Category Blog

Liability insurance is a photographer’s responsibility

August 10, 2011 0 Comments read Blog, News

My business insurance guy must be a wreck. He’s legitimately concerned that most people walk around with too little protection against risk, in the form of property and liability insurance.

He’s right.

I’m always on location, handling high-voltage lights, carrying tons of heavy gear, working in the elements. But, thanks to him, I know I’m covered in case something unforeseen happens.

I advise people to hire not just the photographer that fits into their budget, but the best photographer for them. That is, someone who they personally gel with and whose style both speaks to them and fits the work they need done.

If it’s a business doing the hiring, I also advise them to look a little deeper than the photographer’s portfolio. Just like you’d hire a licensed and bonded plumber or tradesman, your photographer—particularly in advertising and commercial photography—should have a minimum level of liability insurance to protect themselves and their clients in the event an accident should happen, in-studio or on location.

A true professional should offer this kind of protection for their clients as a matter of course. Clients should always ask.

Here’s an informative article from Entrepreneur magazine explaining why home-based businesses should have insurance. For studio-based LLCs like Fitzgerald Photo, it’s even more important.

Lights on Location Workshop rescheduled for Fall

August 10, 2011 0 Comments read Blog, News

Our Lights on Location Workshop scheduled for August 16 has been postponed until Tuesday, October 18th from 5-8 pm.

Those already committed to the workshop don’t need to do anything further. There are still five of the ten slots available for the Fall workshop.

It’s become clear that many photographers who otherwise would like to attend can’t easily come to an August workshop due to their busy personal and work schedules this time of year. As a result, we’re choosing a date that hopefully will work better for everyone.

Stay tuned for more details as the date gets closer. We’ve got a great workshop planned full of practical tips for photographers at the intermediate and advanced level who want to push themselves creatively with light on location.

Calling all photographers….

August 4, 2011 0 Comments read Blog, News

Dogfish_Stylized — The Dogfish Cafe and Grille, 128 Free St., Portland, ME

Photography is often a solitary affair. Even if you have an assistant and stylist on a shoot, the responsibility lies with you, the photographer. And back at the studio, no one else is going to process the photos.

One of the things I miss most from my days as a staff shooter on a newspaper is the camaraderie and fellowship of other photographers. Generally, the people on a newspaper staff are very close—bonds forged from long hours working towards a noble goal—but newspaper photographers from competing newspapers shared friendships as well. Even though we were competitive with each other, we would always (with rare exceptions) help each other out with extra batteries, gear or advice.

In the commercial and advertising world, it’s a more lonely place. We may have teams around us, but we don’t regularly rub shoulders with other photographers. I think as a result that something’s lost. One of the ways I grow is to see the work of other photographers…and sharing information about business practices benefits us all.

That’s why I’m so excited about the breakfast clubs being organized by ASMP New England (American Society of Media Photographers) throughout the Northeast. Here in Maine, I’m the organizer of these so-called “breakfast clubs” and we’ve just scheduled our third one at the Dogfish Cafe and Grille on August 23rd.

Each of the locations hosting these clubs decides for themselves the best format, and that’s why our breakfast club has morphed into a cocktail club. Besides being easier to get to for me, I guess it’s not surprising that food and a few drinks appeals to a group of photographers.

By the way, this event isn’t limited to ASMP official members. It’s for any student or professional photographer who does commercial, editorial and advertising work like ASMP members do. Hopefully you’ll love what ASMP offers and will eventually apply for membership, but if you don’t you should still come out, have a drink and talk shop. It’s also open to designers and other AIGA-types who work with people like us on a regular basis.

So come on out and meet some folks that toil in the photo trenches like you do. You might just learn something.

Lights on Location workshop is around the corner

August 2, 2011 0 Comments read Blog, News

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This fall, we’ll be holding our next and final workshop of our 2011 workshop series here at Studio B. In previous ‘shops we’ve gone over techniques and gear related to the use of small flashes on location. This time, we’re going for the bigger guns: studio strobes in the field.

This is done with non-studio shooter in mind….I’m talking about wedding, portrait and commercial photographers who find themselves most often shooting in a variety of environments and where portability and power are required.

For years as a photojournalist, ambient light and a small off-camera corded flash sufficed for much of what I did. It wasn’t until I began using more powerful studio strobes that I was able to really take advantage of faster recycle times and higher output, enabling me to shoot synchro-sunlight images any time of day.

At this workshop we’ll go over equipment and principles of shooting outside. Then we’ll head outside the studio to make some fun photos happen. Although we’ll be using larger strobes, the principles are the same with small flashes, and so we’ll use those as well. Participants are encouraged to bring their portable gear and cameras with them so they can use the techniques we’re discussing.

Space is limited to ten. Please RSVP to me here: brian@fitzgeraldphoto.com if you have questions. To snag your spot now, click to pay below. Hope to see you there!

Lights on location: Amp up your location images with studio and portable strobes

Time: Tuesday, October 18, 5-8:30 pm
Location: Starts at Maine Studio B, 28 Maple Street, Third Floor, Portland, ME (207) 699.9321
Cost: $99

Sometimes natural light isn’t enough. Often it just needs to be “helped” by the addition of some well-placed strobes. Join veteran photojournalist and commercial photographer Brian Fitzgerald for this comprehensive, hands-on workshop on the use of studio and portable flashes on location. Whether you’re a studio photographer or you work out of the back of your Honda Civic, you should know how to build a shot with all available tools–ambient and artificial.

In this workshop, topics include:

Location gear – what you need to have
Small flashes (i.e., camera strobes) vs. studio strobes
Balancing ambient light and artificial light
Reflectors and modifiers
Tips for when things go wrong: surviving the location shoot
Plus: The 10-minute portrait challenge
Q-and-A session

Space is limited to 10. Reserve a spot now by contacting Brian Fitzgerald by email at brian@fitzgeraldphoto.com. Cost is $99 for this intensive instructional workshop.

Don’t get bit by (OS X) Lion

July 27, 2011 0 Comments read Blog, News

If you have a Mac shop, you’re probably as excited as I am about many of the features in the newest Mac OS X update, named Lion. AirDrop, iOS features like pinch-zoom and apps organization (Launchpad) are just a few of the things I’m ready to add to my Mac experience.

But don’t let that lion out it’s cage just yet.

The reason is that along with those cool features, Lion removes support for Rosetta. That’s the translator that enables older PowerPC programs to run on Apple’s Intel-powered machines.

I happen to have several PowerPC programs that are critical for my business. Once I install Lion, those programs will no longer work–including one very useful program, Quickbooks. There are also a number of issues reported with Adobe products, especially CS4 and earlier photo suite products. For example, in pre-CS5 Photoshop, droplets no longer work on Lion.

So before you install, do a simple check to see how it may impact you. Go to Utilities–>System Profiler and click on Applications (Under Software). When the list of all your programs appears, click on the tab “Kind”, which sorts by type. Scroll down the list and you’ll see “PowerPC” for any older programs that require Rosetta.

Some of these older programs may not be in use, in which case you can uninstall them wtih AppCleaner and install Lion. But if you’re like me, you’ll wait a little longer until Lion is tamed with some updates and your PowerPC application developers come out with Lion-compatible versions.

The importance of raising questions

July 19, 2011 0 Comments read Blog, News, On Location

Trisha, Mike and Josephine Rideout of Huntington Ave. in Portland, ME. Josephine, 5, with her pet chicken, Maryanne.Photo by Brian Fitzgerald.Rideout FamilyPhoto by Brian Fitzgerald.Rideout Family (Brian Fitzgerald/Â© Brian Fitzgerald) — Who is this girl and why is she holding a pet chicken? (©2011 Brian Fitzgerald)

I have a photography mentor whose advice I often replay in my head. One of the sayings I most remember when I’m shooting my editorial portraits or more conceptual work is, “Leave them with questions rather than answers.”

This seems antithetical to my upbringing in newspaper photojournalism, where the success of a news photo hinges on the ability of the viewer to clearly digest what’s happening in the image with as little help from the caption as necessary.

But it only seems that way. The bread-and-butter of the community photojournalist isn’t spot news or hostage standoffs or even sports. Rather, it’s a big helping of portrait profiles with a side of found features (so-called “wild art”) and the occasional self-assignment photo essay or story. Every now and then, an illustration.

It’s in these non-news situations where my mentor’s advice rings true. A successful photo is one that isn’t totally literal. A great photo doesn’t tie up every loose end and dot every “i”. Whether because of an interesting expression, body language or other reasons, a photo that leaves something unresolved in the viewer’s mind is the one you’ll bet they’ll look at for a while before moving on to Dear Abby. They might even come back later to study the photo to try to figure it out themselves.

To boil it all down, I think that when you have an image that forces the viewer to fill in the blanks a bit—you may just have an image that can touch people. One master at this was the great portraitist Yousuf Karsh. He photographed many of the most iconic images of famous people in the 20th century, from Fidel Castro to Albert Einstein to Andy Warhol. You just have to view the iconic portrait of Sir Winston Churchill to see what Karsh was able to do (the backstory on this particular photo is fascinating and a worthwhile read). Looking at his images, the viewer is compelled to try and guess what the subjects are thinking at that moment. It’s as if you can see their souls and a little of their dirty laundry, too.

It’s an approach I always try to keep in mind when shooting images for certain clients, or for myself. Special thanks to Josephine, above, and her chicken, Maryanne.

Moment + Light

July 14, 2011 0 Comments read Blog, News, On Assignment, Shop Talk, Showcase

For me, photography boils down to two key elements: moment and light. You may have one in greater proportion to the other, but for most types of photography—certainly any imagery with people—you need both.

I used this criteria as a newspaper photo editor when judging daily work and the many portfolios that came across my desk.

You kinda know a “real” moment when you see one. It’s a look, an expression, or an interaction. Usually from the viewer’s perspective, it looks like you’re viewing a private scene, voyeur-style, and the subject appears totally unaware of the camera.

As a photojournalist, real moments are mostly found situations. In feature situations, the goal is to shoot photos (usually with a long lens) before the subject really becomes aware of your presence. You get something ‘real’ of the subject doing something interesting and later you deal with getting their permission and name to actually use the photos. In news situations, such as fires, accidents or events, the subjects are usually so focused on the happenings that getting moments is pretty easy, giving you time to work on composition and light too.

At the newspaper, moment trumped light any day of the week and twice on sundays. Robert Capa’s grainy, ghostly images of the landing at D-Day fails from a purely technical standpoint but no one would argue that the moment it captures place this work among history’s finest.

As a commercial and advertising photographer, my subjects are (mostly) aware of what I do. They are paying me to be there, or my clients are paying them to be there. It’s me, them and bunch of obtrusive lighting equipment, so the goal is to get the subjects to relax and give me something real despite the unreal surroundings. When successful I get a true serendipitous moment—a peice of chaos that I thankfully can not, and don’t want to, control—in the midst of a controlled setting.

The only difference between editorial and commercial photography in this regard is that non-editorial shooters have the luxury of not having to wait for the perfect light. Regardless, being attuned to capturing the authentic moment will help turn otherwise ordinary photos into memorable images.

That’s still theway I approach the debate between moment and light. Make sure you have a strong moment, and then work on the light.

Memories from the front lines of 9/11

July 1, 2011 0 Comments read Blog, On Assignment, On Location

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Steven Kanarian, BS, MPH, is an accomplished EMS professional with over 25 years' experience including paramedic, EMS supervisor, FEMA USAR Medical Specialist and EMS educator. (Brian Fitzgerald)

Steve Kanarian was at work on September 11, 2001. Since his job was as an EMT with the New York Fire Department, Steve’s view of the devastation was a bit more up-front and personal than for most other New Yorkers. Lieutenant Kanarian (ret.) lectures on EMS topics, terrorism response and does corporate keynote speeches. He’s also a writer. His book, The Downwind Walk: A USAR Paramedic’s experiences on September 11, 2001 takes you to the front lines of 9/11 and delves into lessons learned from a quarter-century with the nation’s premier fire department.

Steve contacted me after getting referred to me by another client. Once he saw my work, he wanted to move forward because he liked the gritty style of my environmental portraits and my familiarity shooting law enforcement, military and other paramilitary organizations.
In talking with Steve I determined he needed professional headshots, a portrait for his book and soome lifestyle images showing him training firefighters. Since we couldn’t do it in NYC, we ended up shooting in Maine—first in our Portland studio, then in a few locations we set up and arranged beforehand.

Note: most photographers I know have a running file of locations that they can tap for future shoots. When Steve and I spoke, I knew I’d have to shoot in a narrow, grafitti-covered alleyway located in Portland’s Old Port. We ended up shooting my favorite portrait of the day there. Steve was happy to do it, and commented that it was cleaner than the NYC equivalent: “It doesn’t smell like urine,” he remarked. I think the simple portrait captures some of the drama and gravity of his job.

After a few hours of shooting, Steve and I had a great time and ended up with a handful of images that give him great flexibilty when building his brand. Great job, Steve!

A blue moon

June 30, 2011 1 Comment read Blog, News

Verrill Dana formals in Boston, MA--Mark Borreliz (Brian Fitzgerald) — Moonrise over Cape Cod, MA

We recently got back from an all-too-brief vacation to Cape Cod. It was our first time there (we stayed in a great little resort on the beach), and I can report that Maggie loved…the swimming pool. A lot.

It was raining every day but one. At day’s end, the full moon came out and made me dig out my camera gear.

Meet Charlie

June 3, 2011 0 Comments read Blog, On Location

Michelle Souliere, owner of the Green Hand Bookshop in Portland, ME. (Brian Fitzgerald) — Charlie Widdis, assisting this week in a cemetery.

I don’t use assistants.

What I mean is that I tend to do a lot of things myself on assignment. Call it a remnant of a career spent as a newspaper photographer. Back in the day, when I had a photo shoot for the newspaper’s entertainment section, the only assisting I got was from the reporter that I pressed into service holding a reflector.

That was okay by me. It was quicker to just do it myself.

In my life as a commercial photographer, things have changed. I find myself loading and unloading bags of gear containing hundreds of pounds of lights, stands, batteries and whatever else I just bought at the hardware store. Surprisingly many buildings in New England are elevator-challenged. Our studio, for example, is on the third floor and the walled-up dumbwaiter doesn’t count. We call our stairs the Fitzgerald Photo wellness program. That’s funny…but walking upstairs with all that gear aint’.

So, meet Charlie Widdis. Charlie is one of the assistants I use—yes, I still try to do most things myself—from time to time. He’s a recent USM grad and is a talented photographer in his own right. Even better for me, he can carry a lot of gear, jumps in to solve issues without being told and is fairly technical when it comes to gear and lights. That’s good because if you’ve got an assistant who can set up and break down your gear properly, you can focus on making the actual shoot.

I also use Ayla and Stepheney as my assistants, but it’s rare that I use more than one on an assignment. Then there’d be nothing to do but drink Evian and show up to push the button on the camera….

Seriously—life as an assistant is hard and definitely not glamorous. It is a great way to learn the realities of life as a professional photographer, and to learn first-hand how everything from photo shoots to a photo business works.

All assistants have to suffer the pain of being ‘stand-ins’ as I’m building a shot. Most of the photos never see the light of day, but occasionally they’re useful for a blog post or blackmail material.

Enter Charile. You might be seeing more of him here on the blog moving forward. He’ll be the guy sweating to make me—and the subjects—look their best.