Bulkka | Arts+Culture A Photo Editor - Bil Zelman Shoots Pro Bono, But Not For Free Bil Zelman contacted me recently about some pro bono work he’s been shooting and in particular how rewarding it is for him. Ultimately it ends up benefiting his business too with genuine interest in the work from Art Directors and nice press placement. Here’s what we talked about: Tell me a little bit about yourself and how you arrived at a successful commercial photography career. In art school I developed a particular style of hard-flash, in your face, street photography that landed me some museum shows. I’ve always tried to bring something fresh and innovative to the table, and the believability of my shots has been well received and rewarded. How do you determine what is pro bono and what should be paid, how do you know it’s not something the client should be paying for? I don’t have any steadfast rules except that they have to be non-profit and preferably a charity. Pro-bono projects I’ve worked on recently would include: The the International Pediatric Neurological Society.
15 Awesome Food Photography Tips Of all the types of things I photograph, shooting food probably comes the closest to being a full-blown DIY project. There’s a lot going on– from lighting and composing to styling and shooting, food photography is almost always a production. But regardless of whether you are shooting food for a big publishing client or for a small cookbook of your old family recipes, the process of capturing food at its most flattering remains the same. You Only Need One Light Source Food photography is definitely one of those genres where less is more. Sometimes Mother Nature (and Schedules) Don’t Cooperate Sometimes you’re just stuck with a crappy day and there’s nothing you can do about it. As you can see below, the setup can be extremely basic. Vary the Camera Angle Just like human subjects can be photographed from more flattering angles, the same goes for food. In the two examples below, the ingredients for a spice rub are photographed from two different angles. Speaking of Getting it Just Right…
FlakPhoto.com | Photography Online A Photo Editor - Chris Buck Interview (Part 2) “You have to be really ambitious but you have to balance that with patience. You have to have both.” This is part two of my interview with Chris Buck (part one here). I mentioned yesterday how shoots with Chris always came in to the office with pleasant surprises in the contacts. Unexpected shots. APE: Was there a eureka moment with your photography where you thought I’m onto something or this feels really good to me? Chris with Dr. The build up of my career has been very gradual. Elvis Costello, New York, 1994 Anyway, one of the pictures that felt like it had that visual style and oddly it’s an Irving Penn homage is a picture of Elvis Costello. Chris Farley, New York, 1994 Julia Child, New York, 1994 I think that may also be a function of having testicular cancer and turning 30 at the time as well. APE: On your contact sheets there are Chris Buck moments and there are pictures of people standing around. I think to be a great photographer you have to be a great editor of your work.
12 Creative Marketing Ideas for Professional Photographers I cropped this square and added a little text for you so it is ready to be pinned on Pinterest! Marketing your photography business is one of the most difficult things a new photographer must do. If you are just getting started in the business, it can be frustrating because it seems like you can’t get your message in front of the right people. Next month, you could look back over this month and see more time gone by without getting any closer to your goal of getting a photography business started, or you could actually DO one of these ideas and be on your way to reaching your goal. Marketing Idea #1: Design Custom Cards/Invitations As photographers, we too often think that our only skill to advertise to clients is our photography. When clients see your messaging that merely offers engagement photos, they may think that Uncle Bob could do just as well (he has a really nice camera, after all). I took this photo and my AMAZINGLY AWESOME wife Emily did the design of the wedding announcement.
Der Greif when the curious girl realizes she is under glass The Making of My Paris Kitchen (Photo by Ed Anderson) My Paris Kitchen is finally here! It’s taken me a few years to get to this day, and I thought I’d give you a little look behind-the-scenes of how the book was created. There’s a certain amount of conversation about blogs versus cookbooks, and since I have a foot in both, I am keenly aware of the connection between the two, but also what makes them different. There’s a lot of talk about whether food blogs are overtaking traditional cookbooks. So when people ask me, “What’s your book about?” In addition to showing the spectacular city of Paris, I also wanted to highlight its diversity through visits to some of the ethnic neighborhoods, presenting some of the multicultural recipes I picked up there, which Parisians have embraced. So there are recipes and stories from Provence, the Jura, as well as North Africa and yes, even the United States. Writing a book is an all-consuming process, at least for me. (Publishers aren’t always right. Often people ask me how I work.