National Archives of Australia – Photographers/photographs

Speaker: Carol Webber (I think)

Photographs and photographers play a big part at the NAA in Canberra. At the ANN there are over 50 million records and 3 million items such as posters, architectural drawings , maps and photos. There are a few hundred thousand photographs.

The records are post 1901 and are mainly non-private sector ie mainly Government records (all the public service and Canberra based court – High court).

Some of the earlier photos are Canberra photographs – these represent a tiny bit of the private sector. There are also collections of some photographers who have photographed life in early Australia. One of the most prominent is Max Dupain.

There are many exhibitions and these are often dominated by photographs.....such as:

1.Primary exhibitions such as “Memory of a Nation’. This is on all the time and is about Australians – some who stand out & others who are just ordinary people. Another is about the Snowy Mountain Hyrdo-Electric Scheme.

2.Temporary exhibitions such as the Stanley Melbourne Bruce exhibition – the only other Prime Minister who was voted out of office.

3.Touring Exhibitions – such as the Max Dupain photographs of Australian Life in the mid-20^th century. Also there is one called ‘Summers Past’.

Part of the ‘Memory of a Nation’ exhibition is a wall of 227 photographs called ‘Faces of Australia’. The photos are all black and white, back lit and make a very impressive wall. This is some of it:

Most of these photos were taken in the 1950s and 60s (ie post-WWII) by photographers working for the Australian News and Information Bureau. These photos are from all walks of life in Australia. This is the face of Australia which Menzies Government wanted to present to the world.

The Stanley Melbourne Bruce exhibition also contained a number of photographs such as these:

Max Dupain worked for the Government per-WWII and in the 1960s. Hence the NAA has a collection of about 400 of his works.

The exhibition called ‘Summers Past’ is about Australia’s love affair with the sun, the sea and sport.

Several photographers are employed to photograph other photographs as well as maps, architectural drawings etc.

The NAA is a good source of family history. They have records of the wars, migration indigenous and many of these are photographs. There are also photos and records of displaced persons after WWII.

All in all it is a great photographic resource.

PHOTOS: all photographs are from the ANN website: http://www.naa.gov.au

SNOWGUMS STUDIO – LEONE KEOGH

SNOWGUMS STUDIO – LEONE KEOGH

We visited Leone Keogh’s outdoor studio at Williamsdale. She is an ex-journalist and she says that she likes her photos to tell stories. She does family portraits as well as about 45 weddings per year.

She specialises in ‘heritage’ family portraits so that the photos don’t age. They are set in her farm’s natural environmental to which she has added many extra antique props. Some of the props that we saw were:

A truck

A tractor

Old wooden cart wheel

Several different fences & gates

Little wooden cottage (not old but built in an old fashioned way)

Inside the cottage: many old fashioned toys as well as one corrugated wall.

As well as the old fashioned country style, for those families who keep coming back, she has built a terrace house frontage & on the other side of this another Paris-style house front.

If she takes a photo for instance with the subjects looking through the cottage window, she can control the light. Similarly when she shoots inside the cottage. Outside she always photographs in the shade.

She has a small inside studio in her office area which she often uses for babies.

SOME DETAILS

Leone charges $120 for a sitting fee.

She gets canvas done at Brilliant Prints – good & cheap.

Nulab in Melbourne do her paper prints

Seldex – album company. Also good for matte frames, boxes & envelopes.

http://www.seldex.com.au/

Proselect: computer software for clients to view images. Make a layout for a photo book. Great presentation. Hillary also uses this program – easy & good.

STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY – BEN KOPILOW

STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY – BEN KOPILOW

Pros & Cons

Get to shoot what u want

Freedom/lifestyle

No difficult clients to deal with

Patchy income stream / cash flow

Need a good agent – they take 50% of your income

Hard to break into an established agency

Needs constant fresh input.

Risk because investment before income comes in (if it ever does)

LICENCING MODELS

1. $1 down (volume of sales)

2. Royality free (unlimited rights depending on resolution – can use after if u like) $50-$500 – Can sell over & over again.

3. Rights managed – based on usage – HIGH return (negotiate price but can only use once) – less sales

WHAT DOESN’T SELL

Flowers

Landscapes

Abstract art

Phictures of your own kids or pets

WHAT DOES SELL

Specialised unique/niche subjects

Corporate & business shots

Family & lifestyle shots

People, people, people – with model releases

NB Also need property releases for architecture

Also sell a concept eg environmental

KEY WORDS to sell photos for people to find.

DON’T shoot logos.

Hilary Wardhauph – Wedding photographer

Hilary Wardhauph – Wedding photographer

Hilary is an AIPP master photographer & proud of it. She uses its logo attached to her name logo as marketing.

Pre-photography Hilary was a radiographer. She gave it up & started her own business in 1998. It was v slow at first. Her marketing strategy was a biggish ad in the yellow pages; made herself a logo in black silver & white.

While going through the CIT she held 2 exhibitions – one on environmental portraits & one on 30-something women. After she was qualified she promoted herself through journalists (she had previously worked at the Canberra Times for a short time). There was a new classy magazine in Canberra called Capital Magazine. She introduced a weddings section into the journal. She also competed in the AIPP competitions & won lots of times. This was good for the confidence & good for marketing & networking. Later she had other exhibitions including one with Lindy Holly.

She set herself up with a website which was simple to navigate & the yellow pages contained that address. She also made some cards – nice standing type ones – done at Temcoau.com.

Hilary concentrates on Weddings and portraits. She started with lots of portraits – 40-50 per year, but found that too much. She then reduced to no more that 20 & did more portraits.

Wedding & portraits pay differently. With weddings, they pay a big deposit up front & the rest a month pre wedding. With portraits, Hilary charges $150 for taking the photos then earns more when they order prints.

Fixed Expenses:

Some expenses are incurred week=in week out. These are fixed expenses such as:

Advertising – spends 10% of gross turn over

Equipment

Rent an office

Car

Insurance

Staff

Admin

Accounting bookkeeper (she pays $55 /hr at home)

Communication/phone

Electricity

Professional subscription/education

Legal

Postage/freight/cartage

Job Expenses:

Printing/lab costs

Framing

Albums, books

CDs

Wages

After all of this there is profit. H pays her self $1000/month

She needs to earn $1500pw.

She takes Sun & Mon off & 8 weeks during the school holidays

Total Expenses:

Per year - $100,000 (with 8 weeks off pa)

Per month - $10,000

Per week - $2,500

Per day $500

Per hour $60

This is whether working or not!

She aims for a profit of at lease twice the fixed overheads to cover actual job costs as well (ie albums, prints etc) ( nulab – I think_ $4 for 8x10” print)

DVDs – Hilary chooses Not to give all the full res images to clients so she charges high for this:

$8200 if nothing ordered like albums, prints. BUT if a wedding was about $7500, then she would just charge about $350.

For portraits she would charge $4000 for hi res DVD

Job costs should not exceed 10-15% of total costs of job.

MUST HAVE:

Website

Blog facebook

Visual email

In person portfolio showing

In person networking oppertunities

Social online networking

Adv budget should be ~8-10% gross TO

Quote:

Rather than have a package deals, H just itemises her products.

Assignment 2 - Art Photography - One page summary

Assignment 2 – Careers in photography

ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Chloe Thompson, Amy Mills and Ginette Snow

Brief overview

It is very difficult to define ‘art photography’ or ‘fine art photography’. One could say it is to sell but not for journalism, nor for advertising. That is not the whole definition. There are many art photographers who never sell their photos – they just want to record their feelings as an artist does but on photo material rather than oil, water colour, acrylics or clay. There is a whole range of abilities in art/fine art photography just as there is in other media art. Some sell in the markets, some use top of the range agents and commercial galleries. Some just display their work.

Career path

· No set career path

· Could be part of commercial work with some of the better photos

Pay range

· Difficult to access

· Depends on market and sales

· Some rely on another job whether photography or something else to supplement their income

· If you have really made it as an internationally recognised fine art photographer then very high prices can be charged for images.

Expenses

· Camera wear & tear

· Studio

· There is often travel involved which is a costly expense

· Computers

· Insurance

· Perhaps a rented/owned gallery

Education requirements

· It varies – could be none

· A qualification in photography or fine arts would be an advantage.

· Being a member of a recognized photographic society like the AIPP would be an advantage.

Method of finding this sort of work

· Entering competitions

· Exhibitions

· Work of mouth

· Contacts

· Marketing – internet.

· Initially selling at markets

Examples of photographers in this field.

Jan Sauvek; Alec Soth; Andreus Gurskey; Idris Khan; Ian MacDonald; Thomas Struth; Andy Small; Tim Flach; Peter Lik; Damian Franco; Lee Duguid; Charles McKean; James Mills; Ebony Whitaker; Michael Boniwell; Ben Messina; Peter O’Day.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS - BEN MESSINA

Questions and Answers: Ben Messina: Art Photographer

How long have you been a photographer?

Since he was 18 years old. He is now 35, so 17 years.

Do you have any qualifications in photography?

He did 1 year at TAFE. His father was a photographer so he was using a darkroom from an early age.

Do you have any other art-related qualifications?

No.

How did you become an art photographer?

His father was a photographer and when he moved away from Cairns, Ben took over his business. Peter Lik (a well known photographer) used to work in Cairns and he lent Ben his Linhoff 6x17 panoramic film camera. It was then that Ben realised how much he loved the camera and the photographs it produced. He then started selling some non-commissioned landscape photographs and so gave up the rest of his commercial photography. Cairns was a good place to begin because it is so naturally beautiful. However, he then moved to Brisbane and then onto Sandhurst when the rent in Brisbane got too high.

Before you specialised in art photography what other photography did you do?

His fathers business was architecture, fashion and aerial photography when Ben took it over and this is what he did prior to specialising in landscapes art photography.

Do you ever return to other photographic genres?

No

What made you concentrate on art photography?

Mainly he hated the other work and felt that it was not creative enough. However, the pay was good. The briefs were too specific, so much so that his input as the photographer was virtually none.

What is your definition of ‘art’ and ‘fine art’ photography? Is there any difference?

Well it is just a matter of what you choose to call yourself. Many ‘average’ photographers call their work fine art which he would question.

How is art/fine art photography different from other genres of photography?

With art photography your time management is self-managed. You need to be self-motivated, especially as you are often out photographing when other people are usually at home or enjoying themselves elsewhere. At least, this is the case with landscape photography because of the good light during ‘the golden hours’. Commissioned work is usually 9-5. With fine art landscape photography you also need to travel a lot to different places, which can be costly.

Do you show your work to critics in the art photography world?

No.

Do you enter photography competitions?

No, he never has.

Do you have gallery exhibitions?

No.

Have you won any awards?

No, he’s not interested in that.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Initially his inspiration came from Peter Lik. Now he watches documentaries in order to decide where he should go to photograph. However, he doesn’t look at any other photographer’s work because he thinks it might damage his own creativity. So once he has a good idea where he wants to go, he will mark it on his GPS and go there and photograph. If the light is no good, then he will return at a different time when the light is better.

What equipment do you use?

He primarily uses a 6x17 Fugi, but he also has a Canon 5D Mark II and a 4x5 film camera. Generally he takes transparencies and then scans and works on them digitally. He uses Fuji Velvia 50 film. He processes his film at ProLab. The only artificial lighting he might occasionally use is a 5 million and 1 million candle torch.

How do you promote and market your work?

He works in a tourist area and so has no problem selling his work. He has done so successfully for 9 years. He prints and frames in his house and recently bought a framing business. His business took a few years to get going and when he goes away his partner runs his shop. When he worked in Brisbane there wasn’t such a good tourist market so he marketed himself a bit more. However, in Sandhurst and Cairns there is no need.

How do you sell your work?

Initially in markets but he has had a gallery for many years now. As mentioned earlier he moved to Sandhurst because the rent for his gallery space in Brisbane was too costly. In Sandhurst he has a gallery which he is expanding to double its size as the business grows. He also sells online.

How do you price your work?

He has a good idea of what other photographers are charging and thus he prices for that particular market.

Do you need to do other work as well as the fine art photography?

No. If he not away photographing, he in his gallery selling his photos.

From his website his prices are as follows:

75cm x 25 cm - $245

120cm x 40cm $360

150 x 50cm $595

The price includes image printed on canvas & it is stretched around a 3cm thick frame & it also includes freight in Australia.

http://www.benmessina.com/

Haley Richardson – Art Photographer

Haley Richardson – Art Photographer

Haley spoke to us on fine art photography. She makes photographic art that sells to many people.

Focus on what fine art is today.

She has developed a PRODUCT that sells

Focuses on art that sells.

She said she wanted to bridge gap between fine art & making money. Noted that weddings make money.

Conc on hi end of market

Afordable fun & quality

For everyone.

SO…think of your photography as A PRODUCT

Style or Genre ( ie weddings or portraits or commercial ehatever)

Write your ideas down.

Her business – PISTACHIO – does 2-3D images (eg lilly in frame sticking out top & bottom)

Think Consumerism

What sells

Can be mass produced.

Think big picture

Egs of successful photographers:

Steve Parish

Peter Lik

Ken Duncan

Anne Geddies

Jasmine Star

Sarah Rose (weddings)

Kicky Kay

Dan Dolerin (www.pithole.com) - toilet paper with George Bust on it.

HOW to look at IDEAS & how to DELIVER

1. Denographic – with marketing materials can borrow ideas from big companies

2. Where to display

3. Networking – blogs, websites

4. Galleries (but ~60% fee) – they do get local write ups though.

5. Promote yourself – blog, blog, blog

6. Self promotion

markets, shopfronts

Web, blog twitter

Local café

7. Start on micro scale

www.hazeldooney.com

bluetreeartgallery.com

chookook

What Haley did

Started with markets – good, fun

Trade shows – good

Shop owners – not so good. Wanted stuff on assignment

Markets:

Rocks

Paddo

Melbourne

Brisbane

Oztrade

All this opened doors & business grew

Does mass produced stuff but hand signed

Next:

Ark Art – Amimals with attitude – this is another of Haley’s products

Querky

It is manufactured in the Phillapines, so cheaper costs.Plan Longterm

Register as many URLS as you can think of ($25/2 years)

Do Company searches

ABN, GST

How to stay ahead

Database of clients

Stay inspired

How to get out of RUTS?

Books

Journals

Visitr galleries

Lino Prints Hazel Dooney

Set personal projects

Micro goals

Give & get

Reinvent your own brand

Images: http://www.pistachio.net.au/sub_about.htm