Update about 'Must Read' post

Last week I had posted some information about a must read.. a designer who was reportedly having his artwork and intellectual property stolen. Of course this wasn't the whole story as we saw a few articles from both sides.

Well in addition to all that hoopla that overtook twitter and blogs everywhere it seems as though the designer, Jon Engle, has taken down his website (which is why the link no longer works).

Here is a post from LogoFactory from this past week (here)

So now that Jon's profile, blog, twitter account and logo design work has been pulled from several sites (in addition to the fundraiser for his legal fees canceled), it begs to ask the question if he's the one being ripped off and having his intellectual property exploited why is he fading into obscurity and backing off?

A severe reminder to all artists to keep meticulous records of your work, metadata attached to the work and to protect your intellectual property.

News

Postings will become sporadic the next few months. This art producer will be starting a new job and will need to throw myself wholeheartedly into this new endeavor.

I will continue to keep the blog going and update as often as possible.

Agency Scoop

A new LinkedIn type of networking website but for the ad industry.
Take a gander or join at Agencyscoop.com.

MITX Event

Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange (MITX), The Digital Combine: The Next Generation Employer and Talent Showcase


A half day program to help both entry-level and seasoned marketing professionals think differently about the job market in general and the digital marketplace in particular.

Chris Colbert will be leading a session entitled "Managing and Marketing Your Personal Brand," which will provide attendees with a different way to think about how they package and promote themselves to create employment opportunities.

If you are interested or know of marketers and communications folk that are out of work or seeking a way to get into the industry please direct them to the following: http://www.mitx.org/events/1825.cfm

The event is free. Attendance is limited to 500 people and is expecting to sell out, so please encourage friends and peers to sign up as soon as possible.

Boston Ad Club

An update since I last posted about this event being hosted by Boston's AdClub (Agency Reunion):
From the Boston AdClub:
"Dear Friends,
With networking being more important than ever, we're excited about putting on the first ever Ad Club Agency Reunion. It promises to be the biggest networking event of the year.

A lot of our friends and partners have already told us they're coming. But we've also heard that some of you would like to attend but can't really afford the $200 ticket because the economy's kicked us all in the butt a little.

So we're offering a special Stimulus Package price of $140.

There's no difference between this ticket price and the full price. You still get a night of networking complete with an open bar and buffet dinner.

However, if advertising continues to be good to you and you would like to support The Ad Club, we will graciously accept the full $200 ticket price.

See you at The Garden!"

See more info here: www.adclub.org/REUNION

Matt Hoyle's Barnumville

They are a series of black and white portraits of sideshow performers called "Barnumville". Over 3 weeks, Matt photographed nearly 30 portraits of physically amazing people including performers from the two remaining "freakshows" (as they call themselves).

"It's about a fictitious town in 1940's Florida inhabited by sideshow performers of all shapes and sizes. It's inspired by the real life town of Gibsonton Florida which used to be an active vacation town for wintering circus folk. I was lucky enough to shoot many known sideshow performers and physically intriguing characters who are in the last remaining sideshows in America, Coney Island Sideshow and 999 Eyes Freakshow from Austin Texas."



The portraits are beautiful with a cinematic quality and the raw personality of the people he photographed coming right through. The images are intense but so beautiful in the stark black and white he's presented to the viewers. Instead of seeing the bold bright colors of the circus we see in ads and on TV today, it's like Matt has transported us back to the 30's when the circus was a traveling show of animals, trainers, working men and best of all the side show freaks.

The images include a Lobster Clawed Man, a Giant, Sword Swallowers, Little People, Fire Breathers, Clowns, a Serpent Lady, a Tattooed Lady and more...

Check out more of the work here:
www.jkand.com/public/matt-hoyle/barnumville

www.matthoyle.com

all images ©Matt Hoyle

New England Portfolio Review

On Friday May 8th through Saturday May 9th, the Photographic Resource Center and the Griffin Museum will be hosting a New England portfolio review at Northeastern University. You can find more information here:
portfolioreview2009.com.

Here is a full description from the PRC:
This year the PRC and the Griffin Museum of Photography have teamed up to co-sponsor the New England Portfolio Review Event 2009. Photographers of all genres and skill levels will have a rare opportunity to have their work assessed by leading curators, gallery owners, editors, and educators during this two-day event hosted on the campus of Northeastern University.

Photographers can sign up for a single review, a package of three reviews, or a package of six reviews. Photographers can sign up for reviews on Friday, May 8th, Saturday May 9th, or both days. There will be a morning session on Friday, and morning and afternoon sessions on Saturday. Each portfolio review will last 20 minutes with a 10 minute break between reviews.

Registration is open at 9am on Monday, April 13th and will occur online only. Processing is done on a first come, first serve basis. The cost of the portfolio reviews will range from $45 for one review to $250 for 6 reviews for members of each of the organizations.

Please note: There are no guarantees that photographers will be assigned the reviewers that they requested. Once the portfolio review sessions are full, photographers have the option of being placed on the wait list.

Here is a list of participating reviewers:
http://www.portfolioreview2009.com/reviewers.html

Dealing with Crises

This is a great post and can relate to anyone across the board. I think it's especially useful in dealing with clients and being on a production/job. It's sound advice.
Read the article here.

Gist:

• Calm down, smile and remain polite to maintain any chance of success

• Become a human being rather than a faceless number

• Be persistent to grind away the brick wall

• Be prepared to lose to expand your freedom of thought and action

• Be clear about your objective so you can be flexible about how to achieve it

• Find who can, since often the first person you speak to cannot help

• Take an active part in making things happen more efficiently

• Make the other person feel good about helping you so that they are more likely to help you

• Don’t relax this stance until it’s over, it’s easy to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Thanks to my husband for finding this one.

Heather Morton art buyer

Heather Morton is back to blogging and regular postings. After a 5 month hiatus she comes back with contributors Myles McCutcheon and Liz Ikiriko, both photo editors and photographers.

It's fantastic to have Heather back and sharing her opinion. check out her blog (if you haven't already) at heathermorton.ca/blog/

Artists with Blogs

I find that artists blogs keep coming up in conversation, particularly artists asking if it's even a useful tool.

It should be completely up to you whether to maintain blogs and social networking. If you feel it's beneficial to your business or if it's a way to share personal opinions, images, etc. then go for it.

Personally I love artists' blogs. It's a nice insight into other work as well as the personality of that artist. It's sort of like peeling back another layer. The portfolios are useful to find appropriate talent for projects but the blogs for me are useful to find out a little more about the talent.

My only suggestion is that if you maintain a blog try to update it. It doesn't have to be everyday or even every week if you don't have anything or are busy but try to keep it as up to date as possible. Especially with imagery or a behind the scenes look at a recent project. I've also found a few photographers and illustrators who use their blog to show some new work or a new style they are experimenting with. The blog is a great way to showcase more work and outtakes of some shots that are in your portfolio.

Just remember to keep it honest but also a little professional (I don't want to read about a rant on a client). Express your opinions but remember who your potential audience is and the fact that they could potentially hire you. It's also a good format to not only promote personal work but share information that helps the creative community (award announcements, networking events, lectures, student shows, etc.)

Here are a few artist blogs I enjoy reading that are really good examples:

Finn O'Hara: finnohara.com/blog/
Andrew Hetherington: whatsthejackanory.com/
Timothy Archibald: timothyarchibald.blogspot.com/
Susana Raab: susanaraab.wordpress.com/
Thomas Broening: thomasbroening.blogspot.com/

also check out this Q&A on Photo-Blogging on the Glasshouse blog, Stone-Thrower.

Must Read

Granted this person is a designer and this information posted on his blog is logo related but it relates to the entire creative community.

This post is a must read for all artists and their intellectual property - jonengle.com/2009/04/accused/.

This also makes a great argument for tagging everything with meta data and tracking your work.

**UPDATE: Thanks to Jason Campbell who sent this link to some info about the other side of the story, read it here.

Adam Hester Portfolio Review

all photos ©Adam Hester, used with permission

I've had the opportunity to speak with several photographers over the phone regarding my offer in the beginning of March for portfolio reviews. My idea was this: provide completely honest feedback to the photographer's portfolio as well as answer questions they had and tailor the answers specifically to their work and aspirations.

Earlier this week I chatted with Adam Hester, who has okayed snippets of our conversation to be published here with a few pieces of his work. Adam's been assisting for a few years and is now shooting for himself and working on getting his own clients. His questions were:
Get some feedback on his website. How to approach art buyers? How could he come off as more prepared or assure potential art buyers/creatives of his attention to production value?

**Note: All of the feedback provided below is just my opinion and is specific to Adam and his work.

Feedback:
The set up of his portfolio starts with the sub head "Playful Surroundings", a personal project Adam's been working on and testing. When I search through websites looking for potential photographers for a project, I normally go to either the first subhead or the most obvious relevance to my project. Meaning - you have 5 subheads and I'm looking for portraits, I'm going to go to your portraits portfolio first look through it quickly to see if it jives with the needs of the project and then move onto the next photographer.

My suggestions were to use some different props or none at all. the images are great even without the subject holding anything. For instance a few of the images I didn't necessarily understand as far as the conceptual approach but the subject, the expression and the framing of the image was beautiful. Some of the strongest work that I reacted to in the portfolio were the snapshots in the "Instant Love" section. I know these are some personal projects hence the names associated with them but I suggested splitting some of these up to really show focus on the in the portfolio so the can attract work.

Approach art buyers with confidence in your work. I always suggest face to face meetings, it speaks so much more to the personality and associating the work with the photographer. Especially go after the clients that he wants to add to his roster. have an aspirational list of clients that he can see his work being associated with and start knocking on their doors.

As far as being prepared and working on projects that require more production, don't bite off more than you can chew, surround yourself with a very capable support team of producer, stylists, crew, and be honest.

You can view Adam Hester's work at adamhester.com