Hi, I'm Tamara Lackey and on this episode
of reDefine Show for AdoramaTV. I speak
with creatives consultant Deborah Weiss
and we discussed her long-term
experience with the photography industry,
her focus on copyright issues, and what
photographers need to know, to protect
their work. And she also shares how to
differentiate yourself in the age of
Instagram check it out.
Hi Debra! How are you?
I'm good how are you?
Good! Thanks for joining me.
Well thanks for having me, absolutely, you
just gave a pretty big talk here at
PhotoPlus Expo about about fear,
overcoming fear. Yeah. About overcoming
fear, and how to have the career that you want!
Yeah. That's, a pretty big deal right
now. It's a big deal... I mean, I think that
there is a lot going on that gives
people cause to worry.
The biggest thing particularly amongst
professional photographers that gives
them cause to worry is Instagram really..
and well it's because most art buyers,
most creatives, look at Instagram every
day, and there is some amazing stuff out
there by amateurs. Yeah by people who are
not seasoned photographers, not
professionals, and they actually wind up
getting jobs. Right, right. So you know
photographers have always been,
historically, have always been nervous
during changes, you know, technological
changes in 1888 when Kodak invented the
camera, the professional photographers of
the day you were going... "Oh my God
everybody's a photographer now, what are
we going to do"? in 1888...? In 1888 Wow.. And
that's what brought about the
pictorialist movement, because they had
to separate themselves from just the
average person on the street, and, and
then when Nikon brought in the SLR,
in the 60's, they started importing them
like crazy.
Everybody went... "oh my god everybody's a
photographer now"... The difference though
back then, was that you still had to know
something, you had to know something
about the craft of photography. Today
it's different you know, anybody can get
lucky once and take a great picture. Sure
what will always separate the pro from
the amateur, is the pro can do it on
demand. A Pro is a problem-solver and that's
something that cannot really
be you know taken lightly.
Because when you're dealing particularly with an
advertising shoot and there is hundreds of
thousands of dollars involved, you don't
want to be stuck on a set with somebody
who you know, has only operated an iPhone.
Yeah, and the problem with photographers
unlike other businesses, when you're
a baker, or a lawyer, or a plumber, you
basically put a business plan together,
and you take out loans so that you can
operate your business. Photographers do
not think this way, and the problem with
that is that, when, is that, when you're
struggling, and when you're stressed
about money, you, the creativity suffers
yes!
You cannot just be free! Yes! I know that
everybody loves to talk about starving art..
Oh and you have to be starving, you have
to suffer, it's such a nonsense! Yeah,
It's, it's total nonsense!
You know I just gave a talk here where,
one of the major elements is exactly
what you're saying, which is if you've
got all this stuff stuck in your head
how do you look at a scene, and just
think, okay, I'm going to really brainstorm
the heck out of this. I'm going to be, you
know, when I get really creative lighting,
on there, the cool backgrounds, but no,
you're sitting there thinking, I can't
even think, I've got so much to do...right!
Right! Actually I've got bills to pay, and
I've got to worry about this, and worry
about that, and for people with family.
I don't, you know... it's got to be a really
terrible, you know, terrible situation. You
know I said yesterday, there's you know, I
talk about fears, and we have you know,
rational fears and irrational fears. To
me a rational fear is Donald Trump, an
irrational fear is getting on a plane,
right, if you're flying you know. Right.
Statistically, it's just, well, and something
that you have absolutely no control over,
you know? And I say to you know when I
ask that question of photographers, and I
you know, I just look at them and go..
Honestly, it's really not about you like,
you know the universe is not going to
single you out to, you know, to do away
with you that, you know, that day. I mean
you know. So it's almost like some of
these fears that creatives are having, are
actually quite self-focused behaviors?
Yes..
It's self focused behaviors, there's a
general German proverb "The fear makes
the wolf bigger than he is". Yeah. And, and
what they're saying is...
you know like, if you didn't let your
head get in the way of that, you would
look at it. It's just a wolf. Yeah! That's
all it is. But we tend to blow everything
up, every shadow.
Ya know? Yeah, and we we just, and you know,
there's certain things, and I also tell
photographers, have and outer body experience..
Make believe you're someone
else. Make believe you're a really
confident person when you go in for a
meeting for the first time. If you're
meeting for the first time.
Just pretend, because there's no other way
around it, you know? I mean there's also
tips like, if you were going in to meet a
total stranger, first of all a lot of
that comes with practice, and with
experience, but if you're going in to
meet a stranger, and you're a bit
uncomfortable which photographers
usually are, because they're not the ones
in the driver's seat right? You know?
They're going to somebody to get hired,
you know, do a very quick inventory of
what's in the office, of what's around
them, what are they wearing. Like what are
they in to , like do they have a baseball on their
shelf? What are the pictures, and
just start talking. Find something in
common, to talk about. Something to
connect on, because then you're making it
right off the bat about them. And they
love it when it's about about them, and
it sort of breaks the ice. It makes it
you know easier to actually meet someone
first. Because for a photographer, it's
difficult when somebody's looking at
their work, because the photographer
takes it so personally, and they can't
take anything in business... you cannot
take anything... You don't like me... Yeah! No,
they don't, I don't think they understand.
And I think that there's a segment of
you know, the, of the photography
population, and the art buyer population,
and, and publisher, and people, want that,
make it want to seem like it, we're all
just really friends, but we're not, and
we're really not, and and what they, what
they're looking for, is something that is
applicable to what they're doing, and
what's key to going to get their message
across, and please their client, and make
them keep their job! So that they can
make their mortgage payment. This is like,
really this is the nuts and bolts, and then
every once in a while, you get to meet
incredible people. Incredibly talented
people, I don't believe anybody be it an
agent, or a magazine starts off the day with...
Wow! I can't wait to do some crappy work
today, and I think they're so beaten you
know everybody is so beaten down by, you
don't know what the clients do now,
because they've started putting their
little paw prints on you know, on the
creative, the creative aspects of the job!
They're putting the agencies in a
terrible position, because they'll just
say to them you know, look if you don't
do what we want this is what our focus
group says... you don't do what we want
...let's just, you know! There are 50 other
agencies lined up behind you... which is
similar to what agencies have been doing
to photographers for years, you know..
...by using that, as you know, leverage to
lower the bid, or anything, but moving
forward. I mean you know again, there's
that thing about you know, The Pro can
do it on demand, and you just have to
constantly stretch yourself. You know,
with the number of photographers, even the
professional photographers,
professional photographers there's so
much work that looks exactly alike,
because what happens is they all shoot
with the same cameras, and same lenses.
David Burnett, who's a great
photojournalist out of Washington. During,
he covered the gore campaign, and he
showed up the first day of the campaign,
and everybody was there with the same
Canon cameras and the same Canon lenses,
and he looked around and he went home, he
lives in Washington, and went home and he
got his Speed Graphic! And he schlepped
that huge camera all around the campaign
trail, and won major awards because his
look, it had such a different look! Yeah,
and it's really difficult to stand out,
but that's what makes, that's what
separates the great photographers, from
that, from the rest!
Yeah and that quote right there, it's
really hard to stand out, when you're
trying also to kind of fit right in to
fit in! Like that's it, it's fit in! So where
can people go to find out more about you
and also some important tips they should
know in terms of protecting their work!
Okay so, I am at DebraWeiss.com.
Instagram @DebraWeiss all right?
Even I'm on Instagram, I
fought it for a very, very, long time!
Because of the copyright, because of
copyright protections. I'm a copyright
advocate, and everything and we're living
in the Wild West, and people just steal
left and right, they use, and it's, it is a
real problem. I would urge every
photographer to register their images
with the Copyright Office in Washington.
It's very, very easy now, particularly if
it's in it before you put it anywhere,
you know it's register it as an
unpublished image if possible, because
you can register a million of them, for
one flat fee. It's very, very important,
because what that, what that does, is it
gives you protections, and again it
affords you things should somebody
infringe, and yeah and the person with
the blog you can't go after them, I mean
you you can't waste your time and your
resources or your money, but there are
major corporations who willingly, and
knowingly lift images all the time! Right.
All the time, and they do it because the
chances of them getting caught, are the
chances of a photographer really taking
action. Yeah. Are so slim, that it's
actually cheaper for them to have to
deal with it later on. I mean this is you,
know it's American corporatocracy,
and that mentality of of thinking, but so
you know. I, I can be, I could be reached
you know on the website, the phone, all
the information is there. All the contact
information is there. I would just urge
photographers to, you know, really first
of al,l to constantly stretch you know,
there's, there's an old saying. "There's
Nothing New Under The Sun", okay, and
people, most people have heard that
expression. Do you know where it comes
from? No? It comes from Ecclesiastes, it
was King Solomon, so it's very liberating
in a way, because photographers, because
of the number of photographers, and the
fact that it's really hard to stand.. that
they have to think that.."Oh my god, I have
to create.. I have to reinvent the wheel!"
Yeah... and it's not that they have to do
that, but it's the approach to the work
and that's where the photographers
eye comes in, that's where photographers
have you know, there is some that have
ways of looking at things, that you know,
that nobody else does, and that's what
will separate them. So I, you know, I would
urge them to constantly stretch
themselves creatively. To protect their
work, to understand that it's a business.
Go take a business class when you
through it, then take another business
class, because the people that you're
dealing with, that are paying you
understand what business is about! Yeah!
And you know, and just don't, don't put
yourself, don't get terrified about
everything. You have to remain true to
yourself, you, you have to, have to be an
air of authenticity about everything
that you do, and you just have to work
hard at it. It's, there's nothing easy,
Nothing! There's nothing easy in life, you
know, that's well, thank you very much. I
really appreciate it, know you've got a
busy schedule so let you go. Thank you!
Got some great tips here, thank you, Thank
you so much Debra, I really appreciate
your time and check us out here next
time on reDefine show, and don't forget
if you want to protect your work, you
should make sure you get better at it,
and Adorama has tons of tutorials for you!