May 10, 2007

Photography education

There was a time when I thought I should attend a university for my masters in Photography. I did some research for schools here in Chicago that offered masters in Fine Art with a focus in Photography. Two of the schools I visited and poked around at were Columbia and The Art Institute of Chicago. Now, let me preface this with the fact that I'm a self-taught photographer. I didn't think photography sounded like a cool idea and thought "I should go to school for that". I picked up a camera from a sparked interest derived from cinematography. After years of taking photos on my own, making calendars for friends and family and doing a shoot here and there as a favor I took a chance on my creative ability and took the next step. I should mention I spent three years working in Digital Imaging and Traditional film sales in the Drug and connivance mart division of the Chicago Land area for Kodak. As well did about six months working for Ilford as a Regional sales manager for their digital paper and traditional film sales for professional photographers. It took years to walk the walk and talk the talk. I'm still learning new things about photography every day...

Lets get back on track. Getting a masters in Photography didn't seem like a great idea. In fact it’s a joke in my mind. After poking around I found out that the two of the biggest schools in Chicago offer a three-year masters program for about 30k. Now I wouldn't go and get another bachelors because my education at Purdue University has treated me well. I use my Bachelors of Science (technical graphics) degree every day with digital photography. My sales experience as well as working with some of the biggest photographers in the Chicago land area has given me the professional background I don't have to pay 30k for.

You might say..."well I don't have that background and want to be a photographer". Hey, that's fine, but to go out and get a degree in photography then on to get a masters in Photography and end up spending a possible 50k or more on an education that you may or may not succeed in is a risk that one shouldn't take. To be a success in photography or any creative business for that matter takes passion for the craft, drive and a thirst to learn. If you have those things over time you’ll pick up a direction and fine tune your skills. You just have to keep shooting.

Now, I have thought about further education often. After assessing the experience I have and what my future goals as a photographer and business professional the following are an option that seems to make more sense. 1. Would be to get a masters in business. One thing I could use more experience in is running a business. I run Hqprints.net and my photography business on my own. Some refinement and a bit of education would be helpful in my mind. Or I would 2. Get a masters in teaching or education. I also enjoy teaching currently on the high school level and in the past on the college level. But to get anywhere in education you have to have a masters. I do this to offset the long winter and cold season that often slows Landscape and Architecture photography to a stand still. I prefer not to travel in the off-season here in Chicago, leaving my family and the city I love. So teaching at After School Matters is not only a way I can give back to the youth of Chicago’s community, but a way I can earn extra money and still remain in Chicago over the winter.

At this point I don’t have the time or want to invest the money in education. But I will in time. I do however invest about once a year in some sort of photography workshop where I can spend time around other professionals and continue to hear new perspectives on what can be a lonely profession. Another good thing to do is to be apart of a local photography organization. One that I’m a part of is ASMP. ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers) provides a Varity of services for professional photographers. In future posts on Photoblogic I’ll write more on a photography workshop I attended this spring and ASMP.

Posted by Robert R Gigliotti at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)

April 25, 2007

When you find your photo(s) have been misused, The conclusion...

If you're wondering what this entry's about, please read part one of When you find your photo(s) have been misused to catch up.

I contacted a lawyer that's in my family and with my help we constructed a letter with particular verbiage of my intentions to still come to a conclusion amicably with out taking the case to the courts. The letter was more of a help than actually a letter from a lawyer. But if you were to read the letter you could tell I consulted a lawyer. As well, it puts in writing my thoughts and intentions for the client to clearly read and hand off to other members of his staff for review or even his own lawyer if need be. The term, "put it in writing", does have a sort of concrete and serious tone to it.

I mailed the letter and the very same day they called me, wanting me to go on a shoot. I told them I could do it because I only had one day before the location would change, but I insisted we work out the details of my proposed contract. They again insisted they didn't intentially not give me credit, but other members of the team didn't know I had to be given credit for the photos when submitting them to the local paper. I can understand how these things can happen, but It was my intentions from the get go to have a photo credit in hopes to gain more exposure and future clients via the credit of

Photographer: Robert R Gigliotti, Hqprints.net

If this would have happened in a trade magazine I would have not felt so violated, but a circulation of well over a million...I feel its fair to want more than just an apology.

After a few voice mails and playing phone tag for a week we finally met on the weekend and signed the contract. In the end I was very happy with the end result of a larger down payment for my services and the client committing to a two-year deal for a little more than half of what I could have received if I had taken them to court. The upside of taking them to court would have been more money, but a burned bridge and loss of client(s) and in the end a loss of more revenue above and beyond what I could have received in the lawsuit. The relationship is still intact and I have an opportunity to do more great photo work for a respected client in the industry. In the end, I plan to deliver the best photo work I can and gain more respect as a businessman as well as a photographer.

Posted by Robert R Gigliotti at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)

April 11, 2007

When you find your photo(s) have been misused

Some times in business you shake a hand, have faith in a client and plan for a brighter day based on the exposure you may gain from the clients using your photos. This happens more than I'd like to admit, but you take a chance and hope the right people see your work and it gets you more work.

A few years ago I was hired by a client to shoot their product. (The product and the client will go un-named for the duration of this entry) They had a great product and I enjoyed shooting their work. It was right up my alley and they worked on some of the biggest projects in Chicago. If you've been to Chicago, you've enjoyed what this client had to offer no matter if you were a tourist, Chicagoan or just a passer by.

The client had seen some of my work from my Chicago Screen saver (its being sold at O'Hare airport at the Chicago Historical Society shop and on Michigan Avenue at Chicago Architecture foundation store and available on line for free if you buy a photo from my site) and heard about me from one of their own employee's. So I came in for a meeting and they gave me a number they wanted to spend, I told them what I could do, I wrote up a quick contract and we were set.

The one thing the client had an issue with was Photo usage rights. They simply didn't want to pay to use my photos. They seemed to think if they paid me to shoot their work then they owned the photos. This can't be further from the truth. The Photographer owns all rights to their photos unless they're a staff photographer or signed away the rights in a contract. I agreed to do the work and be paid for the work at an hourly rate for shooting and a post production rate. I also agreed that they could use my photos anyway they wanted as long as I received a photo credit. They're a big company that had never spent money on Photography and were growing bigger every day. I knew they would use my photos to get more exposure for themselves in the end getting more exposure for me.

Years have passed and low and behold I found my photo in a publication with no credit. The client didn't use my photo in a trade magazine with a circulation of 5k, no, they used it in a local Sunday edition Chicago paper that has a circulation of over a million. My first reaction was not good. The whole point was to get the photo credit and my client completely disregarded the contract and used the photo.

After a few emails and two phone calls I was able to get the person on the phone who signed the contract. They explained that the lack of credit was not malicious and wanted to work something out. I mentioned I didn't want them to write me a check for damages, but I'd like to do more work for them. We setup a meeting and I was in the office the next day.

The moment we got off the phone I wrote out a deal that would smooth this entire thing over. I came up with a number that I thought they owed me for the lack of credit and loss of business. It was the creative fee + usage rights for the photo multiplied by 300%. The 300% is the industry standard when a photo has been misused or used with out knowledge of the photographer. To settle I wrote out a contract for half that amount. Now I like this client and still believe in their product. I'd rather do the work for them and we both get something out of this mishap rather then me collecting a check. I'd like to keep the relationship in tacked than burn a bridge. I broke the work into a two year contract with limitations on the usage rights. They could use the photos, but not for publications with larger circulations with out paying a usage fee. I thought this was a fair and good place to start in hopes we could hammer out the details and move on.

The meeting went off as expected. The client wanted more time to look over the contract. I don't think they expected such a well organized photography contract. They said they'd call me after the weekend as they wanted to mull it over. Monday came and went, no phone call. Tuesday arrived and I received a call saying to hold on till the end of the week. The first reaction from the owner was as impulsive as it was crude. I can only guess they’re talking to their own lawyer on how they can beat my contract. After more than a week of leaving voice mails I've given up and have consulted a lawyer. Thank god I have one in the family and I'm pretty sure the client is assuming I'm so small I can't afford one. At this point I just wanted some advise on this matter and what kind of verbiage I should use in the letter. The letter is a last ditch effort before I file a lawsuit.

These are the steps as I see them…
1. You find out your photo(s) have been misused.
2. You contact the company or person and explain what happened.
3. Try and resolve in a amicable manor
4. If not, a letter from a lawyer stating that you will take action or a letter giving them in written form one last chance (see #3)
5. Follow up call after the letter has been received to try again with step three.
6. If this matter is still not resolved seek counsel to file a lawsuit.

Part II will be coming soon. I'm only at step four as I type this letter.

If you'd like to read the conclusion of this entry, click here

Posted by Robert R Gigliotti at 04:05 PM | Comments (0)