rant

Toronto Film Festival 2017 Review

No Comments

My annual, ridiculously long rant about the recent Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). If you’re not somehow connected to, or involved with, TIFF then it might be better to skip this post. I’m just trying to reach a certain audience. The reason is that each year, TIFF sends out a survey asking for journalists’ thoughts about the film festival but there are no questions for photographers. The film festival seemingly has no regard for photographers because it treats photography as an afterthought.

tl;dr:

1) Someone must have read this blog because this year TIFF finally sent out a directory of publicists. In the past, photographers weren’t allowed to have this list. The directory is important if you have to arrange a photo shoot with a director, actor, producer, etc.

 

2) Someone did not read this blog because TIFF, yet again, failed to email the list of red carpet events even though this information was available almost two weeks prior to the festival. Thank goodness publicists sent out much of this information ahead of time.
Continue reading →

Value is a two-way street

2 Comments

Over the past month, I lost photo jobs to:

1) A photographer who quoted $1,200 for a two-day shoot, in two cities 100km apart, consisting of 22 business portraits, 11 environmental portraits and up to 66 finished images delivered.

2) Someone who quoted $1,500 to photograph a four-day business conference.

3) The “best professional headshot photographer in Toronto” who, according to the customer, quoted $3,000 for 120 business headshots. That’s $25 per headshot.

(When you have a quote turned down, try to ask the customer what the other photographer quoted. Sometimes the customer will refuse to divulge what they’re paying but tell them that you’d like to know where your price stands.)

Was I disappointed not to get these jobs? Yes.

Am I upset? No.

I am wondering how these photographers make any money.
Continue reading →

Running a photography business

No Comments

Confucius was wrong when he said:

Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.

Running a photography business consists of short moments of photography broken up by long periods of business. But those moments of photography make it worthwhile.

While photographers do need to make money, the need to create pictures may be more important. It’s not always about money.

Making money is a job. Making good pictures is an accomplishment.

 

The Photography Gig Economy

No Comments

You may have heard the trendy phrase “gig economy” which, I suppose, is the opposite of a job economy. Of course, if you’re a self-employed photographer, you’re probably laughing at the discovery of this “new” economy. Another laughable trendy phrase is the “sharing economy”.

In the old days, someone could have one job for their entire life but that is disappearing. Today, more and more people are self-employed and they freelance for a number of employers. A short-term job here, a temporary job there.

As every self-employed person will tell you,the (growing) problem is that freelancers fall through every crack in every labour law. No minimum wage, no set hours, no legal overtime, no guaranteed meal breaks, no sick pay, no holiday pay, no statutory holidays, no benefits, etc.

Canadian freelancers aren’t covered by any labour law. In fact, Canadian freelancers aren’t even guaranteed that they will get paid for their work.

A few days ago on October 27, 2016, New York City passed what could be a landmark new law in the USA. The so-called “Freelance Isn’t Free Act” will help protect freelancers from late-paying and non-paying customers.

Recognizing the shift toward the gig economy, a British MP yesterday called for a minimum wage for self-employed people. The United Kingdom already has a late payment law which helps freelancers collect on late payments [link to PDF].

The number of self-employed and freelancers is going nowhere but up (and here). And it will get worse.

Canada is doing nothing.

 

Using Craftsmanship In Your Photography

No Comments

One of the good things about being a photographer is that you get to make pictures. There are many other occupations where people do things but they don’t make anything.

But as digital technology progresses, we move further away from working with our hands and further from actually making photographs. When I was your age, photos didn’t just pop out of a camera or a computer, they were birthed in a darkroom :–)

Old-time photographers will tell you that working in a darkroom was therapeutic, stress-relieving and magical. You were hands-on with your photography as you created your finished pictures. Note those two ingredients: working with your hands and being creative.

With today’s cameras, you get to be hands-on with a computer keyboard. This is certainly faster, easier and less messy than being in a darkroom but it’s not as beneficial as when you got your hands wet. We don’t really make photographs today but rather we process digital data.
Continue reading →

Toronto Film Festival 2016

No Comments

Another ridiculously long post. If you’re not somehow connected to, or involved with, the Toronto International Film Festival then it might be better to skip this post. I’m just trying to reach a certain audience.

tl;dr:
• It took 41 years but Roy Thomson Hall finally got lights; they weren’t set up right. Red carpet made narrower. More advertising added. Photo pit made smaller and still left open to the rain. Most fans stuck far away from event. Publicists in the way.

• Princess of Wales Theatre still without lights at night. Still overcrowded. Publicists in the way.

• Press conferences are okay. Publicists occasionally in the way.

• The four-day street festival still a waste of time.

• From a photographer’s point of view, the Toronto Film Festival has improved very slowly over the past 41 years. Although some years, it regresses.

• From an onlooker’s point of view, the film festival is an overly big, confusing mess of films. It has lost sight of its purpose. A major overhaul is needed.

Reduce the numbers of venues to a handful. Cut the number of films by at least 50%. Eliminate many of the film categories. Have red carpets only at Roy Thomson and the Princess of Wales. Be more fan-friendly. (This year’s festival was 397 films, in 16 categories, scattered across 28 screens).
Continue reading →

Ministry of Photography

2 Comments

cop21a

Opening day at the COP21 Summit in Paris, France, 29 November 2015.

These conference photos were shot by France’s Ministère de l’Environnement, de l’Energie et de la Mer (MEDDE) photographer. Unlike Canada, these French government photos were put into the public domain.

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is being criticized for paying a photographer $6,662 to take pictures of its minister and her staff while they were in Paris for the COP21 climate summit late last year. [The French government’s COP21 site.]
Continue reading →

css.php