This Saturday is APA/LA‘s big annual exhibition called “Off The Clock“. It is a curated show of personal work from professional photographers from Los Angeles and across the country. This year the curator was Julie Grahame and she has put together a fantastic show of 100 images with wide-ranging perspectives. The Gala will be this Saturday night at Santa Monica Art Studios from 7:00pm to 10:00pm. This is part of MOPLA which is an annual event created by the Lucie Foundation to celebrate Photography in Los Angeles. We have two images in the exhibition this year, but the whole show is really what’s worth seeing. You can register here or just show up to share in the excitement of this fun annual event.

This weekend we picked up an Honorable Mention in the 9th Annual International Color Awards in the Professional Portrait category with our photo of Jamesen Re. With a huge international submission it is quite an honor to be included in such a varied and talented group of artists! I can’t say enough about the amazing family of talented people I work with. On this particular project that would include Stacy Quackenbush on sets & wardrobe,  Stephanie Daniel on Hair & Makeup, and my preferred right hand Jacob Rushing. And of course huge shout out to Jamesen Re for owning it!

Check out our category, but also take the time to check out all the winners at http://www.colorawards.com, there are some really great images to experience!

If you happen to be traveling through Logan International Airport (BOS) this week (March 22-27) check out our life-size imagery in terminals A, B, C & E! This is actually a good execution of taking an existing image and tailoring it to the client’s needs! If you do see it… snap a photo of yourself next to it and we’ll share it!

In our last post we shared a couple of images we shot for Style Loves Adventure about some of the hot names in the music/club/festival world. Here is the other shot from the series. This is Mario Melendez, creator of King King… the club in Los Angeles..which has unfortunately closed – but who knows what may come next? 😉

You can read more in the SLA Article.

Again, amazing styling by Stacy Quackenbush, Grooming by Stephanie Daniel.

It’s okay to say “Both!” While we have shared these photos in a few select venues, we have not shared the broadly as we were waiting for a few things to happy before we put them out to a wider audience. But now all cats are out of their respective bags so we can safely say… “Hey! Check out these images we shot of Dede Flemming (Co-Creator of Lightning in a Bottle and The Do LaB) and Jamesen Re (Producer / DJ / Entrepreneur)”

There is a third in the series that we’ll share in our next post, but needless to say we had a blast shooting these images for Style Loves Adventure!

Amazing Sets and Wardrobe by: Stacy Quackenbush
Grooming by: Stephanie Daniel

And in the latest one you’ll find some great recipes for gelato that we had fun photographing! I’ve said it before, if you have not gotten your hands on an issue of Darling Magazine, you’re missing out! This is a beautifully crafted quarterly that is worth checking out!

Darling Magazine Issue #15 is available now!

Dana Hursey featured in this month’s PDN “How I Got That Shot”.

We’ve been doing a bunch of interviews lately (did you see the one withe Suzanne Sease?) And we are super excited to be featured in the February issue of PDN! (Photo District News). PDN does a recurring feature called “How I Got That Shot” where they discuss a few images, and what the photographer did in order to achieve them. This month’s edition features our work! It looks at two images we did, one for a highly anticipated SLA (Style Loves Adventure) feature that will be out soon, and highlights the talents of Stacy Quackenbush and Stephanie Daniel.  The other is an image that made it into CA (Communication Arts) and features the set stylings of Oliver Martin, animal stylings of Animal Savvy and retouching magic of Lisa Carney. If you don’t subscribe to Photo District News, check it out on news stands now! The online version will be up in February!

Check out a new interview entitled:

The Art of the Personal Project: Dana Hursey

by Photo Editor Suzanne Sease:

http://aphotoeditor.com/2016/01/07/the-art-of-the-personal-project-dana-hursey/

Okay… We had a LOT of fun with this one! Here are a couple of images from a Recipe Article we did in the Brand New Issue of Darling Magazine. #DarlingIssue14

There were tarps, and deflector boards, and turkey basters (and brooms and vacuums and rags – oh my!). But at the end of it all we had some dynamic shots and eventually a clean studio.

Go get the latest issue and enjoy the recipes and all of the great articles in this finely crafted magazine!

We are thrilled to again be included with such an amazing collection of supremely talented photographers, in this years International Photography Awards (IPA’s). We were tapped with Three Honorable Mentions, in:

• Professional: Advertising, Food
• Professional: Fine Art, Other
• Professional: Special, Night Photography

Check out all of the Honorees at IPA Awards.

Professional: Advertising, Food

Professional: Fine Art, Other

Professional: Special, Night Photography

Over the years I have had a variety of solutions to try to support the process of asking all the right questions one must ask in order to put together a proper estimate. For a long time I had used a form I created in Microsoft Office that had space for most of the pertinent information. I would print up a stack and have them sitting next to the phone ready to go. A few years ago in my effort to be “paperless” I incorporated that information into my CRM (Daylite) as an embedded form I could pull up and fill out as I was talking to someone. But inevitably there would be questions I would ask that the client had not thought about, or did not have the answer to, and they would have to go away and talk to the other parties involved, in order to obtain the answers and “get back to me later”. There is no one size fits all solution, as each shoot has its own unique factors to take into account. But for me with the types of projects I shoot, there are some basic questions that go a long way to getting most of the needed information for any given project, and from there it is usually a simple email with one or two follow-up questions that get us the rest of the details needed in order to provide our clients with a spot-on estimate.

Recently I decided to create an online questionnaire that addressed the common key points and was readily available to my clients so that they could more efficiently collect the answers before making the initial request from us for an estimate.  It has been a big hit with my clients and has acted as a checklist for them to make sure they too, are addressing all the needs of their various projects. In addition it has been very helpful to folks who are new to the process and don’t even know the questions to ask in order to start visualizing how a production will be put together.

This week we took it one step further and incorporated the online version into an editable pdf, that can be emailed to someone to work on over time rather than having to do it all in one fell swoop online. So we thought we would go ahead and share it. Granted this Estimate Request Form is very much geared to our particular workflow and shooting style. If we shot Architecture or Sheet Metal (automotive) this form would probably look very different. But hey… whats to stop those who do, from taking this and moulding it to their own specialty or workflow?

We also hope this will be helpful to Art Buyers / Producers or Creatives to gather all the details they might want to relay to us in their RFP’s.

Again every unique project will usually require a couple follow-up communications, but for us, this goes a long way to eliminating the MULTIPLE “just one more question for you…”‘s as well as helping to educate those who may be doing this for the first time.

This week we did an estimate for an agency for a one day location shoot here in Los Angeles. The agency was from out-of-state and was coming to L.A. for our broader selection of location options. Their first point of contact was through our website where they used our new “Estimate Request Form“. (I will share more on that in another post.) The form has very specific call-outs for the various types of licensing options available.

Maybe I should back up and address licensing first. For the most part, “Licensing” is how most advertising photographers make money from our imagery. We get paid for photographing something based on how, when, and where the image is going to be used. The more exposure it gets, the more inherent value it has. For instance if I photograph a sprinkler head on a white background for Bob’s Plumbing down the street and it is going to appear in a one time advertisement in the local PennySaver, I am not going to charge Bob the same price for that simple shot as I am going to charge Coca-Cola for a shot of Beyoncé holding up a Coke can sitting on the shoulders of football players surrounded by swooning fans shot in a football stadium with fireworks exploding behind her that will be used all season in magazines and on billboards culminating in a Super Bowl campaign. The second photograph has a bit more inherent value.

The image on the left is more likely to have more inherent value as well as higher production costs, than the image on the right.

As a general rule, most licensing is for a year. Meaning the client can use the imagery in the agreed upon media venues (i.e. Print Advertising, Internet, Billboards, Broadcast, Point of Purchase, etc.) for 12 months. If the image is not time sensitive, many advertisers will opt to license images for longer periods, 2 years, 3 years, 5 years, and some even licenses  images “in perpetuity” meaning they can use them forever. This all gets spelled out during the initial estimating process. The advertiser or ad agency will indicate their desired media,  length of time, region (i.e. local, national, worldwide etc.) and whether or not they want exclusive usage of the imagery (meaning the images cannot be used elsewhere, if they want exclusivity), and from that the photographer will negotiate an appropriate fee, based on these parameters, certainly also taking into account the complexity of the project and what it will take to produce the final image(s).

As I have discussed in previous posts, as a photographer, when you snap a photo you are instantly and legally the owner / author / copyright holder of that image… without doing anything additional. From there, you are now able to license your image to others to use per negotiated or agreed upon terms. In the advertising photography industry there are three general licensing models…

1. Use in a specified media & region for a specified time.
2. Unlimited / Unrestricted Usage.
3. Buy Out.

Let’s take a look…

Specified Media, Region, & Time: The first is the most common. The advertiser / end-user wants to use the image in a specific media, in a specific region, for a specific amount of time. For instance; a bathing suit manufacturer wants to use a photo of a model wearing their latest creation in magazine advertisements and on their packaging for one year (because next year they will have a new & different style),only in the United States (they don’t have any foreign distributors so they don’t sell outside the U.S.). Variations on this theme are endless.

Unlimited / Unrestricted: The second is becoming much more common these days. The advertiser / end-user wants the flexibility to use the images whenever and wherever they want. They don’t want to have to worry if the license period is about to expire or expose themselves if someone in the company inadvertently uses it in a media that was not part of the original licensing agreement. So this licensing allows them to use the images however they want… forever. BUT the photographer still owns the images and holds the copyright. The end-user is NOT allowed to re-sell or re-license the images to a third-party. They can ONLY use the images for the brand that they were originally licensed for. This licensing model is going to be more expensive to the end-user. Rule of thumb? …The photo fee will most likely be double / triple that of a one year license.

Buy Out: The third is the least common. In this licensing model, the actual ownership and copyright of the imagery is transferred to the advertiser / end-user. With this, they truly can do whatever they want with the image, including re-selling or re-licensing it to other parties. There is rarely a real need for this type of licensing and with the photographer giving up all rights to the image, it will normally come with a premium price tag, usually 3x to 5x that of a one year license.

All of that being said, let’s get back to the tale at hand. So we received a request for an estimate for this upcoming L.A. based shoot. In the estimate request the agency ticked off the specific licenses that they wanted. The same licensing model was spelled out in subsequent email communications… Unlimited, Worldwide, Perpetual use. For all intents and purposes “Unlimited / Unrestricted Usage”. The client had a budget in mind which they shared with us. There was no way we could produce the job for the budget they specified, but we assured them we would do our utmost to be mean & lean with our production so as to get as close to that number as we possibly could. With that in mind and this being a new client we were very generous (read “low”) with our fees so as to accommodate the client as much as possible, while still giving them the unlimited / unrestricted usage they were asking for. We put together our estimate and packaged it up with a “treatment” (a multi-page document laying out our vision for the project and how we’d approach it, including sample imagery) and sent it off to the agency. After a couple of days of back and forth refinements (giving the agency options to present to the client) we were awarded the job. YAY!

During the “back and forth” things were looking hopeful, as they were setting me up as a vendor, and getting all the paperwork in order, so we held the prospective dates for production and started to line up crew and locations.

Once we were awarded the project we were told that a P.O. (Purchase Order) would follow later that day. Purchase orders are generally a simple formality but are an important part of the process if your agency or client uses them. Most P.O.’s are very basic and if they have any terms & conditions on them, they are usually just your normal boilerplate text. Later that day we received the promised P.O., and as I started to follow the instructions for submitting our advance invoice (we always get an advance on each project up front to cover the expenses incurred during production – our advances are either 50% of the total invoice or 75% of expenses, whichever is higher) I wandered into the Terms and Conditions section of the P.O. … and there it was… Really?….. REALLY?! Could this be true? Does this still really go on?… The P.O. Terms and Conditions indicated that anything created for this project would be considered “Work for Hire”! What’s “work for hire” you ask? Wikipedia does it justice. Basically the P.O. was saying that I was signing away any and all rights to the imagery I would produce. Uuuummmm No I’m Not! First and foremost that is NOT the licensing model I was asked to estimate. And secondly, No I’m Not!

This is something one might see in a “Work for Hire” agreement.

In reality it is not a licensing model at all. Rather, it is a legal exception to the fact that the person who creates something is its author / owner. Negating the copyright one would normally have automatically when creating a photograph.

Seeing this in a P.O. in 2015 was surprising to say the least. I had truly thought these things were a relic of the past. That aside if the agency wanted to own the imagery, first have the decency to call it what it is .. a Buy Out. Don’t ask for an Unlimited / Unrestricted Usage and then hope that the fine print gets overlooked. I understand that this is the easy way to C.Y.A. in these litigious times. But we are a small community and really are all on the same side. Trying to provide compelling, great quality imagery for clients to help sell their brand and products.

I subsequently addressed the issue with the agency. Indicating that the T&C on the P.O. are not the same as the Licensing we negotiate and agreed to in our estimate, for which the job was ultimately awarded to us. I offered to strike the “work for hire” clause in the P.O. and proceed, or alternately renegotiate the licensing fees for an Unlimited / Unrestricted usage. The agency refused any alterations to the P.O..

There were other “red flags” that had popped up during the process but I had taken them with a grain of salt and shrugged my shoulders, saying, not a big deal, we’ll work through “that”. But with this change of licensing after the fact and in taking a step back and looking at the project as a whole, it was starting to look like there were too many red flags. Ultimately I had to walk away from the project. Which was too bad as we were going to produce some really great imagery for this client.

There is nothing illegal about work for hire and I completely get how it can be the easiest course of action to protect oneself when it comes to the convoluted world of intellectual property. My issue in this case was the lack or transparency upfront during the estimating process. Would I ever do work for hire? Hard to say… I haven’t yet. It has always made me feel “icky”. But I will say that I will never do it without knowing UP FRONT.

The morals of the story is:

1. Make sure to always get a signed estimate or P.O. before starting production.
2. Of course, always read the blocks of fine print, no matter how long… I know… 🙁
3. Be upfront, honest, and transparent.
4. Don’t do “work for hire” if it makes you feel “icky”, you won’t be alone. (if you have to, make sure you charge appropriately – we all have to make a living!)

I am an advocate for elevating quality in advertising photography, both in its visual execution, and in the business and production of all that surrounds that execution. The more advocates there are, the higher the elevation will be, and the faster it will occur! Then we can just focus on what’s important; making great imagery for our clients.

Brand Name and Production Costs have a lot to do with an image’s value.

We recently helped out the folks at Yogurtland and Amusement Park create their new campaign called “Top This!”, encouraging  patrons to create their own towering masterpieces. It was of course a delicious day and we had a blast exploring all kinds of delectable combinations. From the Whimsical, to the Decadent, to the Colossal… each was a challenge in its own right. But with speed and stealth (and the food stylings of Nicole Kruzick @ Belly Food Style) we captured some mouth-watering combinations that were a feast for the… well they were a feast. Head over to your nearest Yogurtland and step up to the Ultimate Toppings Challenge! We’ll be keeping an eye out to see who wins!

Let’s spell it out…

I recently wrote a post on the topic of using images from the web titled “That Photo’s Not Free!…“I touched on copyright issues surrounding the practice of grabbing an image online and using it without permission from (or compensation to) the photographer who created it. After I posted the article and got great response, a colleague of mine offered up the brilliant idea of a follow-up post explaining WHY that photo IS NOT and SHOULD NOT be free.

The first and foremost reason why it SHOULD NOT be free is because once people get the idea in their minds that photos could be free, they soon start to EXPECT them all to be free from now until eternity. This is a difficult place from which to rewind.

Allow me to now lay out the case for why images should not be free, based on the investment we photographers make in both time and money to create valuable assets, assets for which the creator is due compensation. This will of course be from my personal perspective, attempting to illustrate what is necessary to stay current, and maintain a thriving commercial photography studio.

In order to create these assets, we have expenses. But before we get to the nuts and bolts of our associated costs, let’s talk about the foundation on which the photography industry is built. Education.

Some of us do indeed go through 2-4 year programs at accredited universities or community colleges in order to hone our craft. Yet, not everyone goes this traditional route. Some take the apprenticeship approach, learning on the job alongside a professional. Others are self-taught. No matter how the education happens, it involves deep investments of both time and money, and in some cases it can be upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars and many years. For all of which there is no direct compensation. Education is just one of the many “investments” we make in order to excel at our craft.

I recently read a statement that I love. It was a photographer’s response to a client who took issue with paying what was perceived to be an exorbitant amount of money for a shoot that the photographer was able to accomplish rather quickly. It went something like this: “You are not paying for how long it takes me to do the job. You are paying for the decades of experience which I have accumulated that allows me to do the job at this high level.”

Most professional photographers are people who have invested a significant number of years fine-tuning their skills, developing a style, and refining their voices. This is no small feat and is something that is ONLY compensated (monetarily) when they get a gig or sell an image.

Most professional photographers “Test.” Testing means shooting a project for yourself for the purpose of developing or adding to your portfolio. It is both a form of self-expression and a way to show clients your “personal work.” But who PAYS for the test? The photographer does. This particular test was fairly elaborate and cost thousands of dollars.

Now let’s get into the nitty-gritty… It’s sharing time.

I am going to share my personal gear list with you to demonstrate the kinds of investments a real-life photographer like me has as overhead. Every professional photographer is going to have his or her preferred gear. How much gear depends on the photographer and also the type of work they do. I don’t think I am anywhere near the high-end of the spectrum in regards to how much I own, but I do have a substantial amount of equipment. Keep in mind, this is the equipment I have now and does not reflect all of the equipment that has gone by the wayside over the years which would EASILY double my investment from the list below.

This is my current equipment investment in all its glory. I doubt this list is exhaustive and I encourage others to add their two cents. In fact, I intentionally omitted a lot of small things here and there because otherwise this post would go on almost forever.

Whew!

So far, NOT INCLUDING all of the equipment that has come and gone over the years (Think 4 or 5 film-based camera systems and countless computers.), my investment in my career including my education and equipment stands around a quarter of a million dollars. I guess I better get out there and start getting some jobs through the door! To that end, the next step is to connect with those who would hire me and let them know I exist. And I need to have a body of work to show them that I can indeed deliver. What does that entail? Another list of expenses…

While “Testing” can be a drain on the pocketbook, it can often pay off in exposure. The expenses on this test were minimal (props / set and animal trainer) but they were well worth the investment. This image won a Communication Arts Award and was featured in the CA Photography Annual

Let’s talk about Monthly Expenses…

As my work is evenly split between studio shoots and location shoots, I choose not to incur the overhead of maintaining an actual physical studio. For those who do, you can expect to add $2500 – $5000+ per month in costs.

Here is a list of my on-going expenses broken down to monthly charges (even though some may be paid on an annual basis). I have not included job-related expense because those are generally charged directly to the client (e.g. talent fees, props, wardrobe, hair and make-up, locations, etc.).

Accounting & Legal fees $60
Advertising in At-Edge $665
Advertising in Workbook $575
Yodelist List Service $100
Various other web-based portfolio sites $25
eBlasts & Site tracking $450
Web Hosting / Domain Names $15
Printed Promotional Pieces $100
Competitions $35
Delivery & Postage $36
Professional Organization Dues $32
Software Subscriptions $29
Equipment Maintenance $25
Business Insurance $160
Office Expenses $95
Parking $35 (while showing portfolios etc.)
Telephone $175
Testing & Portfolio Expense $350
Travel (visiting agencies to solicit work) $675

Total = $3637 per month.

Again, this does not include ANYTHING that is related to an actual job. It also does not include employees if you need help around the office. You’ll also notice I did not include things like:

• Rent / Mortgage
• Car payments
• Non-business insurances (auto, home, health, life)
• Student loans
• Gasoline
• Utilities
• Oh… food!
• Clothing
• Recreation / entertainment
• Providing for a family (What?!)
• Updated equipment
• Business Gifts, which I send every year

These are simply “costs of doing business” and I have to pay them whether I work or not! Plus, every few years you need to factor in capital investments for new cameras and computers.

So as a professional photographer, EVERYTHING I have listed above comes out of my own pocket, out of my “photography fee“. So it becomes quite a challenge to stay in business when your “fee” for a photograph is…. ZERO.

Shooting personal work is a cost of doing business. As a commercial photographer, you’ve always got to be developing new work to stay fresh in the eyes of your prospective clients. It is a necessary investment of both time and money.

Hey, we photographers are a passionate bunch and we and LOVE what we do. We CELEBRATE the fact that so many people share our passion to take photos, make beautiful imagery, and express themselves. But for the tens of thousands of us who call this our profession and our ONLY source of income, THIS is WHY that photo is not free!

Please, share your thoughts and expenses that I may have missed!

APA – American Photographic Artists – is a national organization that supports and advocates for the elevation of industry standards and rights of photographers nationwide. Check out this recent profile they did of me.

Recently I have had a few clients and friends initiate the conversation about using photographs from the web. You know, just pulling the image off of a site and using it for your own purposes, say a Facebook post, or a blog article, or god forbid, for marketing purposes or even an ad. The average person thinks this is okay, acceptable, not illegal. Some are under the impression that as long as you are not using it for monetary gain, that it is completely allowable. It’s not any of these.

First and foremost let’s be VERY CLEAR about photographic copyright. The moment you snap a photo, it is copyrighted. And that copyright belongs to you… the author of that image. There are a few exceptions -i.e. if you are doing “work for hire” or are under contract where the contract specifically states copyright belongs to a third-party. But aside from specifically called out exceptions, when you take a photo, you are instantly the owner and copyright holder of that image.

Registering with the Copyright Office is not required to establish your copyright but it does give you added remedies should someone violate your copyright. Heather Elder has a great blog post that explores this topic really well.

So back to the title… It is illegal to use a photograph, that is not yours, without first obtaining permission from the author or licensing the image. That being said, there are a lot of photos out there that actually are free to use. One source is WikiMedia Commons, where people post their images with the intent of letting others use them for free. But the point is that you need to be sure that you are allowed to use imagery before you simply copy and post it.

This is not just about the very valid argument that artists make their very real living from creating their art, and by simply taking it and using it you are not just disrespecting them and their craft, you are also, quite literally, stealing from them. No different from walking in their front door while they are not home and taking their computer.  There are also legal ramifications to YOU.

More often than not, if someone sees that you are using one of their images without licensing it or obtaining permission, you will get some form of a “cease and desist” communication, requesting that you immediately stop using the image. BUT should the author choose to, they could pursue legal action and damages. It’s just not worth the risk!

This long-winded preamble brings my to the point of my post… one of the questions asked  was “How do you find out if an image is copyrighted and who the author is?”  The truth is, more often than not, this is difficult to do, but let me give you two ways to start the process. Most professional photographers will embed both their copyright and contact info within their images. I do this to every single one of my images. And if you care about preserving your copyright, you should as well. If you go to my website or to any post on my blog and pull and image off, my info will be embedded. The unfortunate part is that if, rather than “pulling” the image off the website, you do a “screen grab” of it, none of my embedded information is included in the resulting file. This is where the trouble starts. But let’s be optimistic and say you are working with a file that magically still has the embedded info. You can then open that image, either in Photoshop,

• Open the image in Photoshop
• Goto: File > File Info…
• And you will see a tabbed widow:

or even a simple application that comes with your operating system (“Preview” for Mac OS, “Photo Viewer” for Windows) and view the file info or IPTC data.

• Open the File in Preview
• Goto: Tools > Show Inspector
• Click on the “i” tab
• Select the “IPTC” sub-tab

(the operation should be similar in “Photo Viewer”)

IF the author has embedded the info and the image is not a “screen grab” then the information should be there for you.

The more likely scenario will be that these windows will show up empty.. with no info… should this be the case there is another route to pursue. Go to Google Images.

Go to google.com and click on the word “Images” in the upper right corner.

In the resulting window click on the camera icon in the search box.

In the pop-up window click on the “Upload an Image” tab.

Then select “Choose File” and navigate to the image that you have dragged to your computer.  When you select the file, Google will find as many matching instances of that file on the web as it is able to. By investigating the search results you hopefully will be able to find the author of the image.

Whether you find them through the file’s metadata or the Google search, once you track down the author, reach out to them and ask permission to use the image. If you are not using it for commercial purposes, most will let you use it if you attribute the photo to them / give them credit, and link to their site. Hey… it’s free PR and will hopefully drive more traffic to their site! If it is for commercial purposes, try to negotiate an affordable fee that benefits both you AND the author! But don’t be offended if their price is too high… remember it cost them money to produce that fantastic image AND this is how they put food on their table!

If you are unable to track down the author and the image does not come from a site indicating that the image is free to use, DON’T USE IT, just don’t. You would not want someone taking something of yours without your permission. Don’t fall victim to the erroneous concept that just “because it’s on the web, it’s free.”

I feel very honored to once again be included as a finalist in the Hasselblad Masters competition. The imagery included in the various categories, as you can imagine, is stunning! And to be part of such a distinguished group is truly humbling. As of today, Public Voting is now open! So check out the galleries and cast you vote for the top three in each section. My selected image is in the “Product” category and is a photo I shot for Darling Magazine – an article about Heirloom L.A.

Blog Post on Heirloom L.A. in Darling Magazine

We recently had a project come through, where we needed to shoot and feature a hamburger. Unfortunately several issues prohibited us from having a food stylist on set for this particular project. Consequently I was a bit disappointed with the outcome. It wasn’t that we didn’t get a nice shot, it’s just that I know how much better it COULD have been had circumstances been a bit different.

So… what did this provide? An Opportunity!! What a perfect chance to talk to one of our favorite food stylists, Stephanie Greenleigh, get a quick critique, but more interestingly get her take on what a good food stylist does and can do for any given project. And maybe get her to share a few trade secrets along the way 😉

First off here is the finished shot that sparked the conversation:
And we might as well show the unretouched shot that came out of the camera as well:

Stephanie and I have worked together on many occasions. Most recently we did a shoot for Dean’s Dip where she crafted, well…, some perfect burgers!

Let’s dig in…

DHP: Looking at the shot we ended up with, what did they do right?

SG: They captured a realistic looking burger with “appetite appeal” in a natural setting.

DHP: What did they do wrong? / What would you do differently?

SG: I would have constructed the burger differently by building in more symmetry and stair-stepping the ingredients. I probably would have chosen a lettuce leaf that was more graceful and interesting. The top bun could have been a better fit. Redo on the cheese melt.

DHP: What is the most difficult part about styling a burger?

SG: It’s all tough. Finding the right hamburger buns, building the sandwich structure, melting the cheese and applying the condiments at the last-minute on-set. You can imagine how difficult it is keeping the lettuce and tomatoes fresh and spritzed, while melting the cheese and heating the patty!

DHP: What does a food stylist “bring to the table” in situations like these?

SG: Experience. Stylists are used to dealing with constraints (product, layout, location, etc.)  —and of then of course being able to meet client needs. Also, a good sense of timing, the right tools and patience.

DHP: Are there things you CAN’T do (i.e. legally) when shooting a burger that is actually the product? And, what if anything is different if the burger is NOT the product but rather just a prop?

SG: When the product is the actual burger, you must use the client-supplied meat, and depending on the client, the buns and cheese. Most fresh ingredients and condiments can be store-bought (with the exception of proprietary sauces).

When food is featured as a prop (i.e., not the product being sold), the sky’s the limit. You can even substitute dark turkey meat for hamburger meat, and use fake pickle chips.

DHP: What is the most important tool in your styling kit

SG: Without a doubt my long-handled tweezers. Ninety percent of the time spent on set is moving  around small items without disturbing other ingredients —it’s a game of pick-up-sticks.

DHP: Is there a “secret” you are willing to share that would make this or any other food product “sing”

SG: I’m not sure this is a secret, but I would lightly brush the top bun with a small amount of oil to give it a nice sheen and look hot, and hollow out the top of the bun so that its “sits” comfortably on the top of the burger. As a final touch, I would spritz the lettuce and tomatoes with a small amount of glycerin and water to enhance the look of freshness.

DHP: How did you get started in this industry?

SG: I studied design and art history in college while running a restaurant.

My first job out of school was in textile design, which eventually led me to start a children’s clothing line.

This kind of crazy, eclectic background turned out to be a good resume for a stylist. After assisting established food stylists in the field for a couple of years, I put together a portfolio of my work and starting calling on photographers. I was lucky, my first project was a cookbook which helped expand my portfolio and gave me experience styling a variety of food —everything from appetizers to desserts.

DHP: Advice for anyone thinking about food styling as a career?

SG: Make sure your personality is compatible with working on set. I’ve seen a lot of people coming from a culinary background who are used to a fast-paced environment. Food photography is different; it’s a  “hurry up and wait” environment. Styling a bowl of cereal may take up to 4 hours, with stakeholders asking you to move a cereal flake over 1/32nd of an inch. There’s a lot of patience involved.

DHP: What is the biggest misconception about Food Stylists?

SG: That we are magicians with secret potions. 

DHP: What is involved in prepping for a job from your end?

SG: It starts with a shopping list which evolves as the pre-production layouts/boards are finalized. There are many trips to the grocery store. Some items can be purchased a couple of days ahead, others immediately before the shoot.

On the Dean’s Dip shoot, we needed to determine the exact size of the finished burger. The ad’s story was that this container was large enough to dip an entire burger into it. The challenge was that the talent needed to be able to comfortably place the burger in the container and yet it still had to be large enough to emphasize the story.

The first step was finding the perfect bun that was also the correct size – not easy!  After two days of constant searching we ended up having the buns custom-made. We then had to determine the size of the patties so that they would fit the bun properly. We experimented with the type of hamburger meat, what diameter to shape the patty to allow for shrinkage after the patty was cooked and the best cooking method to brown the meat consistently.

The tomatoes and onion were cut to size and the pickles sorted. All food and equipment was properly stored and packed, making sure everything was ready to go for an early morning call time the next day.

DHP: What questions are you sure to ask before starting production?

SG: I ask to see the updated layouts/boards, how many shots per day and will talent be involved?

Does the client have a particular way that they’d like to see to product portrayed?

Will the client supply the product? If so, how much will be sent.

What is the budget?

DHP: Budgets are tight everywhere today… I know the answer to this, but can you explain from your perspective why it is worth the additional expense to have a food stylist on set?

SG:  A chef’s main concern is that the food tastes good, a stylist’s concern is that it looks good.

Food is generally prepared differently for the camera —we focus on preserving and enhancing its shape, color and texture. 

We also understand layouts and camera angles which can be tricky for someone not used to considering these constraints, and how these things ultimately will determine how the food is presented.

We also understand the photo shoot process and what our role is within the photo team to produce a successful shoot.

DHP: What can a client or photographer do to elevate the aesthetic when a Stylist is simply not an option?

SG: I would imagine the photographer and client need to have a clear vision of how they would like to see the food prepared and a shared aesthetic sense.

DHP: What do you want people to know about you / your profession?

SG: It’s a creative and rewarding profession, but not always glamorous. There’s a lot of schlepping and dishwashing involved.

Stephanie is an AMAZING food stylist and you can see more of her work on her website: http://www.sgreenleigh.com

Can can also read our posts about our most recent gig together for Dean’s Dip here: Dean’s Dip
More Dean’s Dip
And Finally

And you can see us both in action in this Behind the Scenes Video from the shoot!

So! The latest edition of Darling Magazine is hot off the press! In this issue we had a little fun photographing molecular structures made from the fruit in which the structure is most common. It was a fun play on concept and color. We shot the fruit on glass floating above a complimentary color, did a few tweaks in post, and came up with some great vibrant and graphic images! It will be interesting to read the accompanying article!

But wait! There’s More! This quarter Darling is offering a $5 off promotion! Goto: shop.darlingmagazine.org and enter promo code ISSUE12CONTRIBUTOR (that’s me!) to get your discount. If you have not seen Darling Magazine, you should! It is a super high quality “art magazine” with unique and engaging articles centered around “the art of being a woman” (their tagline).

You can also follow Darling Magazine on:
Twitter: @darlingmag
Facebook: www.facebook.com/darlingmagazine
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/darlingmagazine

Also, check out some of the past work we have done for them!
Issue 8
Issue 9
Issue 10
Issue 11

So here are a few more images from our recent cookbook project. We tried to use as much natural light as possible, with a few accents of course. The theme of these shots were soup’s, and congee bowls. While we have pretty much wrapped this project , we have just started yet another cookbook, so hopefully we’ll be able to share some of that imagery with you later this year. Thanks again to Nicole Kruzick of Belly Food Style for making everything look so yummy!

We have been working on a variety of projects lately that have been a bit “hush-hush”, one of them is a cookbook. While we are not able to say anything about the cookbook itself, we ARE able to share some of the images we have done for it! We’ll post a few today and some more next week, but the shoot has gone super smoothly and we are pretty pleased with the finished images… styled by the lovely Nicole Kruzick / Belly Food Style.

We just wrapped another project with the great folks at High Wide & Handsome. This time it was for Rosatello Wines. It was a fun project to be a part of as we were producing the print portion of a multimedia campaign. We actually do this a lot, working in tandem with a film crew to make the most efficient use of talent, location, and crew. While it would seem that it might be chaotic, the production was smooth and easy, and given that we had to produce a print ad and a 30 second spot in one day, that is saying something! The key is working TOGETHER. Having done this many times before, I have certainly seen my share of crews working against each other, which has never made sense to me. We are working for the same client and most of the time through the same agency.. all headed toward the same goal. So to have anything other than a mutually supportive attitude is counter productive. But I digress… THIS set was easy, relaxed, super productive and lighthearted! The clients even got into the spirit … which is always Fun!

(I LOVE when clients have have a blast on set!)

We’ve recently started working with the folks at The Habit Burger Grill. Our projects have been very early morning productions as we are shooting in actual restaurant locations and we have to get everything done and be wrapped out in time for them to open for lunch. We have mostly been shooting new menu items, so we get to check out their latest offerings right as they are introduced. The weird part is having your mouth water for a juicy burger at  8:30 in the morning! Hop over to your local Habit and see what’s new on the menu! (it will probably be one of our photos!)

We have had the great fortune to work with the amazing folks at Darling Magazine for the past year! In the latest Issue that released this week we have three spreads! One article is on Spring Salads and share three delectable recipes. The other is about Pencils of Promise, a charitable organization striving to ensure a quality education for all children regardless of where they are born. Check out these articles and all the other great features in the latest issue of Darling Magazine!

The latest issue of Darling Magazine is out and we have two feature articles in this issue! The first is on cookies and we shot some beautifully hand decorated cookies by Bethany Wiseman of Batch Please Cookies. Bethany does intricate custom cookies that you would be more likely to want to frame than eat (but they’re so tasty you have to eat them too!) It’s like having art in your tummy! There are five delicious recipes that accompany the article, so that should be incentive enough to seek out this issue!

The second article is on canning / preserving. This article had a little mix of everything… a little fashion, a little beauty, a little humor, a little food.. and again… Recipes to be had!

Check out both articles in Issue No.10 of Darling Magazine. And Look for us in Issue No.11 as well!

Now what you ask? ENJOY!
That is what we are about to do… take a little time off, sit back, relax and feast. We have much to be thankful for and we’re going to take the opportunity to do so and share it with friends and family! We hope your Thanksgiving Holiday is filled with Family, Friends, Love, and Sharing! See ya on the other side, just in time for the NEXT holiday! Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow! Just Wow! What a whirlwind! It feels like we were just here! Well, no sense in fighting it, and there’s never a bad time to be thankful! So as we push headlong into this holiday season we hope that you have plenty to be thankful for and that you are able to take some time to reflect on the good and brush away anything that’s not! But don’t relax too much! The year is not over yet! There is still much to do and plenty of time to do it! So enjoy THIS holiday and keep the spirit!

We received a couple of Honorable Mentions in this years IPA’s (International Photography Awards)! It is always so great to be included with such a distinguish group of professionals and we love the winning imagery this year! So much talent out there! Thanks so much to the judges for including two of our images in the mix!

Toshiba knows this. The great team at LehmanMillet asked us to help them illustrate that fact in our latest photo shoot. This new campaign, directed at the medical industry, is geared towards making sure that the professionals that use Toshiba Medical Products know that Toshiba is listening to them and incorporating their input! In a simple and graphic way we represented the various constituencies that utilize Toshiba products and “Gave Them a Voice”!

Here is the third ad from our recent shoot for Dean’s Dip with High, Wide & Handsome. This image was a bit of a challenge as it was shot on location in Los Angeles at the height of summer (it was literally one of the hottest days of the year) and in the midst of our lovely drought. The responsible homeowners of the cool (looking, not temperature) location we were shooting at had pulled back on their watering so as to conserve. That however made for some unfortunately yellow grass and background. What came to the rescue was the extensive background library we keep in-house. I am ALWAYS shooting grass, skies, and textures of all types so as to have a healthy arsenal for just such circumstances. We had been shooting into some bamboo that was fairly burnt on the tips and of course the grass was none-to-happy either. So instead we ended up stripping in some heathy Ficus and dropping in a bit of grass from Versailles, no… really! That is royal French grass you’re looking at! So if you see me out there pointing my camera at what looks like nothing, it’s probably something… like grass.