Today is supposedly the most depressing day of the year; ‘The Good Times’ is a breath of fresh air and a call to be optimistic in 2012! You can pick up a free copy in a number of outlets in London (today onwards) and Leeds/Glasgow from tomorrow. More details of where you can get your mitts on a copy can be found here……
If you can’t get to one of the stockists, there’s a limited number of copies available for the cost of postage only (Just £1 in the UK, £3.00 for EU, and £3.50 for the rest of the world) via the Stack Magazines Shop
Before you look away, let me elaborate a little bit. As creatives, we do all need a certain amount of exposure; if you want those people who commission photography to hire you, then you need to get your work in front of them. There’s plenty of ways of doing this while preserving your integrity – there’s a number of good blogs with a wide reach, and you could even (gasp) just pound the pavements with a portfolio or a box of well presented prints.
However. Please, please, please – don’t give your stuff away for free to organisations that should be paying you for it.
Here is a little case study that happened to me earlier this week.
I got a mail in my inbox titled ‘Photo Request’.. this is what it said:
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Hello there,
I work for global creative agency XXXXXXX in London. We love your work, and would like to feature your photo (attached) in our printed publication as the title page to our ‘Technology’ section. We just wondered whether we could have permission to use a hi-res version? We can of course give you a full credit. You can see an online version of the publication here (weblink) We distribute 10,000 of our audience surveys globally to our clients (brands ranging from Nike to Hennessy), independent shops, magazines and buyers.
We are on a very deadline with this project so would be great to hear from you ASAP!
Thanks so much for your help!
From the series 'Spin' by Ben Roberts
This was my response:
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Hi Xxxxxx
Thanks for your interest in my work. I’d be happy to supply the hi-res version of this image for a non-exclusive single usage fee of £xxx.
I look forward to hearing from you.
kind regards
Ben Roberts
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Of course, I pretty much knew what the response would be to that – and sure enough, the following day i received this:
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Hi Ben!
Unfortunately we don’t have much of a budget for this new publication, so were hoping to give you exposure to our clients and brands and a credit for use of the photo. However, if this isn’t suitable we understand.
Thanks for your help!
Xxxxxx
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You know what? I stewed on this for a while. Of course, my expectations had been met; I hadn’t been seduced by the ‘incredible opportunity’ to have my work exposed to ‘clients and brands’. My integrity was intact. However, I’ve received so many of these crappy ‘opportunities’ from tight wadded ‘creative’ agencies, I thought it was about time that I told one of them exactly what I thought of their ‘generosity’.
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Dear Xxxxxx
thanks for your response. I’ve been in this business way too long, and my ability is (obviously, or you wouldn’t want to use my photographs) too valuable to just be given away for free. do me a favour and watch this video:
perhaps it will make you and your organisation think twice about approaching content creators like me with frankly insulting ‘opportunities’ such as this;
or maybe not, but hell, sending this email will brighten my day slightly.
Ben
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Students and young aspiring photographers; Whatever you do with your work, do not give it away for free to goddam leeches like these people. Don’t be seduced by false promises and the tantalising, mystical allure of your name in lights – ‘Jonny Knobhead, superstar photographer‘ – this will not fucking happen unless you are Ryan Effing McGinley. And you’re (probably) not.
Clients who truly value what you do and the content that you create will PAY YOU in ACTUAL MONEY for the work that you do for them, or the work that you have already done that they want to use.
A credit won’t buy you a new skateboard. A credit won’t help you get your film developed. A credit won’t buy you shit.
You can create your own buzz and exposure by collaborating with designers, illustrators and stylists in your peer groups; be your own publicity machine.
But when the big agencies come knocking with their cap in hand, be strong. Insist on payment in a polite, straightforward manner. If they pass this opportunity up, then move on with your head held high and your ass intact. Or maybe send them Mr Ellison’s video.
Two nights ago, I did something that for me is quite different. I took 5 hours out of my day to execute a well planned photographic shoot. Most of my photography is very unplanned, and relies on a heavy dose of chance combined with many miles of walking. The photographs that I made at the OccupyLSX camp at St. Paul’s Cathedral were the opposite to this – I had clear intentions, had established media contacts on the ground, and while I wasn’t sure exactly how the photographs were going to look, I was 95% certain that I could come back with an interesting set of images.
The process of making the work was really interesting; while the actual taking of the photographs was fairly routine, the conversations that I had to enable me to gain access were varied – sometimes the people I spoke to just ‘got it’ immediately, and welcomed me to take photographs almost straight away. Others needed to know more, and I had to engage in some serious ideological and theoretical debates to gain access. Some people just gave me a straight ‘no’, and had very little interest in getting involved. There was a strong mistrust of press photographers from some sections of the protestors.
What I am now finding interesting (and a good experiment) is how the work is disseminating itself. Around midday yesterday, I sent the full story to my contact at the Guardian Weekend magazine, who had previously expressed an interest in the work even before I had shot it. All credit to my contact – while the ultimate response was a ‘no’ on publication (no room in the upcoming issues) – their response was quick and helpful, and included contacts for other sections of the Guardian newspaper. I then pitched it out to G2, the main Guardian Newspaper, The Independent New Review and the NYT Lens Blog. I waited for 15 hours, heard nothing back, and decided to change my approach.
I got the story live on my website, gave full responsibility for syndication to my Parisian rep Picturetank, and then did a simple social media blast on all the usual networks – twitter, facebook, flickr and G+.
the original tweet about 'Occupied Spaces'
In the last 3 hours, the traffic to my website has been brisk, and links back to the work have proliferated on both facebook and twitter. It’s also been picked up by Alison Zavos at Featureshoot.com – a blog I’ve wanted to show my work on for a while. I’ve had almost 900 unique visits to my website in the 3 hours since I posted the first tweet.
screen grab from google analytics showing the upsurge in visits to my website.
Ultimately, I’m not overly concerned about traffic to my website or any personal (imaginary!) fame from the work – my intention was (and still is!) to shine a light on an issue and get that issue seen by as many people as possible. I know that mainstream media is still the best way to reach a huge audience, but I was also aware that my photographs were of a very current issue, and there was a limited time span to get the work out there. When the response from the media outlets that I contacted was so muted, I had little choice but to go it alone.
This all brings me back to a very pertinent statement made by Jason Larkin at a panel discussion that we were both involved in:
“If my work is only ever going to be seen by photographers, then I might as well just give in now.”
If I have one goal for this work, it’s that it can reach out to a wider audience than just the closely-knit photography community. It will be interesting to see whether a ‘new-media’ approach can deliver this dream!
Back in June of this year I got sent on assignment by Huck Magazine to photograph the Swatch Girls Pro surfing event – an ASP official event for the world’s top female surfers.
This was a really different assignment for me – I’ve never photographed sports before and have no real knowledge of surfing; Fortunately the editorial team at Huck were super laid back, and just asked me to go out and photograph the event with a pair of fresh eyes. It was really cool to be able to shoot an assignment (a) on film and (b) with a really loose and open brief – so thanks Huck Magazine for being such awesome clients!
I’ve updated my website with a new gallery in the ‘Work’ section; While cycling from Southend to Galway wasn’t exactly ‘work’, the resulting images have the look of an assignment (all be it with a point and shoot camera!) so this felt like the best place to put them.
‘You know that guy or girl who makes your coffee every morning? chances are that they are a face that has become part of the furniture of your life. Have you ever taken the time to find out who they are or what they do apart from serve coffee’
I’ve started using the Google+ service as a place to crystallize some of my thoughts on photography, politics and contemporary culture. I think in the future it will take over as my main outlet for social networking. I’ll make sure that I link through to relevant posts on this blog.
Today I’ve been thinking about the contrasts between my daily routine and my photographic practice, and how they might complement each other:
Since being fully employed (9-5, 5 days a week), other parts of my life have taken on more structure – most pertinently my morning commute. On the face of it, this repetitive combination of actions and motions appears to be mundane; but perhaps it is through the consistency of these machinations that the small fluctuations and abstract details stand out.”
So it’s been a busy couple of months here – I finished my 18 month stint at the Arts University College at Bournemouth at the end of June, and took a month off to enjoy the Dorset summer before moving back to London just last week. While I spent time making new work for The Seventh Zone, covering the terrain in between Uxbridge and Stanmore in the north west of London, I also spent a great deal of time on my bicycle in preparation for the charity bike ride that I’m undertaking in just a weeks time. Alongside 8 other (foolhardy?!) souls, I’ll be aiming to cover the 600 miles that separate Southend in Essex with Galway in Ireland.
‘Near Naked Man’ is an initiative of the Male Cancer Awareness Campaign. Our aim is to raise awareness of male cancer, and reduce embarrassment. Too many men die of prostate, bowel and testicular cancer because they do not know how to detect the symptoms in the early stages, when treatment would be more effective.This ignorance is made worse by the prevailing ‘culture of embarrassment’, that discourages men from discussing and resolving problems related to intimate parts of their body.
As a team we’ll be pretty conspicuous in our ‘Near Naked Man’ cycling suits (see below)…
with my friend and fellow cyclist Tom in our 'nearly naked suits' - photograph by Daniel Lilley - http://danielpatricklilley.co.uk/
The schedule is pretty gruelling, so any support along the way will be much appreciated! iPhone battery depending, I’ll try to keep my twitter feed updated throughout the ride with expected arrival times in towns and cities en route; The links below show our intended routes:
I’m looking forward to the ride and also a few pints of Guiness in Galway on the 20th August – In the meantime, I’ll be easing down on the training this week, which as you can see from the video below has been pretty intense:
Finally, if you’d like to donate to a great charity, I have a Just Giving site – I’ll be sending out prints to anyone who donates over £10!
Steve Bisson from Urbanautica set me some challenging interview questions earlier this year; I procrastinated over my responses for a few weeks, then decided to set them aside – I needed to make some new photographs and really work out the intent behind my work. I returned to Steve’s interview a few weeks ago, and it went live this morning, nicely time to coincide with the opening of my show.
Castillo de San Fernando, Alicante April 2011
Big thanks to Steve for putting the pressure on me to get this out in time for my show at The Third Floor Gallery;
For those of you coming along to the launch party this evening, I’m looking forward to seeing you all and hope that you enjoy the beer supplied by the Otley Brewing Company! See you tonight!
‘Ben Roberts is the documentary photographer as flaneur. From 2007 to 2009, he wandered the urban fringes of Spain recording the evidence of the country’s unsustainable building boom and its subsequent implosion. His highly formal landscapes of abandoned housing projects and empty suburban hinterlands possess a suitably unreal undertow. His exhibition, the Gathering Clouds is at the Third Floor Gallery, Cardiff from 18 June to 24 July.‘
If you are able to, please come to the launch party this Friday evening at 7pm. It’s sponsored by the Otley Brewery so there should be some enjoyable refreshments. If you can’t come to the launch party, do pop in to the gallery if you get the chance. Joni, Maciej and Bartok run the space on a tight budget and heaps of enthusiasm and energy, and they deserve the support of the UK’s photographic community.
Finally – if you’re interested in discourse, and contemporary photographic practice, I will be running a workshop alongside Hin Chua from the 22-24th July. You can find out more here.
