking at living and raising a family in London. Tokyo is very different. It’s safe, safe for the kids and safe for me to do my job – often dripping in camera equipment – without ever needing to look over my shoulder.

That’s one reason we’ve stayed here. Anther is that here I am different. I’m not a local. I have a different eye for Japan than a local photographer does; different working methods. I’ve made that work in my favour.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Johan – Akiko by Alfie Goodrich

Have you found any significant differences working in Japan as compared to working in the UK – not just culturally, but on the business side of things?

There are many differences between the UK and Japan and whilst nowhere is perfect, Japan and Tokyo tick a lot more boxes for us right now than London or the UK did. Little amusing things happen all the time, like asking if I could move a chair out of the background of a shot and having the company’s PR team all look at each other as though that was something that needed a board-level decision. My response at those times is just to make light of the situation, move the chair myself and then say ‘well, perfect… now you can blame the foreigner’.

There is a very hierarchical decision making process at work in Japan. Responsibility is a collective thing, not really down to individuals. That’s good in some ways but it can prolong decision making and during a shoot, things are often fluid and decisions need making quickly. Once you’ve built people’s trust with you then it’s different; they’ll give you more of a free reign over things.

One of the good things I would say here is that once you make business relationships, they tend to last. In the UK I would often come across the situation of having clients disappear to someone else based on cost: if Photographer X down the road was delivering Product A for £1 less an hour, then they’d move. That doesn’t happen in Japan. Trust and relationships take longer to build, which can be frustrating at first, but once you’ve made that relationship it isn’t really ever going to go south over trifling amounts of money.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Kawasaki Daishi by Alfie Goodrich

You mention in an interview that budgets have shrunk so companies are looking for local photographers to carry out campaigns rather than flying out a production. What measures have you taken to ensure that you’re the ‘go-to’ photographer that they will think of in Tokyo and these other cities?

In terms of how I compare, from a client’s perspective to, say, a Japanese photographer then I think the main difference is my eyes. I see things from a foreigner’s perspective. Japan is still new and fascinating for me, after almost a decade of living here. I work differently to the locals. That can sometimes be a curse but usually it’s a benefit; where it might take a Japanese photographer a team of seven people to do even a small fashion shoot, it takes me three. Working quicker, more efficiently is something I would say that is an advantage.

I spent a lot of time getting my web presence sorted out and integrating it with SNS sites. So I have a good footprint on the web and on the search-engines. The photography teaching I do also helps a lot, making my network of contacts here and abroad more diverse and giving me a something different to blog about and publish online, which isn’t just about my own work but about encouraging and championing others.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Asakusa by Alfie Goodrich

Besides speaking English and Japanese, what is it about your expatriate status that has given you a leg up over other photographers in Japan?

I am of course well-mannered and have respect for the local customs and culture, but being a foreigner means that it’s possible to skirt many of the conventions that hold local people back from being true to themselves 100%. I think for me it’s also about having come here at the right age. An old boss of mine once said that ‘when you get to 30, people take you more seriously. By the time you reach 40, you don’t give a shit whether they do or not!’.

I was 38 when I came here, with a wife and two children and on the back of just losing both my parents. Since then, we’ve had another child, I hit 40 and, to be very honest, I just have no time for bullshit anymore. Or for games. I’m also pretty happy with who I am. Still not perfect, obviously, but happy with the imperfections. There really is only ONE me.

Japanese people, because of the nature of their society, really don’t tend to get much chance to be totally themselves except when they are by themselves. They have one face for themselves, one for inside the house and one for outside the house… for work. Being myself and being happy with that person has been a large part of doing well here. You obviously have to have the skills to do the job, that goes without saying.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Baja by Alfie Goodrich

Since the beginning of the year, you’ve been an Ambassador for Hasselblad in Japan. How did that come about and what does that entail?

The boss of Hasselblad Japan is a Brit. Once we met, that certainly helped: shared heritage, same daft sense of humour, same propensity to swear every other word. I think he’d heard my name crop up quite a few times around the time that Hasselblad opened their shop and gallery here in Tokyo. The same had happened to me with his name. The foreign photographer community here is fairly compact and we were bound to meet each other eventually.

We had a meeting, talked about some of the things I was doing with photo education and which I was keen to explore with a camera company, especially one as legendary as Hasselblad. The boss and I got on well, we spent a bit more time hanging around with each other, I knew they had an ambassador programme and eventually we ended up talking about it and I was offered a post. It’s been a lot of fun.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Alfie Goodrich and his travel pack

What do you shoot with?

  • Hasselblad H5D-50c
  • Hasselblad H4D-40 as backup
  • Nikon D800E
  • Fujifilm X100 [borrowed from a friend]
  • Countless lenses

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Iambo-ishii by Alfie Goodrich

What is it about the Hasselblad system that first appealed to you as a commercial portraitist?

First of all, the people at Hasselblad are human, friendly, passionate and down to earth. Yes, it’s business and of course it has to make money and be viable. But it’s about more than that. It’s about giving people an experience, sharing that feeling of joy and excitement that comes from having a truly awesome piece of machinery in your hands to take photos with… but at the same time, making sure it’s not all about gear. It’s about the image, the photo, the moment. The gear is crucial but it’s not everything.

As a perfectionist, I love being around people that are the same and Hasselbad are truly perfectionists. People often ask why the cameras are so expensive… well, part of the reason is that they are perfectionists. Craftsmen, perfectionists. And really, nowadays, buying a digital Hasselblad well of course they are not cheap but having one is the closest you will get to a ‘camera for life’. In the digital, throwaway, planned obsolescence society we live in now that’s a hard thing to say. But it’s true. So now imagine that camera for life and having unlimited free film, forever… and it doesn’t seem quite so expensive anymore.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Meijimura by Alfie Goodrich

(cont.) For me, why does Hasselblad appeal to me? The colour rendition is amazing, very film-like. Skin tones are perfect straight out of the camera. The True Focus system [which uses a gyro in the camera to re-focus after you have re-framed] helps me shoot at the large apertures I like and still nail the focus every single time.

The range of lenses is great and as ambassador I get to use what I like, as long as they have one available at the time. So, after really only using the 80mm and the 28mm a lot from the HC range before this year, I’ve been playing a lot with the amazing 300mm F4.5, the 210mm and the 120mm macro. I’ve also had a lot of fun with the CFV-50c digital back for the old film Hasselblads which is, for me, the fantasy come true of having all the wonderful usability of the older cameras but the convenience of the digital back.

The Hassie flash syncs up to 1/800th sec. That and the range of lenses they have, which often stop down to F32 and F45, give you a lot of flexibility to kill the sun when you are shooting with flash outdoors. The Nikon only syncs to 1/250th.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Ruri by Alfie Goodrich

As a Hasselblad Ambassador, you have ‘kid in a candy store’ access to their lenses. What have been a few of your favorite lenses so far?

Like I said before, the 300mm is astonishing: super sharp wide open at F4.5 and still super sharp when you stop it down to F45. It’s not light but it’s perfectly balanced. A joy to use and I use it hand-held a lot.

The 120mm macro is so sharp you could cut yourself on it. Lovely handling too. The first one I spent time with was the 100mm F2.2. I used to have the old Zeiss manual-focus 110mm F2 which was a beautiful lens. But it was seductive at F2, drawing you in what the lovely bokeh, only to leave you on the rocks of despair when you realised half the shots were out of focus.

With Hasselblad’s True Focus, you can shoot the 100mm all the way open at 2.2 and be sure to nail the focus every time. The 24mm is something also try to get my hands on when I can. Pretty much the widest lens for digital medium format and stunning on the right circumstances of subject matter. The TS1.5 tilt-shift converter has been fun too. I could go on… I mean, it’s a nice candy store.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Shinyong Kimono by Alfie Goodrich

You also shoot with the Nikon D800, D700 and D3X. When do you find yourself employing that system instead of Hasselblad? How do the two systems compare?

When I need lighter more compact cameras I use the Nikons. I don’t mind weight but if I need to hand-hold a shot at 1/4 sec then that’s more likely to be doable with the Nikon. I also have a lot of old Nikon glass which I like using a lot on the new cameras. So, sometimes it’s just because I have a lot of lenses at my fingertips that I use the Nikons. For shooting at a higher frame-rate, the Nikons win every time. Hasselblad is not built for that.

You have to play a camera, any tool, at its strengths. That goes for weatherproofing too. My D700 now has about 650,000 pushes on the shutter and has been through five typhoon seasons with me… and it’s been in the sea. The camera is practically bullet-proof. Best thing Nikon made since the F4, IMHO.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Keihincanal by Alfie Goodrich

(cont.) The Hassie I shoot the most is a CCD sensor camera, the H4D-40. It’s not a high ISO camera and I rarely shoot it above 400 ISO, although it’s still doing OK at 1600. The colour on the CCD chip vs the CMOS in the Nikons is huge. The dynamic range too. If I need large dynamic range, if the colour is super important and required to be nailed in the camera then I use the Hassie. I hardly do any post- production on the Hasselblad shots. If I am in the studio, it’s Hassie all the way.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Shinyong by Alfie Goodrich

With more than a million followers of Google+, do you have any tips for managing a presence on the site? Why has it become your social media site of choice?

I’m sort of getting back to Flickr too lately after a long break. Yeah, Google+… well I had a friend invite me to it very early, almost from day one of the site being open. The big thing for me was to investigate how well it integrated with other Google products, particularly whether it had any bearing on SEO and how far up Google you came. There are lots of articles out there on the net about G+ having no discernible effect on SEO. I’m not a techie but I can tell you that it has helped me get found.

One of the first reasons I was also attracted to G+ was that, via a plugin I have called Google+ Blog which was developed by photographer and coder Daniel Treadwell. It’s allowed me to post on Google Plus via by iPhone and have the posts pulled out and cross-published on my WordPress sites by the plugin. That solved two issues for me: first was that there was really no decent app on the iPhone for blogging on a WordPress site.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Rebel Rebel by Alfie Goodrich

(cont.) Secondly, the cross-posting gave me three bites of the SEO cherry with a post that shared the exact same title as the one on G+. And Daniel’s plugin preserves a link back to GPlus in the footer of each post. All these things have conspired to create a situation where, if I get clever about what I call my posts on G+, searches on Google’s main search engine containing the same words can mean me getting listed on page one of Google within 40 minutes of making the post. That’s powerful marketing for a small business or freelancer.

I’ve made some good friends there and you always have to give something to get anything back in life. So, putting out rich posts that have a backstory about how I shot the pic and why; these posts have always got good attention and allowed me to cultivate a nice audience.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Yokohama Rain by Alfie Goodrich

You’re also quite active on several other social media fronts. Which do you recommend photographers invest their time in the most?

Facebook is, for me, really just about keeping in touch with friends, making some new friends and having a personal place to chat informally. I don’t really use it for work. It’s my garden fence over which to gossip. The main thing I hate about FB for photography is that the JPEG compression is awful. It makes photos you post there look bad, so why would I use it so much for that? Google+ is all about photography. Flickr started in 2006 for me and now they have sorted out the look and the usability of the site, I am getting back to using it more. Tumblr I use as a scrapbook, moodboard and ideas archive. Twitter I am starting to use more but really just getting my head around it even now.

I think the biggest thing for photographers to get sorted is their own website. Get a decent platform for it which for me is WordPress. Then make it look nice but don’t over spec it. It’s all about your work, not fancy animations, complicated navigation or anything too clever. People want to see images and to get to see a decent cross-section of your work as quickly as possible, in a mobile and web-friendly way.

SNS should then relate back to your website. I post links on FB and link to my work on my sites. That generates traffic and sows links out there on the web and the amount of links a search engine sees to your site helps it bump you up the table for page ranking. As for what to post on SNS, give people something. It should not all be ‘me, me me’ and really not, on FB for instance, be about ‘come and like my page’. You have to find a unique voice for yourself.

Today is different. We have to be photographers and agent, promoter and marketer. That’s hard to do for long without occasionally disappearing up your own backside. Find a way to promote yourself that also educates or enriches the people seeing your posts. That’s really where the photography teaching has helped me; I like passing things on, helping people enjoy their photography more. A lot of what I post on SNS is slanted that way.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Yumi by Alfie Goodrich

How does your Japanorama website tie into the rest of your endeavors? 

Japanorama was the first domain I had outside of one in my own name. I bought it way back, at first just because I liked the name and it was a domain I used to point to my pics of Japan. When we moved here, I changed the site to be something the reflected more of everything I do: the teaching, the work, stuff not shot by me but done by people I teach etc. It’s also the umbrella name under which I do business in Japan.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Mari by Alfie Goodrich

Would you speak a bit about your self-published magazine Stekki and what the process of putting together a magazine is like?

Stekki came about purely as a way to help students and workshop attendees get the experience of seeing their work in a magazine form. On workshops we’d shoot to a brief of making features to fill pages. People would need to think about a cover, double-page spreads, remembering to shoot vertical and horizontal. I get to see my work in magazines. That’s nice for me. I wanted to share that experience and make a magazine for people.

Plus, the discipline of shooting for the page, pre-visualising for the page, seeing someone edit your shots down and then fit them on to a page… this is good for people who are learning about photography. I’m shortly about to start designing and producing all the content for a real magazine here in Tokyo. That will help me move Stekki one step closer to being in print, which I think we can realistically see happening in 2016.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Momo Shoko Yoyogi by Alfie Goodrich

As well as shooting, you teach photography in Tokyo. What are a few of the things that photographers can expect to learn in your workshops and photowalks? Are there any less known locations that you can recommend for photographers who are making a visit to Japan?

I help people see. I help them pre-visualise, become visual literate as much as anything we do technically or physically with the camera. We’ll always work to some kind of brief or project and since the Stekki magazine idea came along, very often we’ll work together on shooting pages for that. I do one-to-one lessons, courses and workshops and at any one time there’ll be something going on across a few genres of photography, from fashion to landscape, travel to documentary or street. I tend to get off the beaten track a lot and actually earlier this year made a Google Map with more than 100 places and walks on it, each with a photo. You can find that here: http://japanorama.co.uk/2015/04/30/a-photographers-map-of-tokyo-japan/

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Mone Ohashi Tripych by Alfie Goodrich

You do a lot of location portraiture, what’s your chosen lighting system for working in these urban areas?

I’ve used lots of things and still do have a real mix of stuff. Recently I tried out the Profoto B2 kit for a few months and may well end up getting one. I like their B1 lights a lot as well. No cables. Huge benefit when working outdoors. I have an Einstein or two and the Paul Buff ring flash, which is fun. I still use a lot of small speed lights and radio triggers as well. I like the flexibility of clamping them onto a fence, railing or somewhere it would be hard to use stands or large lights.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Meijijingu by Alfie Goodrich

Does Japan have similar permitting issues as the US or the UK when it comes to commercial photography?

Japan is pretty good for photography. The main thing is about tripod and stand usage. There are plenty of areas in the cities where you can get away with light on a stand though. But the speed lights come in useful a lot for ‘gun and run’ type shoots.

The police never really bother me. It’s more the private security guards or guards that work for a building. If they think you are on their land, which at times can be hard to figure out, then they can be very persistent and annoying. Temples and shrines anywhere in Japan are pretty much either, ‘yes we are cool with you but it’s on a permission only basis’ or, ‘no, you can’t shoot commercially here’. They are usually pretty approachable and the ones that will let you shoot will usually turn around a request for permission in two weeks or less. Some even use email now! But be prepared in Japan for the surprise of how popular the fax machine still is.

Playing the ‘stupid foreigner’ card obviously is something I will do occasionally. I’m well mannered and polite but if I want a shot than I will try, within reason, plenty of things to try and get it. If pretending not to understand the rules is one, I’ll do it.

Tokyo Drifter: Alfie Goodrich on working in Japan

Mari by Alfie Goodrich

What was the experience of shooting Prince William, Duke of Cambridge like?

The experience of a lifetime. I mean, whatever you think about the royal family, being on an assignment with any super-VVIP level people is amazingly interesting: the organisation, the pace, the things you get to see and experience.? I spent four days with the Duke, as the British Embassy in Tokyo’s official photographer of his visit. I travelled in the convoy, went to all of the engagements in Tokyo and up in Tohoku. In four days I photographed the Duke, the Prime Minister, the Emperor and Empress, a Crown Prince and assorted other dignitaries. Not just from the press-pack perspective but as an embedded photographer. That opportunity doesn’t come around very often.

The Tohoku and Fukushima parts of the trip were especially poignant for me. My wife is from Fukushima and the majority of her family still live there. So when I got a chance, at the end of the trip, to speak with the Duke, I thanked him for taking the time to visit Fukushima. Lots of people had come out to see him. It meant a lot to them that someone like him would visit there home. Oh, and my two sons still hate me for the fact that – with the Duke – I managed to get inside the driver’s compartment of the bullet-train. You can only really do that if you have a Prince to get you in the door.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Editorial: Why I want a Leica Q (in which I mostly don’t talk about the Leica Q)

11 Jun

The Leica Q offers classic M-series styling in combination with a thoroughly modern feature set including a full-frame 24MP sensor and a 28mm F1.7 lens. After a bruising experience with previous digital Leicas, DPReview’s Editor Barnaby Britton has been very impressed by the Q. Click through to read why

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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DPReview is hiring for two Editorial Writers!

30 May

DPReview is hiring! We’re looking for two editorial writers to join our growing editorial team based in Seattle, WA. Responsibilities will include testing and producing reviews of digital system cameras, compact cameras, smart phone cameras, lenses and other photographic equipment. Successful applicants will have have a store of solid practical knowledge about the theory and practice of photography, and a strong understanding of dpreview, our principles and our community. Click through for more details

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Editorial: 2014’s Homepage Highlights

31 Dec

A lot happened in 2014, both in the camera industry as a whole, and on DPReview. 2014 was the year of 180-degree ‘selfie screens’, 4K video, affordable (almost) full-frame, and also the year when – perhaps – mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras first started to seriously compete against DSLRs in terms of autofocus. In this article, Editor Barnaby Britton takes a look back at the year, and at some of the major themes and highlights of 2014. Click through for a look back into the recent past…

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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