Lou. One of my most consistent muses.
I return to the work I did with her time and time again
to renew my excitement about portraits.
I've thought a lot about it and I have a confession to make; I hate producing video. I'm not particularly good at it and, to be even more frank, I hate the degree of collaboration that generally has to happen to make programs work the way clients want videos to work.
Over the course of my career I've shot a lot of corporate video, been part of teams making television commercials, and done a bunch of interviews. I've shot on 35mm film, 16mm film, Super8 film, Hi-8 video, BetaSP video and most recently with a gaggle of video-ready still cameras, and I have to say that it's generally more trouble for me than it is worth.
Don't get me wrong. I like the concepting and writing of video. I even like lighting and shooting video...but...I hate the process of collaborating on a "team vision" for a project and I just detest the whole editing process ---- mostly because these two things are not strengths of mine. While I am mostly an extrovert and love being around all kinds of people when it comes to creative projects I more or less like to execute them with an iron fist. And I'm not an organized enough thinker to be a good editor either.
So, my new strategy for the business is to ignore commercial video entirely. And to ignore the temptation to create a YouTube channel and become a blithering, blathering and pontificating expert about cameras, in vivid 4K (I can get in enough pontification right here on the blog...). If clients call and want to do video I'll offer to help them find a producer. If they want me to be involved I'll happily concept with them and even write scripts but I'll be damned if I want to stand next to the camera and prompt one more CEO as he/she rattles on about "executing on our unique vision to be top performers and to achieve excellence in the field of janitorial data management facilitation...."
I'd rather take a camera out and make a small movie with a beautiful pair of actors making small talk about coffee and life, and do it all in black and white. Wrap it into a three or four minute edit and share it with my film friends.
I hate most of the effects that clients seem to like. I dislike current fashions in editing. And I really dislike performing for "likes" like a porpoise leaping out of the water to get a small fish. So, I'll be taking mentions of video production off the kirktuck.com website and re-focusing my attention to the wonderful world of making portraits. If the right video project comes along then I'll consider it, but....
In transitioning to a new computer I spent a lot of time sorting through files in order not to migrate a lot of junk to the new hard drive. In the process I saw the overwhelming trend of my work, which has always been making portraits of all kinds. It's people, their expressions, their gestures, and the life one can see in their eyes (if I get everything right) that I love.
"Over my shoulder I do hear times winged chariot drawing near..." (From: To His Coy Mistress, by Andrew Marvell). There's not enough time to be an expert in too many fields at once. I feel I've hit the Y (or Why) in the road where I needed to make a choice. It's easy. It's still photography of people.
Will I ever touch the video button again? Yes! But it will be for fun and games and not driven mercilessly forward by the sting of impending poverty, under the lash of corporate silliness. (Loved the drama of writing that. So silly!!!).
This shift is one of the reasons I retooled with the addition of the two higher resolution Panasonic Lumix S1R cameras. They offer a high enough resolution to work well when used in the square, 1:1 format, and the lenses I paired them with are the finest ones I could find in the entire market. If I can't achieve my vision with them then I am doomed to failure at any rate.
I've been viciously reducing my equipment foot print left and right in the studio and hope to hold the line by bringing in only equipment that facilitates my focus on portraiture. I've never been a great multi-tasker and the fewer things I need to consider in the day-to-day running of my business the better off I'm sure I'll be.
I have a couple of year's left before I retire from the commercial field and I want to make the most of it. Not the most money --- I don't really care about that anymore --- I just want to be the absolute best portrait photographer I can be. When I step away from doing it as a business nothing will really change except for the fact that, at that point in time, every subject in front of my cameras will be someone I want to photograph, not someone I've been contracted to photograph.
This is certainly not a bold step or a surprising announcement but a distillation of both my own thinking and the advice of friends and loved ones whose opinions I value very much.
As the whole world moves toward video I'll take a contrarian point of view and head in the other direction. Maybe I'll even try to write better.....
Happy New Year. KT
18 comments:
You'll never regret being true to yourself.
Thanks Stephen, I'm thick-headed; it always takes me more time to realize stuff....
This is such the right move for you. I've been reading this blog almost since it's beginning and your strength has always been in the portraits (and writing about your life). Are you also going to keep us your "street photography" for us? I also really like the shots of people in real life that you give us.
My wife and I have been making just the same changes.
I am your age and have reached a pleasant nexus of work and security where I don't have to chase every job that comes my way.
I am re-calibrating my studio to location only work and will be closing my stand alone studio later this year. My favorite clients (and work) are architectural and institutional portraiture. The architects have to have me on location and when their firm needs portraiture they love having me make cool images at their office.
The studio is a nice place to be to do my office and PP chores but the jobs I do there generate less money and even less interest to me.
Yeah, the hoofbeats are louder but I am not looking over my shoulder.
Sounds like a wonderfully sane plan,perhaps because it sounds a bit like my own.
I'm a few years ahead of you, but probably on less solid financial ground. I need to keep a few bucks coming in, but I no longer have to chase every job that wonders past. My photography goal is to concentrate on the things I enjoy most, by coincidence primarily portraits, and ignore most of the rest -- unless it's really fun or really serious money.
A second goal is to get back into the routine of making prints, then getting them up on walls for people to see. We'll see how well I stick to that.
Best to you and yours in the coming year. Look forward to reading much more from you.
A three or four minute movie...in black and white...with actors talking about coffee and life.
Please make this film.
DavidB
Interesting turn off events Kirk!
Well, maybe you do need a slower more purposeful camera, something to really drive home this new direction. Personally I think the Panasonic's are to hybrid a device... May I suggest a move to the Fuji medium format with 2 lenses?
I am only suggesting this slightly tongue in cheek, but it would certainly add sharpness and emphasis to the new push.
Here is to a prosperous and fulfilling 2020.
Glad you finally decided to take my advice, Kirk! :o)
This was fun to read.
I like this jewel: "I feel I've hit the Y (or Why) in the road ... "
"concept" as a verb? Well, I guess any noun can be verbed, if you need it to.
Nice.
And more time to swim.
Cool. I once came here because of the gear you were using, and writing about it. But I stayed because of your portraits. A good decision.
All the best to you and to yours,
Wolfgang
Clever devil. A bit of “Don’t throw me in that briar patch” subtext. And so his price for video work quadrupled, along with guarantees of creative freedom.
Bravo! But do make videos like the Cantine video now and then. I love that one.
Video and photography really are two very different beasts. Two different skill sets and ways of seeing. There is some overlap but they are mostly different. I've never been comfortable with video and honestly never had much of a desire to create films. Editing video? I'd rather stick needles in my eyes. I do some personal video and family things and my new iPhone is more than up to that task for my needs. Photos are what I'm interested in. I love portraits and I love photographing people doing things...I'm not sure if that's a genre but I don't care, I love taking pictures of people doing things.
I look forward to seeing more new portraits on your blog. A wise decision regarding Youtube. Running a channel takes an incredible amount of time. I did it for a year and a half and realized it was weighing me down. It was a great learning experience for me but I was happy to finally let it go.
Happy New Year Kirk. Everything you say makes sense, especially as you create luscious portraits. In my own career field of information systems, trying to set the compass is insanely difficult right now. It is the same challenge as trying to identify trends, ignoring things that are are just transient fascinations with CIOs, and keeping focused on the business skills that have been key to my success (the technology is meaningless without understand how and why you're applying it).
So I envy your deliberate narrowing of focus (pun intended) and simplification of your business model. In it I'm sure you find both great success and happiness, and I look forward to seeing the work that emerges. Equally happy that you have no YouTube aspirations, the written word and still images are wickedly powerful and demand deliberate attention (and reward accordingly).
Some years back you described why it was necessary to offer video as well as stills to clients. I had shot and produced very short videos for my newspaper's website, several times each week, so it wasn't new to me. I took your words to heart as I grew my commercial work.
One year ago today, I, and the great majority of the newspaper staff, accepted buyouts and I began shooting commercial work full-time, thanks to 40 years of contacts. It was a pretty good year, better than I had expected.
I produced 4 videos for clients during the year. That was enough for me. I can do it. I don't like to do it. Since I'll hang up the commercial work in another year when I retire, I've decided that if a client really wants video, I'll do it. But I'm not going to offer it.
I understand that few photographers have the luxury of taking a stand like this. I'm lucky.
Happy New Year, Kirk.
So....I take this to mean you won't be writing the "Video for Photographers" book you mentioned a while back? Interesting about-face from why photographers should offer video. I do appreciate your honesty regarding your personal feelings towards doing video for clients. Looking forward to reading your post on why commercial photographers should focus on still photography, and how to remain viable and competitive in the market while doing so.
Keith, I think photographers who are beginning their careers now or in the middle of careers should most adamantly, definitely, for sure learn and market video skills if they want to be successful financially in most markets. I'm lucky in that I'm able to pick and choose now in a way that I've never been able to before and if something has to go away for me it's going to be video and not stills. I've created relationships with several very good videographers and editors and if I stay involved in video it will be from a producer/director position and not a hands-on the equipment role. I'm better at getting the jobs for a team than executing the nuts and bolts. I think I'll try playing to my strengths for a change.
As for the book. Probably not. There's so much good info out there already and the tech and aesthetics change so fast.
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