A Cold Pizza and Coffee Update - What have we here?

Okay, so you have read a few blogs and are wondering “what more is there?” Well, dear reader, I will tell you. There is a lot left. This is not just a teaching blog (yes, I do hold my Master of Fine Arts [MFA] in Photography and am a College Professor on the topic when I am not out photographing events in and around the Kansas City Metro Area), but it is in conjunction with the rest of the website; especially that of the Music Portfolio Page.

See, one thing that I feel is absolutely necessary is to teach what I practice, and likewise, practice what I teach. This is the core of what my teaching philosophy is. And the reason is simple; how am I to keep on top of current photographic trends and information if I don’t do the work myself? I know that there are always articles, YouTube videos, podcasts, etc. that I COULD quote from and add their knowledge to the blog, and sometimes you will see me do that. There is nothing wrong in that. HOWEVER, being able to do that, find that information is being able to learn it and then re-put that out here for you is only part of the goal of this page. Who knows if the information on that page is actually able to be done in real practice?

So I have taken it on my self to be that “tester” if you will, to see if that knowledge that others are trying to pass along in their blogs, how-to videos, etc. and see if it actually works (and how will it might work) in real life, under “professional” experiences (being mostly concert and sports photography, but I will use some of the techniques in my own personal artistic work, such as studio shots and my documentary work). This is so I have the knowledge that what I am giving you, dear reader, is the best and as practical information and tips humanly possible, to help streamline your photography experiences and allow you to have the best outcomes the first time.

Now this is not to say that you won’t still screw something up, that your images will be perfect from the get-go and you will never have a band image. Absolutely not. And even if I had that power, I wouldn’t use it. It is not because I am a selfish asshat or anything like that, but rather I want you to learn, and how we do that is from trial and error; and out of those trials and errors is what comes success.

As far as the information that is provided here, it might not be for everyone. One reader might find it stupid and that it might have NOTHING to do with what or how they shoot, and others might see it as a lifeline. If the information is not for you, and how you normally shoot, then by all means, skip it and see what else is here for you to possibly use. Or better yet, try and adapt that information into your style of shooting, or branch off and try something new! There is nothing wrong with attempting to gain more experiences from your every day shooting world.

With that in mind, Cold Pizza and Coffee is here as a quick reference to what might be out there in the photographic world and help open eyes to possibilities, to help work through some unfamiliar zones/issues with shooting and post production, and to answer any questions that people might have along the way. Sure, the info will be focused a little more on what I shoot (just like anyone who teaches anything tends to do, teach the areas that you know best) but don’t be afraid to ask about any topic within the world of photography, because I might have that answer for you or know quickly how to find the best answer out there.

So, one of the questions that I was asked a little while back (in person) was about printing and who do I go to do to my prints. This is a good question and a lot of photographers, especially new ones, are worried about this and trying to figure out what is what and who will give you the best product for your buck.

Personally, I keep everything in house. This means that no matter if I am shooting film OR digital, I am developing/editing my own stuff, scanning it in myself (if I am working in film), and printing my own work. I have an Epson SureColor P600 Photo Printer here in my office that I LOVE using. It gives off some of the most amazing quality prints that I have ever seen and I have personally printed off every image that I have used for exhibitions that I have had SINCE 2015/2016 with it. The reasons are for me that I know that everything will be done on time and correct, and if it is not correct, I don’t have anyone to blame but myself.

Now I know that for some people, getting a printer like this and doing everything in house is not an option. I understand that. So a few of the places that I am going to talk about next are ones that I have done research on and have found that the quality is pretty damn good.

For individual prints - I would HIGHLY recommend WHCC (what the letters stand for, I am not 100% for sure as my morning coffee that I am drinking while writing this has not kicked in just yet and it is the day after the world around me was lighting off fireworks until god knows when last night). The quality of print is some of the best out there and they have a great turn around time. WHCC also includes a lot of great paper and printing options, from large photographic prints to canvas wraps, to even prints that look like old Polaroid film (but still have the high quality of an image that you shot).

The drawback from using WHCC, is that you have to become a client of theirs, with a user name and password to even be able to order anything. It is not like what we had in the 80s and 90s when we could get prints from Walgreens and Wal-Mart like everyone else and their dog, WHCC is a top quality, professional print studio that does top grade work and they want to ensure that the people that are using them are top grade and top quality photographers (at least that is what I would imagine). They can also do things like books and cards and things like that, which if you are in something like the Wedding industry could be very helpful to give you a high quality edge over someone else in your area, but I have not gone into those printing options with WHCC so I cannot say the quality of those products. However, if they are anything like the regular photographic prints that they do, I am sure that you will be VERY pleased with what you order from there.

So now that we have covered that, let’s talk about something fun, other prints/promotional materials. You might be thinking “What is he talking about??? All I thought about was making beautiful prints of my work and that is it…” but wait, there’s more!

JakPrints is basically an all in one printing platform for almost everything else that you would need (outside of books, which we will get to later). I have used JakPrints several times, from my personal business cards to stickers (yes, THOSE stickers) to high quality glossy handbills for exhibitions. These guys are amazing, and provide top quality prints. I learned about this shop YEARS ago I believe during a Van Warped Tour stop in either Lawrence, KS or Bonner Springs, KS (so we are taking about anywhere from 1997-2002 era). ANY type of promotional goodies that you many need/want, and I repeat ANY TYPE, you can get printed here. Not only do they do the above mentioned stickers, business cards, and flyers, but they also go to VIP badges, banners, and yes, CLOTHING. You can do hat, shirts, hoodies, bags, underwear, and more for your photography business. Why is this so awesome and very important for you and your photography? Let me explain it to you.

Let’s say you are the best photographer in your market, hands down. Your images are second to none and your turn-around time is amazing, your customer service is top-notch, and all of that is great! Word may spread about you and you might get known through your community that way. And don’t get me wrong, it is a great feeling to know that people talk about your top quality work and how awesome you are at your job. However, that word of mouth can take forever sometimes to spread, and sometimes (maybe often times) people will hear about you, see your work, but then when they need a photographer for something, forget all about you because too much time has passed without them hearing your name. How do you fix this? BY GETTING MARKETING MATERIAL FOR YOURSELF. It really is that easy. (and yes, I do have a hat with my logo on it, the same logo that is on my stickers and the background of my business card).

The only draw back on using JakPrints (where there are two actually) is that first, you have to design the images yourself. Yes they have templates to help you out, but that is only to make sure that the size of your design fits accordingly. There are design studios out there to help if you don’t know how to create designs yourself, but those too cost money and personally I would rather use what money I have on the awesome products that that I can buy to help spread the name of Chris Ortiz Photography and Cold Pizza and Coffee (Yes, I learned a little design while in college, and trust me, it helps out a lot).

The other drawback is that you have to order in bulk. Now wait a minute here…bulk…what are you talking about? Are we talking about like Cost-Co’s 2 Gallon Mayonnaise buckets here that will take forever for someone to use/go through? It used to be yes. However, back in June JakPrints posted on their Facebook Page that some of those bulk orders are starting to go down. Prime example is their shirt ordering. They announced that they are now decreasing the number of shirts that you have to order as a minimum, from 24 down to 12. Now you might be sitting back in your chair thinking “what the hell am I going to do with 12 shirts with my logo on them? It is only me here!” Well, you know people, being your partner, a friend, parent, cousin, aunt or uncle, the homeless guy at the end of your block…who ever, and they could use a shirt…right? Why not? If they don’t like it or want it, they might flatter you a few times and wear it around you (think of the holiday season and that sweater your least favorite aunt used to make for you every year, and how you were forced to hold onto it and wear it around her until it got too small or in my case “lost”) and then maybe give it to a second-hand clothing store. That is not a bad thing. People buy clothing from there all the time that they might think looks cool, even if they might not know what it means. I have seen it happen all of the time (and for you music snobs out there, think of the “if you wear their shirt, name three songs that they do”). It is the same concept. Yes, it costs a bit of money, but if you have a good design people will remember you. Trust me, I am looking at my favorite water bottle sitting here on my desk, which is covered in stickers, and I remember where I got all but maybe 1 of the stickers from…and that one sticker I most likely got at my favorite record store. It is those kind of things that people remember more often then not, and it is that type of positive impression that will ensure that at least you at first, then maybe later your work, is remembered by the masses.

Last, what I want to talk about here today is photo books. Those are a crazy thing, and trust me it is awesome to see your work in any type of book format (being in a book you created yourself or a magazine by someone else). Where can you get a photo book done? Where there are a million and one places where you can look to, from the Publish on Demand/Do-it-yourself websites like Blurb and Lulu just to name a few (hell, even Amazon does Print-on-demand) to bigger named indie publishing houses like Peanut Press and Paper Chase (which are two of my favorites, Hi David and Ashly!) to some of the biggest names out there (like TASCHEN and the Aperture Foundation), it really boils down to what you want to do and what publishing house is best for your work.

The PoDs out there will publish anything, as long as you the work and money to do so (sometimes you don’t even need to have the money, the person paying for the book is also paying for the printing of it). The others that are not PoDs will go through a process before you can get your photography book published. The thing is, that most of them will screen your work, or rather go through it to make sure that the image quality or photographic quality is up to their standards AND is in the subject matter that they print. This is why it is a good idea to visit these websites and do your own research into what type of photography they work with PRIOR to submitting your proposal to them. It makes things a lot easier and doesn’t make you look like a dumbass for sending your work of concert photography to a publishing house that only deals with landscape photography. That just makes you look unprofessional. Also, as what David Carol said once in a Facebook post (and yes this may seem funny or obvious, but trust me it happens more often than not), make sure that you do your research into WHO you are sending the submission to. You want to make sure that you get the people that you are talking to and presenting your work to correct. You don’t want to say “Dear David and Alf” when there is no one at the publishing house named Alf. That, again, is very unprofessional and shows that you really haven’t invested the time and energy into researching for your book, and kind of makes it look like you don’t really care about your work, you just want a book, no matter what.

Books are cool and all, but make sure that you know who you are talking to and presenting your work to.

But peps, that is it in a nutshell for today. I hope that you find this bit of information useful, and as always, if you use someone that I did not mention above, please drop a note in the comments about the company, who they are and what they do and why you like them to help spread that word.

A Cold Pizza and Coffee Update - Inspiration

Okay, so I have touched on this topic long enough and not actually gone into it. However, I feel that it is really important to get into. That is inspiration, more specifically YOUR photography/photographer inspirations. When you are doing your research into your selected style of photography, who are you looking at for inspiration? And I really hope that you are looking towards other photographers, because if you are not then you will never learn/grow in your field.

First, if you have not done this yet, select a field within photography that you really want to focus on. Sure, you can work in several different fields, but really, why not try and focus and master as much as you can in one field? That is where you can build up your name and become the best at. You can be the jack of all trades within photography, and that might help you out at the beginning, especially when you are trying to figure out what works best with you, but that becomes very chaotic after a while and the amount of knowledge that you need to learn is enormous, and if you have the drive and ability to learn it all, go for it. But I know that it is not in everyone’s wheelhouse to do that.

So, back to inspirations. For this lecture, I am going to focus on my main area of focus, which is music photography. Now, just because I am not going to talk about something like wedding photography or food photography doesn’t mean that there aren’t people in these fields that you should look up. They are out there, but I just haven’t really researched them too much since that is not my main focus in photography. I will say this right now that I encourage you to research photographers in your field and see what you can come up with.

But as for Concert photographers/Live Music photographers, you can go through and look up people anyway you want to. One of the best ways that I have found photographers is by going through and doing a Google Search for “10 best music photographers”…yes it is as simple as that. Well, kind of.

For a search like this, it can be both helpful and daunting when hundreds if not thousands of lists pop up, and there are tons of photographers listed on each one that for one reason or another have been selected by the person writing the blog/list. Some of the photographers might be up-and-coming, have been able to do a few tours and their work is kinda cool, might have a lot of Instagram followers and likes on each image. I would be careful about how much you take these photographers to heart when looking for your influences. I will bet 9 times out of 10, they took a simple photograph and slapped a filter on the image and called it good. Personally, I can tell those photos from a mile away, and while they might look pretty at first, you can quickly pick out different flaws in them that a filter cannot fix. What I would do if I were you, is look at several lists and find the names that appear on most of them, if not all of them. I will give you a quick rundown of the most common names of photographers that you will find if you research concert photographers, as these are the people who’s work has stood the test of time and are seen as the classic, Live Music Hall Of Fame photographers (if there ever is going to be one, which I doubt, but you will find a lot of those HoF musicians thanking these photographers).

Jim Marshall

Mr. Marshall is basically the godfather of all live music photography. Yes there were a few people who came before him that could be listed, but no one in the photography world had a larger influence on future live music photographers than Marshall. The thing that really helped him out that in today’s world we don’t have, is unlimited access. Basically he was born and lived at the right moment in music history. He didn’t have to worry about being credentialed to go into a concert with his cameras, he didn’t have to worry about the “first three songs only with no flash” rules, and when he was coming around, the idea of a live music photographer was a very novel idea. Bands would see him out there photographing and be intrigued by what he was doing, they would start talking, he would befriend them, and get as much all access to the artist as humanly possible. There are also stories that Marshall was a no shit style of photographer as well, bringing knifes and guns with him to concerts for protection and doing as much drugs as some of the best of them. But it was par for the times, it is even said that Dennis Hopper’s character in the movie Apocalypse Now is based on Marshall.

Regardless of all of this, Marshall was able to take some of the most ICONIC images that we, as the general public, have seen of music photography and I strongly suggest that you check out his work.

Mick Rock

With a name like that, how can you not be somehow associated with music…right? Rock came a bit after Marshall did, but like the above, was in the right places at the right times. Rock, in his documentary film that he did about himself, stated that he never thought he would be a photographer at first, that he really had no interest in it to begin with…however life ended up taking him that way and he became the photographer that we all admire and respect today. His work mostly covers the glam rock that came about in the 70s, but that does not discredit anything that he has ever done. I have seen a lot of people out there try and say that Rock was a one hit wonder when it came to photography because unlike Marshall, who photographed EVERYONE, Rock really stuck to photographing people like Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Lou Reed and the like, especially when they were first coming up in the music world, gained their trust, and became life long friends with them, capturing some of the most iconic images ever of these people.

During Rock’s time, he also worked with acts like Queen, Joan Jett, Blondie, The Rolling Stones, Pharrell Williams and others during his prolific career and every image is worth checking out. Also, about that documentary that I spoke of earlier…it is a little fun, a little out there, but I would suggest watching it. You can see the trailer for it here.

Henry Diltz

This is the part of the list where photographers will become a little less known than above, but never the less they are just as good. Diltz is one of those photographers, that really, is a unsung hero, and a personal favorite of mine. He is best known, I would say, for his “classic rock” era photos, including images form Jimi Hendrix, The Mommas and the Papas, Early Jackson 5, Frank Zappa and others, but most famous is his work with The Doors. Iconic work really, and work that every music photographer should check out.

Ross Halfin

If you ever wanted to see the best of the best in metal and hard rock photography, there is no reason to look any further. Ross is more or less a god when it comes to rock photography, having worked with Green Day, ZZ Top, Metallica, Guns n Roses, Jimmy Page, Ozzy, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Lemmy from Motorhead, and the list goes on and on. He even helped start the amazing metal magazine Kerrang!. (He may not have STARTED started it, but he was the first photographer, and made a name for himself as well as his work made the photography what it is today). Halfin is really someone that any Rock-n-Roll/metal photographer should study like a a holy book. Dude is simply amazing.

Annie Leibovitz

While Leibovitz is known for her amazing images that gloss the covers of thousands of magazine covers over the past few decades, she got her start with early Rolling Stone Magazine, most famously snapping the shot of John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono, you know the one, where John is naked, cuddled up in the fetal position along side Yoko. Yeah…that one. It is awesome. If you haven’t seen it, go look for it, you’ll know it once you see it.

Danny Clinch

Danny is a pretty interesting photographer. For his music portfolio that you can find on his website, he works a lot on the behind the scenes of the music scene, meaning that he takes a lot more of the band photos for publicity and magazines. This does not make his work any less impressive, but it does add a little extra flair to it. I would say that his work relates more back to Annie’s work in that sense, but he tends to be able to utilize more natural lighting (or it appears that way) than others. His work is very beautiful and if you haven’t seen it yet, I highly suggest that you do.

Christie Goodwin

Let’s get back to live performances for a minute. Christie Goodwin is amazing. Her work in concert photography is really second to none While she might not be as “famous” as the other photographers listed above, she should be. Her understanding of lighting and how to properly shoot a concert is absolutely amazing. Yes, she has a few “filter” looks to her images, but really, they fit each image and they don’t seem or look like they are forced, or that the shots would have been bad if they didn’t have that specific filter on them, or post production treatment. Plus her access over the past 20 + years to the music scene has allowed her to document a wide range of acts. Fantastic work.

Bob Gruen

Bob is, at least in my mind, most famous for his work with John Lennon and his work at CBGB’s back in the day (likewise the bands that played there). However, his list of bands that he has worked with expands FAR beyond that, from the Rolling Stones to Ike and Tina Turner, Kiss to Led Zeppelin. While, like Jim, a lot of his work is in Black and White film, there is a lot in there in color film. There is a good reason why to put photographers like him in this list, not only because they are good photographers in their own rights, but also while they were working in the field, they were using film instead of digital (granted the fact that digital was not around at this time) so their number of shots that they were getting is a LOT less than what we are able to get today. I am talking that MAYBE Bob would have a roll of 24 exposure film, MAYBE a 36 exposure roll, per camera and like three to five cameras around their necks. That equates to like 124 shots per show unless they reloaded. That is an insanely small amount of images to make sure that you got the shot, especially when they didn’t have the ability to chimp their images like we do today, or even the ability to take 800-1000 photos per show on a digital memory card. Look at Bob’s work, trust me you won’t regret it.

Lynn Goldsmith

Goldsmith is a good photographer, well we can say a great photographer. He work focuses more a round portraiture than life music shots, but if you want to see how beautiful a musician (or any celebrity for that matter) can look in a studio, check her work out. Trust me.

Pooneh Ghana

Okay, so the last person on this list. By all means it does not mean that this is all the photographers out there to look up, because there are a TON out there. But Pooneh is a LOT of fun. She is a “newer” photographer, meaning you, raw, fresh and has a long career a head of her. She works in several different mediums, from digital to film, to even Polaroid. Yes, I said Polaroid (and I am considering that different than just “film” because of the instant nature of it). She got her start like a lot of us in the modern world by posting her images online, namely the old photo site Flickr. She got noticed from there, and her career really started taking off. This goes to show that if your work is as good as hers or you can put together a stellar portfolio like hers, you will get noticed and you can do what you love to do. She has done single shows and been able to get on tours with bands and not only document what has happened ON the stage, but also back stage, giving the viewer of her work an experience that most music fans wouldn’t be able to normally have. And because she is working in all three photographic mediums here, she can give looks that are completely different from one shot to the next. Her work is truly unique and I hope is appreciated by all.

So that is the list, a list that I have put together of my top 10 music photographers, not only for the live show but also behind the scene. I would like to restate that this is by no means a complete list or the only list, as there are TONS of photographers out there. These are just some of my all-time favorites and ones that I look towards for my own inspiration when doing music photography.

I encourage you to explore the world of music photograph and add a name or two on to this list in the comments if you find any that you would like to bring to my attention. I have put on here the weblinks to their portfolios/websites, as well as a quick video that you can check out and see them for yourselves. This is part of how I do my research, look at their work from multiple ways and learn as much as I can and take it to the next level.

I hope that you enjoyed it and until next time, keep shooting.