Comments on: The Importance of Repeatable Photography http://blog.avenaim.com/2010/01/12/repeatable-photography/ on photography blog by Los Angeles based fashion photographer Jerry Avenaim captures the beauty of fashion and advertising from all over the world. He is also regarded as one of the most sought after celebrity photographers. From high fashion couture to the lifestyle of Southern California. Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:08:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Mindy http://blog.avenaim.com/2010/01/12/repeatable-photography/comment-page-1/#comment-1160 Mindy Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:01:05 +0000 http://blog.avenaim.com/?p=785#comment-1160 Wow 15 minutes... that's amazing. Wow 15 minutes… that’s amazing.

]]> By: sid http://blog.avenaim.com/2010/01/12/repeatable-photography/comment-page-1/#comment-1157 sid Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:18:08 +0000 http://blog.avenaim.com/?p=785#comment-1157 I love the whole article....so much nostalgia. I agree and disagree with most parts. Back then in the 90s you could send in the portfolio to the magazine, just like links. People who have the urge they land in paris today too :). Don't genaralise todays photogs by the students in classes and every dslr user on the net. There are a few nuts who believe in old school film discipline...but yes a handful for sure...but you guys won't know them. This article is for the masses who own dslrs and not photographers trying in magazines in diff countries. Also, i completely agree about the slow and disciplined style of working....but if working for an art director, their habbits are completely spoiled by digital and want to look at every image on 30" screen....again, just like polaroids, but they have and take control on every shot. I love the whole article….so much nostalgia. I agree and disagree with most parts. Back then in the 90s you could send in the portfolio to the magazine, just like links. People who have the urge they land in paris today too :) . Don’t genaralise todays photogs by the students in classes and every dslr user on the net. There are a few nuts who believe in old school film discipline…but yes a handful for sure…but you guys won’t know them. This article is for the masses who own dslrs and not photographers trying in magazines in diff countries. Also, i completely agree about the slow and disciplined style of working….but if working for an art director, their habbits are completely spoiled by digital and want to look at every image on 30″ screen….again, just like polaroids, but they have and take control on every shot.

]]> By: Greg http://blog.avenaim.com/2010/01/12/repeatable-photography/comment-page-1/#comment-1149 Greg Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:05:52 +0000 http://blog.avenaim.com/?p=785#comment-1149 One may be able to grasp this idea by shooting on the streets Kertesz/Bresson/Evans style!! You totally got to pursue,wait & react to reality.. in reference to seeing angles but engaging the person is another aspect!!... Things I've read that pertain to this: Andre Kertesz said he sat in on a Stieglitz shoot for a portrait or model & reports it was so quiet the whole time you can hear a needle drop!!.... The story of an Irving Penn model, the one holding the pearls to her mouth with heels kicked off sitting at cafe table, she says they got all packed up & went to Paris she get dressed up everyday but he wouldn't shoot nothing she got frustrated & made that pose & he said stop !! One may be able to grasp this idea by shooting on the streets Kertesz/Bresson/Evans style!! You totally got to pursue,wait & react to reality.. in reference to seeing angles but engaging the person is another aspect!!…
Things I’ve read that pertain to this: Andre Kertesz said he sat in on a Stieglitz shoot for a portrait or model & reports it was so quiet the whole time you can hear a needle drop!!…. The story of an Irving Penn model, the one holding the pearls to her mouth with heels kicked off sitting at cafe table, she says they got all packed up & went to Paris she get dressed up everyday but he wouldn’t shoot nothing she got frustrated & made that pose & he said stop !!

]]> By: Jeff Berlin http://blog.avenaim.com/2010/01/12/repeatable-photography/comment-page-1/#comment-1146 Jeff Berlin Sun, 17 Jan 2010 03:14:00 +0000 http://blog.avenaim.com/?p=785#comment-1146 Hi Javier, When shooting for magazines back in the "film days," there was usually less post production on my side of things. In most cases, I would just turn my edits in to the magazine and that was the end of it. Indeed, some magazines used to require photographers shoot transparency film. Besides pushing or manipulating the development of the film, there often wasn't much for us to do. I would often push film, rarely and tried to avoid pulling film, and always had my film processed in the best labs in the city. When a magazine would allow me to shoot negative film, which has much more latitude that E-6, I would often consult with a printer making a range of prints for the magazine to work from. I never imply in my post that using Photoshop is bad. It's an integral part of the image making process. I use it all the time, though not on everything. It depends on what I'm shooting. Portraits, fashion, beauty, for sure. Certain documentary projects -- not at all. Thanks for your comment. Jeff Hi Javier,

When shooting for magazines back in the “film days,” there was usually less post production on my side of things. In most cases, I would just turn my edits in to the magazine and that was the end of it. Indeed, some magazines used to require photographers shoot transparency film. Besides pushing or manipulating the development of the film, there often wasn’t much for us to do. I would often push film, rarely and tried to avoid pulling film, and always had my film processed in the best labs in the city. When a magazine would allow me to shoot negative film, which has much more latitude that E-6, I would often consult with a printer making a range of prints for the magazine to work from.

I never imply in my post that using Photoshop is bad. It’s an integral part of the image making process. I use it all the time, though not on everything. It depends on what I’m shooting. Portraits, fashion, beauty, for sure. Certain documentary projects — not at all.

Thanks for your comment.

Jeff

]]> By: Jason http://blog.avenaim.com/2010/01/12/repeatable-photography/comment-page-1/#comment-1143 Jason Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:10:40 +0000 http://blog.avenaim.com/?p=785#comment-1143 Excellent post. The humor and insight is great. Excellent post. The humor and insight is great.

]]> By: Pascal http://blog.avenaim.com/2010/01/12/repeatable-photography/comment-page-1/#comment-1142 Pascal Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:50:37 +0000 http://blog.avenaim.com/?p=785#comment-1142 Hi Jeff, Great Post! I started on film a couple of years back and I am really happy to have been able to do so. Thanks to the "constraints" inherent to the medium I learned discipline, technique and restraint (i.e. not a trigger happy person). I like taking my time in planning my shots. Digital gave me a lot of freedom and new possibilities but in the end the experience I got from shooting film is invaluable. Hi Jeff, Great Post!
I started on film a couple of years back and I am really happy to have been able to do so. Thanks to the “constraints” inherent to the medium I learned discipline, technique and restraint (i.e. not a trigger happy person). I like taking my time in planning my shots. Digital gave me a lot of freedom and new possibilities but in the end the experience I got from shooting film is invaluable.

]]> By: Mark Kalan http://blog.avenaim.com/2010/01/12/repeatable-photography/comment-page-1/#comment-1140 Mark Kalan Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:43:23 +0000 http://blog.avenaim.com/?p=785#comment-1140 I started shooting in the late 60s, worked for famous NYC photogs in the late 70s-early 80's and had my own studio in Manhattan in the late 80s. i got to shoot for a few second tier fashion rags and everyone told me to go to Milan. I chickened out and have regretted it (shoulda, coulda, woulda...learn from my mistakes!). I figured if I did go to Europe I'd lose my future wife so I stayed. We've been together 31 years and all my friends that went have been diverced multiple times. I ended up using my skills to publish a Motorcycle Magazine until 2005, which allowed me to follow the digital revolution from the beginning and understand it from the publishing/printing side. now I'm shooting again. Even with digital - i really miss the repeatable quality I was able to produce after testing in my own studio with my own lights, buying bulk lots of film and keeping specific emulsion numbers. I'm very comfortable with digital but I really miss shooting film, so I've been taking my Hassy out regularly and thinking about buying a Leica M6 w/35mm F2 - my favorite outfit of all time! In other words - I agree with all of you! I started shooting in the late 60s, worked for famous NYC photogs in the late 70s-early 80′s and had my own studio in Manhattan in the late 80s. i got to shoot for a few second tier fashion rags and everyone told me to go to Milan. I chickened out and have regretted it (shoulda, coulda, woulda…learn from my mistakes!). I figured if I did go to Europe I’d lose my future wife so I stayed. We’ve been together 31 years and all my friends that went have been diverced multiple times.

I ended up using my skills to publish a Motorcycle Magazine until 2005, which allowed me to follow the digital revolution from the beginning and understand it from the publishing/printing side. now I’m shooting again. Even with digital – i really miss the repeatable quality I was able to produce after testing in my own studio with my own lights, buying bulk lots of film and keeping specific emulsion numbers. I’m very comfortable with digital but I really miss shooting film, so I’ve been taking my Hassy out regularly and thinking about buying a Leica M6 w/35mm F2 – my favorite outfit of all time!
In other words – I agree with all of you!

]]> By: Gerry Hanan http://blog.avenaim.com/2010/01/12/repeatable-photography/comment-page-1/#comment-1138 Gerry Hanan Thu, 14 Jan 2010 02:53:54 +0000 http://blog.avenaim.com/?p=785#comment-1138 Jeff - I am happy to report that you are more comprehensive than you think - you did call out humor in your article :) Gerry Jeff – I am happy to report that you are more comprehensive than you think – you did call out humor in your article :)

Gerry

]]> By: Henrik Bengtsson http://blog.avenaim.com/2010/01/12/repeatable-photography/comment-page-1/#comment-1134 Henrik Bengtsson Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:50:44 +0000 http://blog.avenaim.com/?p=785#comment-1134 Great post Jeff, and i would just like to add my own evergoing path of trying to improve my photography. When i started (again) with photography i came from a short stint with it 15 years earlier, which meant film only back then and "slaving" in the darkroom. So a couple of years ago i got a digital camera, and was thrilled. I started shooting like never before, all of a sudden i could see the picture (allthough very small ;) directly and it was cheap. I could snap hundreds or thousands of pictures and it didnt cost me a dime more. Awesome! Then i tried to save all my pictures.. and allthough harddrives are cheap, the pictures accumulated quite a bit. And if i shot 200 pictures, i only used a few anyway that were good enough to use. After a while i started doing assignments and began shooting for clients and i vividly remember one client who told me when i came back after a fashion catwalk assignment with 2500 pictures, "We can't handle this ammount of images. We only want max 30 that we can use.". Now in all fairness, the show was extremely long (1 h 30 min) and there were many many designers showing multiple outfits so most photographers would have a lot of images. So i sat down, looked through the images and got the very best of the bunch and the client was happy (and even paid me for the extra hours sorting through the images ;). I then thought "hey, i used to shoot film back in the ancient days, i do sorely miss that." so i got a old medium format camera and started playing again. And as Jeff said, when you shoot film you cant spray & pray (unless you are extremely rich ;D So gradually as i shot more and more film parallell, it changed how i shot my digital work aswell. Gone were the 500+ pray & spray sessions and i started shooting a lot less and getting a lot better results directly. Clients ofcourse were a lot happier to select from stronger and fewer pictures and i do believe i learned a lot faster and more efficient. It kind of comes as a normal bonus when you are "forced" to think before you click if you know what i mean. Lately ive begun shooting a lot 4x5 large format, with polaroids and with film and really enjoy it. Now dont get me wrong, i still shoot 99% of my work digitally (and so far, 100% of the client based work ;) since they want a faster workflow than i have with film. But the personal filmwork does improve my commercial digital work and that has been very beneficial. Now if i could just learn not to prowl ebay for new film cameras to buy :D Who knows though, maybe that Brownie no 2 can be used on an assignment somewhere :P Take care all and keep shooting. /Henrik Great post Jeff, and i would just like to add my own evergoing path of trying to improve my photography.

When i started (again) with photography i came from a short stint with it 15 years earlier, which meant film only back then and “slaving” in the darkroom. So a couple of years ago i got a digital camera, and was thrilled. I started shooting like never before, all of a sudden i could see the picture (allthough very small ;) directly and it was cheap. I could snap hundreds or thousands of pictures and it didnt cost me a dime more. Awesome!

Then i tried to save all my pictures.. and allthough harddrives are cheap, the pictures accumulated quite a bit. And if i shot 200 pictures, i only used a few anyway that were good enough to use.

After a while i started doing assignments and began shooting for clients and i vividly remember one client who told me when i came back after a fashion catwalk assignment with 2500 pictures, “We can’t handle this ammount of images. We only want max 30 that we can use.”. Now in all fairness, the show was extremely long (1 h 30 min) and there were many many designers showing multiple outfits so most photographers would have a lot of images. So i sat down, looked through the images and got the very best of the bunch and the client was happy (and even paid me for the extra hours sorting through the images ;) .

I then thought “hey, i used to shoot film back in the ancient days, i do sorely miss that.” so i got a old medium format camera and started playing again. And as Jeff said, when you shoot film you cant spray & pray (unless you are extremely rich ;D

So gradually as i shot more and more film parallell, it changed how i shot my digital work aswell. Gone were the 500+ pray & spray sessions and i started shooting a lot less and getting a lot better results directly. Clients ofcourse were a lot happier to select from stronger and fewer pictures and i do believe i learned a lot faster and more efficient. It kind of comes as a normal bonus when you are “forced” to think before you click if you know what i mean.

Lately ive begun shooting a lot 4×5 large format, with polaroids and with film and really enjoy it.

Now dont get me wrong, i still shoot 99% of my work digitally (and so far, 100% of the client based work ;) since they want a faster workflow than i have with film. But the personal filmwork does improve my commercial digital work and that has been very beneficial.

Now if i could just learn not to prowl ebay for new film cameras to buy :D

Who knows though, maybe that Brownie no 2 can be used on an assignment somewhere :P

Take care all and keep shooting.
/Henrik

]]> By: Mike A. http://blog.avenaim.com/2010/01/12/repeatable-photography/comment-page-1/#comment-1131 Mike A. Wed, 13 Jan 2010 04:19:25 +0000 http://blog.avenaim.com/?p=785#comment-1131 as a magazine Art Director Jeff's comments reminded me of the early days of the MAC and the desktop publishing revolution; when anyone who had a mac and knew a couple of apps thought they were a designer or an artist even. well, it took a period of what i called the "bad-taste is in" era to remind everyone that qualty and professional looking designs MATTER, and image plus presentatiin are key. All the technology and hardware, while beautiful in itself, can not replace a discerning eye and miles of experience. thanks Jeff, m as a magazine Art Director Jeff’s comments reminded me of the early days of the MAC and the desktop publishing revolution; when anyone who had a mac and knew a couple of apps thought they were a designer or an artist even. well, it took a period of what i called the “bad-taste is in” era to remind everyone that qualty and professional looking designs MATTER, and image plus presentatiin are key.
All the technology and hardware, while beautiful in itself, can not replace a discerning eye and miles of experience.
thanks Jeff,
m

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