Beware...Is Shooting for a Bad Magazine Good?

[Benjamin Kanarek]

Is Shooting for a Bad Magazine Good?

Today on a generalist Photo Forum under the Portrait Fashion category, someone from a small independent and in my opinion based on what I saw on their web site, not very good fashion magazine, placed an ad for photographers for their magazine. Now that seemed strange in the first place, which I go on to explain in the copy below. Here is part of the content of her query.

I have left out the name of the magazine and the name of the person.

"..We are looking for an up and coming photographer each month to shoot images for our cover. This is an unpaid commission, but provides great exposure as the cover stays on the front page for one whole month.."

Hello ...

My concern is that if you are coming to a forum to seek out photographers for your magazine, then that speaks volumes about the credibility of your magazine. I have been in this strange business for over 20+ years and do know one thing; the minimum one should know is where the sources are, where the press offices are which agents represent which photographers and what are the agencies representing the models etc. Now, perhaps you are new at this, so I will consider this query as naive, but, I do know that if I had to put production together and I wasn't the photographer, I would know exactly where to find them.

That tells me, that getting exposure in your magazine could be considered poison in disguise, wrapped in a sweet chocolate covered coating. Why? Because anyone in the know would see immediately by the content, layout, choice of talent and advertisers what your standing is in the Fashion community. This may sound cruel and arrogant, but the reality is, in looking at your web site, I would recommend to anyone wishing to shot for this magazine the following..."buyer beware..."



Getting to shoot for VOGUE,Harpers, Elle, Marie Claire, Numero, V, W, or ID has and never will be a question of "How Much Do I Make?" that is a joke! You couldn't pay VOGUE enough money to shoot for them. The status associated with doing so is the following..."Once you are in VOGUE, you ARE in Vogue" and your phone will slowly start ringing off the wall to shoot Ad campaigns that command 5 too 6 figure numbers. There is a very simple barometer in this business. The less credible the magazine, the more perks it should provide for the team, as the exposure the team get, may be more detrimental to them than if they hadn't at all.



If you want a photographer, stylist, AD, make-up or Hair stylist, set designer, etc...just order Lebook. Now if you didn't know about Lebook, you should NOT be in the Fashion Business. If you want to play the game, learn the rules.

http://www.benjaminkanarekblog.com/?p=1220

[robski]

Benjamin

I see this advert as just another cost cutting exercise.

I think what you have been describing in recent posts is the general decline in the printed Newspaper and Magazine market.

A few snippets to illustrate

"Marie Claire lost 4.8% of its circulation in the six months to December 2008 compared to the same period in 2007"

"The number of pages of advertising in 2009 have fallen 20% for the February, March and April issues, the Vogue publisher, Stephen Quinn, said. First 6 months of 2008 Vogue showed a 6% drop in circulation."

I work for a company who supplied equipment and software to the Newspaper industry throughout the world. I know all too well how the industry has declined and resulting in myself being made redundant in November.

It appears Broadsheets are trying to maintain standards but there has been a huge drop in standards on many of the tabloids and free sheets. Often you can see a very low quality image on the front page taken with a mobil phone. No doubt they paid next to nothing for it, if at all.

Can you imagine the next copy of some top fashion mag with a catwalk shot taken with a mobil phone!!!!

[yelvertoft]

Ben, you said it yorself in another thread, the guise of the "professional" photographer is changing rapidly. There will always be the high end of the market, though the circulation will undoubtedly shrink.

The 'togs who produce high quality imaginative work will continue ot get work and be paid a reasonable sum. The wanna-be's who go for the kudos and work onthe cheap will not lat long, though it has to be said, there will be another wanna-be stepping into their shoes quickly behind them. Don't worry, the cream will rise to the top, though the neck of the bottle will get a lot narrower.

[robski]

Originally Posted by yelvertoft

There will always be the high end of the market,

Only time will tell Duncan, I wonder if Mangle ( Wringer) and Bed Pan Warmer sale persons thought their market would last forever.

In this fast changing world you don't have not to think back many years to see ways of life that have come and gone. Doorstep deliveries of milk and bread, TV rental, the local shop that sells parts for the washing machine.

Will the mobil phone shops in the high street be a dim and distant memory in a few years time.

You may not of noticed it but all Newspaper & Magazine companies have re-branded themselves as Media companies recently. No longer relying on print but exploring web, radio and TV as outlets.

Think of the high end artwork on the vinyl LP record jackets that are no longer needed for the mp3 download.

Who is to say that high end fashion will be fashionable in 20 years time.

[yelvertoft]

Originally Posted by robski

Who is to say that high end fashion will be fashionable in 20 years time.

Fashion, by its very nature, will always be fashoionable. the industry survives on creating the perceived need to be constantly changing. Pandering to human vanity and the desire to be seen to be a trend setter will, perhaps unfortunately, always be with us. The nature of the products in question may change, but there will always be a need to promote the latest line of fashionable clothing, it is the very lifeblood of the whole sector. For this reason, I think there will always be a need to produce promotional material, in some form or another. How can people know what they have to be seen to be wearing if they are not exposed to the great marketing machine of the industry?

Fashions are created by the designers and promoted by the media as the thing that followers must be seen in. The cult of "celebrity" in recent years has only helped promote the need to be seen as emulating certain idols. Some fashion photographers may well shift to being more akin to papparazzi, but the designers still need to promote their wares to the masses to show how cool they are.

[robski]

All very true if the current model of our society survives.

Think tanks have been telling us for years that our throw away society must change with the every increasing population.

Take the Chinese Cultural Revolution, French Revolution and Russian Revolution as classic examples in history where the status quo of the current model was over turned.

I'm waiting for the penny to drop with the powers that be to realise economic boom and bust are built in factors of our current economic model.

[Benjamin Kanarek]

Originally Posted by robski

All very true if the current model of our society survives.

Think tanks have been telling us for years that our throw away society must change with the every increasing population.

Take the Chinese Cultural Revolution, French Revolution and Russian Revolution as classic examples in history where the status quo of the current model was over turned.

I'm waiting for the penny to drop with the powers that be to realise economic boom and bust are built in factors of our current economic model.

Very astute and well expressed.

[djbrown]

It just appears Broadsheets are trying to maintain standards.