Also included in the AP33 selections was a photo from my ongoing series of vertical Environments.  Nice to see this get a wider audience, I love finding this situations.  Nothing makes me happier than a bit of beautiful dry humor.

When I was out to dinner with Duane Michals one night a few years ago, I told him that I was really getting to the point where I was questioning why I should make photographs at all, considering that there were millions of photographs being created each day. “Why should I continue to add to that?’ I wondered. If it was just because the world didn’t have any “Tim Soter” photographs that justification wasn’t enough, it was just my ego. And then I confessed to having wondered what the point was of doing anything at all. I wasn’t depressed necessarily, I just was having a hard time seeing what my contribution might be in the connected digital world we live in now, having spent my creative start in the analog world.

Without hesitating he offered, “The significance is in the doing and the expression is the reward.” It didn’t come out as rehearsed and he said it as a scholar might announce something he had proven awhile back. “All we have is the doing, the act itself… “ Duane said and he reinforced the advice that he’s given out to so many. It hasn’t been done until it’s been done by you. “If you want to take photos of nudes but you don’t do it because you think ‘Helmut Newton has already done this or somebody else’ it really hasn’t been done until you’ve done it…“ “You are the event in the history of the universe, it hasn’t been done until it’s been done by you.” “And the expression is the reward.” he repeated. “The reward is you got to express yourself!’ The idea has been shared.

And I had to agree… that was it.

I’ve had my next book“ForTress” about photographer Arthur Tress laid out to about 85% completion, for most of this year, but I haven’t finished it because it seemed stiff and didn’t have a strong enough narrative direction.  Mostly because it was stiff.  I had been following my design layout from the previous book, which had worked fine for “TIM! GO AWAY!” but what I have to say about Arthur different and the book needs a design that reflects his looser style of thinking.

Over the years Arthur has offered me a lot of simple “outside of the box” ideas.  “Fumetti” was an book idea given to me by Arthur, a simple combination of my two loves – comic books and 4″ by 6″ prints.  He once showed an idea where he soaked a fine art book, a large Paul Strand monograph, in water for a week and then let it dry.  When the viewer looked through this “modified” book the pages would stick together, ripping in sections to reveal spontaneously created montages (see BELOW.)  He has an infinite amount of creative book ideas.

In that spirit I forced myself into a breakthrough by making color laser prints of layouts and photos from “ForTress”  – and painted on them or added collage.  The battle for me was not wondering if the result was a success or not.  In one spread I had a black rain cloud speaking its way out of Arthur’s camera.  I had been emailing these collage/painting examples to him as I made them but for this one I felt compelled to add a disclaimer.

“The reigning black cloud coming out of your camera doesn’t in anyway accurately describe you, it’s just what came out of my head.”

What he responded with was permissive and generous but also an excellent lesson.  Not many photographers/artists/mentors would respond in this way.

“dear Tim

your right !

that is a great collage..of course it does..remember dont censor

it is alright to be critical and sharply cruel

forget the polite.

dont apologise for what comes or oozes out of your head

your not in small minded Kutztown anymore

insightful is never insulting..

dont ask for permission..

very perceptive of you

perhaps cut up some of my book plates!

and combine them with y our new color materials

try to explain through the collages what is my particular creative process and personal vision.?

i can replace the books for you..most anyway

I have moldering boxes of them in the basement.

illustrate you opinions about me that can be negative

 pitiful, sorrowful..

I wont mind I will respect it..

Arthur the Tress..enlightened master for hire”

When I first was looking for apartments in NYC having just graduated from a school in Pennsylvania, I spent a day in of 1994 wandering around downtown Manhattan which was the only part of the city I knew.  And by “knew” I mean I only really recognized the enormous exterior sculpture on the side of a building on Houston street, right off of Broadway.  (I now know it’s a piece from the early 70s called “The Wall” by artist Forrest Myers.)  From there I could get my bearings and take a right and just a block away was Keith Haring’s Pop Shop.  And that was where I went on every visit to New York.  Which in total was maybe four trips, some in High School, before settling here.

Well on this day as I crossed Houston I saw a face that I recognized from magazines and books coming towards me.  As he passed by I said in a chipper voice, “Hey Chuck!”  and he responded with an appropriate and polite wave without slowing down.  Now I was so excited because this confirmed that once I moved here I would run into everyone who I had ever admired.  It would be reality Disneyland with the Big Apple fully stocked with all of the characters that I had read about in Interview and ArtNews.

Well I moved here and it was some time before I ran into someone like that again.  I would see Willem Defoe in SoHo all the time, but so did everyone else.  A year after the move I got a ticket to go to an opening at the Guggenheim where I ran into him again. Probably fueled by liquid courage I told him the story of how he “wrecked” my NY fantasy.  Not sure that it went over well but I managed to dig out a bad scan of a photo from that night.

And twenty years later I was helping another creative legend make a portrait of Chuck Close.

Duane Michals was shooting him for an upcoming portrait book, surprising that he hadn’t before. Both had collected each other’s work. Chuck offered, “I have more of your photos than of any other photographers.” Quite a compliment.

Two pictures of Chuck Close that I made, twenty years apart.

I can see how this would help many freelancers but I can also envision how it’s going to hurt professional photographers.  I’ve often benefitted from a lack of a contract when I’m shooting.  I’m guessing if you surveyed my fellow shooters they would feel the same.

There is a trend in new contracts offered by clients, editorial and otherwise, to want to grab all of the rights to one’s photographs for a one-time fee.  It’s becoming more and more common.  Photographers can try and push back but in my experience they don’t have the leverage to get these contracts modified.  (Ironically or coincidentally because they is no “photographer’s union.”)  There is always another photographer willing to sign the contract, usually someone who is unaware of the concept of Usage in photography.  Usage refers quite simply to how the client plans on utilizing the images and the price is set accordingly.  There is a different price for using an image on social media versus a print advertisement.  Or using a photo for one time editorial use or being able to use that images in an unlimited capacity in perpetuity (the end of all time and space.)  When I send clients an estimate for every job I am sure to include the terms of Usage.  It lets everyone know exactly what they are getting for the service they are paying for.

So who drafts contracts?  A lawyer who wants to get the most for the company.  Rather than negotiating specific Usage per job it’s much easier (via a lawyer) to say:

1.              Vendor grants Agency, Client, and their subsidiaries, affiliates, agents, representatives, assigns, successors in interest and licensees an exclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual license to use, modify, copy, print, publish, display, distribute and prepare derivative works of all or any part of the materials (the “Materials”) created pursuant to this Agreement on media attendee social media channels, internal client recap and Client owned social media properties/networking sites (i.e. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Pinterest).”

This is taken from an actual current photography contract.  This grab to own freelance-created work is

like paying one month’s rent and expecting to own the apartment.

Often times the language allows for the reselling of the photograph by the client.  Or retaining the copyright which means the photographer may not even receive a credit of his/her name with the work and may not even use the image they shot for promotional use.  Now obviously every circumstance is different and needs to be evaluated accordingly but there must be a compensatory value for the photographer to agree to sign off on the transfer of copyright.

So how does this tie in to the Freelance Isn’t Free Act?  If clients and companies are going to be forced to create a standard contract for almost all freelancers, there are strong odds given the current climate that those standard contracts will include owning all of the rights.  Photography has been devalued by a number of factors; proliferation of photographers in a saturated market, incredibly inexpensive stock photography prices and shrinking budgets.  Contracts that require the signing away of rights and photographers willing to sign that contract blindly are an additional threat.

You can read a summary of what’s covered in the bill HERE.

You can read the actual bill HERE.

William Eggleston, perhaps the founder of modern color photography (“perhaps” as I’ll leave a little space for argument) signed a new Steidl publication, “The Democratic Forest, Selected Works.“ at the Strand book store.  Dapper Bill was gloveless and quiet, but the the room of perhaps seventy-five people snaked throughout the rare book room were electrified by his presence, or perhaps more so by the chance to have their books signed.  His daughter sketched colorful patterns next to him, not looking up. Wristbands were distributed as admirers arrived, and even I, an assigned member of “Group 3” was concerned that at any moment this seemingly frail man might take a break and not return.  I think everyone had that thought during this rare opportunity, which made everyone in the room a little edgy and excited.  Bill spoke very little and signed only his name in Sharpie©, no personalization, in each book. I brought a copy of the original “Democratic Forest” to get signed alongside of the new release.

I had nothing specific to say while he signed my books offering only a “thank you, sir” when he was done.

He raised his eyes for the first time and gave me a polite nod, Southern gentleman style.

Two modern users of the medium and obvious fans, Landon Nordeman and Jeff Mermelstein.

Since it’s the week of Steidl at the Strand, Gerhard Steidl had shared generously shared the plan of how the sausage gets made.

But without a doubt it was this fan who really scored the creative win.  I’m envious.

Sometimes you just have to get it out of your system, and Duane was passionate about going to Trump Towers to get the message out.  Interesting spontaneous discourse as that are of NYC offers a lot of visitors from around the country and Europe.  A few nut jobs, and one gay photographer for Trump (truth!) but mostly support for the message.  Some Germans disagreeing with the comparison and some pre-millennials giggling and selfie-ing, quite a Sunday crowd.

Read Sacha’s instead, because it’s fantastic.  And beyond that, there’s some absolutely stunning photography.

RE: ThePhotographicJournal

AND… my days of Twilo.  Twenty years apart.

Glad to get a print of this before the edition is gone for good.  Having been a child of the seventies, this one resonates with me – the cabinet TV, the architecture, the kid finding his own imaginary fun outside.  It’s all analog.

The Guardian wrote a nice piece about this photo, talking to Arthur about the series it came from, his most famous, “Dream Collector.”

In the late 1960s, an old schoolmate of mine started doing art projects with young kids. In one, they examined their dreams and used them as the inspiration for paintings and poetry. I was invited to photograph the kids and brought along costumes and masks so they could act out their dreams.

I decided to pursue the project further and came up with a title: Dream Collector. I made a list of themes from children’s dreams, and asked adult friends what they remembered from theirs.

I shot this in Boston on a wintry day in 1972. Children are wonderful actors. I would say I was doing a project on dreams and they would immediately understand – because the worlds of reality, illusion and play are close for them. I noticed this TV set dumped in an abandoned lot in Roxbury, on the edge of Boston. At the time, it was quite a rundown, black neighborhood. There had been riots a couple of years earlier after the death of Martin Luther King and a lot of arson.

A kid was running around playing with a toy gun, so I asked him to get inside the TV. There’s a feeling of anxiety and tension, which you get in dreams, but it is also what an urban boy might be feeling. Violence from around the world is brought to us by the media – even more so today with the internet – which makes the photograph still relevant.