Final Post

     This week was jammed pack going to 14 different companies and organizations. The week started at AP and finished with Open Society Foundations, this goes to show how diverse our trip was. 

     The wire services were all very similar in what they do, but how they're run are a bit different from one another. All cover very similar topics (sports, editorial, entertainment, news and stock). The three wire services have staff and freelance photographers who provide a variety of work. Staff positions are hard to come across all three services and to become a staffer you must first do a lot of freelance work, and once they think it appropriate they'll hire you as a staffer. Santiago Lyon's told us a story about John Minchillo (Staff Photographer for AP), a photographer who came to Santiago as an undeveloped photographer looking to do freelance work for AP. Santiago had John do a few assignments, and did so successfully. After a few years of freelance work, John was offered a staff position in Cincinnati and has been there since. Seeing this dedication was inspiring and great. This story seemed to draw lines to what we saw at Reuters with Andrew Kelly. Andrew Kelly is a freelance photographer at Reuters who has been freelance for sometime now and is being considered for a staff position. Andrew has been working under Andrees Latif (Reuters Editor) who has built a similar mentorship. Seeing these relationships built were interesting to seeing in a professional setting and not academia. Getty was a bit different from the other two services. When Al Bello (Staff Photographer at Getty) talked much of the mentality was practice and experimenting. Practicing outside of just the work assignment is the way you're going to get good. Knowing your equipment is a large part of being successful. Over all I really enjoyed the idea of wire services. There is potential work that I could be doing for editorial.

     Sports Illustrated, Time, The New York Times, Buzzfeed, Bloomberg Newsweek and Esquire were all great. These companies were all very similar to me and how they worked. Being technically sound was one of the first things that they all talked about. If you aren't sound with your equipment then you aren't going to go far. Another thing that all of these companies talked about was wanting to work with you again. Having a good attitude is a large part of getting hired again. If you don't have a good personality and aren't any fun to work with or be around, no on is going to want to work with you. All of these companies work in teams or group settings making it essential to be a team player. One thing that Brad Smith (Director of Photography at Sports Illustrated) said that stood out to me was location. Location is very important when being hired, today flying people around to shoot 4 different covers just doesn't make sense, it's too expensive. This seemed to be the case for a lot of the companies. Your location is very important in obtaining work. What I learned from all of these companies was how hard am I willing to work? No one is going to make me do all the work it's the self motivation that will make me better. I learned that from Al Bello who only talked about practice and experimenting. James Estrin (Senior Staff Photographer and Co-Founder of Lens Blog) was also a great example of hard work and determination. Working hard is what's going to allow you to make it in the industry. 

     Magnum Foundation, Open Society Foundations and Human Rights Watch to me were similar in the way they function and view the world. The Magnum Foundation and Open Society Foundations are looking to fund photographers in the stories that they're trying to tell. The Human Rights Watch was a bit different, but still I believe they were interested in telling stories that are going on around the world that are much more socially related.

     In conclusion, this was a great trip and I learned a lot about the photography industry that I didn't know before the trip. This trip has changed the way I look at photography and is going to change how I photograph in the future. This trip also has shown me that I have a lot of work to do to get better. Seeing these talented photographers work hard was inspiring and that things don't come easy even they mess up from time to time. 

Day Five

Our final day we met with Sports Illustrated and Open Society Foundation. 

     At Sports Illustrated we met with Brad Smith the Director of Photography. Brad opened the talk with how Sports Illustrated works to complete a story and image. Editors, photographers and writers come up with ideas then pitch the idea, if the idea is approved then the team comes together and completes the idea. Sometimes the idea is pithed 6 months in advance and once it gets close to the deadline it may have been sitting for too long or gets knocked out by a newer story which is likely to happen. After talking about the ideas, Brad showed us the new magazine. The magazine cover features a mentor and a student from basketball teams. The cover is also regional based making it easier to sell to a larger market. The regions are broken up into four different areas, having the four covers means having four different photographers. Hiring four different photographers makes it cheaper for Sports Illustrated. Brad then transitioned into the three things he looks for in a photographer.

1. Where do you live?

2. Can you do quality work?

3. Does he want to work with you?

     The third thing Brad looks for is the point that he drove the most. Working with people that are jerks are the people you wont want to keep in touch with. You're representing Sports Illustrated poorly and that's not what they want. The talk ended with a few questions and one of them directed towards internships. There are a few internship possibilities and it's a paid position. The position pays $16.88 which Brad found very funny. 

     Our last destination of the trip was Open Society Foundation and we had the pleasure of meeting with Maggie Solday the Director of Photography at Open Society Foundation in New York City. We had previously been to Open Society Foundation for a gallery opening, but Maggie brought us through a second time with a much more in-depth talk about each artist work and background. Open Society Foundation has locations in six areas of the world, Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East, United States and Latin America/The Caribbean. Maggie also talked about the Open Society Foundation Instagram account that is handed to a photographer each week to show current or completed work. This Instagram account is a good way of showcasing your work and having a wider audience see it. The meeting came to an end with a short talk about internship opportunities.  

Day Four

Day four we met with Human Rights Watch and Esquire. 

     At Human Rights Watch we had the opportunity of meeting Emma Daly (Director of Communications). She ran us through the general idea of what Human Rights Watch is. It's a non-profit organization looking to raise awareness and change social views. To make these stories compelling HRW uses both still imagery and multimedia to push the idea that change needs to happen. With the rights to what's being made for HRW it's dependent on what is agreed upon, with still images it's usually that the photographer gets to keep the rights to the images, with multimedia it's usually HRW keeps the rights, and the photographer having the ability to use the work on their website. After hearing about the usage and rights Emma talked about photographers that they've worked with in the past, and the one that stuck out most to me was Platon, a very influential political figure photographer. They've been working with him for sometime now and their relationship seemed to be very strong. He's happy to hand over all the images that he takes to HRW. After hearing about the relationships they've built it sounds like a very good opportunity to take, but it is a highly competitive job to get. We concluded our meeting with a few more questions about internships.

     After HRW we met with Michael Norseng (Director of Photography) at Esquire. We had a limited amount of time with Michael, but everything that was talked about is very applicable to the work that I'm trying to do. He opened with a bit of history and what Esquire is, along with showing a history of a few photographers that changed or ultimately mold what Esquire's photography esthetic is. The three photographers being Bruce Davidson, Eugene Richards and Diane Arbus. The three of them have been able to make Esquire a unique photographic magazine that separates them from other fashion, food and portrait magazines. After a brief history of the magazine Michael also gave us a brief history of his having worked at GQ for a few years then moving to Esquire where he started as the number two and became the number one after four years. Transitioning out of the histories we started to talk about how to be a young successful photographers that can obtain work. Being able to brand and market yourself was a large part of this conversation. Having your brand in order, and photographing what is true to you. And by that he meant having you're branding organized, by having your website in tact, social media representing yourself in a way that you want to be seen and being a reasonable person to be around. 

Day Three

Day three was spent with 2 companies, Time and Getty.

     At Time we were introduced to Olivier Laurent (Editor of LightBox) and Myles Little (Senior Photo Editor) both who were very inspiring. Olivier spent most of his time talking about LightBox and where it has come from when it was started. The infinite scroll with in chronological order is something that he is looking to change and make it more user friendly. The idea behind LightBox came from a variation of what Lens Blog. LightBox is for the more general public being able to put up stories that relate to general news. We concluded our talk, and Myles came in and talked to us for a short amount of time. He's currently working on a book and a handful of projects so his time was limited. Myles talked about a few different shoots that he has helped produce and be apart of. A large part of what he does is builds the concept and create a general idea of what the image is going to look like for the cover and other pages inside the magazine. Myles also brought us through the creative process of how to make these images for the magazine, a lot of research goes into making the image. After meeting with the two of them, we had the opportunity to step into Heather Casey's office where she talked about the Year in Space project she is working on. Sh ran us through the day-to-day of what the job requires, but also gave us the big picture of what is happening and where they're trying to take this project. 

     Our second destination was meeting with Getty. We were introduced to RIT Alumni Pierce Wright (Managing Editor). Pierce opened with what Getty is, and how you're able to work for them. He talked about locations where there is potential work for younger photographers. Going to places like Phoenix, Austin, Seattle and Miami. He didn't guarantee that we'd get the work, but it was a suggestion that he thought would be good for potential work. After a few questions had been answered by Pierce we had the opportunity to sit and listen to Al Bello a staff photographer for Getty. Al is a sports photographer that has been around for sometime now and has been able to stay a very relevant photographer within the industry. He brought us through a large amount of work, and a lot of what he talked about was practice and how important it is. The idea of practice is what was stressed more than anything through out his talk. It was something that you could see in his work. He talked about going to smaller events to try out new ideas, and fine tuning them before he tried it at a bigger event. It truly showed that hard work and practice are a very important part of being a photographer. His excitement to make new images was something that showed in his images. We then had the opportunity to ask questions, all were answered very well throughout the presentation. 

Day Two

     Day two was spent traveling around Brooklyn and Manhattan to visit with Blue Chalk Media, Bloomberg Businessweek and Magnum Foundation.

     The day was started in Dumbo to meet with Blue Chalk Media a service that produces video work. Pam Huling (COO) started off with a brief introduction about herself and Blue Chalk Media, which then transitioned into a long session of videos that Blue Chalk Media has produced. We were shown the differences in product placement. Some videos had very obvious product placement like the Subaru ad about wind surfing. There was a video about a family that traveled around the world, and the mother passed away from breast cancer. The family was then given free housing by Holiday Inn. In this video there wasn't much to do with Holiday Inn, but there was a bit of product placement. After watching a few of the videos that have been produced we moved into questions. We asked about their internship program and learned that it's a very competitive position to get.

     After meeting with Blue Chalk Media we had the opportunity to meet with Bloomberg Businessweek. We were welcomed by Clinton Cargill (Director of Photography in the photo department,) who then brought us up to a conference room. In that conference room, Clinton talked a lot about photo stories and breaking them down to their most simple forms. We then had two photo editors come in Ariel and Caroline who talked about the most recent issue and what it took to make it all come together. Largely what they talked about was having to be creative to get things done. After they had talked the we got to hear a bit about the Bloomberg Pursuits magazine that was just recently revamped.

     Our final destination was the Magnum Foundation which was presented by Alexis Lambrou (RIT Alumni.) Alexis ran through what the Magnum Foundation is about and what their goal as an organization is about. The first thing she talked about was the emergency fund, which is funding for a story that is being under covered. There were a few stories that Alexis showed us that are under covered one being a very snowy tundra. After seeing a few photographers works the conversation transitioned into grants, and work. 

Day two was very successful with the three companies that we stopped in at. 

Day One

        Today was the first day that was spent as a group going to different wire services/companies (Associated Press, The New York Times and Thomas Reuters.) Each place we were welcomed with a warm greeting that set the tone for the few hours that we had the pleasure to meet with workers from the companies.

     Associated Press was the first wire service that we met with, and the day was started off with a meeting that had a few different geographic locations video chatting about trending news that needed to be covered through out the day. The meeting lasted roughly twenty minutes covering a wide range of stories (the Colts poor 4th down play against the Patriots to the election happening in Canada.) After the meeting ended, we were brought to a small room where Santiago Lyon (VP of Photography) talked to us for close to an hour. The talk was started off with a handful of images that AP distributes, which lead to very insightful talk about becoming a successful photographer. Much of the talk revolved around being a photojournalist, but the talk still was very applicable to anyone in the industry regardless of their specification (advertising, bio med, fine art or photojournalism.) What truly stuck with me as a photographer was showing your work to as many people as possible, I find it very important to show your work to a wide audience. This allows you to get feed back from different upbringings giving you useful advice making it easier to connect with your audience in future works. After seeing how AP works, it became a very appealing place to work for as a freelance or staff photographer.

     The New York Times was the second destination of the day, and this was very meaningful stop for the group. Most of the meeting was spent with James Estrin (Lens Blog Co-Editor and Senior Staff Photographer) who spoke about his career, being noticed in the saturated field of photography and what it takes to be successful. James was freelance in 1987 and became staff in 1992 and since has been a staffer at The New York Times. Much of the success talk was based around a few key ideas such as; passion, obsession, nailing technique and being a hybrid. After spending a fair amount of time with James he brought over to a quick edit session where we got to see a wide edit go to a tight edit over the course of ten minutes. After being apart of the wide edit the meeting came to an end.

     Thomas Reuters, the third and final destination of the day, was the second wire service we had seen day one. While visiting Reuters we had the pleasure of seeing a handful of successful photographers and editors in the wire service industry (Andrew Kelly, Carlo Allegri, David Bergman and Andrees Latif.) Much of what was learned at Reuters was persistency and hard work pays off. David Bergman was a great example of how being persistent works. Making calls Monday-Friday for six weeks got him a job, which quickly turned into many more jobs to follow after having such a successful image. Another interesting part of the night was hearing Andrew talk about his finding of photography. His finding of photography wasn't until he was 26 on a trip exploring and finding himself. After going to school and working for a short period of time in Australia he came to New York to work for Reuters. He's currently a freelancer for Reuters, but is apart of the short call list and sounds like he will soon be apart of the Staff photographers. After a few others talked the meeting came to a conclusion after Frank Fournier presented about his career and what it takes to be a successful photographer.

      Day one was very successful and a lot was learned from the three destinations visited. Day two should be just as knowledgeable at Blue Chalk Media, Bloomberg Businessweek, Esquire and Magnum Foundation.