I recently photographed Jesse Ruiz – former student and current friend of President Obama for the Guardian Weekend Magazine. Jesse was a great sport and let us try a few locations out, all while being a super friendly guy and putting up with photographer shenanigans. I have to admit, I don’t always expect the time and flexibility Mr. Ruiz afforded us when photographing a high profile lawyer. His article gives some nice insight into Obama’s demeanor as a friend.

Last month I spent some time in the Groupon Chicago offices making some pictures for the Guardian’s Weekend Magazine. While I had to make a lot of pictures in a short amount of time (especially of Mr. Mason) I think the editors and designers at the Guardian did a great job of making the piece come to life. Wouldn’t it be nice if every story looked this nice on paper? I could go on about Groupon here since the company seems to be the hot topic of the moment here, but I’ll just say that visiting their offices, you could feel a buzz. Sometimes you visit a corporate HQ and leave happy you don’t work there, but at the Groupon offices…that wasn’t the vibe. More images from the shoot will be on my website shortly.

Returned home from some time in Brooklyn and NYC with a refreshed sense of photography. Met some wonderful people both in and outside of portfolio meetings. Thanks editors for letting me stop by your office and thanks friends for putting me up in your places, it’s much appreciated. Tomorrow I’ll start work on another story for a local magazine, where I’ll get to slow down and shoot a piece on film again. I’m excited.

After some unforeseen delays in life it is finally time to really, truly look at almost all the work I’ve done and rethink my overall portfolio.

This could end up being an exercise in which I end up showing the same pictures I do now, but I think some things will change.

I am sitting here with a total of over probably 1,400 of my favorite pictures, small prints, and trying to organize them all is a daunting task.  I’ve come to realize that, at this point, the photos I like to shoot the most are the ones that probably have the least potential of being marketable. So, I need to think about presentation and the photos I also enjoy taking that don’t quite echo my preferred, perfect world of photography…which is fine. There is work and then there is play. This is a challenge for me because I think at the moment I am evolving rapidly (progressing, not so sure) as a photographer (I hope I always will be, but maybe just not at this pace), and what most defines the direction I want to go is probably the most incomplete looking body of work, but, as they say you should show the work that reflects the type of work you want to do.

My hope is to come out of this mess with three portfolio books with the following purposes:

Commercial: Bright colors, fun portraits, landscapes, interiors etc. that I think show how I shoot but also show things in a positive or intriguing light…the photojournalism mantra of telling the truth no matter what it may be isn’t always applicable with advertising work. Hopefully this will be the book shown to a more local clientele where it will probably be most applicable. It’s been my experience that working with people who buy photographs for a living is intensely different from those who run a business or whose passion is not photography. This book will be more catered to folks who are not professional photo buyers but will still hopefully include a variety of images that can appeal to photo buyers and give a bigger idea as to the different ways I can approach a situation.

Agricultural/Environmental Photojournalism: Most of my photojournalism work has had to do with people and the land, and I have enough of this to put a book together concerning the topic. A large portion of it will include work from my summer documenting sustainable forestry but will also go to include other local farms, gardens and touch on local food consumption as well. Though I still enjoy photojournalism, I don’t want only photojournalism assignments. If and when I do get hired for strictly photojournalism assignments, my ideal work would be that within the context of people trying to improve the world. My environmental work is where I have focused on this to a large extent and the best way to represent this goal. I’m not a doom and gloom photographer and not really interested in being one….that said I will document what I see.

Personal Book: This book will consist of the work that I produce when no one is paying me to do so. I make a ton of photographs and though I am young as a photographer, I have gotten to a point where I am starting to understand (to a very small degree nonetheless) where my soul lies and the work that I feel a strong connection to.  This book will consist of mostly medium format film landscape and portrait work, possibly a few commercial portraits I’ve connected with, and probably a number of personal travel digital images as well. I want to make sure this book is consistent in color, tone, aesthetic and content. This book will probably reflect my “perfect world” in terms of representing the work I want to do. The day I am getting hired to shoot introspective travel work, or medium format film portrait and interior/detail/landscape work will be a day of celebration for me, but this will probably be my biggest challenge. If there is ever a day where I show only this book to potential clients, then I know I am in a place where I can afford to take more risks. In all honesty, I’m not sure that ever happens for most photographers and for those it does happen to, they are the best around.

Depending on clients I visit, I will probably show two books. I am guessing that most clients will see my commercially geared book, which will be a sort of “singles” book, and then the environmental photojournalism book, which I hope will show diversity but also a more complete body of work. Some clients, especially ones that are more strictly editorial will probably see my personal book and the environmental photojournalism book.

This is my thought process for now, getting this all organized seems overwhelming but it’s finally about time to tackle it.

Thoughts, suggestions? How have you organized your book(s)? What has worked and not worked for you?

There’s an interesting conversation with Magnum photographer Christopher Anderson over on the photography blog Conscientous…

Now Anderson is probably someone who most look at as a traditional documentary photojournalist as far as putting people in boxes goes… but have a look at what he says.

The death of journalism is bad for society, but we’ll be better off with less photojournalism. I won’t miss the self-important, self-congratulatory, hypocritical part of photojournalism at all. The industry has been a fraud for some time. We created an industry where photography is like big-game hunting. We created an industry of contests that reinforce a hyper-dramatic view of the world. Hyperbole is what makes the double spread (sells) and is also the picture that wins the contest. We end up with cartoons and concerned photographer myths (disclaimer: yes, there are photographers doing meaningful work)Of course I am worried about how I will make my living now, and I worry for my friends and colleagues too, but I don’t really care about the future of photojournalism. The soul of it has been rotten for a while.

I can’t say I disagree entirely. Maybe this is why I’m struggling to define things in photography right now, including my own work. Maybe this is why the definitions are useless. Either way, I’m excited to see someone of his stature who has won the awards he’s talked about note that a lot of picture may be made just for that sake. Of course I don’t think he means all work and neither do I. Blanket statements are no good but he is pointing at a lot of work and that should be noted.

Hello all,

I’ve just added a mailing list to my website and if you are interested in updates on my work please do me a favor and sign up below. I won’t spam your inbox, I’m thinking once I get settled here I’ll probably only be sending out e-mail updates a few times a year at most. Also, I’ve updated my recent work gallery on my site with a few pictures from Europe as well as a few other random assignments and commissions. Thanks for your support and interest!

And here’s an image from a wine cellar in Tuscany…

Recently I posted over on the APAD blog a little article quoting some editors over at SELF magazine speaking about the photoshop retouch work that goes on for their magazine covers, or specifically, their latest cover with Kelly Clarkson. Former classmate Andrea Morales pointed it out to me via facebook.

Ironically, I subscribe to mostly text-heavy and literature centric magazines so I don’t come across these issues too often. I guess I am reminded why. I know that magazine covers are photoshopped, but the article here made me livid pissed. I know that some people seem to live in a reality that us normal folks don’t occupy (some of them Wall Street folks for example, who think $100 is nothing), but here is another bright and shining example.

If you want to know how some magazine editors think, have a gander, and then don’t feel so bad the next time you look at a magazine and feel frustrated by how abnormal and beautiful everything looks.

Fashion ads are one thing, editorial is another. I’m a photographer. I also happened to teach photoshop for a year. I love photoshop and what it can do. But using it to portray reality in a way that is not realistic is downright irresponsible. That, we should be used to though. If you are an educated media consumer you know that a lot of covers are airbrushed, and it might make you mad with good reason. Read all about what the editor says to justify the decisions though. She had her marathon picture photoshopped. Are we that vain that we need to look back at constructed and false representations of truly good moments in our lives? I hope to hell not. Maybe if we could be more comfortable in our own skin we would start buying magazines that portrayed reality realistically…

I’m a dreamer I know.

$7 ….?? So agrees Sotomayor. This court ruling, in which Sotomayor had connections to the defendant (never disclosed) says effectively that a photojournalist’s original work that were lost by Corbis were worth $7 a piece. They lost a lot of images, so he walked away with a $100,000+ settlement, but this is nothing in terms of getting Corbis to respect the work they are holding. Lose original work and pay a few relative “pennies”. Now, I know there are photographers out there who do nothing but shout about how undervalued the industry is, and many of them are more concerned with money than with making good work, but this reference could be a scary reference for future suits. As for me, and as for most other photographers out there, I think we should just keep doing what we love and fight for respect for it, but not more than we need.

Warning: Self Promo entry.

It’s been an interesting few weeks, I hardly have touched my cameras and have gone into designing/portfolio/trying to figure out freelance life mode. I have a few projects in the back of my head that I’ll get moving on before the beginning of the year, but for now I just want to announce that I’ll be on the roster of photographers promoted by Wonderful Machine. They’ve got a pretty diverse base of photographers and I’m excited to be one of them. I’m also hoping their new sort of model holds strong and it seems to be that the recession hasn’t bothered them so much.

On another note the Px3 (Prix de la Photographie, Paris) announced the winners of their annual contest a week or two ago and I’m happy that I got a 2nd place for portraiture, an honorable mention for portraiture, and an honorable mention for environmental photojournalism.

An image from Rural Progressives – Which will be featured in the Px3 Book.

As I consider my future as a freelancer in the Chicago market (come fall that’s where I’ll be situated) I know that the economy is bad, I know that newspapers are dying, I know that the barrier of entry for photography is lower and therefore there are more people I need to compete against …. which a Crain’s Chicago Business article recently pointed out.

But, the woman interviewed, Chicago photographer Melissa Song makes a few statements that to me, are frustrating.

“It’s not in my best interests to be that good,” she says matter-of-factly of her editing. “It’s in my best interests to be efficient.”

“Moms ask me, ‘What is the resolution, blah blah,’ and I have no clue,”

Really? Seriously? Would you hire someone who doesn’t take pride in their work but is more concerned with doing more and getting more done? Isn’t it YOUR JOB to know the resolution, to know and understand the tools you are working with? You are taking hard earned money from people, wouldn’t you like them to understand the work they are doing for you? I’d rather pay a mechanic to spend a few extra hours on my car ensuring he did a job he’s proud to call his work, and also I want him to know the capabilities of the wrench he is working with.

Now, I’m just coming out of graduate school. Officially, I’m well below the poverty line, I understand trying to save money, and the appeal of people who are maybe not as professional and/or offer similar services at a lesser fee, and I think it’s my job to have photos that justify the prices I will need to charge to make sure I can pay all my bills….which might be hard, I don’t know if I’m good or bad, but man, at least I’m interested in being good. I’d rather make good photos than be efficient. Of course making good photos AND being efficient would be the best, but my priority is with quality over quantity. But maybe that’s just the photographer and not the businessman inside of me. If I die broke and having made good work I’d be much happier anyways.