Courtesy of The Stage Events

Take Control of Your Headshots Seminar

How can actors take more control of their headshots? I’ve been down to Brighton Fringe 2012 with The Stage Events to (try and) answer just that…

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Michael Wharley headshot portfolio

Do you have a Modern Headshot Portfolio?

Forget the ‘killer headshot’, it’s a redundant concept, says Michael Wharley. The way casting works in 2012 means actors need a true headshot portfolio, one that showcases the full range of their casting. With tips on making the most of your next session, whoever it is with.

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casting networks

Casting Networks UK – should I sign up?

Just what is Casting Networks UK, and do you need to bother to sign up to yet another online casting tool? Michael Wharley takes a look at the software from the States that’s coming over here.

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Colour Headshots for the future

R.I.P B&W? CCP makes colour headshots a new standard

A miniature acting milestone – looking at Casting Call Pro’s decision to allow colour photos as main portfolio pictures and waving a fond farewell to B&W headshots.

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mike Skincare Photograph ©Michael Wharley 2011

Makeup and Photoshop for ‘No Makeup’ Look

Taking a look at makeup and photoshop for a ‘No Makeup’ look, as seen in campaigns for companies like Nivea or Dove.

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Take Control of Your Headshots SeminarDo you have a Modern Headshot Portfolio?Casting Networks UK – should I sign up?R.I.P B&W? CCP makes colour headshots a new standardMakeup and Photoshop for ‘No Makeup’ Look

May 11

Take Control of Your Headshots Seminar

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casting, Headshots, Photography, Teaching, Uncategorized

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Last weekend I was down in Brighton, to give my first full-length ‘How To’ seminar on headshots for The Stage Events, and as part of the Brighton Fringe 2012 actors’ professional development programme.

Photo courtesy of The Stage Events ©Eliza Power (No reuse without permission)

I’ve been leading shorter versions of a headshot-focused seminar like this at events such as Perform 2012, Actor Expo and Surviving Actors for a couple of years now. In fact, at Perform 2012 in March, we ran a taster session of this new Stage workshop.

But 30-40 minutes just hasn’t ever been long enough- I’ve ended up packing a great deal into too little time.

Talking headshots…

So it was fantastic to have a couple of hours with the actors attending, discussing casting types, what makes or breaks photos, how photos can subtly show different sides of your casting, how to pose and relax in the session, what to wear, how to brief your photographer and choosing a portfolio fit for 2012.

Not to mention modern trends in the industry, like colour vs B&W, and how online casting is changing the headshot.

Just as importantly,  structuring a class to engage and challenge attendees for up to 3 hours has brought new perspectives to issues I work with every day as a headshot photographer for actors.

What’s involved:

Now, if you’re a professional actor who’s had photos in the past, you might reasonably be asking  ”What can you tell me about headshots that I don’t already know?”

Michael Wharley Photography

Michael Wharley Photography

Of course, you’d have to come to a session to get the full picture, but the process of putting together the dreaded powerpoint presentation honed my aims

  • Provide up-to-the-minute advice on the headshot in modern casting: headshots have changed more in the last 5 years than the preceding 80; the switch to colour, the way the casting process has moved online and other factors are combining to make this a dynamic time. The still image evidently continues to be a very important part of the casting process, but understanding exactly how is important.
  • Taking a proactive approach to your session means you’ll get better photos: I see too many actors treat a headshot session as a passive experience, so I aim to provide the tools and the knowledge to help actors take more control of their headshots, before, during and after the session, whoever that might be with.
  • Understanding your casting and how the industry might perceive you is the key to being one step ahead: we tackle this by discussing casting in general, how photos can showcase different facets of your casting and working through exercises to explore how your appearance and physical attributes might lead casting professionals to perceive you.

The feedback from last week’s session suggested we covered the right topics, but I’m sure these aims will evolve as I run more of the seminars.

I’ve got  seminars coming up for The Stage as part of  the International Student Drama Festival in Sheffield, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2012, so do drop by if you’re at either of those events.

If  you’re reading this and thinking of something I could usefully add to improve the seminars from an actor’s point of view, I’d be glad to hear about it.

MW 11/05/2012

The Stage Events

The Stage Events new ‘How To’ programme consists of expert-led, 3-hour seminars on a range of professional development topics for actors. You can check them out at: http://www.thestage.co.uk/events/

I’ve also got a snazzy bio on the site, check it! Michael Wharley: Stage Events ‘How To’ Expert

(Photo above courtesy of The Stage events and copyright Eliza Power: you can check out her excellent website at  www.elizapower.co.uk)

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Feb 23

Do you have a Modern Headshot Portfolio?

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Arts, Arts Technology, casting, Headshots, Photography, Uncategorized

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Forget the ‘killer headshot’, it’s a redundant concept. The way casting works in 2012 means actors need a true headshot portfolio, one that showcases the full range of their casting.

The headshot online in 2012 -

It’s an average casting day in March 2012, in the offices of agents and casting directors, and on the laptops of actors across the UK:

Breakdowns are whizzing out via Spotlight Link, Casting Call Pro, and any number of other online services.

Agents and actors are making submissions at the click of a button, pairing actors with parts. Often selecting the actor’s most relevant photo for the part in question. 

Meetings are being lined up, as casting directors rapidly cross-reference the roles they have to cast, with the hundreds of headshots appearing on their PCs, iPads and smartphones, directly next to the role to be cast.

Print ain’t dead, but…

Not that the hard-copy headshot is dead – we all know a beautiful, hard-copy repro still has an important function with certain casters and situations – but consider these stats.

Over 90% of all UK casting breakdowns pass through Spotlight’s Link service, and 96% of casting directors believe that the headshot will play a vital role the future of casting.*

In other words, the classic headshot, a casting staple for nearly 100 years, is now inextricably part of the dynamic, online process of modern casting.

But what does that mean for actors? And how can you take fullest advantage of this in your next session?

The modern headshot portfolio

For me, it’s about variety: using the portfolio of shots on your CCP or Spotlight cv to show the full range of your casting.

And to an extent that’s already happening – in a survey conducted with CCP last year, we found that 49% of actors had 4 or more photos on their profiles.

Genuine range for modern casting purposes

But what’s vital is that the portfolio shows genuine, believable, realistic range, rather than being only slight variations on the same shot.

Why? Well, it’s pretty boring to see 4 or more almost identical shots for a start – we click on links online to see something new.

Michael Wharley Photography

Michael Wharley Photography

And historically, the hardcopy and Spotlight book headshot existed largely in the singular: it had to be all-things-to-all-people-and-auditions. A silver bullet encapsulating all sides of an actor’s casting.

Throw in an agent’s need to differentiate clients, and sell them on a specific angle (the juve lead, the best friend etc…) and it’s no surprise we are still a slightly hung up on the idea of the ‘killer shot’.

But casting in 2012 is very different (particularly the pre-audition decision making process) – faster, more open, more varied. And in response, an it’s important to have a range of killer shots that show every (believable) facet of your casting.

What your portfolio can do for you

Michael Wharley Headshot Portfolio

One example of what a Headshot Portfolio can be

  • It’s a way to open up yourself to consideration for a broader range of work.
  • A way to help manage any tension between the way your agent sells your and the way you see your career.
  • A way to nudge casting directors to use their imaginations more actively by showing you in different lights at the click of a button.

And when online submission means the most appropriate photo can be selected to accompany the role of the moment, it simply makes very basic sense.

So, why limit yourself if you don’t have to?

What does a ‘headshot portfolio’ mean?

Practically, it might be something:

  • as simple as a shot with full facial hair alongside a clean-shaven one, hair-up versus hair down, or naturally-lit and studio-lit, colour and B&W shots side-by-side.
  • or something more ‘conceptual’ – shots that show a harder, modern you, against a more open, approachable you, against a more classical, higher status you.
  • It simple terms, it’s likely to see you wearing different tops to subtly suggest different casting possibilities

It’s NOT about

  • photographing characters – each shot still needs to be readable multiple ways.
  • endless variations – 4-6 headshots plus a couple of performance shots is probably a good balance
  • showing unrealistic versions of yourself – you don’t want to alienate or confuse casting professionals by seeming too different between shots.

But as long as there’s no jolt between the ‘you’ in the photos and the ‘you’ who turns up to audition, variety can only be a benefit.

Practical examples

I’ve put together a few panels of images from recent sessions to give a sense of what I mean, but this isn’t about selling my work. It’s to emphasise how each of these actors might be trying to sell themselves to different lines of work.

Michael Wharley headshot portfolio

Different looks within a portfolio

Michael Wharley headshot portfolio

Balancing studio, naturally-lit, colour and B&W shots to show casting range

Michael Wharley headshot portfolio

Subtly suggesting different age range and status possibilities

Using this approach

You can take this approach into your next session, whoever it is with. My tips are:

  • Think hard and long about your casting types
  • Be ready to brief your photographer, at the beginning of, and during your session.
  • Wherever possible ask to see shots as the session progresses.
  • Don’t be afraid to say what you like and don’t like.
  • When you choose your final photos, make sure you are choosing a selection to show casting range, not just the photos that gladden your heart most!

It will help you take control of the photos that result, take more control of marketing your career and help you sell the broadest possible range of your casting.

And what’s to dislike about any of that?

MW 27/02/2012

*Source, 2011 survey by Michael Wharley of 100 CDG casting directors for The Stage article.

 

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Dec 05

Casting Networks UK – should I sign up?

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Arts Technology, casting, Headshots, Uncategorized

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Just what is Casting Networks, and do you need to bother to sign up to yet another online casting tool?

casting networks

Casting Networks logo

It’s been a decade since casting went online in earnest, and I’m researching a piece at the moment about how things might change in the next few years, and whether any company could mount a serious challenge to the dominance of Spotlight.

Of course, I’ve been looking at established sites like Casting Call Pro, as well as newer efforts such as StarNow and The Page, but I also met with the folks at Casting Networks Inc. a few weeks back to learn about their approach.

CNI is a well-established US casting software provider which operate across the States and claims a 90% share of the LA casting market.  I haven’t yet interviewed US casting directors for purposes of verification, so it’s probably best treat figures like that with a small pinch of salt, but the tour of their software certainly struck me.

The functionality – and the fresh feel – of CNI’s product is impressive , and should give the current main players, Spotlight and CCP, at least a pause for thought. And with a growing staffed office in London, this isn’t a speculative punt at entering the UK casting market – obviously CNI means business. To be clear, CNI isn’t piping casting from the States over here, it is entering the UK to compete with our homegrown providers.

What it does

Like Spotlight‘s Link or CCP‘s software, CNI offers casting professionals a means to distribute breakdowns and receive submissions, but – at least as far as I could see it – where CNI’s offering is strikingly different is in the suite of tools it offers casting directors for streamlining, simplifying and facilitating the subsequent casting process: actor check in via-iPad, integration of audition video-recording into online casting tools, software for handling the scheduling and arranging of auditions, just to list a few examples.

In which case, though appearances at events like Actor Expo show the company is courting agents and actors,  you feel that their major marketing battle will be fought in persuading casting directors to sign up to the service.

Casting Networks cv

Casting Networks cv

And the commercials casting-focused list of casting directors (including Des Hamilton and Candid Casting) currently signed up, suggest CNI is initially proving most compelling for casters with a regular, heavy audition schedule. The next 12 months should reveal if and how the company can take broader bites out of the market, and that’s one area my piece will be touching on.

Do I need to sign up?

So, for actors, the main question right now is “Am I missing out by not signing up?”

To test this out, as well as accepting CNI’s guided tour, I also logged in through a friend’s profile to check out the feel, functionality and content of CNI’s actor profiles and generally had a good play around.

Feel

  • Fresh and modern, more so than either CCP or Spotlight – scarcely a cinching factor, but it does look good.
  • A few Americanisms here and there, but generally not too Yankee.

Content

  • Sections for statistics, skills, agent contact details, credits and multimedia (photos, video and audio). Nothing earth-shattering, but well laid out.

Functionality

  • Nice share features, allowing you to email a link to your CV to anyone you like. Certainly easier than the Spotlight view pin…
  • Excellent multi-media centre which opens as a pop out from the cv, allowing you to upload photos, a showreel or video clips, and a voicereel or audio clips. Pleasingly, the upload function includes a simple clipping tool, so you can edit a clip down. This is a better tool than anything currently available elsewhere.
  • Attach clip to credit function – a really neat feature allows you to attach a video clip to a specific credit, which can then be viewed direct from the hyperlinked CV credit. ie. click straight from your CV entry for Holby City  to a clip of your suffering some horrendous episode-defining injury.
  • You need to be with an agent to have access to the full range of paid work, otherwise you’ll only be able to see what you company calls its ‘Casting Billboard’ – essentially low or unpaid work.
  • To register as an actor with an agent, you need to secure your agent-specific code, which means your agent in turn needs to create a profile. It’s both a way to ensure you don’t falsely claim to be repped by United Artists, and a rather fine way to ensure your agent gets round to signing up…
  • Ability to share one CV and associated multimedia content across multiple agents e.g. voice, commercials, modelling and acting agents.
  • A raft of associated functionality that will come more significantly into play at the point when a critical mass of casting directors and agents are signed up e.g. sides delivered through the system, check-in at audition and etc…

Other factors at play

  • Cost – profiles are currently free, and any media added during this initial period will remain attached to the CV in perpetuity. When charges do begin, basic profiles will remain free, with small monthly payments for access to paid jobs, and for adding additional video, audio or photo clips. As with CCP, payments can be suspended if you’re away on a job. Pricing has not been released, but for context the company says an average US user might spend between $120 and $200 per year, which equates to CCP or Spotlight fees.
  • Breadth of casting opportunities – these are some of the casters currently signed up, so it’s clear that you aren’t yet going to be missing out on RSC castings if you don’t have a CNI profile. But with prominent film casting directors like Jeremy Zimmerman, the Hubbards, Sasha Robertson and Nina Gold signing up recently, the argument could easily become more compelling very quickly.
Michael Wharley Photography

Michael Wharley Photography

Conclusion

  • CNI isn’t yet an unavoidable place to be, but given the undoubted quality of its software, it’ll be interesting to see what sort of gains it can make in the UK casting market
  • In terms of an approach, CNI is more Spotlight than CCP – tools to facilitate casting professionals jobs, that also help the actor, rather than a more actor-centric suite of tools.
  • For an actor, the sophistication of  CNI’s online CVs and the quality of the tools offered, not to mention the fact that basic profiles are free, make signing up a low-risk, high-gain choice. If you’re going to be anywhere beyond CCP and Spotlight, this is probably the place.

Look out for my full feature  on the online casting environment in a few weeks. Any comments about the experience of using the CNI software would be very welcome!

MW
5/12/2011

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Nov 07

R.I.P B&W? CCP makes colour headshots a new standard

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casting, Headshots, Photography, Theatre, TV, Uncategorized

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Casting Call Pro today rolled out a policy change allowing actors to make colour headshots their main portfolio picture. It might seem like peanuts, but it marks a milestone in the industry’s acceptance of colour, and hastens the demise of a beloved yet outdated old friend: the B&W headshot.

 

Rhiannon Drake ©Michael Wharley 2011

Colour coming in....

The 7th November is fairly nondescript, surrounded by far more notable days and dates –  Bonfire night and Remembrance Day to name but two – but henceforth, it will stand for ever in the history books as the day that the B&W headshot began to die in earnest.

Of course, I write this with a tongue-in-cheek sense of  drama, but in allowing actors to upload colour headshots as their main profile picture, CCP is marking a moment of  real change.

So let’s get the caveats out of the way, before I carry on with the purple prose.

Yes, the decision has been taken in response to industry feedback, reflecting increasing use of colour in the profession. As the company’s email to members states:

“We’ve done this following consultation with the casting directors, production companies and employers using our service, the majority of whom no longer require only black and white headshots but would welcome the use of colour headshots.” Casting Call Pro

And yes, it is important to note that for the foreseeable future, actors will be able to use either colour or B&W as their main photo.

“Accepting colour headshots does not exclude people from using or uploading black and white headshots – our members are still welcome to do this and you are most welcome to upload either style at anytime.” CCP

But. BUT.

For over 80 years, the B&W headshot has been an actor’s calling card and badge of professional membership. In more recent times, along with an accredited training or a minimum number of professional credits, it has been part of marking out the status of pros who are eligible to join Spotlight or CCP.

Michael Wharley: Industry Expertise in Every Shot

Michael Wharley: Industry Expertise in Every Shot

And today, Casting Call Pro – one of the largest bodies representing actors in the UK, with a membership of over 40,000 - has effectively said that possession of a colour headshot can in part define you as a professional actor.

Now, we all know that B&W is on the way out, and colour increasingly the norm. Probably 8 our of 10 actors who read this will have both on their online portfolios. And just as many will know it’s a bit odd that B&W persisted for so long.

But it’s worth marking a moment of change like this, because in two or three years time, people will probably say wonderingly, and wondering quite why: “Oh yes,  we used B&W then didn’t we?!“

MW  07/11/2011

NB. It’s worth noting that while The Spotlight does still print its directories in B&W:

a) It will convert colour photos to do so, which conceals the extent to which colour photos are supplied to it by actors in print form.

b) It’s Link casting software is a much more relevant part of the modern day casting process than the directories, and on the Link colour is almost ubiquitous on actors’ profiles, even if often sitting alongside B&W shots.

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Nov 02

Makeup and Photoshop for ‘No Makeup’ Look

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Arts, Makeup, Photography, photoshop, Teaching

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A few weeks back I was co-leading a class with Chris Dennis for makeup artists wanting to get work on editorial/fashion shoots.

We were teaching at the famous Covent Garden makeup providers Charles Fox, and with a limited space, plus a two-day schedule, we were doing our best to give attendees a sense of the pressures and realities of working on a shoot.

Chris is Pamela Anderson’s on-call makeup artist whenever she’s in the UK, so he knows how to handle a tricky brief, but for the first day’s exercise, we wanted to give attendees a sense of how much effort and prep goes into even the simplest look.

Real beauty, real effort

So we took our cue from the print adverts for companies like Dove or Nivea, both of which companies are actively involved in promoting ‘real’ beauty campaigns as a broad part of their advertising spend.

The photoshopped extreme of  L’Oreal’s recently pulled campaign featuring Julia Roberts is one thing – but actively allowing models to go unmade up in front of the camera is  quite another. Of course, Dove and Nivea’s ads all feature a healthy dose of  makeup and photoshop, howeverso subtle.

How we did it

The look in the picture here was created using an array of matt and highlighting makeup products, with the hair wetted down, and finished off with a full-body spritz of baby-oil, delivered by an airbrush, to give the wet sheen that gives the model a ‘just-showered’ look.

But no-one I know looks this good just out of the shower! In all, this was probably a 40 minute prep.

In terms of lighting, there’s one bigass softbox positioned right above the model, two behind and below (one either side), to give the soft highlight on the jawline and hair, plus a light on the white backdrop to create the ascendant glow.

The photoshopping was probably about 1.5 hours: general skin touch up, a little jaw reshaping on the right where the slight angle of shooting meant one ear/jawbone stuck out more than the other, and the adding in of a highlight on the left cheek (copied and pasted from an alternate shot), because in the chosen shot we just lost it.

It’s a neat illustration of how much time, effort and expertise goes into making something so apparently effortless!

MW

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Jun 03

Comparing London headshot photographers – how much should you pay?

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Arts, Arts Technology, Headshots, Photography, Theatre, Uncategorized

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Headshots can cost anywhere from £50 to over £500, but how much should you pay, and what’s the difference anyway? Plus: Casting Call Pro headshot survey and the most expensive shoot in London!

Khushaal Ved ©Michael Wharley 2011

Khushaal Ved ©Michael Wharley 2011


The good folk at Casting Call Pro got in touch last week to share the results of a recent survey of members, and the headshot results were fascinating.

As a headshot photographer in a chock-a-block market, I regularly check my prices in the hope that while covering my outgoings, I’ll still be offering competitive prices. I’m sure the same is true for other photographers.

That’s because we have to recognise that our clients – you, the actors – aren’t just in the market for headshots: you’re juggling a series of expenditures aimed at promoting and sustaining your career.

Voicereel, showreel, new headshots, Spotlight membership, CCP dues and Equity fees, not to mention making enough to feed, clothe and house yourself. And who knows, maybe some left over to go out with friends once in a blue moon…

Best Deal vs Best Photos?

So, it’s no surprise that the CCP survey revealed a desire to get the best deal for the best shots, but when members were asked how much they’d be comfortable paying for a headshot session, there were surprising results. Read the rest of this entry »

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Mar 07

Best Faces Forward – survey on Actors Headshots in 2011

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Arts, Arts Technology, casting, Headshots, Photography, Theatre, TV

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Headshots are a decades-old casting tool, but how are they being used in 2011? A survey of nearly 1000 actors with Casting Call Pro shows:

  • Colour overtaking B&W,
  • E-Copy defeating Hardcopy
  • The Online Portfolio dealing a death blow to the ‘Killer Shot.’

Actors Headshots ©Michael Wharley 2011 Read the rest of this entry »

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Jan 12

The Future of Casting…

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Arts, Arts Technology, casting, Film, Headshots, Photography, Theatre, TV

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There’s no doubt the acting business is changing in response to economic, technological and social trends. And trying to keep a track of what’s going on is hard for actor friends and clients, even before having to manage the daily grind of auditions or rehearsals, earning a living and keeping headshots, showreels and everything else  up to date.

So,  Arts Oracle tasked me with interviewing casting directors working in film, television and theatre, asking them to take step a back from their own daily workload and discuss the future of casting.

Covering theatre, I spoke to Alastair Coomer. He’s Deputy Head of Casting at The National Theatre, trained as a director at LAMDA, and worked as an agent before joining the NT casting team seven years ago, where he casts productions across all three stages.

“… it’s always our ambition to have as diverse as possible a group of actors, whether that’s in terms of age, gender or race. It’s a luxury to be able to bring in young actors straight from drama school, but older, more experienced actors as well.“

Michael Wharley Photography

Michael Wharley Photography

In the world of TV, Liz Stoll is a Casting Director for BBC Continuing Drama series: possessing more than 25 years’ experience, she started her career with the RSC and on West End musicals before moving into TV casting some 20 years ago. She has worked on The Bill, Dalziel & Pascoe, five series of Judge John Deed, and now casts Holby City. (NB. her views are personal and do not necessarily reflect the BBC’s official position).

“Everyone in the process is important, for example agents are very helpful for us as quality filters. Not to say that sometimes people won’t come through the alternative channels beyomnd Spotlight and that’s exciting when it happen.“

Last but not least, Jeremy Zimmerman is one of the UK’s leading film casting directors, having been in the business for 25 years. Favourite projects include: Willow, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves and Hellboy 1 & 2. His company Jeremy Zimmerman Casting also handles theatre and TV work.

“We are certainly using more non-traditional avenues and those sites [Facebook, twitter etc...] than we ever did in past. On Spartacus for example, we found ourselves needing to go outside usual channels, not for specific actors, but for a bigger pool to cast from.”

Arts OracleThe topics I covered included: what trends will develop in the next 5-10 years; how will technology affect the the casting process; what promotional resources will actors need in the future, and Is it going to be harder or easier for actors to get a start in the future?

These conversations threw up some fascinating points and some very different perpectives, so I hope it’ll prove a useful piece.

You can read the compiled interviews side-by-side on Arts Oracle (the link is http://www.artsoracle.com/articles/82-the-future-of-casting if your browser’s bust), and the full transcripts of each interview should also be online there shortly, or I will put them up here.

MW 12/01/2011

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Jan 10

Resolution and resolve

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Arts, Arts Technology, Photography

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It’s a new year. Looking back at the one just past, there are many things I’m proud of, but letting other work get in the way of updating this site isn’t one of them.

I have been writing: for sites like Arts Oracle, a piece for The Stage on online theatre, and beating my first arts and technology column for Fourthwall Magazine into shape. However, that doesn’t excuse neglecting devoting time to updates here.

I don’t really make a habit of New Year’s resolutions, but in 2011 I do aim to commit thought to web more often.

Maier and Maloof: resolve

And speaking of resolve – thanks to the Editorial Photographers UK weekly digest, today I learned about a woman of quite astonishing resilience, self-sufficiency and no small talent, and a man whose devotion to her work takes some comprehending.

It’s a faintly unbelievable story. Vivian Maier was French-American,  a resident of Chicago from her early twenties, and a nanny for countless well to-do families in the Windy City throughout the rest of her life. From what little is known of her, she was a private, characterful – difficult, some accounts have it – woman, who lived an outwardly unremarkable 20th Century life, dying a few years ago in her 80s.

But in private, she was also a hugely prolific and prodigiously talented street photographer, whose work would have gone totally unseen, were it not for pure chance and the diligence of John  Maloof.

Researching a book on Chicago, Maloof purchased a box of negatives at an auction of effects from a repossessed locker. When he began to digitally scan and process the photos, he realised both the scale of Vivian Maier’s  ability and the enormity of the task before him.

©Vivian Maier (with permission of john maloof)

©Vivian Maier (with permission of john maloof)

Several years later, he’s traced as much of her output as he can and works with a business partner many days a week, scanning, archiving and promoting her work. But despite hundreds of man-hours put in already and worldwide exhibitions – with one currently on display at the Chicago Cultural Center -  the vast majority of 100,000 photos she took remain untouched and unseen, with many boxes awaiting Maloof’s attention, not to mention roll upon roll of unprocessed film.

100,000 photos is a truly incredible resource – as a cultural archive documenting Chicago living from the 50s onwards, it must be unsurpassed in scope and detail. As a private documenting of a woman’s life through art, now made public in her death, it’s truly incredible.

It’s hard not to be awed by the talent on display and to speculate on the mind behind that talent.

The photos we can see: you only need gawp at the beautiful shots here, here and here to know she was an amazing photographer.  Probably as gifted as any street photographer there’s been – though more informed judges than me will arbitrate over her place in the canon.

But her mind? There’s a tantalising snippet of audio in the Chicago Tonight documentary embedded above, in which Maier reflects cogently on life and death. And her remaining effects include many books of contemporary photography. So, unlike Henry Darger – another Chicago native whose substantial written and painted body of work was uncovered by accident after his death, but a decided odd-ball residing mentally far outside the mainstream  – she cannot be neatly placed as an outsider artist.

Instead, it seems in death she is as resistant to outside interference as she apparently was in life:  an intelligent, private, determined woman, from the evidence available, deeply vocationally involved  in the taking of photographs, but unconcerned with any prospect of  acclaim or financial reward.

It’s certainly not a narrative that fits with the archetype of a 20th Century U.S. resident.

Who can tell what she’d make of the scrutiny her photos are now receiving. Or how she’d feel about Maloof’s role. He prospectively stands to earn considerable amounts, but in his evident devotion to Maier’s work, and in bringing it to wider audience, he surely deserves whatever reward might be forthcoming. Clearly, resolve is a quality that they have – or had – in common.

A Maier in 2080?

There’s no real technology slant to this post, except to reflect briefly on the changes in the way photos are recorded and stored these days. The permanence of the boxes of negatives and rolls of films that Maloof found meant they were there to be physically discovered, in a way that hard drives and usb sticks might not be in the future.

So, could a currently operating Maier-equivalent be discovered in 100 year’s time? Judging from her life, she wouldn’t have been a Flickr user if around today, but then perhaps even such a decidedly private expression of artistic impulse  would find it hard to go under the radar today.

MW  10/01/2011

As a postcript, there is one nice resonance with Darger – the heroines of his  enormous work,The Realms of the Unreal, are called The Vivian Sisters.

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Oct 19

The Evils of Touching Up

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When photo editing gets such a bad press, just how far should you go to have your headshots and promo photos spruced up?

Photoshopping the Wharley way

Photoshopping the Wharley way

Photoshop’s evil:  it means airbrushing, body-shaping, lipo-sucking deceit, part and parcel of the fashion industry’s conspiracy to present us with unobtainable images of physical perfection in the name of sales.

Or at least, you could be forgiven for thinking so. Just take a look at this amazing advert from a Dove US campaign a few years back: Dove Evolution (the ad agency won’t allow video embed)

Dove very successfully markets itself to ‘real’ women. In doing so, it plays to a broad socio-political movement fighting against the perceived – often undeniable – excesses of high fashion and print media.

But this has a trickle-down effect. Say ‘photoshop’ to a headshot client (in fact, pretty much anyone) and the response is just as certain.

A tool to conceal?

It’s seen as a tool to conceal the things about yourself that make you insecure, the irony being that few complain: “Oh, you can photoshop my nose/spots/bags/wrinkles/mole/double chin, can’t you?”

So, why are these perceptions a problem? Put simply, they are reductive and get in the way.

The relationship between the shot taken on a camera and the final photo is much the same as between a piece of sheet music and its performance – the same basic infomation can be interpreted in a thousand different ways.

In the camera, off the camera

In the film era, photographers would spend days or weeks in the darkroom, and expert printers like Bill Rowlinson – whose multi award-winning techniques included staining prints with a teabag – were in great demand.

It’s no different in the digital today: expert retouchers are just as sought after. Indeed, there are many partnerships or collectives (eight-person, Brazil-based Cia de Foto is a good example) in which photographers and retouchers work and publish together, sharing equal creative credit.

In other words, just because on a digital camera you can see a version of the photo a millisecond after it is taken doesn’t make it complete. Real-world choices and compromises made in the taking, mean a shot often needs work to be finalised.

So, photoshopping – or better, digital processing -  is incredibly important, not just in artistic terms, but also in making a photo fit for purpose.

Michael Wharley PhotographyHeadshots & Photoshop

It’s no different when a photo is to serve as a headshot. Any current digital headshot photographer – John Clark, Pete Bartlett, Nick Gregan, Nicholas Dawkes, Kirill, myself – offers ‘digital touch up’ as part of the service. And you’ll feel – even if you can’t see quite how – that work has been done to our photos.

The current UK industry consensus is that natural is best, so photoshopping is all about invisibly heightening the impact of a photo:

What you can and should expect your photographer to do:
Basic:
  • Crop to get best composition
  • Change colour balance
  • Convert to B&W
  • Get right resolutions for print/web
Tidy the image to avoid distractions:
  • Airbrush out blemishes or stray hairs.
  • Clean off flash hotspots
Artistic work:
  • Apply filters to sharpen, saturate, warm, cool, etc…
  • Make the eyes stand out.
But just how far should you go? Well:

Leave out bags under eyes and spots.

Leave in immoveable features like moles and birthmarks.

Leave in enough to give casting professionals a true sense of who you are and what you look like.

It’s a Goldilocks principle: not too much, not too little, just enough. And to do this Photoshop is – believe it or not – your friend.

MW 19/10/10

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