Hey guys, a few notes. I’ve been completely swamped with work lately. Personal chores jumping around, clients hitting me up for photos that were due yesterday, car shopping, urban exploring, hair pulling, sleepless nights, fretting over an empty refrigerator, etc. etc. In light of all this, I’m going to put the Key to the City updates on hold as soon as I post the final Bronx update (tomorrow, Tuesday). Not only that, but I have a bunch of personal photography work that I’ve been meaning to push online but was afraid the Key to the City updates would steal attention from it, so I’ll get started on that towards the end of this week.

For those wondering about the Key to the City, I’m currently half way done with Manhattan and still have all of Staten Island and Queens to cover. Needless to say, I have enough material to keep me occupied until school starts up again. Expect the remaining Key to the City boroughs to go up mid August.

I don’t want to make this post too boring, so here’s a group shot from the Ass Man photo shoot for my friend Remy. You can check him out at Adeen!

I’m finally getting started on my half sleeve. For those of you in the know, I’m not talking about my “Harry Potter text tattoo”… although I do seriously plan to get that taken care of in the near future (fuck tattoo regrets, it’ll be a fun story to tell my kids!). I went to Michele Gonzalez from Empire State Studios in Oceanside. Michele is nothing short of amazing and the studio is a really relaxing and chill environment. It’s a large step up from my first tattoo; cue memories of sitting in my friend’s basement with underage girls rolling blunts.

The piece is a slightly altered copied of one of Sylvia Ji’s painting. We managed to finish the outlining and some of the shading in the five hour session, but I still have one more five hour session scheduled for July 30th to finish it. *sigh* looks like I’ll be walking around with an unfinished tattoo for the next three weeks.

Skateboards hanging over Michele’s desk space at the studio.

Michele putting the finishing touches on the stencil.

Outline finished!

Done with the first five hours.

I found this letter from photographer Kahl Sutherland‘s blog. It’s a letter he received from John Beckett in regards to becoming a professional photographer in the industry and figured it was definitely something worth spreading.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL BLOG POST

Hello Kahl,

How photographers are chosen unfortunately comes down to a few things.

One; the old line, “It’s who you know.”

Two; you have a style that’s unique…very unique!

Three; you’re in exactly the right place at the right time with a portfolio reflecting exactly what they are looking for.

That portfolio has to say in the first six images that you have the experience to pull together the shoot…not just make a nice photo.

Art directors don’t like to gamble. Their job is on the line and a client’s investment in the campaign represent a great deal of money on the line, too. Pulling together a major shoot on location takes a lot of teamwork and experience.

Do you know how to get yourself and crew to a distant location? Maybe out of the country? How about dealing with customs or finding hotels in Milan, Paris? How bout a location in Paris, Texas?

Art directors and clients of the type you seem to be asking about have an eye to pick up on the level of experience reflected in a photographer’s portfolio within five seconds. They can tell if it’s a model’s test or a job. They want photographers who have the bigger jobs under their belt.

If there’s some style you have that nobody else seems to do that they really, really like…they may gamble.

Magazines are a good starting point. The pay is low, if any, but the tear sheets will start to build your reputation…if they are good ones.

A point nobody talks about is personality.

If a client or art director has to spend a day in your studio or a week on location with you they’ve got to feel comfortable with your personality. Somewhere in their head they have to identify with you as the type of person they’d hang out with, or at least enjoy on the job.

They, like any one else, will form an opinion the moment you walk in the door and open your mouth. That is, of course, if you get in the door.

Lastly, imagine an art directors e-mails in box. How many guys just like you do you think are trying to get their attention every day!? Fifty? A hundred? And many of them are very, very good photographers with all the right credentials…lots of experience.

Your e-amil is the last thing they have time to read with deadlines and clients asking for something they needed “yesterday”.

My friend, it’s just as difficult for those of us who have been at it longer than you’ve probably been on this earth. That’s the God’s honest truth.

Look at the best photography out there and then look at your own. Don’t fool yourself. It’s more than f/stops.

I’ve been where you are…been where you want to go. Been places on assignment most photographers only dream about. It took a lot of years and a lot of good people helping to get there. It took the luck of timing when a photographer’s skills couldn’t be made up for by full-auto cameras and Photoshop. There were a lot of mistakes made along the way.

Keep shooting. Join professional organizations. Talk with other successful photographers in your area. Ask them to look at your work and critique it. That can hurt! Look at the best and study them carefully. Develop your skills and style. And do not give up on the dream to be at the top.

You can do it. Hell, I did asking the same question you’re asking right now. Took about ten years to be in that “right place” at just the right time. The rest is my history. If you care to see a very small part my work follow the link below my signature.

Good luck,

John Beckett

The Mad Science Lab Art Blog just threw up a piece on me this morning. The blog typically covers artists such as musicians, photographers, film makers, and other medians as well as keeps its reader base up to date with gallery events.

I found these gems over at Rem’s blog: Adeen

Seriously Remy?

Wait it gets better…

I used to shoot with Canon Rebel XT a few years ago. It was my very first camera which I unfortunately don’t have anymore. The reason being… Janice Henry broke it.

Meet Janice, fellow photographer and good friend. She’s gone by several aliases online, too many in fact that I can’t keep up with them and to be perfectly honest I’ve never been able to figure out what they mean, even after a Google search! She’s currently going by Iam Kulchur which I’m assuming is some play on the word “culture.” She also used to go by Yestin Jagger which for all I know is a tribute to Jagermeister, and if it is Janice, I applaud your taste in liquor. If your reading this Janice, shoot me an email and clarify for me.

I’ve never wrote about other photographers whose work inspires me or catches my interest before simply because I don’t feel like idolizing professionals and already established artists on this blog. Janice is an exception though. She’s young, she’s talented, and like most of my reader base, she’s only 19. So just this once, I’ll make an exception and throw accolades her way.

I love her work. I seriously do. Her pictures are raw and inviting. They show you NYC from the ground up, dirty, messy, and busy; yet they still make you want to jump in and experience the environment for yourself. Her images are shot soft, and combined with her editing work, they let off a dreamy and yet rugged look.

I’m especially fond of her portrait work (surprise, surprise, I am a portrait photographer after all), especially her self portraits. And I’m not just saying that because she has a septum ring! Anyone who knows me, knows I have a soft spot in my heart for girls with septum rings.

But don’t take my word for it, check out her blog here

If I had to sum up my preference in art and design in three words, I would say “intricate”, “minimalistic”, and “dark”. Keep in mind, this whole blog post doesn’t apply to photography only, but is my general outlook on all types of art that catches my attention, whether it be painting, drawing, fashion, or even web design.

Dark colors catch my attention, dark themes keep my interest. Ever hear of Tim Burton? He’s easily one of my favorite artists. For those of you keeping up to date with my fashion portfolio, you may have notice that I have tendency to envelop my models in shadows. I’ll sometimes have two, maybe three lights hitting a subject and yet I still manage to underexpose my image. It’s because I’m attracted to the dark lighting. In fact, I’ve actually been yelled at by a couple of clients for purposely underexposing their pictures. Sure it’s a bit unconventional, but fuck the conventional anyway. This doesn’t just apply to photography either. My entire website is composed of different shades of black and gray. My online portfolio is a giant black screen with white text. My general choice of everyday apparel is some shade of black or gray. I’m a walking example of dullness.

Minimalistic. This one’s important, and I’ll cite Apple as a prime example of practicing minimalistic design. I hate when things are taken overboard. When I designed my website, I created it with two things in mind; I wanted it to be direct in its goal, and I wanted it to be functional. Nothing more, nothing less. My goal was to introduce people to my work. My portfolio is nothing but a simple black background and unobtrusive text links on the side. There isn’t anything on my portfolio to distract my viewers from the primary purpose of the site, which is to view my photos. All of my links and information are available with the press of a button. Accessing my website is an immediate and hassle free experience for my viewers. Flashy graphics and codes distract content, and my site is all content.

Intricate. This is a tough one. How does a piece of art or design categorize itself as minimalistic while still being intricate? For this to work out, we need to understand exactly what minimalism is. In order to understand this, lets rewind back to what I said about designing my site with the purpose of obtaining a “goal” and “functionality”. I believe those are the two most vital words to understanding minimalistic design. Does the design of a piece of art accomplish it’s goal and functionality or in other words, “purpose” without needlessly threading into other areas or incorporating distracting elements? If it accomplishes that, then I think we can all agree that the art is minimalistic in nature. Minimalism does not necessarily mean a work of art is barebones or boring. It simply means it is accomplishing its purpose without including needless elements.

Let’s take a look at typography, which is turning text into art. This is one of my favorite forms of art simply because I find the design of text to be beautiful. Times New Roman, Baskerville Old Face, Verdana, and Arial are among my favorite fonts. Text is intricate. Text is bold. Text is dark. Text is minimalistic. I love text so much that my entire portfolio design is based off of text. My friend Sage’s bedroom is designed around a giant text pattern. All of my tattoos are text (although this will change soon). A design I created for an old and unfortunately failed project with my friends called Ethos was composed entirely of text.

Weeeeee! My second coverage of the week! The beautiful ladies at Lipstick and Labels threw up a piece on me this morning. You can check it out here.

Lipstick and Labels

Lipstick & Labels is catered to a new generation of Entertainment moguls from all different industries. Growing from a successful blog of 40,000+ views worldwide, to an online publication. Our company is ran by a team of STRONG, ambitious young ladies, looking to remind our generation to DREAM BIG. By connecting the fashion, music & art industries, we allow passionate individuals to grow & expand in their field. This will only result in an opportunity for each of our featured talent to use L&L as an outlet for networking. Lipstick and Labels believes in giving EVERYONE a chance to SHINE. L&L is also a PR agency, where we serve as publicists to some of our strongest talent. We, Lipstick & Labels, will come together as a TEAM to bring our clients careers to it’s fullest, highest potential.