The Photographers You Idolize Are No Better Than You
Article originally publish at Fstop
We
look up to other people in all aspects of our lives. Most of us admire our
parents or an older sibling. We desire to be like those who have “made it” like
actors, musicians, or wealthy business owners. As photographers, we probably
all have a list of our favorite people in the industry. I’m here to tell you
that they are no better at photography than you are.
We
look up to other people in all aspects of our lives. Most of us admire our
parents or an older sibling. We desire to be like those who have “made it” like
actors, musicians, or wealthy business owners. As photographers, we probably
all have a list of our favorite people in the industry. I’m here to tell you
that they are no better at photography than you are.
Fstoppers.com
has given me a very unique, inside look into the photography industry. I’ve had
the rare opportunity to have met with and gotten to know a large number of my
photography idols. I’ve been able to ask them the questions that they would
never answer on camera, such as “How exactly did you book that job?” “How much
did that campaign pay?” or “Are you making more money shooting or teaching at
this point?” In many cases, my idols, the photographers who I always wanted to
be like, are actually like me already, but in many cases they are just a few
years ahead of me. The thing that all of my favorite photographers seem to have
in common is that none of them think that they have “made it.” Most of them are
still constantly struggling to land that next big job or start that next big
business idea. I assumed that once you reached “the top” you could relax but
I’ve found that there is no “top”. No matter how successful you become, you can
always land more jobs, gain more sponsors or raise your rates. It’s exciting to
set a goal and then reach it but as soon as you do it’s time to set another
goal.
When I
first got into photography my goal was to assist as many professionals as I
could to become a well rounded photographer. I assisted commercial, portrait,
wedding, food and architectural photographers. I learned a seemingly endless
amount of information from each of them, but I was always shocked by how much
each of them didn’t know. I watched each deal with amateur problems like
forgetting to lower their ISO from 3200 for a studio session or forgetting
their cameras maximum sync speed and wondering why their flash wasn’t showing
up or not understanding crop vs full frame cameras or lenses. Many of these
photographers didn’t understand the basics of Photoshop.
I’ve
also randomly met shooters who have assisted one or more of the most famous
photographers alive today. After we’ve had a few drinks the stories begin to
fly and are usually all pretty similar: “You know that million dollar campaign
that ________ shot? Well I was there for that campaign and that photographer
didn’t know what the hell they were doing. Basically I had to come up with that
lighting scheme myself.” I’ve heard so many stories about some of the biggest
photographers alive today not having a basic understanding of lighting, their
camera or post production.
As
I’ve learned all of the industry’s dirty little secrets over the past few years
it has both inspired and depressed me. It’s inspiring to know that the
photographers I’ve looked up to throughout my entire career are not that
different from me. It’s inspiring to know that even the best photographers in
the world still struggle with some of the same things that I do. It’s inspiring
to know it actually is possible for me to reach their level. At the same time
it’s completely depressing to think about how much time I spend online learning
every technical aspect of my camera equipment only to hear that the last giant
fashion campaign was shot by someone who doesn’t understand what ISO is.
The
title of this article is “The Photographers You Idolize Are No Better Than You”
and that is actually a lie. The Photographers you idolize may not know their
camera better than you, but they are actually better than you and me both at a
lot of other things that matter more.
Business
Hugely successful photographers are master businessmen and women. If they aren’t good with business, they hire someone who is. Most of these photographers have agents that can not only help them find jobs but also do all of the negotiating. If these photographers don’t have a private agent they will have a manager on staff that deals with this aspect of their business. Underbidding a job in many cases is worse than overbidding and these photographers know exactly how to negotiate with each client/campaign.
Hugely successful photographers are master businessmen and women. If they aren’t good with business, they hire someone who is. Most of these photographers have agents that can not only help them find jobs but also do all of the negotiating. If these photographers don’t have a private agent they will have a manager on staff that deals with this aspect of their business. Underbidding a job in many cases is worse than overbidding and these photographers know exactly how to negotiate with each client/campaign.
Client Interaction and Perceived Value
I was once told a story about a famous NY photographer by his assistant. The photographer would set up 5-10 extra, unnecessary lights, for every photoshoot and then set them all to fire a fraction of a second late so that they wouldn’t affect the actual picture. The set might have 10 lights set up but only 1 or 2 were actually affecting the image. The assistant heard one of the art directors say to another “look at this production, we would have never gotten this quality if we had hired the other guy.”
I was once told a story about a famous NY photographer by his assistant. The photographer would set up 5-10 extra, unnecessary lights, for every photoshoot and then set them all to fire a fraction of a second late so that they wouldn’t affect the actual picture. The set might have 10 lights set up but only 1 or 2 were actually affecting the image. The assistant heard one of the art directors say to another “look at this production, we would have never gotten this quality if we had hired the other guy.”
Now
this is a story is way over the top but perceived value is a very real thing.
Why does a photographer need to shoot with a Hasselblad digital camera to shoot
images for a web campaign? Why do you need a 10 million dollar studio to shoot
products on seamless? You don’t, but your clients appreciate it. I spoke to an
art director at a large advertising agency and he told me that they liked to
hire a specific photographer because that photographer spent a ton of the
photography budget on everyone involved with the shoot. The photographer would
hire a professional chef to show up and cook for agency reps. His studio was
extremely nice and for the art director “it was so refreshing to get out of our
crappy offices and go to his studio for a shoot.”
Production Value
Production value is the biggest thing separating a good picture from a great one. Haven’t you ever watched a behind the scenes video of a giant campaign photoshoot and thought “man, they are only using 1 light, I could totally do this.” Well it’s true you could, but most of us are to lazy to do it the right way. High end photographers think about making flawless images. You might have an amazing location and dress but if your model doesn’t look professional then neither will your picture. Fashion photoshoots require 5 major components and most average photographers fall short in at least 1 of these areas. The model, lighting, location or set, outfit, and the post production must all be world class for the final picture to be world class. As I said above, many of the best photographers in the world are not very good at each of these things, but they realize their shortcomings and they hire a team to handle each aspect. The photographers work with modeling agencies to get the best talent available for every photoshoot. If the lighting is extremely complex many of these photographers have a team of lighting specialists that recreate the photographer’s “vision.” The photographer has a location scout or a set designer to find or build the perfect location for each picture. Hair, makeup and clothing stylists are brought in to make the models look as perfect as they possibly can. After the shoot it’s very rare for these photographers to do the retouching themselves; they almost always have someone on staff or send their photos out for retouching.
Production value is the biggest thing separating a good picture from a great one. Haven’t you ever watched a behind the scenes video of a giant campaign photoshoot and thought “man, they are only using 1 light, I could totally do this.” Well it’s true you could, but most of us are to lazy to do it the right way. High end photographers think about making flawless images. You might have an amazing location and dress but if your model doesn’t look professional then neither will your picture. Fashion photoshoots require 5 major components and most average photographers fall short in at least 1 of these areas. The model, lighting, location or set, outfit, and the post production must all be world class for the final picture to be world class. As I said above, many of the best photographers in the world are not very good at each of these things, but they realize their shortcomings and they hire a team to handle each aspect. The photographers work with modeling agencies to get the best talent available for every photoshoot. If the lighting is extremely complex many of these photographers have a team of lighting specialists that recreate the photographer’s “vision.” The photographer has a location scout or a set designer to find or build the perfect location for each picture. Hair, makeup and clothing stylists are brought in to make the models look as perfect as they possibly can. After the shoot it’s very rare for these photographers to do the retouching themselves; they almost always have someone on staff or send their photos out for retouching.
The Unnamed Trait
If you want to become a big name photographer everything I’ve written above is extremely important, but I don’t believe that any of those traits are THE most important. The most important trait is something that I don’t think I can fully explain with a couple of words. This trait has nothing to do with photography specifically, it has everything to do with success in general. Successful people are “Do’ers.” By that I mean successful people accomplish things. In many cases it doesn’t even matter what they do, they just have to do something, anything, over and over again. “Talented” people take initiative to do, create, or start something. The average person doesn’t actually do anything themselves; they go to work, they do what they are told, and then they come home and watch tv and get ready for the next day of work. Successful people see a problem and then fix it. They have an idea and they create something. Think about the people that you look up to in your life. You probably admire them because they have done something unique or different or they do something specific very well.
If you want to become a big name photographer everything I’ve written above is extremely important, but I don’t believe that any of those traits are THE most important. The most important trait is something that I don’t think I can fully explain with a couple of words. This trait has nothing to do with photography specifically, it has everything to do with success in general. Successful people are “Do’ers.” By that I mean successful people accomplish things. In many cases it doesn’t even matter what they do, they just have to do something, anything, over and over again. “Talented” people take initiative to do, create, or start something. The average person doesn’t actually do anything themselves; they go to work, they do what they are told, and then they come home and watch tv and get ready for the next day of work. Successful people see a problem and then fix it. They have an idea and they create something. Think about the people that you look up to in your life. You probably admire them because they have done something unique or different or they do something specific very well.
The
average person is a talker. They claim to be smart, they claim to be talented
and they claim to have great ideas. But they also always have an excuse about
why they aren’t doing anything. Don’t you know a person that is always planning
something big but their big ideas never turn out? Every time you talk to them
they have given up on the last idea but this new idea is “it” and this time
it’s really going to work. You probably have very little respect for this person
because each time someone promises you something and then can’t deliver you
lose a little bit of faith in them. It’s always easier to “talk” than it is to
“do.” These same people are the ones that will sit back and look at other
people who are doing things and talk bad about them or their projects. These
are the people that love to visit websites like ours and attack the writers or
the photographers in the articles for not doing a good enough job. The truth
is, successful people don’t have enough time to hate on other people because
they are too busy doing things- like making money.
If
there is one thing you take away from this article let it be this: stop talking
and start doing. My world is filled with people with “great ideas” that they
want me to be a part of. At this point I only want to be involved with people
that have proven that they actually can accomplish their goals. Everyone has
good ideas, that is not a unique talent. The talent lies in making your idea a
reality.
When
Patrick and I came up with idea for Fstoppers I tried to get other
photographers in the area involved and nobody was interested. If the rolls were
reversed I wouldn’t have been either. Two wedding photographers had an idea for
yet another photography website? We had no experience in web design or video
production and we wanted to start a video based website? That’s crazy. At the
time we were just talkers like everyone else. Through a lot of hard work and
luck, Fstoppers did turn into something and because of that one relatively
small success, we can say with confidence that we had a pretty ambitious idea
and we made something of it. The creation of this simple website has gained me
access to the secret club of photographers that “do”. Without Fstoppers I would
have never been able to meet my idols.
Now
you may be thinking, what in the world does this have to do with photography?
It has everything to do with photography. No matter where you are in your
photography career you need to be creating better images on a weekly basis.
This does not mean that you need to take more images, it means you need to
create better
images. Do you talk about your next concept for a photograph or do you plan it
out and shoot it within a few days and then move on to the next idea? When you
do shoot for yourself how meticulous are you in regards to the final product?
Are you involving the most talented models, stylists and retouchers available
in your area? It may be difficult to get the most talented people in town to
collaborate with you at the beginning but once you prove yourself, just like we
did with Fstoppers, the talent will find you. I bet you have an idea for a
single photo or a photography series or a behind the scenes video that you have
been thinking about for literally years. Turn off your computer and your TV and
actually do it. When you’re done with it, enjoy the feeling of accomplishing a
goal for a day and then move on to the next idea.
The
photographers that I idolize may not be a better photographers than me, technically
speaking, but they are far better than me in the areas that actually matter. I
am still trying to figure out how to make the jump from average photographer up
to the “top” but as I said before, I don’t think there is a top. The road to
success for 99% of people isn’t a jump, it’s a steady incline from one
successful project to the next. You’re not going to go directly from shooting
girls on Model Mayhem to shooting a campaign for Prada but if you act like
every one of your photoshoots is for Prada I have no doubt you will get there.
The photographers that we all look up to had to start from the bottom just like
us.
In my
mind I am a very average wedding photographer so I am always shocked and flattered
to hear that I have inspired someone else in some way. Three years ago, before
Fstoppers, I was struggling to book my next job just like all of you and nobody
knew who I was. Honestly I’m still struggling to book photography jobs today. I
didn’t think that Fstoppers would ever turn into what it is now. I simply had
an idea and unlike all of my other failed ideas, this one actually worked. I
did something and it paid off. I’m honestly no different than you, at best I’m
just a few years ahead of you.
I hope
that this article has inspired you. I hope you now realize that you are just as
capable as anyone of “making it”. But the truth is, I didn’t really write it
for you. I wrote this to myself because I am probably the laziest person I
know. I needed to give myself a pep-talk for 2013. There are a lot of ideas
that I need to make realities.
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