The Art Institute Turns Photography

There are lots of different ways to learn photography, from Flickr groups and meet-ups to evening classes and books.

But you can also go to college, study in a classroom and turn your hours with a textbook into credits towards a degree.

It’s a choice that usually requires a huge commitment – both of time and finances – so it pays to choose a photography school that will deliver the knowledge you want and the opportunities you need to turn your education into a career.

One of the leading places to learn photography is The Art Institute.

A collection of private art colleges located across the United States and Canada, The Art Insitute has  41 campuses, 25 of which teach photography to a total of 2,600 bachelors and associates degree students. The number of photography students at each location ranges from 337 at the Art Institute of Colorado to a cozy four at the Art Institute of Vancouver. Graduates have included Carol Guzy and Martha Rial, the only women to have won a Pulitzer Prize for photojournalism.

The Institute’s range of photography courses is broad and may include Large-Format Photography and Location Shooting, as well as business classes such as Advanced Communications, Composition and Language, and Business of Photography. The actual classes offered though will vary from site to site. Each campus has its own website where applicants can review the classes available. Faculty members usually have backgrounds as photographers and real-world experience in photography branches from fine art to event to photojournalism.

Interested in Photography? You’re in!

In general, the courses are open to just about anyone with “a high school diploma and an interest in the subject,” says Suzanne Cibotti, an Art Institute spokesperson. But requirements may be higher depending on whether the student wishes to receive a bachelor’s or associate’s degree. More restrictive perhaps, is the pricing. Total tuition for an associate’s degree in photography at the Colorado campus, for example, is ,734. While financial aid may be available and the cost can be seen as an investment in a future career, that’s still an eye-watering amount of money – especially when starting salaries for new photographers and photography assistants are so low. These are intended as professional expenses rather than the cost of improving an enthusiast’s knowledge.

That’s reflected though in the courses’ results. According to Suzanne Cibotti, around 84 percent of 2007’s associate degree photography graduates were working in a “a field related to their program of study within six months of graduation.” That number rises to an impressive 90.4 percent for bachelor’s degree graduates.

“Graduates of The Art Institutes’ Photography programs enter the field in a variety of entry-level positions; including photographers, assistants to photographers or digital photographers,” said Cibotti. “Areas of employment can include advertising, photojournalism, digital image manipulation, editorial, fashion, portraiture and wedding.”

It will be interesting to see how those figures hold up as the economy continues to tighten and  would be nice to know too how quickly photographers are able to move up from entry-level positions to winning commissions, opening their own studios and earning enough to pay off their student loans. But the fact that such a large number of new photographers are able to get started in a profession that’s been under such pressure in the last few years is at least encouraging.

Take a Photography Degree Online

Even more encouraging is the flexibility that allows those who already have day jobs to study photography as well. In addition to the traditional evening classes, which can still take a big chunk out of someone’s day and be problematic for students with families, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh also has an online division which allows students to study whenever they want. Students can print out lectures to read at their leisure, upload their work to receive comments from teachers and discuss projects with other students online. The interface is attractive and easy to use so you won’t need to study programming before you can start studying photography. Subjects available include Principles of Digital Photography, Advertising Photography, Portraiture and Portfolio Exploration.

“[The course’s] goal is to provide students with a rigorous study of the elements of image production and manipulation, as well as a wide range of professional camera and lighting equipment,” said Cibotti. “Some things like color management may still be easier to learn in a regular classroom setting.”

The requirements for the online course though are relatively simple. Bachelors students need only be high school graduates with a GPA of 2.0, or hold a General Education Development (GED) Certificate with a score of 225 or higher, or possess an associate’s degree or higher. That might sound like too broad an acceptance criterion. After all, becoming a professional photographer requires more than the ability to listen to (or read) lectures and understand how to handle equipment. It requires creativity and talent, skills that aren’t easily taught in a classroom. The Art Institute didn’t have figures available for drop-out rates so it’s possible that those without a photographic eye end up leaving before graduation.

It’s also possible though that The Art Institute’s courses are capable of turning almost anyone with an eye for composition into the kind of photographer who can earn a living from their camera.

“I would encourage someone interested in becoming a student of our Photography program not to worry about what they have done before, but to leap right in,” said Karen Antonelli, photography faculty member at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. “You need to be the kind of person that spends a lot of time observing the world around you and have the ability to derive meaning from what you see.”

That’s not a bad place for any photographer to start. The question is how much The Art Institute can help a photographer translate that meaning into an image, how far it can take them – and whether it’s worth paying for.

How to Think like an Entrepreneur but not a Photographer

Photography: milky.way

Successful photography is as much about what’s in the mind as what’s in the camera. While taking great images will always be essential to making money from photography, there are plenty of talented, skilled photographers with hard drives full of fantastic photos who aren’t making a dime. And as a quick look at any microstock site will tell you there’s also no shortage of photographers with mediocre talent who are making sale after sale.

The difference lies in the way that photographers who make money out of their talent think about their images. They understand that photography is a business – even if it’s not the business that pays their mortgage. The production, sales and customer service all have to be conducted professionally. The images don’t have to be fantastic; they just have to serve a purpose. And the operations have to completed with the recognition that when someone is paying for something, they expect that something to do exactly what they’re paying for.

That begins with the hardest step of all…

Thinking of Photos as Products

For photographers who rely on their cameras to pay their bills, regarding photos as products is a step that happens naturally and out of necessity. But for enthusiasts who shoot primarily for the pleasure of taking a great picture, it is something that requires a different way of thinking.

A beautiful photograph is a work of art. The composition, the subject, the story the image tells and the way it tells it all incorporate an artist’s creativity. The success with which it achieves its goals reflects the photographer’s grasp of his or her craft.

But none of that means a thing commercially if an image is too avant-garde to be displayed in a home or a collection, and too artistic to be used in a commercial or alongside content.

When shooting art, entrepreneurs think “Would anyone buy this?” And when shooting stock, they think “How could someone use this?”

For an entrepreneurial photographer, it’s not just the image that counts but the way the image will be used… and whether it’s capable of being used at all.

Preparation and Marketing are as Important as Shooting

Enthusiastic photographers also assume that the work ends when the shooting is complete. Entrepreneurial photographers recognize, even if they’re not happy about it, that the hard work is about to begin.

They have to refine and sell the image.

Established professionals regard this part of their business as essential but something that they can leave to experts who can do it better than they can. Both stock photographer Ron Chapple and microstock photographer Yuri Arcurs employ people whose job is to prepare the products they’ve created for market and tag them appropriately.

“Our studio is a team effort,” Ron Chapple told us. “There’s two photographers shooting full-time, plus our digital artists also create illustrations… We’ve learned that shooting is only a small part of the overall process — editing, color-correction, retouching and adding keywords is the lion’s share of the workflow.”

Together with placing the images on websites and marketing those sites, the editing and keywording is unlikely to be the most enjoyable part of photography. But it is essential. It’s just fortunate that entrepreneurs also understand the value of delegation.

They outsource the work that others can do better than them, allowing them to focus on the most valuable part of their business.

The Buyer Always Knows Best

Browse the comments  under the images on Flickr, and you might be mistaken for thinking that everyone on the site has the eye of Man Ray and the technique of Ansel Adams. Every shot is a “great capture” and every upload a “beautiful photo.”

There are lots of wonderful pictures on the site, of course, but by definition, there are also very few works of genius. While enthusiastic photographers allow themselves to be affected by praise from other hobbyists, entrepreneurial photographers pay attention only to the voice that really matters: that of the buyer.

The only test that shows if an image is good enough to be sold is whether it sells. And the only criterion that an entrepreneurial photographer has to meet is the requirements of the market.

But that means more than just producing images that editors, designers and collectors want to buy. It also means treating them not as admirers but as customers. Thinking like an entrepreneur involves keeping track of who buys the most images and which kind of photos they want. It means keeping them informed when you release a new subject range, producing discounts and incentives, and handling complaints quickly.

It means seeing a photo that generates a hundred positive comments as less successful than a photo that generates one check.

Sales are to be Expected, Not Celebrated

Perhaps the biggest difference in the way that entrepreneurs and the enthusiasts think though is in their expectations. Professionals and entrepreneurs expect to make sales. They understand that a product that doesn’t sell, however beautiful and well-made it may be, is a failure.

When they produce a photo, they assume that it’s good enough to sell, and that it will sell enough to make a profit.

That’s not just one of the hardest shifts in thinking to make though, it’s also one of the most important because it usually has a strong effect on pricing. For enthusiasts, the thrill of a sale may be reward enough so they’re often willing to lower the price, keen to take the opportunity when it arises. Entrepreneurs though, believe that there’s another sale and another buyer just around the corner so they stick to their guns, demanding the price that they know the market demands – and they also know what the market demands.

Photography is an unusual business. It relies on artistry and creativity as well as the kind of physics-related technical skills that would frighten many free-thinking art school types. To be financially successful at photography though, to produce the kind of pictures that sell and to use talent to build even a small photographic business, requires thinking in a particular way. You can still think like an artist and be a photographer. But to make money, you also need to think like an entrepreneur.

Photos New Life MorgueFile

You can find them all over the Web. Publishers want photos. They want them for a wide range of different subjects. They want them for a bunch of different uses. They want them now.

And in return, they’re prepared to offer… an impressive portfolio. Well, that’s more valuable than money, isn’t it?

Tell that to a professional photographer and he’s likely to demonstrate a novel use for his longest lens. Tell that to an enthusiast though, and there’s a good chance that he’ll be so thrilled at the idea of having an image published that he’s prepared to accept it.

That’s why Flickr has around 81 million images covered by some sort of Creative Commons license.

But Flickr isn’t the only place that publishers can turn to pick up free images easily. Some stock sites offer freebies as a way of bringing in buyers and a quick search of Google turns up all sorts of sites that just can’t wait to give away photos.

Morguefile is one of them, even if it doesn’t quite intend to be.

An Online Picture Cabinet

Created in 2001 by Michael Connors, a New York-based multimedia artist, the site aims to function as a reference center for creatives looking for inspiring images. The service is named after the file cabinet used by newspapers to store paste-up flats and the pile of material used by comic book artists for inspiration.

“If you had to draw a picture of a super hero foiling a robbery in a supermarket, you might need a photo of the supermarket — from top of the shelves, from the store room, a picture of someone holding a gun, the cash register, etc.,” Michael explained. “Stock photos never really concerned themselves with that type of concept and that’s where a morgue file comes in.”

Currently the site has around 2,500 creatives who have contributed about 197,000 images. Those figures are likely to grow though following a revamp which has added two new services. In addition to offering free photos, contributors can now create portfolios complete with copyright protection, and use online storage centers.

According to Michael, people who make their images available for free on the site can enjoy a number of benefits. Photographers with images that haven’t sold can find that their pictures have uses beyond the stock site. (Shots rejected by sellers can sometimes be a photographer’s most popular images on morgueFile.) And of course, you can get a nice portfolio.

“The biggest benefit comes from the amateur photographer early in their career who needs to build a portfolio,” Michael says. “After the beginning steps of posting to the morgueFile they can be up and running with a published piece.”

More hopefully, linking free images to similar but higher quality copyrighted images in a portfolio might just turn a free search into a purchase. That’s because Michael doesn’t see the free images available on the site as an alternative to paid photography but as an adjunct to it. Many of the images are not as polished as typical stock photos, and that might be exactly what a designer needs for inspiration, he explains.

A designer working on a project, for example, might begin by downloading images from morgueFile to generate ideas then move on to stock sites, image libraries and even the major stock companies.

“Usually for any project one of the first steps is to download photos from various different sites and then place the folder of images on the project’s server for the rest of the creative team to work from,” Michael says. “I would be surprised if we were the only photo source used on any project but I am sure many times morgueFile is included as one of them.”

That might perhaps be a little naïve though. While the most popular subject submitted by photographers is “flowers,” the most sought images are shots tagged “people,” “business,”
“beach” and “computer,” exactly the sort that buyers are looking for.

Not All Creatives are Creative

The problem is that while Michael might have been inspired by a tool used by creatives, today’s creative workers aren’t just trained graphic designers and professional editors. They’re also bloggers who need images for their websites, mom and pop businesses who want a photo to use in an ad, and even small companies who’d rather keep their money for paid advertising when they can see that it’s possible to pick up photos for newsletters and brochures for free.

Large companies with dedicated creative teams then might well function exactly as Michael describes – using the free images for inspiration and planning before heading to the paid sites to do some shopping – but it’s unlikely that the morgueFile doesn’t also have plenty of small freeloaders who might well have been willing to pay a few bucks for the right photo.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that a photographer should steer clear of morgueFile though. As Michael points out, the kind of images that do well on the site are often those that can’t sell somewhere else. All photographers have a giant stack of images that they know they can’t sell and while they might want to think twice about publicizing their misses, if they can use them as bait to lead a professional creative to their hits then they might pick up a valuable new client.

And perhaps there is something to be said for giving back. Michael Connors’ vision of morgueFile is as a service that creative types provide for each other. They might not want to donate valuable photos that they can license for a fee but they might be willing to help designers with images that have few other uses beyond inspiration especially when it gives them an excuse to shoot the sort of images that they wouldn’t normally take.

“People who delve in and become enamored with the concept at first become overwhelmed,” says Michael. “We’ll get pictures of everything from what is in their backyard to what is in the fridge, most likely their pets, you name it. It’s an understanding that a great image is easy to find because it is everywhere. It really is a great way to fall in love with photography for the first time or all over again.”

That certainly could be more valuable than money and more valuable than a rich portfolio. But go for those first.

Make Money Selling News Photos

It happens every time there’s a major news event. While journalists scrabble around for their passports and photojournalists curse the weight of their equipment, citizens at the scene start telling the world what’s happening.

During the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, it was Twitter that came of age as tech-savvy Mumbaikers reported on the gunmen’s progress and the commandos’ response. During the London bombings, it was the photos snapped on mobile phones from inside Underground tunnels as passengers abandoned trains that captured the mood of the moment.

Each time, bloggers rave about the power of citizen journalism and editors point out the importance of checking sources, sorting through the material and having trained professionals on the scene to ask the important questions and gather all of the information necessary to understand what’s happening.

Citizen News Photos are Invaluable

But those same editors then buy citizen images because they understand that while it’s impossible to have photojournalists at every site all the time, everyone now has a camera on their phone. The images might not be as perfectly framed as those shot by professionals, the focus might be off and the quality lower than they’d like but as a first impression, photos captured in the initial minutes of an event are invaluable – and therefore worth buying.

It’s why Getty bought Scoopt, a service that channels camera phone images to the media, and it’s why Turi Munthe, a journalist and author, and Jonathan Tepper, a former finance executive, have launched Demotix. Not for the money, of course, but to promote global communications and fill the information gap left by shrinking foreign news desks.

“Demotix was founded on the basis of promoting freedom of speech and freedom of expression,” Jonathan told us by email. “Demotix is also global in scale. We have photographers and visitors to the website from every corner of the globe. We won’t turn down photos of a drunk Lindsay Lohan, but that isn’t why we’re running Demotix.”

Perhaps not, but it’s the financial value of the images that will most motivate people to submit them and it’s also why photo editors will be buying them. After all, to claim in an age of blogging that the mainstream media has a monopoly on free speech is to miss the point of citizen journalism. Anyone now can get information – and images — to the public. But only the mainstream media can supply a large audience and large payments too.

The site works in the usual way. Anyone can register and upload their photos. The images themselves don’t have to meet any specific quality requirements. Camera phone snaps are as acceptable as 12 megapixel monsters; they just might be harder to sell. And images on any topic are welcome.

“Demotix is looking for every kind of pictures — Politics, Economics, Sports, Arts, etc.,” says Jonathan. “The kind we are most interested in are striking pictures that tell a story. There is always demand and a market for good reportage.”

He seems to be right. Demotix quietly launched a beta in December and has since collected a thousand photographers and “a few thousand pictures.” It’s also racked up a number of sales to major outlets. The UK’s Daily Telegraph, for which Turi writes a blog, bought this image of North Korea, and the BBC used this video footage from Demotix of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg who was killed in Mumbai.

The More Common the Image, the Better it Needs to Be

The differences between those two sales though are telling. The subject of each was rare but while the video footage looked like a home movie, the shot of North Korea – which was less rare – looked as artistic as it was photojournalistic. The more common the subject of the image, the better it needs to be.

The prices for images vary too. Demotix charges media companies the same sorts of prices that they would expect to pay editorial photo agencies and takes 50 percent of the sales price. Basic editorial print usage ranges from 0 to 0 depending on the exact use; exclusive photos are a matter of negotiation.

“[W]here there is a market for it, the sky is the limit,” Jonathan said.

Demotix states explicitly that it’s not just not a microstock service, but is “the opposite of microstock in that we look to get the best deal possible when licensing images.” In addition to making its inventory available for buyers to browse, the company’s sellers also hit the phones to known buyers when a particularly good image comes in. That means images might do more than sit around waiting for buyers, and when they do sell, they’ll go for more than a buck.

But citizen agencies like Demotix are also the opposite of microstock in a couple of other important ways. For one, a smaller percentage of the images submitted are going to sell. (Oleg Tscheltzoff, CEO of Fotolia once told us that microstock has 40 million potential buyers. Editorial images have a much smaller market.)

And for another, images that don’t sell right away are unlikely to sell at all.

“Editorial images are perishable and editors need images when they need them,” explained Jonathan. “[T]hey don’t have time to sift through the Web and find two-penny images with cheap photostock agencies.”

That means a large inventory of old editorial images isn’t going to be worth a great deal. But it also means that the supply of sellable images shrinks as quickly as it grows, avoiding the fall in prices that has hit the stock industry.

Selling a news image is always going to be a hit-and-miss affair. Asked for examples of images that have sold to the mainstream media, of the “few thousand” images in its inventory, Demotix only pointed to two, and one was a video. (Although Jonathan did indicate there were others.) If you happen to be in the right place at the right time, then sending your photo to Demotix – or Scoopt for that matter – might be a good place to start. But if it hasn’t sold quickly, then you should probably be looking at other ways to monetize the image… like placing it on your own ad-supported news blog.

Amrita arora shaadi album

After Ayesha Takia, it was Amrita-Shakeel to tie the knot in a big, fat Indian wedding. Amrita Arora married her long time boyfriend Shakeel Ladhak in a week-long wedding ceremony attended by many from Bollywood.

The celebrations, which began on March 4th and continued till the weekend, included a church wedding at Bandra, a ‘nikaah’ ceremony at a mosque, colourful ’sangeet’ and ‘mehendi’ ceremonies and a grand reception at Taj Land’s End Hotel for the who’s who of Bollywood. The ’sangeet’ ceremony, hosted by Salman Khan’s sister Alvira Agnihotri, had Farah Khan choreographing a musical skit and many beautiful pairs of Bollywood shaking their assets for the bride and groom. It is said that of all the songs, Saif and Kareena’s number ‘Kajra Re’ from Bunty Aur Babli won the most applause.

Biography

Amrita Arora’s striking looks and a chirpy personality made sure that she didn’t stay in her sister Malaika Arora’s shadow for long and she held her own with a bagful of ad offers, movies and the who’s who of the film industry as her best buddies.

Basics on Amrita
Amrita Arora, also known as Ammu, was born on 31st January 1978 in Mumbai, India to Joyce Polycrap, a Malayali and Anil Arora, a Punjabi.

Filmography
Deha (2009) – Rini Sinha/Rini M. Desai
Raakh (2009)
Team – The Force (2009)
Golmaal Returns (2008) – Esha
Heroes (2008)
Hello (2008) – Radhika Jha

Rama Rama Kya Hai Drama (2008) – Khushi

Speed (2007)

Heyy Babyy (2007) – special appearance in song

Red (2007) – Neel Oberoi

Fight Club (2006) – Shonali

The guests will include family and close friends, which means heavy Bollywood presence – Gauri and Shah Rukh Khan, Chunky and Bhavna Pandey, Farah and Shirish Kunder, Fardeen and Zayed Khan along with their wives,

Anil Kapoor, Arjun and Mehr Rampal, Priyanka Chopra, Wardha and Sajid Nadiadwala, Twinkle and Akshay Kumar, Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia, Saif Ali Khan, Urmila Matondkar, Karan Johar, Tusshar Kapoor and Manish Malhotra, among others.

Delhi designers Shantanu and Nikhil Mehra have designed the lehenga that Amrita will wear at her nikaah. “It’s a pink lehenga with gothic elements and asymmetrical designs, teamed with an off-shoulder blouse in golden net,” says Nikhil.

Udhay Chopra Again in Bollywood

The Masoom moppet has surely come of age. Jugal Hansraj who recently directed Yashraj Films’ first animation film Roadside Romeo, is all set direct his first feature film for Yashraj Films.

Not surprisingly it would feature the younger scion of the Yashraj empire Uday Chopra who’s currently gone into an impenetrable shell after Arjun Sablok’s wacky and rauchy Neil ‘N’ Nikki failed to do the trick for Uday.

It’s hoped that Jugal and Uday’s real-life friendship would help give an extra edge of excitement to the love story.

It must be remembered that the two friends started their careers together as leading men in Aditya Chopra’s Mohabbatein. Ever since then Jugal has become an integral part of Ysah Chopra’s extended family.

Says a source, “Aditya Chopra is extremely fond of Jugal. He has given him roles in Hum Tum, Aaja Nachle and several other Yashraj films and also encouraged Jugal to turn director. Now when the family is concerned about Uday’s career Aditya has given Jugal a chance to resurrect his brother’s career.”

The film to be launched early next year will be a very unusual love story.

Says a close friend of the Chopras, “Yashraj are done with the conventional. They’re also quite exhausted with giving chances to ungrateful directors who make their first few films for the banner and then move on without a by-your-leave.

Now Aditya Chopra is looking at doing path-breaking work with directors who would grow with the Yashraj empire and not just use the banner as a steppingstone.

Even the film that Aditya is currently directing (Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi) is far from conventional. It’s very audacious to cast Shah Rukh Khan as a bespectacled scooter-riding smalltown workingclass hero at a time when Aamir and the other Khans are selling muscles.

Adi is confident that Shah Rukh will be embraced by his audience in Rab De just as he was in Chak De.”

Jugal Hansraj’s love story with Uday Chopra in the lead requires an ultra-glamorous leading lady. Apparently Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone have been approached.

When contacted Jugal Hansraj replied, “It’s too early to talk about the film. It’s still in the planning stage. I’ll talk about it once everything is in place.”

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Trend Alert: Giraffe Print Handbags

They’re hot and they’re everywhere! Spring hasn’t even begun yet, but it seems like everyone has a giraffe print handbag.

I’ve noticed in the past week or so that giraffe print handbags are definitely the biggest trend in handbags right now. I never expected that!

I’ve seen everything from teens to middle aged women with giraffe print bags in a variety of different sizes. The most popular shape seems to be the hobo. A great giraffe print, mid-sized hobo is the perfect addition to your Spring wardrobe. This bold print goes well with office attire and weekend casual wear. It blends easily into almost any outfit.

The only thing I would avoid wearing when using a giraffe print bag is floral prints or stripes. Stick with neutrals, neon color accents, bold accessories, and sleek lines.

Handbag Heaven has quite a few giraffe print handbags to choose from for under 0!

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Spring 2009 Makeup Trends For Eyeshadow

All the beauty companies are all releasing pastel collections comprised of soft colors for the eyes.

I am in love with the new Tarte Spring Greening Reusable Straw Palette that contains six vibrant eyeshadows, three vivacious t5™-infused lipglosses, and a bamboo eyeshadow brush. Everything is tucked in a compact composed of sustainable straw to help protect and replenish the Earth’s natural resources. Neat!

The other palette that caught me eye was the Urban Decay Ammo Shadow Box Palette. It includes ten of Urban Decay’s best-selling eyeshadows in a mirrored compact. All great colors for creating a sultry smokey eye.

I also noticed a lot of glimmering shimmer in the eyeshadow palettes as well. Must have colors for eyeshadow are warm corals, all shades of purple, and pale pinks.

Some of our favorite shades so far are:

Urban Decay Metallic Eyeshadow, Crash

NARS Single Eyeshadow Compact, Grenadines

3CC Eye Shadow, Cool Peony

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If you don’t like the purple, well that’s just too bad for you! Purple is one of the hottest colors for Spring, second only to yellow. Find a purple eyeshadow you like, and get a matching eyeliner pencil and nail polish to match. We’ll be seeing a lot of violet purple shades of eyeliner and eyeshadow to create a soft, spring-time smoky eye.