Sandbagging Other Photographers

Sand-bagging (sand'bag'g'ing)
v.
1. The act of speaking negatively to a client about another photographer behind that persons back.
2. Deliberately putting down a photographers work when your own work sucks even worse.

Sandbagging... yup I made up that word, but I think it fits the description.

I have been asking myself why do so many photographers Sandbag each other?

I have come up with two reasons.

One because the competition in our field is so fierce, many shooters lack the confidence in their abilities resulting in a Sandbagging mentality due to the threat of losing a contract.

And Two because to be a successful photographer one needs to have a certain amount of confidence within their own abilities. Often pros make a good deal of money, pay other people to work with them, and of course produce unique images that are designed for people to enjoy. So naturally a photographer will receive a big ego boost if all of these factors come into play. However there is a fine line between Confidence and Arrogance resulting in a lack of respect for other shooters work.

Many people unfortunately end up crossing the Confidence/Arrogance line. Resulting in the Sandbagging syndrome.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a granola guy who thinks everyone should get along. In fact I think checking out and critiquing other shooters work is a great thing, but there is a line that is crossed when it becomes Sandbagging another shooters work.

So how does one stop being a Sandbagger? First photographers need to relax and realize we can't shoot everything that comes to our plate. Second join a group like CAPIC to meet other shooters. And third I think shooters need to extend the olive branch and just contact photographers to say hey whats up.

Emailing shooters is not always cool though. Early on in my career I emailed photographers who I liked and just let them know I loved their work. A few of them looked down on as an amateur and disregarded my comments. This kind of sucked, but proved they were dicks in the first place... As it turns out now many of these guys are actually Sandbagging Dicks.

Personally though some of my closest friends and mentors are photographers in direct competition with me. But I find a comfort in talking and discussing problems with shooters who are in the same position as me... Some of us have become so close that we even trade specialized gear with each other to keep costs low and maximize our creative potential.

Im rambling now, but if any amateur shooters out there are reading this, please remember to keep the Sandbagging to a minimum, you will be happier, and also feel free to send shout outs to photographers who you dig or look up to!

C

Preacher Man...

Sometimes, I shoot a lot of really cool things, but can’t post the images for a variety of reasons. One being the publication containing the photo has yet to be released. Or two the campaign has yet to be released.

Leading me to times me like this…. Where I have to look back a month or two and post something a little older. I hope all of you reading this don’t mind. I don’t because I get a chance to look back and reflect on my work. Sometimes (a lot of times, I see things I would have done differently)...

But in this case I wouldn’t. I really love this picture. I honestly don’t remember what the technical aspects of it were, but I shot it in my studio.

The only technical thing I do remember is that I wasn’t going to be afraid of shadows while shooting it. I remember approaching the pre planning stage with the thought I wanted a really sharp image and that it would have impact though really hard light. I wanted to see everything, down to the last pore in his skin…. Essentially showing the viewer who he “really is”... Hes a preacher.

Enjoy!

C

Lizzy Hoyt Portrait

Lizzy Hoyt, She doesn't just fiddle around... well maybe she does, because she plays the fiddle. Hahahhah ooohhh Im witty... no seriously though,

I thought I would post this even though I shot it a few months ago (for Lizzy's new yet to be released album). I am currently designing my portrait based comp card, and I decided to include this image of Lizzy. I think it's a strong picture, not so much technically, but more because I feel I captured Lizzy in a moment of confident affection. I am not sure if they are going to use this image, but I thought I would share it regardless.

Check out her stuff at www.lizzyhoyt.com

Enjoy!

C

Couple pics and cheezy name bars on the photos....

A new adjustment on my pics... I am now going to place name bar on them cause its becoming a problem with people pulling my images and using them in blogs and online articles and such.

It kind of sucks cause people pull the image, don't tell me and end up using the files, often with no credit or being used with stories I may not support... Its getting a little tiresome.

I'm not sure if anyone knows this, but in 07 an Edmonton AD agency actually pulled one of my images of Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach and used in a mass media TV campaign! We ended up settling financially out of court but I couldn't believe it! they actually used an unlicensed image in mass media.

Anyways,

Back home and right into the thick of things. The day after I got back from my shoots in Europe I ended up shooting for Matt over at Pure Vision. He was gracious enough to give me product to shoot in studio, so it was relaxed day in a comfortable environment, but he's got me going on location Monday for one of his industrial clients.

I am pretty excited because Readers Digest called again, and we are shooting a few stories in Edmonton this week... which is nice because Digest is national, but more over Its nice to have Alberta based stories in a national magazine.

I am also trying to process the Euro images for clients so its a bit of a juggle, with the jet lag and other work on the go.

I just thought I would post a couple images from Rome, Enjoy!

C

Good Shooting so far... now the ash cloud

Shooting in europe has went really well.

Oh and my macbook pro is failing, so thank god for backups.

As for now the shooting is complete and we are spending a few days at some friends house just outside of Verona Italy. We are getting some much needed rest, good food. As I cant post any of my commissioned images, here are some random personal pics I shot during a restuarant venture Angelo introduced us to. The restaurant is nestled in a small picturesque village about 40mins from Verona and is frequented by locals who are insearch for hand made tortellini...

On my way home on the 21st, providing we can still fly out of Rome, and are not delayed due to the ash cloud.... mind you not a bad place to hang out for some extra time, save for the fact Ihave a shoot on the 23rd, 26th and 28th.

enjoy

c

Here are a few pics.

London Hotel what a nice suprise

I arrived in London last night and got such a pleasant surprise when I arrived at the hotel. It’s in Chelsea about a 20 minute walk from London proper. Its called the Pestana Chelsea Bridge. I found out that the Pestana hotels are a Portuguese owned chain. They boast that unlike their American competition rather than choosing just functional durable decor, the Pestana hotels choose to design their hotels based around looks and style.

Because I don’t ever really book my own hotels, what I get is often hit and miss... and especially in cities like London you can really get some misses. Here are the pics of the room.

Here are some of my top 4 travel tips when it comes to hotels.

1. Always hang the do not disturb sign on your door. first is because when you have alot of camera gear in your room you dont want hotel staff coming in everyday. Personally I dont have someone come into my house and clean everyday, so I really dont need to have some one come into my hotel room and clean everyday either.

2. If you do have the hotel staff come in to clean or even if you dont, when you leave tip well. Some people I know (like my mom) like to leave little things like canadian key chains and such. This pisses me off cause you cant feed your family with a maple leaf keychain. Money means more than little dollar store niknacks... especially in third world countries.

3. When the remote in your room dosent work, take out the batteries and rub them on your pants... the static from your pants will get you another 10 mins of use! (tip from "Smile When Your Lying")

4. When you are looking for a place to eat or how to get around, ask a hotel staff member your own age. It never fails, when I ask a 50 yearold member whats a good place to eat, then inevitabley send me to a very expensive resturant, when I ask someone in their late 20's, I usually get sent to a cool little hole in the wall thats cheap and offers great food.

Enjoy!

C

Travel Photography Tips

Tomorrow I am off to Europe to shoot for a couple weeks. Originally I was just planning on tagging along with Eva who is shooting in London for a few days. But I ended up placing a few calls to past clients and landing my own travel gigs in Paris and Rome. Lately I have been posting my pre sketches and such on my Blog, but because this is a travel gig I decided to blog about my prep instead.

10 years of shooting travel has led me to amass a wide variety of useful tips. So here are my Top Ten...

(kinda cool, this is a chinese entry visa from my 2008 olympic photography exhibition.)

1. Keep $100USD hidden in your shoe. If something bad happens bad people almost never take your shoes. In pretty much any city on the planet you can get to a Canadian embassy with that $100 bucks you stashed away, Make sure its in USD... $100 CDN does you no good in some small town in Eastern China.

2. The beauty of shooting on film was that everything ran on AA batteries, now all cameras have rechargeable batteries... which means you now have to bring the battery chargers... so make sure you have the proper converters, or else you will be without power.

(this coverter is on steroids)

3. Thanks to Rogers and Telus Canada is the most expensive place on the globe to buy a cell phone... However almost everywhere else on the planet you can pick up an "open" non contract phone for super cheap and just purchase a pay as you go sim cards which give you a local number. You will be surprised how affordable long distance rates are as well. Then the next trip you take, just buy a $20 sim card for your open phone, and presto, you have a new number and lots of air time. This phone was purchased in Egypt and I will be using it in Paris and Rome on this trip.

(look ma Arabic on the Keys!)

4. When packing camera gear even if you only have a little bit, open up everything, lay it out.. then just pack your case with only what you need. On this trip the Fisheye and the super fast 1.2 lenses are staying home. . here is my layout process.

5. Most pros I know, myself included usually shoot travel with only 3 lenses. A wide angle, a Midrange working lens (say 24-70) and a telephoto. Leave the specially lenses at home.

6. I always carry on these three things. My camera gear, glasses and spare contacts. If for some reason my luggage gets delayed (like it did in Egypt for 7 days), at least I still have my cameras and my vision.

7. Ok this is going to seem weird but it works. you can read about it in the book "Smile When Your Lying" as well as it was told to me by Capitan Jacob the super traveler. Before you leave buy a few small boxes of chocolates like Godiva. Then just when you board the plane give a box to the head flight attendant and thank them for the great job they do... Take your seat, and just wait and see what happens. More times than not I have been bumped to first class or given free booze the whole flight... Every time I do this I get something in return.

8. Make sure you have a copy of your passport! Seriously nothing sucks more than losing your passport, but it sucks more if you have no photocopy of it.

(my reading material for this trip)

9 Keep two wallets. Your real one should be fully stocked... but the Photo Wallet should be empty with the exception of five one dollar bills. When you see a subject you want to photograph, ask them if you can take their photo... in 3rd works countries a lot of times they may want a "fee" for you to take thier picture. That's cool. Just pull out your Photo Wallet and offer them $2. If they want more you can always say hey, I am giving you almost all my money look!

10. Speaking of photos of people you need photo releases. Even if you pay a person you can't sell a picture of anyone unless you have their photo release. So print off 20 or so, and keep them in your camera bag. you can just Google "photo release" and you will have a one page word document which is good enough.

I know some of my clients read my blog, so if you need to contact me you can phone my studio manager Natalie at 780.909.4174.