Some excellent news for photographers in the last few days; Canadian photographers finally own copyright of their images. As the Canadian Association of Professional Image Creators states, “In Canada, all other artists have already owned the copyrights to their work and thanks to this new law, Canadian photographers, albeit the last in the industrialized world, now have all legal rights to their images.”Continue Reading →
A few weeks ago I decided to get serious about applying for residencies and met with artist Samantha Mogelonsky to get some advice. For those not familiar with the concept, an artist residency is when you go to a location (a mix of housing and art studios) for a period of time to focus exclusively on your work. Samantha has done a variety of residencies across the world, so it was great to hear what has and hasn’t worked, what to watch out for, and how to narrow in on residencies that will benefit you the most. So first of all where do you look?Continue Reading →
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about exploring new ground. I’m just beginning to work on several fine-art projects and in the process trying to come up with ways to help me think differently, try new methodologies, new techniques, etc. The last few projects I have done have followed roughly the same formula, sure there were differences in the details of production, the subject, and images, but the broader arc has remained the same. When you become comfortable with a technique it’s easy to keep applying it again and again, but after a while it becomes a little boring, for oneself as the creator and probably for your audience as well. I want to shake things up and push myself to experiment more.
Last week I watched 6 Days to Air – a documentary about the making of an episode of South Park. Unlike most animated TV show, which have weeks or months to make a single episode, South Park does it, from initial concept to writing to animating, all in six days. My favourite aspect was getting a look at the creative process the entire team follows to ensure they can deliver the final episode at the end of the week. This got me thinking about my own creative process and various tweaks I can make to work smarter, be more consistent, and keep myself moving forward.Continue Reading →
Everyone in the city seems to think that their neighbourhood is the greatest, but I think extra props go to The Junction. A little removed from “the real downtown”, the Junction seems like the little neighbourhood that could. They have a great sense of community, and that community throws great events! This Friday is the 2nd Annual Junction Design Crawl, so you can all go see what I mean.Continue Reading →
I want to share a fascinating film called Janela Da Alma. It’s a Brazilian documentary that looks at blindness, using it to talk about vision and our perception of the world. What was particularly interesting to me is that most of the interviews are with artists – a blind photographer, a musician, an actress, and many more. Through this unique cast, the film transcends the topic of blindness and really focuses on the meaning of the visual experience. I think this is a must watch for all image makers.Continue Reading →
A couple of weeks ago I had coffee with a friend of mine who wants to become a fashion photographer. She has quite an extensive (and very good) portfolio, but is just starting to fully break ground into working professionally in the industry. As our conversation progressed, she casually asked, “what do you think, is it worth it?” The “it” in question being, working as a professinal photographer. Or more specifically, will all this time, effort, and struggle ultimately pay off financially? It’s an interesting question that too few of us consider, but I think this is, as the saying goes, putting the cart before the horse.Continue Reading →
As you may know both Erika and I work extensively in architectural photography (her as a studio manager and I as a shooter), so it was particularly interesting when on a recent flight I watched the documentary Visual Acoustics. The film, directed by Eric Bricker, looks at the life of Julius Shulman – “the world’s greatest architectural photography”. Shulman was responsible for documenting the architectural modernism movement in California starting in the 1930s. He photographed the buildings of architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry.Continue Reading →
I was helping a friend of mine move yesterday who is also a freelance photographer and we got to talking about setting up a workspace. For many people this is a simple matter of design or convenience, but for freelancers who work from home, this can have a big effect on productivity. A few weeks ago I mentioned an article in our newsletter by A List Apart titled “Habit Fields” which looks at how location dictates your work. It’s something not many people think about but changing when and where you work can actually make you more focused and productive.Continue Reading →
I’ve been feeling a little burnt-out lately. I think this happens to everyone regardless of your working situation but I find it’s more common with those of us who freelance. From one perspective the work never stops – there is always something to do and someone to email. On the other hand you’re not obliged to do anything (other than wrap projects for clients). For me burn out creeps up after I’ve been working for a while without a clear view of the finish line, just pushing through a never ending pile of work. This has happened many times over the last few years and there are a few things I’ve found helpful when dealing with it.Continue Reading →
