Promo Keys

WInter is my time to kick start all my promo efforts fresh for the year. New mailing lists with better targeting of potential clients, new mailer promos, and now, a little add on that will get people's attention and keep it. Cards get pinned up on boards and eventually covered or forgotten, filed away under 'potential photographers' or worse, tossed right in the trash. But these 1 gig USB keys with my branding on them is something that people will want to use, and put my name in front of them every time they do.

I did a bit of research and found a whole bunch of companies that do customized USB drives, and settled on the key design for being unique and eye catching. Simple laser engraving of my name/logo and website on both sides reminds people where it came from, and each will be loaded with content from my site and portfolio. I'm really excited to have these to give out to potential clients, since it's much more memorable than a business card. A whole series of promos can be planned around these with some innovative packaging, much better than just a simple postcard.

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Print Book

A print book is still a necessity even in our standard digital age, if you ask many photographers and creative professionals. While it may not get viewed as much as your website, people still like to take a look at your work in print, especially if thats the ultimate output for what they want.

So it should come as no surprise that the internet is absolutely awash with portfolio advice. Or rather, portfolio opinion, as I noted when I embarked on a fairly long journey to make my own print books. I found dozens of articles on how to arrange a portfolio, hundreds of websites offering their idea of what a portfolio even is, but for the most part, people simply talking about their own portfolio without imparting any useful knowledge whatsoever.

That was until a friend of mine, Doug, a wildly successful photographer who really gets social media and networking, came out with a post on the down and dirty how that most people left out. His blog post So you Want to Make a Professional Looking Print Photography Portfolio actually had useful resources and some straightforward, easy to understand advice on actually assembling a book.

Doug offered up some links citing the resources he mentions, or uses himself in constructing his own book, including custom portfolio printer, Pushdot out in Portland. I talked with them a few times about getting a custom book printed by them, and they sent me some samples to check on the type of materials they suggest. So now here's the kicker: While I didn't end up using Pushdot, it was only because of the cost. The samples they sent were amazing, they were helpful, friendly, and when I'm pulling in the jobs I want, I will absolutely go to them.

I found that for significantly less, I was fully capable of assembling my own book at nearly the same quality. I have some resources that may not be readily available to everyone, but this doesn't mean it's out of reach for the average person. So here's one of the classes I think should have been absolutely mandatory when I was in school: How to print, score, punch and assemble a (variation of) complete portfolio.

First is the actual book. Determining size is the first step, I wanted a larger book, 11x17", but the cost of paper and carrying something that size made me go smaller. 8.5x11" may not be glamorous, but with full bleed pages, it looks great. I also went with landscape view because I felt my verticals could be more easily adapted to a horizontal book than vice versa.

My two books are made out of two different kinds of Pina Zangaro portfolios. The books are about $50 each, and I mixed and matched the frosted front cover with the snow white back. I went with the frosted front so that I could simply print out a new front page in the book and have it show through as my label, instead of locking myself into one type of cover that would have to be completely replaced if I change branding (again).



I chose the same paper that Pushdot sent me as a sample, Moab Entrada Bright 190. It's a matte paper that holds extremely fine detail unlike some other mattes I've used, doesn't get fingerprints all over it the second you touch it like some glossys, and most importantly, is double sided.

For printing, I happened to have a complete series of Epson printers available to me. I chose the R3000 for its front loading and 2 types of black ink, both glossy and matte without switching. There was a bit of trial and error in getting my uncalibrated laptop to output correctly, and then some more in getting the two features I really wanted in a print book- full bleeds and two page spreads. Pushdot had sent me a template that gave me an idea of how to set up a two page spread, but I still had to ruin a couple pages before I figured out how much to overlap each side of the picture, or make a no-border gutter.



Once the printer stopped printing 1/16" short of the top (changed my settings to 103% zoom) and I figured out the overlap (1/2" on the left, 1" on the right) I was churning out pages like a pro. Then I had to figure out how to get them into the book. The Pina books use a two post binding that seemingly isn't a standard whole punch setting. I considered getting a hand punch and doing each page individually, but I wanted consistency, and that meant a real hole punch. Or as real as staples can get, which meant I was still going to have to gaffer tape a part of the hole punch into position. And then punch each page upside down.

With the pages punched, they fit nicely into the book, but they still had to be scored so you could actually flip through it like a book. I saw from No Plastic Sleeves a video of a photographer making handmade books, much in the same method, using a plastic card of some sort to gently score the prints to allow them to bend. My first try, using a wacom pen tip, is not recommended since it rips the ink-saturated print. The curved wire of a binder clip gently run down the print using the hinge of the book as a guide is much better, but I'm still looking for a replacement.

So while this is only a fast and loose explanation on how to assemble a portfolio, it sure was a lot of info that I would have loved to have seen before I ruined a bunch of paper and bought a bunch of plastic sleeves (like the blog says, NO plastic sleeves), hinges, and other stuff that I ended up not using.

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Level 26: Dark Revelations

Level 26 just dropped the trailer for the final digi novel by Anthony Zuiker of the hit series CSI. The books have been a seriously good read and the interactivity is awesome when you view it on the iPad. It was a great set to shoot on for the stills, and I'll be posting more behind the scenes and finished pictures as we come up on the full release. Be sure to check out the entire series of books at Level 26and watch the trailer after the jump.





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Sneak preview...

Last week I had the opportunity to go out and shoot for Anthony Zuiker's Dark Revelations, the final book in his Level 26 series of murder mystery thriller novels. The book features cyber-bridges that the reader can watch online, adding a new dimension to interactive novels. It was awesome to fly out to LA and shoot with an extremely talented cast and crew, and the pictures are coming out awesome. I'm waiting on the go ahead to start posting them everywhere, but here are just the behind the scenes pictures that will have to do for now. Hit the full post to see them.










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Don Cortez-Histrionic Album Cover

My buddy Don Cortez just dropped his Album 'Histrionic' today all the way from Japan, and a while back he asked me to design his album cover. We didn't have a whole lot of material to work with, so we settled on a cool, clean portrait we did a couple years back that we felt had the right vibe for his music.

You can download his Itunes-ready album, complete with cover art and lyrics HERE to check out his great work that's been a long time coming.


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Shooting the H4D40

Thanks to a great dayjob, I get to spend a lot of quality time hands-on with Hasselblad cameras. I've been in love with the cameras since before photo school, and the flames were fanned when I assisted Hasselblad Master Gregor Halenda and met another, Chase Jarvis. They're both stunningly amazing photographers that have shaped my career as I study their work to become a better photographer.

Getting access to a wide range of their digital lineup means that I get to learn everything about Hasselblad without the pressure of a weekend rental, or trying to figure it out on the job. I warmed up by doing a series of still lifes and a portrait session with the H4D40, and found it to be an extraordinarily versatile camera, and then pushed it to the limits by doing an all day shoot with a sportswear company (pictures coming soon).

I primarily shoot on my Canon 1DmkIV, and while the quality is great, it hardly compares to over twice the megapixels and a physically larger image sensor. Pictures on the H4D seem to pop off the screen with little to no post processing.



Shooting bottles has been one of my ongoing personal projects as I wade through the wide world of whiskeys, and I've been shooting most of them on H4D. The color rendering of liquor is extremely important to clients, and the H4D seems to capture the range necessary to accurately portray each shade. Newer lighting technique counts for a lot, but the colors and depth make the bottles sing.



This recent shot of the new Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey Whiskey was shot on white plexi lying down, with two 8' silks on either side with grid spots on Profoto 7a2400 packs. I find myself reversing my earlier lighting from small on products and large on people to the complete opposite. Glass bottles take well to massive modifiers, even if only used as a bounce, and I've experimented with using smaller, harsher light on certain subjects.

Hasselblad has their proprietary software, Phocus, which is used to tether to your computer. The software is intuitive, easy to manage and a great asset to have when checking focus and composition. The screen on the camera is limited the same as any other brand, so I have Phocus running on my laptop or cinema display whenever possible. Occasionally when I need to drop the cord, I feel confident enough to rely on the screen if I know that my lighting is already dialed in.

I worked with the H4D for an entire 10 hour session recently, and the camera body itself is easy to hold and even comfortable. The back was warm from being tethered non-stop all day, but it never shut down on me, unlike some other digital backs I've used that will lock you out without any obvious reason. I turned down a demo of a back made by another company because I couldn't afford to waste time rebooting the entire system, from my laptop to the back, body and lens.

More pictures from the most recent session are coming soon, as well as a video highlight of the shoot where you'll see some of the lighting setups used on a commercial shoot, and I'll also demo some of the camera's features and how I used them on this job.

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Like Honey

It's been busy here in NYC and the blog is being neglected, like my personal work at the same time. But new and exciting client work is coming up, as well as my review of the Hasselblad H4D40 that I've been using lately.

This shot of the tantalizingly delicious Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey Whiskey was shot on the H4D using two Profoto 7A packs and 3 heads. A beauty dish on the ground was shooting through the 1/4" white plexi for the light table, and then two 8' silks on either side had gridded heads shooting through them. I've been using giant silks and foamcores to shoot bottles instead of softboxes like I used to. Having that large of a light source evens out the highlights on the bottle to the point that they just blend in much nicer.

The honey was added after I had the bottle looking exactly how I wanted it. The coolest part is how you can see the highlights from the silks, shadows from the label, and the amazing color and tone of the honey by itself. The H4D really shines here in its color rendering and the sheer depth of the image, it almost looks 3d in the large version. The only post processing was to add a little shadow to the edge of the pool of honey, something that could also be done by placing black cards all the way around it.

Coming up in the next two weeks are a few shoots and posts on other current work, a full review of the H4D40 as I've been shooting with it, and some other surprises.


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Yankee Air Museum

It's a little late coming, but I wanted to do my regular recap of the awesome group shoot we had in mid April, at the Yankee Air Museum which is currently being housed at the Grosse Ile Airfield. If you've seen the other meetups, you'll notice that this is our second time at this location, with one small difference. Or four big ones.

Four WWII era planes, including the massive Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress pictured here, were available for our group to use as backdrops and more for this shoot. While some of the coolest shots were done outside of the planes, we were given the opportunity to shoot inside these working, flying pieces of history.


Sonny is one of our awesome returning models that I work with on a regular basis when we do these events. Dressed up in a semi-authentic jacket and aviators cap, he looks pretty close to the real deal. There were some logistics that made putting this whole thing on, but this one shot was worth it.

Because I was traveling super light, and we were a little pressed for time, my lighting setup was deceptively simple. There's just that one softbox, raised up high and feathered down on Sonny. No tricks, no gimmicks, one flash and a massive hangar door streaming in some mid afternoon light. I was also testing out my new Alien Bee's and White Lightning Vagabond Mini battery. I shot for four solid hours on a single AB800 without even running down the battery meter. I think this one would outlast my Vagabond 2's, and weighing in at 5 lbs, it's a lot easier to travel with.

This was a smaller meetup by necessity of the venue, but we still brought in over 20 people to hang out and shoot with. We took this group shot with the volunteers who were our guides and technical advisors, in front of the same B-17, the Yankee Lady.

The Yankee Air Museum was extremely generous in the access they provided us with to these planes which are becoming more in danger of literally running out of parts. And after an unfortunate hangar fire at their old location in Ypsilanti, we were glad to raise a $500 donation to provide support for their mission of keeping these incredible machines hangared and flying.

We're already looking forward to seeing them again in October, so be sure to check out the A2/DT Strobist page to see when we're scheduled to go down there for another group meetup, and to see the pictures from this one and those past.

I also wanted to give a shoutout to a long-time participant of the group, Luis, who took what is probably one of my favorite pictures to come out of the meetup. While I was distracted with packing up and wrangling the gear I had loaned out, Luis snuck this shot in at the last minute in front of the B-25 with one of our models, Connie.


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Consuming-Video Post

I ran across this video on The Daily What and thought of a few things. First of all, the visuals are just stunning. The muted gray with shocks of black and white, how quiet the tonality is, how loud the subjects are, gorgeous. You could pick nearly any frame out of it and it would stand alone as a great picture.

Second, with the exceptions being studio space and resources, many still cameras are in fact turning into capable video cameras. While I'm sure this was shot on something a bit more sophisticated, my own camera is capable of 60fps at a moderate resolution, more than enough for some demos or web videos.

Since video has already become so prevalent as a skill needed by even still photographers, it's worth knowing the basics when the time comes to collaborate on a project. Even if you (or I) lack the technical know-how and the equipment, the ability to visualize and direct video can be extraordinarily similar to still photography. The job of the Director of Photography on a major motion picture set includes lighting, framing and technical aspects that are basically interchangeable with photography.

So if you're the kind of photographer that can look at a movie frame and see the light and compose an image, you may have a small stepping stone to working on video for a variety of projects. After all, photographers do in one frame what videographers have to do in 24.

Woodkid - Iron from WOODKID on Vimeo.

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Guest Post for Douglas Sonders

I recently wrote a guest post over at my friend Doug's site, and thought I'd re-post it here as well.

Hi, my name is Alex Minkin, I’m a 2010 graduate of the Hallmark Institute of Photography where I concentrated on advertising and cinematic photography. My work has been published in ads in my hometown of Detroit, Best of College Photography Contest, and in various blogs for industry leaders. I’ve sold work to companies like Adidas and ad agencies nation wide, and shot still unit photography for Anthony Zuiker, the executive producer of CSI in Los Angeles.

By the time I left Hallmark, several extraordinary stokes of luck had positioned me further ahead of what I had ever imagined possible. Profoto’s blog had done a write-up about me, Adidas wanted to purchase the rights to a picture I had done, and my website was lighting up like crazy from my first direct mailer campaign.

Then, I realized I was moving to New York but had sent my mailers to California. Adidas was taking its time with the paperwork, and I had stopped using my equipment so I could pack up and move into a tiny bedroom almost off the edge of Manhattan.

So, nearly a year after school, I’m not quite doing exactly what I want to be. I’m taking shoots that aren’t even remotely interesting. I have a side job for a fine art consulting company, but every hour of every day, I’m working for myself. It’s at the same time the most rewarding and frustrating thing I’ve ever done in my life.

The dedication that’s necessary to be even a moderate success story in this field can be intimidating. It can be hard to throw yourself into it, to go for broke and screw the consequences. I thought that I was putting in a lot of work before I finished school, but now I’m spending my entire day making new mass email promos, doing market research, scouting new things to shoot, and writing emails trying to squeeze my way into something nobody wants to pay me to shoot.

I learned not to get discouraged when things take forever to accomplish, or if they fail to happen at all. I’ve made a nuisance of myself for one company for nearly a year before they finally agreed to set something up, a year of back and forth for one shoot. I’ve overpriced, underpriced, gotten rejected and been ignored, but I also learned that there’s nearly no mistake I can’t step away from and make it a positive move towards what I want to be doing.

And even though it was hard for me to believe, and maybe it is for others as well, I learned that other photographers are going to be a more valuable resource than a client that pays well and pays on time. We’re such a strange group of people, and overwhelmingly, we seem to love it when our friends get ahead.

Sure I’m jealous that Doug is shooting F/A-18’s while I shoot some interiors, but he lets me ask all sorts of stupid questions that they never fully explained in school. Questions like ‘how the %#($ do you build up a mailing list of 10,000+ people?’ or ‘where do I get insurance so I can rent a real studio instead of working in my living room?’ The photographers and companies I have been working for have been the best resource imaginable.

So, if you’re still at school and reading this, I have a few things that might help you out in a small way. Spend every waking moment shooting. Shoot everything you want to do and make it fit an assignment. Ask questions, even if it seems like everyone else knows the answer. You’re already a professional photographer; now make the portfolio to prove it. School will give you everything you put into it and more, but you still have to do the work first. And lastly, call or email the photographers you admire. You might get yelled at, but you might end up guest blogging for someone else down the road.


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