Although I have duel nationalities, American/Canadian, sometimes, here on the HOG, I feel like a man without a country, well at least a man without a section. I hang out in the wedding section because weddings are my weekend gig and has been for over 50 years but my full time day job is commercial photography and portraiture.

Perhaps I suffer form a minor case of paranoia but sometimes I feel there is a resentment or a dislike for “professional” photographer around theses parts. OK- maybe it just me! Well- just the other day, I was engaged in a “conversation” online here, about critiques, standards, “rules” and creativity and such stuff. One fine gentlemen remarked that professional photographers were conformists and kinda non-creative folk who stick to “tricks” and rigid rules that have no place in art etc. That's not a verbatim quote but that's what I got out of it- well, I did just admit to paranoia.

Fact is, however, there is a great deal of creativity in general commercial photography but perhaps it is creativity of a different kind. Fist of all it is creativity on demand- oftentimes we are just “hired guns” that have to follow layouts and just get the technical work done and bring other people's visual ideas to fruition. Sometimes the clients will just throw a job in our laps and let the creative juices flow. To me the big creative challenge is based on the old proverb “you can make a silk purse out of a sows ear”! We get to do that every day- sometimes its pure magic. Sure, we get to photograph some really cool stuff and interesting and exotic persons, places and things, however, much of our daily work has to do with seriously mundane subject matter so the artistic challenge is to make whatever or whoever we are photographing seem visually attractive, exciting and desirable. Much of what we do has to do with advertising- we are selling stuff and the first components of a SALE is attracting attention and creating desire.

Some assignment s require lots of team work and others can be done singlehandedly and unilaterally- good if you are a hermit!

It certainly ain't boring. One day may bring a pretty fashion model, some shiny jewelry or stylish cosmetics in the morning and a box of pills and a container of nasal spray in the afternoon. Pots, pans, dishes garbage cans, garbage trucks, fire engines, heavy equipment, furniture and light bulbs are all in the mix. A posh interior on Monday and a dirty excavation site on Tuesday.

We do work for large and small businesses, government departments, the food service industry, online catalogs, record album covers, posters, menu boards, billboards, transit adverting, ad agencies, musicians and preforming artists, and all sots of publications. Corporate, institutional and family portraiture is also included in my particular offerings.

Even if y'all are not interested in photography as a business, there is so much technique to discuss- things that can be applied to all kinds of photography for the aspiring pro- the serous amateur or the causal hobbyist. Photographing all kinds of textures and reflective surfaces, architecture, animals, shooting glass, shooting through glass, cars, boats, food and beverages, fashions, antiques- wherever your interests lie. All kinds of lighting issues are involved- studio, speedlight, out of doors, ambient and lots of cheap improvised methods that work!

We even get to eat some of the food when we are shooting it. No, we don't polish the apples with floor wax or put soap suds in the beer- a shot of air from a syringe makes for a nice head. See how much fun we have! Oh- we do have some expensive acrylic ice cubes that won't melt and look real.

Believe it or not, the equipment was always basic and simple. For generations, the basic tools of the commercial photographer was a large format wooden view camera and some good glass and a rugged set of hot lights. Nowadays, most of the work can be done with a decent DSLR and a workable processing program. It has more to do with skill that with gear.

Besides, we get to do all kinds of fun processing. In the film days we did posterizations, solarizations, high contrast, inferred renditions, cross-processing, printing through texture screens, sepia toning and hand coloration, “stripping in” text, montage and multiple exposure effects and more. Now most of this is accessible in our post processing platforms.

So, what do y'all think? Any interest? If the powers that be wanna start a section than I will be pleased to help manage it. I have a little experience, I help the main guy manage the wedding section. It would give me something to do on my days off. I don't shoot bugs, birds, and butterflies - I'll save those for retirement and I stay away form big wild life. I once had a nightmare about shooting in the woods and being eaten by an angry bear- that's almost as bad as an angry art director when you come too close to a deadline and the job ain't progressing well!

If not- any other suggestions?

Please let me know. Thanks!


PLEASE SEE MY PHOTOGRAPHS IN THE NEXT POST. I am having an issue with posting them them here. kindly go to out my next post- in a few minutes. Some kind of glitch in the system