Since I’ve tried these chat threads a fewtimes by posing a specific question, I thought today I’ll open a broad discussion and invite you to ask me questions about anything you like.
Is there a basic technical question I left unanswered for you? Has there been something missing from my posts? Would you like to hear more about money, the editorial process, the media environment, making a book, or what it takes to print and put on a show?
Anything at all, the floor is yours. Get those questions starting now and through the weekend. I’ll be online Monday morning, New York time, between 9 am and 11 am ready to answer them.
We met once in NYC @ Blink offices when you when to show your printed portfolio, a few years ago. I was a photo editor back then and like many other colleagues, we were all very impressed by your work. I've always remembered when you said: "So nobody does prints anymore around here?" This, because it created a lot of attention, to have you, showing us a physical object like in the old days. Seeing fine quality prints, talking through the pages, telling us about the experiences and stories behind the pictures, and basically just sharing a moment with all of us.
I guess my question is about self-promotion. How often do you do what you did at Blink (understanding that now is hard to meet in person), and what are your strategies to approach people that you don't know and/or keep cultivating the ones you already have work with?
Hi Javier, I remember meeting you, thank you for following along here. I think it's extremely important as a younger photographer to get yourself in front of clients, editors and creative directors, and show your work in hard copy. We are so saturated by digital images and screens, I think hard copy portfolios stand out. They are tactile, the photos resonate, and people remember that you are serious.
When I was starting out, every 12-18 months I would go to Paris, London and New York and meet with as many magazine editors as I could. This was critical in helping me build my network and getting me work, which helped me build my career. I guess another question is how do you get the contact entails for the editors - I worked as an intern with a photo agency so had a healthy list of editors I had communicated with. But I also went to photo festivals and approached people, asked colleagues for contacts (and also shared the ones I had), and now with increased social media use, it's easy to find anyone you want to connect with.
I don’t do this now because I am in my 40’s. I have established relationships and will pitch stores to existing clients. Or my agent will send out my portfolio and I will only meet people over specific jobs. But getting out there as a young photographer and promoting yourself in person is very important.
Hi Adam, Your posts, images and interviews have been enjoyable and, at times, challenging to read. And without stalking you I have followed your career for many years. Given that your work has primarily sought to reveal the excesses of the human condition have there been times when you've questioned whether or not photojournalism and documentary practice can make a difference? Have you settled on an answer yet?
Hi David, wonderful question, and an important one. I have been asking this question since I was a student under you at art college and I am not sure I will ever stop asking it.
Yes - documentary practice can make a difference. I believe this because I have seen it do so. The simple act of listening to people validates their struggles and is cathartic, so being present for people makes a difference. Then the photographs themselves can make a difference. I have participated in one story that caused people to donate money to the subjects and have them get an education. This one story could perhaps justify my career - a few lives were changed. It's small but it's real. This has happened in many different contexts.
But I get disillusioned and I do not feel this way about all my work. I’ve written about my disillusionment covering the war in Afghanistan and as time went on I wondered if my work as a photojournalist, and the work of others, reinforced the industrial military complex, in ways it did. I also question the idea that photography has stimulated humanitarian interventions that have had long lasting and positive impacts.
My position now - is that not all documentary practice makes a difference. The simple act of revealing the excesses of the human condition is not enough. Documentary practitioners need to evaluate why and how they are telling the stories they participate in. We need to evaluate the visual languages we use and understand the inherent biases of imperialism, racism and oppression that can exist within them.
This is about your use of OCF, something I love in your portraits. It sounds like a tech question, but I think it's really a question about relationships and (apologies if this is grandiose) humanism in photography. Given that setting up takes time, can you talk about how your subjects react to this - both seeing lights in the first place and the waiting period itself? In fashion no one would blink an eye, but these aren't models or actors, so I'm curious about your interactions while they wait. Do they have a sense that this is above and beyond standard photojournalistic practice? Are they flattered and impressed? Put off? Is there curiosity that can help establish a deeper connection, or is there tension and impatience? Which I guess is a larger question about how people living through crisis react to being 'chosen' to be seen by the world? If you were running and gunning, they might not have time to consider this, but in your process, I imagine they do. I also wonder if you 'lose them' a little because of the time and care your approach demands and then have to bring them back to the moment when you're ready to shoot - how do you manage that? Thanks, Adam!
Hey Todd, every situation is nuanced and different, but generally I find people are flattered that someone is working professionally and taking time to make a photograph of them. It's a novelty for people. I work quickly with the equipment when I am making documentary portraits - one light (two at the most), no assistant, small/portable gear, and I am practised.
It never feels too distracting for me and I have a plan for light going into most situations, so I just get to a location and don't take long setting up. I keep interacting with people. Using lighting still of course slows things down, but I like it because it inspires more conversation. I often ask people how they want to pose and involve them in the process. Generally people are interested in having a photographer and are keen to chat to someone outside of their immediate world.
There has been a time I struggled to get the lighting right and in that distraction my subject lost interest because I was floundering. I won't make that mistake again and if the lighting isn't working or overtakes my focus on the people I am meeting, I turn them off and shoot natural light.
The flash can be intrusive. If the ambient light is low I will often just use the modelling light on my flash heads, so it's constant light and less intrusive.
I think the tip here is to practice with lighting before you get into a space with people to use it.
Hi Angie. How to get gallery prints made -find and develop a relationship with a professional printer. I have been living in New York for the past five years and work with Griffin Editions. I work with a retoucher on my scans of negatives or digital raw files, then I provide those to the printer, then we go through rounds of proofing, making adjustments, until I feel the print is singing.
The cost of prints depends on the size and type of them - ie what paper you print on and the medium. Framing is also dependent on size.
I had a small show this month and for it I printed 4x5 ft digital pigment prints. Each print was 599.00 USD before tax, handling and shipping. The gallery had approached me about the show so they paid for the printing of 14 photographs for the exhibition. The work was not for sale, printed only for exhibition and will most likely be destroyed after the exhibition ends.
I charged 2800.00 to the gallery as an exhibition fee, and I also charged 1800.00 pre and post production fees to cover my time working on the printing. We didn't frame the prints for this and just hung them.
There are a number of factors that change the answers to your questions - is the work being exhibited to sell, is it just for exhibition at an institution, framed or hung. If the work is for sale that opens a whole other conversation about splits between galleries and artists. All this changes the fees. There also isn’t set fees, each artist can ask for different fees based on their careers and perceived worth.
Is there something specific you want to do, that I could advise on?
Hello Adam! It's a pleasure to participate in your Q&A :)
My name is Rafael Vilela, I am a Brazilian photographer working mostly in São Paulo but also traveling around to other areas of my country like Mato Grosso or the Amazon region.
My question is about angling and selling pitches. Many times I find myself in a great effort to convince international editors of the importance and relevance of the stories I produce. Even with the recent political advances in this sense, I feel that the prism is always completely centered in a still very colonizing, North American or Eurocentric view of what matters - which always produces many clichés, especially in visual journalism. I found your interview with Kiana Hayeri incredible because she identifies and points out this phenomenon accurately and sharply. I feel that the same thing still happens with great intensity in Latin America, especially since we are seen as North America's backyard. As a non North American or European photographer, how do you deal or have you dealt with these issues?
Currently I have been producing stories with National Geographic and Washington Post, spaces in which I have had a great reception and care from the editors, but I feel that I lack the capacity to better "translate" what i live and feel in my country to the international public opinion. Any advices are super welcome!
Hi Rafael, I think this is the pitfall of knowing your story as a local, an insider, and having an intimate understanding of issues, but having to position your voice in publications outside of your context, as you say the US and Europe. The editorial interests of these publications is to serve their own domestic market and there is inherent bias to the stories they consider economically important or important to their readers.
Although - you should try and make the narrative as valid as you can without compromising your professional relationships. I think it's okay to approach an editor tactfully and explain a different angle or approach. I have found that when I have done that they will respect you. After all, an editor is sitting in the US and you are the storyteller on the ground. It's up to you to guide the ethics of the story.
I'm wondering how you navigate sharing images with those that you photograph, whether on assignment or for your personal work. Do people often ask you for the photographs that you take of them, in particular those that you ask for consent? I imagine it varies greatly, but what do you see as your obligation to your subjects (I'm admittedly not crazy about that term), and does that affect what you publish, even on a platform like Instagram? Thank you Adam, your newsletter has been illuminating and inspiring.
It depends on the project. If I spend time with people and they are generous and the work is done journalistically, I generally send photos to people. I must admit I have had times of being lazy with this - it's a lot of work to provide photos to people, it can take a whole work day and people don't realise the work that goes into it. But I do my best to send photos to people for their personal use.
I tried to contact you about the trans woman who was housing and holding a community together at the border in Mexico. I wanted to know her address or some way I could contact her to offer financial support. That is why I signed up for your newsletter. It seemed the only way to contact you through the New York Times. Since I am also a filmmaker who has gotten interested in still photography, I enjoy your newsletter. I suggest such information should be more easily available. I seriously considered flying down there to try finding her on my own but I'm 83-years-old, a LGBT activist since 1958, and thought it was too daunting physically. Check me out "Randolfe Wicker" on wikipedia if you think I'm putting you on.
Hi Randolfe, thanks for signing up. I also have a website with an email address on it. How much money would you like to send Amy Rose? I could pass it on.
Hi Sonia, when I work as a documentary photographer on assignment making journalism, I generally don't get releases because they are not necessary in this context. Although, to license photographs commercially in an advertising context, you need a release of course.
There have been times I needed releases for documentary work. The recent portraits I made of migrants in Mexico, where the people pictured fired the shutter. I did this because the photos were collaborative and I had my translator/assistant explain the release to each subject and have them sign it.
I feel uncomfortable getting releases when I am working on journalistic stories because it feels like it comprises a personal interaction with a subject, making it transactional. The second thing is - when working on making a story about someone, asking them for the rights to the photo to sell and use however you want, is something most people are not comfortable with. For example - if I make a portrait of a person with Long Covid, would they want a photo out there to be used in an ad campaign without their permission, probably not. And when photographs are used for an ad campaign there is generally a talent fee, so a specific release is required for the specific use anyway.
If I am working commercially there is a producer from the agency I am working with that will handle releases. I try to avoid it. Although recently an ad agency approached me about using some photos I made (journalistically) in Australia and I was still in touch with the people in the photos so I asked them myself, got a talent fee for them and handled it. But this is not the norm.
Regarding making a book - I am in the midst of making a book with my work from Australia and I am planning a bunch of posts as the process unfolds over the next 6 months. I’ll do the same with printing and exhibiting. So thank you for suggesting that and stay tuned.
Hey Adam, hope you're well. when you get to the printing and exhibiting posts, would love to hear your experience re framing photographs and the durability/longevity of framed photographic art works, I've used top end art framers/photographic art printers for exhibitions for example and I find over the years the photograph (once framed) the actual cotton rag or photographic print paper ripples so ever slightly - it's just not flat anymore but it's not terrible though you can notice on the side - though I feel it matters. question is - what are others like yourself seeing and experiencing with your work being framed over like years (2-10years time). do photographic art prints stand the test of time with framing? or is like a maintenance thing where you need to reset the photograph back flat on back of frame (my photo works can be taken out of frame). is this maybe why artists sell prints only unframed?
Hey again Sarah, my favourite work is always by other photographers who have a curiosity, or a concern, a need even, to explore something. What are you interested in and what do you care about. Let that guide you to a story.
Your articles and thoughts are very useful and interesting for me. I really like your photos, because they are important and perfectly reflect our time, they impress with feelings and mood, quality - nothing needs to be added or subtracted. What is more important for you in photography, the form (composition) or the content? Which of the photographers inspires you? What photo made an impression on you?
Hi Sergey, thank you for writing. I consider the subject the most important thing, for it's the reason to be there, the reason everything else is existing, and the composition is informed but it. The subject always dictates my methodology.
I have so many inspirations - ones which I would prescribe to specific bodies of work made by other photographers. Lately I have been looking at Imperial Courts by Dana Lixenberg. An American Index of The Hidden and Unfamiliar, by Taryn Simon. The Notion of Family, by Latoya Ruby Frazier. And I always gravitate back to American Prospects by Joel Sternfeld.
Hi Adam, I have been photographing people for a couple years now using only natural light. I would like to start experimenting with simple artificial light sources like LED panels or flashes. How would you recommend starting?
Hi Stefano, there is a book I always recommend. For the record - I have no financial incentive to recommend it, and the photography in this book is horrible, but it's the only book I found that spells out technical portrait techniques. It's a great base to know the basics of studio lighting, because then once you have them, you can break the rules and experiment.
Hi Adam, I’m in my second year at QCA where I know you graduated from. We frequently look at your work and I use it as exemplars.
What I want to ask is how you got into your position after graduating from QCA. How you gained all the connections that eventually got you into working with TIME and other big names sharing all these important stories.
Hi Sarah, great to have you here! Honestly - it wasn't easy but I just kept working at it. It took some years. But there are definitely a few pivotal things. After I graduated from QCA I worked menial jobs and used this money to make photography and personal work. This is key, you have to keep making work even when you're not assigned to do so.
I also used my earnings from working menial jobs to be an unpaid intern at VII Photo Agency in Paris. I was young, naive, and from Australia, so this was a great opportunity to see how photojournalism worked internationally and build a professional network of editors. I also made some great friends and mentors at VII that helped me from here.
Three years transpired between art college and finishing an internship, and on the advice of a mentor, Gary Knight, I decided to move to New Delhi, India and start freelancing. I made a point of meeting all the correspondents and writers in Delhi, and get meetings with the various NGO’s, and I started picking up work. It wasn't a lot, but it kept me going. And while it did, I worked on my own projects. Much of my personal work never saw the light of day and wasn't any good. But it allowed me to learn and fail and cultivate my way of seeing.
Over four years I stayed in India and small assignments turned into bigger ones. I self funded my first trip to Afghanistan and picked up an assignment when I was there. It helped to just be on the ground and available on big news stories.
Although as I write about my own path - I realize that doing it the way I did it, may not be viable now. The magazine world I grew up in isn't as robust as it was and digital technology has changed photojournalism. I think your aim should not be working for big publications. Instead it should be making a certain type of work or being a certain type of journalist or artist. Gravitate towards the stories you want to tell, and then work out what is the best platform for those stories and your voice.
Hey Adam -- I'm a documentary DP/director who's been shooting more stills work. One of the things that's tripped me up is exposure when shooting verite stuff where the light changes drastically from shot-to-shot. I feel like with cinema I can watch my meters and keep it dialed in, but have had a harder time with stills. I'm curious what your approach to this might be? All manual, spot metering, one of the priority modes? Very much appreciate it, have been loving the newsletter.
Hi Ilie, that makes sense. I guess there is a lot more production that goes into motion and there is time to meter while a camera is on tripod, or things are generally more staged and planned. When I shoot verite/candid moments I will either set my camera to aperture priority, or I will manually meter for a scene and shoot everything at the same exposure.
I use aperture priority as my automatic exposure setting because I find the depth of field the most important thing to me creatively. Generally I am not interested in the shutter speed unless I am working in very low light, or using a slow shutter to get some blur effect.
If I meter, I will use a handheld light meter to take an incident reading of the ambient light and them leave my settings, unless of course sun goes behind clouds or there is some significant shift in ambient light.
As you I am sure you know as a DP - exposure will affect the tone/mood/color of the photo, so there are some creative considerations pair with technical ones. Eg - I recently did a project where I oversposed everything ½ stop, because I wanted the work to look aesthetically bright with plenty of detail. I have done the opposite also, underexposed or just exposed for the brightest highlight. Thank you! Adam
Hi Adam, thanks so much for the advice. I also generally find myself leaving my aperture set and just cranking my shutter speed, will try aperture priority to see how it works. thanks again appreciate the time!
Hi Adam!
We met once in NYC @ Blink offices when you when to show your printed portfolio, a few years ago. I was a photo editor back then and like many other colleagues, we were all very impressed by your work. I've always remembered when you said: "So nobody does prints anymore around here?" This, because it created a lot of attention, to have you, showing us a physical object like in the old days. Seeing fine quality prints, talking through the pages, telling us about the experiences and stories behind the pictures, and basically just sharing a moment with all of us.
I guess my question is about self-promotion. How often do you do what you did at Blink (understanding that now is hard to meet in person), and what are your strategies to approach people that you don't know and/or keep cultivating the ones you already have work with?
Thanks again!
Javier
Hi Javier, I remember meeting you, thank you for following along here. I think it's extremely important as a younger photographer to get yourself in front of clients, editors and creative directors, and show your work in hard copy. We are so saturated by digital images and screens, I think hard copy portfolios stand out. They are tactile, the photos resonate, and people remember that you are serious.
When I was starting out, every 12-18 months I would go to Paris, London and New York and meet with as many magazine editors as I could. This was critical in helping me build my network and getting me work, which helped me build my career. I guess another question is how do you get the contact entails for the editors - I worked as an intern with a photo agency so had a healthy list of editors I had communicated with. But I also went to photo festivals and approached people, asked colleagues for contacts (and also shared the ones I had), and now with increased social media use, it's easy to find anyone you want to connect with.
I don’t do this now because I am in my 40’s. I have established relationships and will pitch stores to existing clients. Or my agent will send out my portfolio and I will only meet people over specific jobs. But getting out there as a young photographer and promoting yourself in person is very important.
Hi Adam, Your posts, images and interviews have been enjoyable and, at times, challenging to read. And without stalking you I have followed your career for many years. Given that your work has primarily sought to reveal the excesses of the human condition have there been times when you've questioned whether or not photojournalism and documentary practice can make a difference? Have you settled on an answer yet?
Hi David, wonderful question, and an important one. I have been asking this question since I was a student under you at art college and I am not sure I will ever stop asking it.
Yes - documentary practice can make a difference. I believe this because I have seen it do so. The simple act of listening to people validates their struggles and is cathartic, so being present for people makes a difference. Then the photographs themselves can make a difference. I have participated in one story that caused people to donate money to the subjects and have them get an education. This one story could perhaps justify my career - a few lives were changed. It's small but it's real. This has happened in many different contexts.
But I get disillusioned and I do not feel this way about all my work. I’ve written about my disillusionment covering the war in Afghanistan and as time went on I wondered if my work as a photojournalist, and the work of others, reinforced the industrial military complex, in ways it did. I also question the idea that photography has stimulated humanitarian interventions that have had long lasting and positive impacts.
My position now - is that not all documentary practice makes a difference. The simple act of revealing the excesses of the human condition is not enough. Documentary practitioners need to evaluate why and how they are telling the stories they participate in. We need to evaluate the visual languages we use and understand the inherent biases of imperialism, racism and oppression that can exist within them.
This is about your use of OCF, something I love in your portraits. It sounds like a tech question, but I think it's really a question about relationships and (apologies if this is grandiose) humanism in photography. Given that setting up takes time, can you talk about how your subjects react to this - both seeing lights in the first place and the waiting period itself? In fashion no one would blink an eye, but these aren't models or actors, so I'm curious about your interactions while they wait. Do they have a sense that this is above and beyond standard photojournalistic practice? Are they flattered and impressed? Put off? Is there curiosity that can help establish a deeper connection, or is there tension and impatience? Which I guess is a larger question about how people living through crisis react to being 'chosen' to be seen by the world? If you were running and gunning, they might not have time to consider this, but in your process, I imagine they do. I also wonder if you 'lose them' a little because of the time and care your approach demands and then have to bring them back to the moment when you're ready to shoot - how do you manage that? Thanks, Adam!
Hey Todd, every situation is nuanced and different, but generally I find people are flattered that someone is working professionally and taking time to make a photograph of them. It's a novelty for people. I work quickly with the equipment when I am making documentary portraits - one light (two at the most), no assistant, small/portable gear, and I am practised.
It never feels too distracting for me and I have a plan for light going into most situations, so I just get to a location and don't take long setting up. I keep interacting with people. Using lighting still of course slows things down, but I like it because it inspires more conversation. I often ask people how they want to pose and involve them in the process. Generally people are interested in having a photographer and are keen to chat to someone outside of their immediate world.
There has been a time I struggled to get the lighting right and in that distraction my subject lost interest because I was floundering. I won't make that mistake again and if the lighting isn't working or overtakes my focus on the people I am meeting, I turn them off and shoot natural light.
The flash can be intrusive. If the ambient light is low I will often just use the modelling light on my flash heads, so it's constant light and less intrusive.
I think the tip here is to practice with lighting before you get into a space with people to use it.
I would love to know about putting on a show. e.g. how to get gallery prints made, the cost to the artist, the cost to the gallery, framing, etc.
Hi Angie. How to get gallery prints made -find and develop a relationship with a professional printer. I have been living in New York for the past five years and work with Griffin Editions. I work with a retoucher on my scans of negatives or digital raw files, then I provide those to the printer, then we go through rounds of proofing, making adjustments, until I feel the print is singing.
The cost of prints depends on the size and type of them - ie what paper you print on and the medium. Framing is also dependent on size.
I had a small show this month and for it I printed 4x5 ft digital pigment prints. Each print was 599.00 USD before tax, handling and shipping. The gallery had approached me about the show so they paid for the printing of 14 photographs for the exhibition. The work was not for sale, printed only for exhibition and will most likely be destroyed after the exhibition ends.
I charged 2800.00 to the gallery as an exhibition fee, and I also charged 1800.00 pre and post production fees to cover my time working on the printing. We didn't frame the prints for this and just hung them.
There are a number of factors that change the answers to your questions - is the work being exhibited to sell, is it just for exhibition at an institution, framed or hung. If the work is for sale that opens a whole other conversation about splits between galleries and artists. All this changes the fees. There also isn’t set fees, each artist can ask for different fees based on their careers and perceived worth.
Is there something specific you want to do, that I could advise on?
Hello Adam! It's a pleasure to participate in your Q&A :)
My name is Rafael Vilela, I am a Brazilian photographer working mostly in São Paulo but also traveling around to other areas of my country like Mato Grosso or the Amazon region.
My question is about angling and selling pitches. Many times I find myself in a great effort to convince international editors of the importance and relevance of the stories I produce. Even with the recent political advances in this sense, I feel that the prism is always completely centered in a still very colonizing, North American or Eurocentric view of what matters - which always produces many clichés, especially in visual journalism. I found your interview with Kiana Hayeri incredible because she identifies and points out this phenomenon accurately and sharply. I feel that the same thing still happens with great intensity in Latin America, especially since we are seen as North America's backyard. As a non North American or European photographer, how do you deal or have you dealt with these issues?
Currently I have been producing stories with National Geographic and Washington Post, spaces in which I have had a great reception and care from the editors, but I feel that I lack the capacity to better "translate" what i live and feel in my country to the international public opinion. Any advices are super welcome!
Hi Rafael, I think this is the pitfall of knowing your story as a local, an insider, and having an intimate understanding of issues, but having to position your voice in publications outside of your context, as you say the US and Europe. The editorial interests of these publications is to serve their own domestic market and there is inherent bias to the stories they consider economically important or important to their readers.
Although - you should try and make the narrative as valid as you can without compromising your professional relationships. I think it's okay to approach an editor tactfully and explain a different angle or approach. I have found that when I have done that they will respect you. After all, an editor is sitting in the US and you are the storyteller on the ground. It's up to you to guide the ethics of the story.
Great, thanks!
Hi Adam,
I'm wondering how you navigate sharing images with those that you photograph, whether on assignment or for your personal work. Do people often ask you for the photographs that you take of them, in particular those that you ask for consent? I imagine it varies greatly, but what do you see as your obligation to your subjects (I'm admittedly not crazy about that term), and does that affect what you publish, even on a platform like Instagram? Thank you Adam, your newsletter has been illuminating and inspiring.
It depends on the project. If I spend time with people and they are generous and the work is done journalistically, I generally send photos to people. I must admit I have had times of being lazy with this - it's a lot of work to provide photos to people, it can take a whole work day and people don't realise the work that goes into it. But I do my best to send photos to people for their personal use.
I tried to contact you about the trans woman who was housing and holding a community together at the border in Mexico. I wanted to know her address or some way I could contact her to offer financial support. That is why I signed up for your newsletter. It seemed the only way to contact you through the New York Times. Since I am also a filmmaker who has gotten interested in still photography, I enjoy your newsletter. I suggest such information should be more easily available. I seriously considered flying down there to try finding her on my own but I'm 83-years-old, a LGBT activist since 1958, and thought it was too daunting physically. Check me out "Randolfe Wicker" on wikipedia if you think I'm putting you on.
Hi Randolfe, thanks for signing up. I also have a website with an email address on it. How much money would you like to send Amy Rose? I could pass it on.
hi there Adam, managing the gathering of photo releases/workflow, making a book, and what it takes to print and put on a show all sound great
Hi Sonia, when I work as a documentary photographer on assignment making journalism, I generally don't get releases because they are not necessary in this context. Although, to license photographs commercially in an advertising context, you need a release of course.
There have been times I needed releases for documentary work. The recent portraits I made of migrants in Mexico, where the people pictured fired the shutter. I did this because the photos were collaborative and I had my translator/assistant explain the release to each subject and have them sign it.
I feel uncomfortable getting releases when I am working on journalistic stories because it feels like it comprises a personal interaction with a subject, making it transactional. The second thing is - when working on making a story about someone, asking them for the rights to the photo to sell and use however you want, is something most people are not comfortable with. For example - if I make a portrait of a person with Long Covid, would they want a photo out there to be used in an ad campaign without their permission, probably not. And when photographs are used for an ad campaign there is generally a talent fee, so a specific release is required for the specific use anyway.
If I am working commercially there is a producer from the agency I am working with that will handle releases. I try to avoid it. Although recently an ad agency approached me about using some photos I made (journalistically) in Australia and I was still in touch with the people in the photos so I asked them myself, got a talent fee for them and handled it. But this is not the norm.
Regarding making a book - I am in the midst of making a book with my work from Australia and I am planning a bunch of posts as the process unfolds over the next 6 months. I’ll do the same with printing and exhibiting. So thank you for suggesting that and stay tuned.
Hey Adam, hope you're well. when you get to the printing and exhibiting posts, would love to hear your experience re framing photographs and the durability/longevity of framed photographic art works, I've used top end art framers/photographic art printers for exhibitions for example and I find over the years the photograph (once framed) the actual cotton rag or photographic print paper ripples so ever slightly - it's just not flat anymore but it's not terrible though you can notice on the side - though I feel it matters. question is - what are others like yourself seeing and experiencing with your work being framed over like years (2-10years time). do photographic art prints stand the test of time with framing? or is like a maintenance thing where you need to reset the photograph back flat on back of frame (my photo works can be taken out of frame). is this maybe why artists sell prints only unframed?
thank you so much Adam, you're truly amazing. love your site.
Hi Adam! I absolutely love this newsletter of yours! Please keep it up! How about something on how you process your images? Thanks, Antoine
Thank you Antoine, I'll add it the list of upcoming posts.
I would also love to know how you go about the process of finding people to document and tell their story
Hey again Sarah, my favourite work is always by other photographers who have a curiosity, or a concern, a need even, to explore something. What are you interested in and what do you care about. Let that guide you to a story.
Hi, Adam!
Your articles and thoughts are very useful and interesting for me. I really like your photos, because they are important and perfectly reflect our time, they impress with feelings and mood, quality - nothing needs to be added or subtracted. What is more important for you in photography, the form (composition) or the content? Which of the photographers inspires you? What photo made an impression on you?
With respect.
Hi Sergey, thank you for writing. I consider the subject the most important thing, for it's the reason to be there, the reason everything else is existing, and the composition is informed but it. The subject always dictates my methodology.
I have so many inspirations - ones which I would prescribe to specific bodies of work made by other photographers. Lately I have been looking at Imperial Courts by Dana Lixenberg. An American Index of The Hidden and Unfamiliar, by Taryn Simon. The Notion of Family, by Latoya Ruby Frazier. And I always gravitate back to American Prospects by Joel Sternfeld.
Hi Adam, I have been photographing people for a couple years now using only natural light. I would like to start experimenting with simple artificial light sources like LED panels or flashes. How would you recommend starting?
Thanks!
Hi Stefano, there is a book I always recommend. For the record - I have no financial incentive to recommend it, and the photography in this book is horrible, but it's the only book I found that spells out technical portrait techniques. It's a great base to know the basics of studio lighting, because then once you have them, you can break the rules and experiment.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003XVYFIQ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Thanks a lot for the suggestion!
Hi Adam, I’m in my second year at QCA where I know you graduated from. We frequently look at your work and I use it as exemplars.
What I want to ask is how you got into your position after graduating from QCA. How you gained all the connections that eventually got you into working with TIME and other big names sharing all these important stories.
Hi Sarah, great to have you here! Honestly - it wasn't easy but I just kept working at it. It took some years. But there are definitely a few pivotal things. After I graduated from QCA I worked menial jobs and used this money to make photography and personal work. This is key, you have to keep making work even when you're not assigned to do so.
I also used my earnings from working menial jobs to be an unpaid intern at VII Photo Agency in Paris. I was young, naive, and from Australia, so this was a great opportunity to see how photojournalism worked internationally and build a professional network of editors. I also made some great friends and mentors at VII that helped me from here.
Three years transpired between art college and finishing an internship, and on the advice of a mentor, Gary Knight, I decided to move to New Delhi, India and start freelancing. I made a point of meeting all the correspondents and writers in Delhi, and get meetings with the various NGO’s, and I started picking up work. It wasn't a lot, but it kept me going. And while it did, I worked on my own projects. Much of my personal work never saw the light of day and wasn't any good. But it allowed me to learn and fail and cultivate my way of seeing.
Over four years I stayed in India and small assignments turned into bigger ones. I self funded my first trip to Afghanistan and picked up an assignment when I was there. It helped to just be on the ground and available on big news stories.
Although as I write about my own path - I realize that doing it the way I did it, may not be viable now. The magazine world I grew up in isn't as robust as it was and digital technology has changed photojournalism. I think your aim should not be working for big publications. Instead it should be making a certain type of work or being a certain type of journalist or artist. Gravitate towards the stories you want to tell, and then work out what is the best platform for those stories and your voice.
I see the questions but would be interested in your response. How are these shown? Thanks.
Hi Deborah, I am answering the questions below them this morning until 11 am NY time.
Hey Adam -- I'm a documentary DP/director who's been shooting more stills work. One of the things that's tripped me up is exposure when shooting verite stuff where the light changes drastically from shot-to-shot. I feel like with cinema I can watch my meters and keep it dialed in, but have had a harder time with stills. I'm curious what your approach to this might be? All manual, spot metering, one of the priority modes? Very much appreciate it, have been loving the newsletter.
Hi Ilie, that makes sense. I guess there is a lot more production that goes into motion and there is time to meter while a camera is on tripod, or things are generally more staged and planned. When I shoot verite/candid moments I will either set my camera to aperture priority, or I will manually meter for a scene and shoot everything at the same exposure.
I use aperture priority as my automatic exposure setting because I find the depth of field the most important thing to me creatively. Generally I am not interested in the shutter speed unless I am working in very low light, or using a slow shutter to get some blur effect.
If I meter, I will use a handheld light meter to take an incident reading of the ambient light and them leave my settings, unless of course sun goes behind clouds or there is some significant shift in ambient light.
As you I am sure you know as a DP - exposure will affect the tone/mood/color of the photo, so there are some creative considerations pair with technical ones. Eg - I recently did a project where I oversposed everything ½ stop, because I wanted the work to look aesthetically bright with plenty of detail. I have done the opposite also, underexposed or just exposed for the brightest highlight. Thank you! Adam
Hi Adam, thanks so much for the advice. I also generally find myself leaving my aperture set and just cranking my shutter speed, will try aperture priority to see how it works. thanks again appreciate the time!