JAlready happen in the industries, the still is a smaller part (and was always smaller) of TVC or movie, less and less shot made in still studio, and photographer asked to come to the set to snap between the production - yes, not for those high budget assignments, but most of today's assignment when compares to past is all budget limited.
And for the bring part of all these happening, photographer today is in fact given better change to really perform his roll as photographer to bridge the still and motion, with tools never available before. We just have to make a decision.
Regards, K
Kuhn,
I'm not saying your wrong, not saying your right, but in all walks of life there are no absolutes. Robert Rodriguez can work a camera, Joe Pitka probably the most successful commercial director in LA started as an editor, Sodenberg regularly puts camera in hand.
On the flip side of this many of the better editorial still photographers know little of technique but are good directors, so there are no rules.
I guess you can position yourself where you want to be, but to have control you have to have know your art top to bottom.
Shooting commercially is like walking a tightrope. If you only shoot for yourself, your gonna be out of work. If you only shoot for the client, your gonna be out of work. So you find this weird, happy medium.
My client's have a brand to protect and so do I. Good work always comes when both parties respect that. Great work comes when the mindset is 1+1 = 2. Great business comes from giving a client more than they anticipated.
I have a rule and that is I don't work for the client's company, I work for the person that hires me. If I make them look good, get them a raise, two weeks extra vacation, an award, a bonus or just a pat on the back, then usually my life is good.
Regardless of all of that, the real differences between still and motion are not as great as most people make it out to be. Yes, shooting a feature is different than a commercial and LA is full of great commercial directors that fail at theatrical, but the real moral to this story is, if you work hard, you can be anything you want.
Consequently shooting a web piece is different than a 30 second spot, but if you do it well, the rest always falls into place.
Going from stills to motion is not that huge of a leap. Of course it's a different way to tell a story, a different way to frame a shot, a different way to show movement, but in the end if you know photoshop and lightroom, learning an AVID, FCP or directing the color in a Divinci suite is not that big of a leap.
I know still photographers that just loathe the thought of motion, but I "knew" ex photographer's that loathed the thought of digital capture, so life goes on and everything moves forward.
I actually like motion and it may be the ego in me, but I think it's kind of cool that I can get a viewer to look at my image piece for 1, 2, 3, or 4 minutes rather than just 15 seconds.
I've been shooting motion for a while and though I'm no Kubrick, maybe never will be, I;m still learning and still moving forward and I have to admit it's been very good for our business, even in these tough times.
http://www.russellrutherford.com/magic_man/index.htmI've also come within three seconds, three times of buying a RED and the only thing that stops me is my experience with medium format. I just loathe the thought of buying some cumbersome system that locks me down and is a work in progress.
I commend Jim Jannard and the whole RED team and I am positive I'll end up with one of their products, but not until they get to a larger frame dimension and I'm positive it goes to high iso without issue. (it may now, I just don't know yet).
What I absolutely don't want to do is drop 50 grand on a system and then find myself using a $3,000 Canon or Nikon for 90% of my work, because in the world of stills, that's what I and many others have experienced.
Personally I don't care if a camera is motion camera used for stills, a still camera used for motion and I don't care if the brand is Holga or Leica. I just want to shoot what is unique to me and hopefully my clients.
But back to the thought of shooting for commerce, I dig the challenge, I love the juice that comes from a set of twenty people, twenty clients and the stomach lining eating feeling I get when I have to perform on time, on delivery. It makes me a better image maker . . . I think.
Once again, any of us can be what we want to be and personally If a photographer/artist wants to marginalize themselves down to dp or camera operator then that's fine, but if they want to control the project they will have to up their skill set.
Is the world of motion imaging going to roll over and throw open arms out to a still photographer? Of course not, but in this biz, nobody rolls out the red carpet until you've proven yourself.
It's always been like this, always will be.
JR