PART2 / VISIONBefore art is assigned to any photographer, the art director
has defined the look of the campaign and that look is based
upon the corporate brand, with the target audience in mind. It
makes sense then that an art buyer may need a lifestyle photog-
rapher whose images represent an active lifestyle for one cam-
paign and then for another client look for a photographer
whose lifestyle images are soft and moody, all on the same day.
Different visual approaches speak to different company
messages. You may be a lifestyle photographer, but have you
defined your visual approach to lifestyle? Do you clearly show
buyers what types of accounts your eye is appropriate for? Do
you give them what they want?
Beverly Adler is a seasoned freelance art buyer who knows
what her art directors want. “Vision is huge. When I am looking
for photographers, for a project we [the team] are looking for
a specific type of shot and a specific ‘feel’ to the imagery. The
‘feel,’ the style, is the intangible quality that often makes the
difference.” Beverly continues, “If an art director wants a sexy
phone shot... they are not just looking for a product shot,
they want to see a book that has the type of lighting or drama
that they see using for their campaign. If the look isn’t there the
book is not sent on.”
Ralph Mennemeyer, a top agent based in New York City, has
opinions on a client’s take on vision.Sure, clients say they are looking for “new” talent all
the time, but I believe what they really want is talent
with a slightly different point of view to whatever is
currently in style. Different enough to allow them to
feel comfortable assigning the photographer work
(which often has hundreds of thousands, if not millions
of dollars of media reach scheduled for it) but conven-
tional enough in most cases to provide them with a
comfort level about that person’s ability to “pull it off
when it’s show time.”
The trick for most agents—and visual artists—is to
understand how far you can push the envelope between
new and irrelevant. Picasso would have been unem-
ployed during the Renaissance, so often it’s as much
about timing and applicability as it is about “new.”Chapter 10.qxd 6/25/07 7:17 AM Page 58