Reflections of a Work for Hire Photographer, Part 2

The importance of a using a digital work flow for commercial work became most obvious when Ivey Seright, a lab I used for over 15 years, closed in Seattle in 2008. Prior to Ivey closing, I considered using medium and large films formats, as a reasonable tool in shooting images for a work for hire context.  After Ivey closed, I quickly realized that film, except in select instances, was no longer a viable tool for much of my business. After locating another lab in Portland for my film work (it closed in 2009) I began developing a plan to move towards shooting predominately in digital. This included setting up a Digital Assets Management system (DAM),  learning software such as Adobe Lightroom, and upgrading my photo gear to include a "Professional" full frame digital camera.

Studio Stratus was commissioned by a client to photograph and create a book about the architecture and space of a series of buildings/developments she was involved with. Digital photo books are increasingly a popular way of presenting and compiling photos for a variety of contexts. Working with a digital work flow significantly eases the process of making well crafted, relatively inexpensive books. 

Both in terms of process and the "quality" of the imaging, moving to a complete digital workflow is both liberating and lethargic. It is liberating, in terms of flexibility and ability to get feedback instantly, for example. Shooting digitally can be lethargic in that the quality and quanity of images can contribute to a "gluttony of mediocrity." By this I mean that at and end of a shoot, one is often left with an excess of images. I personally have a hard time erasing most of these files, for the fact that unlike film, I have no backup in the form of a hardcopy, and hence feel compelled to keep a digital copy of everything, "just in case."  Shooting digitally has required me to reinvent how I work as a photographer, both as a fine art artist and work for hire photographer.

A good example of a change in my workflow is metadata. In a nutshell, metadata is "data about data." In creating digital images, one is manipulating data or media that essentially forms an image. Metadata in essence describes that characteristics of that data including the file size, date, kind of camera, lens type, f-stop, copyright holder, GPS location of the image, etc, etc. Both in terms of business (remember that maintaining copyright is critical) in addition to image management/organization, privacy, etc., metadata has become a significant part of working digitally. Lets say for example, you place an image on your blog and later down the road, that image ends up some place else (for example, a website, without your permission). With metadata, you can essentially "look under the hood of the image" to find out if in fact that image is yours and is being used without permission. Metadata hence gives you, the copyright holder, legal ownership in a clear manner.

© Studio Stratus, 2009, Ecotopian Project. Shooting the interiors for this project was an interesting experience. My assistant Meredith and I used a combination of HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imaging) along with studio strobes.

Metadata is an important tool in "creating data about data." The above images are an example where the images were commissioned by a client for a specific context, which in this case is a book. Metadata helps one keep track of the images and how they might by used in other contexts, and if so, if they are in compliance with the licensing agreement.

The tools one uses for creating photography is an important part of the quality and vision of that photographer. While talent, experience, and the skill of a photographer will set them apart, competition and the increasingly gluttony of images require that most photographers adapt to the increasing demands of the digital world. Studio Stratus prides itself in the fact that we have a solid background in the history and tradition of film based photography, yet it is not realistic at this point in history, to work in film, except in very selective projects.

In my next post, I will discuss some marketing strategies including branding and social networking for a  work for hire photography business.