New Photographics

WhatMattersNow

2011-09-06T21:44:00.000+01:00

I'm in New York to take part in Fred Ricthin's "What Matters Now" but I didn't need to come all this way, in fact I didn't even need to be invited to take part - and neither do you...

You have reached an experiment, an attempt to ask each other What Matters Now? We hope to be able to provide enough important answers to the question so as to create, in effect, Proposals for a New Front Page.

Why a new front page? Because with the enormous amount of information on the Web, with the billions of images available, it is hard to focus on what is important. There are few filters (curators, editors, advisors, consultants) to suggest what we should be looking at beyond what is left of the conventional media in order to better understand the world we live in. If these filters do exist they tend to be very imperfect algorithms (aka Google), not people.

If your house were on fire, would you depend upon a search engine to tell you what to do?

How the Power of Open can benefit photographers

2011-07-08T09:26:00.000+01:00

My article for the Telegraph -

"If the lessons learned from free and instantaneous modes of delivery teach us anything, it’s not that photographers of the future will be hosing down decisive moments by the terabyte. It tells us that the decisive digital moment will be when the subject takes ownership of their story in real-time and engages in dialogue with the audience and the creator. The decisive convergence that technology is driving toward is not one of stills vs moving capture, but one of traditional content supplier vs mediated authorship and direct engagement with the audience....."

The Power of Open: Stories of creators sharing knowledge, art, & data using Creative Commons

2011-06-25T11:02:00.000+01:00

I'm super excited to be a part of this and looking forward to talking at the London launch .

Jane Park, June 24th, 2011

Since last fall, we’ve been talking at length to various creators about their CC stories—the impact Creative Commons has had on their lives and in their respective fields, whether that’s in art, education, science, or industry. We are thrilled to announce that we have cultivated the most compelling of these stories and woven them together into a book calledThe Power of Open. The stories in The Power of Open demonstrate the breadth of CC uses across fields and the creativity of the individuals and organizations that have chosen to share their work via Creative Commons licenses and tools.The Power of Open is available for free download at http://thepowerofopen.org under the CC Attribution license. It is available in several languages, with more translated versions to come. You can also order hard copies from Lulu.

We hope that it inspires you to examine and embrace the practice of open licensing so that your contributions to the global intellectual commons can provide their greatest benefit to all people.We could not have produced this work without the support of all of our creators, many of whom began telling their stories at our Case Studies wiki project, which we encourage you to contribute to—as your story may also be highlighted in publications like The Power of Open!

We would also like to extend deepest thanks to our sponsors, without which this book would just be a bunch of undeveloped stories sitting on a wiki. Thanks to Google, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Mozilla, JISC, PLoS (Public Library of Science), Omidyar Network, Open Society Foundations, the New America Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Microsoft, Microsoft Research, MacMillan, Wellcome Trust, ict Qatar, loftwork, FGV Direito Rio, faberNovel, and Silicon Sentier!

For the full list of events taking place in Brussels, Rio de Janeiro, London, and Paris, head on over to the http://thepowerofopen.org.

Keep up-to-date on the launch events by using the tag #powerofopen on social media.

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Some notes on "Burke and Norfolk: Photographs From The War In Afghanistan"

2011-05-11T13:54:00.030+01:00

I took one of my photography classes to meet Simon Norfolk this week at the Tate Modern and it reminded me of something that Fred Ritchin says in 'In our own image'. Early in the book he doubts that

"photographs could again be perceived as powerfully as they were during the Vietnam war when they helped instigate and fuel furious debate" .

Simon's talks are delivered with a brutal and uncompromising honesty. If you get chance to visit the exhibition then do as the images are beautiful artefacts to behold in their own right, but if you don't listen to his story along the way then you'll miss out on a much richer appreciation. He's an impassioned story teller and as you listen, the images are loaded with a great deal of political freight, as he says; 'beauty just happens to be a convenient and effective vehicle'.

Although the Ritchin's quote is referring to the erosion of trust in analogue's trace qualities brought about by the digital, it ultimately brings into question the photographer's status as credible witness. It's clear that what Norfolk has done by stepping aside from what he describes as the 'cracked sewer-pipe of modern photo journalism' is to establish himself as a credible witness whose provocative, slow-journalistic story telling provides a great deal of fuel for the furious .

Addendum: Don't miss David Campbell's post here.

Tim Hetherington 1970-2011.

2011-04-22T18:15:00.002+01:00

I've been throwing all of my time of late into the open classes and writing a new open MA course for Coventry University so this blog has been left largely and regretfully untended, however as you've passed by I'd urge you on this occasion to pass on through straight to David Campbell's tribute to Tim Hetherington .

I owe a great debt to Tim whom I only spoke to briefly on a few occasions. I won't claim to have known him but he still taught me a great deal. So much so that the MA I've been writing makes numerous references to Post-Photography, and Post-Photographers and constantly sites his practice as being pivotal, I regret enormously that I'll no longer be able to look across at what he's doing for inspiration and direction. The world is definitely a darker place for photography and photographers this morning.

Cory Doctorow at work (composite)

2011-02-28T09:00:00.001Z

It's a whopper and it's on sale alongside images from Jonathan Shaw, Paul Smith and Elly Clark so the shrewd investor might want to grab a bargain. There are also investment opportunities in images by tomorrow's stars from last years Open Undergraduate Photography classes #phonar and #picbod, all going for a snip.

Auction details here.

.... the full story for this image follows:

In 2009 I made a piece of work with the author Cory Doctorow. It involved making a series of portraits which I then sold along with pages from his (then) unpublished novel "For the Win".

The prints were scaled in value, numbered 1 - 111, you can read all about it here. The most expensive of these pieces was a composite image (more than one image assembled into one print) that printed out to about 140 x 100cm (4 1/2" x 3 1/2").

There were three signed edition prints - one for Cory, one for me and one was shipped out to a buyer in Australia (tips hat). I also had to make a colour proof (usually referred to by artists as 'Artist's proof') these are unsigned test prints and for the buyer are a great way of owning the artwork at a much discounted price (canny artists will often make several and stash them away).

I made one. And I'm donating it to my photography students at Coventry University. They will put the proceeds from this sale towards their degree show.

The composite is made up from contact sheet images, you can see one of them super annotated here

New App for Open Undergrad Photography Classes

2011-02-21T08:55:00.004Z

We've just launched an app for one of the open classes that I teach at Coventry University. This beta version is a fairly straight forward aggregator of the various feeds but future full and paid for versions will enable active class-engagement.

Thanks and credit to Pete Woodbridge (@loftysbridge) for this. You can download it from the Apple store for free.

DOWNLOAD THE #PICBOD APP

Moonbug selected for World premiere at Houston International Film Festival

2011-02-21T08:23:00.012Z

Nicola Bruce's movie "Moonbug" has been nominated for a Remi Award in the feature film category. The film features Steve Pyke photographing astronauts and members of the NASA communities involved in the Apollo, Mercury and Saturn missions, but is most notable for it's snippets of a 25 year old Jonathan Worth assisting Steve. ;-}

There's more at Steve's blog and Nicola's website.

"Turn on, tune in, drop in."

2011-01-07T11:08:00.010Z

"Jonathan Worth is a freelance photographer whose client list includes among others, the New York Times, Vogue and GQ. For the past two years he has taught a class on the BA photography degree course at Coventry University called Phonar that encourages photography students to use digital media to find and build audiences to allow them to make a living.
The ethos of the course, which can be accessed online by non-attending students and observers, has drawn widespread attention and even been discussed in the European Parliament. Here he talks to Eleanor O’Kane about his revolutionary approach to training the next generation of photographers."

Next Open Class can be found at http://www.picbod.org

The Shpilman Institute for Photography call for Grant submissions.

2010-12-27T09:30:00.004Z

Just had an interview with these guys published over at the SIP blog and they're keen to support researchers - well worth a look.

"The Shpilman Institute for Photography (The SIP) announces open calls for general research on photography and for research on philosophy and photography.
The SIP invites scholars and independent researchers from all over the world to submit their applications through its website, where guidelines, themes, the application process, and submissions can be found. Also, Please find our posters in the links below.
www.thesip.org/open_calls/general_call_poster.pdf
www.thesip.org/open_calls/philosophy_call_poster.pdf
Grants are based on proposals for research leading to the completion within the grant period of a written document, whether an essay or extended research paper. All submissions and papers for both the calls must be in English. Grants for individuals and group research will range from US $5,000 up to $15,000. Deadline for submissions is March 1, 2011."

"Picturing the Body" an Open and Free Undergraduate Photography Class

2010-12-13T08:20:00.009Z

CLASSES BEGIN JANUARY 10TH 2011

http://picbod.org

and

Coventry University, UK.

15 year old Tells Establishment to Stick-it.

2010-12-11T11:26:00.002Z

In Solidarity with Jonathan Worth

2010-12-11T09:40:00.002Z

.......The following is taken from Fred Ritchin's AfterPhotography blog

FROM MR. WORTH, IN ENGLAND:
“So this week’s phonar class session had over 700 people “drop by” and reached over 42,000 people via Twitter http://www.phonar.org , I’ve asked a few people for nominations of a book that “is notable/ inspiring/ seminal/ provocative, in it’s narrative structure/approach or perhaps in it’s ‘discussion’ of narrative”.
“Would you possibly mind nominating a tome ?”
—
MY RESPONSE:
There are three that come to mind (two short stories and a hypertextual poem):
“BORGES Y YO” (Borges and I), the extraordinary short story by Sr. Borges about him and him
“LAS BABAS DEL DIABLO” (The Devil’s Spittle), Julio Cortázar’s short story about photography, literature and life, with shifting pronouns, translated as “Blow-Up” for the Antonioni movie that it did and did not inspire
“CENT MILLE MILLIARDS DE POÈMES” (One Hundred Thousand Billion Poems), by Raymond Queneau, the simplest and most beautiful of hypertext poems, from 1961

The final list will appear at phonar.org

Words and pictures ... a brainstorm of Photography Books

2010-12-08T10:58:00.008Z

Yesterday I forwarded a tweet from fellow Photographer Adele Reed ( @thecatbath ) who was looking for photobooks/photographers that used words and pictures - what followed was a flurry of brainstorming inspiration from some great people who happened to be tuned in at the same time.

Below are the results - please drop anything into comments that's missing and I'll update.

From the seemingly inexhaustible Wayne Ford

(@wayneford )

Les Krims
Making Chicken Soup
1972

Ana Atkins
Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions
1843-53

Vladimir Mayakovsky and Alexander Rodchaeno
Pro Eto. Ei i Mne
1923

Will McBride
Show Me! A Picture Book of Sex for Children and Parents
1975

Klaus Staeck
Porograpfie
1971

Bill Burke
I Want to Take Pictures
1987

Christian Boltanski
Inventairedes objects ayant appartenu a une femme de Bois-Colombes
1974

Christian Boltanski
Kaddish
1998

Sophie Calle
La Fille du docteur
1991

Jim Goldberg
Raised by Wolves
1995

Jim Goldberg
Open See
2009

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
Malerei Fotografie Film
1929

Vitezslav Nezal
ABECEDA: Tanecni komposice
1926

Paul Strand and Claude Roy
La France de profil
1952

Marc Attali and Jacques Delfau
Les Erotiques du regard
1968

Sanne Sannes
Sex a Gogo
1969

Chizu
Kikuji Kawada
1965

Julian Schnabel, Alec Soth's collaboration with Lester B. Morrison.

Lee Friedlander's 'Letters from the People.'

Oh, and the constructivist photographers, Rodchenko etc.

What about Horst P. Horst's classic Vogue cover were models made up magazine logo?

From Aaron Guy

(@AaronGuyUK )

Joel Sternfeld When it changed is an interesting use of image and text. You should asked @wayneford he may have info.

@wayneford cancel my last suggestion I see he is on the case.

@c0llinsphoto or if needed either DHurn or MPower are options.

Robert Frank - Story lines Jim Goldberg - rich poor to open see Ed Templeton - age of neglect

Mark Power - shipping forecast 26different endings etc use text with the image John Kippin - check his large exhibits

Maybe try fashion mags like Tar or Pop.

last one and a wild card but worth a look John Wood try the book on the edge of clear meaning.

Julian Germain 'in soccer wonderland' & 'In soccer wonderland' stamp collection

definitely the last. Julian Germain 'War Memorial' I have just looked love it.

From Mads Monsen

( @madsmonsen )

Got one sample here: http://j.mp/f8zBLP

From Niall McDiarmid

( @NiallMcDiarmid )

Fay Godwin did at least one book with the great poet Ted Hughes.

Just looking through the shelves and saw Wim Wenders - Once. Text and photos. Once I did etc + photo. Like that one.

Larry Towell's book The World From... lots of writing, music, text, family history, poems

Robert Frank/Thank You. Little book with postcards written to him by fans/frends. Love this

From Damian Drohan

( @damiandrohan )

"Trip" by Susan Lipper "Philosophers" (although I'm sure that was the 1st 1 you thought of)

Wayne Ford's Photography and Narrative #phonar book list.

2010-12-08T10:08:00.002Z

"Wayne Ford, author of ‘Wayne Ford’s Posterous’ has compiled a list of some key photobooks in relation to narrative. Some books you will have heard of, and some will be new, enjoy!
ALSO – stay tuned for a new phonar book list next week. Inspired by Wayne’s post here, we have contacted a selection of world’s most inspiring practitioners and thinkers for their own recommendations "

.. see the full post at phonar.org

Train of Freedom Radio Interview with Director Karina Correa

2010-11-29T07:46:00.005Z

Train of Freedom Radio UK interview

Length:12:29

In this video:

Anton Esteban, Asier Chinaski, Eroll Kukaj, Erza Pula, Jonathan Worth (videos), Shaun Hides

(videos), Stephen Dawkins (videos), Karina Correa (videos), Petrit Pula (videos)

Dear Twitter, where can I find a comprehensive listing of Photography exhibitions ?

2010-10-21T20:57:00.003+01:00

Earlier on I asked where could find a comprehensive listing of London Photography exhibitions and these kind tweeps shared the following :

@mattlainphoto : This covers the UK and all arts but may be useful.. http://www.newexhibitions.com/

@prophotomag : I wish we had a definitive list but try searching for 'photography' on www.spoonfed.co.uk

@Joeydjima :http://2010.photomonth.org/

@NewPhotoDigest : Combine Time Out with the #Photomonth brochure? (Yeah, you're right, that's two!)

Thank you.

New blog launch for #phonar

2010-09-29T16:43:00.003+01:00

The Photography and Narrative class will now run from it's dedicated blog at:

http://www.phonar.org

Classes start Wednesday the 13th September, there's a preparatory task to complete prior to the first session.

Photography and Narrative - preparation.

2010-09-15T16:01:00.002+01:00

Listen!

Intro to the course:

As described in my post here, "Photography and Narrative" is a third year BA Hons Photography class taught at Coventry University in the UK.

Timetable structure and assignments will follow, however, and unfortunately due to copyright restrictions I won't be able to publish all the material that I'll be using for inspiration and reference. I can though, list artists and subjects I'll be talking about in lectures, and where possible, I'll teach from material that's openly available to all.

The Hashtag for the course is #phonar please use this so we can search your Tweets. If you don't know what a Hashtag is then you can learn about them here ,then why not join our Twub!
Likewise you're encouraged to share any expanded research (the purpose of our open forums and discussion), if there's a pertinent subject or practitioner that should be included then please do comment or tweet it and I'll endeavour to include an update accordingly.

Intro to the class:

This class sits at the foot of the third and final year for our students, as such it's purpose is to inspire, challenge and maybe even provoke the student into producing a number of photographic responses. There's no demand for projects be polished final artifacts when submitted, instead the emphasis is on generating ideas and leads that inform final major degree projects.

Collaboration with both subjects and other practitioners will be a constant theme, as will investigating notions of ownership and authorship.

Preparation for first class back:

In preparation for this module you should continue to garner images every day, either by making photographs or collecting them.

When editing your photographs you should title each with a single word.
At the end of each week you should group the pictures into sets.

You should consider each picture a word within a sentence.

From this material please prepare one or more short photographic poems or aphorism for the first session back after the Summer break (Wednesday 13th Oct).

These will be reviewed by John Levy of FOTO8 Magazine at Host Gallery in London.

Photography and Narrative : A Free Undergraduate Photography Class.

2010-09-08T22:26:00.007+01:00

Listen!

As of October the 13th, 2010 I'll be leading an undergraduate photography class entitled 'Photography and Narrative'. It's a ten week class and forms part of a new BA Degree course at Coventry University in the UK, a course that along with the Photographer Jonathan Shaw, I co-wrote.

My role is to consider how 21st Century Photographic Practice might be taught and to develop a relevant approach. From this we came up with the course's core tenet of the "development of a sustainable practice" (earth shattering, I know).

The notion being that, by making the course's philosophy a moving target it would respond, grow and evolve positively and continually. We understand that the people who will dictate what a Photographer will be in the 21st century aren't people like us - rather it will be the generations of digital natives that we would (ironically) be teaching. And so our notion was that we would enter into a community of shared learning where we shared our technical and artisanal experience whilst learning of how to apply these skills from the social and digital habits of our pupils.

And so, largely in keeping with this ethos I plan to open this class out freely, to the broader community of NewPhotographics, hence this post. There'll be no formal qualifications for anyone posting in via twitter, but neither is there pressure for the online student to do the whole class - drop in, drop out as you wish, the virtual door is open .... and the kettle is usually on.

Credit: David Campbell and Peter Fryer.

Classes are always structured so as to pose difficult thematic problems at the outset, the resolutions of which will form a final submission. The structure of the course then forces the student through week by week problem solving to make early 'marks on the page' (so to speak) and in doing so (with peer support) solve the initial problems in their own manner, thereby developing their own practice.

There is no in-house aesthetic nor style and the modus operandi is inclusive - you just need an internet connection and a love of story telling.

The formal structure of the classes include lectures, seminars, technical instruction, visiting practitioners and site visits - these things will not all be available to the NewPhotographic participant, though as much of the content as possible will be published live, so enabling the virtual student to participate in the post lecture open forums and final submissions.

Hopefully see you soon.

Cosset Your Geek

2010-09-08T20:54:00.008+01:00

Here's a fun three hundred words I was asked to write for Pixel-live magazine:

I envy the opportunities of camera manufacturers as they of all people, have the chance to harness the terrifying power of the geek.

The geek is an avid collector, an expert in their field and a font of knowledge. They’re the person one goes to when faced with a buying quandary. They’re the trusted source who will actively search out the very best answer and probably come back with options for various hitherto unconsidered scenarios. In so doing the geek will probably turn your initial quandary into a multiplicity of micro dilemmas which, once navigated, will lead you into the dangerous realm of justified expenditure and easy credit.

What geeks have in specialist authority theytend to lack in social skills. Conversely the socially prominent individual must be many things to many different people and so (unless polymathic) will defer to the trusted source that is: the geek. They, in turn will broadcast this reliably informed advice to their broad social circle of friends, colleagues and acquaintances so sowing a crop of potentially active customers.

Or not.

The immediacy and global reach of social media has enabled geeks to find each other and bloom like algae. It’s architecture has enabled them to find and be found by their symbiotic socially influential partners, who, in turn are able to reach the sorts of specialist audiences that would have been unimaginable five years ago, let alone fifty (Twitter is only three years old, Facebook is only six).

The best bit of all is that they do it (the geeks) because they have to, they are genetically programmed to geekiness, just as the socialiser can’t stop talking, geeks love shiny stuff with buttons. The challenge for all of us is to work out who and where our geeks are. They’re preferred habitats are the shady areas around bulletin boards, news groups and blog comment sections but they do venture out occasionally into the open on Twitter.

They can be encouraged to flock when coveted product information is laid out and some can be tamed this way - unlike their socialiser brethren. Do not be tempted to tame or buy a socialiser, it doesn’t work, spend the money on another customer service agent instead and think of it as the organic alternative.

So there we have it: behold the power of the geek and woe betide whomsoever chooses not to.

Inviting people in to the creative moment.

2010-09-08T14:43:00.000+01:00

There is without doubt a real currency in inviting one's audience into the creative process. I wrote about this in another post but I think it bears out here still.

"The mechanics of how he does what he does are also detached from the end product. You read his books, you don't watch him write them, and so there's an element of mystery, wherein for the fan there's an inherent value. ................ the trick is enabling every level of fan to access their particular version of the product."

Stephen Mayes interview

2010-07-14T15:33:00.006+01:00

Always an inspiration, Stephen Mayes continues to articulate with clarity and authority the photographic realities which we all face, along with the opportunities that only some perceive.

Thank you Gerald Holubowicz for this fantastic interview and resource.

European Parliament TV: Focus on Copyright

2010-07-13T08:10:00.003+01:00

Here's the documented shredding of the Cory Doctorow prints 03.32 - 05.22, with a lively chat about copyright and copy-wrong afterward . Be sure not to miss the 'industry and artist representative' who dictates what artists want in complete contradiction of the two artist case studies that precede her.

(At risk of repeating myself - excuse me) I hope the kid in the bedroom does make screensavers or a fansite mash-up out of my images, likewise the blogger when illustrating their articles. I ask them to credit me (BY), (preferably to link), not to charge anyone to access it (NC) and that they share any mash-ups with the same (share alike) license.

To misquote an oft repeated mantra : 'obscurity is my professional enemy, not piracy'.

If you're a magazine, TV company, Advertising agency, ring-fenced online newspaper or other entity (now in existence or to be birthed in the future), and you would like to use my image to enhance your 'paid-for' content, then email me for my usage rates and I'll be happy to quote you.

Gerry Badger talks to Joachim Shmid on being Martin Parr for a day.

2010-07-10T21:37:00.004+01:00

The following was AudioBoo-ed from the Host Gallery "Dummy to Genius" workshop with Chris Steele Perkins, Gerry Badger, Joachim Schmid and David Gray - here Gerry recounts a cwazy story about Martin and Joachim pretending to be each other.

Those guys..

Listen!

Photography BA Teaching Assistant sought.

2010-07-07T18:42:00.008+01:00

Coventry University are seeking to appoint a Photography Teaching Assistant to work closely alongside senior staff,
the gist of the pitch as far as I'm aware is below, as soon as I have the application link I'll post it but it will be on this page (linked here). Updated link here

The Photography BA Hons. has begun to establish itself at the forefront of its field within two years of opening the doors, and both Staff and students have won awards nationally and internationally for their work.

The degree's core tenet is to actively research and embed sustainable working practices throughout and beyond the course, with an outward facing philosophy that pro-actively connects with like-minded, global communities of learner practitioners.

We actively consider the roles of photographers and photography in the digital age, both in the broad social context and with respect to arcane, artisanal practices.

We value artisanal practice very highly and are excited by the challenges and opportunities presented by the digital age.

I don't know what the rate is I think it's
£22-30,000 GBP ($33,500 - 45,500 USD or € 26,500 - 36,000 EURO)

They'll also be hiring a Senior Lecturer too very soon, I'll post the link to that as soon as I have it.

RSA Fellow's Profile

2010-07-06T09:28:00.013+01:00

Jonathan Worth FRSA, a photographer, talks here of his work in the industry and challenging the traditional ways of working:

"Through my practice as a photographer and recently in my role at Coventry University, I research, develop and share new business models, and modes of working for photographers. My academic role is specifically to open out our teaching strategies to invite in the broader global community, engage the students with international practitioners and practices."

On joining the Fellowship: "I was very flattered to be asked to join, in recognition of my work. Specifically noted was a live trial that applied lessons learned from the sci-fi writer Cory Doctorow (who makes money from giving his books away free). This involved what Chris Anderson in his book "Free", calls 'versioning'. It meant in this case, allowing people to download my images for free but also enabling them to purchase a range of "exclusive" versions of the same thing. In a nutshell; Free brought a wave of followers and granted me access to people who demanded a premium product."

On contributing to Fellowship/Society: "Hopefully I can contribute as part of a conversation about the topics mentioned above. My role at Coventry University enables me to learn a great deal from the young people that I work with, helping me to begin to understand how their digital media habits will shape our futures. And likewise how we and they, might use those habits to inform our practices."

On what he would change in society given the chance: "As the internet is providing new architectures for collaborative learning, I'd remove traditional (broadcast) 'hierarchical modes of teaching', stop tethering learners to single location based institutions and recognise new, and ongoing, qualifying criteria."

On a recent bit of news which inspired him: "I heard that the photographer Rob Hornstra is putting into practice a lot of the ideas that I’ve been talking about on my blog and doing so very successfully. He has been featured at the New York Photo festival this year, which I think is fantastic. I describe his work on my blog."

On another Fellow he has spoken to: "Cory Doctorow and Jon Levy are inspirations to me, with both being very patient and generous in their support."

On connecting with other Fellows: "I always love to meet people trying to exploit the very things that most threaten their traditional modes of working. On a more practical note, I’m currently sourcing families of serving military personnel for a photographic project about the invisible and involuntary support network on which our soldiers rely. Broadly it is a quiet homage to those mums, dads, sisters, wives, children etc.

If you would like to be involved please contact me directly via my website,

by email: mail@jonathanworth.com

by telephone: +44 (0)7900 801 430

or skype: jDubbyah"

$26,000 worth of Ltd Edition Recycling.

2010-06-14T17:08:00.002+01:00

"$26,000 worth of unsold limited edition prints and signed manuscript pages ready to be recycled /transformed into a new work of art."

On Friday 11th June Jonathan shredded of the unsold prints and signed manuscript pages from Cory Doctorow’s ‘For The Win’ novel. The event was filmed by European Parliament Television and will be aired as part of a program on New Economies of Photography.

More background on this story can be found here. With a longer write-up here.

BBC Radio Interview

2010-06-14T12:05:00.014+01:00

I did a kind of a 'Soundtrack to your life' type interview last week where you pick a song and tell a story - it's not a great story - more of a story-ette really.

Listen!

Listen!

Burning The Originals

2010-06-08T09:15:00.005+01:00

So, true to my word I'll be destroying the remaining prints and signed "For The Win' manuscript pages, likewise there'll be no more editions, and no discounting. I promised the buyers of the prints that I'd do this only after putting the images on sale a second time to coincide with the official publication date. That's now approaching a month passed.

You can still buy the remaining signed prints and corresponding signed manuscript pages as well as the last of three massive 1mx1.5m composite prints - this one is the artist's (my) own. Cory owns one, and a collector in Australia bought the the other.

The destruction event will take place on Friday 11th June and will be filmed by europarltv.eu , the web TV station of the European Parliament.

Documentary Photography essential reading list.

2010-05-18T12:55:00.003+01:00

Looking for inspiration I just tweeted a request for recommended essential reading on Documentary Photography.

Here's the list, any comments I'll add to the list.

"5000+ Days: Press Photography in a Changing World" by BPPA
"After Photography" by Fred Ritchin
"Beautiful Suffering" by M. Reinhardt
"Case History" by Boris Mikhailov
"Cocaine True, Cocaine Blue" by Eugene Richards
"Disciplinary Frame: Photographic Truths and the Capture of Meaning" by John Tagg
"Dorchester Days" by Eugene Richards
"Life of a Photograph" by Sam Abell
"No Caption Needed" by Robert Hariman
"On Being a Photographer" by Bill Hurn and David Jay
"The Knife and Gun Club: Scenes from an Emergency Room" by Eugene Richards
"The Ongoing Moment" by Geoff Dyer
"Things as They are: Photojournalism in Context Since 1955" by Mary Panzer, Christian Caujolle and World Press Photo.

Thank you to these generous sharers, all photo-people well worth a follow on Twitter :

@photoj1
@DeanoBeano1
@josharcher
@davidc7
@allisterfreeman
@damiandrohan

A crowd sourced living portrait

2010-04-16T08:05:00.003+01:00

More inspiration from Aaron Koblin with further examples of how providing a platform for fans to gather can provide a powerful force to lever. In this case to re-draw frame by frame an entire Johnny Cash video. And you can join in too at the www.thejohnnycashproject.com

Read the full article at FastCompany here.

Clay Shirky's TED talk on the social media revolution.

2010-04-11T21:46:00.001+01:00

This is worth fifteen minutes of every media practitioner's time but if you've not got the full fifteen then the last few lines resonated loud and clear from 14.30 beginning "The media landscape that we knew ..... where professionals broadcast to amateurs...is slipping away.... how can we make best use of this medium? Even though it means changing the way we've always done things."

Thanks @jeffjarvis

"Too Perfect to Print" (you're a copyright infringer until you prove otherwise).

2010-04-06T21:35:00.014+01:00

Two weeks ago a Joanna Ornowska (student of mine) came to me. She was frustrated that she'd been unable to have some images printed at a local pharmacy. The story has since been reported widely and now circulates freely in various forms, no doubt continuing to evolve as it lives it's own life as 'content'.

It came out as we were poring over yet another edit of her project detailing her recovery from skin cancer and Hepatitis C. We were wrapping up when she asked if I'd also write a letter to confirm that she was my photography student. She went on to explain how she'd made some pictures for a friend but when that friend had tried to have them printed, the store clerk refused, because the images were "too professional". She (the friend and subject of the photographs) would have to prove that they were hers to print.

Joanna didn't know how she could do this - she'd since gone to the store with her friend the clerk hadn't believed her. She'd not embedded any file information (as she normally would) because she'd no intention of keeping the images. She'd made them (in camera) away from University as a quick gift, a favour for a friend to take home to her family in Poland. That was the end of it.

How could she now prove that she hadn't stolen these images and was in the act of having someone else illegally infringe another party's copyright?

The clerk demanded a headed letter (does anyone still emboss their stationary?) with her business address and details on it. She explained that she was a student and not self-employed yet, could she instead bring a letter from her University ?

The clerk wouldn't accept a letter from me (her tutor) to confirm that she was a photography student of mine.

I tweeted the story.

We worked on the premise that out of this frustration we would make something good. We would raise her profile and use Boots' to do it; did you see the work that she does copyright by the way? It's very good, you really should, here.

There are though a bunch of other things that interest and concern me with this little story:

The issues of Authorship versus Ownership (ironically I see that Joanna isn't being credited in many of the picture usages and to the best of my knowledge is receiving no fees).

The life of content once we release a digital version into the internet (many of the stories have varying details and often fail to mention Joanna by name).

How we perceive and value the life of that content (often inappropriately applying analogue attitudes and sensibilities).

And most pertinent today (as the Digital Economy bill is debated in the UK House of Commons): the default action of a store to arbitrarily assume an individual to be guilty, until they're able to (again arbitrarily) prove their innocence.

#DEBILL

Steve's Pyke's party tips

2010-03-11T09:07:00.003Z

Just came across this nifty little chat; my friend and mentor Steve Pyke in New York driving with Jay , if you're not familiar with his work then cast your eye over the archive of this most prolific and generous photographer here.

Should You Pay to Have Your Portfolio Reviewed by an Agent?

2010-03-08T06:29:00.002Z

Here is an excerpt from my most recent post over at Blackstar Rising.

I sent a tweet out the other day asking, “What do people think about portfolio reviews that cost £250?”

I couldn’t fit it all within Twitter’s 140 character limit, but I was specifically referring to an event where photographers could have their books reviewed in 20 minute meetings with three different photography agents.

Such an event is certainly worthwhile for those hosting it — 20 minutes per review x 10 experts x 8 hours = £60,000 in revenue for the day. But is it worth it to those who pay to attend?

“Agents You Just Never Can Get Hold Of”

A few Twitter friends responded that paid portfolio reviews are worthwhile and help a lot of people. Others — including a couple of experienced reviewers — informed me that these events are hit and miss, largely due to the process, which can cause fatigue and rapid photo-blindness among reviewers.

Most respondents were as shocked about the price, and cynical about the value, of such reviews as I was.

To be clear, I believe that having your work honestly reviewed by someone whose opinion you trust is valuable and worthwhile. For example, the two reviewers who responded to my tweet would be among my prime targets for insightful critical input.

But pricey events like this one pitch themselves differently — offering you a chance to meet “agents you just never can get hold of.”

And what is the value of meeting people like this, exactly? .........

The full article is here.

Rob Hornstra talking about the future of photojournalism

2010-03-02T20:43:00.008Z

The Slow Photojournalism, NOW. As evidenced by the Working Practices of Rob Hornstra over at NY Photo Festival.

Listen!

Here's a longer interview with Hornstra by Joerg Colberg in which he picks his working practices apart further.

"I don't view self-publishing as extra work. It is a part of my work and actually one of the parts, which I like the most. I don't see myself as a photographer in a way that I am always carrying a camera or that I always need to make pictures. I never make pictures, only when I am working on a documentary. Actually, I think when asked for my occupation I should answer that I am not a photographer, but a documentary maker. In this profession you need to do lots of things: Organizing money, a lot of self-study, of course making photos, publishing books, writing articles etc etc. Making photos is only a small part of the job." RH.

Annie Othen radio interview.

2010-03-01T14:49:00.003Z

Listen!

Listen!

Listen!

Auto Screencast teaching tool.

2010-01-16T09:04:00.013Z

I just came across this in my twitter stream (c/o @geekami ) and it's marketed as a 'help you friends and family' type app. The software sends a url via email to the person you're looking to help, they follow the link and from this new page they record a screen cast. The software then automates the upload and sends you an email to say that the movie is ready to be viewed.

I'm thinking this is a really quick and simple solution for the remote student, and as the movies are easily downloaded, a quick return movie showing the correct method or solution to the student's original problem, could be auto embedded into a FAQ section removing the need to do it again. ( #ReducedWorkloadTeachingJoy )

Given Things away.

2010-01-11T08:00:00.008Z

I've kind of been putting off writing up a concluding post to the 'Giving Things Away' trial, not for want of sharing it, but because I've been implementing the things that I've learned and in lots of ways moved the whole thing much further forward. Which means I have to now go back and untangle the various strands.

Laziness perhaps, but in my defense, the critic shouldn't mistake my drowning for waving, this 'live trial' is a pragmatic necessity from which I earn a living (call it R and D), not a passing whimsy. The write up I still find harder to justify because my photographer 1.0 brain stills sees talking about and sharing what I do as, at best indulgent vanity and at worst, commercial suicide.

However, in truth and in a Photography 2.0 one line summary, I've learned more and come further in the the last three months than I have over the last three years, the conclusion of which is that sharing what I do as well as the mechanics of how I do it is crucial for my practice, and possibly, for others like me.

Hence, I begin my year looking backwards.

In brief summary: the original 'Trial" consisted of trying to use the internet for what it's really good at (distribution) rather than fighting those same dynamics. So rather than stifling use of my images with brutal copyright terms, I gave them away for free and then tried to make money out of the wider reaching audience.

In full: here are the links to the posts Pa rt I P art II Part III and a further follo w up (which riffs a bit, but buried in there are some outcomes).

In keeping, the following is split into a skinny and a full fat version, the former consisting of the numbers the latter pertaining to the broader fall-out.

Caveat: God knows, I'm not an economist so please indulge my language and please do correct me if I use the wrong terms. If I don't know of a term to describe what I find then I make one up (which I'll try to prefix with a 'what I'm calling'). I'll probably also mis-use terms, mis-quote people and inadvertently plagiarize , though on this last point someone once said that 'Amateurs plagiarize whereas Artists steal', a quote which (in keeping) I have stolen.

The Skinny:

Total gross cost of making the original images of Cory £114.00 GBP*
Total cost of producing the 111 small prints for sale £111.00 GBP (that's approx)
Total cost of Printing the three large contact composite prints £ 150.00
Total cost of packaging (archival sleeves, envelopes and tube) £65.00

Overall cost per unit £ 3.85 GBP
Total overall cost £ 440.00 GBP

Income from Etsy print sales £ 875.00
Income from Print usage $250 (see here for client refusing to use the image without paying)
Income from Guest Speaking about the trial £ 300
Total income £1325
Minus £125 donation to charity (tax deductible)

Net Profit to date £ 760.00 GBP

*These costs don't include the net costs of doing business (cost of my time, business overheads etc) nor the opportunity cost (opportunities forsaken to produce the work, in other words - what I could have done instead during that time).

The fuller fat version:

The skinny really doesn't tell the full story. For a start there remain sixty unsold prints which I've already said here, will go on sale for one month when Cory's "For the Win" is published at ten times their current price. There will be no second edition and any remainders will be destroyed. So there remains potentially, a significant further income from sales.

There are a number of what I'll call 'perceivable non-material benefits' which range from my learning experience in general to the increase in number and make-up of my contacts, to my general status as a practitioner. What to include and what not include here is a bit messy and really the untangling of which I spoke earlier, but here are some clearly tangible and relevant examples:

The original image that Cory annotated to date has been viewed 8,321 times on Flickr, the others from the set have been viewed 972 times and 1,344 times respectively - every page of which links to my site and credits me.

One of the images appears on Wikipidea - again crediting me and driving traffic to me and my site.

Cory also has a significant twitter following so when he tweeted what I was up to it went out to 30,000 plus people. I tried to keep up with the (what I'll call) 'compound retweets', in other words the total number of people reached when someone following Cory or me, retweeted what we were saying to their followers, and them in turn to theirs and so on. For this purpose I had columns in my Twitter desktop application that were just searching the relevant key phrases, the upshot of which is that after 36 hours I lost count somewhere around a conservative 750,000 people reached. Perhaps this is what Clay Shirky means when he refers to Twitter's “algorithmic authority”.

Cory wrote about the experiment on his Craphound blog:

Jonathan Worth is "experimenting with new business-models for pho t o graphy that leverage, rather than fight, the Internet"

and also at BoingBoing where he is an editor, these both directed more traffic to me and my site
(and continue to do so).

"Jonathan Worth tries out a copy-friendly photography business-experiment"

In turn, a further series of articles and blog posts followed, which likewise generated more traffic, reached even wider audiences and so on.

"In the New Media World, Photographers Who Embrace Change Will Succeed" by Wayne Ford

"One Great Idea – Meet Jonathan Worth" by Lori Osterberg

"Social Skills: Using the Web more effectively" by Charlotte Griffiths

Likewise, the experiment and now references to my practice as a whole, crop up in articles and blog posts amongst yet other strata of audience (and potential collaborators) :

"Required Reading: Posts about photography’s future you can’t afford to miss" by Miki Johnson

"Revolutions in the media economy (5) – the pay wall folly for photographers" by David Campbell

"Towards a Sustainable Journalism" by Fred Ritchin

Then in "recognition of (my) innovation and influential role in developing new business models for photographers using the social web”, I was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, another network whose pertinence was illustrated to me on a recent trip out to New York. I was out there primarily to try to meet Fred Ritchin (After Photography, Pixel Press) and see Stephen Mayes (VII) in the hope of getting advice. Fred kindly invited me to talk to his students at NYU, and the morning I was due to do this I tweeted to that effect. Within ten minutes I'd received an email from the RSA in the US asking if the talk was public as there were over four hundred fellows in the NY area and they'd like to offer the chance out to them to attend and meet me.

I mentioned earlier one of the publications that used the image of Cory to illustrate an article insisted on paying to do so, yet another (Jon Levy of FOTO8 magazine) after having used the same image, also contacted me to discuss the opportunity of producing a series of portraits for him in the same visual vein.

Conclusion :

The cold maths of this one-off trial don't equate to a viable business model, at least not my execution of it. Not when one takes into account the costs of doing business however, this is only a fraction of the story and the learning that I've paid for here with my time, someone else can pick up and take forward much more efficiently, as I intend to from now on.

There were a few things that made Cory an ideal subject and I think are worth reflecting on:

He has a cult following and he interacts with these followers, in fact he actually involves them directly in the production of his work, so that they become in every respect, partisan. Take for example when people point out typos Cory amends the mistake and thanks them in a footnote (who wouldn't buy a second copy of the book with your name in it?) and the very fact that his CC licensing actively encourages reworking or 'derivative' versions of his work. He takes Jeff Jarvis's advice to "make more customers take ownership of your brand" to the next level, literally.

He was also willing to motivate this community and so thereby indirectly grant me access to them.

The mechanics of how he does what he does are also detached from the end product. You read his books, you don't watch him write them, and so there's an element of mystery, wherein for the fan there's an inherent value. Think at base level of the autograph, then think of the actual pen that was used to write the autograph or the desk that it was written at, or the author's favourite chair/typewriter etc. This stuff is only valuable to the avid fan but the bigger the fan the greater the inferred value, the trick is enabling every level of fan to access their particular version of the product.

I incorporated this by employing something that Chris Anderson refers to in his book "Free: The Future Of A Radical Price" as 'Versioning'. The prints were available from zero cost and infinite availability (Flickr and Archive.org) towards infinite cost for the singularly unique, though in truth this was also where I learned about 'price discovery'. The most expensive prints were the first to go, from which I conclude that I should have pitched their price much higher. These more expensive prints enabled me to sell the cheaper prints at break-even but they should have made me a much larger profit or perhaps even more delicate versioning .

This still gave the fans access to versions of the product and because Cory granted me access to his followers I overcame the second traditional problem - that of geography - how to economically reach each and every level of fan, wherever they might live, which might be what Jeff Jarvis describes as effectively 'targeting masses of niches' for which the internet is the only viable tool.

Distilled out - the Internet enables access, Social Media enables discerning access. Versioning enables the customer to dictate their individually perceived value of the product and at the same time it justifies that choice to their peers (see the comments section at BoingBoing where fans joust about who got to buy Ltd. Ed. Number 1).

It seems natural to me that the next step is to use this same heady cocktail to ask the masses of niches "Who do you want me to photograph?". The product of which I could then afford to allow magazines to publish for free, so disseminating my work again amongst their paper-fans and using them for what they're still really good at (physical distribution and cross-promotion, such as when a reader of X-Magazine stumbles across my article after reading another unrelated piece), as opposed to relying on them for what they're no longer able to do (commission and pay).

UPDATED ARTICLE LINKS :

Economics Toolbox
FOTO8 Leo Hsu
RISING BLACKSTAR

My Naked Avatar.

2010-01-02T09:15:00.017Z

Reading Fred Ritchin's After Photography blog I'm always caught drifting into a space where I think I'm listening to a Sci-Fi author predicting the future, rather than someone picking apart a here and now that I'm largely blind to. Here's what I mean, this is Cory Doctorow on the role of the sci-fi author (the rest of which is here), Fred follows on down the page:

"There's this old aphorism that the job of the science-fiction writer is to look at the movie theater and the automobile and predict the drive-in ... but I think if you want to be a great predictive science-fiction writer, you should look at the automobile and look at the movie theater and say, 'We will have drive-ins, which will incentivize children to get driving licenses, which will mean that for the first time, citizens of Western democracies will routinely carry photo ID, and in 25 years, we'll have a surveillance state.' "

I just got back from a Photo job in Sweden for Popular Science magazine, the complicated nature of the subject meant that I could use no electrical equipment so I revisited the joys of international travel with x-ray sensitive film. Suffice it to say that sick of arguing with security personnel for hand checks and knowing that I would have to negotiate a minimum of six machines, I developed an alternative strategy.

A week later someone with a markedly more malign intent, developed the 'Hot-pant' technique to smuggle explosives aboard a plane bound for the US. Sweden then promptly announced that it would introduce routine scanning of individuals thereby capturing an image of the person without clothes. This in itself was pertinent to the story that I'd gone to shoot in the first place, as the microwave energy used would have been enough to kill the man that I'd gone to photograph (the reason for the story).

With this new x-ray image banked, it occurred to me that along with the rest of data stored about me, from my fingerprints taken at US entry points, to the information that I share voluntarily via social media sites, my Augmented Reality self (my real world avatar) is utterly exposed, it's more of me than I even know! or am capable of knowing ... as Fred says in his post:

"..once Google decides to raid Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and all the rest (let’s not even talk about databases of college students, drivers, criminals, soldiers, etc.), then our cute little cellphones will also be able to identify many of our fellow humans. How many unpaid parking tickets? How much alimony owed? Inner circle of friends? Favorite ice cream? Arrest warrants? Favorite fetish? Walking in the street without scarves, sunglasses and hats would constitute a baring of the individual way beyond what occurs in any nudist colony."

And Google just scratches the surface - literally - there's the deeper web yet to be stirred up, no one even knows what lives down there.

Photo Pro Magazine interview.

2010-01-01T15:07:00.009Z

Q: How long have you been experimenting with social media?

A: Understanding what that means is really important - if you mean 'how long have I been using Facebook and Twitter?' then a couple of years and a few months respectively (I signed for twitter way before I knew what to do with it). But if you mean how long have I been sharing resources (inspirational/technical and otherwise) with a select community of friends and colleagues then - always. The mechanics of doing this has changed and so has the scale but in principal we've always shared and sought like-minds, and I think it's important to communicate this in these terms to people baffled or equally bored by the prospect of micro-blogging.

Q: What did Cory say to you to convince you to try this experiment?

A: That he makes money from giving his work away for free. That convinced me that this needed to be investigated to see what relevance it had for photographers. Bearing in mind that most editorial fees don't cover expenses, so I already often work for free either, that or I pay to work!

Q: What was undesirable about the National Gallery’s copyright stance?

A: You'll have to ask Cory about his position on the NPG's copyright stance. And I'm not sidestepping due to anything other than the knowledge that Cory would answer with a brutal clarity that I can't. However, knowing that the NPG began collecting my work this year I wanted to photograph Cory because he's so important and he was bent on holding that very free flavour of CC license sign (which contradicts NPG policy). I loved the idea - it reminded me of Banksy.

Q: How does/has disseminating the picture online increase its perceived value?

A: Well I think maybe it's better to turn it around around and ask a similar question to explore it, say for instance , if Leonardo DaVinci's Mona Lisa had gone under his bed and no one had ever seen it, along with everything else he shot. Then what would be the perceived value of that image today? The answer has to be nothing, because no one would have heard of it or him, in fact it probably wouldn't have survived. If it had though, then once discovered, the news of the image's quality and it's historical importance would spread, and as more people demanded to see it so the value of that experience would increase likewise. We'd find ourselves in the situation today where the picture is probably one of the most copied in the world and very few people get to see the original. Because everyone knows about it the perceived value of the picture is priceless. Now I understand that we're not comparing like with like as the painting itself remains unique but this was the point of the trial. The images were and are available to download high res from both flickr and archive.org And yet people still wanted to own a signed ltd edition version, and they were willing to pay for it ( incidentally the most expensive were the first to go - I understand now that economists call this "price discovery" - I should have set the high-end price a lot higher)

Q: Who bought the prints? Were you able to track how the buyers found out about the images/manuscripts?

A: Yes I kept record of who bought the prints but I don't know how each of them found out about it - I did real-time searches on Twitter for Cory,his various aliases, the trial, my name, my domain name etc, then used Google searches to tell me each week where these terms were cropping up. One of the things that I learned from this is that the community of followers one has, are a powerful force and that's super-relevant for photographers. Cory has 30,000 twitter followers and hundreds of thousands of blog followers. Really this is just learning from what magazines have done in the past (by leveraging a subscription base) except Cory's followers don't pay to follow him.

Q: Have any other “perceivable benefits” (excluding the print sales) come from the shot of Cory’s desk being released online?

A: Yes I've been paid for usages of the image (even though they're free to use) which covered the costs immediately. I've also been booked for another job though not done it yet so that 'potential new client' would go into the perceivable non-material benefit.

Q: Could you explain “perceivable non-material benefits”?

A: These are things that we work for all the time - I'm sitting here writing these answers , it's taken me two hours for which I'll not be paid. However I understand that there may be benefits in doing this other than material. In this case it's spreads the interest in the trial and engages other people, some of which might have better ideas and choose to contribute them at my blog or in the comments here (from which I'd benefit), it raises the profile of the trial and my profile with it. There are plenty of other examples of perceivable non-material benefits, magazines like Dazed and Confused, iD and most of the others have always traded a discounted fee (or no fee at all) for the promise that 'the exposure will be great for their contributor's business and profile' - prestige in other words. This is something that I think we as photographers need to formalise explicitly, take control of and lever to our advantage.

Q: Should this be something that photographers factor in when they work out the ROI of doing a similar “free” project?

A: Yes and surely everyone does and always has - again, essentially nothing has changed, what I'm doing isn't very radical. I'm just talking about taking control and using something that in the past has been perceived as an obstacle and turning it into tool.

Q: Had you worked with Creative Commons licensing before? What do you think of it, as a photographer?

A: I think CC is brilliant. I've never understood lawyer speak and resented being financially beholden to their dark art. CC enables me to take control of my licensing in an informed and easily communicable manner.

Q: Will you use it again?

A: Yes absolutely I've registered my whole site. I haven't used the same flavour of license that Cory and I did as that was too free at this point for where I'm at, but hopefully soon. I think some photographers see CC licensing and think they're giving they're images away for nothing. That's rubbish. The flavour/version that I'm using is very similar to the traditional copyright that I always assumed I had in place anyway; BY (you must attribute the work to me when you reproduce it) NC (you can't charge people to access it) and ND (you can't make derivative works). So this way, when people use my images on their blog, fan site or screensaver I just ask that they make it attributed to me (which usually means a link) and I get the best of all worlds. They get my pictures to people that otherwise wouldn't see them and I get advertised. I need to explore further but I think I need to ditch the ND part, because when a kid somewhere who's way more creative than me, mashes up my pictures with some music and a video and subsequently the Levis/Pepsi of this world want to buy it, then I want to be able to charge them to do so. If I don't enlist (collaborate with) that creative kid (albeit virtually) then I'll never be able to reap the potential fees from the cash-rich client that wants to charge people to see it .

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Q: Has your experiment been a success, in your opinion?

A: I just got back from a week in NY where I met with Fred Ritchin (After Photography) and spoke to his class at NYU. I met with Stephen Mayes (Vii) , Aiden Sullivan (Getty) , Steve Pyke and David Campbell amongst a bunch more. I got instant access at every magazine that I tried to see. I've been made a Fellow of the RSA (which alone provides collegiate access to thousands of inspirational people), I'm working with Jon Levy at FOTO8 on new strategies for Photojournalists and we're collaborating on an exhibition and event for next year. And hundreds of thousands of people have heard about me and seen my pictures in a particular context that I decided upon. That has never happened before and for once I feel in some control of that. So yes, in my opinion these represent a successful two months work.

Q: Would you advise other photographers to try this approach for themselves?

A: No I'd advise them to move the trial forward with particular (and creative) relevance to their mode of working and their practice. Then I'd ask them to share what they do with the broader community at newphotographics.org .

'The Future of Photo-books' A response.

2009-12-13T12:09:00.018Z

Miki Johnson over at Livebooks asked me to contribute to her crowd sourced 'Future of Photo-books' blog post, so here it is.

I'm no expert on the history of Photo-books, and I go to other people for that knowledge (Art Director Wayne Ford's Posterous page is one of those little nooks that I like to nip into to hear and see what books have caught his eye recently).

My excitement about the future of photo-books is all around the narrative structure, what the implications of that are both for the medium (books), the practice (photography) itself, and what opportunities this presents for the 21st Century Practitioner.

I am though equally excited about the fall-out from this rush to pixelate. The generation currently breaking into the industry have inherited a fond nostalgia for analogue processes (think Holga, Lomography or witness the dramatic rescue of Polaroid ). Developing and exploiting this demand is one of the areas that photographer’s business practices can and should focus looking forward. The book is just one element of this and I’ve written about how ‘Versioning’ can be leveraged in this respect both in my trials with Cory Doctorow and here in conversation with New York Photographers last month.

The pixelated version of the book promises what to me, is the most exciting element of 21st photographic practice : the non-linear narrative. It's the chance for the reader to engage with the subject and the subject to talk back. It represents the natural evolution of the photographer who has sourced, funded, recorded, published and (most satisfyingly) realised the material benefits from their work. The (now empowered by their Holistic Photographic Business Practice) Hyper-Photographer* in making an image, provides the forum for the subject and internet-viewer to come together and engage in a discourse.

This is obviously more directly relevant to the Photojournalist but the dynamic aspect is just as relevant to us all, whether we’re considering a portfolio that responds to the needs of the client, or a book that responds to the subject matter (think of the Living Book or the work of Rick Smolan and his Obama Timecapsule which enable readers to engage in both the processes and final products). **

None of these things represent nails in coffins of the Photo-tome and it's really boring when people start banging on that it is. These vehicles that facilitate the pixelated Photo-book (e-paper, the kindle, Apple's Tablet, iPhone etc etc - the PC for goodness sake) represent an evolution of some aspects of the analogue experience, but also a host of brand new possibilities. And as these new directions take us further away from their paper-based ancestor (perhaps thinking of Apple's Tablet and so along the route of Apps), then so the inferred value of the coffee-table trophy original will rise.

Did any one predict the upsurge in demand for Holga's at the birth of Flickr? I understand that I'm not exactly comparing like with like with that analogy and of course the demand for cheap plastic cameras didn't make up for the dramatic drop in demand for film. But what it did do is tap into demand for lo-fi analogue practice and the internet enabled it to explode, those two Austrian students (Lomography) were just in the right place at the right time right ?

Yes, just like we are now.

* For more and better reading re Hyper-Photography see After Photography by Fred Ritchin available from his blog by the same name, here.
** For a great article on Rick Smolan's work pop over to PhotoMedia Magazine.

A Proposal

2009-11-17T12:29:00.011Z

What about a sustainable holistic* photographic practice that strove to empower both the photographer and their subject? What if the products from this were openly accessible and free from editorial or political agenda?

Might this removal of traditional 'gatekeepers' not lead to a new generation of credible witnesses / new and dynamic dialogues?

As Fred Richin says of Hyperphotography ;

'There are very few reference points.
What we need are more reference points and rapidly.'

How might a route to such a 'reference point' be road-mapped ?

What about if the Photographer created a large community of followers (much like a magazine has a regular readership) ? This audience-demand for their very particular product is a valuable commodity, and could be monetized indirectly, for instance by selling website page-space advertising (traditional media model) as well as levered directly to both fund, promote and distribute the work.

What if we rewarded our loyal community of patrons with a trustworthy and consistently high quality product? (the market will demand it)

Likewise, what if we enabled this community to support and participate in our work, both through purchasing and by commissioning ?

What if we scaled the levels of support to enable every level of participation**?

What if we rewarded that commitment with a consequently scaled level of product value which they received in return? Right from zero cost and infinite availability, to infinite cost for the singularly unique.

What about re-thinking existing relationships with traditional media and leveraging what they're still useful for - like marketing us to their communities of subscribers ? What about if we trade our quality content and our discerning subscribers for theirs? (introducing both sets of parties to new and related products , like Amazon shows us products that we'll 'probably like')

What if we looked forward to better image searching methods wherein styles and nuances of the photographer's vision enabled their brand identity to be equally honed, delineated and defined (rather than the clumsy and open to abuse meta-tagging system***)?

What about if technology enabled the subject of a photograph to engage in a discourse? The same subject that the commissioning subscribers wanted the photographer to draw attention to in the first place. What about if that empowered the subject to communicate in their own language and from their cultural viewpoint, looking back at us?

Which of these things are not available to us now ?

* By holistic I mean the various aspects of previous practice models (agent, manager,stock agency, book publisher etc) would be pro-actively developed and undertaken by the photographer themselves and/or a redefined partner (I hear already from assistants of photographers requiring them to be conversant with the various flavours of social media along with the requisite digital workflow and web building).

** Examples; Photographer Brandon Schulman raised and exceeded his required $3,000 with just 52 backers. Film-maker Franny Armstrong's "Age of Stupid" raised its' £450,000 budget by selling 'shares' to 223 backers who each donated between £500 and £35,000.

*** Think of iTunes Visualiser that creates fractals to match the mood of the music. What if for instance we didn't use key-words but rather referenced a piece of music or some replayed some 'real' ambient sound to which the search engine matched photographs/photographers?

Reasons to be Cheerful Part Three

2009-11-17T11:25:00.022Z

... continued from part two.

"We don't know who discovered the water, but we know it wasn't the fish." Marshall McLuhan.

(iii) The Visionaries
(iv) and the Fish.

If you're over 26 then you're not a fish.

I doubt many people under 26 (the Google Generation) would be here anyway and so I can them all Fish without fear of reprisal. They're the people younger than the internet and as such they're digital natives. Speaking at NYU last week, I asked again "How many people here use social media to research and develop their practice?", and as usual, my vernacular was impregnable.

Not because they didn't understand the terms, but as usual they just didn't regard their current social media habits as being the methodology by which they'd define the sustainable photographic practices of the 21st century.

It was like me telling them that they all had accents. Accents that only I could hear.

Which is kind of the point. It was too normal to point out, and for them too blindingly obvious to be an issue. This is a very circuitous way of saying that, the problem is all mine, and ours (that is, if you're not an aquatic). I can teach them craft but they're fettered by my ineffectual application of their digital reality, a traditional application just doesn't account for the huge shift in attitudes to terms like: 'access', 'value', 'free' and 'ownership'.

It's us that have to learn how their perception of the digital landscape will redefine ours.

This particular bunch of students were very lucky to have the last sort of person that I met as their Professor.

There are the those people that see this moment in history to be one of unparalleled opportunity. A real chance for Photographers to take control of their medium and their practice. The chance to define a future where they can realise the full material benefit (both economic and otherwise) by leveraging the forces of this post Digital-Renaissance ('access', 'value', 'free' and 'ownership').

They see how (in very practical terms) this can define 21st Century Journalism as a force to empower their subjects to effect positive and lasting change.

These people are the Visionaries.

And right now, they're all out fishing.

Reasons to be Cheerful Part Two

2009-11-17T00:40:00.015Z

... continued from Reasons to be Cheerful Part One.

(ii) The true Radicals.

Several of the magazines that I went into recently had shed a bunch of staff, more of the almost daily purges in that industry (our industry). So, aware of and sensitive to this (and also inspired by a conversation with Stephen Mayes of Vii), I asked some of them; what difference it would make were I to offer to work for free ?

Tumbleweed.

.. I went on.

jw - What about if I traded my fee for a hotlink to my site. Perhaps it would be hosted at my site in a similar way to how Vimeo hosts my video but it's embedded in my site, so whenever anyone clicked on my Photograph it took them straight to that story in my folio - likewise for my credit wherever it appears.

mag - Why would you do that ?

jw - Because the particular traffic that I want to get at, is the person that either likes my work and wants to hire me. Or it's the person that wants to use the picture/ a picture because they're interested in the subject. You'd still pay the expenses for the job, I'd just trade my fee for easy access to a discerning sort of traffic.* And it would cut both ways, if someone came to my site and saw someone that they were interested in then they could link back to your site and there, they could read a story on them.

mag- But what about the print version of the magazine?

jw - Well, I'm not exactly sure that I see the future of your magazine as being paper, do you ?

.. more Tumbleweed , followed by debate.

I was staggered that this could be a question up for grabs. All I could think of was that these lovely people, whom I respect enormously, were in some sort of 'survivor-denial', they reminded me of passengers in a hot air balloon fatally holed. No matter how many get thrown out, it's only going in one direction unless there's a radical re-think. However, the fact that we even had a discussion about this left me thinking that perhaps these people, might be the real radicals.

Not me. I can't match that sort of extreme view.

So, after some more to-ing and fro-ing I was told that if I wanted to take this further then I'd have to speak to someone on the digital side because they didn't have much to do with them once they'd sent stuff over and '..can we do hyperlinking?'.

I watched a hot air balloon come down just then. It left a wet pink stripe across the floor of a vaguely surprised digital landscape.

*Frankly, this is pretty much the current version of events with a most of the newspapers and weekend supplements in the UK where the fees include expenses and seldom cover the costs of the job. Other magazines like iD and Dazed have always traded a minimal or no fee for the prestige/exposure that their publication offers. All this really does is formalise that situation, make it explicit and begin to concretise this notion of apparent "Prestige/Exposure" into a formal transaction.

Reasons to be Cheerful Part One.

2009-11-16T22:22:00.034Z

Last week I invested the proceeds from my experiment with Cory Doctorow.

Actually I gambled them, but then that's all investing is anyway isn't it or did I miss something ?

I gambled that some of the people I've not been able to access via Twitter (or any other of the traditional social media methods) might speak to me if I knocked on their door (old school).

I booked a flight, a couch and then whored my services as a photographer, an assistant, a re-toucher and a speaker, in order to pay for my stay.

"Sir, is your trip business or pleasure?"
"Sir, my Dad said 'Find a job you like and you'll never work again'. So I'm here strictly on pleasure."

The people that I met, fell broadly into four categories;

i. Those who saw their practice/business as being in terminal decline and/or out of their control.

ii. Those in denial (the true Radicals).

iii. A precious few who were excited and pro-active (the Visionaries).

iv. And the fish.

(i) One of the photographers that I spent time with described how he was struggling on his reduced editorial fees, that he wanted to fund new projects and he'd been trying to set-up a book deal for nearly two years without success. This very established photographer then explained that the book is a valuable aspect of his promotion and one of the vehicles that he employed to generate new commissions.

So I asked him why he wasn't publishing it himself and at the same time earning the proceeds ?

Answer; 'Because it's not that simple. Funding, design, storage, distribution - and there's no money in books '

What about if you minimised the upfront costs by say, using a print on demand company ? That way you can have it designed by whichever designer you want to work with (rather than being saddled with whichever one is at this elusive publishing house).

Likewise we just removed the storage issue (because they'd be printed on demand), leaving only Money and Distribution.

So I asked him; why he usually did both hard and soft-back versions of his books.

Answer - because one's better and more expensive, thereby catering for different buyer's budgets.

Great, but only two different budgets? Why not ten or twenty ? In fact, why not cater for everyone's budget? Why not have one virtual version that's open and available at no cost, one small softback version that's $5, one better quality at $10, another hardback at $20, another larger hardback at $30 and yet another limited edition with signed for $50.

$100 could buy you a hard-back with a signed print - some of these could go out to your commissioning editors and so on, until ultimately you make a unique handbound set of fine prints, stitched together by elves and delivered by you in person on a unicorn for $100,000.

Then follow that up by making yourself available for commission at $10,000 a sitting.

That just leaves distribution.

So I asked him; were there any people repeatedly interested in his work, like a fan-base? Or did he sell to different people every time one of his books was published? In answer to which, he showed me the vaguely terrifying list of email requests from assistants, students, enthusiasts etc all requesting an audience, work, advice, donations and so on.

Ummm.... so what about if you sort of provided a virtual forum for those people to congregate? A place where you could (for want of a better phrase), herd them towards other virtual environments to experience your magic first hand ? Like for example, which publications are showing your work, what campaigns you've been working on, what projects you're thinking about, perhaps even give these loyal fans access to behind the scenes footage and the odd contact sheet. Maybe even reward their commitment by offering advance copies of those books, special rates etc ?

Well there's this thing called Social Media and it allows you to do all of that and probably a lot more too. We're all still waiting for the Fish to work out and show us it's full potential.

And here's another thing about the "new commissions" part. What about if there was a way of gathering this loyal 'fanbase' and asking them if they'd fund your next project? In gratitude for which you'd reward these new 'patrons' with special treatment and access to some of the afore mentioned magic.

Well there's a website for that too.

Retire before you stop learning.

2009-11-09T10:27:00.002Z

I was at school and we were studying Seamus Heaney . My teacher asked "so, what do we think the author meant by the language he's used just here....?".
I vividly remember my answer innocently ringing out that; Seamus had "written down what he meant right there, job done", to which trite repost my teacher (wearily) dragged out a sighing" .. yes ... yes Jonathan, but what does he really mean, beneath the simple printed text?"

In retrospect I think maybe he wanted us to talk about metaphor and simile but at the time although I loved books and still do, I'd had enough of picking poems apart and just asked (bristling) whether Seamus Heaney was dead or not.

I'm not sure, at this point if my teacher foresaw the orientation of this tetchy discourse. He may even have perceived a window of inspirational opportunity, because he launched into waxing lyrical about Mr Heaney being very much alive, prolific and defining what poetry is, and can be for all of us etc etc. Which set me up beautifully to deliver the painfully logical answer to his original question -

"Let's ring him up and ask him then. Lets find out what he means, because even though he's as good as you say he is, you still don't know what he's talking about, and you're meant to be teaching us this."

Ouch. Fail.

I always ask Photography students 'Who their favourite practitioners are? And, if they're alive?'

I'll then follow this with 'Okay, great, so what do they think of your work?'

Followed again by; "What ? They're that important to your practice and you haven't engaged them in any way ? "

For student fresh out of high school, this seems a vaguely absurd question. Not because they wouldn't know how to get in touch, because the mechanics of doing that are as blindingly obvious as to be assumed knowledge to them. No, their sticking point is usually why? Why might this person speak to me?

There's another group of people that find this a vaguely absurd question and oftentimes they re-inforce the students ill-founded outlook. But for very different reasons. Theirs isn't simply a case of porting existing social media habits into their professional practice. For these people, the thought of bridging the gaps between enthusiast and established practitioner are so other worldly and unsettling as to be vaguely uncouth.

These are the people that piss me off. They're the teachers/lecturers/professors/"experts", who's patronising smiles, knowing nods and mutters of 'boyish enthusiasm' turn me back into the obstinate seventeen year old. And worse.

Err.. here's a news flash for those people (and please pass it on because I don't think you're one of them) - contrary to what they might think, this is actually not a 'novel idea'.

This isn't even optional.

This is absolutely, mind numbingly crucial for anyone planning on being proactive about their career right now.
Note that I said right now, not in the future,but right now.

The internet is substantially older than most of the students going through college, look at this through their eyes for a moment, what will they think ? You've actually had their entire lifetime and more to get used to the idea of the internet. Did you not see the writing on the wall?

How as an "educator/expert or otherwise person of influence" can you not be leading on developing new understandings of what we/they do and how we sustain those practices? Every time I hear someone in a position of educational authority or aspirational influence bleat that Photography/Journalism/Books/Music is/are dead/dying/gone I want to retire them to oblivion.

Perhaps as a compromise and where teaching resources are rich they (the dino-teachers) could teach pure craft, whilst the current generation of new learner/practitioners apply them. Before they (the current learners) then come back to teach how they made them relevant and sustainable to yet another generation of Lens-based practitioners.

Who was it that said "Some people die at 25 but don't get buried til they're 70"?

Well those people shouldn't teach.

250 year old Royal Society makes Photographer, Fellow for teaching Twitter

2009-11-04T20:59:00.009Z

You know that thing when you really put yourself out there, not knowing if you're 100% right but committing 100% anyway because there's no other option. Then sometimes, not always but at some point, someone you respect and admire comes along to see how you're getting on and says;

"Wow, that's great, how d'you do that?".

So it happened to me here today. For the trials with Cory Doctorow, the brainstorming with Foto8 and the Photography BA course at Coventry University in the UK (where Blogging, Podcasts, Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, Vimeo etc are all embedded).

"In recognition of your innovation and influential role in developing new business models for photographers using the social web"

The funny thing is; it's the young Photographers that I work with and mentor who teach me all this stuff - not the other way round.

Shhh. That is all.

Note to a Mentor 'learn from your students'

2009-11-02T21:00:00.002Z

"Twitter, as Wired journalist Stephen Levy put it, 'rocketed into the mainstream without really knowing what its service was. Its users defined it.' And they still are."

I've taken to starting some of my lectures by asking, how many of the students use social media to research, develop and extend their practices?

The silence is deafening.

I know, the language is tricky, but that packages my point quite nicely. I follow it by asking;

'Okay let's look at this another way, how many people have a Facebook account ?' (most)

'How many have Myspace pages?' (most)

'Any users of Bebo, Twitter, YouTube ?' (by now everyone is involved).

'Okay, how many people have ever uploaded a picture to show to their friends?' (all)

'Has anyone here directed anyone to watch a movie that they liked/disliked or found funny/scary/inspirational?' (all)

'What about music? (chaos) okay, okay, we all listen to music, either on our own or with friends. And it's a nice thing to share and listen to together.
That's why clubs play music right ? Because it drawers us all together and transcends just a bunch of notes and some random (often) lyrics. Although you probably wouldn't want your Grandma with you when you go clubbing (nods),- STOP - Why?

Why wouldn't you want your Grandma to come clubbing with you ?

There are usually wide and varied responses to this question.

Okay, so Grandma goes into a different set of sharers. As do some other people, like your Professor, and another still for clients or employers etc. Each of these groups we push information to, all the while editing what we send to whom along the way.

We have, and discriminate between, a bunch of these different groups, and it's us as the 'author/sharer/creator', that constitute the one thread drawing everyone together.

All this is stuff that we already do, and in one way or another, we always have. People have always shared friends, places and things that they liked, what's changed are the mechanics and infrastructure for doing this. Consequently so has the scale and effect of this sharing.

To the new student, this is both good and bad. It's good because historically the opportunities for entrepreneurship have never been more democratic, and what's more, the student already speaks the language of this new democracy intuitively.

It's bad, because right now, the teachers don't. They're too often people fettered by understandings pre-dating the Social-Media revolution. A revolution gaining momentum so rapidly that it's seemingly impossible for most to catch up, and join in.

The students see them trying and think they're watching their uncles try to dance at a wedding.

It's worth remembering that the internet is only 26 years old ( a bit older than most students).It also continues to astound me that; Google is only 11 years old, Myspace is 6, Facebook is 5, Youtube 3 years, Twitter isn't even quite that yet and over the last year it's number of users went from 1,000,000 to 70 000,000.

Technology has ripped up many of 'the market's' historical barriers to entry. It has located new communities, enabled new collaborations, it is demanding new contracts, creating new disciplines and defining new modes of sustainable practice.

A writer no longer has to go through and seek approval from an editor in order to publish. A photographer doesn't have to be on contract to a magazine or signed to a gallery, in order to successfully sell their work. A musician can bypass a record label and still reach number one and someone hand-making books out of bicycle innertubes can reach, nurture and develop a global community of customers from her front room in Copenhagen.

What all of these creators have in common, is that they are generators of content. Enabling these students/creators to fully realise the potential of their ideas remains the role of the Mentor/Teacher.What's changed for the current generation of them though, is that they/we must un-pick the students application of this 'created content'.

We must learn from our students (the digital natives) how to navigate and negotiate new-media/ social media technologies. There's nothing to be gained by conceiving of some romantic past where artists of integrity didn't need to adapt and innovate in order to maintain their practice (See my earlier post on the Renaissance), the outcome of which is usually a bleeting in CAPS-LOCK that "Photography (insert Music/Books/Journalism etc)" is dead (insert dying,ruined,over etc).

We must instead empower the student by pointing out that whenever we share a Photograph on Facebook, a movie on Vimeo or a link on Twitter, that we are the people defining these new business models and re-defining old ones. We are simultaneously both the cause and the effect and we as Mentors are also learning about all of this along with, and from them.

The lead quote is from this great article on Twitter over on The Guardian's website.

As you're still reading,you might well be inspired (as I am very much) by David Campbell, so here's a great place to read him.

Giving things Away Part III

2009-11-01T15:51:00.011Z

Last Friday I sent out the following email to the purchasers of the Limited Edition Cory Doctorow Prints and Signed Manuscript pages;

Advance Notice of Withdrawal from sale of Signed Cory Doctorow Manuscript and Photograph.

As someone that has supported Cory's and my "Trial", it is my pleasure to give you exclusive, prior notice that the remaining prints will be withdrawn from sale at midnight GMT on Sunday the 8th of November. I will Tweet and blog publicly, to this effect from Monday 2nd of November.

The remainder will go back on sale when "For the Win" is published April 2010.

They will however go on sale at exactly TEN TIMES the price you paid for them.

So to be clear, if you bought one of the higher numbers 65-111 at $8, then any remaining editions will be back on sale at $80 each in 2010, if you bought one of numbers 7-17 then they will only be available at $800 each.

There will be no discounting and no exceptions. Should the situation arise whereby any prints remain unsold one month after publication of the novel, then they will be destroyed and there will be no second edition.

To affirm validity and value, I have kept a record of every purchaser, their Zip / Postal code and their respective Print Edition Numbers, if you sell or gift your prints in the meantime please pass onto me a record of the transaction and the details of the new owner.

I would like to stay in touch further, but I hate SPAM and presume you do too. If you would like me to send you updates such as this one (and there won't be many) then please just send a reply to this mail.

It's been lovely to meet you albeit virtually and I hope our paths cross again.

Very best wishes,

Jonathan.

REMAINING PRINTS AND MANUSCRIPT PAGES ON SALE HERE.

Getting paid to give things away.

2009-10-17T17:41:00.037+01:00

My Dad spent six years in the printing trade as an apprentice "Compositor", setting every letter of cold type by hand. He said he learned the job in the first two, then spent four years doing a mans work, for a boys wage.

Some of my earliest memories are the smell of books bigger than me and fonts with magical names I could barely read.I loved their shapes. I'd trace them with my finger. Then with my pencils.

He wasn't a printer by that time, he'd just kept the books. One day in 1960 Fairchild Semiconductor invented the Phototypesetter and his job disappeared.

I have the benefit of this knowledge at my back. And like many passionate media creatives I do not want to sell insurance. You work in the media or else you wouldn't be here, so you know that our industry is illustrating how business models do or don't adapt to technological and societal evolutions.

I'm running a series of live trials that form (for lack of a better word), "Research". They're the sort of thing that all long-term freelancers do, just I'm making mine public.

I know freelancers generally don't collaborate. And I've never been drawn to a particular Union. So I thought this would be just a case of sharing information, maybe a few people would comment and chuck in some experiences of their own. I thought I'd publish information on a series of ongoing experiments and then hope others'd pitch in and help me work out what conclusions to drawer.

I didn't expect people to actively engage. I've never seen the industry (in it's broadest sense) that way before.

I'll record Cory (the subject) Doctorow's massive and hugely generous support no doubt, in detail in the future, but I wanted to drop a couple of things here that happened last week.

So you know what particular trial I'm referring to now (?) if not click here. This week I was approached by the Art Director of a Magazine in NY wanting to use one of the images of Cory. He approached me saying that he understood the images were CC licensed to be available for reproduction (Cory and I agreed this particular flavour of CC license for the purposes of this test) but that he wanted to use the image for the cover of the magazine and ...

"As a long-time art director and former freelancer myself (illustration), I am always concerned about fairness in compensation for photographers.

I also work for a (currently) budget-strapped magazine, and as a result we always try to figure out how to do our covers for free (fairly of course), or as cheaply as possible. Many of our cover photo images are provided by publishers because they serve their purpose of promoting their books while serving our need to illustrate the story. Other times we come up with original design solutions.

But I also respect your desire to be compensated, and putting the photo on a print magazine cover is probably extraordinary usage of your imagery. I appreciate you checking in with Cory re: the scope of the CC licensing (of which I admittedly need to become more educated about).

We have an broad agreement with XXSTOCK AGENCYXX for photography, and the cover we were considering for this issue before deciding to make Cory Doctorow the cover, was going to use a royalty-free image from XXX which would have cost us only $150.00 (US dollars).

Would you be OK if we compensated you $250 for use of your image..."

I explained that he was not obliged to pay me and it's worth noting (one way or another) that for the period of this Blog my website and online folio have been off line - so this AD has no idea who I am or what I've done in the past. He just has an image that he likes, which serves a specific purpose.

It's also worth noting that Cory has a bunch of similarly licensed images that are freely available to use from his flickr stream. But anyway, the AD wanted this one and, he wanted to pay me for it.

I didn't expect that.

I didn't expect it so much, that after a some back and forth emailing we're meeting up when I'm next in New York. That's someone who likes my work, and wants to pay me for using it, which means that meeting goes into my "Perceivable Non-Material Benefit" column and the fee goes into the perceivable benefits column.

Here's another thing. When I began using Twitter (as opposed to signed up for and forgot about) one of the first people that I came across who was Tweeting things I wanted to learn more about, was a very reputable Art Director whom I'd worked for in the past.

I became a part of his Twitter community, and through the echos that are RT's I gradually sidled up, before tapping him on the shoulder and asking if he remembered me and came here often?

Up to now, I'd always always thought "Networking" to be a hollow and crap term, which summed up what vacuous Trustafarian Socialites did and whose sole motivation was personal gain in a fashionably fair-weather world of parasitic exploitation.

I've never understood it as a variable sifting through, of all the friends, colleagues and acquaintances one had come across, to find those who, at that particular moment you have the most in common with. I don't now think there's anything sinister in this practice as I did before. It's just great.

I wonder, is that what the younglings mean by the Social-Media-Interface-tubing in my space?

Anyway, here's a line of what Wayne Ford wrote in a blog titled "In the New Media World, Photographers Who Embrace Change Will Succeed" for Black Star:

(of our subsequent conversations)"it is the dialogue itself that will ensure the media’s long-term survival — and the success of photojournalists and others. "

Dialogue, with another ally. Not Patron, but ally and partner.

My Dad assists me these days and not long ago we did a job that meant hanging about waiting for someone in a dank and forgotten storage area. Against one wall were a bunch of old wooden drawers a yard across and at least as deep. Each of these were divided and subdivided into open topped sections.

My Dad explained that these were the Type-Cases he'd had to use as a youth. He pointed where every letter of the alphabet, the numbers, the punctuation and the spaces would have lived.

Although there aren't as many books bigger than me now, I still love the smell of ink.

And I love making Photographs. And I'm not ready to sell insurance.

Giving things away Pt II

2009-10-14T12:47:00.029+01:00

This is an update to my "Giving things away" post which you can read here.

There are several threads to this exercise one of which is detailed here but all are being recorded whether they work or not.

I just opened an Etsy shop account from which I'll be selling limited editions of my prints. I've made 111 copies of the print that was CC licensed and uploaded to archive.org , one to go with each of the pages of Cory's upcoming new novel "For the Win".

Cory has given me one of ten First Edition Manuscripts and signed every page. I am likewise signing, stamping and numbering each Archival Print.

The first fifty will go on sale directly and I'm planning on shouting loudly about it on Friday afternoon when most people are online.

So please feel free to pass this on to anyone that might be interested and please forgive me in advance if you happen to be in my Twitter stream.

The pricing structure will be as follows with prints only going on sale in order.

Pages 65-111 are priced at £5GBP or $8 USD
Pages 39-64 are priced at £10GBP or $16 USD
Pages 18-38 are priced at £25GBP or $40 USD
Pages 7-17 are priced at £50GBP or $80 USD
Pages 2-6 are priced at £75GBP or $120 USD

Page 1 is priced at £150GBP or $240 USD and will also include Number 1 of 3 Special Edition Pieces (made from the contact frames from the shoot) measuring 100cm x 140cm. Number 1 will be on sale, number 2 will be owned by Cory and number three I'll keep.

The proceeds of this sale will be donated to a Primary School raising money for permanent classroom buildings.

Fat telly-addict predicts end of Sport and Photography.

2009-10-05T12:28:00.017+01:00

As I sit here and write this there's a certain amount of apocalyptic vitriol being spent over a football game. No big deal, it's a world cup qualifier, but apparently it's causing a certain amount of discomfort amongst couch-gymnasts.

Apparently because an 'Old media', ahem sorry - a major television network went bust and no old-media; apologies - and no television company stumped up the cash to buy the contract, the host nation decided to pump coverage of the game out by the internet-tubes.

But surely that's just crazy talk. That means fat-telly bloke has to plug his laptop into his 97 inch plasma to watch it and even more traumatically, they can't screen it down the pub.

Seemingly, fat tele-bloke is absolutely, flabbergasted. I know this because he shouted so earlier from radio world. Could it be true that this is an indication of the direction of the tele-medium or as couchbloke said; "sport itself" ???

I've never bought a television and for the last year not owned one. I do watch tele-land, I just don't use a telebox to do it. I don't buy newspapers either but I do read news and although I seldom buy magazines I look at an incredible amount of pictures.

I don't think I'm that unusual. You're reading this (hello Mum) rather than watching the telebox, or maybe you're doing both. Maybe you're in the bath. But we're not that dissimilar are we?

Nope, I don't think fat telecouchsportsfan is going to stop demanding to watch sport on his 500 inch plasma. I don't think I'm going to stop wanting to look at quality photographs and read reliable news. I also don't think that I'm going to stop wanting to watch great films, read great books and listen to music that moves my very soul.

Amen.

Quite by coincidence when rooting about behind something that was holding up the a crucial part of our house last night I found a folded newspaper clipping that until that point had been preventing a major subsidence.

The lead story was from 1978 and speaks of a police raid on some crazy Pirate Radio Station that was "transmitting on the medium wave". Stop me if I'm wrong,but was it due to this regional, but crucial investigative breakthrough that the music industry survived beyond the 70's ?

I'm going to have to plump for a big fat no. I'm pretty confident saying that people's urge to make music coupled with peoples need to experience it meant that the music industry continues to exist and I'd offer that more music is heard by more people quicker and more often than any time in history.

I'd also propose that when more TV stations and channels go bust, that fat telesportscouch will still demand to watch the footy, and David Beckham's kids will still want to play. I'd also have to say that there'll still be news and people will still want to hear about it. I bet they'll even want to look at pictures describing it and read considered reflections on it's ramifications.

So, Dear Amorphous-couch shape that shouts out of the radio - according to the (thus far) reliable laws of supply and demand, if you want it badly enough then someone will supply it to you. Conversely to all of the suppliers of this demanded product (sport,news,music,photography etc), the enormous and overwhelming demand means that you will have a market.

The means of distribution and pricing structures will be dictated by that same market. Here's the good bit; everyone coming to this moment in the history of our media for the first time today, will be proactive about how their product is perceived and valued. They will not wait their turn in the suppliers queue, they'll push past us old people with our baggage of old business models and sense of yesteryear business decorum.

Because for these "lens based new-agers" it'll be completely normal and they'll not be interested in whatever it is us dribbling, middle aged, digitally-incontinent photographers are banging our tri-pods about anyway.

No matter how loud you and your friends shout into the radio. No matter how often you use CAPS LOCK INAPPROPRIATELY in comments sections. And no matter how frustrated I get with you.

"Tradition is not a business model."

2009-10-01T09:09:00.038+01:00

Why do Architects listen to photographers?

There's no punch-line. The question is almost as random as it appears on the surface. And still, I have more blog and Twitter interaction from Architects than anyone else non-photographic.

And I'm not the only one. A Foto Magazine publisher that I was talking to last week said that he also learned from and exchanged ideas with Architects. The more we talked, the more I realised how incredibly short sighted and narrow minded I am. Me, who preaches to other photographers to think of new ways to understand what we do and how we might make it relevant.

I listened to Cory Doctorow when he described how Science-Fiction writers would take great pride in the fact that their work would build on the work of their mentor's. Far from being covetous of his product, he actively works with other writers and sees this 'passing of a flame' as paying homage to the people that he in turn learned from and continues to be inspired by.

I thought of this, but in a different way when reading an article over on TechCrunch (thanks to @popsciguy from where this title originates). The full Journalism Internet Manifesto is here, I was reading it through my Photographer's eyes for what was relevant to me and perceiving photography as a small cog within the giant amorphous mass that is Journalism in it's broader sense. I was thinking - yes "16. Quality remains the most important quality." is relevant , practitioners that strive to produce original high quality work will always be in demand.... and then it occurred to me that I was again missing the point.

At the core of journalism is the idea that once garnered, information possessed by the journalist must be coveted and hidden. It's value is it's exclusivity. We've got something that we have to share but in traditional business models the only way to consistently realise the material benefit is to sell it exclusively.

This can't be the most efficient way of getting our work seen or heard. Assuming that sharing was the journalist's original intent, then this method must be at odds, in fact I struggle to think of a more effective way of limiting the people that are able to share in the work.

The upshot are practitioners who historically are frightened of admitting their work is informed by others and consequently terrified that others will steal their ideas. The 2.0 discipline equivalent of an inter-webular stillbirth.

Similarly both Music as a Practice and Music as an Industry have elements of this in common with photography and journalism- I suppose all art has elements in common. The most important one being that they drawer people together with something that transcends the material body of the the artifact. To illustrate this I often feel it my obligation to point out how much great Art artifacts have in common with the best Jokes.

The science of the Joke is a dark one and whomsoever works it out first probably won't be that funny. A bit like the Joker in Batman. But clearly, humour transcends the Joke itself and drawers people together in an involuntary response, Art and 'the sublime' do the same. And the more democratic the humour, or perhaps another way of putting that might be ; the more access-able the humour, then the more people will be drawn together and the louder they'll laugh.

So, ahem, I think it's fair to say that we've established categorically, the effects of Photography, Journalism, Music and Jokes are the same, in that they transcend the material body of the artifact and bring people together in a moment or on a subject.

This being the case, then what's the difference between reading a joke alone and hearing it amongst friends? I guess it's similar to listening to music alone as opposed to going to a concert? Or singing in the bath as opposed to singing as part of a choir? Perhaps in journalism it's the difference between having information that you keep to yourself or being part of a political movement.

Would it be fair then to say that as more people experience something alone, so the value of that experience increases when it becomes part of a larger whole?

Might this be a way of looking at the increasing numbers of people attending live music events as being directly related to the increase in 'freely' download-able music ?

Might it also apply to a piece of fine-art. Lets say Da Vinci's Mona Lisa? A painting that has been reproduced countless times. Would it be fair to say that the original artifact had been devalued as a consequence?

Well what if we take the opposite point of view ? What if that picture remained seen by only a few people along with everything else that Da Vinci produced? Would these unseen artifacts be worth more because no one had heard of him or seen his work ?

No, of course not.

They're valuable because they're well known. As more people value them, so the perceived worth of the original artifact increases respectively.Likewise as awareness of the original is disseminated, so the likelihood of someone able to afford this now escalating price coming into contact with this knowledge also increases.

Excellent, we've clearly illustrated why Architects listen to photographers, and who could dispute it? But where does that leave new business practices and models for the lens-based practitioners formally known as Photographers?

Perhaps, it's seeing partners where previously we'd looked for patrons. Perhaps, it's seeking to exploit the very things that in prior business models we might have perceived as exploiting us.
Maybe, the answer is understanding what we can learn, not only from Architects, but from any and all seemingly unrelated disciplines which are just like us, trying to navigate their way through a world widely webbed.

Behind the scenes

2009-09-27T20:55:00.003+01:00

I had to put together some examples of my work for a talk that I'm doing, so rather than a bunch of disparate stuff I thought I'd make a little film of one shoot where you see the images being made and then how they get used. This is a portrait session with the band Kasabian.

(Note to self - I have to gather much more information on shoots and work with assistants/collaborators that can shoot video and record sound, whilst changing a Hasselblad backs like the wind itself.)

The Marlboro Marine

2009-09-25T20:09:00.006+01:00

Luis Sinco (Photographer, Los Angeles Times) in dialogue with Thomas Keenan (Bard College, USA) The following is an abstract from a conference being held this weekend at Durham University. The conference is titled "Humanising photography" and can be found here.

This is not a war story—it’s a love story. Luis Sinco It’s about the unlikely friendship between James Blake Miller, a young Marine from the coal- mining mountains of Kentucky, and me, an accomplished photojournalist for one of the nation’s top newspapers. Ours is a story of fidelity, courage and kindness in the aftermath of war. How we overcame differences in age, geography, race, politics and culture to form a lasting bond. It’s about how he saved my life—and how I repaid the debt.

I was embedded with the Marines in November 2004 as they mounted a bloody assault on the insurgent stronghold of Fallouja, Iraq. I followed Miller’s unit as they took cover from heavy fire inside an evacuated home. During a lull in the fighting, I transmitted images by satellite phone from the kitchen. Suddenly, an explosion rocked the house, and I headed to the action upstairs. Miller had barked orders into his radio, directing tanks to take out the insurgents who had us under attack.

In the brief calm that followed, I looked across the rooftop at Miller, realizing he had just saved my life—and the lives of many others. I raised my camera and snapped a picture of the young warrior, a cigarette dangling from his lips, his face smeared with grit and camouflage paint, blood trickling from a cut on his nose, his eyes exhausted, haunted, yet somehow determined.

The photo, immediately dubbed the “Marlboro Marine,” ended up on the front page of more than 160 newspapers. It evoked strong emotions around the world. Mothers wondered if the rugged young man was their son. Women wanted to marry him. Dan Rather waxed poetic about it on the evening news. Many recognized the “thousand-yard stare.” Even the Marine Corps command took notice, offering to give Miller a free pass to leave the combat zone.

The photo thrust me into the limelight, earning me a finalist spot for the Pulitzer Prize and invitations to speak at prestigious institutions. Ironically, I wanted nothing more than to leave the photo – and the war—behind. I resented how the image had been misinterpreted as a swaggering pro-war emblem. I had taken so many other photos in Iraq, but all anyone remembered was the “Marlboro Marine.”

My antipathy began to fade in the fall of 2005, when I learned that Miller, then barely 21, had been diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a condition serious enough to get him discharged from the military. Soon, at the urging of my editors, and the encouragement of my wife, I headed to Kentucky, hoping to do a quick follow-up story.

For me, it was a chance to set the record straight—to let the world know that the photo of Miller was not about “Kicking Butt in Fallouja” as the conservative New York Post had screamed on its front page. Despite my reluctance to get involved and the professional ethics that required me to remain objective, I found myself getting drawn into Miller’s crisis. After a particularly bad run of events, he fell into a deep depression and teetered on the brink of suicide. I had no choice: I had to put down my camera and pick up a young man in desperate straits. “If I had gone down in Fallouja, would you have carried me out?” I asked Miller. “Damn straight,” he responded. “Well, I think you’re hurt pretty badly and I want to help you,” I said.

That day I coaxed Miller into my car and drove him to a treatment center in Connecticut, all the while knowing that I could lose my job for crossing the line that’s supposed to remain between journalist and subject. Over the next 18 months, I came to understand how war alters lives—not only Miller’s, but also mine. Together, we have struggled to make sense of a world where it seems nothing has changed but us. We became brothers. We found healing.

Why you don't need a Rep Pt III

2009-09-20T19:02:00.021+01:00

"He [Yousef Karsh] thoroughly researches his subject, knows wife's name, or man's hobby,
and uses this information to the hilt. He's the ultimate flatterer." - Elliott Erwitt

Van Gogh could have 'Repped' himself better.

I expect that like me, early on in his career Vince was often down the pub with a few mates waxing lyrical about why no one valued what he did and 'if only he had an agent all this nonsense would go away and he could concentrate on the real business of making pictures' etc.

And then when things were getting a bit maudlin and everyone was staring into their beer. There'd be the usual awkward moment, no one wanting to look at the obvious gap at the side of Vince's head where a ear should live. Then to break the tension someone would ask if anyone wanted another drink, and Vince would have to say "No, I've got one ear thanks"and everything would go a bit Reservoir Dogs, so to speak.

I only wonder why he didn't take the next step.

Not to clean off the other lobe (for the full aero effect), but rather, to consider marketing and repping himself. Obviously he was mad, but surely you'd be mad not to (Hah).

There's no point me repeating what Bree Seeley said here, and I detailed how far off the mark I was when I first started out in Pt I , all that remains are a few of the nuggets which (with the benefit of hindsight) I now see turned my career around, or kicked it off depending on your point of view.

It wasn't my fault that I didn't understand the role of the Agent or Rep(resentative) when I started out. My understanding of an agent was someone with a bunch of jobs each week and a roster of photographers with which to do them. I, like most of us, had worked from age sixteen and a lot of that had been for agencies doing unskilled minimum wage work. So when I started out on my own, I was still yet to make the transition to a self employed professional mind-set.

This is a bigger deal than it might at first sound. The first and biggest favour that a freelancer can do themselves is to consider all business relationships to be on some level; partnerships.

Even the relationship with the client should be perceived as symbiotic. Yes you're providing a service but the client is equally dependent on your product. Think of the photo-editor going to her Art Director and justifying her choice of photographer with the pictures you made. If you provided her with bad work then her judgment will be brought into question as well as your abilities.

Similarly the relationship with an agent or rep should be considered a collaboration.Put simply, a good agent is a great business partner that helps an artist to realise all the perceivable benefits of their product, both material and non-material. In doing so it is the partnership that enables each to sustain and grow both of their practices.

A bad agent is a parasite.

Here are a few steps :

Educate yourself. You can do a lot worse than subscribing to somewhere like Photo District News and using their vast resources to do this, of especial interest should be their "People on the Move" section wherein you can track the players within the industry and with little amateur detective work get in touch. Likewise their "Who's shooting what" section, great for finding out who shot that great campaign perhaps because you want to assist that person or because your work is better and you want to get in touch with the creatives.

Be creative in your problems solving. Another way to educate yourself is to learn from someone whose work you admire and respect. If this person reps themselves successfully then you can learn a great deal. If not then consider an internship at an agency. You'll see first hand how the industry works from the other side, it continues to amaze me that so few aspiring photographers try this route and instead dive straight into the studios - go to the agency you'll be able to meet all of the photographers,their current assistants and their clients as well.

Bring more. When you get that meeting (though it might equally be a commissioned portrait) - be prepared, know about the person you're meeting and what they do. Everyone loves to be flattered to some extent. Everyone is vain and even the most hardened pro will wilt at another's genuine interest in their practice (but don't bullshit - only 'wrong people' love an ass-kisser).

Be prolific. Be disciplined. If you're not shooting,thinking,working everyday, then you're a part-timer and as such you should get another part time job because your approach to this one's not going to pay the rent on it's own.

Be reliable. You must be someone that solves problems for people. Not someone that adds to them. If a commissioning client finds that you always overcome, they will be more inclined to give work to you if only to make their lives a little easier. Not definitively but those extra jobs that you get because you're a rock, add up. Pretty soon you have a reputation. Try to take stuff out of the hands of the client - "I'll book that, leave it to me, I'll sort all those other things" not only does this mean you're empowered but also you're removing stress from somebody elses world. Again not a definitive answer but these little things add up to an holistic practice.

Use what you've got, (equally don't dwell on what you 'ain't got'). The phone is a very seductive tool and if you're butt-ugly, plump for it. I say this with some authority and I believe that the telephone sex industry revolves around this dynamic. So I heard.
Email can be a similarly deceptive tool and your correspondences should be considered (don't text speak - you will be thought of as a chimp), and subliminally allude to what you aspire to be (big,lots of staff or small and intimate).

Make the most of being small. Perhaps you heard? Size isn't everything. One person doesn't have the overheads that a big set-up has, small is personal, manouverable, quick to respond and efficient.
An agent won't have time to spend all of their attention on you. You do. And here's a thing, in fact you can afford to pay yourself a relatively high percentage of your turnover in order to spend your time on you. As you grow you can also afford to hire good people to do specific tasks that maximise your efficiencies rather than being saddled with full time staff that you have to pay during down times.
Having learned from the bottom up you will also understand the intimate workings of your practice and be able to spot possible problems early on in the future, again saving you money and making your business more efficient.

Think long, make a plan and see it through. One photographer that I worked for always made a list every Christmas of the things he'd achieved over the year and things he wanted to achieve over the coming year. I adopted this and find it very useful.
It's also a good way of seeing the positive things in what sometimes, on the surface, seemed a bad year. I'd add to it a longer plan for where you want to be in three years time as well and likewise how to get there. These plans tend to change and evolve but that's okay. It's all about disciplining yourself and setting in place a structure. No on else will do this for you, remember 'You are the boss'.

If Van Gogh had thought like this, then he wouldn't have donated an ear. That was very short-termist. Especially when we consider that at some point he'd probably need to wear glasses.

Stick to the plan Vince..... stick to the plan dude.

Why you don't need a Rep. Pt II

2009-09-20T14:27:00.003+01:00

Part II ‘Van Gogh, may have had previous relationship baggage - see the whole ear in a letter thing’

The following is from a conversation between me and Bree Seeley.
Bree has been both an Editorial Director for, and agent with Magnum, as well as working with (amongst others) such names as Anton Corjbin, Jack Peirson and Pierre Et Gilles.

JW - Bree, one of the decisions that I came to make early one was to rep myself and to abuse friendships with people like you in order to learn how to do it ....

BS - ....repping oneself is a really sober decision. I swear, the information one gleans independently takes root in a significantly more meaningful way than being party to somebody eles's high talk.
The latter can be a sort of rush to be involved. For example; agent says they’re calling their old mates to do lunch/ cocktails to discuss the latest matters of glitzy third parties business which they’re hoping to land and, voila: you’re stoned on thinking that you're nearer the industry fire than you really all.

And frankly, the only item one can bet on, is that the wait staff will be up a tip after that meeting.

Actually being avid about tracking players involved in projects (magazines, web/multi media projects, books, exhibitions..) takes diligence at first, but soon becomes a natural reflex and addictive.

Learning the names and responsibilities of industry folks is like unravelling a sweater and soon you've got the whole thing uncovered. Give these practices a while and you find crossover names reoccurring. Soon you get it and mercy... you've garnered a lot of information and it doesn't feel like work anymore because you're no longer in the dark.

You'll have information that, combined with the wherewithal, will allow you to pursue the people you admire and/or projects you relish, and you’ll make an impression on its players, given that you've actually tracked individuals and 'know' their work. There's integrity in this method and a much respected depth of understanding.
Simply grafting yourself onto others and hoping that they'll following up with what seem like ‘the untouchables’ does not offer you a feel for how the projects or industry trades.

Relationships you as the artist make with the decision makers (Creative Directors, Art Directors, Picture Editors, Gallerists) can never be topped by facilitators or middle-people. The decision makers on creative or cultural projects are considered 'the artists' at their pop culture offices, where in fact they are 'remixers' (myself included - sigh). This crowd in-turn require you (the actual artist) to do the real work and for that they will always want as much contact with you as possible.
Agents know this and hence once you find yourself having secured a project, artists often awkwardly start wrestling with their agent who insists in remaining involved. For me this is where an agent earns their stripes. If they can stay out of the mix (more-or-less) and let the remixer and artist do their work, then they're okay by me.

Agents will come and go but once you've made a solid relationship with a facilitator at the actual creative project you hope to work with (ad agency, magazine, publisher etc..) they will be calling you directly. That's just how it goes.

JW - Okay so I did all that but I’m still wanting to work with someone, what should I look out for?

BS - Well, some agents might require you to pay them a base salary instead of a commission basis. A quality agent will see you as two parts of a whole. The Ying and the Yang of getting this ‘making-a-creative-living-thing’ done. They “the business” and you the creative”, but the whole thing spins on where you get together.

Boundaries about work from clients predating an agent relationship need to be established very early, so that nobody assumes the road ahead. Here you need to work to an understanding that is fair (eg. i the client offers low-maintenance work with little or no production requirement - it remains yours for the next 24 months total, thereafter it’s subject to the agent usual percentage. OR, if their work is production heavy then the percentage may be lower for one year (but the agent gets all of the production mark-ups).
You're a creative. Think of a way to manage these clients with your new agent, that offers an incentive to be taken on by the agent and grow that business, but that rewards your previous ingenuity for sealing repeat business. You'll know in your guts when you've settled on a fair deal.

Likewise try to get your head around a reasonable clause should the relationship with the agent fail (your “pre-nup”). It should be one that allows you to both leave with what you entered the relationship with, as well as a fair sharing of the produce thereof.

Some shabby agents can also expect artists to foot the entire bill for promotion. Again you’re partners in this. so they need to be chipping in. Hey, I’ve heard of some agents with bloated rosters who expect to make a profit from promotions because they overcharge their artists. Run from these people.

Turnaround for payment must be in keeping with the turnaround of payment by clients. Any other way and trust will soon break down.

Best to know the outlets you want to work with and expect that the shared knowledge of an agent will have a sword sharpening effect. They may be front line, but all involved work shown to any outlet needs to be absolutely relevant. This goes back to my point earlier about trading on the details of a project, and getting it into your practice early. Bloody hell... between you and an agent there is no reason why this cannot be in check at all times

Don't take an agent on if you’re unable to handle criticism or get snakey with rejection. ‘Natch’, few of us have a love affair with being criticised but if you become badly behaved when you're being dealt it straight, then best find your own way.

I recommend not signing up with agencies with too many photographers. Again you'll know when the list looks too long for you. It’s okay to be aligned with an agent who has an artist similar to you, but you owe it to yourself to see and understand the real difference between you both. Otherwise you should not be surprised when you lose work to this person - whereas what you want, is to have a chance at some more work because a genre is established at the agency.

If you do commit to an agent, give it time. Expect nothing for 6-8 months. You gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette. Quality relationships take some time. If the agent is taking steps with you everyday or every week then let the efforts ferment (in a whisky way, not a milk-in-the-sun way). If after 9 months you have little or no feedback and no nibbles, then give it another 3 months of working harder together. Find a second wind, make another plan again: together.
18 months of nothing is fair game for parting ways.
That's 18 looooong months if you didn’t think wisely about the partnership in the first place.

JW : But what about from the other side of the fence? What does a good agent look for or look to avoid?

A highly motivated photographer with a clear sense of purpose for their work. Hopefully it’s not only to become famous but also to do work of lasting merit...
Somebody who may not be a prolific producer (eg. 6000 frames a week) but who shoots through experimentation and makes efforts to develop as an artist (rather than an artist who talks about changing).

An artist with some genuine experience (doesn't have to be long history) in/of the industry. And so has some grasping of its realities.

A decent person. A professional outlook. Reasonable. Honest. Committed. Mature. No brutal track-record lurking in their previous business relationships.Clarity of vision.

May be working with a popular method but can be said to have a distinctive voice (without this, how can an agent be highly charged about their artist's value).

JW : Okaaaaay, so how come I’ve never met an agent to work with?

BS : Worth, you have bad hair, you’re a bit fat and frankly your social awkwardness is very off-putting. I don’t actually know how I know you.

JW : I’m like, probably not going to kiss you goodbye. Unless I should. I think I may have a coleslaw coming anyway.

Bree Seeley has been a facilitator of photography for 12 years . Currently picture editor at The Walrus, in Toronto. She has served as picture editor in the UK at the Sunday Telegraph Magazine and in Canada at Saturday Night, Maclean’s, and Shift. Bree was editorial director at New York photo agency Morisot Inc. and at legendary agency Magnum Photos UK bureau. Bree has taught photojournalism at Wilfred Laurier University, and is currently an instructor at Ryerson University teaching Visual Studies. She has been involved in the development of 10 photographic books, including the 2005 Infinity Award-winning Lodz Ghetto Album: Photographs by Henryk Ross and has been the commissioning photo editor on 20 works that received Gold awards from the Advertising and Design Club of Canada, and on 12 that won Gold at the National Magazine. Married to Franc Madden, she is also mother to a pair of scrumptious children.

Why you don't need a Rep.

2009-09-19T22:25:00.003+01:00

Part I ‘Van Gogh died broke didn’t he?’

When I first started out or actually, mores to the point when I repeatedly failed to start out; I and the small clique of friends that called Crouch End our new home, held "getting an agent" as being the Holy Photographic Grail. The attainment of which, would grant us access to a world of constant work, a welcome revenue stream and exposure for our art, dare I say it, possibly even the coffee table trophy formally known as; “A book”.

A great deal of time was spent bemoaning our collective lack of success and condemning anyone who seemed to have grasped the challis.

We seethed at photographers who got out of college and only minutes later were shooting a big campaign and we knew it that it was down to their retched agents which we all agreed they only "got" because they had; cool hair and, kissed people on both cheeks. Two things that we knew set them apart from us and labeled them sell-outs and us as righteous, if perhaps a little nerdy.

We bad-vibed them. All of them, and their skinny jeans. And all their shiny, skinny, beautiful friends.

We knew there was no justice in the world of commerce. We knew that the best artists would starve in garrets or die of selenium poisoning. Though, away in the privacy of our own insecurities we would all deconstruct with a Becher-like obsession, the all-important concept of engaging in physical contact at that first portfolio meet.

I'm pleased to say that I've never lost this vaguely adolescent clumsiness and have now grown to accept it. So understanding that I would never have really cool hair or be able to pull off a convincing Euro air-kiss, I turned the focus of my attention away from the “getting” an agent and towards working out exactly what it was that they did and how. More importantly, if I might in fact be able to do it for myself.

As such when someone asks me now how to get an agent, I tell them three things;

1: to hang out with cooler people,
2: grow their hair and
3: shake hands like a Frenchman.

Not really. I’d say, come back, and we'll tell you how Van Gogh could have repped himself better.

Hyperphotography and Living Magazine covers.

2009-09-17T08:22:00.003+01:00

I read about this Photo-shoot on Rachel Hulin's Blog and Tweeted a link to it right away. The references to Harry Potter are funny and hopefully begin to communicate the bigger notions of what's happening to our medium. It's a parallel that I drew here along with modes of instant global communication (Star Trek), the advent of Hyperphotography and their effects on documentary practice.

Just as the development of Digital SLRs that capture movies heralded photographers applying their existing skills sets in new ways (You are at the very least making home movies aren't you?) so E Paper should be perceived by most of us as "the cart leading the horse" again.

Not directly identifiable but really interesting is the promise of Hyperphotography's shifting power, from the observer/photographer to the hitherto objectified subject and how this is going to effect what we do.

Toss into the mix Google Wave's insta-web and we suddenly have our photographed subjects discussing the pictures in which they are depicted, in real time.

Which kind of leads us to the fundamental re-structuring of how conventional Televisual media works as well . Doesn't it?

Do I have to go to college to be a Photographer?

2009-09-14T09:22:00.034+01:00

No. Obviously not - I think it's a deliberately stupid question and one that I hate being asked with a passion.

Second only to "What camera should I buy for my vacation?"

I'm not saying that one shouldn't pay for a degree. On a good course (the right course for you) there can be some clear and perceivable benefits to making the substantial financial investment. But a person can certainly put themselves into all of the situations in which they'd benefit from the positive aspects of a bricks and mortar education, without actually packing a bag.

I went to college because I thought it was my only way into the industry. I knew no one that made photographs for a living. Neither of my parents had gone to college, my Mother worked as a receptionist and my Father was a salesman. It was 1991 and my network of friends, family and colleagues didn't reach geographically or otherwise very far from our garden gate.

This was not the right reason to go to college.

Anyone reading this article and considering going to college today can't claim to have the same story.

Why?

Because you just met me for one. So unless you're my Mum (hello Mum) then you've probably already broken some ground in extending your network of contacts and reference points.

So where next?

Well, start by continuing to think in this fashion. For instance, there are actually very few people that work in the Photo industry that make photographs for a living. The job is just one aspect of an industry that runs the whole gamut, from framing prints, curating exhibitions, styling clothes/food/rooms, to location scouting, researching, production, representation, photo direction and art buying, right up to commissioning Picture Editor of the New York Times.
How do you find out about these opportunities? Well the job centre/employment office is rubbish for all of this stuff and frankly most Photography courses don't deal with it either. The ones that do deal with it tend to focus so much on the "How" that it tends to be to the detriment of the more important "Why?". You end up knowing how to do work a bunch of different cameras but no idea what to point them at.

(But)...a lot of photographers think that if they buy a better camera they'll be able to take better photographs. A better camera won't do a thing for you if you don't have anything in your head or in your heart. - Arnold Newman - "American Photo" - March/April 2000, page: 17

One way is to carry a notebook (old skool I believe) or a phone that's up to the task and every time you see a picture that you like (no matter how bizarre the situation or outlet) to jot it down (I guess we could call this Augmenting our reality ^_^). Then in the splendid comfort of your own virtually snug, home-computing environment, work out who the hell made it? How? And for whom?

Here are some nuggets that might help you begin this process of reverse engineering:

Lets say it's a picture in a magazine. The name of the photographer should be with the picture somewhere, certainly in the case of an editorial story (as opposed to an advertisement), perhaps underneath, at the foot of the page or in the gutter (where the staples are).

This being the case then the picture was either;

a) commissioned by the publication
b) given by the subject
c) sold by a photographer/their agency, or
d) placed by an advertiser.

a) The Art Director or Creative Director are usually top of the pile at a magazine and top of the masthead (a column of contributors usually early on in the magazine) they're great to meet if you get chance but they will seldom micro manage the photo-commissioning, it's usually the Photo Editor that does this.
Photo Editors come in a variety of flavours, some publications have rafts of them, others get by with just one. Either way, this is the person that would commission you and it's the person you have to show your work to.

b) Publications will often not have enough of a budget to commission new photography. They will choose instead to buy/use stock photography, re-use -pictures from previously commissioned shoots that they've retained the rights to use or use press and publicity images.
Press and Publicity images are owned by the subject or their representatives and used to promote themselves or what they do.
Either the subject themselves,their publicity person or agent will commission you to make these pictures. And as they have a natural shelf life, this can become a source of regular income, as any Photographer doing mode l head-shots will tell you (or not).

c) Generating your own work is an essential part of what we do as creatives. If you want to be known as anything more than, a technician called in to facilitate somebody else's vision, then you have to demonstrate this with your own work. Entire business models are evolving that rely less and less on commissioned editorial work and instead seek to realise the benefits from self generated projects. Look at Magnum for instance and how their industry can no longer compete with the citizen eye-witness on their mobile phone. Instead their direction is more in large Art projects that are made after the initial news event and monetized through exhibitions and book deals. When you generate your own work then you can sell or license it.

d) Advertisers remain a large and profitable market for a lot of photographers. There are a number of ways that a client may wish to use or commission photography to sell and promote their product or services. These are usually fed through a creative/advertising agency and more specifically through the Art Buyer.
It is this person's job to h ave a comprehensive knowledge of the industry, so that when a designer (who normally hails from planet Zorg) comes to her desk and says that they need a, young/old/foreign/quaint/sexy/religious/colourful/retro/black and white (that thinks in colour) photographer to sell their new Haemorrhoid treatment - he or she will be able to pull together a bunch of absolu tely relevant photographers.

If you're stuck with a spare Christmas card approaching the festive period, then send it to an Art Buyer.

Five questions to ask before you go to University ;

Who wrote the course and when?
What is the course Ethos and how is that embedded? (sum up the course in a sentence)
Who is delivering the course?
What work do they do? (you must at least respect aspects of their practice to be fair to them and you)
Who are the alumni and what do they think? (also and essentially how long ago did they graduate, was it the same course and was it delivered by the same people?)

ps. When you found the name of the Photographer, did you Google them, go to their website, go through their client/publications list and make notes of them all ? If they were represented by an agent did you go through their site and see who else they represent ? If it was an advert did you find out who art directed it and then worked out what other clients they have/campaigns they work on ?..... I do.

Giving things away.

2009-09-12T00:32:00.009+01:00

The following are the ongoing notes from a live experiment trialing an adaptation of Cory Doctorow's business practices as a successful Science Fiction author.

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED HERE.

Background

I'm a freelance editorial photographer. Which broadly means that I charge a creative fee for my photographic services, the product of which the client is entitled to use, exclusively (called an embargo period), before I then syndicate it, and the rest of the pictures made at the shoot. As such my current business model revolves around my ownership of the copyright of my images and trading the licensing rights thereof. I represent myself and so pay no commission on my fees to an agent on the initial creative fee (though those fees seldom cover the cost of the shoot), however, when syndicated through Corbis Outline, I pay a minimum of 50% if they re-sell it, and 50% of my fee again if one of their agents sells it for them. I also produce self directed projects which I exhibit, and my work is collected by the National Portrait Gallery in London,UK. My total monthly income from archive sales are approx £150 GBP. I also sell my work directly and independently.

Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger -- the co-editor of Boing Boing (boingboing.net) and the author of the bestselling Tor Teens/HarperCollins UK novel LITTLE BROTHER. He is the former European director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and co-founded the UK Open Rights Group. Born in Toronto, Canada, he now lives in London.
.....His novels are published by Tor Books and HarperCollins UK and simultaneously released on the Internet under Creative Commons licenses that encourage their re-use and sharing, a move that increases his sales by enlisting his readers to help promote his work. He has won the Locus and Sunburst Awards, and been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula and British Science Fiction Awards.

Notes:
3rd September,2009
Portrait session time 90 mins.
Travel cost : £40
Food : £20
Film : £15
Processing dev. only : £9
Broken equipment during session (sync cable) : £30
Time spent: 1 day

Low res. scanning : In house
High res. scanning : In house
Post production : In house
Time spent : 1/2 day

Photographs delivered to subject all CC licensed and simultaneously uploaded to http://www.archive.org.
Time spent : 1hr

Image annotated by subject and passed to subject's community via Flickr.

Image views as of 12th September 2009 via Flickr; 2,297
Image views as of 15th September,2009 via Flickr; 2,918
Image views as of 22nd September,2009 via Flickr; 4,103
Image views as of 13th October,2009 via Flickr; 5,436
Income; £0.00
(Directly perceivable) indirect income ; £0.00

There's a bunch happening will write up soon.

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED HERE.

WANT TO BE INVOLVED ? GREAT, MAIL ME.

Why the Spanish Inquisition 1478-1834 was good for Photography.

2009-09-11T11:38:00.001+01:00

History is never antiquated, because humanity is always fundamentally the same. ~Walter Rauschenbusch

History is a vast early warning system. ~Norman Cousins

The challenge of history is to recover the past and introduce it to the present. ~David Thelen

So what I'm not saying is that burning people is a good thing. Unless they're already dead and then that's okay.

If that's what you're into.

As opposed to planting.

Equally I'm not saying that I don't have a few contenders myself for the list of; "lightly toasted on one side just to teach them a lesson" category either.

What I am saying is; can we please move on from the "Photography is dead debate", when it's quite evident even to the most hardened cynic that the medium has never been more universally alive in terms of it's access and more democratic in terms of it's understanding. What we should be exciting about, is the potential for where this leads us.

Take a straw poll now of a few people's favourite painters, then ask which actual paintings they know. I imagine that anyone still reading at this point would be amongst people of a certain demographic that (with more refined tastes than my own ) might well refer to painters and paintings that I've perhaps never heard of. However, I bet that almost all of the people and paintings mentioned are post-renaissance. Picasso will be in there somewhere and Van Gogh no doubt, but I bet Rembrandt is too and perhaps Titian, I bet the Mona Lisa crops up and probably Scarlett Johansson (from which you should draw enormous comedy mileage).

Conversely, if the main names are Luís Borrassá, Andrea da Firenze and Simone Martini then dinner is on me.

There are a number of things that changed in painting between these two sets of people that are worth reflecting on for Photography right now;

The way the pictures depicted their subject matter.
The subject matter itself.
The way that the artworks were read.
The sources of funding for the Artists.

In depiction, there was a move away from single point perspective. There was literally a new depth to the images that allowed the reader/viewer to look into and around the picture. It reflected a more life-like and realistic experience more akin to the world that the viewer actually lived in. After all, people generally aren't flat.

Sounding familiar ? Maybe time to brush up on your Hyperphotography if not.

The subject matter itself changed because, for years painters had told the story of the Bible, as dictated by the Papacy to the illiterate masses. Through layers of sea-shell, egg whites and lamp black (amongst other ingredients) they told very clear stories in established and understandable formats.

With the rise in literacy, the translation of the Bible and the spread of individualism, people began to proclaim Christ as the head of the church and not the Pope. On a fundamental level, they began to question their sources of information as never before.

In fact it seems hard to believe to us today that the thought of a personal relationship with God (or as Plato described it, being without a Greek word for religion, Love,Knowledge and Truth), through direct prayer, was as alien for them as, lets say for instance, it would be today for us to ask a person depicted within a photograph, for their own version of events.

Completely ridiculous! In fact one might even go so far as to say; heretical.

Goodness. Can you actually imagine questioning the version of events, as dictated by a Professional Photographer and an actual Writer, which had been subsequently verified and published (by the newspaper/magazine or television), by actually asking the subject in the picture itself for their version ? There and then. On a completely personal level. Away from any perceivable editorial grasp?

Asbestos body suit anyone?

Although as Dan Brown proves to us so accurately, there were of course rebels who, although taking the money from their patrons, secretly stuck two fingers up to that establishment and painted their own coded versions of events. However, the paintings and the buildings that housed these works of art still came to embody the idea of God, just as they were meant to.

And they still do.

Ask any local village vicar/pastor/minister etc. how much money she raises to build wells for dying children in Africa, and she'll tell you it's a fraction of what she can raise in half the time by telling the local community that without a new roof, their church (building) will have to be demolished. It is surely the case that the language and intent of any religious teachings are lost in a society where the people that populate it, believe that those teachings are embodied in the modes of communication themselves. We just plain stopped hearing the wood for the trees, so to speak.

Can you really imagine, a world without the New York Times ? Or any other newspaper denting your lawn every weekend?

But anyway; this undermining of Papal authority didn't end there, as the new worlds and new markets were discovered, so the growing nations of Europe began to resent the high taxation that Rome siphoned off. The Church fractured and split.

It's reaction? A bloody big stick. Or actually in this case, a bonfire.

It's almost like, lets say (just for fun), if the Music industry decided to sue a few file sharers for absurdly huge sums of money that would be impossible for those people to ever pay, and in the full knowledge that the costs of doing so would never be recovered, in order to make examples of them.

Yes, clearly ridiculous.

Incidentally, the witch hunters themselves were a prosperous lot during this people, more than likely billing hourly.

My point is that when we look back at the similarly massive cultural and societal shifts that took place during this period we see that by trying ineffectually, to maintain the discipline and direction of it's Orthodoxy, the Papacy first in 1184 (followed by Isabella and her Spanish adaptation in 1478) established their inquisitions, they were really just plain failing to accept the next and looming business model. In fact it's been argued that (in a similar turn of religious events) when Catholic Mary Tudor (the first daughter of English Henry the Eight) persecuted the protestants she did more

"to advance the course of Protestanism than any Protestants could have imagined. (because) Seeing men of the church ... publicly burned for their religious convictions earned these martyrs a certain respect that you just don't get from doing Thought for the day." ~John O'Farrell.

So where exactly did all this, as interesting as it is, leave the Painters ?

Their medium was becoming common place, circumvented and in the terms of it's previous purpose, made largely redundant. In fairness though, it could have been worse. Bible scribes had the printing press just itching to be invented around this time too. Can you honestly imagine how gutted they were when mass communication of their medium made their practice entirely irrelevant? I bet the painters heaved a huge sigh of relief knowing that their work was unique and immune to such degradation for ever.

Although the painter's patron of the Church didn't disappear over night, they (the painters) did find themselves looking for new ways to sustain their practices. With the increase in commerce and the corresponding decrease in monopolistic control by the Papacy, it was the nouveau riche merchants that went on to facilitate this.

What I'm also not saying with this analogy is that that every editorial photographer should now go and work for a Russian Oligarch, nor should they all go and form a new religious sect. What I am trying to say is that when we think of the great leaps and bounds to have taken place throughout Art History over the last five hundred years, it's difficult not to be inspired and amazed by the post renaissance artists. They still define who we are and how we see today.

Photography, will not , as Phillip Jones Griffiths questions (paraphrased from Ritchen After Photography) ‘...become a shooting star of the twenty first century, which came and went in a hundred years’, because there is in all probability a twenty first century Leonardo Da Vinci walking amongst us right now. In fact from his bedroom, his avatar is probably mixing hyperphotography, metavideo, news and music with vehicle design and Science Fiction literature, all in Second Life.

We just need to hope that he’s not getting sued for it.

Why I use Twitter to teach.

2009-09-08T12:18:00.019+01:00

The rest of the sentence should read "amongst other things" but it wasn't as pithy.

If someone asks me; what are the defining moments within Photography over the last hundred years then I feel confident giving them a list of things to think about.

It's easy.

Even though my intimate relationship with the subject has only spanned the last twenty of those years, I've done very little else. As such, my collateral knowledge (although not without holes) is substantial enough for me to provide reference points, overviews and directions for further research.

If someone asks me what themes dominate Photographic practice over the last ten years, then I'm confident enough to refer to both my own experiences and those of my close professional colleagues over that time. I'm able to draw on the knowledge invested in my bookshelves, where along with the books, videos and DVDs are plenty of articles and magazines that I've also read and kept along the way.

When someone wants more than this, then things change fundamentally.

It seems to me that acknowledging this fact is a defining characteristic of the people that will continue to drive and be relevant in debates that concern the biggest cultural shifts in Western society since the Renaissance and Reformation.

I can't help but think that to describe the current condition of the photographic/media industry as being "in flux" sort of plays it a bit short, so to speak.

Similarly discussions about whether or not wet darkroom techniques should form the cornerstone of a good and relevant photographic education, are the sorts of questions that I expect to see on a list with item number three being; Is the Internet just a phase? - discuss.

If someone asks me; what are the current thoughts and debates driving the photographic/media industry, this year/month/week and furthermore how do I listen to and follow the drivers of these debates ? Then I'd be lying to say that I knew.

It's hard.

Yes it's pretty much all that I think about. Yes, I am constantly and actively researching and trying to understand not only what the answers to those questions are but also, I'm trying desperately to understand the damn questions themselves.

What is a Photographer ?
What is their role, right now and what will it be in the future ?
What constitutes a sustainable practice for them now and looking forward?

And .. ... then I wonder if anyone else is asking these questions ?
.... and then I wonder if there's a community of people out there that might be sourcing and sharing material to try to comprehend this moment ?

When I find information relevant to these topics I post links to the websites, pod casts, web logs, news feeds, photo galleries, articles, practitioners etc and share them with people that form the community of learners, of which I am one.

This negates the sometimes hermetic environs of academia. Twitter and other methods of social media can constitute a more dynamic and outward facing type of research, especially to the student whose hitherto notion of it was cut'n paste Wikipedia.

Likewise as part of a structure of dynamic learning methods, it also serves to embed the framework of sustainable practices that are relevant wherever the medium takes us in the future. Right now Twitter enables me to follow the thoughts, processes and debates that other media practitioners are engaging in and from this come to a more thorough and global understanding of the commonalities. ... And there is also a keystroke combination that allows you to Tweet forward into the future... .....

As I write this, a tweet from TrendTracker has fed into my Tweetdeck stream it reads :
"Twitter changes everything http://j.mp/61pTE RT @jeanlucr @ggrosseck #socialmedia"

It probably does a better job than I just did of explaining why I Tweet.

That's annoying.

Some great starting points for the virgin Twitterer (via Mashable via Twitter) :

Star Trek, Harry Potter and Hyperphotography.

2009-09-04T09:54:00.021+01:00

I wished my photographs (the old ones) would move - or talk - to be a little more alive. But I can't talk for them. That's why there's so much written about photography today - by "experts". Contemporary photography is competent, often exquisite. It's easy to look at, and I prefer it if it's not in colour and not about whores in India or South America. The few photographs I'm trying to make show my interior against the landscape I'm in. At times I put in words -Soup - Strength - Fate - Blind. - Robert Frank

…The photograph should be more interesting or more beautiful than what was photographed.- Garry Winogrand

...In the end, maybe the correct language would be how the fact of putting four edges around a collection of information or facts transforms it. A photograph is not what was photographed, it’s something else. - Garry Winogrand

I am sometimes accused by my peers of printing my pictures too dark. All I can say is that it goes with the mood of melancholy that is induced by witnessing at close quarters such intractable situations of conflict and joylessness. - Don McCullin

Captain Kirk and Harry Potter walk into a bar....

Not really.

I was going through more transcripts of my interviews today and I came across a conversation with Steve Pyke , he'd been talking about sitting at a diner by a window with William Egglestone when, after an unfathomably long pause, big Bill lazily looked out of the window and drawled very softly, "That's beautiful".

Steve recounted looking up and seeing all the elements of a perfectly distilled Egglestone moment come together for a fleeting instant. And then track away into oblivion. He went on to describe the feeling and the power ;

SP: ... it's kind of why I love Arbus, y'know, because she photographs the extraordinary and makes it kind of exist in an ordinary way ... then suddenly you walk out and everything you're looking at is an Arbus ..... she makes you see the world in a different way, and that's an amazing thing to be able to do.

And great photography has always done this. It hasn't always been the photographer's vision in the end. As translucent layers of editorial attention were heaped on the image. It was cropped , edited, sequenced and titled, away from the care and intent of the original witness. But nevertheless, photography has prescribed it's vision and in turn, effected ours.

But what now ?

In a world where instant global communication isn't something that only Captain Kirk can do, the vast majority of us have access to record and transmit our versions of events. Perhaps even the same events that a real actual "Pro. Photographer" also recorded.

I wonder, how does the power relationship change when our other witnesses to the event, also pitch their versions into the mix?

Not only do they change the edges of the frame that "our" photographer erected but they contextualise them and him too.

Of course photographers like Winogrand have always done this with their acerbic wit, and we as viewers have had to laugh at ourselves when they did so, but with Harry Potter the paradigm shifted. Well not actually because of J.K. Rowling, but when the characters in wizard photographs wave back at us (and they do), they're no longer objectified.

When our photographed subjects are active participants with their recorded version of events they challenge our photographer's view of the world. When Fred Ritchin talks about Hyperphotography, he describes the coming together of these elements into a pixelated non-linear structure. One in which we can click on any of the subjects to see and hear their version of events, perhaps even whizz out into space and get an overview of the whole smörgåsbord from Google Earth.

But, even as much as I hate myself for thinking it, I can't say I'm that thrilled frankly.

I mean, I'm not sure if this stripping away of the conventional layers of editorial control won't just reveal an amorphous mass of Joe Public. And he's an idiot. I hear him on talk radio ranting on endlessly with his small minded, self righteous bigotry and how - never minding the fact that we're a nation at war, someone should bloody well sort out the permit holders only parking on Peachtree Crescent or by God and all that's holy he'll write to his MP.

I mean , and again I'm not proud of it , but I know that I am actually a pretty lazy ass dude. I kind of rely on the integrity of professional journalists to explain their points of view to me and to be economically dependent on their reputation for the fairness and balance of that view. In much the same way that I avidly follow the work of some photographers whose vision constantly changes my way of seeing the world for the better.

So when the elevator girl in Robert Frank's Americans recently recognised herself and went on to tell her story; I'm not actually sure that it would necessarily have added that much at the time to Jack Kerouac's original introductory ode to her, I mean, to be fair, I'm not sure how long

"It's not necessarily loneliness, it's ... dreaminess."

would have held my attention ... ooh, nice shoes