NYC Trip Wrap Up.
I've been back in Rochester for three days and have had a little bit of time to process everything I heard and saw in NYC. The most hard hitting points that I heard from almost everyone was to shoot all the time, be a good person, and learn how to write. Each place was different and wanted different things out of the photographers they hire, but everywhere said those three things: shoot, be nice, and write well.
Most places want a good portfolio, a good website, and a personal section that says who you are. Santiago Lyon of AP said that the two most important things in being a photographer are storytelling and trust. Jim Estrin said "The biggest challenge in your career is to not make the same photo over and over again." What he looks for in a photographer is how much time you spend on your work, how much passion you have for what you do, and that you're so obsessed with this work that you have no other option than to do it. The wire services generally want someone who has a unique vision that they show in their images, someone who will arrive early and stay late, someone who is motivated and happy, and someone who is always reliable. At Getty Al Bellow talked about lighting and being aware of where the light is and about staying away from everyone else. He said to frame your image as if you were shooting for a magazine spread.
Surprisingly most places said instead of being ok at everything that is in demand right now (stills, video, writing, multimedia) be great at one thing and good at another. At Blue Chalk they said "Be honest about what you're really good at." Clinton Cargill at Bloomberg advised us to "find the picture that you're driven to make." Myles Little said a similar thing, "If you're not passionate about what you're shooting, don't shoot it." In order to make it in this business you have to be passionate about what you do. Every place we went to told us that.
Magnum Foundation and Human Rights Watch talked in detail about being sensitive while working on documentary projects. Alexis Lambrou said, "We're dealing with people's lives and we need to respect that and make sure they're safe." Emma Daly from HRW talked in detail about ethics and how we must think about ways to interview our subjects about hard topics without re-traumatizing them. Almost everyone talked about the importance of earning the trust of your subjects.
Olivier Laurent from Time Magazine talked to us about the importance of writing skills. He told us to drop the adverbs. I didn't realize just how important it is to have great writing skills beyond good caption writing. Kate Bubacz at Buzzfeed also talked about the importance of clean writing. She also told us it was important to ask yourself "What can I bring to the table that's different?" Michael Norsing at Esquire talked about how the idea of storytelling and making a good picture is not limited to the camera. Jim Estrin talked about that also. Brad Smith, the director of photography at Time Inc. wanted us to understand that it doesn't matter how good a photograph is, if it doesn't fit in the story it won't run.
It was very exciting to be in NYC meeting with amazing people. It made me realize what I need to do to improve myself as a photographer.