By Claire Semnacher of Held & Associates



WB: Have any life experiences shaped you into the photographer you are today? And more specifically, what made you want to focus on photographing animals?
I was born into a household full of animals, right next to a nature preserve. Before I was old enough to walk or talk I was learning my pets' body language. Our bulldog, Daisy, was just about at eye level with me then I suppose; perhaps I thought I was a bulldog and not a person at all! Regardless, I have always seen the animals around me as my peers or as something to wonder at.
I was also born into advertising. My father was an art director who worked on Madison Avenue, and I spent many days of my childhood on set. When the two worlds of animals and advertising came together for me, it felt very natural.

WB: Your series, “Shake” went viral last year and is going to be published into a book this summer. How exciting! Can you tell me how this opportunity came about?
Shake was something I never could have predicted. I entered the six shots I had taken so far of the very new series into PDN’s Faces competition, and it ended up as a finalist in the animal’s category. From there, little by little at first, it spread over small blogs and finally just exploded. I had millions of hits on my website and was suddenly getting portfolio spreads in magazines across the world. I got my book deal last May with HarperCollins and shot another 120 photos for my book [due] out in August of this year. I’m SO EXCITED about it; how cool, to have a book! I have a great agent and editor and a wonderful team over at HarperCollins that I get to work with to make the book happen, and it’s been a great learning experience.

WB: What has been your most rewarding experience working with animals?
Oh that is a really hard one, and it speaks more to my history in animal care than photography. I guess it’s always the stories of beating the odds, or overcoming adversity. Sometimes it’s as simple as a good day when an animal I’ve cared for, suffering from a chronic condition like renal failure, eats and drinks and wants to interact. Probably the most rewarding was when I got to foster a pit bull puppy that lost both his front legs due to severe abuse. I photographed his surgery for the court case my friend’s rescue was building against his previous owners. I was by his side almost every day during his recovery and rehab. I trained him in how to use a wheelchair; I got to watch him blossom from a reserved dog who had spent months in debilitating pain to a totally rambunctious, super-high-energy pit bull puppy, as he should have been the whole time.

WB: What’s your strategy for making the animals comfortable? Do you have to “get on their level,” in a sense?
I’m happiest when I’m 'on their level.’ I think that’s why I have such patience with them. I’m not a patient person by nature, but working with animals it seems totally natural to let them take the lead and slowly mold the behavior I’m looking for. I get on the ground with them, I play with them, I take the pressure off and do my best to make it fun for both of us. I’ve been working around animals as long as I can remember; I grew up seeing them as members of my family and playmates. I’ve worked around wild animals, abused animals, and animals that could kill me. You learn how to move around them, how to make them feel safe. I also read a lot of training and behavior books. As far as learning about animal behavior, I always tell people to volunteer at a shelter or read anything by Turid Rugaas or Jaak Pansksepp and anything pertaining to cognitive ethology.

WB: Animals can be unpredictable sometimes; have you had any scary experiences?
When I was 18 I was interning at a big cat rescue in Owasso, Michigan. A lioness grabbed my foot from between the bars and held it in her mouth, gently chewing on my boot and looking me in the eyes like a playful kitten. I froze knowing that kittens sure like to play with a moving object! A friend threw a hunk of meat next to her, and she promptly let go. I still have those boots with a tooth imprint from her, perhaps as a reminder that you always have to be aware of your safety first and foremost when working with wild animals. Aside from that, I have been bitten, scratched, knocked over, and had all manner of gross spewed at me; that’s just kind of life when you’re working around animals.

WB: I noticed that there are hardly any cats on your website, are you strictly a dog person?
There are cats on my main website; I am a cat lover too! I regularly photograph a fluffy-haired, one-eyed Persian that survived a viscous BB gun attack and a hairless sphinx that belong to my friend and has a comical amount of extra skin. They are kind of my cat muses, Regulator and Grandpaw.

WB: What is the most exotic/unique kind of animal you have photographed?
I photographed an Amur leopard being spayed. It was a powerful moment because the estimate is there are only ten of them left in the wild, and here I was witnessing one of the most endangered species in the world getting serialized. It was humbling. She had already been bred in captivity a few times, and they didn’t want to risk oversaturating the gene pool with her cubs for fear of inbreeding. There is actually a whole breeding program to keep track of how the gene pool is represented within zoological associations around the world. It is called the SSP or species survival program.

WB: There is a large section of your website dedicated to handicapped pets. Can you tell me a bit about the the little poodle, Ramen Noodle?
Ramen and I are kind of in love; his owner Jaime even says we have a bond! I think Ramen just makes people happy; he is such a good-natured dog, and people who see him are just overcome with wonder for this three-and-a-half pound poodle that walks around on his two hind legs like a tiny human. Ramen lost his legs in two separate accidents. After the first, one his owner signed his custody over to the animal hospital that performed the amputation. The second one was after Jaime, the vet tech during his first surgery, adopted him. He jumped off a chair and snapped the tiny bone in his second leg. Nothing could be done but a second amputation. Jaime was heartbroken, but just days later Ramen was already walking on his hind legs.

WB: I read in your bio that you worked as a zookeeper at the Oregon zoo. Tell me a bit about that. What kinds of animals did you work with?

So much of zoo work is manual labor: scrubbing, cleaning, building enrichment, and working on exhibits. I actually loved it. I loved watching the sunrise while scrubbing out the sea lion exhibit in waders and coveralls in the middle of the winter. I had a simple sense of pride about how much algae I could get off the underwater bridge or in how many of little seed packets wrapped in paper I could hide for the chimps. The fun part is training, that’s when you really get to interact with the animals, but it only takes up a small amount of the day. Keepers work really hard to make sure that we can give our captive animals the best life possible in captivity, even thought we know it doesn’t compare to actually living in the wild. We take pride in doing what we can to keep the animals in a good mental space.

I got to work with primates (chimps and orangutans, as well as some lesser apes and monkeys), big cats, marine life, including polar bears and huge stellar sea lions, and birds of prey. I actually worked the bird shows at the zoo, training the birds of prey and doing summer educational flight shows. It was really fun! I was also a photographer for the zoo, which allowed me amazing access.

WB: If you weren’t a photographer, what career would you have chosen?
A neurologist or a cognitive ethologist. I am totally fascinated by the brain’s emotional centers and how our emotions and behaviors are tied into our biological systems. Cognitive ethology is a relatively new study that explores the influence of conscious awareness and intention on the behavior of an animal. (read: NERD)

By Heather Elder



Every year we work nonstop from mid November until just before the holiday to create our 2012 Year in Review and 2013 Plans for our photographers. We believe strongly that doing so is crucial for the success of the next year.

The process began with a phone call in November with each photographer to review the financial situation of the year and talk through where they would like to see those numbers go in the coming year. We then talk frankly about what we think needs to happen to achieve those goals, including a realistic assessment about what they can commit to themselves in regards to shooting new work, marketing on their own and financial output. Together we set a financial goal that we then outline a strategy of how to meet.

A BIG part of the conversation this year was spent talking about the importance of shooting more personal work. I must sound like a broken record by now but once again, in the most simplest of terms, the photographers in our group that produced the most amount of new work were the busiest in the group. I have been repping for over 15 years (notice how I didn’t say almost 20 years? I feel younger this way!) and this has always been the case.

I wrote a post about this very thing in 2011 and the only thing that I would add in 2013 is that if I thought it was important in 2011, I think is is SUPER important in 2013. You can read that post here.

The plan starts out with a review of what we thought about photography in general and then discusses what we thought mattered most this year and any trends were noticing. We then outline a very specific plan for how we will meet their financial goals. We end with a review of what marketing was accomplished in 2012 so that everyone has a good idea of how much cheerleading was done over the year.

Since we firmly believe their is no secret ingredient for how we market our photographers, we thought it would be helpful to share with you all the beginning parts of our plan. The power of our blog is the idea of conversation. We hope that this gets you talking AND thinking!

WAS IT A GOOD YEAR FOR ADVERTISING PHOTOGRAPHERS IN GENERAL?

From and industry point of view we think this year was a strong one. Here is why:

1) Larger Budgets

There were more projects with larger budgets this year and more library shoots. Clients are recognizing the value of a larger production for more days to yield more imagery. To be clear, they were not adding money so that we can have more shoot days for less shots. They were adding money to the budget so that they could add more shots to their list. Productions were being pushed some but shoots were larger.

2) Jobs happened. They didn’t just go away because we didn’t get them. More often than not, jobs that we did not get, went to other photographers. They did not disappear or die because of budget reasons.

3) Layoffs and client/agency movements were less frequent than last year. We did not often hear of agency layoffs or clients leaving their agencies for new agencies.

4) Repeat clients were prevalent. There were many more repeat clients for our photographers. Long term relationships mean that clients recognize the value in shooting with the same photographer and have put financial guidelines in place so that it is affordable for them to do so which in turn translates into more business for the photographers and a stronger creative partnership for the clients and agencies.

5) Many Agencies are hiring again. Agencies were hiring more freelance art producers and departments tended to be growing, not shrinking.

6)The end of the year was strong. Clients were calling for end of year AND new year projects as well extra usage. Clients had money to spend at the end of the year. Any slowness we felt early on in the fall was non existent (maybe the election?)

WHAT MATTERED THIS YEAR?

As we traveled the country and talked to art producers, photographers and creatives, here is what we found mattered in terms of staying relevant and top of mind.

1) Relevant New Work

Whenever we presented the portfolios or helped sell a photographer for a project, we heard time and time again, “Show me what is new.” All the photographers in our group are at a point in their career that it is a given that they shoot good, relevant commercial work. There is no education for them needed on this front. So, instead, what they want to see is the latest and greatest. They want to see what you are up to and they want to see it often.

2) Photographer Marketing

We must sound like a broken record but it is more important than ever and very much expected for a photographer to have an active voice in their own marketing in addition to what their agent is doing. Mailers, emailers, websites and ads are no longer enough. Clients are wanting to hear from photographers themselves. This can be done via social media, blogs, attending events, showing off their own books and personal connections. The photographers that are embracing this as a part of their marketing are getting noticed. To be clear, for the photographers who are not doing this, we are not hearing “Where is X? Why doesn’t he have a blog or why isn’t she here at this event?” Instead we just not hearing about them as much as those that are embracing this idea.

3) Being Responsive and Engaged

The world is moving fast. Clients expect to hear back from us and our photographers quickly. They are also expecting the photographer to be engaged and interested. Seems like a given right? Well, seeing how busy everyone is and distracted by projects, shoots, etc, clients are noticing when an photographer is not as engaged. Taking a second to really connect with a project and making time for a focused conversation is more important than ever.

WHAT TRENDS ARE WE SEEING?

1) Social Media

Photographers have become much better at using social media for their marketing needs. Many have grasped the idea of “finding their own voice” and have learned the power of sharing both their work life and personal life via social media in the hopes that their target market will get to know them better. Recently, I saw that The Workbook is now soliciting photographers to share their Instagram photos so they could promote them on the Workbook blog. This is one example that illustrates how social media is constantly evolving and new options for sharing socially are becoming available.

2) Video

When the economy crashed clients and photographers had to redefine value when it came to photographers. They asked for more usage, turned to library shoots and began to hire photographers to shoot video. At the time, many of the clients did not know what they wanted the video for but knew it was a good value to get it at the time and that their agencies would find a use for it online. Well, now that clients, agencies and photographers have become more savvy about the whole process, things have changed. Clients are now understanding the value putting more attention and budget behind the production of the video. Photographers are more educated as to the technology and are understanding what new value they can provide the client. The process feels less like an add on and more like a strategic part of the client’s marketing

3) Production Companies

More and more agencies are beginning to make suggestions as to whom the photographer uses for production and often times they are requesting specific production companies. Now that art producers are being required to understand and produce videos, they are more savvy with the value of a production company. They are even sometimes more willing to pay the extra money involved with the larger productions just to have the peace of mind that goes along with having more people involved in a production. Not all clients can support the larger budgets but I suspect that having a hand in choosing a producer is something we will see more of in 2013.

4) Usage

More and more, clients are asking for unlimited usage. Some are putting time frames on it and others are not. The reason for this is not just that they want more for less. The reason is that there are so many ways in which clients/agencies are using imagery now that it is difficult for them to limit themselves to just a few images. Even when we are bidding shot rates, there are requests for library fee upgrades. We see this as a trend that will continue and maybe even a shift in the usage/fee model.

5) A Photographer’s Voice Matters

People who search for photographers want to hear from the photographers. Whether it be through a meeting, an email, a meeting, social media, blog posts, etc, they enjoy the idea of that personal connected feeling. I may sound like a broken record, but the effects you will have on your own business by being present and engaged in your own marketing will be exponential. To be clear, of the photographers that are not out there as much on their own, we are not hearing from the clients, “Where is John Smith? Why aren’t we hearing from him.” Instead, what we are noticing is that it is the photographers that ARE out there that are getting the calls. So, it is more that people are noticing when you are present, not when you are absent.

To visit Heather Elder's blog, click HERE.

To visit Heather Elder's website, click HERE.

By Claire Semnacher

Workbook wanted to know more about skilled still-life photographer, Colin Cooke's journey and his involvement with Sweet Paul Magazine.




The biography section of your website explains that your passion for photography began in high school as a yearbook photographer. What made you eventually cross over to food, liquid, and still life photography?

I went to the Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara to study photography. I learned to love shooting still life there, but we had to shoot everything for assignment. When I made it to NYC after graduation, I freelance-assisted with many different photographers. Working in many different fields helped me realize that still life was my direction. After several years of shooting everything still life (except cars), I decided, like most of us, to specialize. Food came easily to me. Most photographers can't stand waiting all day for the food to appear on set until about 4pm. When the food comes to set, it usually has a short shelf life, so the pressure is on. You shoot it and it's over. I enjoy the process.

What is your favorite shooting style, and why?

Natural light. After being trained to use tungsten and strobe to light everything, I find natural light freeing. When I came to NYC, the bank light was the big thing. Then it was a combo of tungsten and bank light and throw in the Hose Master. For photographers it is all about the light.

If you're willing to divulge, what techniques have you learned over the years that have garnered the most success? Can you give me an example?

The most important technique I have learned is simplicity. I used to have 24 strobe heads, 6 strobe packs, giant bank lights, and I gave it all up for a couple of mirrors, white fill cards, and some windows.

What is your favorite shoot that you have completed for Sweet Paul Magazine and why?

Paul wanted to do a story on oysters. We thought we'd find a gnarly, knuckled old sailor in the business, but at a cocktail party in Manhattan we ran into an attractive young woman with a journalism degree from Columbia, who happened to be a Maine oyster farmer. Go figure. It was perfect. I went up to shoot for a couple of days in Maine and had a great time photographing the process. Until the oysters get to the table, it's a real story of mud and guts. Paul and I shot the story weeks later, further south on the Connecticut shore, and the props, food, and surface we shot on came together beautifully.  http://www.sweetpaulmag-digital.com/sweetpaulmag/fall2012#pg104

Sweet Paul Magazine is fantastic for finding mouth-watering recipes, gifts, seasonal craft ideas, interesting articles, and some overall inspiration. Can you tell me a bit about your involvement? It seems like you have a lot of fun!

It is a lot of fun. Paul is great to work with and is one of the most creative people I have worked with. It's unusual in our business that he wears two hats: food stylist and prop stylist. So, his vision of the final photograph comes from [his] one viewpoint. He also works very quickly. We usually get about 8-10 shots done in half a day, and he really is a Sweet Paul.

What is the Sweet Paul Mission?

Sweet Paul is a magazine for people who are looking for simple, yet elegant recipes, stylish and fun craft projects, and cool shopping. Our motto is "Chasing the sweet things in life," and that's what we try to do in every issue. A reader told us that "Sweet Paul Magazine is like a Martha and Anthropologie love baby."

What is the most important piece of advice you would give to an aspiring food photographer?

It just comes with the business: work long hours; be nice to your employees and clients; learn to say yes to ideas before you say no, and take more vacations than you think you need.

What is your favorite cookbook that you have shot? What made it extra special?

My favorite is called Woof. It's about how to cook for your dog and also yourself! Paul and I shot it for a Norwegian publisher. Dogs eat almost everything that humans do. So, the author made lasagnas, fresh fruit cups with yogurt, stews, rice-chicken dishes, pasta, and cookies. The food looked beautiful, and he showed how your dog and your family can eat very healthy, very well, and very nutritious food. I traveled all over to get portraits of dogs, and we put that together with naturally lit food in a studio. We had fun.

I have heard repeatedly how difficult it is to shoot meat. Can you please explain why is it so hard to make meat look appetizing?

Yes, meat can be challenging, as can ice cream, hamburgers, and pizza. But, like everything else, it takes a few tests and practice to get it looking good, and it is important that the food stylist start with an excellent cut. But the lighting can also make it look mouthwatering or not. The light or the reflection of the fat on the top of the steak helps make it look juicy. The most important thing an art buyer might say is, "That makes me hungry." If the rep or the photographer hears that, you might get the job!

What is your favorite holiday dessert?

I never get enough of it except at year's end: Minced Pie!















To visit Colin Cooke's website, click HERE.

Colin Cooke is represented by Doug Truppe Represents.

By Claire Semnacher

Workbook contributors, Dana Hursey and Gandee Vasan have been named finalists in the Hasselblad Masters Awards for 2014. With  over 4,000 entries from around the world, Dana was named a finalist in the General and Wildlife categories, and Gandee was also named a finalist in the Wildlife category. The public is invited to vote for their favorite images at www.hasselblad.com/masters-finalists. Winners will be announced January 2014.

Congratulations!

Dana Hursey's Wildlife category images:







Dana Hursey's General category images:







Dana Hursey is represented by Picture Matters.

To visit Dana Hursey's website, click HERE.

Gandee Vasan's Wildlife category images:







To visit Gandee Vasan's website, click HERE.

Gandee Vasan is represented by wswcreative.

By Claire Semnacher

Andy Goodwin discusses his vision for a recently completed personal project called, "HOMECOMING."

"Like a lot of photographers I've been asked to include video on recent assignments (John Deere, DePaul University and Reader's Digest) and while I like the ability to tell a story with motion, I much prefer the process of putting all of my efforts into a single image. I started thinking about simple, visually interesting stories that could be told with a series of still images and came up with this narrative I've called, 'Homecoming'."

Post-production work, including song selection, animation, and retouching were handled by his talented friend and art director, Scott Emond.

Homecoming from Andy Goodwin on Vimeo.

To visit Andy Goodwin's website, click HERE.
Andy Goodwin is represented by Lisa Button Creative Agency.

By Claire Semnacher

Jim Golden was awarded Grand Prize in Popular Photography Magazine's, Reader's Photo Contest 2012 for his Scissor Collection photo! Well done, Jim!


More still life images by Jim:











Prints are on sale at his Big Cartel store.

To visit Jim Golden's website, click HERE.

By Claire Semnacher



Leland Bobbé will be speaking at the Apple Store in New York City at an American Photographic Artists sponsored event to discuss his wildly-popular photographic series, Half-Drag on January 14th at 7pm. The series went viral in 2012 and was featured on thousands of blogs and websites in over thirty countries, including Vogue Italia, The Huffington Post, ABC News Online, MSN, and Sundance Channel Blog, just to name a few.

The concept for the Half-Drag project began at the 2011 Workbook Creative Carnival in New York City. Workbook's East Coast Photography Representative, Lori Watson, introduced Leland to the famous New York City drag queen, Sabel Scities and proposed the idea that Leland should start a photographic series on drag queens. Leland was intrigued and began to conceptualize his approach shortly after.  As a source of inspiration, he used a provocative shot from his previous series, Neo-Burlesque, depicting a male burlesque performer dressed as half-man/half-woman, to visually translate the duality of a drag queen's identity.

Leland's artist statement:

"These images are a series of portraits of drag queens in half-drag. My intention is to capture the male and female alter-egos in one image, in order to explore the cross over between males and females, and break down the physical barriers that separate them. Through the power of hair and makeup, these men are able to completely transform themselves and find their female side, while simultaneously showing their male side. These are composed in-camera and are not digitally composed separate images."

Who: Leland Bobbé
What: APA sponsored event covering Leland Bobbé's viral series, Half-Drag
When: January 14th, 2013 at 7:00pm
Where:
Apple Store
103 Prince Street
NYC, NY 10012









To visit Leland Bobbé's website, click HERE.

Leland Bobbé is represented by Robert Bacall Representatives, Inc.

By Claire Semnacher

Workbook interviews Walter Smith to learn more about how he defines himself as a photographer and how his special personal connection to Ethiopia has shaped him into the artist he is today.



How long have you been a photographer and what is your favorite subject matter to shoot?
Professionally since I was twenty years old, so twenty-six years. I started when I was a little kid making movies with my father’s 8 mm camera. I was always a visual kid and not a great student...day dreaming, ADD behavior, whatever you want to call it. I remember abstract things like clouds and weather. I have always been into the weather and how it affects the photographs I make.

I don’t call myself a pure photojournalist. I'm more a documentary portrait photographer. Anyone with a story interests me, and everyone has a story.

I noticed you have a series from Ethiopia on your website. What prompted you to go to there?
My wife and I wanted to have another child. We had a biological son, Otis, and wanted to adopt the second time around. We did a lot of research and settled on Ethiopia. My wife works in the field of HIV, and we were well aware of the ongoing health crisis there. We did our paperwork and waited for about a year. We were “assigned” a baby and received pictures and video taken of her. Her name was Salam.  About three weeks after we were assigned the baby, she passed away.

I'm so sorry to hear that, Walter.
It’s a hard part of our history. We had waited for a long time, and it was a difficult time. The baby was born a twin, and her twin had passed away at  two months old. Salam was only six months old when she passed. Both babies were born with holes in their hearts.
There's a photograph in the series from the cemetery where both babies were buried. After our baby passed away, it was a hard time; we called the agency and asked if there were any other [available] children. Were were told about two girls from the Gurage Zone in Ethiopia whose paperwork was completed. My wife and I met in Central Park, and over the course of a fifty-block walk we decided that these girls were meant to be our daughters. We had to get our heads around the idea of going from thinking we were adopting a baby to adopting a three-year-old and a four-year-old, and it was fast. We went from a family of three to a family of five, with all the children the same ages. We wanted to meet the girls, so eight weeks after our assignment, we traveled to Ethiopia.
After our daughters were with us for about a year, we moved up to Nyack from Brooklyn and started thinking about adopting another child. Otis wanted to adopt a brother to “even it out.” We called our friend in Ethiopia and learned that a little boy we met the previous year was ready for adoption. Our son, Tariku,  joined us a few months later. From one child to four children in two years…there were some issues along the way, but it’s a nice family. A busy family, that’s for sure.

Walter's daughter Mihret, pictured below, is now ten years old:


In reference to your series from Ethiopia: visiting a country as an outsider, people need to be comfortable and accept you in a sense, in order to allow you to take their pictures.  As you’re a father yourself, was it easier to connect with these kids?
It takes a lot of work. I think being a parent is not the easiest thing, but it is one of the most rewarding things you will ever do in your life. It takes a lot of thought, love, and patience--patience is not something that comes easily to me. We are well connected. We have been like any family with ups and downs. The kids are patient with me and I am patient with them....wait, they might not agree with that.

How do you decide where to travel?
A lot of times, it’s client driven. It’s always magical to travel. I’m able to focus and concentrate on the project at hand, as well as do personal work, always. My commercial work is driven by my personal work and visa versa.

You have pictures from all over the world; where is your favorite country/location to shoot and why?
That’s a tough question. Let’s see...I think my favorite place to shoot, and I didn’t shoot enough of, is South Africa. I still feel very at home in Africa...Ethiopia, Morocco, and Cape Town to name a few. If I could spend six months traveling around, it would be in Africa. I have been to Johannesburg twice, and I have barely scratched the surface. There is no particular reason why, but is just a place I felt drawn to. Of the whole continent of Africa, I don’t know where it comes from, it [South Africa] is a place that interests me. India is a close second. If I had to get on a plane tomorrow, it would be hard to pick one place.

Do you have any trips coming up?
Yup. My wife and sons are visiting friends in Tel Aviv over the holiday break, so for an adventure my daughters and I are driving cross-country for ten days. There are places I want to see and for my daughters to experience. We’ll see how that goes.

Wow, you definitely went through some major changes in a short amount of time. It seems to have worked out for the best for everyone. Did you all hold up alright during Hurricane Sandy?
An old friend had a generator, and I drove out to Pennsylvania to get it. No heat, no TV...nothing for twelve days. It was challenging but nothing compared to how people have suffered in Brooklyn and the Jersey Shore.

In your portfolio, I saw a picture of Bill Clinton. What was it like to meet Bill?
He was a rock star. I have met a lot of celebrities, but he was really special...really special. He barely spoke to me, but it didn’t matter. I got weak in the knees. Ha!

If you could change one thing about photography, what would it be?
I would change how students are educated. I have been teaching college juniors and seniors in photography this semester, and I have found that they don’t understand how to trust their instincts. I think this has to do with how they are educated in photography. It’s amazing the quality that you get with the iPhone picture. The cover of Time magazine was shot with an iPhone, and it’s changed everything. My students have so many choices in front of them with digital and social media that they lack the knowledge of how to frame a photograph. So much at their fingertips makes it is hard for them to frame a picture and find their voice in photography.

What has been your experience with Workbook?
I’ve known about it for years; some of my ads have won awards with Workbook. I have known about Workbook for about twelve years. Of all the work, sourcebooks, and direct mail I have done, Workbook is at the top, in terms of getting responses.

Walter Smith is represented by Liz Baugher, of Emissary.

To visit Walter Smith's website, click HERE.

By Robert Luessen



Last month we entered Chris’s Butterfly Girl photo into the World Photography Organization’s 2012 World Photography Awards. It was selected from the thousands of entries as part of a promotional campaign for the contest and in that process was spread out all over the internet (yes, those are all separate links). From the Daily Mail to the Huffington Post, the story about the World Photo Awards and Chris’s photo made the rounds across the web.

In particular, on the UK news site, the Daily Mail, the photo generated a ton of comments and sparked some controversy as to whether or not it was applicable for a photography competition. This caused me to ask myself the question – What defines a photograph?



I think it’s a really interesting coincidence that just earlier this week we shared a blog post about the value of Photoshop vs. photography, specifically one where Chris stated his vision as:

“Photoshop is just one tool in my arsenal used to help illustrate my personal vision. But the greatest tool is my mind, followed by my camera. There are some images that just can’t be captured through the means of traditional photography. Photoshop being applied by a talented digital artist helps me complete my vision. If any one piece of mine is better classified as illustration that’s fine by me.”

Butterfly girl is the perfect example of a photograph that existed in Chris’s mind but couldn’t be completed easily through 100% traditional means of photography. Does that mean that we spent any less time working on it or that it has any less merit as a final piece? I don’t think so. There is no denying that the photograph is a composite image, but as a final photograph it is a singular execution of a singular vision.

At it’s core, the photo is also an illustrative, conceptual portrait – a style of photography that is consistent with Chris’s body of work and vision as an artist; he’s not a reportage photographer, and most likely he never will be (it certainly wouldn’t be as fun making these crazy photos if he was).



Another question worth asking is if it would be possible to capture this all in a singular frame? The answer is yes – a very, very difficult and expensive yes. The redwood forest is real, the butterflies are all real, the model is real, they were just captured at different points in time. It is entirely possibly to bring them all on location and spend days rigging and lighting the scene to make the final capture. It’s not unrealistic or impossible, just a bit over the budget for Chris’s personal project work.



Maybe I’m crazy though, maybe it is too easy for me to suspend my disbelief when looking at art and photography. The readers of the Daily Mail might not be as forgiving – according to a few of the commentators:

“The butterflies picture is pretty, but about as realistic as the movie Avatar.”

“The first is so Photoshopped it hurts. Blue morpho butterflies? Sorry, not in my backyard…they’re from Mexico/S.America and live in tropical and subtropical forests. The background looks like a forest out of the Pacific Northwest. Maybe they have a Photoshop category?”

“Photoshop just adds an extra dimension of fine control and expression. It’s fair to use it because it will never be a substitute for the photographer’s eye, or be able to spot the decisive moment.”

Chris Crisman is represented by Heather Elder Represents.

To visit Chris Crisman's blog, click HERE.