Professional Photographer - April 2018

P  R   O  F  E   S   S  I    O  N  A  L  P  H   O  T   O   G  R  A  P  H  E  R  •  A  P  R  I   L  2   0  1   8 

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APRIL 2018

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CONTENTS |

APRIL 2018

 

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A project with legs Levon Biss’ larger-than-life bug portraits By Amanda Arnold 

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One more hill Globe-trotting Stefan Forster’s relentless quest By Robert Kiener 

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Alan Ross: A little bit of talent, a little bit of chutzpah, and a little bit of luck An unpretentious icon shares the greatest lessons of his career  By Jeff Kent 

On ppmag.com This and more on our home page April giveaway! Enter to win

ppmag.com/win Review: Capture One’s significant update

ppmag.com/capture-one-11 You can do same-day IPS

ppmag.com/change-one-thing Clyde Butcher is a force of nature

ppmag.com/clyde-butcher Darren Roberts’ weddings with a Rocky view

ppmag.com/darren-roberts Learn how Loan Collection images are made

D  E  P  A  R  T   M E  N T    S 

IN EVERY ISSUE 8 Editor’s note 13 Giveaway 18 On the cover 18 Merited 74 President’s message 74 Perspective 82 Final frame

 FOREGROUND 11 Catching air 12 Lofty perspective 14 Sloth life 16 Photography after dark

 SUCCESS 25 7 asks: How to boost revenue 26 Performance of a lifetime:

Adding a sideline

By Jeff Kent 

THE GOODS 35 Little slugger:

No. 2 Willow Lane 36 Pro review:

Sigma sd Quattro H

By Stan Sholik

ppmag.com/gallery/merited Stay in the know with Top Picks

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ProfessionalPhotographer  (ISSN 1528-5286) is publishe d monthly for $27 per year (U.S. rate) by PPA Publications and Events, Inc., 229 Peacht ree Street, NE, Ste. 2200, Atlanta, GA 30303-1608. Periodicals postage paid at Atlanta, Ga., and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Professional Photographer  magazine, P.O. Box 7126, St. Paul, MN 55107.

PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER | APRIL 2018

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 Professional Photographer is the official journal of Professional Photographers of America

 Director of Public ations Jane Gaboury  jgaboury@ppa .com  Senior Editor  Joan Sherwood  [email protected]  Associate Editor   Ama nda Arnol d [email protected]  Art Director/  Product ion Manager  Debbie Todd [email protected]  Editor-at-Large Jeff Kent  [email protected] Contributing Editors Don Chick & Ellis Vener  Director of Sales & Strategic Alliances  Wayne Jones (404) 522-8600, x248 [email protected]  East Regional Sales Manager  Marina Anderson (937) 902-8217 [email protected]

EDITORIAL OFFICES

 Professional Photographer 229 Peachtree Street NE Suite 2200  Atla nta, GA 30303-1608 U.S.A. (404) 522-8600 SUBSCRIPTIONS

 Professional Photographer P.O. Box 7126 St. Paul , MN 55107 (800) 742-7468 [email protected] TO RENEW OR SUB SCRIBE

 ppmag.com/subscribe (800) 742-7468 PPA MEMBER SERVICES

Professional Photographers of America (800) 786-6277 [email protected], ppa.com Periodicals postage paid in Atlanta, Ga., and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER

Send address changes to  Professional Photographer P.O. Box 7126 St. Paul , MN 55107

West Regional Sales Manager  Brian Sisco (404) 522-8600, x230 [email protected]  Advertising Services Manager  Cheryl Pearson [email protected]  Advertising Services Coordinator   Amb er Gaines [email protected]

PPA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

 President  *Stephen Thetford M.Photog.Cr., CPP [email protected] Vice President  *Audrey L. Wancket M.Photog.Cr., CPP [email protected] Treasurer  *Gregory Daniel M.Photog.Cr., CPP, F-ASP  [email protected]

PPA STAFF

Chief Executive Officer David Trust, CAE [email protected] Chief Financial Officer  Chief Operating Officer  Scott Kurkian, CAE [email protected]  Director of Certifi cation Julia Boyd, CAE  [email protected]  Director of Events Fiona Corbett, CMP  [email protected]

Chairman of the Board  *Rob Behm M.Photog.Hon.M.Photog.Cr., CPP  Director of Public ations [email protected] Jane Gaboury  jgaboury@ppa .com  Directors Mary Fisk-Taylor  Director of Membership M.Photog.Cr., CPP, ABI, API Kristen Hartman, CAE mfi[email protected] [email protected] Barbara Bovat Cr.Photog. [email protected] Jeffrey Dachowski M.Photog.Cr., CPP  [email protected] Clark Marten M.Photog.Cr., CPP [email protected]

 Director of Sales and  Strategic Allianc es  Wayne Jones [email protected]  Director of Educati on  Angela Ku rkia n M.Photog.Cr. , CPP  [email protected]

Steve Kozak M.Photog.Cr., CPP [email protected]

 Director of Information Technology and Administration Scott Morgan [email protected]

Kira Derryberry M.Photog.Cr., CPP [email protected]

 Director of Human Resources  Wilda Oken [email protected]

Mark Campbell M.Photog.Cr., CPP, API [email protected]

 Director of Marketing and  Communications Carla Plouin [email protected]

 Al lison Eng lish Watk ins M.Photog.Cr., CPP [email protected]  Industry Advisor  Michael Hanline [email protected]

 Executive Assistant  Sandra Lang [email protected] *Executive Committee of the Board 

 Profess ional Photog rapher , official journa l of the Professional Photographers of America Inc., is the oldest exclusively professional photographic publicat ion in the  Weste rn Hemi sphere (founde d 1907 by Char les Abel , Hon.M.Photog.), inco rpor ati ng  Abel’s Photogr aphic Weekly, St. Louis & Canadian Photogra pher, The Commercial Photographer, The National Photographer, Professional Photographer, and Professional Photographer Storytellers . Opinions expressed by  Profess ional Photogr apher   or any of its authors do not necessarily reflect positions of Professional Photographers of America, Inc.  Acce ptanc e of adve rt isi ng does no t car ry w ith it en dorse ment by t he publ isher. Copyright 2018, PPA Publications & Events, Inc. Pr inted in U.S.A.

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DO IT YOURSELF E  D  I   T   O   G  R  L  ’   I    S  L  E  A  D  I   N

N E   S 

THE GLORY OF EARNED KNOWLEDGE  Here’s the thing about experience: It’s nontransferable. We can talk, explain, describe, but we can’t simply gift our earned experience to others and spare them their own arduous journey toward understanding. If only we could. Imagine how far along the human race would be if each of us didn’t have to duplicate what millions of others had already learned firsthand. Think of the hours we all practiced standing on two feet just to prepare ourselves for our first wildly out-of-con Any skill would be trol steps. Let alone memorizing multiplication tables and committing prayers, cheap if we could poems, and soliloquies to heart.  just acquire it for It’s both the heartbreak and the glory the asking. of being human that we cannot bestow experience on others. Our children have to chip their own teeth in unbalanced bicycle falls, suffer their unique disappointments, and feel the pains that we’d love to spare them. Our friends must mend regrettable moments of poor judgment. On the other hand, how drab our lives would be if we each didn’t have the opportunity to experience the exhilaration of finally driving a five-speed car without killing the engine. It’s the failed attempts—the stalls and jerky gear changes—that give the accomplishment value to us. The storied career of internationally acclaimed photographer Alan Ross is enviable. He spent years under the mentorship of such illustrious photographers as William Garnett, Milton Halberstadt, and Ansel Adams. Ross learned the craft from some of the most accomplished and noteworthy photographers of the day.  While he claims his career is the result of “a little bit of talent, a little bit of chutzpah, and a little bit of luck,” (page 62) we know there’s an essential ingredient he doesn’t mention: the experience earned by working through every detail himself.  We can only imagine how his learning by doing played out over the hours and the years of his professional journey. The value of learning by doing is also expressed in this issue by photographer Levon Biss (page 44). His career path is far different from Ross’. But he points out that he gets frequent requests from his peers to detail the method and equipment he uses to photograph his tiny subjects in meticulous detail. “But half the beauty of these things is learning the process, coming up with the vision in your own head,” he explains. Any skill would be cheap if we could just acquire it for the asking. Experience is nontransferable, but even if we could accept an experience transfer, would we really want to miss out on the all the doing that’s needed to gain meaningful knowledge? All the trials and errors and small achievements and hours and setbacks and milestones and thrilling aha moments? I don’t know if I’d even trade a chipped tooth. • u

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FOREGROUND by Amanda Arnold 

CATCHING AIR KNOWING HIS NICHE

Omar Z. Robles captured this street portrait in Cuba, where a str ay Chihuahua nipped at the subject’s feet as he posed and performed dance moves.

“When I travel, I try to use the elements that are around me,” New York-based Robles says. The dog was not part of the plan. But it “would just not go away. So we said, just use it and keep going.” Robles’ background in dance—he worked as a mime for 10 years

before taking up photography—inspired him to delve into an ongoing street photography series featuring dancers leaping and posing in urban environments. He credits his dance expertise for his photographic success, which has led to recent jobs for Jaguar, The Gap, and Pottery Barn. Knowing how a dance movement should look—the proper lines—and snapping at  just the right moment is impor tant, as is selecting superior dancers as subjects. “I’m very meticulous about the people I work with.”

 ©  O M A R  Z   .R   O B  L  E   S  

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APRIL 2018

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T  F    O   O  P  R   O  F  E  M  G  I   R  N D   O 

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LOFTY PERSPECTIVE LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK FROM ABOVE

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u Long transfixed by the view from

above (he got his pilot’s license when he was just 17), Jeffrey Milstein’s new photobook “LANY” features aerial imagery of edifices in Los  Angeles and New York. Reflecting his background in architecture and art, Milstein’s compositions reveal the order and beauty of architectural forms from a bird’s-eye view. Milstein makes his photos from either a Cessna 182 airplane or a small gas engine helicopter. With the Robinson helicopter, which has two rows of seating, Milstein sits in the back; with the two-seater Schweizer, he sits in the front with his camera equipment wedged between him and the pilot. THE AIRCRAFT:

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THE PLAN: Milstein maps a flight plan for particular structures he’d like to photograph. Having such a plan is especially important in big cities like New York and Los Angeles, where a flight clearance may be required ahead of time. He always flies at the end of the day, usually planning for two hours of air time, making photographs during the golden hour and just as the sun goes down and the city lights go up.

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THE SETUP: To get straight-down shots, the helicopter door is re-

moved prior to the flight. When Milstein sees something he’d like to photograph, he instructs the pilot to make sharp turns so that the copter leans toward the ground (he’s of course strapped in by a seatbelt). Unfortunately, making these tight turns means “pulling Gs,” which causes the aircraft to shake. Milstein uses a gyro attached to the bottom of his camera to correct for vibration. It’s heavy and unwieldy, but it does the job, he says.

MARKET I NG

THE EQUIPMENT: Most of the photos in “LANY” were made with a

Phase One IQ 180 or a Phase One IQ3 digital back. With the IQ 180, Milstein used an ALPA 12 TC camera with either a 60mm Rodenstock lens or a 75mm Schneider lens, both of which he dubs “superb” except that their built-in shutters are limited to 1/500 second, which can be slow in bumpy air. With the IQ3, he used the Phase One XF camera and 80mm or 110mm Schneider lenses, which were excellent, except that shooting straight down caused lens creep—losing focus after a few shots. If he wants to print his images large—he’s gone as big as 80 inches and up for art exhibitions—he sticks with Phase One. For lower resolution images he uses the Sony a7R II, whose built-in image stabilizer is very effective, he says. •

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SLOTH LIFE T  F    O   O  P  R   O  F  E  M  G  I   R  N D   O 

BOOK CHRONICLES THE ARBOREAL MAMMALS u Wildlife

photographer Suzi Eszterhas’ new book “Sloths: Life in the Slow Lane” was dreamed up while lying on the rainforest floor with researcher Rebecca Cliffe, founder and director of the Sloth Conservation Foundation. Eszterhas was photographing orphan sloths at the Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica rescue center for a story. In a nearby forest, a mother sloth turned up with a newborn. Hoping for photos of the pair, Eszterhas spent two weeks tracking them with Cliffe. “I just fell in love with sloths,” says Eszterhas. “I learned a lot from Becky [Cliffe] about what we do and do not know about sloth behavior.” Locating and photographing sloths is challenging and tedious work. It requires slow, quiet walking, craning one’s neck to search the trees above. Sloths perch very high in the vegetation and are camouflaged by both their coats and languid movements. Once she and Cliffe located the mother in the trees each day, they’d lie down on the forest floor to keep watch. “You spend most of the day hoping they come lower, and many days, they don’t,” Eszterhas admits.

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Passing the time, Eszterhas and Cliffe hatched a plan for a joint journey through Central and South America, with Cliffe conducting research and Eszterhas making photographs of the sloths—all culminating in a book. The work took place over three years and included sloth jaunts in Costa Rica, Panama, and Brazil. One of the most challenging adventures for Eszterhas was photographing swimming sloths in Panama. “I had never taken an underwater photo in my life,” she says, and half-overwater, half-underwater photos are the most challenging. Before the trip, she practiced in a pool by photographing a teddy bear wearing floaties.  When the day came to photograph the swimming sloth, the water kept streaking over the dome of the camera, so she had to dunk it between shots to keep it clear, all while trying to follow the sloth. “I was so absorbed in the technique and trying to keep up with the sloth that I got into the jellyfish,” which were lurking in the water, she says. The stings were worth it, though—anything for a moment with these “enchanting little creatures.” •

I   M A  G  E   S    ©  S    U Z  I   E   S   Z  T  E  R  H A  S  

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PHOTOGRAPHY AFTER DARK T  F    O   O  P  R   O  F  E  M  G  I   R  N D   O 

SEASONED NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHERS SERVE UP TIPS u Nighttime photography presents a unique set of challenges. What

if the wind whips up during a long exposure? What if dew collects on the camera lens during the wee morning hours? Should you wrap equipment in a heater pack to fend off humidity? Night photographers Diane Cook and Len Jenshel, who wrote the foreword to the recently released National Geographic book “Night  Vision, Magical Photographs of Life After Dark,” are seasoned in

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the many challenges of both film and digital night photography and offer advice. • MAKE SURE YOUR TRIPOD LEGS ARE SCREWED IN FIRMLY AND STANDING ON SOLID GROUND. As

the air gets colder during the night,

tripod leg sections may slip. Don’t touch the camera to release the shutter. That introduces the risk of camera movement during long exposures. • MAKE THE MOST OUT OF YOUR TIME. It takes a digital camera the same amount of time to run its noise reduction processing as it does to make an exposure. So if you make a 20-minute exposure, your camera will be out of commission for an additional 20 minutes for • USE A REMOTE RELEASE.

processing. To keep busy, Cook and Jenshel run one exposure while they scout out their next location, so they have staggering exposures set up at all times throughout the night. • TWEAK YOUR SCREEN BRIGHTNESS. The longer you’re out in the dark, the more your eyes will adjust to the darkness. So what you see on your LCD screen may appear brighter than it actually is. To compensate, set your screen brightness to minus one. • ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES. During an overnight session in a garden, Cook set up one exposure and was looking for her next when she heard “the dreaded sound of sprinklers.” She rescued her camera quickly enough, she says. “But I was freezing after running through the sprinklers!” •

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 © M I    C  H A E  L  K N  U D  S   E  N

I   M A   G  E   S  F  R   O  M

ON THE COVER

M E  R  I    T   E  D 

“I’m sure some people were wondering what I was doing lying on the ground with my head and hands  just inside the furrow,” says Jon  Adams of making his photo “Grow” at Washington’s annual Skagit  Valley Tulip Festival. He wanted to offer a bug’s perspective. “We’ve all imagined being ant-sized at some time in our lives,” Adam says. Being at the festival is “like looking into a deep ocean of color. The flowers seem to go on forever.  Whenever I see something like this on such a grand scale I feel very small on the planet. And so I started thinking about being even smaller, and what would this look like then?” ReflectedPixel is based in  Albuquerque, New Mexico, specializing in landscape and architectural photography. reflectedpixel.com u

T  H  E  P  P  A  L   O  A  N  C   O  L  L  E   C  T  I    O  N

• CAMERA & LENS: Sony Alpha NEX-5R, Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens • EXPOSURE: 1/200 second at f/9, ISO 100 • LIGHTING: Natural light • POST-CAPTURE: In Adobe Lightroom, he adjusted color balance, brought out detail in the shadows with the shadows slider, and gave it a bit of clarity for punch. He used Google Nik Color Efex Pro 4 for the tonal contrast filter.

L   O A N  C   O L  L  E   C  T  I    O N  /    ©  J    O N A D A M  S  

ABOUT THE LOAN COLLECTION The current Loan Collection comprises more than 600 photographs chosen for distinction by jurors of PPA’s International Photographic Competition. The compositions are considered the best of the best in contemporary professional photography, having been awarded the Loan Collection distinction based on their success in meeting the 12 elements of a merited image. ppa.com/ipc

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save the date for atlanta!  You made Imaging USA 2018 in Nashville an amazing experience. Thank you for being part of the memories. We hope you made connections, learned a lot, and are ready to bridge the gap for your business in 2018. Take a look back with the video and image galleries and register for Atlanta 2019 at ImagingUSA.org brought to you by

Atlanta, GA

Jan 20-22, 2019

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“I will continue to cherish the friendships I’ve made through the world of photography... and bring happiness and positivity through my images.” —Addie

“Some of the best parts of Imaging USA involve connecting with the friends you don’t get to see very often.” —David

“Just got back from the cold in Nashville for Imaging USA where professional photographers get together to learn and inspire each other! I’m pumped and inspired about what 2018 has for my business and the industry as a whole. Can’t wait to take it to the next level and DREAM BIGGER!” —Sherry

Images courtes y of ©Adriana Bocane gra, ©Alex the Photo Guy, ©Doris Long, @Jessica Renwick, ©Tara Ruby

FAMILY DINNER I   M A   G  E   S  F  R   O  M

“Feeling totally refreshed and focused after attending Imaging USA!”   —Nicole

T  H  E  P  P  A  L   O  A  N  C   O  L  L  E   C  T  I    O  N

L   O A N  C   O L  L  E   C  T  I    O N  /    © F  R  A N  C  E   S   A I   L  E  E  N H A R  D I   N  G 

“Nashville, you were great! I felt like a kid in a candy store looking at all the latest gear at the Imaging USA conference.” —Savannah Frances Aileen Harding, M.Photog.Cr., CPP, loves to photograph water birds along the Gulf Coast. “Family Dinner” was captured at Smith Point Rookery in High Island, Texas. “Watching the herons and egrets relaxes me,” she says. “I’ve spent the last few years studying their interactions, and my goal is to provide a window into their lives for the viewer to see the complex nature of their relationships.” A. Harding Photography is based in Baytown, Texas, and specializes in high school senior, pet, and fine art photography. aharding.net u

• CAMERA & LENS: Canon EOS-1D X Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens • EXPOSURE: 1/640 second at f/7.1, ISO 1000 • LIGHTING: Natural light • POST-CAPTURE: She began with Adobe L ightroom, making global adjustments to white balance and clarity. In Photoshop CC, distracting branches were removed with the clone tool and the background was desaturated to draw the viewer’s eye to the subject. Google Nik Color Efex Pro was used to add a hint of detail to the feathers.

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WALK AMONG THE GIANTS I   M A   G  E   S  F  R   O  M

T  H  E  P  P  A  L   O  A  N  C   O  L  L  E   C  T  I    O  N

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Laura Bennett, M.Photog.Cr., was on a photography trip in California with her husband when they came upon this scene in Redwood National Park. “The weather was foggy and raining at the time, which made for perfect diffused lighting in the forest,” she says. In Lady Bird Johnson Grove, “The path curved into the forest, creating a beautiful leading line into the redwoods. The dampness accentuated the saturation of the green ferns, which immediately intrigued me. There were few people in the park that day, and the silence was mesmerizing. I tried to convey the peaceful, stress-free environment in my processing.” Bennett Photography is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and specializes in landscape photography. lbennettphotography.com u

• CAMERA & LENS: Nikon D800E, AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 ED lens • EXPOSURE: 1/8 second at f/16, ISO 200 • LIGHTING: Natural light • POST-CAPTURE: She processed the raw file in Adobe Camera Raw then brought it into Photoshop, where she used luminosity masking to adjust levels and dodge and burn highlights and shadows. She used Google Nik Color Efex Pro 4 filters for contrast and saturation then finished the image with localized adjustments using Nik Viveza.

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Ask for  business.

Forget about your own needs momentarily and focus on sincerely helping the person you’re talking to.

Always ask a closing question that will produce a Yes or No answer: Can we schedule your session now?

Ask for  feedback.

Ask for an  endorsement.

How did we do? What can I do to improve our service? Tell us what you like and what you don’t like about our products.

Most business people don’t ask customers for a review, so it’s an opportunity to get a jump on your competition.

7 ASKS It’s straightforward, but it’s not easy: Ask for what you want. If your goal is boosting revenue, here are seven asks to get comfortable with.

Ask for  referrals.

Ask to  renegotiate. There’s the potential to save a lot of money if you ask to negotiate or renegotiate with companies you buy from.

Getting referrals can dramatically increase your income. Get in the habit of asking every client for a referral or introduction.

Ask for  more business. What else do you have to offer after the initial sale? New services? Seasonal items? Don’t leave money on the table.

PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER | APRIL 2018

Source: “The Power of Focus,” by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Les Hewitt (Ebury Publishing, 2001)

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I   M A  G  E   S    © T  E  R  R  Y B  A T  E  M A N

PERFORMANCE OF A LIFETIME ADD $50K OR MORE TO YOUR BOTTOM LINE

Terry Bateman

by Jeff Kent 

“Once you’ve been involved in performing arts, it gets in your blood,” says Terry Bateman, M.Photog.Cr., CPP, a veteran of performing arts and music programs in his school days. “It’s something that stays with you, becomes part of you.” In 1979, Bateman was able to translate his affinity for the performing arts into a budding photography career when a local lab hired him to photograph some nearby u

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school music programs. He excelled at the work, and within a few years he was able to purchase that business line from the lab and strike out on his own. Since then, he’s grown Indianapolis-based Performing Arts Photography by Bateman into one of the nation’s leading studios specializing in the performing arts. He photographs marching bands, color guards, dance schools, school music program participants, orchestras, and more.

Since his first year in business, he’s earned solid six-figure incomes every year and expanded his reach nationwide. Bateman believes that a skilled professional photographer who follows a few fundamental best practices could generate an additional $50,000 to $60,000 annually working with two or three good-sized school music and performing arts programs, or more than $100,000 by expanding the busi-

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ness line and investing more into the performing arts community. WHERE TO START

“I would always suggest that anyone coming into this line of work should start with a passion for the activity,” says Bateman. From there, if you’re familiar with performing arts from personal experience, he suggests using that background. If you’re new to the field but interested, educate yourself so that you can demonstrate your knowledge of how to photograph these groups in the most efficient, artistic manner possible. The next step, says Bateman, is to build relationships with local music programs and dance organizations. Like so many specialty markets, the performing arts revolve around personal relationships—and a deep understanding of their unique space. Start with neighbors and relatives, and ask them about their involvement in local organizations, school programs, and private performing arts groups. Get to know administrators at these organizations.

OPPORTUNITIES

“There is plenty of need for this kind of photography,” says Bateman. “The key is matching the need with your talents.” Schools with music departments, marching bands, or color guards are a great place to start. That said, don’t overlook independent groups. They often have a different set of requirements than schools, so you’ll need to be flexible and listen to groups’ expectations and needs—and also how they can assist you in creating the best possible experience and highest-quality product. “It needs to be a win-win opportunity for you and the client,” says Bateman. You need to provide a high level of quality, and they need to support you and provide you what you need. If you can establish that sort of symbiotic relationship, then you have the basis for a partnership that could last for years. HOW TO STAND OUT

Performing arts photographers face competition from traditional school and team photographers, as well as larger group photography outfits looking to expand their franchises. “The key is to differentiate through customer service,” says Bateman. “We set ourselves apart by offering customer service that really endears us to our clientele. It’s more of a boutique style of service.” Bateman is also a specialist in the performing arts. He knows the instruments, the different roles people play, how to pose large groups for dramatic effect, and how to conduct a photo session with an extremely large, diverse group in a fast, efficient manner. “The difference for us is this is a specialty, not something that we have to do as part of larger school contract,” he says. “Some school photographers actually like us coming in to do this because they don’t have to figure out how to pose and work with these groups. That can be difficult if you’re not used to it. We’ve heard stories about other photographers taking two hours to do something that takes us 20 minutes.” WORKFLOW

Depending on the engagement, Bateman may photograph on his own or bring an entire team. For dance, color guard, and indoor percussion competitions, he might have a cou-

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ple photographers shooting the action with another out front doing portraits in front of a background. An additional assistant helps with logistics. The team could swell to up to six photographers for larger events, like state marching band competitions, which often produce more than 40,000 images. The key to efficient processing, says Bateman, is good photo day planning backed by efficient, well-exposed captures. With good files to work with, his production team can quickly categorize image files for easier review and ordering. He describes the workflow system as similar to what a high-volume sports photography outfit might use. “Everything depends on how you handle the job on location,” he says. “If you’re not efficient or accurate on location, that creates tremendous disorganization on the backend production.” SALES

“The whole concept of this business is photographing one image and selling it multiple times,” explains Bateman. This approach is best illustrated when working with marching bands. Bateman photographs 200 to 400 participants, depending on the size of the band, in a series of large group shots, which he then composites. He can then sell a few dozen to a couple hundred of that composite. For products, Bateman sells a variety of prints as well as specialty products that consumers can’t generally get on their own—like action collages, composites, group composites with each section of a band (tubas, flutes, trombones, etc.), and smaller keepsakes like buttons, magnets, and mugs. He custom-designed his order form so that it encourages upsells to multiple products. For example, he’ll offer an add-on photo of  just the senior members of a band or dance team, priced so that it’s a discount from an a la carte purchase and an easy add-on. Of course, to make these groupings and add-on products effective, Bateman has to capture all the key groups during the photo shoot. That means photographing the entire band, orchestra, or choir, then photographing the seniors as a group as well as each of the sections. This gives parents access to any combination of images they might want to purchase.

P R O F E S S I O N A L P H O T O G R A P H E R | APRIL 2018

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Bateman supports multiple ordering methods—everything from online purchases to phone orders to kids bringing him money in an envelope on photo day. Unlike many pho-

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tographers who take down online galleries after a set amount of time, Bateman leaves his up indefinitely. It may take away some of the urgency to purchase, but he has found

it’s worth it to keep the door open to later purchases. “People come back years later— sometimes as many as 10 years later—to purchase things,” he says. “They might need images for a graduation celebration or a retrospective project. It happens quite a bit, so we leave the galleries open.” FINDING YOUR PASSION

Ultimately, Bateman goes back to his passion for the work, and for working with inspired young people, as the driving force behind his business. As the decades pass it’s something that keeps him young at heart and energized about his vocation. “Just as music uses both sides of the brain, having a heart-centered performing arts photography business that uses both analytical and creative thinking provides a tremendous amount of satisfaction,” he says. “I’m very fortunate to do this for a living.” •

batemanfoto.com

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Before you say, “Excuse me?”… An explanation: As a professional photographer, you have no viable means for recovering damages for most infringements of your work. High-volume, small-business photographers are left out of the justice system that is currently only protecting the famous or wealthy. As of today, there is no small-claims process for copyright protection. The only legal process for seeking damages for a copyright infringement is to file a claim in federal court. Think about that. Most copyright infringements result in the loss of what represents $1,000-$3,000. It doesn’t take a law degree to know that it is not feasible to sue someone in federal court over an amount any less than that. What might be worse is that very few professional photographers can afford to invest time and money into a federal claim even when damages are higher. On the other hand… …You know that $1,000-$3,000 make a big difference to your small business. In the best scenario, it determines if you can take that next vacation, and in more extreme cases, it can determine whether or not your studio can keep its doors open. Together, we can change this. After decades of lobbying from groups led by PPA, new ground is being broken on copyright law in the U.S. and 2018 may be the year the law finally gets a makeover. PPA’s goals for copyright reform have been heard and the cause has been officially taken up by the House Judiciary Committee. These goals include: 1. Creation of a small- claims option for copyright enforcement 2. Modifications to the copyright registration process to create a more functional system

copyright ownership information and many other reforms” including a small- claims process for copyright infringement. “The Copyright Office should host a small claims system consistent with the report on the issue released by the Copyright Office.” These are the goals PPA has long worked for and now it looks like copyright reform has bipartisan support in the House of Representatives. “The Copyright Alternative in Small- Claims Enforcement Act of 2017 (CASE)/ H.R. 3945” is the name and number of the bill calling for a small-claims process and it’s something to cheer about! “CASE” is here and is expected to come up for a vote this year (see sidebar). This is bipartisan legislation that could finally present photographers with a legal recourse in the case of theft of their images. With this bill heading to the floor, independent of the Judiciary Committee’s proposal, copyright reform in America is finding its way to becoming law. Members of PPA will no longer be left out of the copyright system that has ignored them for generations! PPA’s fighting for photographers’ legal rights to protect and defend your work’s value. PPA helps its members be more informed about copyright and provides resources to help protect their work. What can photographers & artists do to help? Now is the time for ALL of us who care about visual arts to help in this fight. We must update the rights of small creators and adjust the copyright system to the 21st century. PPA is always helping professional photographers be more empowered. You can send a letter urging your congressperson to support H.R. 3945 at PPA.com/SmallClaims.

3. Modernization of the United States Copyright Office Last year the House Judiciary Committee released the first policy proposal to come out of the committee’s recent review of U.S. copyright law. The proposal includes “granting the Copyright Office autonomy with respect to the Library of Congress, requiring the [U.S. Copyright] Office to maintain an up-to-date digital, searchable database of all copyrighted works and associated

This is important to ALL photographers and visual artists alike! It’s only if 30,000+ of us ask for change that we will be heard. Show your support and demand action at PPA.com/SmallClaims

©F22 Studio

Your copyright is your business. Protect it.

Don’t Get Ripped Off! Know Your [Copy]Rights! Have your images ever been stolen? Do you know how much it costs you? Who do you turn to for help? Know your rights and protect your business from copyright infringements! PPA’s got photographers’ backs. If your work has been used without your permission, use PPA’s free copyright infringement assistance tool to guide you through the steps to stop the infringment. Having your work stolen is painful enough, so PPA makes it quick & easy. Download handy copyright resources Use the free, copyright-infringement assistance tool Get back to work!

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PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER | APRIL 2018

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STRAIGHTFORWARD P  T  R  H   O  E  R  E   G  V   O  I   E   O  W D   S 

SIGMA SD QUATTRO H by Stan Sholik

 At a time when major manuf actu rers seem to be packing every conceivable function into their camera bodies, it’s refreshing that one company is producing a camera with extremely high resolution, simple operation, and a competitive price. The company is Sigma, and the camera is the Sigma sd Quattro H. What it does, it does extremely well, and what it does not do, you may not need. Indeed, its simplicity and ease of use remind me of the days of shooting with 35mm film. u

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PROS • Outstanding image resolution at base ISO • Pleasing color reproduction at base ISO • Ease of operation • DNG output format • Outstanding monochrome and IR capture

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CONS • High quality only at 100 ISO • Slow autofocus speed • No video

The Quattro H is a lightweight mirrorless interchangeable lens camera with an  APS-H (1.3X crop) 25.5-megapixel sensor. The Foveon X3 sensor it employs, however, is a departure from conventional sensors, and the Quattro H delivers resolution far exceeding what you’d expect from a 25-megapixel camera. The Foveon sensor is both the greatest asset and biggest disadvantage of the Quattro H. The Foveon X3 sensor is what sets the Quattro H apart from other digital ca meras.  A typic al 24-megapixel d igit al camera w ith a Bayer array filter captures 24 megapixels of luminance i nformation, 12 megapixels of green information, and 6 megapixels each of red and blue. Demosaicing software does the math, result ing in a 24-megapixel RGB image. The Foveon chip layers photo sites on top of one another. In the X3 sensor, the top layer captures 20 megapixels of blue information, while the bottom layers capture about 5 megapixels each of green a nd red. Though this is a simplified description of complex technology, the result is increase d sensitivity due to the lack of a Bayer array filter and somewhat simplified image processing. The sensor captures 25 megapixels of luminance i nformation, 25 megapixels of blue information, and 6 megapixels each of green and red, yielding visibly higher resolution images than you would expect from a 25.5-megapixel camera. The Quatt ro name derives from the top layer having four times the resolution of the t wo lower layers. Other Sigma cameras require you to use Sigma’s unloved Sigma PhotoPro software to do the heavy math and produce final raw images. With the new Foveon X3 sensor,

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you can have the signal processing done in the camera, and the Quatt ro H can produce an industry standard DNG raw file as well as its proprietary X3F raw files. This makes it finally possible to process Foveon chip files in non-Sigma software. I found no difference in quality between the proprietary

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versus DNG raw file output, although DNG files are l imited to 12 bits versus 14 bits for X3F captures. After testing this, I shot in DNG format almost exclusively, producing 143MB 12-bit raw files. Sigma claims the image quality rivals that of 50-megapixel Bayer array cameras, and the Quattro H

A straight DNG capture with the Sigma 24mm F1.4 DG HSM Ar t lens

would seem to be in that league. The camera delivers this qual ity at a price far lower than a medium-format camera or the highest resolution DSLRs. There are downsides downsides to the Foveon Foveon sensor, however. The greatest of these is noise. I found that at any ISO setting other than the base of ISO 100, noise is an is sue. Applying noise reduction at higher ISOs negates the advantages of the increased resolution.  You nee d to approach thi s camera as you would an SLR loaded with ISO 100 film. It is capable of delivering delivering remarkable qual ity landscape images and gorgeous studio still lifes and portraits with controlled lighting, especially with Sigma Art lenses mounted. Portrait resolution with t he 85mm f/1.4 f/1.4 Art lens on this camera is so high that every eyelash and pore is shar ply rendered. Another downside downside to the sensor and imaging system is slow autofocus. The new dual-mode autofocus system combines phase detection for speed and contrast detection for accuracy. There are a variety of focus modes, including face detection, movement prediction, focus peaking, and more, but none none measure up t o the focusing speed of even a mid-level digital camera. This is not an issue for its target use as a landscape, portrait, or still life camera. UNUSUAL DESIGN

I   M A  G  E   S    ©  S   T  A N  S   H  O L  I   K

A composite of seven Super Fine Detail captures processed in Sigma PhotoP ro softw are. With motion in the waves, some artifac ts are visible and the ocean colors are not rendered the same as the straight capture. There is no provision in the PhotoPro sof tware to align images or remove ghosting.

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It’s It’s not only t he Quattro H sensor that’s unconventional, so too is the camera design. Rather than taki ng advantage of the potential space and weight savings of a mirrorless camera, Sigma has added an extended tube on which the lens mounts to t he front of the body. The tremendous advantage of this approach is the abil ity to mount DSLR lenses, in particula r those available in Sigma’s ma’s Contemporary and Ar t lines. Because of this feature, the Quattro H has the most extensive line of available lenses of any mirrorless camera. Another unusual design decision—one that I fell in love with—is the ability to remove the IR-blocking filter and convert the camera into an infrared camera. More about this later. In use, I found found the ergonomics ergonomics of of the camera outstanding. The large grip makes for comfortable handholding with the Sigma

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A studio portrait with the Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG HSM Art lens (left). The Quat tro H managed to render sequins with highlights exceeding the dynamic range of the sensor while still holding detail in the underlying fabric. A 1:1 crop of the portrait shows the high resolution of the camera with the Sigma 85mm f1.4 lens (above).

24mm F1.4 HSM and 35mm F1.4 DG HSM  Ar t lenses I had avail able. Only wit h the 85mm F1.4 DG HSM mounted did the system feel unbalanced but still easy enough to hold with my left hand supporting the lens despite the lack of image stabilization. The grip holds the large battery that Sigma specs with a battery life at about 190 captures. I didn’t come close to capturing t hat in one session, but it seems optimistic. Recharging ti me from an exhausted battery is close to 3.5 hours. The top top and rear plates plates contain a minimal number of dials and buttons. The QS button on the top plate behind the release/ front setting dial provides access to the quick settings menu. You can customize the QS menu to display any of 23 functions, eight at a time, covering most any function you would want quick access to. Other functions are available through a menu structure that seems minimalist compared to a digital SLR, yet every important function is available. IMAGE QUALITY

The real test is the image quality, and the Quattro H delivers, at least at the base ISO of 100. Resolution is excellent, although I

PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER | APRIL 2018

was somewhat disappointed in the dynamic range. However, you can increase the dynamic range considerably by selecting the Super Fine Detail (SFD) mode in the shooting menus. SFD is similar to HDR, capturing seven bracketed exposures in the aperture priority or manual exposure modes. The Quattro H saves the captu res as a proprietary 475MB X3I file. It’s necessary to use Sigma Photo Pro software to decode them and output a final TIFF or JPEG. As with HDR photography, you should mount the camera on a tripod and should not shoot a moving subject. I did a fai r amount of my testing i n SFD mode, mode, and the dynamic range issue vanished. I was often disappointed, though, that Photo Pro didn’t seem to have the anti-aliasing or ghost elimination algorithms that all modern HDR software provides. Nevertheless, with the right subjects, the dynamic range increase is enormous. Color reproduction is pleasant, with 10 possible presets from which to choose, although five are not available w ith DNG capture. W hen shooting an X-Rite ColorCheckColorChecker and correcting t he gray balance, I didn’t find the color reproduction to be accurate. I confirmed this by shooting art work in my

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With the IR blocking filter removed and a #87 filter mounted on the lens it’s possible to produce a true IR image, including the inevitable softening due to blooming.

copy setup without being able to match the original art accurately. That said, the color rendition reminded me again of shooting with a particular transparency film to achieve a specific look. Color reproduction from the Quattro H w ill either appeal to you or not. Along with the color color settings, there’s there’s a monochrome mode. If you make monochrome captures, you should own this camera. With the camera’s high resolution, monochrome captures saved as DNG or even better as SFD files are the best I’ve ever seen from a digital ca mera. Even more exciting is the camera’s camera’s ability to capture monochrome infrared (IR) images. Sigma has made it extremely easy to remove the IR blocking filter that sits in the lens tube. Wit hout the filter, the sensor captures visible light but still produces a visible IR ef fect. Add a #87 IR lens filter and you have a true IR camera. Although the Sigma Art lenses don’t don’t have an IR focusing mark, stopping down to f/16 pretty much does the trick, with the image sharpness degrading somewhat due to inevitable IR blooming. While Sigma is not making a big deal of this featu re, I love it. STRAIGHTFORWARD TOOL

With the Quattro H set for monochrome capture and the IR filter in place, the camera produces gorgeous images equal to low ISO black-and-white film.

In creating the sd Quattro H, Sigma didn’t seem interested in maki ng a camera for for the mass consumer photo market. Rather it has created a straightforward and cost-effective tool that should appeal to landscape, portrait, and still life photographers willing to accept the camera’s strengths and weaknesses. For photographers already invested in the Sigma SA system, the sd Quatt ro H is a must-have camera. For others, the addition of the DNG file format will broaden its appeal. And the MSRP of $1,199 makes the sd Quattro H an interesting system addition for anyone looking for a high-resolution color, monochrome, and infrared camera rolled into one. •

 is  Stan Sholik  is

a commercial/advertising  photographer in Santa Ana , California.

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Q: WHY GET INTO THE PROFESSIONAL TRIPOD MARKET?

A:  ProMediaGear

is a family-owned company created in 2009 by brothers Tom, Matt, and Dariusz Fudala. Tom and Matt always wanted a great flash bracket to eliminate shadows while shooting events, but they couldn’t find one that fit their needs. Coincidentally, Matt and Dariusz had started a successful machine shop a few years earlier, and it provided the tools necessary to build what Tom and Matt had always dreamed of: a light, compact, and easyto-use flash bracket. Local photographers showed great interest in the bracket, and that was the perfect opportunity to refine other ideas and create an entire product line. In 2009, ProMediaGear was established to provide photographers with fresh gear, bold designs, and iconic, long-lasting products.

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A: For

years, ProMediaGear has manufactured high-quality gimbal heads, ball heads, and other accessories with no tripods in our product lineup to support and mount these products. In 2017, we created our own professional tripod line to fill that void. Our tripod apex designs were created by the engineering team to combine creativity and style with form and function. The result is a feature-rich and superior tripod. Our customers value ProMediaGear products that feel refined and unique. Q: WHAT MATERIALS ARE USED IN PRO-STIX PROFESSIONAL TRIPODS? A: Our

ProMediaGear Pro-Stix tripods’ top apex and leg lock collars are manufactured on computer-controlled machines of aircraft-grade aluminum for superior quality and strength. The ProMediaGear apex is refined with a truss pattern for

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excellent strength-to-weight characteristics and packed with additional features such as 1/4"-20 and 3/8"-16 threads for items such as friction arms, and an available 75mm bowl adapter for quick leveling on uneven terrain and we include stainless steel leg spikes. Q: WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT THE CARBON FIBER LEGS? A: Our

carbon fiber is woven with a special pattern to create the ultimate in strength and rigidity. We weave 10 layers of carbon fiber to create each leg. This makes it possible to have strong legs that reduce vibration and flex, yet remain extremely lightweight and portable. Q: WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR PROMEDIAGEAR? A: We’re

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ter column for our 42 and 34 Pro-Stix Series Tripods as well as completion and launch of a monopod line and smaller professional travel tripod. Additionally, watch for our release of new L-brackets, cable management systems, and so much more featuring our high-quality craftsmanship. Visit promediagear.com or authorized dealers to learn more, or email us with comments: [email protected].

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A PROJECT WITH

LEVON BISS’ LARGER�THAN�LIFE BUG PORTRAITS

BY AMANDA ARNOLD Levon Biss

t was a ground beetle. Levon Biss’ son Sebastian brought the ordinary bug in from the garden on a spring day, and Biss placed it under Sebastian’s microscope. “There was nothing special about this insect,” explained Biss in his 2017 TED Talk. “It’s a common species.” And yet, under the microscope, its glowing green back looked gorgeously speckled as if with stars. “When I first saw it, it reminded me of a galaxy,” Biss says. “And all the time, this had just been outside our window.” Biss made an image of the insect for Sebastian. It turned out to be the first in a long series of macro insect portraits, “Microsculpture,” he’s made since that serendipitous day in 2014. In truth, at the time, Biss was looking for new direction and had already been researching macro photography, he says. Based in the United Kingdom, Biss was a successful commercial photographer, making images of sports and celebrity icons worldwide (see page 82). But 18 years into that specialty, he was beginning to see his workload decline. “The way we consume images now is in a different form than when I started in advertising,” he says. “Everything we look at these days is digital. Ads go through digital billboards or the internet. You don’t need a giant 100 megapixel camera and files for that.” Hoping to shed his reliance on commercial work, Biss craved a specialty that would put him in high demand. “You make yourself the best in this one very particular area, find something that is so niche that you don’t have any competition,” he says. After Biss made the photograph of Sebastian’s beetle, he realized the possibilities of macro photography trained on tiny subjects. “That’s how it came about. That was the thing I was looking for.” SCALING UP

 When Biss began making insect portraits in earnest, he reached out to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, asking for access to its collection of insect specimens. Impressed by his work and realizing the potential im-

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pact of large-scale prints of tiny insects otherwise tucked away in drawers, the museum permitted Biss to take its insects back to his studio for photography sessions. Over two and a half years, Biss made images of 37 specimens. Those works led to a website (microsculpture.net), a book (“Microsculpture: Portraits of Insects”), and a traveling exhibition of the enormous 3-meter-plus prints at natural history museums and public spaces around the world, including the Oxford University Museum of Natural History itself. The works have been exhibited at museums in the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, with upcoming shows scheduled for Denmark, Germany, and the United States. “I have not really done any PR on the project,” says Biss. “It’s just had its own little legs.” Within the first seven days of Oxford University posting a behind-the-scenes video about the photo series on its Facebook page, the Vimeo video had accumulated 14.7 million hits. “That kickstarted it, and it’s been going around the world ever since.” IN MICRONS

Biss frequently receives emails from photographers inquiring about his technique,

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searching for a particular formula for making such crystal clear, microscopic images. “But half the beauty of these things is learning the process, coming up with the vision in your own head,” says Biss, who taught himself macro photography by reading online forums and through an abundance of trial and error. No macro photographer’s system is like another’s, he says. “You look at some of the systems [photographers] have built, and it’s like something NASA would create—a beautiful structure that looks incredible. Mine is made up of wood and cable ties and things like that because my system changes with every insect I photograph.” What makes microscopic photography of insects so difficult is the very shallow depth of field, Biss explains. To make one image that’s fully focused front to back, he captures then stacks thousands of individual images made at incremental distances. To that end, he uses a microscope ob jective lens attached to a DSLR body that’s placed on electronic rails. The rails automatically move the camera forward in minute

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increments—between 8 and 10 microns, about 1/8 the width of a human hair. Biss photographs each insect in 25 sections, snapping hundreds of shots of the same section (the eye, the leg, the antenna) as the camera creeps incrementally forward on the rails. After all the shots are made, he uses Zerene Stacker software to flatten the photo layers into one fully focused image. The process takes two to three weeks, and the final image might be made up of 8,000 individual shots, he says. The final step is committing the image to physical form, which is handled by a company in London. Since Biss’ works travel to museums all over the world, they must be sturdy reproductions. “When your print is 3 meters, you can’t ship it as a framed print with glass. So we do aluminum prints,” he explains. NEW WORKS

Thanks to his experience with Oxford, Biss recently earned a new commission with the National Museum of Qatar (currently under construction) to photograph 20 specimens of

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the countries’ local insects. The project is to be completed in seven months, so to meet the deadline Biss is working six days a week, three insects at a time. In a single day he multi-tasks photographing one insect, processing photos of a second, and retouching photos of a third.  When he worked with the entomologist at Oxford, the insects came to him clean, but the Qatar specimens require a chemical wash, a labor-intensive but necessary process. “It’s quite comical sometimes trying to remove a microscopic grain of sand from between an insect’s claws,” Biss says. “But the cleaner the insect is, the better the final picture will look.” While there’s always a risk that the specimen will be damaged during cleaning, it rarely happens, and the reward is worth the risk for the museum, Biss says. “You will be displaying these insects for millions of people to see. So do you come up with a final picture, or do you keep them in a box or a darkened drawer for no one to see them?” NATURAL SELECTION

People love gazing at Biss’ gigantic prints of miniscule beings, he says. “I think the works are successful for a number of reasons: The images are beautiful—people like it from that point of view. People like natural history and nature. And people like the process. Once they understand how the images were created, the blood, sweat, and tears that goes into making these images, that hooks them on the project.” The blood, sweat, and tears have hooked Biss as well. It’s this labor of love he thirsted for when he decided to leave commercial photography. “When I was growing up, we were shooting film, and each roll of film cost money. These days a photograph doesn’t mean so much. We snap away and there is no expense to it. I wanted to produce something that had a sense of worth.” Biss’ most prized insect image is the one he made of Oxford’s shield bug collected by Charles Darwin in the 1800s. That the museum allowed him to take this historical specimen to his studio spoke volumes, he says. “That showed me they thought my images had value and worth. And for that reason alone it is my favorite image.” • levonbiss.com and  microsculpture.net 

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GLOBE�TROTTING STEFAN FORSTER’S RELENTLESS QUEST

BY ROBERT KIENER

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s landscape photographer Stefan Forster remembers it, it was just before midnight last April when he was sleeping soundly inside a four-wheel drive SUV on a remote mountain pass in northeastern Chile when “All hell broke loose.” The Swiss photographer had been in Chile and Bolivia for several weeks on a private photographic expedition. He’d made dramatic images of sunrises over expansive dunes, crystalline lakes, and other lowland features but wanted to get higher into the Andes Mountains for even more spectacular landscapes. Driving along the little-traveled Paso de Sico, a 15,000-foot-high mountain pass on the border between Chile and Argentina, he spotted a picturesque valley he wanted to photograph the next morning. He pulled off the gravel road to camp for the night.  After a walk he prepared a modest dinner then tucked himself into his sleeping bag inside the rented Nissan Patrol, where he drifted off to sleep. Several hours later he was violently awakened by a massive lightning bolt followed by a deafening crash of thunder, like someone cracking a whip. “Lightning bolts were striking everywhere, POW, POW, POW, just yards away from me,” remembers Forster. Disoriented as the thunder boomed and lightning flashed outside the vehicle, he wrestled his way out of his sleeping bag and grabbed a flashlight. He was shocked to discover the windows caked with snow. Flurries had half-buried the vehicle as he’d slept. “I was trapped inside as lightning bolts flashed all around me and the snow pelted down. I’d never seen so severe a storm.”  Worse was yet to come. The lightning waned and Forster began driving to the nearest mountain village, which was more than 40 miles away, but the SUV quickly became buried by the raging blizzard. Trapped and afraid of driving off the mountain pass in the blinding snow, he shut off the engine and climbed into his sleeping bag. The temperature dropped to 10 below zero. Morning dawned and the storm was still intense. He spent more than an hour getting the SUV started. His GPS was not working and the battery on his satellite phone was weak. He could see no more than a few feet in front of him as he began creeping forward in the SUV along the mountain pass. The road disappeared ahead of him. He was exhausted, cold, and frightened.

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Suddenly he spotted a light flickering in the distance. “It was like something out of a Hollywood movie—a miracle,” he remembers. He had chanced upon a remote Chilean military minesweeping outpost high in the Andes. The five-soldier team were amazed to see Forster stumbling toward them. They welcomed him into their remote barracks for three days until the skies cleared and the road re-opened. “Those men saved my life,” he says. “Someone was watching over me.” WHERE FEW TREAD

 While Forster admits that his Andes adventure was frightening, it hasn’t put him off searching out some of the world’s remotest spots to photograph. “I love going to places that few landscape photographers have been,” he explains. “And that’s getting harder and harder to do as so many photographers go the same hotspots over and over again.” He cites the example of Iceland,

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B+W EXPOSURE

Photographer Mandy Lea graces us with another uniquely stunning moment, this time in Death Valley, California. “It is rare for the dry, desert basin in Death Valley to fill with water, so when I saw rain in the forecast I acted fast. I wanted to capture the grace of the human form as if she was standing on water. I wanted the drama and rich color from a polarizing filter but also needed enough light that the model  could hold still for the shot. The B+W HTC polarizer hit the spot.” 

www.schneideroptics.com

Shot by Mandy Lea www.mandyleaphoto.com Camera: Nikon D810 Lens: Nikon 24-70 at 50mm ISO: 400 1/60 second Filter: B+W HTC-POL MRC Model: @cirquebea

which he first photographed 13 years ago and has returned to more than 40 times. “When I first went to Iceland there were fewer than 300,000 tourists a year going there. Last year there were nearly 2 million. Now it can be difficult to find a spot there that isn’t packed with other photographers.” To get off the beaten track he typically rents an off-road vehicle and usually brings along a kayak as well as 80 pounds of hiking, camping, and camera gear. “I’m a loner and I love exploring new areas—the more isolated the better—on multi-week hikes,” he says. He’s kayaked along the coasts of Greenland and Norway, in Louisiana’s alligator swamps, and in Alaska and the Pacific. He’s visited many African countries and photographed active volcanoes in Indonesia. “There are enough pictures of the Eiffel Tower. Get out to the backcountry,” says the 31-year-old. “To

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really stand out as a photographer you have to come back with something different.” Looking through Forster’s portfolio of dramatic landscapes that include icebergs shimmering under the Northern Lights, rarelycaptured desert rainstorms, and breathtaking drone shots of the Grand Canyon, you can see that Forster’s idea of “something different” means finding and capturing a scene bathed in the perfect light. “Light! Yes, that’s it. That’s what I am always after,” says Forster as he smiles and admits that he titled his first book, “Chasing Light” to reflect his twin passions. He explains, “I’m restless (my photographer friends say it’s as if I drink too much Red Bull) and am not the type of photographer who is content to wait for the perfect moment or scene. I’d rather go hunting for that moment. I am always chasing after every sunbeam I can.”

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THE HUNT

He explains that he rarely uses a tripod because it slows him down: “I’m never satisfied with a spot and keep moving.” He confesses to having taken 100 different photos of the same sunrise from 85 different spots on one trip. “Even when I’m taking a picture from a certain location I’m always looking to the right or left thinking, There’s another hill or small dune over there that may make a better foreground. I am anxious to see what’s over the next hill.” Forster admits he has an advantage in hunting for dramatically lit scenes: He leads as many as 10 photography tours a year to destinations such as Namibia, Iceland, Greenland, and Norway in addition to traveling widely on his own personal assignments. “If I find a breathtaking scene and the light isn’t perfect I know I can always return again to photograph it when the light may be magical,” he says. He’s a keen amateur meteorologist and is usually able to read the weather (his Andes misadventure notwithstanding) well enough to know what factors will produce a startling

sunset or sunrise. “There are surely many better photographers than I am, but I have a knack for knowing how different weather conditions will affect the light,” he says. He often tells his students, “Never trust the weather forecast. The most amazing light comes when bad weather is predicted.” While his book “Chasing Light” was a great success—the first printing sold out in three weeks—some critics accused Forster of altering or enhancing his photographs. “That bothered me,” he says. “They had no idea that I don’t manipulate my work and that the 160 pictures in that book were chosen from the more than 500,000 in my library and were shot over three, four, five or more visits to those locations.” Forster stopped selling his work via stock photo agencies because, as he explains, “I finally refused to accept the ridiculously low prices they were offering,” He sells prints via his website. “I’d rather sell 10 pictures a year at a price I am proud of than sell hundreds for next to nothing,” he says. In addition to his photo tours, he offers photography classes and presents multimedia lectures, “The

Kingdom of Light,” that feature his photography and videos. The lectures help him market his popular (and lucrative) photo tours. Only two of 2018’s 10 tours were not fully booked by the end of 2017. What’s next for this peripatetic Swiss photographer who’s worked so hard to get so far off the beaten path? “There are still so many places left to visit on my to-do list,” he says with a broad smile. He begins reeling off a long list of places such as Mongolia, Alaska’s Katmai National Park, Cambodia, and other remote destinations when he stops and confesses, “I used to think that it was a bad thing to always be frustrated, always wanting to find that next—even more dramatic—destination. But I have come to realize that when you are chasing the light it’s good never to be fully satisfied. There’s always that next picture. The one just over the next hill.” •

stefanforster.com  Robert Kiener is a writer

in Vermont.

‘

Alan Ross

a little bit of talent,

a little bit of chutzpah,

’

and a little bit of luck.

 An unpretentious icon shares the greatest lessons of his career BY JEFF KENT

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lan Ross describes his career progression as “a little bit of talent, a little bit of chutzpah, and a little bit of luck.” It’s a humble characterization of a career that has included an impressive array of experiences, from working with Ansel Adams to creating commercial images for some of America’s biggest brands. Yes, Ross has had an uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time. However, what he did with those opportunities has made all the difference. His painstakingly built career has progressed by carrying the legacy of his mentors through his own lens. During Ross’ early professional days, a trio of mentors helped shape and refine his career. They were aerial photographic pioneer William Garnett, Ross’ photography professor at the University of California, Berkeley; San Francisco fine art and commercial photographer Milton Halberstadt, who gave Ross his first job as a photographic assistant; and the legendary

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Do what it takes. “Ansel Adams was a consummate professional,” says Ross of his mentor. “When he decided to dedicate himself to photography, he went at it full bore with the goal of supporting a family. He wasn’t always a world-famous landscape photographer. At first, he photographed Chinese kindergarten classes, portraits, architecture—anything he could get paid to do. One of his first books was on artificial lighting. It was his occupation, and he did what it took to make a living.” Ordinary can lead to extraordinary. Practice makes perfect. Sometimes that means creating decidedly mundane images en route

 Ansel A dams, with whom Ross worked for more than a decade and who eventually entrusted him to be the exclusive printer of the  Ansel Adams Yosemite Special Edition print collection. (Ross continues this work today, still printing from Adams’ original negatives.) Most photographers would be thrilled just to meet three such Wikipedia-worthy photographers. Ross made the most of his opportunities, working under the tutelage of these photographic icons for more than 15 years, uncovering invaluable insights into the world of professional photography. Ross eventually used that knowledge to create a commercial photography studio in San Francisco, which he ran for more than a dozen years. These days, he enjoys a peaceful pace of life in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he teaches, does commercial photography, and creates fine art for galleries and dealers around the country and in Europe and Asia. It’s been an interesting ride, marked by lessons learned from some of the industry’s best minds. Ross shares some of those lessons here. Follow your passion. “Make photographs because you want to make them,” says Ross.

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“That’s one of my most important pieces of advice. Make photographs that interest you.  When you’re passionate about what you’re doing, it shows in the work.” But be practical about your passion. Passion inspires, but at the end of the day, everyone needs to make a living. It’s important to apply your passion to work that pays. “Doing paying work doesn’t mean we have to shut off our creativity or our enthusiasm,” says Ross. “I can say from experience that taking on assignments that you may never have considered may open up new doors for you. Accept the challenge, see the creativity in what may not seem inspiring at first.”  Assist your way to independence. There is much to be learned by assisting an established pro. Assisting can also open doors in terms of connections and access to a network of established pros. “Assisting someone is a fabulous way of getting into the field,” comments Ross. “Any opportunity to work in another studio is time well spent. So much of my career was built upon the experiences I had working for Halberstadt and Adams and the many connections I made through them.”

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to creating something exceptional. “Going through Ansel Adams’ materials, what always surprised me was the number of ordinary images he made,” recalls Ross. “But he learned from each one. If he flubbed an image, he learned from it and got better. Because you can’t afford to make a bad image when someone’s paying you for it. When Ansel was hired to do something, he didn’t ever want to hit a wrong note. So he practiced and practiced until he got everything right. That’s the attitude it takes to be successful in this job.” Build a transferable platform. When building a photography career, it’s helpful to have a work platform that you can take with you anywhere . That way, if you relocate, you have a base to renew your business without having to start over from scratch. “In my case, when I relocated from San Francisco to Santa Fe, I had photo reps in L.A. and an art director in New York who regularly sent me work,” says Ross. “That helped ease the transition because I had work coming in even as I was trying to establish myself in a new market.”   Diversify. Ross stresses the importance of having a mixed base of income so you’re not overly dependent on one source. Even if you hyper-specialize in a niche of photography, your outlets for sales can be diversified—for example, licensing images to ad agencies, selling prints to collectors, and doing assignment work for editorial clients. Build a multipronged business so you have avenues to fall back on if one area falters. Find art in your everyday work.  Bring artistic exploration into your client work, and slowly build up your portfolio with the kinds of images you want to make. “Look for the art in the everyday,” says Ross. For example, Ross grew up in Sausalito, California, in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge. It never occurred to him to photograph this routine sight that he passed every day until Bank of  America commissioned him to do so. Looking at the bridge with new eyes, he created a series of photographs that helped spark his commercial photography career and led to some highly successful fine art images. “It’s important to see things that you might pass by every day, do things you’d never think of, be open to new ways of doing something that seems routine, and then let one thing lead to another,” advises Ross. Find your ideal clients. Try to find clients who want you to do something that interests

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you. Contact agencies and buyers you want to work for who are doing work you admire.  Aim to work with clients in a field you’re interestd in. Pursue your ideal clients instead of waiting for them to stumble upon you. Be active in your interests. Finding those ideal clients can seem like a daunting task, but it isn’t. You can shape your career by pursuing your personal and professional passions. People want to work with others who share their interests and who contribute to the causes about which they’re passionate. So get involved. Read and submit to relevant publications, participate in Internet forums, be active in social media communities, join groups, and support organizations.  Above all else, embrace what excites you, and then follow the inspiration. •

“Make photographs because you want to make them. That’s one of my most important pieces of advice. Make photographs that interest you. When you’re passionate about what you’re doing, it shows in the work.”

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alanrossphotography.com

 

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T   C  H  E  T   I     L  V   E  N E   S   O  F  P  P  A 

Golfer Tom Watson carries on despite a downpour.

 © L  A R  R  Y P  L   U M L  E  E 

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE PAYING THE PRICE  by Stephen Thetford , M.Photog.Cr., CPP    It’s not about how much you want it; it’s about how hard you’re willing to work for it. For the past several years I’ve had the opportunity to photograph one of the PGA Tour Champions events at the invitation of my good friend Larry Plumlee, M.Photog.Cr. After I was done being awed by these famous golfers, I found myself enjoying the opportunity to observe them. One common trait among these athletes is a perpetual pursuit of excellence, which is apparent in their warm-up, focus during play, and even their return to practice after a day’s work. One example: During the second day of u

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pro-am play, the weather was deteriorating. Tom Watson’s group was leaving the par 3 9th hole tee box when the bottom fell out of the clouds. Only a couple of event volunteers and I were on the 9th green as carts approached. I was sharing a volunteer’s umbrella and planned to remain there until the rain subsided when Watson’s work ethic was unexpectedly displayed before me. His cart hadn’t even come to a complete stop before he bailed out and reached for his putter. He headed toward his ball, seemingly unaware of the downpour. His caddy, with towel and umbrella in hand, tried to keep up. I

 

retrieved my camera from under the poncho to make a couple of images as he sank the 4-footer and, without celebration, retrieved his ball from the cup, caddy still in pursuit.  What is it about champions that make them victorious? Surely talent is a big part, but if we suppose that natural talent, opportunity, or privilege are the most important ingredients in successful endeavors, then we give ourselves a pass by suggesting we have not enough of these. We therefore become facilitators in our own mediocrity. I suggest to you that just as important as any of these is the dogged determination to overcome obstacles and pursue the goal. Even a simple thing like finishing the hole in the rain with no gallery and few followers is indicative. As dedicated professionals, we possess a desire to be the best we can at our craft. Are we willing to pay the price to realize excellence? Desire must be followed with sweat.  We do this by investing continually and consistently in education and development of our image creativity and business acumen. Like all champions, we must meet obstacles with focused determination. The modern business environment has no tolerance for mediocrity. We’re only as good as our last session or event. We can’t remain static if we want to be contenders. PPA provides tremendous resources to help you develop and advance your skills. But PPA can’t do the work for you. You must embody the determination to apply these tools. Success in this industry is an obtainable goal if you commit to doing the work. Are you willing to pay the price? If you are, know that PPA is here to help you be a champion. •

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2018 AFFILIATE SCHOOLS APRIL 812

New England Institute of Professional Photography Cape Cod, Massachusetts neipp.com APRIL 2227

Texas School of Professional Photography Addison, Texas texasschool.org MAY 611

Mid-Atlantic Regional School of Professional Photography Cape May, New Jersey marsschool.com MAY 2024

Great Lakes Institute of Photography Harbor Springs, Michigan glip.org JUNE 912

Florida School of Photography Florida Photography Workshops Daytona Beach, Florida floridaphotographyworkshops.org JUNE 1013

Kansas Professional Photographers School Newton, Kansas kpps.com JUNE 1013

East Coast School Raleigh, North Carolina eastcoastschool.com JUNE 1015

West Coast School San Diego westcoastschool.com JUNE 1821

Winona School of Professional Photography Winona Lake, Indiana winonaphotoschool.org JULY 1520

Professional Photographers Society of New York State Photo Imaging Workshop Geneva, New York ppsnysworkshop.com SEPTEMBER 23-27 Lamarr Williamson School of Professional Photography Columbia, South Carolina larmarrschool.com

P R O F E S S I O N A L P H O T O G R A P H E R | APRIL 2018

CHALLENGED TO SUCCEED T  P  H  E  R   O  R   U   S    G  P  H  E  T   C  H  E  T   I     L  V   E  N E   S   O  F  P  P  A 

A PPA PROGRAM THAT LEADS TO PROFIT   Since its launch two years ago, the PPA Business Challenge has put thousands of photographers on the road to greater profitability. Regardless of where you are in your career as a photography entrepreneur, the Business Challenge promises to answer vital questions and help you develop a personalized success plan. The 12-month program gives participants step-by-step instruction and support from mentors through online lessons, forums, and sharing. PPA Director of Education Angela Kurkian, M.Photog.Cr., CPP, administers this member benefit. She works hard to dispel a particularly insidious myth: “Something I hear often is this concept that … success and money don’t go hand-in-hand, as if accepting money for your craft were a bad thing. Should artists only make enough to pay the bills? I don’t think that’s true.” As a longtime professional photographer, says Kurkian, “I have learned that the more profitable I am, the more room I have in my schedule to give to those who would benefit from what I can offer.” We checked in with three photographers who completed the Challenge to learn how the process works and how they’re faring. u

SETTING THE GOALS

The Business Challenge begins by encouraging participants to define what success means to them and to set goals accordingly. Lindsay Syme, owner of Lindsay Syme Photography in Spring Creek, Nevada, shares her specific definition of success: “Success is that fabulous thing you achieve when you set a goal and do the work it takes to reach that goal,” she says. Her goals when she began the Challenge were equally specific: “My business goals were to contribute financially for my family, to be 100 percent in everything I do, to give back to the community and others, to educate and share with others, to strive to be better and improve my craft, and to show others how valuable they are.” DOING THE WORK

The Business Challenge is a year-long commitment of time and action. Abbie Miller,

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 ©  S   T   O R  I   E   S   F  R  A M E  D P  H  O T   O  G  R  A P  H Y

Abbie Miller was able to increase her business revenue by 55 percent after using this member benefit.

photographer and owner of Stories Framed Photography in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, wraped up her first year in the program and opened a retail studio space for the first time. In 2017 Miller was named Business Person of the Month by a local Chamber of Commerce. This year she was listed by Expertise as one of the top 20 portrait photographers serving Milwaukee. Miller says her revenue is up while her session numbers are down, which means she’s maximizing her time and income. One benefit she received from participating in the challenge is a higher degree of certainty. “I have more confidence in sharing my pricing with clients,” she explains. “Along those same lines, I’ve learned that I shouldn’t doubt or discount myself, my time, or my product.” She also learned that small changes can accrue to make a big difference. By adding a fourth collection to her print package options, she’s outsold all her other offerings. As a result, by the end of 2017, her revenue was up 55 percent. What else did she pick up from the Challenge? Miller provides some of her lessons learned: “How to handle objections, how to choose products, focused marketing, client communication, and so much more. The thing I

did that really helped my learning is to listen, watch, or read all the calls, webinars, and conversations in our group chat. Even if I thought the topic wouldn’t apply to my business—weddings, for example, because I don’t shoot weddings—I could still find something to take away from the discussion.” Kurkian notes there are no easy routes to successful entrepreneurship. Putting in time to do the work is critical. And Miller has found that although she’s made great strides, she still has psychological barriers to overcome. “I’m still working on the idea that spending money can make money,” Miller says. “The last quarter of the year I spent more money with my retoucher than I ever dreamed I would. However, I had time to spend with my family, my clients received their images faster, and I was way less stressed out. It was worth every penny. And because I know how to better set my pricing, the cost is built into my prices.” Miller says she wants every PPA member to consider taking the Challenge: “It’s a business class just like you would take at a business school or hire a business coach for but geared specifically toward photographers.  And because of the vast amount of resources available to us, it wasn’t taught by a single

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person where you just learned how they do things. It was a collective effort by so many generous photographers.”

FOUR STEPS TO SUCCESS

APPLYING THE LESSONS

1. CREATE A BUSINESS MODEL THAT

3. UNDERSTAND CUSTOMERS’ NEEDS.

Michael Boatright had a career in technology while operating his Atlanta photography studio as a secondary business until 2016, when a corporate reorganization left him without his day job. He took it as an opportunity to dive into professional photography full-time. “Coincidentally, the PPA Business Challenge was firing up just when I needed it,” he says. Boatright notes that the Challenge presented him with the business coaching he needed: “Even though I had managed budgets of millions of dollars for major technology corporations over multiple decades, the prospect of building a business plan, pricing strategy, marketing, in-person sales, and the like was intimidating and, honestly, frightening. By breaking this down into manageable steps with a group of peers at various levels of business, technical, and creative experience, I realized that I wasn’t alone in this.” The Business Challenge is presented on theLoop, PPA’s members-only online network, which helps participants stay on task. Boat-

WORKS.  The

Photography is not about the image; it’s about what you do with the image. Develop products your target customer wants, products they can’t create themselves.

first step of the Business Challenge is to define what success looks like for you. Use the Square One tool (ppa.com/squareone) to determine your pricing for profitability and sustainability. The goal is to pay yourself. Time is finite. Use PPA’s Benchmarks (ppa.com/ businessguide) to see how your studio compares to PPA’s benchmarks of success. Use that data to prioritize your work. 2. USE YOUR TIME WISELY.

right says discussions on theLoop offered wisdom from both mentors and peers. “Very early on in the program,” he says, “one of the speakers on one of our Challenge calls said, ‘You will never be able to compete solely on price.’… That changed everything. Until that moment, I hadn’t understood that what I was offering to my potential clients was my creativity and hard work and that the value

 © M I    C  H A E  L  B   O A T  R  I    G  H T 

4. DO THE WORK.  It’s

an easy concept to understand, but who doesn’t look for shortcuts? Part of the success of the Business Challenge is that participants are accountable to each other, which keeps everyone motivated to do the work. It’s not easy, but it’s rewarding.

proposition is based on a lot more than price.” This was one a-ha moment in a series of them throughout the year. “There wasn’t a single Challenge call, webinar, discussion thread, or exercise that I didn’t get something of value,” Boatright recalls. “Merchandising, pricing, and marketing were the hardest things for me to work through. I tried a variety of ways to get people into the studio. Some worked, some didn’t. But perhaps the hardest thing to work through was clients for whom I had done free work in the past. Some relationships made it through the transition better than others. [Learning] how my peers worked through the same kinds of situations was a great help through this process.” As he looks ahead, Boatright is encouraged. By November 2017 he had tripled his studio revenue for the year. And he closed an agency deal that he anticipates would quadruple that amount, putting him well into the black for the year. “I can look anyone in the eye who asks and say that none of this would have happened were it not for the Business Challenge, and of course, the willingness to put in the work needed to make it effective,” he says. New 12-month Business Challenge programs begin three times year: the 1st of February, April, and August. • ppa.com/challenge

Michael Boatright credits the Business Challenge for tripling his 2017 revenue.

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PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER Ad size: 3.625” x 4.33” For more information, contact your advertising representative: BRIAN CISCO Advertising Sales 404-522-8600, x230 [email protected] MARINA ANDERSON Advertising Manager 937-902-8217 [email protected]

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