A Wake Up Call to ALL Photographers and Artists

I want to share a email that I received recently:

Hi :)

I work for an Advertising Agency in London and were looking to do a fun “happy” campaign in and around the UK – It will be to launch a range of DVD`s and could be used on posters, in store and press ads.We really love your “The whole story” image – how would you feel about us possibly using this image to inject ‘happiness’ to the public! I completely understand if you don’t want to and I hope you don’t mind me asking,

Kind Regards, (Their name)

And here was my response:

Hi (Their name),

Thank you so much for contacting me. I am very flattered you would like to use my "The Whole Story" image. I would love to sell the rights to your advertising agency for print campaign usage. I rely on my photography to earn a living and I hope you understand why I can't give the image away for free. If you would like to negotiate a usage fee, I would love to move forward with this project!!

Hope to hear back from you,

~Jena~

Now here's the lesson: Yes, I am flattered and yes, I would LOVE to see my work used in an international campaign where it will potentially be seen by millions of people but let's get real. If you haven't already, you NEED to stop giving your work away for free. Not only does undermine your work, but it undermines ALL artists' works if ad agencies and companies can find photography and artwork for free. I know this ad agency may never respond to my email (they haven't yet and it's been four days since I sent it), but it's a matter of self-worth and principle. The sad part is I already know what they're going to do next: get back on flickr and search for someone who is willing to give their photography/artwork away for free in exchange for the excitement of seeing their work in print. Don't let this person be you. Start charging for ALL usage of your work (and if it's really creative/unique/one-of-a-kind, charge A LOT). If all photographers/artists do this, then more people will be able to earn a living as photographers/artists. By helping yourself, you will be helping an entire industry of struggling creatives. As for the ad agency, they should know better.

Truly Inspiring: Michael Wolf

German-born author and artist Michael Wolf was raised and educated in the United States and has been living in Hong Kong for 15 years, a decade of which he has spent as a photographer. Wolf's work focuses on vernacular culture, particularly Chinese culture. His projects range from thought-provoking portraits to grand-scale gallery installments that beckon the introspection of society as a whole.


What first caught my eye was Wolf's 100x100 collection. For this project, Wolf photographed residents living in Hong Kong's oldest housing project, Shep Kip Mei, where each living space measured 10 x 10 feet. I was eager to peer into each room to see how individuality played a role in conceptualizing the limited space. After viewing a handful of photographs, I was left speechless. Instead of mind-numbingly satisfying my voyeuristic eye, I was left wondering: What personal possessions would I [be able to] keep if I only had 100 square feet?

Other projects by Wolf serve a similar slice humble pie. One such installment titled The Real Toy Story, consists of 16 images of Chinese toy factory workers surrounded by 16,000 plastic toys. The result: a powerful juxtaposition of imagery that invokes morality.

For this exhibit, Wolf scoured thrift shops in California for toys (all of which were made in China); sanded the back of each toy; glued several magnets to each toy back (45,000 magnets total); installed 30 large panels of sheet metal to a gallery wall; and covered the wall with the toys. It took three people working 10 hours daily for three days to attach all of the toys to the walls.

What impresses me most about Wolf's work is the level of dedication to his craft. Both projects were simple ideas which he took to a impressively higher realm. Seeing projects of this magnitude inspire me to conjure grand-scale ideas of my own which I hope will one day impact others as much as Wolf's work has impacted me.

More information about Wolf and his work can be found in this interview or on his website.

10 Great Photography Quotations

To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see. ~Elliott Erwitt

I think the best pictures are often on the edges of any situation, I don't find photographing the situation nearly as interesting as photographing the edges. ~William Albert Allard

Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask "how," while others of a more curious nature will ask "why." Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information. ~Man Ray

It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter, because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the ordinary. ~David Bailey

You don't take a photograph, you make it ~Ansel Adams

Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again. ~Henri Cartier-Bresson

No place is boring, if you've had a good night's sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film ~Robert Adams

There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer ~Ansel Adams

Your equipment DOES NOT affect the quality of your image. The less time and effort you spend worrying about your equipment the more time and effort you can spend creating great images. The right equipment just makes it easier, faster or more convenient for you to get the results you need. ~Ken Rockwell

If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera. ~Lewis Hine

Spotlight on: Photographer Bill Wood

I felt like I hit the jackpot when I recently discovered Photographer Bill Wood's expansive collection of 1950s and 1960s Americana!!

Wood spent nearly 40 years photographing local businesses, showrooms and product displays in Fort Worth, Texas where he owned and operated the Bill Wood Photo Company. His photographs were not meant to be artistic in composition or style, but Wood's authentic -- borderline deadpan -- portraits predate a style emulated by today's photographers.

After his death in 1973, Wood's family decided to sell the negatives of his work. Wood's collection would have not reached mainstream media had actress, and avid photo collector, Diane Keaton not purchased 20,000 of his negatives. Keaton kept the negatives in storage and would occasionally make contact sheets, each time finding hundreds of images she loved. With the help of freind Marvin Heiferman, Keaton turned the archive into an exhibition and book project.

"Some of us can just never get enough imagery, never enough staring at stills. It's a hunger. It's a real hunger, it's a starvation. You need more and more, there's never enough looking. Ever," Keaton has said of the project.

In May 2008, Keaton and Heiferman curated an exhibition titled "Bill Wood's Business" at the International Center of Photography in New York City. You can find a copy of the book containing Wood's work here.

MY ALL-TIME FLICKR FAVORITES!!!!

Images that I return to again and again:
1. Untitled, 2. Nopal, 3. Untitled, 4. Untitled, 5. Untitled, 6. Black Tongue, 7. holga. venice beach, ca. 2005., 8. Narcissist, 9. RidgeDeer, 10. usattheparker, 11. clockwork fish, 12. Donky_Desert, 13. an english pool, 14. monument_bus_2l.jpg, 15. sandiego_12, 16. poison apples, 17. Untitled, 18. Florida Pool, 19. Airstream, 20. Untitled, 21. My Office, 22. it's showtime, 23. Fire Island surf #1, 24. view from our hotel room, 25. Primo Amore, 26. Double-Fisted Double-Dipper, 27. Untitled, 28. No Matter What, 29. superslide polaroid, 30. trailer

photographers include: lou o'bedlam, stoopidgerl, redbuttons, hal bergman, won7ders, fotones, zenbombed, ilisu, charlynw, eyetwist, juliagaldo, daniel minnick, evenstar0586, jen gotch, tinkernoonoo, bluecitrusart, iso-50, iilii-n, aquaticdream, 7-how-7, prettypertelote, buradori, melaniecoles, davebias, dipanna, casoulbyrd, ed bopp.

The Ones We Love

check out TheOnesWeLove.org to see some of my polaroids as well as other beautiful shots from photographers from around the world that honor the people who mean the most to them.

my photos can be seen here. (just click the arrow to the right after you read my little blurb).

madonna inn trip recap!!

who: LA + SF polaroid nerds (11 of us in total).

what: two days, 1 night of mind blowing photo making.

where: thee madonna inn.

when: nov. 17 - 18, 2007.

rooms: "pony room," "round room," "irish hills" and "just heaven."

highlights: seeing the inn all decked out for christmas!! unlocking new rooms as if we were advancing to the next level of a video game. kim making deva (our stellar pink-tie-wearing breakfast waiter) blush. the urinals. squished penny machines!! crashing a wedding party. romping in the stench of the SF boys ;) just teasin. the amazingly awesome pool!! (i wish i brought my suit, damnit!!) julia's vintage dress selection and gnarly strobe skills. lou's anti-cookie-crushing episode. getting reacquainted with mr. and mrs. brilliant. (yes, that's actually their last name). plastic babies. making new friends. the room decor!! holy goodness!! figuring out who was in which room/who had which key/which key unlocked which door. ::confusion:: the 3-ipod, pretzel-eating car ride with miss rutabega and lou o. everybody acting like kids in a polaroid candy store. needless to say, good times had by all.

see all the photos i took during the trip here. more to come, so stop by again soon.