Kate Benson Miami | E-commerce Photography for Shoe Designers

I’m getting ready to send out my first email blast for e-commerce photography. This is going to be geared totally towards shoe companies and what I hope to do is show some new companies what they are missing out on by not outsourcing this (to me, of course). We all have things we are better at when it comes to taking pictures. I did not know that shoes would be one of the things I just get. It is really ironic because 1/2 the time I shoot, I’m barefoot. But there is something really beautiful about the design of shoes that I respect. So today, draft after draft, I have started writing my email. I want to make sure it will still have my voice in it. But how do we as photographers write original marketing pieces that sound professional? Where is the line of familiarity drawn? I don’t know these people, but I want them to get an idea that I’m a friendly, easy going, photographer who can make life so, so much easier for them. What images do I include? Lastly, how do I write this so it doesn’t sound forced?
Of course this is the day my husband does training and so, alas, no bouncing emails off him. Do you think it’s an abuse of the ASMP leadership list to email all the members and ask them to check my grammar? Don’t worry, I will only toy with the idea. Your VP knows that no one reads those emails anyway. Ha! Just teasing again!

Well, moving onwards and upwards, here is a little angle compilation shot of some of my typical e-commerce photography for shoe designers. I’m no graphic designer but what do you think? Hopefully this along with some clever writing will capture the interest of many shoe companies that don’t know what they are missing!

 

Kate Benson Photography | Miami Photographer | The chaos.

It feels like March just started. Actually, it feels like it is still February. I have lost all concept of what week it is. I know there is a lot of traveling coming soon, but how soon is a blur because I really have no concept of where we are in the month anymore. All I know is that I have been busy. Like, the busiest ever, and it is great! I’ve been shooting everything from editorials for magazines in Colorado to Billboards and TV commercials. Portraits, e-commerce (like crazy), and more portraits have eaten up March. To be fair, I suspect they ate quite a bit of February up too. And speaking of eating, who has time for that? I knew I was forgetting something today!
My blog is neglected as a result. But that is probably the best excuse for neglecting a blog you could have.

My studio is destroyed. I still have an umbrella open on the shooting table, stuffing for bags everywhere, steamers out (but off), lights everywhere, lenses everywhere, etc… because as soon as I shoot, I jump on the computer to bust out the retouching as fast as possible. I can’t be cleaning up! There is no time for that!

But I’m getting it all done. I think I can thank RISD for the ability to handle choices like, work, eat or sleep without any issues (work unless your work starts to suffer because your too hungry, work unless you eyes aren’t focusing anymore and then take a 20 minute nap -no more, no less, 20 is the perfect number). And also for my ability to make anything with a box cutter and some cardboard (actually had to use that skill yesterday while shooting some vintage Chanel handbags). The RISD alumni out there get that all too well.

Really, I can’t wait. I can’t wait for the moment a client gets back to me with his/her selections and I get to dive in and retouch it. I can’t wait to share some of this stuff on my blog and website! I love seeing the way an image finalizes. I love retouching because I have so much fun shooting and I get to explore those moments again in post production. I’m incredibly lucky to be able to do this for a living!  Meeting new people is such a wonderful part of what I do, I find myself smiling while I work on their images, happy to have had the chance to capture a piece of who they are or of what they create!

And now, that moment is here. I hear the ding of my email telling me it’s time to get back in. Maybe I’ll grab a cliff bar and some more coffee first though.

 

Paul Hansen Wins World Press Photo of the Year, and The Struggles of a Photojournalist

Photo and caption courtesy of British Journal of Photography, click the link to read the full article by Olivier Laurent

It’s worth a read. My comments are on an entirely different level. My comments are about humanity. 

I could never, EVER have become a photojournalist. But I desperately wanted to. I wanted to be in a place where just existing and capturing the world around you could change lives. It is a huge power and responsibility. One image has the ability to motivate the world. Remember this one?

One photo of something horrific can save lives and change the course of history. As I grew up, my family and the families around me were all sponsoring children in Africa. Change happened because someone turned their humanity off to help the world turn their humanity back on. But there is always another story beyond the frame. For Kevin Carter, the photographer of the above Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph, everyone wanted to know what happened next? Did he save the child? Did he chase away the vulture? When in truth, he took the picture and celebrated his outstanding image (there are books about Kevin’s life, personally The Bang Bang Club, written by his friends was hard to read, but provided an open eyed, honest account). Kevin Carter became  a story to change the world. His exposure and life through photojournalism and the dehumanization that came with it eventually lead him to take his own life in 1994.

“I am depressed … without phone … money for rent … money for child support … money for debts … money!!! … I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain … of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners … I have gone to join Ken [recently deceased colleague Ken Oosterbroek] if I am that lucky.”

Today we know what this is. We are starting to understand that when humans are exposed to enough horrors they mentally react. We call it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD. What we are beginning to understand is that not just soldiers suffer from it. There are some photographers who live their lives on the front lines, next to soldiers, shoot images, not guns, and have the same experiences. The guilt of pulling a trigger and pushing a shutter aren’t that different. And when you choose to take pictures of horrors instead of prevent them and tell yourself it is for the “greater good”, you still have to live with those choices.

I’ll be the first person to agree that Swedish photographer Paul Hansen deserves the World Press Photo of the Year. The image and the story of that shot haunt me. Which is what it is suppose to do. But, in my case, the image also reminds me that my community of photographers have a long way to go to support each other. Too many great photographers who make the choice to become photojournalists on the front lines, never get the chance to walk away. Those who do, often times remain haunted much longer by the images that they captured. As with soldiers, I would love to see our community get behind these people and give them the support that they undoubtedly will need when they finish shooting. I have no idea how we could do that. Let them talk about more than their images? Let them speak about themselves and what they go through? I’m all ears if anyone reading this post has ideas on it.

Maybe just bring attention to it is enough. Although unlike the photojournalists, I have no image to show the need for change. But I can point it out to people. Sometimes, looking into the lives of these photographers and learning how they struggle with the dehumanization of their subjects (which HAS to happen in order to get the shot) becomes a powerful story of humanity in itself.

Thanks for reading.

Miami retoucher | Kate Benson Photography | An old favorite

Last night I ran into an old friend/client that feel out of touch. It’s part of life, but this stirred up some old memories. Jorge (my friend and editor of about a million magazines, scaling from local to international) was always fun to work with, but that didn’t mean we didn’t have our share of hard times. I had to laugh remembering what it was like working with him and the publisher, Alex. After every photo shoot,  Alex and Jorge would spend hours going through images to find a favorite. Not uncommonly they would disagree on which photograph to use. Alex, undoubtedly would love the face of one shot and Jorge would love the pose of another, hence “Frankenphoto” was born. In order to move forward, often I would find myself compiling many parts of an image into one final shot. One particular photo was the poster child for “Frankephoto”, the first cover shoot for “The Most Beautiful People” issue of Key Biscayne Magazine. What happened, (and Alex & Jorge, correct me if I get any of this wrong as it has been years..) we shot certain images expecting them to be placed in particular parts of the article, but go figure, the cover they decided they really wanted was not the cover we shot. So I began one of the largest Photoshop marathons of my life. Today, this would take me almost no time, Photoshop has come a long way as have my skills, but if I remember right, there were phone calls, arguments, Star Trek (don’t ask) and eventually 26 hours of retouching madness to create the iconic cover. In the end, I felt more bonded with the boys. We all together created something great, without their ideas of what it could be and motivation to go for it (“Never say it’s impossible!”) we wouldn’t have had it. I still think about this cover, something so beyond what I knew how to do, and use it to remind myself that even when I don’t know how to do something, I can find a way. So Alex and Jorge, this post is dedicated to you. So to start, the boys picked 5 images they loved and wanted composited together for the cover, rollover the image to see the before and after’s of each picture: (*sorry, have to throw in this disclaimer: please remember, all these people are truly beautiful before retouching, however today if I were retouching -this was 2008, I would be more conservative in my work, for example, I wouldn’t worry about waistlines as much)

Before

After

and the final version of it all put together of course!

Not going to lie, being able to see the before and afters of my retouching work is one of my guilty pleasures and now you can see it too! Love it!

2012: Miami Photographer | Recap.

2012: A year of tremendous growth as a photographer and for my business. One of the highlights of the year was being elected to the position of Vice President to our American Society of Media Photographers South Florida Chapter (ASMP-SoFL). I felt missing connections to other photographers in my Miami life. Part of the reason I left the Boston area was because I couldn’t connect with any of the other photographers there. But through ASMP-SoFL this year, I met some truly amazing photographers and people who I consider friends now. Helping run the chapter was enough to keep anyone busy, there was a huge learning curve and coming to the board for the first time, then being voted in as Vice President, it was a trial by fire for sure. But worth it and I’m excited to keep working with ASMP-SoFL in 2013. I also have to thank 2012 for a barrage of new clients. Working as a photographer means spending a lot of alone time in the studio/in front of the computer/etc. Getting to meet new people, new clients, and interact with them is a huge highlight of being a photographer. This year I had the pleasure of starting relationships with so many wonderful people. People I would be thrilled to spend time with off the clock as well as on. I know I had a blessed year when not one of the clients who hired me did I have a difficult time with. So thank you to all who found their way to my studio this year! Not to be discredited, my existing clients. Year after year I’ve had the pleasure of watching some small businesses become big companies, some big companies transition gracefully, and I love all of it. These clients come year after year, month after month, and some week after week and are the lifeblood of Kate Benson Photography. If their companies suffer, so does mine. Happily 2012 was a great year for them as well and I congratulate all of those amazing teams of people for doing so well and being so awesome to work with. Naturally, no one knows what is in store for the future. I’m optimistic that 2013 will be another great year. Life can change a lot in a year, businesses can change even faster. I hope for everyone to have a Happy New Year and pray that 2013 will bring happiness and fulfillment to you all!

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