What does an agent look for?

1. A body of work that is unique and easy to sell.
2. A photographer that can easily reproduce the work reflected in his or her portfolio.
3. A history delivering high-quality, successful assignments / campaigns.
4. An established business with a list of top clients.
5. And, that the photographer is easy to work with.

Photography ©Matthew Karas

Eight Tips for finding a Photo Agent

1. Create a Compelling, Unique body of Work. Follow your passion and inner creative voice, but be smart about it–do your homework. Examine the portfolios of your favorite photographers. What makes them unique?  Study your competition, how can you differentiate your work? Why should someone hire you? You must make it easy for an Agent to sell your Services. This is the foundation of your business and will take the most time and energy to create.

Tip: Do not approach a rep with 3-5 images, you must have a solid body of work–a good mix of client and personal work. And most important – you must continually provide your agent with new work to share with  prospects and clients. This should be your #1 responsibility.

Tip: Your portfolio is a tool–a representation of your talent and the type of work you are looking to secure. It positions you in the mind of the art buyer/client.  Be sure your body of work is designed  to achieve your goals and objectives. Remember, you get what you seek.

2. Establish your Go-To Support Team: Agents want to know that you have loyal relationships with stylists, hair and makeup artists, baby handlers, set builders, and assistants; the team that brings your visions to life. While many agents also represent support talent, it is important that you are true to your vision and hire accordingly.

3. Build a Business. It’s a catch 22, agents want to work with established busy photographers – they want to know you can handle assignments, run a business and attract and keep clients. You both have a reputation at stake  for every commissioned assignment.

4. Attract and Maintain an A-List Client Base - Upon meeting an agent one of the first questions will be: Who are your clients? Your response begins to shape the potential of a business relationship between you and the Agent. Note: Your existing client base, typically referred to as “house accounts”, is yours and you have the right to keep these accounts without compensation to the selected agent for ongoing work. Their job is to secure new assignments and clients.

5. Brand your Business: Every commercial artist needs to stand out from the crowd. In addition to your portfolio, Branding your business is key. It is best to work with a professional to create a unique logo, positioning tagline (if applicable), a professional easy-to-navigate website, and promotional marketing materials–all with a cohesive, branded look and feel that represents your business, your work, your style.
6. Become a Marketing Expert: Be ready to talk about marketing your business. How do you currently attract clients?  Do you have a database? Show samples of your marketing materials. What were the results? Together, you and your Agent will review how to “package and sell” your business and create a marketing plan and budget. A good rule of thumb is to spend 10% of gross sales towards your marketing budget. Agents need marketing materials to sell your services.

7. Soliciting Agents: Do your homework – reach out to agents that are relevant to what you do. Send an email or a direct mail package with sample work, web site link, facts about your business. Be creative but to the point.

8. Meeting with Agents: If you are lucky enough to secure a meeting(s) be prepared. Ask questions; you are both interviewing each other. Sample Questions:

• Ask about the number and different types of photographers they represent.
• Find out how you  fit in with the Agent’s firm and current roster of talent. How long has the other talent been with the agent/firm? How long has the staff been there?
• Who are the agent’s clients and what type of work do they typically secure?
• What do they like about repping?
• How do they perceive your work? What are your strengths? Weaknesses?
• Ask what type of marketing they do on behalf of their photographers. Are you expected to pay towards this?
• Discuss requirements and expectations of the relationship.
• Ask about commissions and expenses that are expected of you in exchange for this business arrangement.

Tip: Be open to feedback, but remember that everyone has their own opinion. If there’s consistency in what your hear, people might be on to something, but be careful listening to too narrow a scope of opinion.

Resources for Researching Photography Reps:
Society of Photographers and Artist Representatives (SPAR)
List of Photographer Agents
Talent Networks.com (List of Photography Agents)
Photo marketing Tips (List of Photo Agents)

Canon HD Day at Foto Care
June 9th, 2010
11:00 am and 1:30 pm

RSVP: Call 212 741 2990 or RSVP online

Workshop Highlights:

• Learn the pros and cons of the complete Canon line, chip size, frame rate.
• In addition to File formats and how to best optimize for either still or video.
• Between sessions chat with Representatives from Bron Kobold, Lite Panels, and others!
• Experience both the Red Rock and Zacuto Rigs as well as enhancing your sound and viewing ability with the use Sennheiser microphones and Marshal Monitors.

Begin by launching Photoshop and opening the image you would like to print.

Next, check your color settings to make sure they are correct for printing. To do this click on Edit in the top toolbar. At the bottom of the drop down menu click on Color Settings.

This will open the Color Settings window. Once the Color Settings window is open click on the More Options button on the right hand side. This will drop the window down with additional options.

Your Color Settings should be as follows:
Working Spaces
*Note: once you make a change the settings’ name will change to custom*

Color Management Policies
*Note: You want Photoshop to ask when opening/pasting so incoming images will have the correct profile applied*

Conversion Options

Advanced Control

After changing all the settings you can press the OK button to apply them to Photoshop

Next you need to view the image with Proof Colors applied to see what the image will look like printed.

Click on View : Proof Setup : Custom

In this window select the correct paper profile (the paper you are using to print) for Device to Simulate. For the Rendering Intent select Perceptual and check the box next Black Point Compensation to turn it on.

Once these changes are made click OK.

Now the correct color settings are applied and you can proceed to working on the images or printing. Continue to print by proceeding with the following steps .

Click on File in the toolbar. At the bottom of the drop down menu click on Print.

This will open the Print window. In this window you need to click the Page Setup button in the middle of the window.

This will open the Page Setup window. In this window click next to Format For and choose your printer. Under Paper Size pick the paper size you are using.

After changing these settings click the OK button at the bottom of the window. This will take you back to the Print window.

Double check your Printer to make sure it is correct then change your settings in the Print window to match as follows.

*Note: For Printer Profile you will choose the paper profile for the particular paper you are using*

After changing your Color Management settings click on the Print button at the bottom of the window. This will take you to the next Print window.

In this window double check to make sure the correct printer is selected.  Next to the printer name make sure the arrow in the blue box is pointing up, this will open all the printing options. Next, click once on Layout to open the drop down menu. In the drop down menu click on Print Settings.

In the Print Settings window apply the following settings.

*Note: For Media Type you will choose the type of paper you are using.

Next press the Print button at the bottom of the window. Your image will now be sent to the printer.

“What is more pleasant than the benevolent notice other people take of us,
what is more agreeable than their compassionate empathy? What inspires us more than addressing ears flushed with excitement, what captivates us more than exercising our own power of fascination? …. Attention by other people is the most irresistible of drugs. To receive it outshines receiving any other kind of income. This is why glory surpasses power and why wealth is overshadowed by prominence.”
— Caterina Fake, Co-founder of Flickr, 2005.

Back in 2006 when I wrote my original article on how to achieve popularity on Flickr my photostream had been viewed almost 400,000 times. According to a Flickr stats page that’s been added since that time, the view count for my pages on Flickr now stands at 9,953,328. It should pass 10 million sometime this week. I’m averaging about 14,000 page views a day on Flickr.

Ten Tips for Getting Attention on Flickr:

1. Take great pictures. This was my number one way to achieve popularity on Flickr in 2006 and remains the number one way today. Despite all the other things that you might do to promote your photography, none of it will matter if your photos are not interesting. Everyone can be creative. Some are more creative than others. Sometimes your gear and photo processing matters, other times it doesn’t. I’ve seen incredibly beautiful and creative photos taken with a $10 toy camera. And I’ve seen incredibly beautiful and creative photos taken with a $40,000 digital Hasselblad. I’ve seen people upload interesting things from a crappy iPhone camera and I’ve seen people upload interesting things that they spent 8 hours on Photoshop with. But, the better your photos are the more likely that you will get attention. Taking great photos is a prerequisite to everything else in this article.

This said, there are certain types of photos that tend to become more popular on Flickr than others. Provocatively posed female self portraits or photos of attractive women in interesting poses, extremely saturated photos rich with eye candy like color, city scapes, night photography, photos depicting movement and motion, silhouettes, dramatic architecture, unique portraits, creatively arranged macros and cross processed and some film photography.

2. The order that you post your photos to Flickr counts. The number one way that your photos will likely be seen in Flickr comes from your Flickr contacts looking at their Flickr contact’s photos. At present Flickr allows you to set your contacts most recent photos to their last photo, or their last 5 photos. Anything beyond 5 photos in a single batch upload will largely be buried on Flickr. If you are uploading more than 5 photos at once, make sure that you upload your best 5 photos last and what you consider your very best photo last of all. Frequently people will upload a batch of 30 photos from a concert or something with no thought as to which will be the last 5 of the 30 in order.

3. Consider places outside of Flickr to promote your photography. Do you have a blog or a photoblog? If you want more attention on Flickr you should. Flickr makes it very easy to blog your photos, you simply cut and paste the html code above your photo and you are now photoblogging with a direct link back to your photo. My blog, thomashawk.com is my number two external referrer of pageviews to my Flickrstream. Are you on FriendFeed yet? You should be. It’s easy to set up and makes sure more people see your photos. Pownce (when it is working) is another place to post interesting photos.

4. Do you have your settings on Flickr configured for maximum exposure? After Flickr itself, Google drives more traffic to my Flickrstream than any other source, even my blog. Yahoo search and both Google and Yahoo image search drive traffic as well. But your photos will be blocked from appearing in search engines unless you authorize Flickr to display your images in search engines. Make sure your photostream is set to not “hide your stuff from public searches,” here.

Same goes for the Flickr API. Lots of people are using the Flickr API in interesting ways. I get traffic from places like Flickrleech, Compfight, Technorati and lots of other places that use the Flickr API to extend your photos outside of Flickr. Make sure that you’ve authorized Flickr to allow API access to your photos here.

5. Explore. Explore still remains the number one way to get photos viewed on Flickr. Explore uses Flickr’s “Magic Donkey” algorithm to each day highlight 500 of what Flickr feels are the best photos on Flickr for that day. It’s a very popular section of the site despite the fact that everyone seems to constantly hate Explore and decry its mediocrity in selecting exceptional photos. Explore has changed and evolved a lot since it was first introduced at Flickr a few years back. Initially things like *when* you posted your photos mattered.

Whether or not Flickr chooses your photos for Explore is still very much a mystery. But there are some things that we do know. The more faves, comments, tags, etc. your photo gets, the more likely it is that it will appear in Explore. Explore also uses averaging in their algorithm now. This means that if your average photo gets 5 faves, then you’ll need to do considerably better than average if you hope to see that photo in Explore.

Photos are also constantly dropping in and out of Explore. I’ve got 157 photos in Explore at present but I’ve had 446 that have appeared in Explore at one time or another. You can check out which and how many of your photos that have been showcased by Flickr in Explore here. Just change my Flickr ID at the link above for your own.

6. Groups. Speaking of Explore, if you really want to get a particular photo in Explore consider adding it to a group that encourages tagging, faving and comments of photos. Photo critique groups are good examples of this. Some of the photo critique groups play games where tagging and commenting on a photo are part of the game. Flickr does not distinguish be tween a photo that has been commented on or tagged organically vs. one that is included in some sort of photo critique game. If you want to boost the likelihood that your photo will be selected for Explore consider putting a strong photo into one of these pools. Photo critique groups on Flickr run the gamut from nice and friendly photo critique groups like TWIP’s, to hostile and brutal photo critique groups like DeleteMe Uncensored (note NSFW and maybe not the best group if you are easily offended).

Whatever the case, the key to groups is participation. If you simply dump a bunch of photos blindly into random groups you will likely not get much benefit. In fact, Flickr actually penalizes photo rank if someone posts their photo to too many groups. But posting your photo to selective groups where you participate will encourage activity on your photos and photostream.

7. Tag for Exploration (especially your most popular photos). Why has this photo of mine been viewed over 27,000 times on Flickr? Well in part because it shows up on the first page search results on Flickr for the search term guitar. And why does it show up in searches for the word “guitar?” Because I’ve got the photo *tagged* guitar. By tagging your photos appropriately you can ensure that more people will see them in search. Think of other ways that you can tag your photos. Are all of your photos taken in San Francisco also tagged “California?” They should be. Are all of your photos tagged “self portrait” also tagged with your name? Again, they should be.

The better you keyword and tag your photos, the more likely they will show up in searches that take place on Flickr. Even if you think that your photos will never be popular enough to rank highly in search, remember that there are other ways that Flickr users can filter search. You can search just by your contacts photos on Flickr for instance. So even if you don’t have the most popular sunset photo amongst millions on Flickr, you might have the most popular sunset photo amongst your contacts because you tagged it.

A note that I’ve seen some people on Flickr abuse tags. They will tag every photo with girl, sunset, cat, etc. Even if these things are not in their photo simply to try and trick people into getting to their photos through search. This sucks. I’m not sure what/if/how Flickr penalizes people who do this, but it’s a crappy thing to do and ruins the search experience for everyone. Tag early and often, but only tag your photos with tags that truly are accurate and descriptive.

8. Geotag. One of the more interesting ways to find photos on Flickr is through exploring photos that are geotagged on a map. When I’m going to a new place that I’m not familiar with, frequently Flickr’s “Explore the World Map,” is one of my first destinations. But of course your photos will not show up here if they are not geotagged. The best way to geotag your photos is actually at the file level before you upload them. I use Geotagger on the Mac which allows you to use Google Earth to geotag your photos. You can also download the free software program from Microsoft Pro Photo Tools to geotag photos on a PC.

Check what Flickr considers your most popular photos and make sure that you geotag (and more descriptively tag) these photos especially — even if you have to geotag these shots on Flickr using their tools. Geotagging has been documented by Flickr staff as increasing the Flickr “interestingness” rating of a photograph.

9. Consider creating a few “best of” sets and feature them prominently on your Flickrstream. Frequently when people first discover your photostream they don’t have time to check out your entire stream. But if you make it easier for them and create a few sets that highlight some of your best work they may stick around longer. I’ve created two such sets myself. My 10 faves or more set and my 25 faves or more set. These sets highlight what are some of my best work according to the Flickr community and are my two most visited sets on Flickr. As my photos are faved 10 or 25 times I add the tag fav10 or fav25 to these sets and then use SmartSetr to automatically generate these sets.

Make sure also that you change your Flickr page layout from the boring default one to one that highlights your collections and sets better.

10. Tell everyone you know about your Flickrstream. Are you active on other social networks? Is a link to your Flickrstream prominently displayed on your blog? On your Facebook profile page? Be sure to include a link to your Flickrstream in every profile that you are on with other sites. Consider buying Moo cards (even though Moo.com has been lousy for me lately and won’t let me buy anymore cards from them) which highlight your photostream that you can give out to people that you run across while out shooting. Tell your friends and family and your offline “real life” contacts about your Flickrstream.

Bonus tip: Reciprocation. Above everything else, perhaps the most important thing about Flickr is that it is a community and a reciprocation based community. If you think that you can just post your photos on the site and they will garner thousands of faves and views simply because, you are wrong. Even the best photos on Flickr will not get very much attention if you simply upload them to the site and never participate.

Flickr has been built to encourage reciprocation. In fact a recent study cited reciprocation as the number one key to popularity on Flickr. Every single time you fave or comment on someone else’s photo you are giving them a link back to your own photostream. While you may not have the time to check out *everyone* who faves your photos, spend time each day faving and commenting on other people’s photos on Flickr. By sharing with others the fact that you appreciate their photos they will return the favor. Be generous with your faves and comments. Remember, other people like the attention as much as you do.

Maintaining many of the features of the legendary RZ camera system, innovative refinements to the MSC system enables direct digital communication with many functions including; shutter speed, ISO, shutter release, number of images shot, and camera status. The system also features multi-format versatility, a large bright viewfinder, and bellow focusing. .In combination with the new Mamiya DM33 digital back, the RZ67 Pro IID is the perfect solution for a simpler, more efficient process without annoying cables getting in the way.  Need to shoot vertical? Just rotate the back using the revolving system and view the effects in the viewfinder with auto‐frame masking.

Experience the RZ Evolution!

The Mamiya RZ67 IID Pro: The Evolution, with Kevin Stuts of Mamiya
Tuesday, May 25th
10:00am – 4:00pm
RSVP Now!

Imagine, no more worries over old sync cables going bad during a shoot, never having to check for dust and scratches when removing the back, and discarding all sync cables. This scenario comes to life with Mamiya’s RZ IID Pro combined with the Mamiya DM33 digital back. Join us as at Foto Care as we explore these features and more on Tuesday, May 25th.  Reservations required.

Workshops are a fascinating experience where you work closely with a renown photographer for a period of time, often in an exotic locating filled with wonderful photographic opportunities. The photographer shares their background along with insight to the challenges faced on assignment and interesting nuances and stories behind their work. And best of all, your day is filled shooting, followed by critique from the photographer and your workshop colleagues.

Take a look at this slide show featuring some of the compelling work of our friend Mary Ellen Mark.

Summer Workshops

This summer Mary Ellen Mark offers three workshops:  Oaxaca, Mexico (June 4 – 14, 2010),  Portland, Oregon (August 13th – 15th, 2010), and India ( November 6-20, 2010). Be sure to look for how to apply for each workshop and make note of the deadline dates for registration.

Mary Ellen Mark: Oaxaca, Mexico Workshop
July 4 – 14, 2010
Applications are due May 28, 2010
For more information or to Register Click Here

Mary Ellen Mark has conducted this extraordinary 10-day workshop twice a year for 15 years. On the first Sunday evening the class meets at a local restaurant and has their first dinner together. Each student brings a portfolio to share with all.  On Monday, there is a general critique of each student’s work.  After Mary Ellen reviews their work each student is given an individual assignment or theme to shoot over the course of the workshop.   Students will shoot every day for seven days.  Each student is given a specific time to meet individually with Mary Ellen every morning.  The work they have done the previous day is edited and images are selected to have work prints made.   Every evening, the class comes together to discuss how they are doing and to see the work of local artists. The final critique is held on a Wednesday.  We have our final dinner Wednesday night and everyone leaves on Thursday feeling that they are returning home as a better photographer.

Mary Ellen Mark: Seeing the World
Weekend Workshop / Portland Oregon
Friday, August 13th /  7-9pm
Saturday, August 14th  / 10am-6pm
Sunday, August 15th / 10am-6pm
Register for this workshop by July 14th

To Register Click Here or  call 503-963-193

Throughout this weekend workshop Mary Ellen candidly discusses the importance of creating emotionally powerful work that truly expresses the photographer’s intent and vision. The weekend will include in-depth reviews of student work and open discussions about photography and the creative process. Mary Ellen will also discuss her own work and process, as she guides students to develop a clear personal perspective in their own work. On Sunday afternoon, class will break for a shooting session at a local street festival, where students will have a chance to put lessons into practice individually. Following the workshop, students will send contact sheets from the festival shoot to Mary Ellen in New York for feedback and review.

Mary Ellen Mark in India Workshop
November 6 -20th, 2010
For more information and to download the application Click Here

For over thirty years, Mary Ellen Mark has been going to India for work and travel. The workshop begins day one with a portfolio review. Each person will present their portfolio and we talk about what you might be shooting during the trip and how you might use this experience to become a better photographer. Every day, students will go out on their own to take pictures. To participate, you will need a laptop and a working knowledge of your equipment so you can process and present the work that you shoot every day. Throughout the workshop, Mary Ellen meets with each of the participants to review and edit what was shot the day before. The rest of the day is spent shooting, and putting what you’ve learned to good use! In the evenings, we come together as a group for discussions. On the last day of the workshop there is a final group critique where each student will show the edited work they’ve done over the course of the trip. This workshop is intense, challenging, and rewarding for everyone.

About Mary Ellen Mark

Mary Ellen Mark has achieved worldwide visibility through her numerous books, exhibitions and editorial magazine work. She has published photo-essays and portraits in such publications as LIFE, New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and Vanity Fair. Aside from her book and magazine work Mark has photographed advertising campaigns among which are Barnes and Noble, British Levis, Coach Bags, Eileen Fisher, Hasselblad, Heineken, Keds, Mass Mutual, Nissan, and Patek Philippe.

For over four decades, she has traveled extensively to make pictures that reflect a high degree of humanism. Her images of our world’s diverse cultures have become landmarks in the field of documentary photography. Her portrayals of Mother Teresa, Indian circuses, and brothels in Bombay were the product of many years of work in India. A photo essay on runaway children in Seattle became the basis of the academy award nominated film STREETWISE, directed and photographed by her husband, Martin Bell. She has had 16 collections of her work published and has exhibited at galleries and museums worldwide. She has received numerous accolades, including three Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards and three fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.

May 19 at Foto Care
41 West 22nd Street
10:00 – 12:30  Reserve your seat today!
2:00 – 4:30       Reserve your seat today!

Join Jem Schofield of theC47.com for an in-depth workshop on shooting techniques, editing workflows and distribution options when working with HD DSLR cameras like the Canon 5DMKII and 7D along with Apple’s Final Cut Studio and Aperture 3.

Each session will include:

• A live demo of lighting, audio and shooting techniques for video podcasts using HD DSLR cameras.
• Post production topics will include transcoding with Compressor and syncing double-system sound in Final Cut Pro.
• Distribution topics will include custom slide shows, web and mobile delivery.

Hasselblad’s newest addition to their digital systems, the H4D 50 is now available in our Rental deparmtent. The rental kit includes the new camera system with the 80mm lens, firewire cables for tethered shooting, extra batteries, Hasselblad Phocus software and a small cleaning kit. If you have never used the system before you will also get a free training session with our in house digital technician before taking it out for a test drive.

The H4D 50 sets a new standard for camera handling and image quality. With the new True Focus feature it makes auto–focus substantially easier and more accurate. Without multi‐point auto‐focus a typical auto-focus camera can only focus on a subject that is in the center of the image. When a photographer wants to focus on a subject outside the center area, they have to lock focus on the subject and then re‐compose the image. In short distances especially, this re‐composing causes focus not be sharp because the plane of focus changes with the movement of the camera. True Focus corrects for the movement and the focus point remains in focus after re‐composing.

Other new features of the H4D includes the updated 3” display now with 24bit color and a larger viewing angle than the original Hasselblad digital system, new electronics which make focusing even faster, increased custom profiling options for camera settings and higher read‐write speed of 80 mb/sec. With all the new features of the camera along with the always improving Phocus software the Hasselblad H4D 50 is made to fit all your needs.

Don’t miss your chance to rent this system at an unbeatable price! Contact our rental department today to reserve your order.

Foto Care Rentals
212‐741‐2991
rental@fotocare.com
42 W22nd Street
New York, NY 10010

Katrin Eismann: Adobe Photoshop 5

May 26th / 2-4:30 at Foto Care
Space is very limited and is on a first come basis

RSVP Now!
Email: seminars@fotocare.com

An internationally recognized artist, author, and educator, Katrin’s extensive teaching and speaking engagements address the latest tools and techniques of digital imaging and the impact they are having upon professional photographers, artists, and educators. In addition, she is also the Chair of the Master of Professional Studies in Photography program at The School of Visual Arts.

Photo © Katrin Eismann

With a completely redesigned 45‐point AF system including 39 cross‐type points, a new AI Servo II AF focus tracking system with improved algorithm, combined with 10 fps continuous shooting, the EOS‐1D Mark IV fast and powerful, and can handle high‐speed situations with ease.

An APS‐H sized16.1 Megapixel CMOS Sensor, Dual DIGIC 4 Image Processors, a spectacular ISO range of 100 ‐12800 (up to 102400 in H3 mode) with an advanced noise reduction system helps ensure sharp, low‐noise images even in low‐light situations.  Add advanced Live View shooting, full HD movie recording with selectable frame rates, and manual exposure control plus a host of new features that enhance every facet of the shooting process.  The EOS‐1D Mark IV is the choice of professionals looking for the ultimate in SLR performance.

Professionally Proven, High‐Speed AF.
New 45‐point Area AF sensor including 39 cross‐type AF points with f/2.8 support plus new AI Servo II AF with improved algorithm.

The EOS‐1D Mark IV has a newly developed, high‐precision Area AF sensor with 45 manually selectable points including 39 cross‐type, high‐precision AF points for exacting and fast focusing no matter the subject. New AI Servo II AF focus tracking features improved algorithms that help improve stability, reliability and focus no matter the situation.

Whether shooting a fast‐paced soccer game or shooting a close‐up of a bee on a wind‐blown flower during macro photography, AI Servo II AF helps ensure sharp focus every time. AF point selection has been improved as well. Photographers can select their own point through either the camera’s Multicontroller or Main Dial/Quick Control Dial. Automatic selection is as simple as the press of a button. With Custom functions, photographers can select their own default focus point to automatically switch between horizontal and vertical shooting and can even choose to have primary focus supported by adjacent focus points for more accuracy with moving subjects