On the town

After you've slapped your 20th, or maybe 50th, visitor’s badge onto your shirt front, and pass through security before stepping into the appropriate bank of elevators in a midtown skyscraper's vaulted marble lobby, hurtling you and your white-knuckle-clutched portfolio skyward towards a current or potential client's offices, its no big deal. Those first 5, or 10 times, though... well I'd like to leave those in my past, for the same reasons as why I won't be attending my high school reunion (next year?!). The fear, the romance, the insanely short meetings and inane questions, the rare bright spark of someone getting it, the expectations and gravity, the mess of papers and back issues, the fumbling, the New York-ness...

In magazine photography, New York City is Mecca. And as a devout believer, it is our duty to make the pilgrimage from time to time, if only to restore our faith in our sound decisions to live elsewhere. (Though really, Miami isn't that fucking different).

Though I was nervous as hell some years back when I made my first rounds through Midtown, meeting with magazines and agencies, it was great. It really was, all of it. The good meetings, the terrible ones, the gang-bangs (3 clients, 5 editors, 1 portfolio, 8 minutes elapsed time), signing with Redux, 40 cups of coffee.

There is this incredible sense of the congruity between past and presence in the city. Armed with your iPod, cell phone, and digital camera, you moved through a giant, old world of commerce, emerging from underground into the daylight, before swooping up dozens of floors to meet with a photo editor or art director, sometimes not that much older than yourself, to have this strange back and forth over your images. It's a strange and wonderful dance. It's sickening and full of unmistakenable hope. It's New York.

On this trip through I'm mostly focusing on potential clients, though will try to see a small handful of magazines I've worked with a dozen times or more. The main reason for the trip, other than the fact that I haven't been to Mecca in a whole year, is to drop off the new portfolios at Redux, say hello, and see and drink with friends. In total I probably won't have more than 10 meetings in the week I'll be there. You can do more than 10, but its a good way to get an ulcer. And for the first time, I'm really putting most of my logistics planning in Redux's hands, arranging for me to head to places that I probably couldn't get in myself.

On a practical level, besides a recent portfolio (or two - one traditional, one a project, or personal stuff, or whatever, because you'll never know what they'll ask for), you need to also have a big stack of business cards. Photographers who don't even have a business card are hilarious to me. Beyond the business cards, its smart to have a selection of "leave behind" cards (simple promos that you let the editors choose from after your meeting, hoping that they may tack one up on their bulletin boards). The added benefit of having promos for them to select from is that you might learn something specific about what type of your pictures they really liked. Lastly, and most importantly, you also need to have answers for the questions that they are going to ask you. Questions? Yes, questions.

Why are you here? What is your favorite kind of subject? What was your worst recent shoot? Where will you be in 5 years? Who are your favorite photographers? Which photographers would you compare your work to? Where are you from? Where would you most like to travel to? Are you exhibiting anywhere in NYC right now? Do you have pictures on Sudanese wedding ceremonies?

The meeting to show a portfolio is not really about the portfolio, its about you. The pictures matter, but so does your passion, sharpness, and ability to think on your toes. I've been asked some strange questions, and some very practical ones, but any question will throw you off if you are expecting to get there, show a book, say thank you, and leave. The entire reason you are there is face time, and the potential conversation that will hopefully cultivate a mutually beneficial relationship. The questions and answers is, in that sense, the whole ballgame. And if there are no questions, which is a bad sign, you should start firing away.

A lot of meetings reinforce the fact that photography is a business, and that photo editors are extremely fucking busy and are often way more interested in the practical (what can you do for me today?) than the philosophical (is photojournalism dead?). You also learn again and again that a lot of photo editors have no background in photography at all and don't care much about it beyond the fact that its their job.

With so much on the line (at least that's how it can feel), its hard to be yourself and not some cliché of a photographer that you put on like a bad suit. The best meetings are when the book is looked through with some thought, maybe 2-3 times all the way through, and then set aside to let a real conversation begin. You learn about the dozens of people you probably have in common with that photo editor, and about their background, and maybe explore the photography that you both are deeply passionate about. In the 3 or 4 dozen meetings I've had, its only happened a few times.

Ultimately the NYC trip is a really good excuse to get drunk with your friends and then write it off on your expense account. The photography world is so damn small, that you'll likely meet a few new friends as well. And that's how it should be because we are all in this together.

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Comments (5)

Doesnt't look like u put much thought in to your go-see outfit ?

Shirt and tie or do u prefer a little miami vice

Looking forward to pints

Cheers AH

Damn, I forgot all about wardrobe! Personally I only wear Prada to meetings... that's just how I roll. Ha ha...

Actually, looking like you could really use some pity is probably a better idea. I'm usually somewhere in the middle. See you soon, Andrew... everyone should check out your new blog:
http://whatsthejackanory.blogspot.com/

I'm going to have to go to Auckland to do this at some point, and I'm not entirely sure where to start. When you first started going to Mecca, did you practically cold call agencies & magazines that interested you to try and get appointments? Or did you already have some connections?

Lane -- Heading to NYC or Auckland (which sounds more fun to me), isn't the first step. You need to send promos, try to meet people at workshops and seminars, and build up your contact lists, before your visit. If you don't, I think you'll have a hard time getting meetings, and will have to settle for portfolio drop-offs, which is a much more difficult way to get in with a client in my opinion.

I don't have all of the answers... Others like Andrew have certainly played the game for longer than me! But we've all got to start somewhere.

amen

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