I'm having fun with recreating traditional darkroom techniques digitally. A solarized split-toned b/w print in the darkroom is a laborious process, but with a little playing around a very acceptable result can be achieved in software. A bit sad really, when true craft is lost, cheapened by digital, but it serves a purpose now and its pointless resisting it. At the end its the photograph that counts and not how it was achieved. The benefits of the digital age to are too vast and exciting to get stuck pining about how it used to be. With every conceivable image treatment a tweak away, I find I am slowly being drawn back to an unmanipulated, natural aesthetic. Might be awhile off though.
So as we drag ourselves from the trenches of the WGR or WEC or whatever other acronym is tossed about, a few hard fought bad habits of clients that photographers have overcome in the past, have crept back in to our business. Under the veil of hard times, anything goes as long as survival is the excuse. Obviously, its not just us , or our industry, but everyone has a story of how they were shafted, or their jobs held to ransom. with the climate being the convenient scapegoat(that is a funny word isn't it). Just recently I read that Omnicom, who owns the odd Ad ageny, has reviewed its "policy" regarding the paying of an upfront fee to secure their commission of a mega-buck stills or TV production. You see, apparently we should bankroll the costs of a project (which can be for a global blue-chip) right through to the point where we wait and grovel to get paid.OK. So already we own a fortune in equipment, studio and all those other business expenses, which have to be carried every month, but now an overdraft of a million bucks would be the next must-have accessory. All so that the huge conglomerate can offset their risk slightly, and dont they charge for that anyway. Mmmm. Something isn't right here.
I've also heard that it isn't POLICY to pay royalties or usage. Really. That simple. Well its the law, so its like saying its not policy to pay tax. Its intellectual property and, unless stated, will remain the copyright of the photographer. I'm sure that a the photographer did his utmost to make the budget work, and will be negotiable on usage, but it is his due, and clients have to respect that. I dont want to be a hypocrite, and in tough times, we are tempted to forget about it when clients play bully and threaten to go elsewhere, but I don't want to undermine what was fought for.
I hear the wedding guys are suffering because joe public can buy a super-duper SLR and immediately he or she is a photographer. Oh dear, I'd rather deal with the Ad industry, even though that perception exists in Adland too.
Firstly, I'm starting to see the point of this blogging thing. People are responding and I'm amazed at whom and where I get comments from. Thanks to those, I will make an effort to do this more often, otherwise there is really not much point, or motivation. Up to now, if this blog was a living thing that relied on me, it would have died and decomposed by now. So once again I will promise myself to post more regularly.
As of a few days ago, I have been in Sydney for a year, barring those trips for TV stuff. Its weird, bu it doesn't feel that way. The stranger-in-a-strange-land disposition has not worn off yet. Apparently it takes a few years for that to disappear, if it ever does. Its not that I miss SA or yearn for the place, its just the feeling of not being at home. Having said that, every day I appreciate being here and marvel at how much I enjoy my surroundings. The quality of light and smell of the air from the ocean will be the backdrop for new memories and slowly it will become home.
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