Iceberg © Stephen Harrison

Don’t forget!  Blue Earth is hosting photographer Stephen Harrison this week presenting “Eye: Forgot It Had A Brain,” the third in our 2009-2010 lecture series on documentary photography focusing on global environments, social, and cultural issues. Harrison will be speaking this coming weekend in Seattle at the Frye Art Museum on Saturday, March 13 at 2 p.m.

“The limitations inherent in image making with camera and lens since 1839 are now gone,” according to Harrison. “Virtually any image capable of being visualized in the human imagination can today be implemented using a variety of tools. The camera is one of many. The inventions and discoveries made over the millennium by painters and sculptors are now relevant to constructing compelling images. In the midst of the dazzling array of images now flooding the world of art, profound technological advancements have been made in the neurosciences and related endeavors regarding that one single backstage organ called the brain. In literally the past ten years, our understanding of human brain and the visual cortex has been nothing less than spectacular. Like the Renaissance in the early 16th century, new exciting paradigms and questions are now emerging that have direct bearing on the visual arts: How can the scope of art and photography be expanded in lieu of these recent advancements? How are images represented in the brain? What vital neural processes influence the construction of meaning in visual images? What precisely is metaphor, and how does the process of conceptual mapping perform its invisible work in visual images? What does science have to say about the neural correlates of visual images that are interesting and transformative? This presentation will touch upon these topics as told by a seasoned and consummate photographer during his personal journey of image creation.”

Tickets available at the door. Free to Blue Earth and Frye members; $10 for non-members; $5 for students with ID.

Is your membership up-to-date? Renew today and attend all events in the Blue Earth Lecture Series for free!

When the Blue Earth board was considering the need to revise Shooting From The Heart, the first and most compelling issue driving us was the tremendous impact and rate of change in digital technology.  In the few years BE has existed, photography has evolved from mostly analog to almost entirely digital technology.  Even traditionalists who lug view cameras into the field are significantly touched by the flood tide of digital technology.

This change is so rapid and complex it is really impossible in this document to be completely current and comprehensive.  The target is moving too fast.  Online forums, professional association and the large and growing technology training industry are excellent sources of up to date information.  Our job here is to consider some of the specific needs and issues confronting documentary photographers and to look at some ways digital technologies can be used and managed to make documentary projects more successful.

Digital imaging is neither necessarily cheaper nor easier than traditional processes.  The fact is digital photography has simply shifted the burden.  A lot of the work that used to be handled by others (photo lab technicians, editors, prepress people, etc.) is now the responsibility of the photographer.  The initial expenses associated with digital capture can be quite high (when one considers cameras, computer hardware, software, etc.) and there are all sorts of the other secondary costs and issues associated with digital imaging.  Software and hardware must be updated, training is an ongoing need, systems fail and require troubleshooting and repair.  Then there is the most significant issue-time in front of the computer doing the “digital workflow”.  Photographers who forget to build these variables into their schedules and budgets will find themselves easily bogged down by the demands of digital imaging.

That said, one of the greatest potential virtues of digital imaging is cost containment.  Properly managed, digital imaging costs are predictable and fixed.  Once you’ve mapped out your digital imaging budget it doesn’t matter if you shoot one frame or a thousand, the cost is essentially the same.  For a documentary photographer scraping by on tight money, this ability to control image production costs can make the difference between continuing a project or being forced by expenses to delay or give up mid-stream.

Because shooting more doesn’t seem to cost more, many photographers seize the opportunity.  “They go NUTS!” exclaims National Geographic Senior Editor Ken Geiger.  According to Gieger, who was hired to usher the Geographic into the digital age, Geographic assignments can now generate terabytes of image data - tens of thousands of pictures - on a story.  But despite more images to sift through digital technology has been a boon to picture editors.  He describes the physically exhausting work editors faced when reviewing the hundreds of rolls of film photographers would send from the field.  “At the end of the day we’d be wiped out,” Geiger said.  “Now (editing digital files) we can easily go through the equivalent of 100 rolls a day.”

The photographers themselves are lifting a good deal of the editors’ burden.  The myth of the globetrotting photojournalists spending evenings in an exotic hotel bar has been replaced by the reality of spending evenings in hotel rooms downloading, editing and captioning.  “Editors are reaping the benefit,” Geiger admits.  “All the back-end work has gone to the photographers.”  This new reality is both good and bad.  On the up side, photographers now have instant gratification.  They can see the results of their work to make sure they are on the right track.  BE co-founder Phil Borges, who spends a great deal of time photographing indigenous cultures in far off lands, benefits significantly from the instantaneous feedback he can get using digital equipment - first by being able to see the shot he’s just made on his camera’s LCD and later in his tent or hotel room being able to look at the whole take.  “I love the ability to see how I’m doing,” Borges explained.  Like many other digital photographers Borges carries a “digital wallet” - a small battery powered hard drive that incorporates a card reader.  He can download cards in the field and then at the end of the day transfer those image folders through a laptop to redundant mini hard drives.

Wise use of technology helps simplify this work.  Many photographers use handy tools like memory card readers that can be snapped together in daisy chains so multiple cards can be simultaneously downloaded.  They also use software like Photo Mechanic, which allows captions and other metadata to be preset and attached automatically to each image file on download.  Software can also automatically make backup copies of all image files to a second hard drive.  Still, despite continuing improvement in workflow tools, the fact remains that shooting digital means more of the photographer’s time is spent at the computer.

Of course digital gizmos consume electricity and finding a power source in the remote areas some documentary photographers traverse can be a real challenge.  Geiger’s power solution for Geographic’s photographers reflects a budget rarely available to independent documentary photographers.  While in the field Geographic shooters “usually plug inverters into the power on our Toyota Land Cruisers,” he said.  The rest of us have to be more resourceful.

The Seattle Times has sent photographers to Afghanistan, Iraq, Indonesia and Africa in recent years and their solution to keeping the photographers’ cameras, computers and satellite phones working is rudimentary.  “We round up as many batteries as we can,” laughs Manager for Newsroom IT Greg Anderson.  Phil Borges has a similar solution.  “I travel with a suitcase full of chargers,” he admits.  Borges, whose work rarely has him away from some electrical outlet for more than a day or so, also carries a number of plug adapters that work in different countries.  In really remote areas photographers can use solar powered chargers like those sold by Brunton, but these can be bulky, expensive, slow and not very useful if the sun isn’t shining.

Another concern is how to keep complex computerized cameras operating in extreme conditions often encountered by globetrotting photojournalists.  Dust is the principal enemy.  It gets into the camera bodies and is attracted to the charged surface of the image sensors.  Minimizing lens changes and carrying cleaning kits helps.  The newest generation of cameras has self-cleaning sensors that vibrate the dust off.  But despite the confidence expressed by the camera reps some skeptical independent camera repair technicians question the long-term durability of such systems.

The new digital-dedicated lens also present some challenges along with their convenience.  Zoom mechanisms and electronic connections are far more prone to failure than the robust brass of a bygone era.  And with the heavy lenses and the battery-laden camera bodies weight has become an issue.  Many photographers (of a certain age) complain about sore necks after a day of shooting.

Fortunately, failure rates are far lower than one might expect for such complex machines and most photographers have been pleasantly surprised by how robust, weatherproof and generally convenient the leading DSLR cameras can be.

Dan Lamont

(To be continued in Part 2)

This series features selected articles from Shooting From The Heart: Photography That Makes A Difference, our highly regarded handbook for photographers developing documentary projects.  If you can’t wait for the full series to be published, feel free to download a free PDF version of Shooting From The Heart and have a copy to keep as your own!

Blue Earth project photographer John Trotter is in San Francisco for his lecture at Mumm Napa this weekend and will also be making a presentation of some of his latest work at the San Francisco Exposure Gallery, 801 Howard (near the corner of 4th Street across from the Moscone Center) this evening at 7 p.m., Thursday, March 4th, 2010.  Trotter will be showing photos from No Agua, No Vida as well as from his “Burden of Memory” brain injury project.  The presentation is free and open to the public; if you are in the Bay Area tonight, be sure not to miss this opportunity to see his latest work.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

Abi Gul 7, Rumbur Valley, Pakistan.  Abi Gul’s father spent eleven years fighting in the Pakistan courts to keep the Kalash valleys from being logged.  For the Kalash, who have animist cosmology, trees are very sacred.  Three years ago Abi Gul’s father was killed by a bomb that was thrown into their little two-room home.  Her uncle continued the court case and finally won the judgement.  Abi Gul was very serious and quiet.  Very diligent, she stayed by my side and assisted me as I photographed her friends and relatives in her small village.  © Phil Borges

Blue Earth currently sponsors about 30 photographic projects.  Over the years, different projects have run their course and moved forward on their own.  But that doesn’t mean they are any less important today than they were when Blue Earth first sponsored them.

This week we are highlighting a project by Blue Earth co-found Phil Borges Animists: The Spirit of Place.  His project documents the few remaining traditional cultures where people spiritually communicate with their environment.  Today, we call these people “animists”: those who believe that the natural world is inhabited by spirits who nurture or destroy in accordance to the respect they are shown.  Borges’s project includes images from Siberia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Ecuador, Africa, and the Amazon basin.  It has been exhibited worldwide and published as a book under the same title.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

This is your last chance to see the popular Photo Center Northwest exhibit Blue Earth: Art as Activism, a new show featuring three Blue Earth photographic projects.  The exhibit closes this weekend Sunday, February 28, 2010.   For his project Amazon Forest At Risk, Daniel Beltrá photographs the threats to the Amazon rainforest and inspires an appreciation of the plants, animals and people that depend on it. Heather McClintock’s project, The Innocent: Casualties of the Civil War in Northern Uganda is a collaboration of trust and discovery, from the vantage point of the children living in the war-torn region. In her project Life in Peril: Tanzanian Albino People, Rozarii Lynch documents the atrocities currently being committed against albino people in Tanzania, and the social, health, and economic issues they face.

Blue Earth: Art as Activism

Exhibition Dates: January 22 - February 28, 2010
Location: Photo Center NW, 900 12th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122

Daniel Beltrá - Amazon: Forest at Risk

The ancient rainforest of the vast Amazon basin represents over half the world’s remaining tropical forests. This verdant wilderness is one of our richest ecosystems, harboring the greatest biodiversity on the planet. And, this forest is vital to the world’s atmospheric health as almost 25% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come directly from tropical forest clearance. Burning down the Amazon contributes significantly to global warming. Since 2001 Daniel has photographed the changing forest, witnessing both the worst drought in living memory and one of the river’s most extensive floods. He has documented the burning of thousands of acres of untouched rainforest. By continuing to document the threats to the forest’s wildlife and local inhabitants he presents a powerful argument for their protection.

Heather McClintock - The Innocent: Casualties of the Civil War in Northern Uganda

The Innocent is a collaboration of trust and discovery, from the vantage point of the children living in the war-torn region of northern Uganda. Despite living amidst conflict, these children are resilient enough to show the courage, strength of will, and hope that exists within the human spirit. For more than twenty-two years, the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been engaged in an armed rebellion against the government’s military, the Ugandan Peoples Defense Force (UPDF). The Acholi tribe has been caught in the middle of this complex and barbaric civil war, in which countless numbers have been brutalized and abducted minors comprised almost 90% of the rebel soldiers. It is estimated that as many as 66,000 children have been abducted by the LRA, wrenched from their families and forced to become soldiers and sex slaves. The Acholi are a proud and gracious people who want nothing more than to be educated, sleep safely in their own homes, have food to eat and clothing on their backs, to live in peace; no different than you and I.

Rozarii Lynch - Life in Peril: Tanzanian Albino People

Despite being a significant portion of the population, albino people in Tanzania are under- represented and largely misunderstood. Under the searing sun they suffer greatly-physically and socially. They face significant health problems such as poor vision and a high incidence of skin cancer. They also endure widespread discrimination, a lack of education, and limited financial and health resources. Compounding this misfortune, albino people in Tanzania are now commonly hunted, mutilated and murdered. Their body parts, believed by some people to have magical powers, are sold to witchdoctors who make “get rich quick” potions which are traded to those seeking fortune. By documenting the atrocities currently being committed against albino people in Tanzania, and, the social, health and economic issues they face in general, this project aims to raise international awareness and effect positive change for their situation.

A continuous and well-focused publicity effort is essential for the success of any photography book or project.  The strategy below is the one I’ve followed to publicize several recent photography books by Blue Earth Alliance cofounder Phil Borges.

The first step is to brainstorm as many story angles as possible.  Think of leads that might be of interest to the different media-newspapers, magazines, radio, and television.  The key is to get beyond focusing on one main story idea and tailor the story’s “hook” to the particular medium and audience.  Photo District News magazine might be most interested in a profile of Phil Borges the photographer and a survey of his photographs.  Common Ground magazine, in contrast, would most likely prefer a story about the main theme in Phil’s Tibetan Portrait book: the Tibetan belief in compassion.  A small-town newspaper in Napa, California, would almost certainly be interested in hearing about a photography student from their local community college who succeeded in publishing a book of his photography.  Radio stations almost anywhere can appreciate Borges’s vivid accounts of adventures during his travels around the world to create images for his books.

After mapping out story angles, determine who should receive the information.  While researching the media is time consuming, it is not difficult.  My favorite method is to visit a good magazine stand and copy the contact information from the publications that have potential.  (editor’s note: mailing list services, most notably Ad Base and Agency Access, keep up to date lists of editorial contacts and most publications.  These lists are available by subscription)

A visit to the library reference center can produce publications with information on magazines, newspapers, and television and radio programs, along with the names of individuals to whom you can direct your press kit.  Once you have identified potential contacts, call ahead and confirm with the company’s receptionist that the person is still on staff, and, if not, who has replaced him or her.

Once I have identified the individuals I want to approach, I begin the publicity process by sending a press kit.  I automatically assume that these people are (1) very busy, and (2) inundated with hundreds of press releases and media kits annually.  Because of this, it is essential to make the exterior of your folder inviting and keep the written information interesting yet simple and short.

My press kits include a short, handwritten cover letter, information about the book or project, a biography of the photographer, clear copies of previous press, and high-quality color copies of the photography.  All of this is placed in an attractive folder with a photograph affixed to the front.

So much for the easy part.  The next step is the phone calls.  Most publicity efforts don’t succeed without a heavy dose of persistence. When I follow up on a press-kit mailing, I expect to speak to a machine on the first four attempts.  If and when I do get someone on the line, I try to say as much as possible with as few words as possible-again, these people have heard it all before.  I often review my notes before making calls, reminding myself of the key points that may appeal most to this particular media person.  Frustrating as it is, speaking directly with a contact rarely generates coverage.  However, I will have succeeded by simply introducing one more person to the photography and projects of Phil Borges.  Obviously, there is much more to obtaining publicity than just this basic outline.  The books I refer to the most on the subject are 1001 Ways to Market Your Books by John Kremer and Guerrilla P.R. by Michael Levine.  Both are excellent sources of education and ideas.

Julee Geier

This series features selected articles from Shooting From The Heart: Photography That Makes A Difference, our highly regarded handbook for photographers developing documentary projects. If you can’t wait for the full series to be published, feel free to download a free PDF version of Shooting From The Heart and have a copy to keep as your own!

Photographers take note!  Blue Earth accepts project submissions four times each year, and the submission deadline for the first round in 2010 is March 21st.  Our focus remains photographic projects whose goal is to educate the public about endangered cultures, threatened environments, and current topics of social concern.  If you are a photographer and would like to apply, it’s never too early to get started putting your materials together.

Check out our updated submission guidelines for more details.  If you’ve applied before, please note that Blue Earth now only accepts electronic submissions.

As always, we’re happy to answer any questions about the guidelines or the submission process - just contact us.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

© John Trotter

The Ansel Adams Gallery and Blue Earth are proud to host an inspiring lecture series and photo exhibit featuring our dramatically changing planet titled “Changing Earth: Photographer’s Call to Action” at Mumm Napa Fine Art Photography Gallery through March 13, 2010.

The fourth in our Mumm Napa lecture series will feature “The Future of the Colorado River and the American Southwest,” a presentation by Blue Earth project photographer John Trotter on Saturday, March 6th 2010, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

“The Colorado’s modern notoriety… stems not from its wild rapids and plunging canyons but from the fact that it is the most legislated, most debated, and most litigated river in the entire world.” Marc Reisner, Cadillac Desert

“What will the American Southwest look like when the great reservoirs storing Colorado River water are emptied by the combined effects of drought and overuse, a future, which now appears inevitable?,” asks John Trotter. “How dependent have we become on a model of endless growth that itself depends on a finite amount of water? In this presentation, we’ll view photos from the river’s headwaters to its desiccated delta for a glimpse of how we have reached this point.”

A native of Missouri, John Trotter worked as a newspaper photojournalist for fourteen years, on stories large and small, local and international. He photographed events ranging from local elections to national political conventions and covered United States military interventions in Panama, Somalia and Haiti. Some of his work from Somalia was part of a United Nations exhibition on that country’s massive famine in 1992. On March 24, 1997, while on assignment in Sacramento, California for The Sacramento Bee, he was nearly beaten to death by a half-dozen young men. During his long recovery from that attack he photographed Sierra Gates, a brain injury rehabilitation residence, where he himself had lived after his release from the hospital. Those photographs have been published and exhibited in Europe and the United States and a book of them is forthcoming. On the fourth anniversary of his attack, Trotter took the first pictures for his project on the enormous pressure of human development on the Colorado River, which is ongoing. He has lived in Brooklyn, New York, the Oakland of Manhattan, since 2000.

Mumm Napa Winery is located at 8445 Silverado Trail, Rutherford, CA 94573.  For directions call (707) 967-7700.  Visitor center and fine art photography gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily.  Series lectures are free and open to the public, but please RSVP at (707) 967-7740 to guarantee seating.

We would like to thank SanDisk for sponsoring the lecture series and our friends at PhotoAlliance for generously helping to publicize the lectures.

2010 Kent Summer Art Exhibit
Deadline: March 8, 2010

The Kent Arts Commission seeks prints, photographs, paintings, works on paper and other types of artwork for our juried summer exhibit.

Purchase Awards: $5,000
Exhibit Awards: 4 solo exhibitions in the Centennial Center Gallery during the 2011 season
Artist Selection Process: Open to Washington State artists

2010 Mayor’s Arts Awards
Nomination deadline: April 7, 2010

The Mayor’s Arts Awards celebrate the contributions of individuals and organizations that make a difference in our community through arts and culture.  The public nominates recipients for the award, and the Seattle Arts Commission recommends recipients to the mayor for final selection.  The awards, which are non-monetary, are presented each year.

Mayor Mike McGinn will present the 2010 awards, Friday, Sept. 3 at Seattle Center in partnership with Bumbershoot, Seattle’s Music & Arts Festival.

Iceberg © Stephen Harrison

Blue Earth is proud to host photographer Stephen Harrison presenting “Eye: Forgot It Had A Brain,” the third in our 2009-2010 lecture series on documentary photography focusing on global environments, social, and cultural issues. Harrison will be speaking in Seattle at the Frye Art Museum on Saturday, March 13 at 2 p.m.

“The limitations inherent in image making with camera and lens since 1839 are now gone,” according to Harrison. “Virtually any image capable of being visualized in the human imagination can today be implemented using a variety of tools. The camera is one of many. The inventions and discoveries made over the millennium by painters and sculptors are now relevant to constructing compelling images. In the midst of the dazzling array of images now flooding the world of art, profound technological advancements have been made in the neurosciences and related endeavors regarding that one single backstage organ called the brain. In literally the past ten years, our understanding of human brain and the visual cortex has been nothing less than spectacular. Like the Renaissance in the early 16th century, new exciting paradigms and questions are now emerging that have direct bearing on the visual arts: How can the scope of art and photography be expanded in lieu of these recent advancements? How are images represented in the brain? What vital neural processes influence the construction of meaning in visual images? What precisely is metaphor, and how does the process of conceptual mapping perform its invisible work in visual images? What does science have to say about the neural correlates of visual images that are interesting and transformative? This presentation will touch upon these topics as told by a seasoned and consummate photographer during his personal journey of image creation.”

Stephen Harrison, far from being retired, continues his lifelong intense involvement in photography and the fine arts. Harrison has a Ph.D. from Purdue University in engineering, a MA degree from Antioch University in psychology, and an M.D. from Yale University. He completed his psychiatric residence at the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA. He trained in photography in the fine art department of both Purdue and the University of Illinois. By 1989, Harrison completed a Sanskrit to English translation of the Classical Indian text: “Bhagavad Gita.” He is the Author and photographer of the book: “Whispered Prayers: Portraits and Prose of Tibetans in Exile.” He has completed two films: one on Tibetans in Exile and a second based on the novel “Island of the Blue Dolphin” with an original score and music performed live by the Santa Barbara Symphony.

Tickets available at the door.  Free to Blue Earth and Frye members; $10 for non-members; $5 for students with ID.

Upcoming Lectures

Stephen Harrison - March 13, 2010
“The Brain Through The Eyes Of The Beholder: New Explorations in Art, Neuroscience and Cognition”

Jon Orlando - May 15, 2010
“Warriors for Peace: Stories of Resistance and Renewal”

Is your membership up-to-date?  Renew today and attend all events in the Blue Earth Lecture Series for free!

Stock Photography

While your long-term goal may be to have your photographs published in a book, there is no reason you can’t license the use of them before that time.  In fact, there is every reason to try to license the use of your photographs while you are shooting your project.  We all have to eat pay the rent and support the costs of our photographic pursuits.

Stock photography has become an increasingly important source for funding personal projects.  The stock photography market is complex and we can’t adequately dissect it in the space available in this document.  Both the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), and the Stock Artists Alliance (SAA), two leading professional associations, provide excellent and detailed information and advice about this industry.  Use their resources or, better still, become a member to receive professional benefits and support our industry.

During the years since Reaching Home was conceived, shot and published, both imaging technology and the stock photography industry have gone through revolutionary change.  These changes have increased the number of markets for photography and made distribution easier than ever before but the proliferation of images has caused a significant collapse in the price structure of some sectors of the stock photography market.

Museum And Gallery Exhibitions

Magazines and newspapers are not the only places to show a project.  Increasingly I have turned to gallery and museum exhibits as a way to have my message heard.

Exhibits educate and thrill people.  Original photographs communicate directly with the viewers.  It is a more intimate and powerful experience than looking at the same photographs in books or magazines.  The best exhibits elicit an emotional response in viewers, in addition to educating them.

My foray into traveling museum exhibits began after the salmon book came out in 1994.  I realized that the publisher would promote it for just a year or two.  I didn’t want this 10-year project to fade into memory.  A friend recommended that I talk with the Burke Museum in Seattle about having an exhibit.

I was thrilled when the exhibit manager, Scott Freeman, said yes.  And then I did a panic dance.  I had never put together a major show.  I hadn’t a clue how to design it.  I didn’t realize how expensive the prints, frames, and shipping crates would be.

Slowly, ideas began to form.  I wanted the traveling exhibit to support the book, and the book to act as a catalog for the exhibit.  I named the exhibit Reaching Home: Pacific Salmon, Pacific People, which is also the name of the book.  I selected only book photographs to include in the exhibit.  I used captions I had written for the book as caption cards for the exhibit.  I adapted the short essays I had written for the book into banners that explained each section of the exhibit.

In consultation with Gary Wingert, an exhibit designer at the Burke, I grouped the photographs into five sections: salmon biology and wildlife, indigenous cultures in North America and Japan, commercial fishing, Japanese and Russian fishing, and habitat destruction.

An exhibit is a story with a beginning, middle, and end.  The design of the exhibit should lead a viewer from one element to another in a seamless manner.  With a simple glance around the room, the viewer should be able to see where to go next.

This can be done in a number of ways.  Walls can channel the viewers through the exhibit.  Photographs can be placed at a location that invites the viewer forward.  Banners and information boards can mark a change of topic.

I used all of these for Reaching Home.  The entrance framed a large salmon photograph that marked the beginning of the exhibit.  Large photographs began and ended each section.  Banners gave people more information about the topics of the story.  And Gary’s skillful placement of ancient artifacts beckoned people to move through the room.

Putting a traveling exhibit together is an expensive proposition.  I looked for support in the professional photography community and in the seafood industry.  A&I Labsin Los Angeles and its co-owner David Alexander printed the photographs at a discount.  Icicle Seafoods donated money toward the cost of the frames.  I made up the difference between the hard costs and the donations with my own funds.  This difference amounted to thousands of dollars.  I invested this money because I believed in the importance of the salmon story, and I calculated that by charging museums a leasing fee I would make back my investment within two years.

Remember, there is no rule that says you have to go broke doing a good thing for the causes you support.

Marketing The Exhibit

I market the exhibit the same way I market myself.  My assistant or I send out a packet of information about the exhibit to museum curators we think will be interested in leasing Reaching Home.  The packet includes a description of the exhibit, insurance values, photographs of the exhibit installed, a recommended layout, a contract, and letters of recommendation from other curators.

My assistant makes a number of follow-up phone calls to discuss the fee, shipping expenses, and schedules.  We have the curators send us a condition report and coordinate any repairs that need to be made.  My assistant makes at least 10 phone calls for every museum she books.

We have leased the salmon exhibit to 21 museums since 1995.  At least a million people have seen the exhibit in the last few years.  The exhibit went on permanent display at a venue in Seattle after 2001.

Traveling Exhibit Services

While I chose to represent the exhibit myself-and am glad I did-you may decide the expense and time it takes is not worth it.  There are many exhibit services across the country.  These companies offer a range of services that may include the design and fabrication of an exhibit in addition to leasing it.

Call your local museum and ask if they can give you a list of these companies, or search for them on the Web.  Make sure you read the contract, know the reputation of the company, and understand what you are getting into before signing with any of them.

Natalie Fobes

This series features selected articles from Shooting From The Heart: Photography That Makes A Difference, our highly regarded handbook for photographers developing documentary projects.  If you can’t wait for the full series to be published, feel free to download a free PDF version of Shooting From The Heart and have a copy to keep as your own!

Don’t forget! This Friday evening Photo Center Northwest is hosting a reception for Blue Earth: Art as Activism, an exhibition featuring three Blue Earth photographic projects. The artist reception, Friday, February 5th, 6-9 p.m., will feature brief presentations by all three artists. For his project Amazon Forest At Risk, Daniel Beltrá photographs the threats to the Amazon rainforest and inspires an appreciation of the plants, animals and people that depend on it. Heather McClintock’s project, The Innocent: Casualties of the Civil War in Northern Uganda is a collaboration of trust and discovery, from the vantage point of the children living in the war-torn region. In her project Life in Peril: Tanzanian Albino People, Rozarii Lynch documents the atrocities currently being committed against albino people in Tanzania, and the social, health, and economic issues they face.

Blue Earth: Art as Activism
Artists’ Lectures and Opening Reception
Friday, February 5th, 6-9 p.m.
Lecture Tickets: $6 regular, $4 members, 206.720.7222 ext 10

Exhibition Dates: January 22 - February 28, 2010
Location: Photo Center NW, 900 12th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122

If you really want to push a button with a marketing expert, just whisper, “If you build it, they will come.”  He’ll shoot back, “No they won’t.”  And, unfortunately, he’ll be right.

People who are passionate about their work expect others to be just as passionate.  They are not.  Your job is to get them to be.  Getting your work and your message out will take just as much time and effort, if not more, as getting the photos.  Marketing has to be an integral part of your work plan.

Book Publishing

Most photographers dream of seeing their projects published as a book.

First the bad news: books are seldom financially rewarding.  Advances and royalties are usually small.  If you make back your expenses and the time you’ve invested in the project, you are lucky.  Few books sell more than 5,000 copies.

The profit margin for publishers is small, too.  Each proposal is scrutinized carefully.  An editor or editorial committee looks at the proposal first.  If they like it, they send it to the sales and marketing staff.  Many fine book proposals have been rejected because the numbers have not penciled out in the sales and marketing commit-tee.  It is not uncommon to get five, 10, or 15 rejections.

So why pursue a book contract?  It is simple.  There is nothing to compare to seeing your work published in book form.  You’ve spent a chunk of your life pursuing a story you believe needs to be told.  And, through the book, others will experience the story you are telling.

There are three ways to find a publisher: using a literary agent, working with a packager, or finding one on your own.

Literary agents take proposals to publishers and negotiate con-tracts.  Over the years they have developed relationships with publishers that allow them to get in the door.  Their experience guides them to publishers that would be a good fit with a project.  They normally receive 10 to 20 percent of the advance and royalties.

Packagers will work with you to develop the content, design, and approach of a book.  They will take the proposal and mock-ups to publishers and negotiate the contract.  They pay the writer and/or photographer, design the book, and supervise the printing.  They then present the completed project to the publisher for distribution.  Because they design and supervise the entire project, packagers receive a higher percentage of the advance and royalties than literary agents.

Finding a publisher on your own is time consuming and frustrating.  You must first research publishing companies and editors to determine who would be interested in the book.  Then you have to get in the door.  In the hectic world of book publishing, this is a major obstacle.  Timing is everything.  If you are lucky enough to find an interested company, you then must negotiate the contract, a process that can take months.  You will receive all of the advance and royalties, but you might not have negotiated the best deal.

Some photographers and writers decide to self-publish.  This means you take on the role of publisher.  You hire the writer, designer, and printer, and you supervise the production and printing.  You also cover all of the costs.  But the job isn’t finished when the book is printed.  You must then set up a distribution system in order to sell the book or get it into the stores.  And you will have to warehouse the unsold copies.  Self-publishing gives you total control.  And a major financing headache.

Book Proposals

While every literary agent, packager, or publisher has his or her own guidelines, a book proposal should include the following.

1. The book’s title
2. The author’s name
3. A brief description of the book’s content and theme
4. The proposed format of the book, including dimensions and number of pages
5. The number of photographs and words
6. A description of the potential audience
7. A description of similar books and sales figures, if known
8. A chapter outline
9. Writing and photography samples

One last tip.  Make it easy for the overworked, underpaid editors to see the essence of your book idea.  Don’t beat them down with superfluous facts and figures.  Let your excitement shine through, but show them that you understand business, too.

Magazine And Newspaper Publishing

When I work on personal projects, I try to find funding along the way.  My salmon project is a good example of finding multiple sources of funding, many of them based on magazine and newspaper publishing.

My experience can serve as a case history.  When I began my salmon project, in 1983, I proposed the story to National Geographic magazine.  Bob Gilka, then director of photography, wrote a very nice letter of rejection.  While he thought the proposal was very interesting, he asked, “Who gives a damn about fish anyway?  I realized I had written the proposal in such a way that he didn’t realize the importance of the fish to the cultures of the northern Pacific Rim.  I rewrote it and applied for the Alicia Patterson Fellowship, which is given to journalists to pursue stories of importance.  In 1986 I received one of six grants of $25,000.

I went back to National Geographic to see if they would be interested in the story.  Rich Clarkson, the director of photography at that time, congratulated me on winning the grant.  But he had a suggestion: “We think you should change your topic.”

I didn’t take his advice, and for the next 14 months I traveled around the Pacific Rim to photograph and write about the salmon and the cultures of the salmon.

When my fellowship was over, I again contacted National Geographic.  Tom Kennedy, then the new director of photography, regretfully turned down my proposal.  My employer, The Seattle Times, published my work in a special section.  I was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in a writing category for those stories.  At the same time, a similar story National Geographic was working on fell through, and Kennedy hired me to continue work on the salmon story.  The story ran in July 1990.

After three years of searching, my determined literary agent found a publisher for the salmon book.  I completed the work by using my personal funds.  Reaching Home: Pacific Salmon, Pacific People, was published in 1994 by Alaska Northwest Books.

I share this story for two reasons.  First, if you believe in what you are doing, don’t take no for an answer.  When one door closes, look for another that may be open.  Second, don’t expect to get all of your funding in one place.  I used my own savings, assignment fees, a grant, and stock photography fees to fund my 10-year project.

Magazine Proposals

Write magazine proposals the way you write grant proposals.  Begin with a short introduction of the subject.  This one-page treatment includes why it is an important story, the themes you intend to explore, the places and people you anticipate photographing, and why you are the photographer for the job.

Follow this page with an abbreviated list of photo possibilities that are divided into the themes discussed on the first page.  This list allows the editor to quickly pick up on the visuals of the story.

The third page is devoted to the proposed budget for the story.  Include your fees for the number of days or weeks you need to complete the story, the amount and cost of film and processing, travel, phone, and other expenses.  Unfortunately, this page has become increasingly important in this day of belt-tightening.

Include a cover letter with a one-paragraph summary of the proposal.  Remember that editors have little time to dwell on proposals.  At the very least you want them to read your cover letter.

Follow up with a phone call to make sure they have received your package and see if they have any questions.  Listen to their comments.  Don’t argue with them if they say no.  Thank them for their time and go on to the next editor on your list.

I suggest that you approach one editor at a time.  While the chance that two magazines will want to hire you to do the story is slim, it does happen.

Natalie Fobes
(To be continued in Part 2)

This series features selected articles from Shooting From The Heart: Photography That Makes A Difference, our highly regarded handbook for photographers developing documentary projects.  If you can’t wait for the full series to be published, feel free to download a free PDF version of Shooting From The Heart and have a copy to keep as your own!

A special note for anyone interested in assisting a professional photographer.

Blue Earth project and freelance photographer Annie Marie Musselman in Seattle is looking for virtual assistant with book keeping skills, knowledge of QuickBooks for Mac, organizing, etc.  Possible 5-7 hrs. per week.  If interested, please contact anniemaries@comcast.net.

FotoDocument, based in Brighton, UK, has issued a call for submissions for their new series of £2,500 grants for documentary photographers.

FotoDocument  has  launched  its  first  photo  documentary  project  with  the Environment  as  the  theme.  We will commission a small group of photographers worldwide to create a coherent and innovative body of documentary photographs on this important issue.

We will be commissioning photographers who have a proven track record in creating dynamic  documentary  photography  and  can  present  an  exciting  project  idea highlighting solutions to the environmental crisis facing the world.

Deadline for application is March 31, 2010.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

Our friends at Soulcatcher Studio in Sante Fe are launching “picture Hope,” a special benefit art sale starting today to benefit relief efforts in Haiti.  The sale of fine art prints features signed, limited edition photographs for just $50.00 each, and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Doctors Without Borders.  The prints are expected to sell quickly, so get your orders in today and support an important cause.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

 
Lange-Taylor Prize
Deadline: January 31, 2010

The year 2010 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor documentary prize, a $20,000 award given annually by the Center for Documentary Studies. First announced a year after the Center’s founding at Duke University, the prize was created to encourage collaboration between documentary writers and photographers in the tradition of the acclaimed photographer Dorothea Lange and writer and social scientist Paul Taylor. In 1941 Lange and Taylor published An American Exodus, a book that renders human experience eloquently in text and images and remains a seminal work in documentary studies. The Lange-Taylor Prize honors their important collaborative work.

The Lange-Taylor Prize is offered to a writer and a photographer in the early stages of a documentary project. By encouraging such collaborative efforts, the Center for Documentary Studies supports the documentary process in which writers and photographers work together to record the human story.

UCLA basketball coach John Wooden once said: Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.

Failing to prepare and present your proposal materials correctly may also cause you to fail in securing the funding you want.

Think about how you would present yourself when going for a job interview.  You should consider many of the same things when mailing off your proposal to seek funding support.  Your proposal materials may be the first and only impression someone will have of you as a photographer, and as a businessperson.

Ask yourself these questions: What kind of impression am I making with my material?  Is it the correct one?  Will the person who receives my proposal know I am organized, work in a professional manner, follow directions, and pay attention to details?

Here are some tips to help you make the right impression.

Organization And Presentation

Start with the envelope or package.  It should be new and easy to reuse for return mailing of your materials.

Make the package simple to open.  Use enough tape to ensure that it will remain closed, but don’t get carried away!

The address should be typed or printed so that it is easy to read.

Give your package its own identity by attaching to the outside a high-quality color copy of a photograph with your proposal title.  This will help your package stand out.

Remember, this is the first impression someone will have of you.  Take the time to create an attractive package.  Believe it or not, some people will even notice if the stamps are straight!

Proposal Letter

Your letter should be neatly typed, and written with correct gram-mar and spelling.  Ask a friend to read through it to make sure it is clear.

Be focused and to the point.  Provide all of the requested information in a concise manner.

Before you write the letter, research and plan your project.  Make sure your ideas are practical, obtainable, and realistic.

When estimating costs for your project, be realistic and honest.  For example, don’t budget $10,000 for film and only $100 for annual living expenses.  This will red-flag your proposal.

Do not be misleading!  You should be able to back up what you say.

Resume

Again, this should be neatly typed, and written with correct gram-mar and spelling.

Limit yourself to one or two pages.  Cover the highlights of your career, not everything you have done in your life.

Design your résumé in chronological order.  This makes it easy for the recipient to locate information.

Visual Materials

Do not send original slides or prints.  Do send professional high-quality copy slides.  Remember, your skill as a photographer will be judged by the quality of your copy slides.

If you cannot produce high-quality copy slides, hire someone who knows how to do it.

Label your slides clearly, with your name, phone number, and required information on each slide.

Present only the number of slides requested.

Other Materials

Put your name on everything you send.

Send only the requested information.  Sending information that is not requested will only get in the way of the required materials and may slow down the process.

Visual Continuity

Give your entire proposal a cohesive and professional look.  Use a computer and a word-processing program to create your proposal materials.

Use the same typeface throughout your proposal materials, one that is easy to read.

If possible, print all of your materials on the same paper stock.  Remember, when you mail off your proposal materials, the first impression someone will have of you is the look of your presentation.  You want it to say you are professional, trustworthy, creative, and talented.

On the other hand, don’t send a slick presentation with fancy logos and cool graphic design that is devoid of any substance.  It may be considered nothing but window dressing.

Personal Example

When I interviewed for my last teaching position, one of the first things the department chair said was “We’re very impressed with your teaching credentials and the presentation of your materials.”  I got that teaching position!

David D. Johnson

This series features selected articles from Shooting From The Heart: Photography That Makes A Difference, our highly regarded handbook for photographers developing documentary projects.  If you can’t wait for the full series to be published, feel free to download a free PDF version of Shooting From The Heart and have a copy to keep as your own!

The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art in Charleston, SC will be hosting an exhibit by Blue Earth photographer Heather McClintock featuring images from her project The Innocents: Casualties of the Civil War in Northern Uganda opening this week January 22, 2010 and running through March 13.

In conjunction with the exhibit, Halsey will also host a panel discussion, including Heather McClintock, Blue Earth board member Heather Dwyer, and other photographic experts to discuss “The Politics of Presentation: Finding a Venue for Challenging Documentary Projects” the following day on Saturday, January 23.

This panel will look at the challenges surrounding the dissemination of difficult imagery and explore exhibition venues, websites, and publishers’ perspectives.  Each panelist will give a brief overview of their organization’s engagement with challenging work, and share stories about how the organization has been able to persevere in this rarefied area.

If you are in the Charleston area, don’t miss this unique opportunity!

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

Photo Center Northwest is hosting Blue Earth: Art as Activism, an exhibition featuring three Blue Earth photographic projects.  Join us for an artist reception, featuring brief presentations by all three artists, on Friday, February 5th, 6-9 p.m.  For his project Amazon Forest At Risk, Daniel Beltrá photographs the threats to the Amazon rainforest and inspires an appreciation of the plants, animals and people that depend on it.  Heather McClintock’s project, The Innocent: Casualties of the Civil War in Northern Uganda is a collaboration of trust and discovery, from the vantage point of the children living in the war-torn region.  In her project Life in Peril: Tanzanian Albino People, Rozarii Lynch documents the atrocities currently being committed against albino people in Tanzania, and the social, health, and economic issues they face.

Blue Earth: Art as Activism
Artists’ Lectures and Opening Reception
Friday, February 5th, 6-9 p.m.
Lecture Tickets: $6 regular, $4 members, 206.720.7222 ext 10

Exhibition Dates: January 22 - February 28, 2010
Location: Photo Center NW, 900 12th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122

Daniel Beltrá - Amazon: Forest at Risk

The ancient rainforest of the vast Amazon basin represents over half the world’s remaining tropical forests. This verdant wilderness is one of our richest ecosystems, harboring the greatest biodiversity on the planet. And, this forest is vital to the world’s atmospheric health as almost 25% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come directly from tropical forest clearance. Burning down the Amazon contributes significantly to global warming. Since 2001 Daniel has photographed the changing forest, witnessing both the worst drought in living memory and one of the river’s most extensive floods. He has documented the burning of thousands of acres of untouched rainforest. By continuing to document the threats to the forest’s wildlife and local inhabitants he presents a powerful argument for their protection.

Heather McClintock - The Innocent: Casualties of the Civil War in Northern Uganda

The Innocent is a collaboration of trust and discovery, from the vantage point of the children living in the war-torn region of northern Uganda. Despite living amidst conflict, these children are resilient enough to show the courage, strength of will, and hope that exists within the human spirit. For more than twenty-two years, the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been engaged in an armed rebellion against the government’s military, the Ugandan Peoples Defense Force (UPDF). The Acholi tribe has been caught in the middle of this complex and barbaric civil war, in which countless numbers have been brutalized and abducted minors comprised almost 90% of the rebel soldiers. It is estimated that as many as 66,000 children have been abducted by the LRA, wrenched from their families and forced to become soldiers and sex slaves. The Acholi are a proud and gracious people who want nothing more than to be educated, sleep safely in their own homes, have food to eat and clothing on their backs, to live in peace; no different than you and I.

Rozarii Lynch - Life in Peril: Tanzanian Albino People

Despite being a significant portion of the population, albino people in Tanzania are under- represented and largely misunderstood. Under the searing sun they suffer greatly-physically and socially. They face significant health problems such as poor vision and a high incidence of skin cancer. They also endure widespread discrimination, a lack of education, and limited financial and health resources. Compounding this misfortune, albino people in Tanzania are now commonly hunted, mutilated and murdered. Their body parts, believed by some people to have magical powers, are sold to witchdoctors who make “get rich quick” potions which are traded to those seeking fortune. By documenting the atrocities currently being committed against albino people in Tanzania, and, the social, health and economic issues they face in general, this project aims to raise international awareness and effect positive change for their situation.