TANSTAAFL - the GWC edition

If the truth is often seen, 2008.

Ok I debated whether I was going to post this and I sat on my hands for a couple of days. But here goes. With grown up language too for those sensitive....

If you want my help or advice or hints or tips or tricks when it comes to photography, its not free. I don't mind helping some of my friends now n then. But regularly people - photographers and those who are GWCs (guys with cameras) - I meet online who are all 'where's this location, where's that location?' 'Can you give me some advice on how to shoot nudes?' 'Can I tag along and watch you work' 'Whats your secret to meeting beautiful tattoo'd models?' 'What do you think of my 50 photos here and any suggestions to improving them?' 'Any idea how to make a photoshop effect for (fill in the blank)?' ...

The answers are Not Telling, Shoot Some, No, Talking to them, Not much & shoot more, and Yes I do.

You know what? Do it yourself. Try this: Go for a fucking walk for three hours, get mosquito bitten, or soaked feet, sun burned, or frost bitten, and find some location you can call yer own. That's how I do it. I have spent a shit load of time walking, hiking, and used up tanks of gas driving around scouting locations. Going down side roads or off the beaten path from here to the BC interior, to the top end of Newfoundland and back. And not to mention all over the local London area.

If you can't find anywhere else in the city to shoot pics except for that alley downtown everyone and their mother has shot someone in, then you have two options. Shoot there, and your client's or model's friends can go something like, "Suzy, isn't that the alley Mike Wood shot photos of Maggie in?" And your model can then be bummed cuz you didn't bother to find a special unique place to take her photos that could be their spot. Option two is you can tie up the laces on yer Converse kicks go find some spot of your own.

I have found some really great nooks n crannies to shoot in - and several no longer exist. Some, such as the abandoned pool most recently, were completely flukes to find. But I was the one to find the spot and not you. I am sure you all have cool fav buildings, walls, dirt roads, parking lots, farmers fields, rooftops etc of your own - and I am not saying that completely sarcastically. You want to trade something I would remotely find useful for some information then we can talk. But really, I'm not getting much out of the deal so I probably won't bother.

I'm not your photography teacher, travel guide, or model agency. There are people who get paid for that. I don't. And frankly I don't have the time for it. I'm all for you having some deserved success - if its deserved and not because you have a golden horseshoe up yer ass. And not because you couple your mediocre skills with being well connected.

You don't see Honda asking Nissan for advice on their instrument panel design. Or MAC cosmetics being asked by Cover Girl what their secret is to getting their products loved so much. What those businesses do instead is something called research. And a helluva lot of it. R&D budgets can be enormous. Mine is not. But for the time, money and effort I do put into it, the results should be mine to reap, and not yours to step in and harvest.

I am self taught. I didn't go to school for this.

I have shot well over 150,000 pictures in the last six or seven years I would imagine by now.

Thousands of hours editing and learning how to edit.

I learned by doing. And I keep learning everyday.

I found locations by exploring a lot.

I have sat on my ass till it was numb in front of my computer and researched online any number of aspects of photography to death: ideas, equipment, lighting, everything is out there.

Google does work. So does going to Chapters. Dummies Guides are not just for dummies...

Oh, and I met models by, guess what? Meeting them. Get out of your momma's basement and talk to someone instead of poaching someone else's contacts they have cultivated because its easier to do that. And yes, that's happened to me several times now.

Whether I am successful or not at this point with my photography, I desperately want to be. I am having serious long term doubts as to whether I will ever get the recognition and financial compensation I would like for what I have invested to this point in my art. Curiously, I would like to have some of your success, and not just have my carcass picked clean by vultures before they move on.

So GWCs wanting the easy way into shooting photos and making money doing it, and not wanting to put their time in and figure out on their own or in a class how shallow DoF is great for portraits or what the rule of thirds is, or an ISO is for that matter, or that RAW is arguably better than JPEG, or that shooting fast moving objects requires a fast shutter speed, or that Photoshop layers are great... can ask someone else for info instead. Maybe join a camera club.

Like Harlan Elison said, a lot of you piss me off when you want something from me for free. I know that sounds cold, and I think my friends out there will know that this is not directed at them, but when it comes down to it being either you or me making a buck of my work and efforts, I have more than a slight bias towards me.

In a very much not enlightened Buddhist like conclusion, I will get down to brass tacks here: If You are the competition, You are in My way. So don't expect me to help you.

TANSTAAFL.


Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Dee, a Tutu, and an Abandoned Pool.

Abandoned Pool #2, 2009

In the winter I met Leah Morrow, a local designer who makes tutus. Meeting her was completely random, unexpected and quite fun - a cool singer too if you catch her at open mic somewhere. So we made plans to do some shoots in the warmer weather with her tutus and this is one of them. And these shots tie together with the outdoor nudes series that I am working on this summer.

Abandoned Pool #4, 2009

On a long hike in early April, I came across this fantastic location and immediately I thought that it would be great to combine with the tutu and a model. It is an abandoned concrete in ground swimming pool located in a forested area. From what I have been told, it was part of a much larger property and mansion sized house now no longer.

Abandoned Pool #3, 2009

I only found it as I went one way instead of another to avoid some deer on the side of an overgrown pasture. Otherwise I would never have come across it. Overgrown with trees, vines, collapsed walls, stagnant water - and lots of big frogs. A veritable Mayan ruin in Southwestern Ontario. And not discovered by local kids and tagged and wrecked. Though the earth movers of some property dev company will have their way soon enough.

Abandoned Pool #1, 2009

I had only one woman in mind for these shots. Dee has long lines, and an alt sexy ballet dancer vibe to her at times, and I wanted her for this and no others. Due to scheduling, we couldn't do it earlier in the year, and as it turns out, aside from mosquitos, it was better to wait. The bare twigs are not comparable to the lush greenery and the lighting we got that day.

Dee's alternative title to the pics was "Tutus n Tatas" :)

Model is Dee, makeup and photography assistant Missy Costa, and tutu provided by Leah Morrow of TuTu Cute.

Abandoned Pool #5, 2009

Interested in participating in the outdoor nudes I am doing this year? Send me a message.




Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Tony Pacheco 1971-2009

I only got to get to know Tony for a few years. First when we worked together at Teletech, and then later outside of work. He wanted me to shoot some promotional photos for his music website, and these shots are from that session back in June 2006. They were shot upstairs at the Arts Project here in London and really before I heard much of his music (you can hear some on his ReverbNation page). But even on that day when he was casually playing his guitar you knew talent was there.


I think at one point he sent me some tracks or linked to them and I was really amazed at his voice. Instantly thought of Springsteen. And that was probably what most people thought when he was singing or covering the Boss.

We started to hang out again a fair bit only really since last summer. He was looking to get some new photos done as the last ones were becoming dated, and we talked ideas on what to shoot and where. Talked about perhaps shooting with a model as his muse in an alley downtown, and also about some live performance shots at the London Music Club - something I should have done at the CD release party a couple weeks ago.


I know that over the past couple of years, circumstances changed for him, and challenges came up that were causing him some great internal turmoil. I thought that by talking with him, offering advice, kicking his butt now n then, and just being there as a friend, he might turn around. We had several long long talks in May and June and I felt that perhaps in the last couple of weeks he was on the mend and would be the old Tony again one day soon.

Sitting in the audience at London Music Club a couple of Fridays ago with my friend Missy, I never imagined as I sipped my free Grasshopper ale (and got mighty buzzed off it) that this was going to be the last time I heard him play. He was on fine form that night being accompanied - for the first time as far as I know - by a woman named Megan that I had never met before that evening, but since his passing I have had a chance to chat with her at length about Tony and his music. He was feeling energized after that performance and even before it happened he was nervous and pumped. I know he was starting to write more, and had done a fair bit recently.


Even as late as a week last Saturday, the day after the performance, Tony and I hung out in Gibbons Park for a couple of hours talking n well, girl watching... It was good fun and Tony was being positive and upbeat as he un-apologetically checked out the Rollerbladers and cyclists passing by on the path. At one point I suggested channeling his energy into writing a Springsteen like equivalent to Alanis Morrisette's 'jagged little pill' album. Awesome music can come out of tortured souls, and can be cathartic. He even said that he was going to take his guitar back to the park and sit and do some writing.



Benjamin Disraeli wrote "Most people die with their music still locked up inside them." I don't think more apt words about Tony could be said. I just wish he had the chance to get that music out of his system and onto paper.

Tony, my friend, you will be missed by many. And I'm sorry you never got to be an assistant on one of my photoshoots. I know you would have enjoyed that a great deal. :)




Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Local camera store uses pics without credit for newsletters

A friend of mine asked me to confirm something on Thursday. He said a local camera store here in London, Ontario called Stan C Reade, used one of his Flickr images shot last year of the Stan C Reade Photo Day at the Elsie Perrin Williams Estate to illustrate a newsletter showcasing this month's upcoming event now called Digital Discovery Day. I compared the shot in the newsletter, to his on Flickr and they were the same. Initially I thought perhaps the shot of a model by a car could have been done by someone else at near similar angle (it's a feeding frenzy by GWCs at the photo day usually when it comes to models), but his post work was fairly unique and the odds of someone else doing the exact same thing on the same shot was low.

I suggested he contact Stan C Reade and see what they had to say. The store emailed back and said that they apologized for not having included his name on the newsletter as it was their policy for photographers to be "credited and or notified" when images are used on their site and newsletters. It was blamed on the person doing the final artwork. No mention of posted disclaimers about any photos taken on site could be used in the future by the store for promotional purposes or something similar.

One small bonus in terms of damage control was that once notified, the store updated the newsletter in print available in store, and on their site crediting a couple of the photographers listed. My friend was also given a small store credit for his troubles... But to this point, no public note from the editor indicating the omission on the revised newsletter or the site.

"Credited and or notified"? The cherry picked image was All Rights Reserved, not even Creative Commons. I would have liked to assume that a photography store that has been in business for over 50 years would understand that seeking permission prior to using a photographer's image and waiting for that approval is the way it's done. Not doing one or the other - or neither as was this case this time.

Ok. So blame the intern. Maybe permission was not sought out at the time. But doesn't the newsletter have an editor that proofs it before sending it out? As this was a one off, I decided out of curiosity to review the last four years of newsletters which are available on their site. With the odd exception - such as photo contest winners and some other images here and there- very, very few images are credited at all to any photographers.

Some photos are from rather impressive locations such as the Grand Canyon and in the Southwest of the US, locations around Ontario, and from other Stan C Reade photo days they hosted. To say that it's "always the practice" to credit the photographers is absolutely not true. They just got caught with their pants down this time.

Stan C Reade, your policy or lack there of in this matter, and the way you tried to handle it, while perhaps OK to the photographer who was slighted, is not good enough. Industry triple fee compensation and a public apology might have been a good start...

I will never go near your store, recommend it, or attend any event you host again. And given four years worth of newsletter evidence to date, anyone who goes to a Stan C Reade event better make sure they are aware that their images are fair game for them to use without permission, and you won't likely be credited for your time, work, or vision.

Anyone considering a purchase, or thinking of doing business with them should consider twice before signing on the dotted line. There are lots of other stores out there that understand copyright, and respect photographers for the hard work they do.

We are your bread and butter. Why you would take advantage like that, when it is so easy to rectify, is beyond me.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Canadian, Please

Totally not photography related, and pretty silly ,but it was Canada Day yesterday. :)





Song & video produced by Julia Bentley & Andrew Gunadie

http://www.myspace.com/jchbentley
http://www.myspace.com/andrewgunadiemusic

If looking at this on Facebook, the YouTube embedded video doesn't work, so check out my blog.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Canada Day 2009

I know I have done the past couple of years photos of beautiful girls some how Canadianified, but this time I decided to do something different.

When I met her back in the winter, Mallory mentioned that on Canada Day, the cemetery where she worked in St Thomas, Ontario placed Canadian flags with the markers, graves and headstones of all the known veterans interred there - in both the military section and also in the general plots in the old section. I thought at the time, that it would be a good thing to photograph. Veterans should be remembered more than once a year in my opinion.

I had intended to shoot a model as well - elsewhere and not with the headstones, but given circumstances this week, I decided that the cemetery shoot would be a better thing too do.

Happy Canada Day. Lest we forget.









Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Rest your tortured soul, my friend.

Even a life-long prosperity is but one cup of sake;
A life of Thirty-Eight years is passed in a dream
He knew not what life was, nor death.
Year in year out—all but a dream.
Both Heaven and Hell are left behind;
He stands in the moonlit dawn,
Free from clouds of attachment.

Uesugi Kenshin (1530–1578)
- Japanese Zen death poem, modified slightly by me with apologies.


Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Are Flickr Photos by others fair game for home printing?

NYT blogger (she can't be a paid reporter) Sonia Zjawinski posts a follow up piece to her advocating stealing photographs to decorate her apartment. Here.

My first thought was "Did your editors tell you to write that, Sonia?" It was a totally different slant than the first piece. And it doesn't change my perspective on her actions or the attitude of the NYT editors for allowing the first piece to be posted in the first place.

I wonder if someone scanned in and turned entire pages of the NewYorkTimes into wallpaper and did up their apartment or office with it if that would be ok? I am sure the NYT wouldnt mind that. Seems like fair use to me. If the NYT lawyers do mind, they should just be referred to their employee as the inspiration.

Additionally, Sonia has two Flickr accounts here and here. (Thanks Tawnee for finding them). You will note that all her images are All Rights Reserved. Ironic eh? I guess she knew enough about copyright to set them that way despite her going on about Creative Commons in her post. And her accounts are one of those 'set up a couple of years ago, then never used after, grey blocky head accounts' I hate so much. And guess what? Block. She essentially reaffirmed with concrete examples in her first blog post what those image packrats, thieves and non photographers do on Flickr. Flickr is the worlds best image sharing site - as Flickr bills itself and she quotes, but it's not free-for-all shopping mall for cheapo decorators like Ms Zjawinski .

I agree with the commenters on that second blog and others I have talked with about this. An apology is in order from the Times.


Mike

Mike Wood Photography