Paul Herrmann Red eye visit notes

RedEye Photography 

- What they do 

- The broad picture of photography

- networking and advice 

- information and opportunities 

- portfolio sessions, lectures, workshops, symposia, debate 

• Big projects: Lightbox, national photography symposium, look festival 
• Volunteer, contribute
• Ethics and good practice
• Membership.

Redeye Membership (for people looking to build their Careers)

• Contacts and networking
• opportunities
• Discounts
• Exposure
• Solidarity 
• Student Membership £30 a year. 

Upcoming redeye events 

• Career development weekend 9/10 november 2013

building a career 

funding and fundraising

exibiting private and public 

- Hothouse 16th nov manchester 

- Post conflict media IWMuseum North 1December 

- Writing 

-History (alternative histories of photography)

Market trends 

• Photo business halved in 10 years 
• Royalties Down 80% 2005-11
• Staff Photographies declining 
• Well-run businesses mostly fine
• internships / unpaid work increasing
• Photographers who retain copyright who earn 33% more. 
• Fine art print prices, particularly vintage increased over 30 years. 
• Cross-boundary work, increasing. 
• This is not a recession

Market Overview

- staff / employee

- commercial and advertising

- social / high street

• editorial
• Personal
• Projects
• assisting / managements
• education

What do top photographers have in common?

• “you have to be burning and you have to have your shit together” christoph bangert
• “the only way to progress is to keep taking phots, compare yourself to an athlete - you cant go 6 weeks without exercise” Roger Ballen
• “work your arse off. non of the artists i work with make enough, however much work you’ve made its not enough, make lots of work. this isnt for ales purposes, and its not quantity for its own sake, its a learning process, finding ut which is your best work which says what your trying to say and then editing down what you present to the world. 
• its a myth that artists get discovered, all artists make their own business
• you’ve got to have something to say, its got to be worth saying, and the picture has actually got to say it.
• photographers perticaully art photographers who are serious about their work are making more effort to make more interesting work that distinguishes itself from the ubiquity of photography.

Two paradigms 

the old photographer

the new photographer

The Top Photographer

• Interests knowledge and research - the photographic economy, and the world.
• marketing talking and writing. 
• a strong voice or style 
• personality, building relationships with clients, buyers and curators.
• the work ethic and good business
• long term commitment, motivation. 
• craft and ideas - work that gels, resonates, reflects and surprises. 

Success 

- challenging models of success 

- championing alternative modes of practice 

- bypassing institutions 

- collaboration and collectives 

- community based 

• cross media and online

Starting a business 

The idea of business

• employee v freelance 
• you and your business (keep yourself and your business separate) charge someone from the business, and the business pays you
• a business like approach get work done fast and to a high quality
• Work hard, be nice to people
• Reply to Emails don't send things in late. 
• Get some business help
• tell HMRC you are setting up a business.
• get an accountant
• Business advice services (the launch pad)
• Ethics, Growth or sustainability?
• stay on top of paperwork

Fees Copyright and Licensing

• how much should photographers charge? 
• find out what the company pays for a job
• find out what people pay for that type of work
• Work out your minimum job fee - effectivly the business’s break even point
• total annual overheads divided by the number of jobs you can reasonably do in a year. 
• Salary
• insurance 
• Equipment
• Rent,  office be at home or an office somewhere else. 
• website and marketing
• portfolio, high quality and expensive
• accountant
• taking somebody else's figures is not always the best way you need to work out what the lowest price you can charge, and not go below that. 

What circumstances would you charge less than the minimum job fee?

• loss leader / marketing. 
• when you have amazing acess to something that you wouldn’t always get
• when you will be able to reuse the image. 
• we all chose to work for free sometimes. 

Usage 

• object and image - the physical original and the reproduced (copy)
• for images usage is everything
• Always retain your copyright, think 50 years ahead. 
• get used to Licensing (non physical print) Different to copyright. 
• sell license not copyright 
• work out break even fee
• factor in the usage (how many reproductions) are you likely to be able to re use the images (photo libraries) where will it be used, how much will the client get out of that image charge accordingly. 
• research and experience, how much are people charging, / paying for the work. 
• negotiate the price, find the best price for both parties involved. 
• three special areas 
• stock / library sales
• print sales
• working as a facilitator / educator

Licensing

• Issue a licence to use, with every bit of work you do
• its a description of how your allowing your client to use your work
• Dimensions 
• media 
• time / number of times used 
• geographical, where will the image be used 
• exclusivity (when will the image next be used)  

doesn't have to be complicated but it always applies.

give a good estimate of the work with the usage as a quote. 

(photography of your party for use on website for 5 years will cost £3000 etc)

Should you ever sell copyright?

- if you sell copyright, the person who owns it has almost all control over the work

• they can sell or give work to other clients 
• they can sue you if you use it 
• you have no incentive to give them any more than the bare minimum

generally don’t sell the copyright

-however license the work to let the do what they want with it within reason, but you retain the copyright. 

Watch out for anything that says you are giving the copyright because you wont get paid for the work, this can be things like Flickr read the small print carefully and don’t tick the wrong boxes.

Working for free, or cheap

• advantageous for photographer 
• limited in duration
• doesnt replace paid work
• copyright is respected
• socially useful or commercially 

Stock Photography 

• similar pricing to commissions 
• balance the advantages to the user and you.
• Getty images etc for pricing

Photographing people

• ethics 
• the law 
• what laws apply when you photograph people? 
• copyright (for private / personal photos) 
• defamation (although not everyone is gonna look good all the time)
• Data protection - law of misuse of private information. (where people can be identified, and then lose something as a result) 
• contract law (in premises) (for example when you go to the national trust you agree not to take work for commercial work when you buy a ticket)
• Child protection. 

The law Worldwide

- what laws come into play when photos are supplied around the world

• image rights
• human rights
• Model Rights 
• contract between model and photographer 
• model permits certain types of usage 
• needed if you are working with models for selling photos or advertising

Consent form 

-different to a model release 

provides evidence you have consent to take the image 

• the subject or guardian signs the statement 
• no consideration 
• covers you under law for no commercial use 

Its a maze

• News and public interest you often don't need consent
• the bottom line is cash, if there is money involved, someone will find a way of sueing 
• if your shooting for commercial stock libraries get model release 
• if you are unsure of the photographs will be commercial, get consent
• 8/10 balance
• Think what would a judge say? 

Photography in public? 

-an area in flux various terrorism legislation comes and goes 

• careful that what you use cannot be used by terrorism
• its fine to photograph works of art thatare on permenant public display from a public display (CDPA- UK)
• other laws may apply : trespass, bye-laws, obstruction, harassment, official secrets, court proceedings. 

-be careful when photographing people coming out of court. 

Where next?

redeye.org.uk : Paul@redeye.org.uk

development organisations 

- photoworks

• ffotogallery
• photofusion
• grain
• festivals
• other institutions

online 

• epuk.org
• lightstalkers.org
• stockphoto.net
• prodig.org
• artjobs.org.uk
• criticalnetwork.co.uk
• a-n.co.uk
• artquest.org.uk
• beyond-the-lens.com
• copyright4clients.com
• nuj fees guide - media.gn.apc.org/feesguide
• galleries council arts officers, business support
• trade associations and unions (eg AOP, NUJ, BIPP, RPS, a- / AIR)