Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Professionalism, other Redundancies, and the New Meaning of Life…

We are told by those who study such things, that the meanings of words, and interpretations of concepts drift and change over time, and our language becomes richer for it.

The realm of photography is no exception becoming richer as it evolves and adapts.

u narelle copy

Calm down dirty old men! According to the New world order this IS NOT a photograph containing Implied Nudity! Why?

  • The model was in fact fully clothed
  • It is not a full figure nude picture digitally manipulated to eliminate the clothing, or even to create and enhance the girl’s  “naughty bits” by retouching.

Remember for example when that otherwise indefinable term coined and used almost exclusively by the amateur fraternity  “implied nudity” meant an ambiguously clever camera technique where a photograph of a fully and discretely clothed woman left the viewer wondering wether she was nude or not?

( Camera technique? Wow..ya can do that in the camera? Lot easier after in Photoshop!)

Now though, as I was emphatically told recently by a “widely respected professional” – well he did have a small but efficiently tamed gang of facebook likers to back him up – that he worked to the “accurate and only definition” (?) that implied nude means full figure nudity achieved by removing nipple covers and  g string from a model by digital retouching…

It seems therefore that the model does not need to be payed at the nude rate, because she is not nude in the original photo…just g string and falsies (???)

Woops forgot: Pay a model !!! Who is stupid enough to pay a model??? tfp rules right!

Well obviously “accurate definition” wins out over subtlety and art every time in the vast, murky depths that is creative internet photography!

But there are three words used on a daily basis which have drifted in meaning so far from their original concept to warrant a review of the “accurate” (?) dictionary definition

NB: If the New World Meaning of Life has not reached your particular neck of the woods, it soon will…it is certainly firmly established in my region.

and more importantly New Meaning of Life definitions do not in any way apply to legitimate, or real world photography.

Definition:

Professionalism:- this is the divine right of those with a modicum of ability, a lack of talent, a tenuous control of their gang of disciples, but a thorough mastery of schoolboy bullying techniques to denigrate, discredit and vilify anyone outside of his immediate gang, who disagrees with his beliefs, or threatens in even the smallest way  to expose the fraudulence of his self proclaimed importance , or the pathetic and derivative quality of his “work”

Those with “opinions”( see below) are the obvious natural targets of the “professional”

Definition:

Opinion:- A belief or knowledge of traditional techniques, concepts, ideas and ideals, well proven theories; real knowledge especially when gained from  long experience, education, and the ability and willingness to advance learning and skills through reading and research ( as opposed to knowledge gleaned from your mates, and  religious worship of “internet experts” on forums and YouTube.); reliance on actual proven facts and the immutable science of light and photography

Definition:

Hater:- anyone who adheres to, holds, believes in or makes the mistake of publically expressing opinion (see above)

anyone who has deliberately opened a camera instruction manual, and …god forbid!…gone to the extreme of actually reading a photography book, irredeemably brands you as a latent hater.

 

Additional Notes:

Legitimate or “real world” Photography: a phenomenon which it seems is merely an out-dated figment of the imagination and, if it ever really existed, is an historical insignificance when compared with “where true art and creativity is really happening” Nevertheless it’s influence was long ago and long forgotten, having occurred in the real “old days”, of …well…wow…five years or more ago.

Professionalism: has absolutely nothing to do with earning a living from your creativity ,or that “dirty” word used by those who have sold out;  money. True professionals not only exude a fuzzy good guy feeling about their “ethical treatment of others and their approach to life in general”, but also far too much “artistic integrity” to have ever earned a cent, or the likelihood of ever doing so: that would not only sully their ”work” drastically reducing their  natural to bully, intimidate, exploit and be fully exploited by their “collaborators”

 

©Copyright: Stephen Bennett, MMXV
Except as permitted by the copyright law applicable to you, you may not reproduce or communicate any of the content on this website, including any  photographs  and files downloadable from this website, without the permission of the copyright owner.
The Australian Copyright Act allows certain uses of content on the internet without the copyright owner's permission. This includes uses by educational institutions for educational purposes, and by Commonwealth and State government departments for government purposes, provided fair payment is made. For more information, see www.copyright.com.au and www.copyright.org.au.
We may change these terms of use from time to time. Check before re-using any content from this website.

Interesting Links:
My Photography Webpage
Facebook page for Professional Photographers and Models
The Definite Article Photography and Video on Facebook
My Pond 5 Page
The Definite Article at Publicise Me

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Don’t Put a Target on Your Back!

It appears that we are entering another apparently annual round of people worrying about their copyrights, and rights to their profiles, postings and comments they post on the internet, especially on various social media sites they may belong to.

 

In response, they seem to rely on one or both of the following stock “Legal Notices” they find on the internet, to try and guarantee protection against photo, and or profile theft:

 

  1. Today, (Month, Day, Year)  in response to the Facebook (or other social media site) guidelines and under articles L.111, 112 and 113 of the code of intellectual property, I declare that my rights are attached to all my personal data, drawings, paintings, photos, texts etc... published on my profile. For commercial use of the foregoing my written consent is required at all times.
    Those reading this text can copy it and paste it on their Facebook (or other social media site) wall. This will allow them to place themselves under the protection of copyright. By this release, I tell Facebook (or other social media site) that it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, broadcast, or to take any other action against me on the basis of this profile and/or its contents.
    The actions mentioned above apply equally to employees, students, agents and/or other staff under the direction of Facebook (or other social media site). The contents of my profile includes private information.
  2. Facebook is now an open capital entity.

    All members are invited to post a notice of this kind, or if you prefer, you can copy and paste this version. If you have not published this statement at least once, you will tacitly allow the use of elements such as your photos as well as the information contained in your profile

     

  3. I declare that I own full rights to my profile, as well as all information and pictures appearing in conjunction with my site ID and Profile. I will fully prosecute my rights, in relation to anybody misusing those rights, especially students of (particular) University to use any of that information or pictures in their studies or coursework.

…or words similar to these.

Like the vast majority of disclaimers, these and similar legal sounding ramblings are useless with no legal standing, or added protection to your rights.

 

Note that there are several things which should raise questions about the indiscriminate use of these notices.

  • It seems that the only country to have a “code of intellectual property” is France, so how would that be relevant to Australia, or America, (where most of the social media sites seem to be located)
  • What is an ”open capital entity”?
  • Why are you expressly instructed to not “share” the notice, but specifically “copy and paste it”?
  • Why do you need to specifically post a dodgy sounding, pseudo legalistic notice to place you under copyright protection, when you are already fully protected under Facebook’s, or any other site’s terms and agreements, and more importantly Australia's ( or any other nation’s) Copyright Law.

 

It seems to me …and I am not a lawyer, but I do have a decent working knowledge of Copyright…that at best this is just some useless nonsense, made up at some stage by some paranoid “bush lawyer”

Most likely though it seems to scream

“IAM A COMPLETE PRATT!”

“I do not understand copyright, and I have not read or understood the Terms and Conditions of the site I am a member of.”

“So feel free to steal my pictures, my postings, or my complete profile”

But above all, if the poster claims to be a professional photographer, model or in any other arts related field, I would regard their professionalism with the contempt it deserves.

 

More on this topic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Intellectual_Property_Code

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/bogus-facebook-privacy-notice.shtml

http://gawker.com/5963225/that-facebook-copyright-thing-is-meaningless-and-you-should-stop-sharing-it

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/facebook/ss/Facebook-Privacy-Notice.htm

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/06/05/facebook_privacy_notice_debunked_.html

http://techland.time.com/2012/11/26/quit-posting-facebook-copyrightprivacy-messages-its-a-hoax/

 

©Copyright: Stephen Bennett, MMXIV
Except as permitted by the copyright law applicable to you, you may not reproduce or communicate any of the content on this website, including any  photographs  and files downloadable from this website, without the permission of the copyright owner.
The Australian Copyright Act allows certain uses of content on the internet without the copyright owner's permission. This includes uses by educational institutions for educational purposes, and by Commonwealth and State government departments for government purposes, provided fair payment is made. For more information, see www.copyright.com.au and www.copyright.org.au.
We may change these terms of use from time to time. Check before re-using any content from this website.

Interesting Links:
My Photography Webpage
Facebook page for Professional Photographers and Models
The Definite Article Photography and Video on Facebook
My Pond 5 Page
The Definite Article at Publicise Me

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

A Modern Chronicle of the Knights of the Creatively Challenged



©Copyright: Stephen Bennett, MMXIV
Except as permitted by the copyright law applicable to you, you may not reproduce or communicate any of the content on this website, including any  photographs  and files downloadable from this website, without the permission of the copyright owner.
The Australian Copyright Act allows certain uses of content on the internet without the copyright owner's permission. This includes uses by educational institutions for educational purposes, and by Commonwealth and State government departments for government purposes, provided fair payment is made. For more information, see
www.copyright.com.au and www.copyright.org.au.
We may change these terms of use from time to time. Check before re-using any content from this website.Interesting Links:
My Photography Webpage
Facebook page for Professional Photographers and Models
The Definite Article Photography and Video on Facebook
My Pond 5 Page
The Definite Article at Publicise Me

Sunday, August 3, 2014

10 Ways to Improve your Photography


http://thedefinitearticlephotography.weebly.com/
A wink is as good as a nod.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Increase your Credibility

  Appear More Professional

 

 

and become trooley awesome!

 

 

 

 

To be taken with a grain of salt, and a dash of vitriol.


NUMBER 1: stop pilfering other people's works for “inspiration”, because they are so awesome, then announcing to all and sundry that you wish to conspire with other equally imaginative creatives to blatantly copy them, or at least make an awesome derivative work from them, while of course clearing yourself of all the blame by adding the useless disclaimer: “No copyright violation intended.”
Far from using these as inspiration to learn from you will simply be compounding the poor technique and mistakes of the 20 or 30 generations of the awesome brain dead copyright violators since the original image was made, to reach the depth of awesomeness that you have found in the bowels of the Internet.

NUMBER 2: look at some good photography and study good photographers.  There are hundreds both from the past and present, and even if all you do is look at the work of Ansel Adams you will still be streets ahead of all the armchair experts who drop the only name they know all over Internet forms.

NUMBER 3: learn about lighting techniques and when and why they are used.  A good starting point for portrait photographers are Beauty, Rembrandt, Butterfly, and  Loop lighting, although there is a technique coming to prominence called “cheap skank ” lighting which in any of its many variations is guaranteed to affect even the most flawlessly attractive model.

NUMBER 4: study just some of the many more useful elements of composition and open your mind far enough to realise that you will not make your image instantly awesome by superimposing an imaginary tick tack toe gird across it.

NUMBER 5: refrain from trying to make that hugely oversized, ugly, designed-it-yourself logo an essential design element of your image.  Better still throw it away completely and use the tried and tested, conventional copyright cut line as a watermark.

NUMBER 6: limit the application of the “Reduce to Mud” Photoshop plug-in to a maximum of three times per image. No don’t Google for it: just learn  how to process properly!

NUMBER 7: search out one or two models whose beauty, personality, charisma, self respect and pride in their appearance actually make it worth taking your lens cap off for, rather than any person you come across in your desperation.  If a model herself is deluded about her ability or her prospects surely it is the photographer’s professional responsibility to tell her she has not presented acceptably or is possibly not even model material.
Be aware that “Snog, Marry, Avoid” is a satire, not a training film about what to look for in a potential model.

NUMBER 8: pay attention to details: garish, inappropriate makeup; ugly,broken or bitten nails; worn or chipped  nail polish; badly fitting clothes; unclean hair; awkward posing; unrelated, badly framed or poorly chosen background; skewed horizons; bony feet in “Minnie Mouse” shoes, etc.

NUMBER 9: show it little professionalism, and a serious approach to your work rather than hoping for the best from a Neanderthal Facebook grunt: “Wanna shoot…make woman look awesome”

NUMBER 10: have some kind of useful concept which some imagination can be applied to, and/or a viable useful purpose for the resulting images in your mind before the shoot.  If the best you can come up with is

a ) my Facebook friends will tell me it is awesome and I could be a professional. 
b) it will be awesome for your folio.
c) it will be awesome exposure.
Then the iconic phrase from the movie “The Castle” springs to mind: “Tell’im he’s dreamin”
d) “possible magazine submission – no pay” is also a notorious laughter maker these days too.

BONUS NUMBER 10: and possibly the best solution for so many: sell all your photo gear and take up stamp collecting, at least you will then be exposed to some well designed, and maybe even some truly awesome images.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Time to do some thinking...

Spare a little time for some thought...

With the new financial year looming, and Crooning Joe´s extreme austerity budget delivered, and its real terror beginning to become apparent, I have been reviewing my fees and prices structure for the next year or so.

It has also proven a great opportunity to check out the ¨opposition¨ as their websites, or more accurately their Facebook ¨Business¨ pages are totally unavoidable.

These newly set up FauxPro businesses all seem to have the same things in common, including almost identical photographs, mainly consisting of low/no budget weddings, pregnant bellies, babies, kids, and family goups; graceless girls awkwardly posed, while dreams of making it as a supermodel dance behind meaningless stares; miles of oversaturated landscapes and sunsets, and subjectless panographs ..

Apart from lowering the value of photography for everyone, and acclimatising the general public to the belief that ¨Professional¨ photography is nothing but artless snapshots, are these newcomers really ¨competition¨ in any way, shape or form?

Navigating Facebook pages are a challenge at the best of times, and It is quite a feat to first of all wade through the plethora of self designed ¨Discount Vouchers¨, but eventually you can find what they actually seem to charge.

Judging from these published rates and fees, viewed beside the photographic examples, the majority seem to be squarely targetting the lowest rung of the market, that is the people who do not own a smartphone and are therefore unable to better the efforts of these ¨professionals¨ by taking a selfie.

After due consideration and evaluation of their business practices I am sure, (???) the magic and mystical number they arrive at ...almost universally without exception...seems to be $50 for a three hour session.

Extrapolating from this figure, and assuming that:
  • the long accepted professional practice that for each hour of shooting an equal time is spent on pre and postproduction work,
  • and allowing for the maximum number of shoots that can be physically fitted within the limited time of one week;
it works out they they will be able to gross (Gross, without any of the overheads and maintainance of running a photography business)

LESS that the current Newstart Allowance or similar govt. provided dole options....(Current not future)

Well, the artist starving in their garrett is an important part of the mythology after all!

¨But I´ll easily make it up with print sales¨ ... Can´t you just hear all those sheep bleating.


  • Given the ever declining lack of interest in prints since the digital era began,
  • the infinitismal markup which can be added to even the lowest quality printing costs to maintain any sales at all,
  • and the fact  that they give away any number between five and twenty full resolution digital files with every sales package they offer.

Yes I repeat Give away: so whether restricted by a usage license or not, customers are free to print off as many copies of each pic as they want. 

These free digital files in hand , a quick trip to the local variety store photo booth will get them 10 x 8´s at the phenomenal price of : ...wait for it....$2.50 each.

Doh!


So not only are these FauxPros devaluing the work of all photographers in general, they place absolutely no value whatsoever on their own work.

Which in many cases seems quite appropriate.

However amongst the mileu there is an occassional tyro and all too often misguided photographer who shows enough talent and determination to place them above all those others who think that calling themselves a ¨Professional Photographer ¨would be a lot more ¨fun¨ than getting themselves a ¨real job¨.

To those occassional few the best advice would be to forget photography for at least three months:
- do even the most basic of business courses,
- research, and evaluate your skills, interests and strengths
- learn how to market those attributes effectively to the right audience,
- actively pursue a photographic niche
- formulate a business plan which would ensure that your business was actually able to maintain itself (and you) as a business...
- make an actual effort at improving yourself and your photography,


and then instead of aspiring to the already bulging ranks of the FauxPro

... I am sure you would be welcomed into the fold of Professional Photographer



Remember, that all photographs accompanying this blog are Copyright (All Rights Reserved) and may not be used for any purpose whatsoever without written permission from the photographer.

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