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Psst. You, yes you, one of the three readers of my blog. Just thought I'd let you sneak a peek—the new website is going up. Be forewarned, you may feel like skipping, singing, napping, baking cookies, eating mudpies, jumping on a bed or being silly when you're done. Do not, I repeat, do not operate large machinery within one hour of peeking. www.kimlowe.com
I was thinking about Northern California this morning. We hiked along The Lost Coast which was one of the most amazing trips of my life. I know I've written about it before. But waking up to the sound of "munching", unzipping your tent, looking out into the face of an enormous bull elk and his harem 10 feet from your head — yeah, I'd say it's worth writing about twice. Aww, and it's kind of cute the way he tried to disguise himself. You're a giant elk, you can't hide under a few leaves and some grass!!
Okay so clearly the advertising-photo industry has changed. It continues to change. One aspect is royalty-free photography. This is touchy for most shooters and for some, they love this because they can submit mediocre outtakes (that would otherwise collect dust) for usage and make a few pennies off them. But at the expense of other photographers?
Recently, I had a huge stroller company contact me about a few shots of mine. They wanted to purchase five existing shots to use on collateral, in-store/pop, web and packaging for North America only. Unlimited use for 3 years. I gave them a price—a well-below average price of $5000 a shot. Now just to put things in perspective—I was paid $5000 for a single shot for 3 month regional usage on a billboard a couple years back by a much smaller company.
So this giant company, making millions in sales annually, was shocked at the pricetag and decided to go with royalty-free shots for what, about 100 bucks a shot. Not great shots. Not exclusively theirs but cheap nonetheless. Just interesting.
It's good to keep up with the continuous ebb and flow of this industry. Heather Morton is an art buyer with a great blog and an interesting perspective. Follow her.
So often, in my line of work, you meet children that have a tiny bit of magic in them. I feel so very lucky to shoot children! But then on the flip side, unfortunately, it's crazy difficult to edit the photographs. Beautiful Meg here, for instance, is making my job very hard by being so darn wonderful in every photo! So my point is, kids, if you're reading this, stop being so darn wonderful! Geez.
Book One is done, finally. Man, time flies when you're having fun. (Wait, I'm not having fun.)
Just completed a toy catalog for B. Toys. The art director, Andrea Gavin and copywriter, Amy Flanagan were an incredibly talented team to work with, alongside the amazing client, Gisela Voss. In total, there were ten shoots ranging in age of kids being inspired by the toys, being silly, being themselves. (p.s. gotta love their motto!)
Find the toys at Target.
As an art director, I loved when a photographer inspired me with their promotional pieces not just harassed me. Those are the pieces that stayed clear of the trash bin. And they don't have to be fancy, just interesting. So my two cents, don't just send a pretty photograph—send an idea, send a piece of yourself with your work. (A piece of your mind, you big silly, not an arm or a toenail. Most people won't like that.)
(2¢ post series is me offering up my mostly useless, sometimes helpful photo-ad industry tips. enjoy!)
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