As much as you can count on the leaves changing every year, you can count on families dragging their children kicking and screaming to their portrait session. That train is just never late…and I am always on the platform waiting for it to pull in.
Read MoreBusiness Boundaries - Some Things Are Better Left Un-Texted.
There has to be a level of respect to personal time. We already work long and odd hours.
Read MoreWhat I've Been Doing On My Summer Vacation - By BP Miller
Ok, so maybe the headline isn't as exciting as it sounds. Summer for photographers can tend to be a slow period of time. We're in between wedding & mitzvah seasons, lots of families are off on their OWN vacations (would it kill you to hire a professional photographer to tag along to Turks & Caicos for a week?) and even corporate work tends to slow down because...well...it's summer.
BUT, we've been managing to keep ourselves busy here at Chorus. This past weekend, we were hired on to photograph Blobfest. For those of you not in the know; Blobfest is a yearly event that celebrates the movie "The Blob", which in part was filmed at the iconic Colonial Theatre right in the middle of downtown Phoenixville (about 35 minutes northwest of Philadelphia). It not only celebrates the 1958 Steve McQueen led movie, but all manner of sci-fi campy goodness.
The weekend long fest kicks off with a live stage show on The Colonial's stage that's one part MST3K and one part game show with a little bit of "Rocky Horror" sprinkled on top for good measure.
Imagine hearing the opening strains of Strauss' "Also sprach Zarathustra" as a 30's era pipe organ rises from below the stage, and a green alien stage right bangs away on Timpani drums while the organist descends back to the dark depths.
The event is MC'd by "Cinema Insomina" host Erik Lobo (known better in these circles as Mr. Lobo. Lobo's catchphrase "they're not bad movies, just misunderstood" almost sums up the entire genre.
Where else would you find B9 from the classic Sci-Fi television show "Lost in Space" and the Martian Ambassador from "Mars Attacks" sharing the same stage with original "Lost In Space" actor Marta Kristen?
The evening is capped off by attendees recreating the famous "run out" scene, that the movie is primarily known for. Some people dress up in period clothing, some people dress up like scifi characters from their favorite movies.
Followed up by a brigade of "Blob Killers" who "freeze" the Blob...which effectively kills it.
And then, the "players" from the earlier stage show come out for pictures and to mingle among the crowd.
This may not be as fancy as following a family around on their vacation in an island resort...but you have to admit. It ain't boring!
The Imitation Game
I know…I know…it’s been awhile since I’ve written anything in this space. Truth to be told, I only really post a blog when an idea hits me…and the time has come. So grab an ice cold glass of lemonade, and let’s talk about honesty in photographs.
First things first…I HATE posed photographs outside of a studio setting. Hate ‘em. Never liked them. And it’s not just because posing isn’t my strong suit…I’ve just always been of the mindset that life is filled with these little pockets of amazing moments and hardly any of them are staged…so why would you want all of your photos to be?
Secondly…lately we’ve had a large number of clients asking for “I saw this one shot you did of so & so’s family and I SO want that shot” or “just be creative…but I want it to have X, Y & Z” and my personal favorite…“I love what you do, but here’s how I want you to do it…oh, and I don’t want it to be posed.”
*sigh*
Ok, so let’s start at the beginning. While the basics of making a good picture involve intimate knowledge of exposure and composition and all that other boring stuff that no one besides photographers really cares about, making a good picture also involves knowing the client…knowing their personalities and just waiting for that side of them to present itself.
I can’t speak for other photographers, but I know that outside of a very basic roadmap prior to a shoot, I never know where a particular road is going to lead me until I’m on it. I love goofy outtake pictures…they’re some of my favorite things to throw into a shoot. For me, it’s about coaxing a long and sometimes forgotten side of a personality out. I’ll also use this technique to break tension at the beginning of a shoot…break down that wall that sometimes exists between my lens and my subject, who may not be comfortable having their photo taken. Sometimes it has stellar results, but I also know it’s not for everyone. And when it’s not in that person’s nature…forcing not only makes them incredibly uncomfortable, it has the EXACT opposite effect on the overall shoot I’m trying to make happen…so now, the actual shots we were hired to get are HARDER to achieve.
I am very lucky that I love what I do for a living. I’m also very lucky that people like our work enough to recommend us on a regular basis, and other people hire us because of it. But that is also a double-edged sword. Because high expectations are set in motion by the recommendation itself, it’s my job to then manage those expectations.
If someone says to me “I LOVE those shots…that’s what I want” – it’s my job to explain how shots like that happen, and while I will do everything in my power to give you what you want…it’s also important to understand that more of that comes from you and your family than it does from me. If we’re in the middle of a shoot and you’re stressing out because we haven’t been able to do this shot, or that shot…or your kids aren’t cooperating and it’s because they don’t want to do that shot…then chances are we’re not getting those shots because you’re trying to FORCE them to happen, rather than letting them come naturally.
If it’s against their nature to do X,Y & Z in front of a camera…me forcing it to happen will only result in bad images. BUT, if I figure out what X,Y & Z is in relation to YOUR family dynamic…then we’ll make beautiful photographs together that hopefully your family will treasure for eons. But the important thing is to understand that difference, and allow me to do what you hired me to do.
Art in any form is something that has to come on its own. While you can coax it to come out and play, it has to come on its own volition.
The camera lens sees everything you’re trying to show and everything you’re trying to hide. It can see when you’re happy…it can see when you’re sad. It can EASILY pick up when you’re nervous and trying to hide it through a clenched toothed smile.
But most importantly, and above all else. It can see when you’re being genuine, and when you’re not.
And THAT, ladies and gentleman is the KEY element…to making a good picture.
It's BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK
The plan is a simple one, offer a single portrait to those in our hometown that may not be able to afford them otherwise.
Read MoreThe Preston & Steve Show (from L-R) Nick McIlwain, Marisa Magnatta, Casey Foster, Kathy Romano, Preston Elliot & Steve Morrison.
Preston & Steve's 2016 Cardboard Classic - The 10 Year Anniversary
They came from all over the US to help Preston & Steve celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the Cardboard Classic!
Read MoreGetting Realistic About Pricing: By The Numbers
There are no less than 10 different articles written by different photographers that speak to the numerous reasons as to why we can’t and won’t work for free, and how much it costs to run your own studio, so I won’t rehash all that. But I’m here today to tell you why we also won’t and shouldn’t work for anything less than what is reasonable for our industry.
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BP Miller is an award winning photographer, photojournalist and speaker whose work has been curated by The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, and published in numerous publications like The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Philadelphia Daily News, Washington Post, Rolling Stone & The New York Times.
BP is an active member of RTDNA (Radio, Television & Digital News Association), an Edward R. Murrow Awards Judge, former Mid-Atlantic Chair of the National Press Photographers Association and a former board member of the Northern Short Course In Photojournalism. He can be found speaking across the country about non-profit photography as well as photojournalists' rights.