Issue 2, 2013: ASPP's The Picture Professional Magazine

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ISSUE 2/ 2013

THE THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PICTURE PROFESSIONALS

PROFESSIONAL


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PORTFOLIO Lindsey Byrnes

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PORTFOLIO Gabriele Galimberti

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PORTFOLIO Sorry Danny

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DOUBLE EXPOSURE Sara K. Byrne & Dylan Howell

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A PLAN TAKES FLIGHT Rick A. Brown

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TEN FROM FOTOLIA Ellen Herbert

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TABLE OF CONTENTS ISSUE 2 / 2013 THE PICTURE PROFESSIONAL

Q/A Amita Starosielski / Art Producer

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TIN OF FUN Josh Steichmann

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CLICK Ben High

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WHAT’S HANGING BOOK REVIEWS

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Michael Masterson

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EDITOR’S LETTER April Wolfe

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THE LAW Joel L. Hecker, Esq.

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CHAPTER CAPTURE

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CONTRIBUTORS

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LIFE IN FOCUS Tracy Jones

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COVER & CONTENTS: © Gabriele Galimberti / Riverboom / INSTITUTE 1

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American Society of Picture Professionals

Since first forming as a small, dedicated group of picture professionals in 1966, ASPP has grown into a large community of image experts committed to sharing our experience and knowledge throughout the industry. We provide professional networking and educational opportunities for our members and the visual arts industry. If you create, edit, research, license, distribute, manage or publish visual content, ASPP is the place for you. Join us at www.aspp.com.

LIST OF ADVERTISERS Adobe SendNow

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Global Image Works

The Granger Collection

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Curt Teich Postcard Archives

Levine Roberts Photography

The Image Works

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Custom Medical Stock Photo

Minden Pictures

Travel USA Stock Photo

Art Resource

Dan Suzio Photography

North Wind Picture Archives

Viesti Associates Stock Photo

Association Health Programs

Danita Delimont Stock Agency

Robert Harding World Imagery

VIREO/The Academy of Natural Sciences

Aurora Photos

Everett Collection

Science Source/Photo Researchers

Windows of Nature by Dee Ann, LLC

Bridgeman Art Library

Fundamental Photographs

Sovfoto/Eastfoto

MASTHEAD

The Picture Professional quarterly magazine of the American Society of Picture Professionals, Inc.

ASPP Executive Offices 12126 Highway 14 North, Suite A-4 Cedar Crest NM 87008 Tel: 505-281-3177 director@aspp.com Editorial Staff Jain Lemos - Publisher April Wolfe - Editor-in-Chief Ophelia Chong - Art Director Contributing Writers Josh Steichmann Ben High Joel L. Hecker, Esq. Katie Buntsma Jenny Respress Paul H. Henning Angela Yonke Sara K. Byrne & Dylan Howell Ellen C. Herbert Brian Seed Rick A. Brown

2012-2013 National Board of Directors

2013 Chapter Presidents

President Michael Masterson

West Christopher DiNenna

Vice President Sam Merrell

MidWest Christopher K. Sandberg

Secretary Sid Hastings

New England Jennifer Riley Debra LaKind

Treasurer Mary Fran Loftus

New York Peter Berberian

Membership Doug Brooks Holly Marshall

DC/South Jeff Mauritzen

Technology Daryl Geraci Cecilia de Querol

2013 Sub-Chapter Vice Presidents Atlanta Anna Fey

Marketing & Communications Jennifer Davis Heffner

Minnesota Julie Caruso

Advertising & Executive Officers Jain Lemos Executive Director director@aspp.com Editorial April Wolfe editor@aspp.com National President Michael Masterson michaeldmasterson@gmail.com Membership Doug Brooks Holly Marshall membership@aspp.com Website Daryl Geraci webmanager@aspp.com Tel: 602-561-9535 eNews Blog Jenny Respress newsletter@aspp.com

Missouri Sid Hastings Ohio Mandy Groszko Wisconsin Paul H. Henning • The American Society of Picture Professionals (ASPP) is a non-profit, non-partisan association of image experts committed to sharing their experience and knowledge throughout the industry. The Picture Professional (ISSN 1084-3701) is published spring, summer, fall and winter as a forum for distribution of information about use, purchase and sale of imagery. • ASPP is dedicated to promoting and maintaining high professional standards and ethics and cooperates with organizations that have similar or allied interests. We welcome the submission of articles and news from all sources, on all aspects of the imagery profession. Contact editor@aspp.com • Advertising is also desired and welcomed. We offer a specific readership of professionals in positions of responsibility for decision making and purchase. For our media kit and rate sheet, contact Jain Lemos, 505-281-317. Space reservation deadlines: February 10, May 10, August 10, November 10. Subscription rates: Free to members, $40.00 per year to non-members. Back issues: $10.00 when available. Non-members are invited to consider membership in ASPP. • POSTMASTER: Send old and new address changes to ASPP, Inc., 12126 Highway 14 North, Suite A-4, Cedar Crest NM 87008. Members can update contact information in the Member Area of our website at www.aspp.com. • ©2013 American Society of Picture Professionals, Inc. Single photocopies of materials protected by this copyright may be made for noncommercial pursuit of scholarship or research. For permission to republish any part of this publication, contact the Editor-in-Chief. ASPP assumes no responsibility for the statements and opinions advanced by the contributors to the Society’s publications. Editorial views do not necessarily represent the official position of ASPP. Acceptance of an advertisement does not imply endorsement by ASPP of any product or service. American Society of Picture Professionals

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PERSPECTIVE MATTERS Corbis offers our customers a refreshing outlook on visual media. Working with contributing photographers from around the globe, our collections represent some of the finest commercial photography available anywhere. From artful, high concept images to the best in breaking news, sports, and entertainment, we can provide the perfect complement to your project. Find out more at www.corbisimages.com

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

© Bob Schmolze Photography

MICHAEL D. MASTERSON ASPP NATIONAL PRESIDENT

DEAR PICTURE PROS, creative directors, stock houses, writers, publishers, and shooters working in all styles. It’s our duty to be on the cutting edge of our industry and to embrace the ever-changing faces of stock photography and copyright laws to make them work for us. That gives us a unique voice at these gatherings, one that always garners attention and respect. With so much changing all the time in pictures, I wanted to take a moment to get back to our basics. In my opinion, ASPP is home to the best and the brightest, both veteran and emerging, old school and new school. In the pages of our newest issue, we hope you’ll find an article or two that speaks to you and your niche of our industry. And in the coming months, we’re looking forward to asserting our mission statement and redefining our image through a beautiful new website and expanded content, so more of you can get more information that relates directly to you and your work.

Summer is here at last and it’s time to enjoy its many pleasures: lounging at the beach, lake, park or pool, barbeques, vacations, extra time to read good books and lazy weekends spent outdoors. Or maybe take a spin in a classic convertible like the ’66 Mustang pictured behind me. I’m writing from Barcelona at this year’s CEPIC (“Center of the Picture Industry”) international photography conference. It is truly global with 476 delegates from 285 companies coming from 33 countries and 5 continents. The slate of exciting featured speakers ranged from conference sponsor Bing’s editorial director Stephanie Horstmanshof with Michael Kroll, their UX manager, and award-winning documentary photographer Benjamin Lowy to Howard Bernstein from Gallery Stock, along with leading legal and copyright experts Nancy Wolff and Christopher Reed, who’s also on the ASPP Board of Trustees. All of these speakers had their own particular innovations to share specifically with conference attendees, but be sure to look for Q/A’s and profiles on several of these game-changing industry veterans in future issues of The Picture Professional, where we bring the conference to you.

This issue of The Picture Professional is dedicated to you. Take it somewhere outdoors and savor its pleasures along with the summer ahead. And look forward to a terrific slate of new chapter events and other opportunities coming your way. Enjoy! ✹

The ASPP remains unique in this group as the only organization in the world that welcomes photo professionals from varied disciplines—picture researchers, gallery owners, art buyers,

MICHAEL michaeldmasterson@gmail.com

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EDITOR’S LETTER APRIL WOLFE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE PICTURE PROFESSIONAL

DEAR PICTURE PROS,

We tend to structure our magazine around the seasons, despite the fact that a good number of us reside in season-less Southern California. Even so, many of us came from someplace else. I’m a Michigander, our art director Ophelia is a proud Torontonian, president Michael an Oklhahoman. Yet, somehow we all ended up here, at some point in time had the idea that maybe we’d do something a little different. In keeping with that why not? theme, we’re devoting our pages to the things we do to shake it all up. Our portfolios come from photographers near and far this issue. Lindsey Byrnes’ dynamic, portraitesque live-music images traverse the US, Gabriele Galimberti’s “CouchSurfing” series traverses the world, and the Sorry Danny collective is based right here in LA, improvising for a series they shot just for us. To fill your summer days with new activities, Josh Steichmann gives us a refresher on how to make a pinhole camera, and the wedding-and-engagement photography powerhouse team of Dylan Howell and Sarah K. Byrne give us a quick tutorial on how to manipulate double exposures in your Canon. And following up with innovations, Ellen Herbert takes an in-depth look at the TEN campaign from Fotolia to see how they’re reshaping the stock-photography community. From there, we have an entertaining Q/A with art producer Amita Starosielski, a successful team member from Mother and Chiat/Day, who ventured out on her own as a freelancer. As usual, Ben High returns with another CLICK, where he tackles a new digital art museum app, and Joel L. Hecker has the latest on the ongoing Richard Prince re-photography litigation, not to mention Rick A. Brown’s excellent

essay on how he broadened his horizons and built an aviation-photography portfolio. And finishing out the issue, artist Tracy Jones leaves us with some lasting images of his hometown for Life in Focus. Since starting as the editor of TPP, I’ve had the pleasure to meet so many wonderful people from the West Coast/LA chapter at a number of our events, but I’ve also had the chance to e-meet some of our members from thousands of miles away, and I’m thankful for the letters, comments, and suggestions you all have sent our way. We’re a very small staff working a million jobs as freelancers, but we appreciate how connected you’ve made us feel. And with that, I’d like to leave you all with a little positive news springing forth from our 2013.1 issue, because we’re happy to announce that an image from Randy Taylor’s “Sandy Art” article will be re-printing in an upcoming issue of National Geographic. Our goal has been to help everyone stay connected, to give our members little glimpses of the amazing things we’re all doing, and to expose everyone to the people and things that are changing our industry. Randy reached out to us because our members encouraged him to submit, and we couldn’t be happier that he listened to them. ✹ Happy summer, folks! A Wolfe

editor@aspp.com

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WHAT’S HANGING

Photo exhibitions near you.

Haiti. © Damon Winter/The New York Times Category: Photographer of the Year, Newspaper

God’s Ivory. © Brent Stirton/Getty Images Category: Environmental Vision Award

Elegance Road. © Alexandre Van Enst, Freelance Category: Portrait Series Award of Excellence

Hunters. © David Chancellor/INSTITUTE Category: World Understanding Award

CALIFORNIA

Photojournalists show us a world most people would never get to see. From war-torn countries to championship sports, their images convey some of the most inspiring moments as well as some of the most heartbreaking. Pictures of the Year International is the oldest and most prestigious photojournalism program producing the best documentary photography in the world. This competition provides viewers with a visual portrayal of society and fosters an understanding of the issues facing our civilization.

Museum of Photographic Arts 1649 El Prado San Diego Pictures of the Year International May 25–September 22, 2013

Photojournalists document the news events, social issues, and cultural trends that capture our interest and demand our attention. POYi’s annual contest recognizes their enduring images and sets the gold standard for excellence. More than 48,000 images are submitted with 240 winners selected by a world-renowned panel of expert judges as the very best. Exhibition support provided by the Los Angeles Times. Pictures of the Year International is a program of the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism American Society of Picture Professionals

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de Young Museum Golden Gate Park San Francisco The Errand of the Eye: Photographs by Rose Mandel June 22–October 13, 2013 From the late 1940s through the early 1970s, Rose Mandel produced an original and evocative body of photographs, working closely with and among many of the Bay Area’s best-known artists, including photographers Ansel Adams and Minor White and painters Richard Diebenkorn and Elmer Bischoff. Though lauded by her contemporaries and featured in significant exhibitions and publications during her lifetime, her work remains little known. This exhibition offers the first full assessment of this dynamic artist. After escaping Europe with her husband in 1942, Mandel came to the Bay Area and enrolled in the newly founded photography department of the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute). She went on to serve as senior photographer for UC Berkeley’s art department, and in her personal time created intimate, powerful nature studies, portraits, and landscapes.

Jerrold Davis, 1955. Gelatin silver print. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, gift of Susan Ehrens, 2012.55.1. © Rose Mandel Archive/All Rights Reserved

Untitled, 1962. Gelatin silver print. Rose Mandel Archive, Oakland, California. © Rose Mandel Archive/All Rights Reserved.

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ILLINOIS Museum of Contemporary Photography 600 S. Michigan Avenue Chicago Backstory: LaToya Ruby Frazier, Ron Jude and Guillaume Simoneau July 19–October 6, 2013 Recognizing both the allure and the inherent fiction of image-based narrative, the three artists in this exhibition, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Ron Jude, and Guillaume Simoneau, tell autobiographical stories by intertwining their personal narrative with the social, political, and cultural conditions of place. By mixing familial and communal histories, the artists blur the boundaries between the personal and the collective as they mirror the fluidity of our information-saturated world.

© Ron Jude, Sunset, Firebird Raceway, Emmett, 1984/2010

MASSACHUSETTS Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT Museum 265 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge Compass Points: Joël Tettamanti February 15–August 31, 2013 Swiss photographer Tettamanti creates work that focuses on the impact of human settlement on the landscape, from Asia to the Arctic Circle. The images are often without people, examining instead the contradiction of human frailty and resilience, and the relationships people form with the land. His work is a vast archive of the structures, villages, and cities people create, and of the landforms and climates that shape them. Like many photographers who have been drawn to archive the world, Tettamanti’s interest lies beyond collecting artifacts of the human imprint on the land. The questions he asks of a place—why things look the way they do, and how they came about—lead to profoundly social narratives about the people who are uplifted and sometimes defeated by the land they inhabit.

Qaqortoq, Greenland, 2004. © Joel Tettamanti American Society of Picture Professionals

Tettamanti gravitates toward inhospitable environments, where these relationships play out in spectacle: the juxtaposition of sublime natural beauty and buildings of startling banality, or ingenuity, or of land seemingly without limit and the meager architecture put upon it. The story can be one of use and misuse, where urban sprawl or industrial incursions have degraded the land and corrupted its beauty, as well as one of human adaptability and resourcefulness. The land is shaped by people as much as it shapes them. His quest as an artist recalls the expeditionary photography of the American West in the nineteenth century, when territories previously unexplored by Americans were opened to visual imagination by the camera. Today, when technology and globalization make distant cultures accessible, there is still a sense of revelation in Tettamanti’s work. For this artist, much like the nineteenthcentury pioneers of the medium, photography remains a means of understanding the world, and retains the power to astonish with images of places that exist beyond the imagination.

Lux, Luxembourg, 2005. © Joel Tettamanti 10

Nong Huai, China, 2005. © Joel Tettamanti


Harry Ransom Center University of Texas 21st and Guadalupe Streets Austin Contemporary Photographic Practice and the Archive June 11–August 4, 2013 This exhibition was created in cooperation with the Lakes Were Rivers collective, an Austin-based group of artists working in photography and video. Members of the collective created a body of work influenced in some way by the Ransom Center—its space, its purpose, its collections. Approximately 50 new works are displayed alongside Ransom Center collection materials chosen by the artists, including photographs by Ansel Adams and Man Ray, manuscripts from the E. E. Cummings archive, William Blake’s Songs of Innocence, an embellished Maurice Ravel score, and props from the Robert De Niro collection.

WASHINGTON The Photo Center NW 900 12th Avenue Seattle New Work: Photo Center and Seattle University Alumni June 2—July 15, 2013 Photo Center NW is proud to present a showcase of new works by alumni of their Certificate Program and Seattle University. This exhibition unites several generations of contemporary artists and vital members of the national art community. A few highlights include the following projects that reveal the depth of exploration and talent of this group of photographers:

© Patrick Names

Jessica Ishmael documents the Motels of Aurora Ave in Seattle, which has faced great scrutiny from the city and surrounding neighborhoods. Ishmael portrays the residents as she has listened to their stories, showing that we are not so different after all. Tara Champion, a conservation photographer, explores the unusual beauty of specimens that have been collected for scientific study. These studies are often demonized and have become underfunded, despite the wealth of knowledge the specimens provide. Jolanta Kotlarczyk continues from her thesis project with photographs of her daughter as a young adult leaving for college. Kotlarczyk documents her daughter in her new surroundings and the empty house where photographs from her thesis show of her daughter as a child remain. Rebecca Lawrence captured the moment when Minnesota became the first state to defeat an amendment that would limit marriage to be between only a man and woman, restricting the rights to LGBTQ people and their families. Lawrence’s photographs reflect on the end of their hard work and as a reminder of work left to be done.

© Chris Letcher

© Dan Hawkins

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TEXAS


A SHOT IN THE DARK

THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF LINDSEY BYRNES

BY KATIE BUNTSMA

Tegan and Sara Heartthrob press photos 2013

without a flash. It’s a daunting task, but, for her, it was a necessary challenge. She strives to reinvent live-music photography in a time when every audience member has a smartphone poised for picture taking, posing both an artistic and technical challenge. But it’s clear her now-expert use of available lighting and classic compositions will forever set her work apart as a true professional artist. And the intimacy Lindsey manages to find in a positively crowded place is just beautiful and important in itself.

LINDSEY BYRNES is a portrait and fashion photographer who’s worked with the best upcoming indie acts and the most established musical artists—everyone from Scarlett Johansson, Fun., and Tegan and Sara to Leonard Cohen and Willie Nelson. Her work at first glance feels distinctly casual, almost photodocumentary, but such is the artistry of her images, as she captures each subject in a sincere moment: still performers but without the masks. And this is exactly why we love her live photography, because every image here of a singing siren with a microphone screams to be seen as both a composed portrait and an impromptu moment of wild abandon adrift in the music. For Byrnes, music moves her to lift her camera and capture that moment when the audience and artist are swept away together. She started shooting concerts while working for Thrasher magazine in the days of film. Not every frame was perfect, but some of her favorite shots came from those first roles of 1600 capturing The Vines. There were only a few standout shots, but they continue to be her personal favorites. “I think I cried to my friend, Luke Ogden, who was the photo editor at Thrasher, because I thought that I’d failed. He told me that I was lucky to get a few shots I liked and that I shouldn’t expect to have a whole roll full of amazing shots. He said, ‘keep shooting, always keep shooting.’ I did and I have.” And thank goodness she kept shooting, because her portfolios are full of stunning photographs that would be sorely missed.

Byrnes’ scholarly and studious approach to developing an artistic style ranks high as an element that elevates her form, but it’s perhaps what motivates her that is most important. She says, “I am motivated by the obsession to capture ‘that perfect moment.’ I am obsessed with it.” This obsessive nature, a need and desire to create, ensures us many more years of excellent photographs from Lindsey Byrnes, and we’re pretty thankful for it.

Early in her career, after those few first shots of The Vines, Lindsey took up the challenge of learning how to shoot in a dark club American Society of Picture Professionals

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© Lindsay Byrnes

Today she shoots a wide variety of musicians, and she’s not picky when it comes to genres, but she loves working with bands that bring unorthodox energies and antics to the stage. “I like to figure out their sets. Touring with a band for a little while is the ultimate, even if it is just a week.” A constant student, Lindsey continues to shoot musicians simply because she likes them, and it’s this simplicity and curiosity that drives her work, making itself utterly apparent in her photographs. Lindsey captures the raw passion in her subjects, shooting these singers and drummers and guitarists as you imagine they might look slaving away over a melody in their private studios. Except these photographs show the artists performing before a crowd of thousands.


© Lindsay Byrnes (2)

© Lindsay Byrnes

Mae Whitman for Rachel Antonoff

FUN., 2012

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Florence and the Machine, Austin City Limits, 2012

Š Lindsay Byrnes (2) American Society of Picture Professionals

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Š Lindsay Byrnes (2)

Austra, Echoplex LA, 2011

Gossip, Coachella, 2011 15

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Cage the Elephant, Coachella, 2011

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© Lindsay Byrnes 17

aspp.com © Camillo Longo (4)


Š Lindsay Byrnes (2)

Willie Nelson, Stagecoach, 2007

Paramore, 2012 American Society of Picture Professionals

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A unique collection of images representing the history of Russia, Soviet Union, and the entire Communist Bloc including Eastern Europe and China. research@sovfoto.com (212) 727-8170

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World War I: A soldier lifts tree barbells at the front in the Aisne region, near Soissons, France, July 1915. © Excelsior – L’Equipe / Roger-Viollet / The Image Works


World War I: A soldier lifts tree barbells at the front in the Aisne region, near Soissons, France, July 1915. © Excelsior – L’Equipe / Roger-Viollet / The Image Works

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COUCHSURFING

DOES THE IDEA OF traveling around the world for fifteen months spark a bit of wanderlust in you? How about spending fifteen months sleeping on strangers’ couches? “Couchsurfing is the act of trading hospitality,” Gabriele Galimberti says on his website, but it’s much more than that. It’s a mutual act of trust, to sleep in a stranger’s home and to let a stranger sleep in your home, exposing yourself at your most vulnerable to someone you met through a website. It’s quite a leap beyond what many people would consider their comfort level, and Gabriele Galimberti’s “CouchSurfing” is a reminder that comfort levels are good things to challenge.

The word Galimberti uses often when describing his photos is “protagonist.” We are each the protagonist of our own life story, and what is evident in Galimberti’s photography is that he wants to tell the story of each person he photographs, whether it’s a child with his numerous toy guns spread out around him or a victim of military sexual trauma standing under a tattered American flag. Each portrait seems to reveal something about the protagonist that is both obvious and hidden at the same time.

Galimberti’s photographs don’t employ a subject to create a story. Instead, the photographer steps into the story, into the protagonist’s real life, becomes a minor character in that story for long enough to get to know a bit about the person, capture him on film, write a thoughtful note about her on his website, and then he’s gone. But Gabriele Galimberti is also a protagonist. A photograph can say its 1000 words effectively enough to make an observer forget the photographer was even there, but it’s impossible to view photos of Galimberti’s experience without imagining yourself in his place. In Galimberti’s work, the photographer is never forgotten, because his photos tell his story as he tells the stories of the subjects in them: “I lived here, in this place, in this life, just for a moment.”

THE WORK OF

The “CouchSurfing” photos are fresh, and the composition seems simple at first glance. In some of his other projects, such as “Toy Stories” or “Delicatessen with Love,” Galimberti photographed each protagonist surrounded by a symmetrical grid of toys or recipe ingredients. The CouchSurfing photos have a more spontaneous air; there are no meticulously arranged objects. They are less often symmetrical, but each one is perfectly balanced. They are calming to look at.

GABRIELE GALIMBERTI

The protagonists of “CouchSurfing” are not all photographed inside their homes, but perhaps in the setting where they are most at home. Again you can’t help but put yourself in their places and wonder how Gabriele Galimberti would photograph your story and setting. ✹

American Society of Picture Professionals

BY JENNY RESPRESS

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Berglind Gunnarsdòttir, 33 – Reykjavik, Iceland I arrived in Reykjavik on a Saturday, at one o’ clock in the morning. Berglind had sent me a map with some directions to reach a disco-bar in the city center. “How will I recognize you?” I had asked her, and she said: “Don’t worry, it won’t be difficult, I’ll be the woman in red.” I got to Club22 by taxi, and I entered with my big backpack. Red hair, red dress, red nail varnish, red shoes and stockings. No, it wasn’t so difficult to find her. We danced until five in the morning, and then we went to her house, where everything was mostly red, cat included. Besides nourishing her passion for this color, Berglind is an architect. I wonder which color the houses she designs are! 22


Caroline (24) & Ellen (20) Presbury – Blue Mountains, Australia Sisters Caroline and Ellen were both born in Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains of Australia. They grew up in a large family of five sisters and two brothers. They are the only people in all my CouchSurfing experiences who were my guests in Tuscany before I went to stay with them. I met them in the summer of 2010, when they were traveling in France and Italy. They stayed at my house for four days. Now they’ve found an apartment in Surry Hills in Sydney, and they’re going to move there soon. Caroline will begin attending an art and photography school, while Ellen is going to study economics. © Galimberti Gabriele / Riverboom / INSTITUTE

Aia Judes, 30 – Stockholm, Sweden I imagined before leaving for this tour that I would spend evenings dancing, perhaps at a disco or in a small club in a village. I never expected to dance samba on a Thai boat docked in a Stockholm canal. It happened to me after meeting Aia, who was born and grew up in the forests around the Swedish capital. Her parents deal with TV documentaries and cinema. She studied arts and won several scholarships around the world; the last one in Japan, where she lived for three years. In 2010, she came back to Stockholm and now she is involved in many different things, all of which are creative and slightly extravagant: she is a set designer, photographer, art curator for exhibitions, stylist and, recently, also a DJ and samba dancer. She often organizes nights on that Thai boat. If you happen to pass by Stockholm, stop to visit her and you’ll have fun (thaiboat.se). © Gabriele Galimberti / Riverboom / INSTITUTE

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aspp.com © Camillo Longo (4)


Olga, 22 – Kiev, Ukraine Even if you have never met one, you might have heard on the news that in the centre of some big cities there are people who give hugs to strangers as a gift. Olga is one of them. Born 22 years ago in the south of Ukraine, she moved to Kiev in 2008. She studies philology and works as a waitress in a pastry shop. When she has some spare time she goes to the station forecourt with a banner reading, “free hugs.” “You can’t believe how many people stop by. It seems many, too many people don’t get the love we need. Sometimes it happens that when I hug them, they start to cry, some others come back in half an hour for a second hug, thinking they won’t be recognized.” Olga doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink alcoholics, eats very healthily and tries to buy things only at the local markets, she is vegetarian and, as she says, “I’m a naturist. I like wearing no masks and, whenever I can, not even clothes, especially when I am at home.” Her home is on the first floor of a big building in the centre of Kiev, but inside it is entirely painted with the countryside from where Olga comes from. Logs and big stones are used as chairs, table and sofa. My bed for four nights was made of two rubber mattresses and a blanket on the floor, right under the sunflowers. © Gabriele Galimberti / Riverboom / INSTITUTE

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Aron Piedra, 21 – San Jose, Costa Rica Aron was born and raised in San Jose, Costa Rica. His parents got separated when he was still small, and now he lives with his mother and her new partner. His family has always worked with tourists. They’ve run restaurants and hostels, and now that Aron is grown up, his mother has decided to give him the © Gabriele Galimberti / Riverboom / INSTITUTE

Jeeva Prataban, 26, with his family – Sepang, Malaysia Before setting off on this trip, I already knew that at some point I’d have to share a room, a bed or even a couch with my hosts or with other travelers such as myself, but I had never imagined that, in Malaysia, I would have had to sleep in the same room with Jeeva and his three pythons, two cobras, two Mexican iguanas, his coral snake, and a black widow. Fortunately, the creatures were all closed in glass tanks but, frankly, those tanks didn’t seem that secure. Jeeva calls his pets “puppies” and, actually, he and his family treat these creatures (well, the non-venomous ones, anyway) the same way I treat my parents’ cat—petting them while they sit on the couch watching TV. This photo, taken in the morning before breakfast, is the proof. Jeeva was born in Kuala Lumpur. He studied to become a chef and, after having worked as personal cook to some of the richest families in Malaysia, he now runs the kitchens of three important restaurants in the city. © Gabriele Galimberti / Riverboom / INSTITUTE 25

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Tom (33) and Jane (31) – Bangkok, Thailand – Tom Hom has always lived in Bangkok, where he was born. Mary Jane was born in the rural area in the north, and has lived in the city for only a few years. They live together, work together, and play music together, but they’re not a couple. They both work for Penthouse Asia magazine. Tom is a photographer, taking pictures of women, while Jane is a stylist preparing the sets. “It’s nice and fun to work together. We have the same ‘70s-inspired taste, and we always agree on everything.” They both have a passion for music, and about a year ago they and some other friends decided to put together a band, S.O.D. (Simple of Detail). In just a few months, they became celebrities in Bangkok. They play an average of two concerts a week, in both large and small venues. Their shows are fun, ironic and seem like something out of an Austin Powers movie. They’ve just signed a contract with Warner, and soon they’ll be making an album. © Gabriele Galimberti / Riverboom / INSTITUTE

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Paola Agnelli and Roberto Galimberti – Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy I first met Paola and Roberto 34 years ago. Roberto is a surveyor and Paola is a primary school teacher. We shared the house for several years in the past, but now we don’t live together any more, or better, my parents still live there, while, somewhere along the line, my sister Sara and I decided to start our own adventures. And yet, our beautiful tie hasn’t weakened at all, because now that we all are grown-ups we can share more things, maybe even more meaningful ones. For this reason, after one year of traveling from couch to couch, I have felt like coming back home to spend Christmas with the one that is and always will be my family. © Gabriele Galimberti / Riverboom / INSTITUTE

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SORRY DANNY

HIROSHI CLARK EDWARD CUSHENBERRY GIZELLE HERNANDEZ MIKE LOPEZ JOSH SCHAEDEL RYAN YOUNG

THE LIFE OF AN ART-SCHOOL GRADUTE IS PERILOUS.

Out of the classroom comfort, student loans beg for your attention, and inspiration takes a backseat survival. We’ve been seeing more and more in the photographic industry—from the freelance photo editor to the emerging curator—that forming a collective with like minds is the simplest and most effective way to forge ahead and find success. LA-based Sorry Danny did just that. Josh Schaedel, Edward Cushenberry, Ryan Young, Gizelle Hernandez, Hiroshi Clark, and Mike Lopez hail from disparate cities across the US, but since graduating from Art Center College of Design, they’ve synthesized into a cohesive photography collective, each artist complimenting and enhancing another’s strengths and weaknesses. Their defining quality, despite their differences in aesthetic and approach, is a thematic catalyst as a mode for constantly creating. Every book they make together represents a specific theme, and while each artist interprets these largely within the paradigm of their own upbringing and existence, overlapping brushstrokes emerge across the series. For this issue, we asked Sorry Danny to shoot on the theme of “improvisations,” or how we fill in the gaps when the integral parts are missing. What you’ll see in the next few pages is new

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work speaking specifically to this theme. Ryan went to North Dakota to document his friend’s recent transplanting to a farm to replace his addictions with whatever hard work was needed. Mike Lopez embedded himself in the semi-secret society of “The Vaqueros” to document the ranch hands, farmers, and men of the local rodeo circuit as they participated on their annual “trail ride.” Edward drifted across the city by bus and train to Venice to photograph a woman he’d only met once years earlier in a neighborhood so close to home, yet so completely culturally foreign. Josh took a different approach, staying closer to home and re-envisioning his own neighborhood through the natural landscape and foliage adapting to the architecture of the city. And moving further into the conceptual realm, Gizelle released colored smoke into a wooded area and invited her model to perform as he wished, based solely upon the colors he saw swirling in the air, and Hiroshi wandered through the city, utilizing found objects to depict the conceptual feeling of destruction. Intensely resourceful and ready to create, this collective of photographers exemplifies the amazing capabilities of a people united. Take a look at their work at SorryDanny.com and feel inspired to connect with others as well. ✹


EDWARD CUSHENBERRY I spent four hours on a bus and a train to get to Venice to photograph a model named Nana I met two years ago for an hour and a half. I didn’t know anything about Venice, and I barely know anything about Nana. I had my Canon “sure-shot” point-and-shoot camera and four rolls of Kodak Ektar color film. My image is from that day.

GIZELLE HERNANDEZ www.gizellehernandez.com. My image is the result of an exploration of color and the emotion it evokes. I added the colored smoke to the environment, then I encouraged my subject to “perform” in this unfamiliar location with any gesture or movement he felt inclined to when the smoke was present. 29

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JOSH SCHAEDEL

MIKE LOPEZ American Society of Picture Professionals

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HIROSHI CLARK > My image is found still life shot at night. I wanted to explore the ideas of death and destruction and improvised by using found objects as a metaphor for these concepts.

< JOSH SCHAEDEL My image is based around the idea of adapting to adversity, and finding the necessary resilience to survive in the big city. I’d been walking around my neighborhood in Los Angeles, searching for nature’s defiance of the concrete. My image reflects the beauty of persistence and patience.

HIROSHI CLARK

< MIKE LOPEZ My image is one from many that came from my time spent with the semi-secret society, The Vaqueros. Every year at the beginning of spring, these men from the local rodeo circuit and from surrounding ranches and farms embark on a “trail ride.” The ride is like a rodeo, frat party, and summer camp combined into one, and although the ride is steeped in tradition, absurd spontaneity abounds. One group welded a picnic table to the top of an old Ford Ranchero, just because “they could,” and if one of the members fell asleep in or around camp, it wouldn’t be uncommon for them to have their pant legs ripped off as punishment. When you’re out on the trail, you make things up as you go along.

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RYAN YOUNG My image comes from my “North Dakota Nate” project. My old friend Nate is recovering from addiction. Right before I reconnected with him, he’d been wandering, his resources completely exhausted. Nate was given an ultimatum from a family friend: get clean, and there would be a job, room, and food provided. Since then, Nate hasn’t touched opiates again and has been working as a full-time farmer. Now his daily life consists of working fourteen-hour days, six days a week, birthing calves, fixing tractors, feeding cattle, welding parts to machine, and unloading fertilizer. Before he came to the farm, he didn’t have a plan or destination. He just knew a change had to be made, and he went for it. He improvised.

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How do you want to tell your story? The British Invasion - 50 Year Anniversary 1964/2014

“DAILY MIRROR” NEWSPAPER FRONT PAGE

THE ROLLING STONES

DAVID BOWIE AND THE KINGBEES

FASHION MODEL: PATTI BOYD

FILM: “THE KNACK...AND HOW TO GET IT”

THE WHO

BEATLES FANS

THE BEATLES IN THE FILM “ A HARD DAY’S NIGHT”

THE KINKS

FILM POSTER

MOD FASHION

THE BEATLES

MARY QUANT FASHION

“QUEEN” MAGAZINE FRONT COVER

FASHION ADVERT

THE SMALL FACES

FASHION MODEL: TWIGGY

DAVID HEMMINGS IN THE FILM: “BLOWUP”

THE YARDBIRDS

web: www.everettcollection.com tel: 212. 2 5 5 . 86 10 x12 2 e-mail: sales@everettcollection. c o m 33

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A PLAN

TAKES FLIGHT

BY RICK A. BROWN

PROBABLY ALL PHOTOGRAPHERS who have an interest in airplanes have dreamt of including aviation photography as part of their business—I know I have. Flying in a camera plane with a warbird or antique civilian plane flying a few feet away while you photograph it exists in the imagination as this impossibly incredible experience. And if you’ve ever photographed aircraft under the circumstances that most do (air shows, etc.), you quickly realize that getting the sort of images that you see in magazines, calendars, books, and advertisements usually necessitates special access to the aircraft. Thus, for most of my life, aviation photography seemed like an impossible dream. But when I came across some workshops and writings by aviation photographers Lyle Jansma and Moose Peterson, I took it upon myself to glean as much information from the experts as I could, reaching out in any way possible, including befriending Lyle on Facebook. Never be afraid to ask those who may have the answers. After speaking with Lyle and Moose, I realized the next step in achieving my dreams was to form a relationship with aviation museums, which would give me better access to my desired subjects. And it wasn’t long before I was getting some serious practice shooting a Focke Wulf Fw190 A-5 and a Messerchmitt BF109 E3 at Flying Heritage Collection in Everett, Washington. Like all areas of photography, one needs to build up a reputation. Thus, my plan started with producing an article about a driving tour of the aviation museums of Oregon. If I succeeded, this would get me a publication credit of aviation photography, while American Society of Picture Professionals

requiring minimal access beyond what any tourist could get. My first step was to find the museums and then ask them if they would work with me on the project. I simply e-mailed some and called others and asked them if they’d be interested, and I included a link to some of my aviation photos, showing them their own planes when possible. With numerous trips to the FHC Fly Days and the Tillamook airfield under my belt, I’d already begun to amass a solid collection of photographs I could use in my proposals to the museums, and I already had travel magazine contacts, which lent me further credibility. All but one of the museums said yes immediately, and the one holdout wanted a formal proposal that they discussed at their next board meeting, but they approved it quickly once they had the meeting. My proposal tried to ensure them that the process would be easy and would require little effort on their part, while giving them the added benefit of free publicity. The only special effort I was really asking them for was to have someone on their staff sit with me for an interview. Thus, they get exposure, and all it cost them was time to talk, an easy decision for them to make. For my part, I promised every museum that I would give them a copy of any magazine articles that came out of the project. More importantly, I promised that I’d do all in my power to make sure that captions about the museum accompany any publication of the photos.

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A detail shot of a Pratt & Whitney R2800 on display at the Tillamook Air Museum.

Below: Tillamook Air Museum’s P38 L, Tangerine on takeoff.

Left: The Spirit of TWA, Lockheed Electra Model 12A, NC18137, owned by Ruth Richter-Holden and Curt Walters at the Hood River Fly In at Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum (WAAAM) in September 2012. Ruth is the daughter of one of the founders of TWA, and this particular aircraft was a high-altitude research plane for the airline. The plane won the Peoples Choice & Grand Champion Awards at the Fly In. All images © Rick A. Brown (www.moosephoto.com)

When negotiating for photo rights, we settled on my being able to license the rights for editorial and educational use only. Attending a photographer’s rights seminar or following an expert like PhotoAttorney.com can help you with negotiations when you’re venturing into uncharted territory like I was. But one extremely helpful element about working with museums is that most of them have more familiarity with how the photography industry works than other entities. If they allow photography on their grounds—as most do—they need to be knowledgeable in trademark law and copyrights, as some museums have trademarked planes, and others do not. Luckily, the museums will lay this out for you, eliminating any grey area. For instance, Evergreen has a trademark on the Spruce Goose, so I must be mindful of that when using any images. And planes aren’t any different from other property in regards to images not needing release for educational and editorial use, but you would definitely need it for commercial use, so it’s important that you’re not overstepping your boundaries. You don’t want to damage a potential mutually beneficial partnership with a museum, especially one with people who would take time out of a busy day to sit down and talk about the joys of aviation. The process of actually conducting the interviews and photographing the planes was a lot of fun. Using some very simple and old-fashioned methods, I took notes in a tiny composition book, and everyone I interviewed loved talking about their museums and gave me way more information than

I could possibly hope to use in my driving tour article. But becoming a great photographer means becoming an expert on a subject, and without the interviews, I wouldn’t have learned about Terry Brandt, the founder of WAAAM, also invented the machine that grabs almond and walnut trees and shakes the nuts out for harvesting. The invention of this machine led to Brandt’s fortune, which he used to collect airplanes, eventually founding the museum. This rich history became the seed for my next project, which I’m currently negotiating. Obviously, an aviation photography career is made of more than a project like this. It appears that talking with others more experienced than you is important in aviation photography to learn how to create deals with the aircraft owners and tackle some of the technical issues unique to aviation photography. One great place to find these people is the International Society of Aviation Photographers. My experience with aviation photography since beginning this project has been amazing. I cannot describe the elation I felt the moment that I discovered that it might be possible to make it all happen. Best of all, aviation photography has introduced me to a collection of fantastic people and hopefully some lifelong partnerships. If you’re interested in seeing the culmination of my work on this project, check out the article I wrote in the UK magazine FlyPast, and if you’re interested in publishing the article in the US, contact me through my website at Rick@MoosePhoto.com. ✹

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TEN FROM FOTOLIA

ELLEN HERBERT

FOR ALL THOSE PHOTOSHOP ARTISTS, both budding and established, committed to furthering their own practice, microstock distributor Fotolia has introduced its second season of TEN (tenbyfotolia.com): a series of images and web tutorials that aims to pull the curtain back from the monitor screen, and expose some of the mind-bending wizardry of a multi-national array of talented young digital artists. The artists incorporate (of course) stock images from Fotolia’s extensive library as their jumping-off point, which is just the beginning of an astounding collection of visual confections. On the 10th of every month, at 10am, this unprecedented project allows web users to download the source PSD file from a featured artist. In a collaboration between company and artist that seeks to erode the boundaries between artist and audience, Fotolia offers links into the “mind” of the artist via a series of bite-sized

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videos in which the artists walk us through these visually stunning images, the inspiration behind them, their own cultural life, and how they created the image through tutorials and personal interviews. In a digital world often obsessed with secrecy, and holding one’s own digital tricks close to one’s chest, the artists of TEN have allowed their commissioned images to be made available to a global community in the spirit of creative openness, in a 24-hour window. Not the final flattened image, but in a format that allows browsers to access the set of layers, graphic elements and style effects of the original image.

This past April, Japanese artist Marumiyan was the latest artist from the second season, officially launched on Dec. 10, 2012 (which features ten new artists and two secret artists, to be revealed at a later time this year), in a community project initiated between Fotolia and two wellknown graphic communities: Wisibility and Amkashop. TEN is also supported by national and international partners, including Adobe, Behance, and Wacom. Marumiyan’s “ON” blends Japanese iconography and fantasia around the core of Japan’s bonsai tree: both small and epic—like the bonsai tree itself—the image contains multitudes within

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TEN FROM FOTOLIA

itself, a feast of speakers, amplifiers and cables, a dynamic visual composition that suggests the kinetic frenzy of sound. In the months to come, artists spanning the globe will be featured. Look for work from Germany with Alexander Otto, Alexey Samsonov hailing from Russia, Spanish Art Director Sergio del Puerto, and Graphic Designer, Italian Alberto Seveso. Fotolia is pleased with the results they have seen, both in downloads of the images (over 100,000), but more importantly the exposure they are bringing to new and emerging artists. Of course, there is a heightened awareness of the Fotolia brand, but the educational aspect of the campaign is taking on a dialogs of its own, with artists sharing their influences, techniques and challenging each other to raise the bar. ✚

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AMITA STAROSIELSKI / ART PRODUCER

QA AMITA STAROSIELSKI’S career as an art producer took off at TBWA/CHIAT/DAY, where she worked with clients such as Infiniti, Nissan, Apple, and PlayStation. She later joined Arnold Worldwide, where she developed campaigns for Volvo, ESPN, and Fidelity Investments. She then moved on to be the head art producer at Mother New York, where she worked on global initiatives for Stella Artois and Tanqueray and re-branding initiatives for Sweet N’Low and JCP. When we caught up with Amita, she had left the full-time agency world to start her own company, Star Productions & Consultancy, where she has worked with such clients as Lincoln Motor Company, Christie’s, Burt’s Bees, and Gud, and has helped photographers edit their portfolios and websites. Her work has been profiled in Creativity, PDN, Luerzerís Archive, and Communication Arts, among other trade journals, and we’re excited she had time to sit down and talk with us about what it takes to be a successful art producer today.

Mother is the coolest creative agency in the business. How did you land that gig?! And now that you are freelancing, has this opened up new possibilities for expansion into new markets? I actually give so much of my gratitude to Chiat/Day under the leadership of Lee Clow. Working there taught me so much about how to produce in the advertising agency and how to think creatively. We used to live with the philosophy “good enough is not enough.” That saying I think has stayed with me. I always want to do the best work possible and collaborate with great people.

As for Mother, I went to meet Linus Karlsson, and in that interview he asked me what my favorite singer was—I was put on the spot since I am not very cool when it comes to music taste, and Mother being a very cool place, didn’t really know what to say. I for sure thought I would never be back in for a second interview if I honestly replied and internally panicked and then decided, well I guess I have to tell the truth. When I said George Strait, I thought that would be the end of the interview, but instead Linus busted out with, “me too!” He then took me to his computer and showed me every single George Strait song ever recorded as well as pictures of his truck. It was pretty damn cool. I think George got me the job. Which country was the most interesting to produce in? Probably Japan. Besides the strong sense of design, work etiquette, and politeness of the Japanese people, the reason I found Japan most fascinating was because of its diametric personalities. We were in one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, yet in the business hotel we were staying at in the middle of Tokyo there was no wireless service. We were photographing kids in Harajuku-style clothing, yet women could be spotted wearing kimonos. In some places, it felt as if there was total order, almost a quietness, but then going to other areas of town there was nothing but chaos and loudness. Tokyo feels very safe and protected by police, yet our location scout had to carry bribe money on him in case any mafia tried to stop our shoot and demand additional payment.

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Finally, a scent as fabulous as your shower voice. ®

Introducing Red Ruby Groovy,™ a natural shampoo and conditioner with the scent of grapefruit and thyme, designed to leave your hair soft, nourished, and ready to sign a record deal. Find it in the natural personal care aisle. gudhappens.com

CARLY CARLY RAE RAE JEPSEN JEPSEN

Güd with Carly Rae Jepson: Photographer–Liz Von Hoene

Burt’s Bees: Photographer–Gentl & Hyers

What are the most common misconceptions people have about what you do? I think most people think that being an art producer is “glamorous.” That we get to work with fabulous photographers and are constantly flying around the world. What many people don’t see are the daily management of teams, maintaining of schedules, the paperwork, the long hours, the endless number of phone calls and emails, always worrying about the budget, making sure everyone is happy and doing magic tricks all day long. You wear many hats in the production process, which one is your favorite? There are so many favorites. I’ve had my hands in so many parts of production, but I do love working closely with art directors on creative concepting and casting. If you could work with any photographer, who would that be? I wish I could have worked with Irving Penn, Gordon Parks, Helen Levitt. For the contemporaries, it would be Yelena Yemchuk, Inex & Vinoodh, Bharat Sikka, Miles Aldridge, Matteo Montanari, Marton Perlaki, Jean-Paul Goude, Marc Thirouin, Benjamin Bouchet, Tim Walker, Hedi Slimane, Eliot Lee Hazel, Metz&Racine…too many people to list.

Pennzoil: Photographer–Les Guzman

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AMITA STAROSIELSKI / ART PRODUCER Q/A

Sparah (2): Photographer–Dan Monick

Stevia In the Raw: Photographer–Nigel Cox

What are some of the biggest lessons you have learned When should a photographer put herr foot down and insist on set? on having a producer? To stay calm and keep a happy set. It’s an important lesson to listen to people, make sure they all feel they are part of a team. If people are happy, they do their best work. For a beginning art producer, it’s important to get to know people in the field—ask them questions about what they like, what they don’t like, have them run you through what a typical day is. Most importantly, be genuinely interested in working with artists, mainly photographers.

Unless it’s a simple studio with no talent, a photographer should always have a producer/art producer who can help him/her navigate through the production process. Ideal work conditions for producing would be for clients to understand that it takes time (and money) to make great work. It has never made sense that clients spend so much time on strategy, yet aren’t willing to give it the proper time for the concepting and making. If the final print ad, television spot, etc. is awful or the same as all the competitors’, well, guess what! Customers aren’t going to be How does it work when some photographers insist on interested in what you are selling and won’t recognize your brand. bringing their own producer and crew? What are five rules you would pass onto new photographers I am typically fine with photographers bringing in their own about how to enter the commercial field? producers and crew. I always ask for their top three choices for hair, makeup, wardrobe, and prop stylists. Within those 1. Love what you do. It shows in your work! suggestions, there is always someone that can work for the creative assignment. And prior to a producer being officially 2. If you aren’t shooting for a client, shoot for yourself. Buddy hired, I do like to have a one-on-one conversation to make sure up with an AD, and shoot spec work. It’s important to have a there is chemistry. breadth of work. If a producer isn’t in the budget, what are the pros and 3. Make contact with producers and art directors who are working on clients that are doing work that interests you and fits your cons of doing it yourself? Who shouldn’t do what jobs? style of shooting. The cons of not being able to hire a photo producer is that the art producer has to do double duty and work both sides. It’s not 4. Be persistent but not stalkerish. It’s important to send emails/ only maintaining client’s and agency’s expectations, but also the promos and promote yourself. photographer’s and crew’s demands. It can be challenging to do it all yourself. The pros are you aren’t waiting for anyone to call you 5. Be nice. ✹ back with answers when a client/art director has questions about production. You also know it’s all being taken care of since you are the one doing it all.

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Into the deep...

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DOUBLE EXPOSUREERUSOPXE ELBUOD BY SARA K. BYRNE & DYLAN HOWELL

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CAMERAS TODAY have many extra functions that are often buried in menus and forgotten. Last year, we bought the Canon 5D Mark III and after a few months, we realized that there were some interesting features we had never played with, including a way to do in-camera double exposures. One wedding day, I was sitting behind some trees with the bride while guests were being seated for the ceremony, and I remembered the neat trick we had recently discovered. I took a few photos and came out with this beautiful image of a bride in a silhouette of roses. Ever since we posted this image, we’ve been getting messages asking: “How do you do this!?” Well, here we go! Multiple Exposures: What are they? Double exposure is a technique that originated with film photography where you would expose the same frame of film twice (or more). Film can only be exposed to light so much before it will stop recording information. So the part of the film that was darker after first exposure will be most receptive to the light from the second click. It’s typically good to underexpose both photos, because you are exposing the “film” or “sensor” to light twice. I, like many pro photographers, use a digital camera, and lucky for us, there are multiple digital cameras equipped for the job, including: Canon 5D Mark III, EOS-1D X, EOS 6D, Most Nikon DSLRs, Fujifilm X PRO, Fujifilm X100S, Olympus OM-D E-M5, and more! When using the Canon 5D Mark III, like I do, the images are so simple to achieve that it almost feels like cheating, so that’s what Average: Compensates for light and averages it out. Use this if we’re working with in this tutorial. you were taking photos of a wide shot of something moving like a car or a runner. First, go through the menu on the back of the camera. There’s a little paintbrush-looking button, called the “Creative Photo” Bright: Meant for nighttime, only the bright spots of the images button. If you hit that, the menu’s going to come up, and the are composited center option is for multiple exposures, so just click on that. To turn it on, you just toggle down to “On/Func Ctrl.” Under Dark: The darker parts of the image are combined and the “Multiple Exposure” mode, we’re going to be set to “Additive,” brighter parts are suppressed which is the first option—We’re using “Additive,” because it’s most similar to the way film works, and that’s the effect we’re Now clearly you can do this with any images you want. There looking for here. aren’t rules on what you have to do. However, silhouettes are a really fun way to start. My biggest piece of advice for you is to Next, set your shooting to two exposures. You can do more if use the sky. You’re going to be spending a lot of time shooting you like, but for our purposes, we’re sticking to the basics. Select up, because the sky is fantastic for isolating the subject and the “Save all images,” then “Continuous” mode. Make sure you’re background textures. If you shoot the top of the tree line instead using “Live View.” If you are using the Canon 5D Mark III and of shooting directly into the trees, the sky will help blow out the get nothing else from this other than, “USE LIVE VIEW,” I’ll image above your subject’s head when you piece the two together. be happy, because it allows you to see the base photo with the live If you don’t have a long time to work with the subject, you can preview overlay. Seriously amazing, as it eliminates the need to just snap a few silhouettes and use them later. As long as they are memorize the base image’s framing! on your card (unedited RAW and from the same camera model), you can use them. If you haven’t had time to read your manual, here are a few shortcuts you’ll use for the double-exposure technique below: Sometimes I want to have more context and facial texture in the subject. If you have directional sunlight, position your subject to Func/Ctrl – Use this for most cases, it allows you to pick your face the light and slightly underexpose the skin tones. This way base image before shooting. the back of their head will darken, but the face will have skin texture. Make sure to place the facial line in darker parts of the ContShtng – Use if you want to do sports composites, like if you second image so that you don’t blow out the skin tones and lose wanted to shoot someone running or doing a snowboard jump. the whole face. You can use anything for the second photo—I like using natural things like trees and flowers—but remember: Multi-Exposure ctrl: how/what is composited the sky is your friend! Use it to your advantage in both the base and overlay images, and you’ll be happy with the result. And for Additive: What I use. This is most similar to the way film records a full video tutorial and tons of other advice and artful wedding light. Typically need to compensate by underexposing a bit. photos, check out my website: SaraKByrne.com. ✹ 45

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A

OF FUN

BY JOSH STEICHMANN

IN A WORLD WHERE RESEARCHERS ARE WORKING on bringing gigapixel cameras to below $100,000, taking deliberately simple pictures can be a fun way to goof around like a kid with the simplest photography possible and while still creating striking images.

WHAT YOU NEED: 1 Light-tight, sealable container (I used tea tins) 1 can matte spray paint 1 aluminum can 1 shears or tough scissors 1 hammer 1 nail 1 pushpin 1 roll electrical tape 1 piece sandpaper medium Photographic paper Access to black and white printing chemicals

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HOW TO DO IT: 1) Use the hammer and nail to punch a hole in the side of your container, in the middle of one of the sides. (I use a few shims to keep the tin from bending.) Sand the rough edges off. Spray the container with the paint to remove any reflective surfaces. Let dry.

2) Cut a square of aluminum from the can, then sand it down to the very thinnest you can make it. Use the pushpin to put a small hole in the aluminum—the rounder the better. (The actual sharpest image can be computed by the formula d=2√½ƒλwhere d = diameter, ƒ = focal length, and λ = wavelength of light, which for black and white is around 550nm, but honestly, you’re not going to get that precession from a pinhole punched in aluminum.)

3) Use the electrical tape to tape down the aluminum “lens” over the hole in the container. 4) Take another piece of electrical tape and fold over one end to make it easy to grab. Tape it over the aluminum “lens.” That’s your shutter— pull the tape to expose, cover the hole to end the shot. 5) In the darkroom, cut paper to fit in the tin. The pinhole is now loaded and ready for action.

SHOOTING: With some RC paper on a day of full sun with the tea tins, effective exposures took me between seven and 12 seconds. If you’ve measured your pinhole, you can calculate the effective f-number, and with the ISO of your paper, you can estimate an exposure time.

PROCESS: Follow standard black-and-white wet process. After developing, the prints can be used in an enlarger as paper negatives, scanned and inverted, or enjoyed on their own. ✹

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CLICK.............

ART APPRECIATION AND DESTRUCTION 101

BY BEN HIGH Afterlight wants you to believe in the power of light leaks, poor developing times, and dirty negatives. The app features a host of filters (á la Instagram), tons of adjustments (from cropping and rotating to various exposure and sharpening options), as well as extensive light leaks, matte shapes, and text. You can even buy more filters as well as Polaroid and instant film borders (please don’t use these, you’re using an iPhone, not an SX-70). Overall, the app is everything you’ve ever needed to make your on-thego photos look film-like and dreamy. But my question for you, especially after spending some time with the digital versions of Featured here is everyone from Diego Rivera to Andy Warhol all that art in the IDB Art app is: Why are you trying to pretend and tons of other folks I don’t yet know as well as I’d like to. like you’re shooting film? Granted, it doesn’t have nearly enough photography in it, but the fact that I’m getting as excited about artists that I probably You’re not shooting film. You’re all digital. Why not take it to the wouldn’t have much or any exposure to otherwise is amazing. next level? That’s where Decim8 comes to the party. Decim8 is I downloaded the app thinking that it’d show a poor digital all about glitchy digital destruction. Taking your image, kicking facsimile of the real work and I’d get to talk about how the digital that light leak filter in the face and showing you a thing or two versions just don’t hold up to the real thing and viewing work like about digital artifacts. The interface is a little tricky, but the this on an iPad just doesn’t compare to seeing the work…Now, number of options and ways to tear apart a digital photograph don’t get me wrong, I still think I was right, but I can’t believe are staggering. Your ability to make something beautiful or something that teeters (or maybe falls into) absolute chaos is also how totally wrong I was! unparalleled. This Is the real thing better than the digital version? argument I’ve been having with myself all night brings me right up to the two apps When I started writing this, I wanted to fight for the real thing— I want to pit against each other for you now. Both are amazing, the analog process—but now that I’ve written it, played with fun, and creative and allow you to goof around with photos in Decim8 for the first time in a while, and spent some time with all unique and interesting ways. They do it in exact opposite ways, these brilliant paintings right here at my fingertips, I’m convinced though. One pretends to be old and warm, the other doesn’t even that maybe it’s time we all tell the past to shove it (or at least just stop pretending like we’re all shooting film on our iPhones) and attempt to hide its cold black heart. The former is Afterlight. start to embrace something actually new. I’ll probably change my mind next week. ✹ I RECENTLY GOT AN EMAIL FROM THE Inter-American Development Bank’s Cultural Center, and it turns out they’ve just released an app, called IDB Art, that features an entire museum’s worth of mostly paintings, with some sculpture and photography all from Central and South America. As I sit and browse through IDB Art, two things strike me: the first is how much I really don’t feel like I’m experiencing the true power of this work while looking at it on an iPad screen. The second is how super-rad the work is!

American Society of Picture Professionals

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Still Standing

Curt Teich

Postcard Archives

847-968-3381 www.TeichArchives.org

Historic Images that Capture Time and Place


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THE LAW: PRINCE PREVAILS: THE FAIR USE WARS CONTINUE

© Sommer Browning (www.asthmachronicles.com)

JOEL L. HECKER, ESQ.

IN A LONG AND EAGERLY AWAITED DECISION, The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed the ruling holding appropriation artist Richard Prince and his gallery Gagosian guilty of copyright infringement when Prince “re-used” the Rastafarian portraits of Patrick Cariou. The new ruling came about because the court found Judge Batts had applied an incorrect standard with regard to the fair-use analysis. Because appropriation art is always contentious, and this will definitely not be the last of such cases, here’s a little legal breakdown to catch you up on what will likely an ongoing battle. Cariou, a professional photographer who spent time with Rastafarians in Jamaica over the course of some six years, published a book in 2000 of Rastafarian portraits, titled Yes, Rasta. PowerHouse Books printed 7,000 copies in a single printing, but the book, unfortunately like many such works, enjoyed limited financial success and is currently out of print. Cariou is the sole copyright owner of the photos in the book. Cariou testified at length during discovery in the case about his creative choices, including which equipment he used, how he staged and composed the individual photos and the techniques and processes he used when developing them. He was also heavily involved in the layout, editing, and printing of the book. Prince, on the other hand, is a well-known and highly successful “appropriation artist,” who has had his work shown at numerous museums and other institutions, including a solo show at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Between December 2007 and February 2008, Prince showed some of his artwork, including a collage entitled “Canal Zone,” in St. Barts. American Society of Picture Professionals

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The collage consisted of thirty-five photographs literally torn from Cariou’s book and attached to a plywood backer board, some portions painted over, some of them used in their entirety, and some only partially used. Although the “Canal Zone” collage was not sold, portions of it were reproduced in a magazine article about Prince’s show at the Gagosian Gallery. And Prince ultimately completed thirty paintings in his contemplated Canal Zone series, twenty-nine of which included images taken from Yes, Rasta. In total, Prince admitted using at least forty-one photos from Yes, Rasta as elements of his Canal Zone paintings. In the fair-use analysis, whether or not a work is “transformative” is a central factor. Judge Batts in her original ruling found that Prince’s use of Cariou’s photos was not transformative, since they did not recast, transform or adopt an original work into a new mode of presentation, based in part on Prince’s testimony that he had no interest in the original meaning of the photographs he uses, that he does not really have any message he attempts to communicate when making art, and that he did not intend to comment on any aspects of the original works or on the broader culture. His stated intent was to pay homage or tribute to other painters. The Second Circuit rejected this approach as being an incorrect standard because it “impose[d] a requirement that the new work in some way comment on, relate to the historical context of, or critically refer back to the original work,” in order to qualify as Fair Use. The Circuit Court held instead that “the law imposes no requirement that a work comment on the original or its author in order to be considered transformative, and a


© Sommer Browning (www.asthmachronicles.com)

secondary work may constitute a fair use even if it serves some purpose other than those (criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching scholarship, and research) identified in the preamble to the statute.” The Circuit Court went on to explain that, “to qualify as a fair use, a new work generally must alter the original with ‘new expression, meaning, or message.’” As a result of this “correct” analysis, the Circuit Court found that twenty-five of Prince’s thirty artworks manifest an entirely different aesthetic from Cariou’s photographs. According to the majority opinion, where Cariou’s serene and deliberately composed portraits and landscape photographs depict the natural beauty of Rastafarians and their surrounding environs, Prince’s crude and jarring works, on the other hand, are hectic and provocative. Cariou’s black-and-white photographs were printed in a 9x12 book. Prince has created collages on canvas that incorporate color, feature distorted human and other forms and settings, and measure between ten and nearly a hundred times the size of the photographs. Prince’s composition, presentation, scale, color palette and media are fundamentally different and new compared to the photographs, as is the expressive nature of Prince’s work. The court also rejected a bright line test that any cosmetic changes to photographs would necessarily constitute fair use. Instead, it pointed out that a secondary work may modify the original work without being transformative. One example given is where a derivative work that merely presents the same material but in a new form, such as a book of synopses of televisions shows, is not transformative. And with regard to the second prong of the Purpose and Character evaluation, which is Commerciality, the Second Circuit says the critical point in the law is how the work appears to a reasonable observer, not simply what an artist may say about the work (left unsaid is the concept that an artist would “invent” a reason to avoid liability!). The marketing of Prince’s and Cariou’s respective works could not have been more different. Cariou never sold or licensed use of his photos other than for the Yes, Rasta book and private sale to individuals he knew and liked. However, he was negotiating with gallery owner Christiane Celle, who had planned to show and sell his prints at her Manhattan gallery, prior to the Canal Zone show’s opening. Cariou also said he intended to issue artists editions of the photos, which would be offered for sale to collectors, but there was no evidence he had in fact done so. Celle testified that she originally planned to exhibit between thirty and forty of the photos at her gallery with multiple prints of each to be sold from prices ranging from $3,000 to $20,000 depending on size. She also planned to have the Yes, Rasta book reprinted for a book signing. However, when Celle became aware of the Gallery exhibition of the Canal Zone images, she canceled Cariou’s show because she did not want to seem to be capitalizing on Prince’s success and notoriety and because she did not want to exhibit work which had been “done

already” at another gallery. The Second Circuit held that her belief in this regard was erroneous and discounted it as a measure to determine market harm. Conversely, Prince’s work regularly sells for substantial amounts to an entirely different market. The Circuit Court rejected the District Court’s holding that actual harm was evident in the fact that Celle, Cariou’s gallery owner, discontinued plans to show the Yes, Rasta photos and to offer them for sale to collectors and not to republish the book, because Prince’s paintings had usurped the market, as well as Cariou’s indication that he had intended to issue artists’ editions of his photos for sale to collectors. As a result, the Second Circuit weighed this factor in Prince’s favor since his work appeals to an entirely different kind of collector than Cariou’s work, Cariou has not actively marketed his work or sold work for significant sums (earning only $8,000 in royalties as opposed to Prince’s sale of eight artworks in this series for $10,480,000). While the “transformative” argument seems to trump or outweigh the other factors, there is also the factor concerned with the amount and substantiality of the portion used. Normally, the amount and substantiality factor would weigh in favor of the copyright holder where the portion used was essentially the heart of the copyrighted work. However, an insubstantial taking in and of itself is not excused merely because of that fact. This principle was cogently set forth by Judge Learned Hand who stated, “no plagiarist can excuse the wrong by showing how much of his work he did not pirate”. Since Prince appropriated entire photos in a number of his paintings and appropriated the central figures depicted in Cariou’s photos in a majority of his paintings, all of which going to the very heart of Cariou’s work, the district court found that this factor weighed heavily against a finding of fair use. Once again, however, the Second Circuit ruled otherwise, finding that the court must consider not only the quantity of the materials taken (as per the District Court) but also “their quality and importance” to the original work. According to the majority opinion, since twenty-five of Prince’s artworks used key portions of Cariou’s photographs to conjure up at least enough of the original to fulfill the transformative purpose, this factor was found to weigh heavily in Prince’s favor. The remaining five artworks were remanded to the District Court for an evidentiary hearing. As a result, Cariou’s claims against the Gagosian defendants on these five artworks remain pending. As a post script, Cariou has not accepted this decision by just two Second Circuit judges as the final word. He has filed a petition with the Second Circuit for a rehearing en banc, which is a rehearing before the full thirteen-judge compliment of the Second Circuit. If the petition for a rehearing is granted (which is far from certain) the full court’s decision would supercede the recent three-judge panel decision. This type of petition can also be the basis for a subsequent appeal to the Supreme Court. ✹

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CHAPTER CAPTURE

© Ophelia Chong (2)

© Christopher DiNenna (2)

© Christopher DiNenna

WEST/LOS ANGELES • NEW ENGLAND

WEST/LOS ANGELES Behind-the-Scenes Tour of the Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collections Christopher DiNenna Next, we followed the librarian through locked doors to vaults that held the collection of photographs that were taken by the defunct newspaper, the Herald Examiner. The newspaper amassed 2.2 million photographs that documented Southern California, the nation and the world from the 1920s to 1989. As one of the major newspapers on the West Coast, it was highly regarded for its coverage of the entertainment industry, politics, sports and public issues. We passed by huge steel vaults containing colorful books and newspaper files that pertained to this collection. We were shown beautiful old images of Angelinos from the early twentieth century. The majority of guests were amazed by the glimpse of images taken by Ansel Adams during his early days with the 1940s WPA. (Ansel Adams was commissioned by Fortune Magazine to photograph a series of images for an article covering the aviation industry in Los Angeles, but only a handful of the images were included. In the early 1960s, Adams rediscovered the photographs among papers at his home in Carmel and donated them to the LAPL and wrote in a letter: “The weather was bad over a rather long period and none of the pictures were very good... I would imagine that they represent about $100.00 minimum value... At any event, I do not want them back.”)

On May 4, 2013, the Los Angeles chapter was given a rare tour of the Los Angeles Central Library. Inside, we were shown historical twentieth-century Los Angeles images housed in the archives. More than 30 people came out to this tour, which included a majority of members and a few friends of the ASPP. Our tour began in the History and Genealogy Department, where our tour guide, Senior Librarian Christina Rice, escorted us to multiple stacks of metal files that contained the photographs from the Security Pacific National Bank. In 1981, the Security Pacific National Bank donated 250,000 historical photographs consisting of three main sub-collections to the library: The LA Chamber of Commerce collection housed 60,000 publicity images depicting a light-hearted view of Southern California used to entice East coast businesses and Midwestern farmers to relocate to the “City With Promise.” The Turn of the Century Los Angeles collection holds 150,000 photographs documenting the growth of Los Angeles and its many neighborhoods, and the Hollywood Citizen News/Valley Times Newspaper Collection holds a collection of 30,000 photographs from 1946 to 1968. This last collection includes images of the San Fernando Valley local news, suburban life, sports, radio and TV personalities. Only a small fraction of these images have been scanned digitally and are available for viewing on the library website. American Society of Picture Professionals

After passing by some of the old card catalog shelves from the Herald collection, we were brought upstairs to the third floor to Emma Roberts who was to show us many rare books, fruit crate labels, prints and other gems from the Visual Collections 54


Our members were thankful for the outing, and we were encouraged by the positive reviews everyone had for us. It’s this bond of community that really showed and shined on this day and at this time the West Chapter board is at work to bring another photo collection tour for our members by mid-summer.

© Ophelia Chong

© Christopher DiNenna

© Ophelia Chong (2)

CHAPTER CAPTURE

department. She pulled out an array of menus from 1940s restaurants like The Brown Derby and some fine art prints from local artists and lithographs of Los Angeles locations. After 40 minutes of observing the prints, looking over old books and observing the exquisite old reading room, a few folks went back downstairs to the History Department to view the photo exhibit of “How We Worked, How We Played: Herman Schultheis and Los Angeles in the 1930s.” Schultheis, a former Walt Disney Company engineer, disappeared in the jungles of Guatemala in 1955. After his widow’s death, a treasure trove of his historically significant photographs emerged, revealing a working-class city beginning to show the signs of urban decay but forging ahead with progress—a land where beachcombers picnic in the shadows of oil derricks, families work in suburban fields, and minority populations are displaced for the advancement of others.

NEW ENGLAND Copyright: Now and Beyond Jennifer Riley On a somewhat snowy evening in Boston, members of the ASPP New England chapter and students and Alumnae from Massachusetts College of Art and Design gathered to hear Christopher Reed, Senior Advisor for Policy & Special Projects at the Office of the Register of Copyrights, U.S. Copyright Office speak about copyright as it relates to visual arts. Chris began the presentation with an overview of the Copyright Office’s history and responsibilities, including current projects and legislation. He touched briefly on the recent presentation to congress by Maria A. Pallente, Registrar of Copyrights, calling for updates to U.S. Copyright Law. Chris then provided insight and advice about registering works of art. Once the presentation was over, a lively question-andanswer period followed, which provided much insight into current issues artists face in dealing with copyright and their works of art. It was great to partner with Mass Art and the networking opportunity following the presentation proved beneficial to all. Look for a summer social in the upcoming months and a fall event at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston that will include a private tour with a curator discussing the upcoming exhibition, She who Tells a Story, Women Photographers from Iran and the Arab World.

© Martha DiMeo (2) Christopher S. Reed from the U.S. Copyright office presenting to a packed house.

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India 2014 - Tigers & Beyond

Iceland 2014 - unrivaled beauty

American Society of Picture Professionals


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BOOK REVIEWS FOCUS ON TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY Haje Jan Kamps Focal Press Paperback, 292 pages $19.95 Mac and cheese. Chevrolet. Leno. Nothing edgy, but all have their place and all fill some sort of basic need for a significant portion of the population. Similarly, Focus on Travel Photography adequately introduces the advanced amateur or weekend warrior to the challenges and rewards of shooting on the road without going into too much detail on any particular facet. And that’s OK: if you’re just starting out at something, the last thing you want is to be burdened with a lot of complexity. So, as a simple, straightforward text that’s written in a breezy, just-two-buddieschatting-about-photography style, it works. But this is not for the pros, and for the same reason I tend to look just slightly askance at some other travel-related photo books, too much time is taken up on photography basics that could instead be devoted to more in-depth, nuts-and-bolts detail about how you actually create great images in foreign environments. Possessing knowledge about depth of field, setting ISO, and how the rule of thirds aids composition are all tools that any successful photographer has to have, not just travel shooters, so is it really necessary to go over that stuff again in a book like this? Perhaps I quibble too much, since Kamps certainly attempts to relate these and other basic concepts directly to executing travel photography, but for me when a book reiterates ideas that should have been learned back in Photography 101, that’s a pretty strong clue that it’s primarily aimed at the amateur crowd rather than professionals.

measures 8.25 x 7.5 inches and weighs in at a pound and a half. Rule #1 of travel photography is travel light! If you were actually going to take a book on travel photography along you’d be far better off with Michael Freeman’s The Photographer’s Eye Field Guide (also from Focal Press), which is a third of the weight and half the physical size. And Rule #2 of travel photography is do your research before you leave. What, you’re going to get to the Great Pyramid, pull out Kamps’ book and quickly read his section on capturing historical buildings and photographing architecture? Hardly. One of the strengths of Focus on Travel Photography is that it is profusely illustrated with both the author’s images, as well as a number plucked from iStock, and they’re large (many taking up a full page). These photos truly run the gamut— some are outstanding, a few are just so-so, and a handful may have you asking yourself, “Is this really a travel photo?” They all have accompanying technical data, though, which is helpful in answering that time-worn question we often ask about photographs, “How’d he get that shot?” And, I love Kamps’ idea of encouraging readers to think of their photos in terms of maintaining a visual travel diary: “You’re training yourself in telling visual stories.”

Despite all the downsides, the tone of Focus on Travel Photography is As long as I’m in carping mode, I’ll also take exception to a unceasingly positive. As you read along, you find yourself saying, statement on the book’s back cover: “Pack Focus on Travel Photography “I could do that,” which I guess is the whole point of this genre in your suitcase and you’ll learn how to capture travel photos that of book in the first place! are the envy of all your friends.” Uh, no. First of all, the book — PAUL H. HENNING American Society of Picture Professionals

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FACE TO FACE: PORTRAITS OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT Alison Wright Schiffer Publishing Hardcover, 208 pages $75.00 Flipping through the pages of Alison Wright’s newest book, I was instantly transported to the days of my childhood spent reclining upside down on my living room couch devouring the photographs and stories of people from a certain yellow-framed monthly magazine. A retrospective of Wright’s long and ongoing career, Face to Face delivers an astounding portrait of the human condition with rich, bold colors and visually dynamic textures. Wright’s portraits weave together a thesis of universal desires and concerns. From Afghani girls on their way to school to Chinese fisherman docking on the shore after a long day on the river, Wright captures the ubiquity of work and school but with a unique perspective. Life’s inevitable span of events through birth, adolescence, aging, and death are shown here in vivid and thoughtful detail, crossing and connecting through cultures regardless of place, gender, religion, or ethnicity. One of her most striking images shows a pair of babies in a Haiti disaster relief camp placed in a bucket looking up wide-eyed and curious at the camera. Uncertainty hangs in the air above them as it does in many images in this book, where Wright seems to be asking the question of how famous leaders, ordinary and traditional people find their places in our modern times, while holding on to their heritage or religion. Wright often expertly pairs images to call attention to their similarities, be it in color hue or emotional tone. One such arrangement pairs a young Cuban woman posing in her fancy Quinceañera dress across from a fisherman having just caught a fish to feed his family mere feet away from the location. Both images are imbued with a sense of pride. On another page, a young nomadic Tibetan girl tucks her hand into her colorful

tunic whose patterns mirror the same vivid tones of a boy and his grandfather who herd reindeer in their traditional Finnish costumes. Each living off the land and each displaying their cultural dress. There is an unspoken conversation going on between the characters throughout the pages and their differences force us to confront our own notions of shared attributes. But what is most striking about Wright is her ability capture her subjects’ eyes— unblinking and with a sense that they are opening their hearts and spirits to her—with a sense of casualness. This warmth comes easily with her use of only natural lighting and choice of relaxed shooting situations. Her unguarded portraits are unabashed and honest looks into the lives and personalities of her sitters. Also included are short accompanying paragraphs for each image that texture the portraits with another dimension. Next to an image of a Tibetan boy with a cap that reads, “I love Jesus,” a passage explains that the youth doesn’t know English or what his cap says, causing the reader to form several questions about the significance of this image. Wright’s images do stand alone quite powerfully, so I appreciated them being separated on the page from their corresponding descriptions, because it forced me to first draw my own conclusions and then reflect afterwards on how my perceptions had changed based on this new knowledge. The reader is compelled to flip back and forth between photograph and commentary, each time as if viewing it anew. I have revisited these faces many times and find myself more enriched from the experience. A great book is one that urges you to do exactly this. — ANGELA YONKE 59

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LE CORBUSIER AND THE POWER OF PHOTOGRAPHY Edited by Nathalie Herschdorfer and Lada Umstätter Thames & Hudson Hardcover, 256 pages $60.00 Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris (1887-1965), born in La Chauxde-Fonds, Switzerland, changed his name to the more artisticsounding Le Corbusier, an adaptation of his grandparents’ name, when he moved to Paris in 1917. As well as being one of the greatest architects of the 20th century, Le Corbusier was a painter, sculptor, writer, illustrator and producer of many books, designer of tapestry and furniture, and .…a passionate photographer. In a letter he wrote to a friend in 1911, at 24, he exclaimed: “Oh, the miracle of photography.” And later: “Where the eye succumbs, the lens takes over.” In 1935, the art historian and critic, Elie Faure, described Le Corbusier’s books as at first sight chaotic, but mischievously constructed, with extraordinary amounts of images. This heavily illustrated new book, with its lively layout, also has a mix of pictures of work and his life that he likely would have enjoyed— not an intimate biography of the man, but, in part, a portrait of his visual processes. Le Corbusier and the Power of Photography includes 403 photographs. Of the 239 in black and white, most are by Le Corbusier and fully illustrate his eye for form and structure. He used these images both as working notes and as illustrations for his many books, saying that images should provide motivation and explanation, and that his text often required the adjacent images in order to be fully understood. Le Corbusier’s photographs show a refined and innovative sense of design and composition. Their inclusion in the book is clearly not for the sake of being American Society of Picture Professionals

judged technically as photographs. In any case, that would be difficult because of their small reproduction size. They do seem to be lacking in sharpness, especially the film stills that comprise most of his images shown for the period after 1930, when he mainly used a movie camera. Regardless of their technical quality as photographs, they offer great insight into his perceptions and design process. The book also has many full-page images of Le Corbusier s creations by photographers such as René Burri (Magnum), Robert Doisneau (Gamma/Rapho), Lucien Hervé, and, Edward Steichen; and 31 pages of photographs that document his life from childhood on. All images are copiously indexed. Le Corbusier s most praised architecture includes: Villa Savoie, in Poissy, France (1929 30), Church of Notre-Dame-du-Haut, in Ronchamp, France (1950 55), and the principal public buildings for the capital of Punjab, in Chandigarh, India (1951 65). Sadly, much of that major development is now in a state of disarray, with its Le Corbusier-designed furnishings, and even its manhole covers, sold on the open market. In his preface, Norman Foster, the distinguished British architect, says that “as a young man, I was as enthralled by Le Corbusier’s bold use of imagery and classical archetypes as I was by his vision of a brave new world.” This book gives a powerful sense of the way he used the photographic image as an inherent part of his processes of thought and design. — BRIAN SEED


BOOK REVIEWS

LOMO LIFE: THE FUTURE IS ANALOGUE Lomography Thames & Hudson Two volumes, 384 pages $45.00

PROFESSIONAL

With manifestos, rules, and the brave pronouncement that “the future is analogue,” the Lomographic Society positions their movement counter to the culture of digital perfection, positing “authenticity” and spontaneity as the prime aesthetic virtues. And, like nearly everything Lomo does, Lomo Life works almost in spite of itself, with gorgeous, saturated images overcoming an earnest but incoherent philosophy. Lomography (the listed author of the books) arose after some Austrians on vacation in Prague picked up the cheap Soviet consumer LC-A camera in the early ‘90s. Captivated by its plastic lens and vivid color, they formed the Lomographic Society International and issued a manifesto in ‘92. They position themselves as a postconsumer populist movement, consequent of historical forces (rather than individual calling) and embracing of a naive mix of reactionary nostalgia and belief in the liberating possibilities of a cheap camera.

© Liad Cohen, Lomo Lc-A+

Notably, they declare, “There are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ photos, only more or less ‘true,’ ‘authentic’ photos,” while espousing analog film as the only “authentic” medium for photography. Which puts them on especially revanchist footing: Why is a digital photo less authentic? It certainly can’t be termed “natural,” what with being a large-scale mechanical and chemical process. This book is printed digitally; are analog books more authentically books? And the pluralism they reference positively several times in the manifesto means that what is authentic to me, or to you, or to the Lomographers might not be the same thing, and that none of us has a special claim to authenticity. If this were music, Lomographers would be the “rockists.”

© Pasquale Caprile, Sprocket Rocket

© Dingdong, Lomo LC-Wideomo LC-Wide

The prime strength of Lomo cameras like the LC-A+, Diana or Action Sampler is the dreamy, color-shifting lenses that make vivid, compelling images, usually combined with some gimmick like four successive shutters or colored flashes. The novelty plus the inherent instability of the process and sensual rewards of the saturated, slightly weird images encourage Lomographers to play with their shots, to shoot quickly and without expectation of perfection. That, combined with subjects like the first skateboarding school in Afghanistan or the remnants of a telescope in rural Russia, give a consistent sense of adventure that keeps Lomo Life easy to browse.

© Lomography, Creative submission from lomographers “Superlighter,” “J_Rad” and “Anafaro.”

© Lomography, In Vienna, lomographers take part in a unique light-painting workshop on board one of the city’s famous trams.

The cameras themselves in the second volume are fun to look at, as Lomo has moved from brutalist Soviet design to some of the most eyecatching modern design around — which makes surreptitious street photography harder, but makes it easier to accessorize your toy camera to your outfit — and as objects, models like the Sardinia are beautiful. For Lomographers who have already drank the Flavor-Aid, or folks looking to see just what those toy cameras can do, Lomo Life is worth the manifesto-cum-marketing, but hopefully any future volumes will focus more on the photography and less on the fantasy. — JOSH STEICHMANN 61

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DiD you know we have historical images? www.akg-images.com

American Society of Picture Professionals

Fine Art | History | Photography

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CONTRIBUTORS

ISSUE 2 / 2013 THE PICTURE PROFESSIONAL © Ophelia Chong

JOEL L. HECKER, ESQ. Practices in every aspect of photography and visual arts law, including copyright, licensing, publishing contracts, privacy rights, and other intellectual property issues, and acts as general counsel to photography and content-related businesses. In addition to writing for The Picture Professional, Hecker lectures and writes on these issues in PhotoStockNotes, the New York Bar Association Journal, and the association’s Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Journal. He is a past trustee of the Copyright Society of the USA, and past chair of the Copyright and Literary Property Committee of the New York City Bar Association. Tel.: 212.447.9600; website: RussoandBurke.com; email: HeckerEsq@aol.com. The first time JOSH STEICHMANN got paid for photography was when he turned a snack shack at a summer camp into a 12-foot by 12-foot pinhole camera. Since then, he’s had a love of alternative processes, creative risk taking, and mural prints. Working as a writer, he’s covered everything from Elvis festivals to US Code 2257, and plenty in between. As a photographer, he’s shown across Michigan, and can usually be found jumping Los Angeles fences with a home-hacked Holga. BEN HIGH is an Iowan turned Angeleno turned Iowan. He used to be a music industry wonk and commercial photographer. Now he designs fancy (sometimes photography-related) jewelry and shoots Polaroid and instant film. You can see what he’s up to at benhigh.com. PAUL H. HENNING was a professional location photographer for 15 years. He co-founded and directed Third Coast Stock Source, and was manager of European operations for Comstock Picture Agency in London. He’s served as acting managing director at the Robert Harding Picture Library and is the founder of Stock Answers, a consultancy that works with stock picture agencies and photographers worldwide. Paul also serves as the director of business development for Tetra Images, a New Jersey-based royalty-free image production company.

JENNY RESPRESS started speaking at fourteen months of age and hasn’t stopped since. When she isn’t busy finding hilarity in the absurd, she can be found playing with her Shih Tzu, Oliver. She lives in Boise, Idaho, and is currently the social media manager of The Picture Professional and an e-news blog editor for ASPP. KATIE BUNTSMA is an LA-based food photographer, designer, and recipe developer from a tiny Dutch town in rural Iowa. She loves stroopwafels, singing loudly in her car, and reading books on rainy days. Sometimes she indulges in bubble baths and canned peas and forcing her roommates to eat her experimental baked goods. RICK A. BROWN is an award-winning editorial and commercial photographer with added capabilities in video and writing. Rick’s interest in conservation issues drove him to study biology at the University of North Carolina, where he also studied psychology and film criticism. A career in photography was always his ultimate goal. His work has been featured in many magazines including FlyPast, Audubon, National Wildlife, WildBird, and Outdoor Photographer. He is currently represented by Danita Delimont Stock Photography. Art producer and owner of NEAT Production, ELLEN HERBERT s a career photo professional. She counts herself lucky to collaborate with a variety of clients, from publishers and ad agencies to filmmakers and photographers. Her home base is East L.A. ANGELA J. YONKE is an artist and art educator living in Bozeman, MT. Yonke hails from Michigan, where she received a BFA in Photography and Art Education from Western Michigan University. She’s taught art in Michigan and Chicago, and her personal work focuses on humor, gesture, and non-verbal communication through multi-media and sewn-photo pieces.

BRIAN SEED is an Illinois-based photojournalist and stock-photo consultant. He’s the founder and a board member at Picade LLC, SARA K. BYRNE and DYLAN HOWELL are wedding photographers based and his photography regularly appeared in Time-Life and Sports out of Boise, Idaho. They concentrate on photojournalistic Illustrated for 30 years. moments, story telling, and modern portraiture. SaraKByrne.com.

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aspp.com


LIFE IN FOCUS: IN THE HOOD

This guy’s been cutting our hair for as long as I can remember, and I’ve never called him by name. That’s my brother in the seat, in the front yard.

This is the town where my mother grew up, where my grandparents lived, through segregation and Reagan. TRACY JONES

© Tracy Jones (TMGphotosynthesis.tumblr.com) American Society of Picture Professionals

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