What is the state of creativity in Atlanta advertising? No group is in a better position to judge than the people who shoot the photographs that illustrate the concepts hatched by creatives in shops all over town. According to a sampling of some of Atlanta’s top advertising photographers, the Atlanta market is a conservative one driven by clients concerns rather than by outstanding creative vision.
“I think safe may be a good word to describe it,” says Tim Olive. “The agencies are afraid to say to a client that they have standards for doing work, and if those standards are being met, the best possible work is being done. But they don’t do that. If the client says ‘jump,’ they jump, whether it makes sense or not.”
Says Judy Pishnery, “The clients might be looking for creative work, but they’re looking for safe work as well. They’re being safe with their concepts as well. What I’ve discovered is they are locked into an idea of what they want and they want you to stick with that. A lot of the work is interesting, but it could be taken further with different styles or photography techniques, but I’m not sure the clients are ready for that.”
Grover Sterling sees the market as being more middle of the road. “There are some agencies that do the creative stuff,” he explains, “and some that do the schlocky stuff. So, you get to do a little bit of everything - you get a bit of the neat stuff and a bit of the schlock.”
Although feeling that the overall mindset is conservative, Don Chambers of the Pelosi & Chambers studio believes that the city’s creatives are breaking free. “Atlanta has always gotten the bad rap of not being an advertising town, that clients would not let you do good work,” he says. “But from what I see, we’ve gotten past that. Even agencies that are conservative and have been here forever are doing nice work now. People can’t sing the blues as much as they used to.”
According to Lynda Green, who is president of the Atlanta chapter of the Advertising Photographers of America (APA), local shooters are doing well in terms of the rates they charge. She cites a recent APA survey which shows Atlanta ad shooters garnering respectable rates. “Not many of them are getting the top dollars,” says Green, “but a lot of them are getting paid quite well.”
While the robust Atlanta economy has meant more work for photographers, Chambers says its harder to make money that it was even five years ago. “We find that we’re billing more than we used to, but we’re not necessarily taking more home because it seems the expenses have gone up on everything,” he states. “Because clients have so many more choices, it’s hard to get higher rates for traditional jobs. Every so often, you get that gem of a job where money is no object. But, bidding still counts and there are good photographers who can do a quality job and are willing to do it for a little less.”
By all accounts, Atlanta is a healthy ad market, with a number of respected ad shops handling accounts of all sizes and categories. Because the market is strong, the competition for assignments is strong as well.
“It seems as if there’s an oversaturation of photographers in this market for the amount of advertising that’s going on,” says Horace Hicks. Adds Chambers, “The good news is the work is there if you know how to get it, but you’re sharing it with a lot more people.”
Sterling believes this increase in competition is due in part to the number of educational institutions offering training in the communication arts. “Atlanta has the Portfolio Center, the Creative Circus, the Art Institute, and other schools that are turning out photographers,” says Sterling, himself a graduate of the Portfolio Center. “That’s a lot of competition starting out. It’s near impossible for a photographer to get into an agency to show his book. If I had to start from scratch right now by showing my book, I’d be screwed.”
Getting ahead of the competition can be a full time job in itself. Photographers say the main tool is a strong book filled with outstanding work. But even armed with a killer portfolio, it sometimes comes down to who you know as much as what you’ve done.
“You need to beat down doors and get in front of people’s faces so you can show them your work and keep fresh in their mind,” says Hicks.
“Getting ahead in Atlanta takes a lot of courage and a lot of dedication,” says Green. “It also takes a good amount of money to promote yourself. You need to get involved in the community and establish relationships with the agencies. It’s a tough road and you have to be diligent.”
One sure way to make an impact is to be involved in a project that garners recognition in an award show or gets picked to appear in a publication like Communication Arts or Graphis. “Art directors and designers look at awards books and think the talent behind that campaign is better than anyone else,” says Parish Kohanim. “In some cases that’s true, but not in all cases.”
Despite the difficulty in getting ahead, Tom Abraham advises that photographers need to maintain a sense of professionalism. “You have to understand it’s not a personal issue if you don’t get the job,” he stresses. “People will get their emotions wrapped up in whether or not they get the job, and that’s not really appropriate. You need to see it as a cut-and-dried business transaction.”
Another danger for shooters is getting pigeonholed into a particular category or specialty. Although it provides a kind of short-hand for an art director, being locked into one kind of work has the potential to stifle a photographer’s creativity and put a roadblock on career advancement.
“You need to be pigeonholed to get established,” says Abraham, “but you need to get out of that pigeonhole once you do get established. When you get out of school, you just need to get work, so you tend to sell one flavor of photography—but you also try to evolve out of it. One of the great things about photography is that you have the opportunity to re-invent yourself. You don’t have to do the same thing over and over. Though people want to put you in a pigeonhole, you can break out of that by changing your book.”
Even if a photographer should produce a sure and steady stream of outstanding work, that’s no guarantee an art director will keep them in mind when a big budget job with award-winning potential for a daring and bold client comes into the agency. In those cases, it’s more likely than not the A.D. will be looking to New York, Chicago or Los Angeles for a shooter with more of a name.
“When the art directors and buyers have an option, they don’t look at the talent that’s available in town,” says Kohanim. “My feeling is they should look at Atlanta first because there are some really good talents here.”
Green says that when a big-budget job stays in town, the agencies usually pick from a small list of veteran photographers. “The people who get these jobs are the ones who have been around for a long time,” she explains. “[Art directors] are less open to younger people doing that work because of their inexperience.
This is especially true when it comes to agencies getting assignments that may be considered a bit daring. “It’s probably fair to say that it’s not unusual for clients seeking cutting-edge work to leave the city,” says Michael West. “There are certainly cutting-edge photographers here, but they have to seek work outside Atlanta as well.”
Of course when ad agencies in lower-tier markets in places like Alabama, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina receive bigger budgets for campaigns, they look to Atlanta to get their photography. “For regional people, we’re the big guys, “ says Scott Lowden. For me, the out-of-town work takes me to the next level. It’s really nice that I’m considered the ‘big guy.’”
Photographers say that Atlanta’s photo community can use a stronger support infrastructure. Although the market has a good number of assistants, make-up and hair stylists and other support personnel, when things get busy, that network can get awfully thin.
“I think there’s room for improvement,” says West. “There’s not the depth of resources that we need. There needs to be more food stylists and maybe a quality prop house. We’re still in the stage where things have to be gotten up from scratch. There are a few companies that bill themselves as prop sources, but the quality is not there. We have a group of providers in the market—a group that is good and stays busy—but that creates scheduling issues for everybody. The quality is here, it’s just too shallow.”
Pishnery says that rather than spend time trying to track down support service people, she relies on an agency or repping firm to supply needed personnel. She says that there is a particular shortage in food stylists.
“I’m always looking for someone,” she explains. “I end up pulling in people who really aren’t food stylists. I’ll sometimes end up doing of the prop styling myself because I don’t have the time to track someone down or can’t find anyone.”
Hicks adds that the pool of assistants fluctuates. “Some days,” he explains, “you can get a good assistant when you need one. Other days, everybody is booked up.”
Although some might complain about the availability of models in town, Lowden says it all comes down to money. “If you want Christie Turlington and you’ve got the money, it doesn’t matter where you are,” he says. “People are always complaining about [the lack of] modeling talent, but I’m bringing in people from Miami all the time and they don’t even know it. If you pay them a good day rate, they’ll come in from anywhere.”
A knowledgeable and tasteful eye is often a leading factor into why a particular art director hires a given photographer for a job. Even so, the amount of input the agency creative will accept into the photography varies from individual to individual. Some A.D.s prefer to have the photographer shoot the layout they’re given, others want the photographer to add his or her touch and is welcome to suggestions.
“There are some people who only want me to shoot what the boards are and shut up,” says Lowden. “But, about 75 percent of the people who hire me want interaction and consider photography, as I do, a team event.”
“The weak link here is the lack of good account executives,” declares Kohanim. “Most accounts are client driven, and the clients are so hands-on there’s no room for input. They sign off to something specific and it’s hard to deviate from that. It takes a dedicated account executive to fight for creativity. Things are getting competitive and they don’t want to alienate the client, but there’s a way to do that without giving them total control. Creativity is our forte, that’s what we get paid to do.”
It seems that veteran agency creatives are more open to photographer input than their younger colleagues. “I’ve been working with established art directors, “ says Pishnery, “and they’re more comfortable with their clients and the types of project they’re doing. They’re professional and they know you’re professional and can trust you to deliver what they need. They’re also not afraid to tell you if you’ve gone too far with it. The younger people might have some exciting ideas, but they’re unsure of how of how far they can push a client.”
Olive believes changes in the way the business of advertising is conducted today limits the opportunity for a photographer to have input. “People seem to need everything faster,” he explains. “That’s a great disadvantage. You’re trying to pull rabbits out of a hat rather than putting your energies into making an outstanding image. You’re trying to pull a decent photograph out of nothing, which drains all your energies. That’s’ usually because there’s not enough time. The ad agencies feel this too. Their clients put them under enormous pressure. Your better campaigns are the ones done when there is sufficient time.”
The growth of the stock photography industry has had an impact on the creative leeway clients and agencies grant shooters. “Every once in a while,” says Green,” you’ll get a call from someone who wants you to copy a stock shot. You have to tell them you can’t do that and that we have to do something different. An agency might use a stock image for a layout and the client will love it. That limits your creative freedom. When people still drew layouts, there was more room for interpretation, and that allowed for more creativity.”
Every year it seems that there are trends that are predominant. One year it may be a style of lighting that resembles the richness of old master paintings. Another year, black-and white rules, while the next, over-saturated colors become the mainstay. Our photographers say that in 2000, the trend seems to be a break from clean, perfect images to photos that are a little rougher and less stylized.
“In the first part of my career,” says Chambers, “I learned to perfect photography. In the second half, I’m learning how to make it not look perfect. In the ‘80s and early ‘90s, people wanted things to look perfect. Now, A.D.s say they want ‘funk.’ They don’t want it to look sharp—they want you to jiggle the camera.”
Olive says that creatives have been requesting more action in images. “They want tilted camera angles and selective focus,” he explains. “They want some kind of excitement in the photo. I think it’s good that they’re asking for these things.”
Adds Abraham, “What’s popular now is a look that’s edgy and somewhat unrefined. Advertising photography today is about feeling and emotion. It leaves more to the imagination.”
The computer is making its presence felt in advertising photography, like it is in every other facet of our lives. Shooters are using computers in a multitude of tasks, from manipulating images to retouching flaws to printing pieces for their portfolios. Photo- graphers are discovering that the Internet can be an excellent marketing vehicle. For example, Hicks reports that he’s gotten unsolicited assignments thanks to the images on his website.
“In terms of marketing and operating a business, the computer is indispensable,” says West. “It forces you to be flexible and responsive to client demands. If you need a certain shot that’s not in your portfolio, you can do a quality print job in-house if you have the equipment. On the creative end, it’s been a big boost that’s allowed me to explore new areas and do some things I couldn’t do before. I’m doing some digital work for clients, but the bulk of the digital work I’m doing relates more to portfolio development and personal expression.”
As much as he appreciates the computer, Kohanim, points out a downside. “Too many people use it as a crutch,” he explains. “A lot of designers buy mediocre stock photos and manipulate the hell out of them to try and make them look like art. The end result might look good to a client, but if you look deep inside, it doesn’t go all the way.”
Although many argue about the quality of digital capture, few doubt that it’s on its way to becoming a facet of advertising photography. Digital cameras are a way of life in photojournalism and for catalogue houses, but not yet very popular in advertising. Though there is a “snob appeal” to image capture on emulsion film, it’s expected that within five to ten years, the quality of digital photography will be on a par with traditional methods.
Sterling, however, has taken the step into the future and has a business centered on digital image capture. An encrypted page on his website allows out of town clients to take part in the shooting process. By entering a code, they can see an image within a minute of Sterling taking it. And, they’re not seeing a thumbnail, but a quickly-loaded, full-screen image.
“People who are convinced the digital age isn’t here yet, but in the future, can go on thinking that way,” declares Sterling. “They’re going to be left behind. Either you’re with the program or you’re not. When you shoot digital, you get a much better photograph. Every time I click the shutter, I’m not thinking that it’s costing me $4. It’s just memory on a computer. It’s no big deal to take three angles of the same shot.
“When you shoot film,” Sterling continues, “you have to be rigid to what he client wants. You have to give them the safest possible variable so they don’t have a problem with it. But, when the client logs on to what you’re shooting live, you can experiment with it. You can do things that you otherwise wouldn’t try because you think the client won’t like it.”
Over the years, people have bemoaned Atlanta’s poor standing in the advertising world and have tried to devise solutions to improve the city’s reputation. From the perspective of the city’s advertising photographers, the answer lies in the work itself.
“We need to strive to do better advertising,” says Kohanim, summing up the feelings of many in the community. “If we stop striving for better and more challenging advertising, then we don’t belong in the business. We need to open our eyes and see what other markets are doing and keep up creatively with them.”