art buyers are people too

let's hear it for the unsung heroes of the agency world
Gotta say we love that Cynthia Held didn’t get all weird with us!  She get’s the good sense of humor award from us and that’s a really big deal because who wants to work with someone who doesn’t make you laugh?  Cynthia, will you be our valentine?  At least one of our valentines?   We always tell photographers who are looking for agents they need to really like their rep(s)…like, really, really like them.  It’s like a marriage.  A word to the wise, if your gut tells you no…keep looking for the right one. Check out Cynthia’s blog 

Gotta say we love that Cynthia Held didn’t get all weird with us!  She get’s the good sense of humor award from us and that’s a really big deal because who wants to work with someone who doesn’t make you laugh?  Cynthia, will you be our valentine?  At least one of our valentines?  

We always tell photographers who are looking for agents they need to really like their rep(s)…like, really, really like them.  It’s like a marriage.  A word to the wise, if your gut tells you no…keep looking for the right one.

Check out Cynthia’s blog 

As much as we love a treat in the mail, this one was a little odd, but it got us talking and eating and regretting the eating. One of us ate the entire box, one dumped the contents in the trash (save the condom) and kept the box to up-cycle, one opened the box and nibbled a bit and the last was completely horrified at the prospect of candy and condoms being put in the same package and by who?  Who touched that candy!  This was all said after the first one inhaled the entire box, which sent her to the bathroom immediately. (That last sentence is a total lie.) If you want to send us candy maybe make sure that it comes across as sanitary.  Some of us don’t care, but there are some real germ-a-phobes out there.  The other thing about this promo was that we went right to the website of Cynthia Held and well, how the heck do you contact her?  Not all of us have enormous monitors.  Thank goodness one of us did, because she made the rest of us feel badly that we didn’t by saying, “Look, you can contact her right here in the left hand corner!” and then came over to our computer and well…then we felt really bad because we have an inferior monitor.  And then the other one was like, “Just hit full screen!”   But really, can someone make it dummy proof, please because we want to know how to call you!!!!  Unless you are just being all cute, which is totally cool too. Happy Freaking Valentine’s Day.

As much as we love a treat in the mail, this one was a little odd, but it got us talking and eating and regretting the eating.

One of us ate the entire box, one dumped the contents in the trash (save the condom) and kept the box to up-cycle, one opened the box and nibbled a bit and the last was completely horrified at the prospect of candy and condoms being put in the same package and by who?  Who touched that candy!  This was all said after the first one inhaled the entire box, which sent her to the bathroom immediately. (That last sentence is a total lie.)

If you want to send us candy maybe make sure that it comes across as sanitary.  Some of us don’t care, but there are some real germ-a-phobes out there.  The other thing about this promo was that we went right to the website of Cynthia Held and well, how the heck do you contact her?  Not all of us have enormous monitors.  Thank goodness one of us did, because she made the rest of us feel badly that we didn’t by saying, “Look, you can contact her right here in the left hand corner!” and then came over to our computer and well…then we felt really bad because we have an inferior monitor.  And then the other one was like, “Just hit full screen!”   But really, can someone make it dummy proof, please because we want to know how to call you!!!!  Unless you are just being all cute, which is totally cool too.

Happy Freaking Valentine’s Day.

We love Adam Dare…Who doesn’t love the bunnies with the hearts?  We see a good theme emerging this week.  Do you?   This is a fun interview by vndl magazine.  We think they are swell and have a good eye! vndlmag: Adam Dare VNDL:  Describe your work/process? AD:  I do urban contemporary fine street art on canvas. I… View Post

We love Adam Dare…Who doesn’t love the bunnies with the hearts?  We see a good theme emerging this week.  Do you?  

This is a fun interview by vndl magazine.  We think they are swell and have a good eye!

vndlmag:

Adam Dare

VNDL:  Describe your work/process?

AD:  I do urban contemporary fine street art on canvas. I…

View Post

We love a little Valentine in our mailbox!  The pinks and reds and x’s and o’s!  Bring it! The heart promo (with a tattoo on the back!) came from Melissa Punch, a New York based still life photographer with well, lots of punch! She is represented by Big Leo.  Check out their links and spread the love. Chris Stanford sent out the romantic little ditty with the x’s and o’s.  Chris is represented by Jennifer Hutz.  We love us some Jennifer Hutz!  We met with Chris a while back and loved him too.  He had us in stitches.    Thanks you guys!  We heart you too. xoxo

We love a little Valentine in our mailbox!  The pinks and reds and x’s and o’s!  Bring it!

The heart promo (with a tattoo on the back!) came from Melissa Punch, a New York based still life photographer with well, lots of punch! She is represented by Big Leo.  Check out their links and spread the love.

Chris Stanford sent out the romantic little ditty with the x’s and o’s.  Chris is represented by Jennifer Hutz.  We love us some Jennifer Hutz!  We met with Chris a while back and loved him too.  He had us in stitches.  

 Thanks you guys!  We heart you too.

xoxo

Happy Monday?!?!  It’s been a rough one.  We can’t lie to you. It’s foggy and our brains are foggy, so sorry if this post is foggy. 

We have been finding all sorts of new inspiration in agencies out there…We can definitely get comfy cozy with our old faves, but there comes a time when we need to step out of the box and get fresh!

Here are few sites that we have been stalking and should keep you busy for a day or so:

http://marasinger.com/

http://www.wreps.com/

http://agentoliver.com/

http://7artistmanagement.com/

http://www.cartelandco.com/#

We would be remiss to not mention Sharp + Associates http://www.sharpeonline.com/.  We haven’t really been following them for a while and they just popped back on our radar recently.  We are going to keep our eyes on them and see what we think.  What do you think?  Anyone that you are watching these days?

Word on the street is that we will be seeing a few more multi-media representatives opening their doors in 2013.  Stay tuned!

Production Time!

We love to talk about production.  We have our favorite producers and we will try new folks who come highly recommended.  We research the heck out of producers that we haven’t used before.  It’s so important that a producer understands that the client is, well, the client and has the checkbook, that the agency is hiring and making sure that they are getting paid, and that the photographer and his/her team needs a lot of TLC and support.  It takes a strong production company to manage all of these personalities and needs.

We were catching up on Heather Elder’s blog recently and were thrilled to see her comment on the relationship between agency and production company: 

Production Companies

More and more agencies are beginning to make suggestions as to whom the photographer uses for production and often times they are requesting specific production companies. Now that art producers are being required to understand and produce videos, they are more savvy with the value of a production company. They are even sometimes more willing to pay the extra money involved with the larger productions just to have the peace of mind that goes along with having more people involved in a production. Not all clients can support the larger budgets but I suspect that having a hand in choosing a producer is something we will see more of in 2013.

Heather speaks the truth.  We really do like to have a relationship with our producers.  It’s so important when we are traveling as a group, or that they care if someone on our team has dietary restrictions, or they know how our billing works for advances and invoices, and that they support the photographer and his/her team in a completely positive way.   We want everyone to have a great shoot!  The better the production looks and the more buttoned up, the better the photographer and crew looks and that can mean repeat business just because the shoot felt “easy” to the client.  We call it “smoke and mirrors” but know how much work it takes to make it seem effortless.

We are sure that if you speak with any Art Buyer/Producer that she can give you a nightmare production story.  This may be why this is a growing trend.  We are all for it.  It’s nice to have someone who is a lover.  A great producer is a very special person.

Check out Heather’s blog.  She is a great resource for how the industry operates and she has a strong commercial roster to boot!

What perfect timing!  It’s just a Garden Party kind of day!  

We just received this gorgeous promo from Anna Wolf of The Garden Party in the mail today.  The photos don’t do it justice.  It is just so darn pretty.  Get your hands on one now. 

We asked some of our favorite agents and Art Buyers/Producers to submit a few words about what they are doing and what inspires them.  Laura Beckwith was the first to raise her hand!  We have posted about The Garden Party  before and Miss Laura Beckwith has really inspired us!  She and her group should be on your “watch list.”  

Laura is making tracks with her innovative business model from photography to art direction to illustration to wardrobe design (ummm…Christian Joy is Karen O’s designer, how rad is that?!?), to experiential designers like We Came in Peace.  We were thrilled when she submitted the below as our first guest blogger! 

Below is what Laura has to say about inspiration and trends: 

 
The Garden Party continues to expand as the ever-changing landscape for multi-disciplinary artists in this digital climate evolves. We are finding new opportunities to partner brands with our creators and tastemakers, while discovering non-traditional outlets for artistic expression in order to deliver rewarding client experiences that reach their desired markets and consumers. Through digital media, the expansion of the boundaries of what representation is continues to inspire me. The ever expanding landscape of media, our careers, our relationship to it, excites and inspires me to continue to pursue new opportunities for this global artist community. It is about finding, and even creating new opportunities for brands, content creators, and artists in this new and dynamic creative landscape that will inspire The Garden Party in the years to come.  
 
-Laura Beckwith, www.thegardenpartynyc.com 
Director / Agent
The Garden Party
-A big thank you to Laura for moving with the market and showing us how it’s done.  And for being our first.
Breakfast on set. #artbuyersarepeopletoo

Breakfast on set. #artbuyersarepeopletoo

We have been busy this morning setting up our Facebook account! There is still a lot of work to be done, but in the meantime add us as a friend and give us some love! 

facebook.com/artbuyersarepeopletoo 

We got this brightly colored illustration promo for DED from Monaco Reps.  It was a welcome pop of color in our mailbox and we do love a fold-out poster!  Monaco is fairly new on the illustration scene.  They have a nice little collaboration going with Shop Around out of Amsterdam.  Check it out.  It’s great to have local access to these illustrators.  We are certainly going to keep them in mind for upcoming projects.

We got this brightly colored illustration promo for DED from Monaco Reps.  It was a welcome pop of color in our mailbox and we do love a fold-out poster!  Monaco is fairly new on the illustration scene.  They have a nice little collaboration going with Shop Around out of Amsterdam.  Check it out.  It’s great to have local access to these illustrators.  We are certainly going to keep them in mind for upcoming projects.

We are so excited and grateful to Rob Haggart of A Photo Editor for reaching out to us and posting about us.  We hope to keep it interesting and keep it coming in 2013!  Rob has always been a big inspiration for us.  We love his interviews and the Daily Edit is super awesome.  Thanks so much for giving us a lot of blog love!

Kate Powers is doing something that people in the photo world shy away from and she is doing it magnificently well…Kate Powers is all grown up.  Her images still have a youthfulness and so much playfulness, but they are more elegant, polished and sophisticated than they have been in the past while maintaining a sense of “We want to be there too!”

We see so many lifestyle photographers who stall out.  People who we once loved, but who refuse to evolve and well, we outgrow them stylistically.  You can still be fun and mature.  You can still be gorgeous and sophisticated…there is no need to linger too long with the same old images.

We are so looking forward to watching Kate age gracefully.  There is nothing wrong with growing up.  We like to think of fine wines and all that vintage that we love so.  It’s all grown up, just like Miss Powers.  

We do a lot of retouching…not personally, but we hire the retouchers.  Sometimes the photographers want to handle it and sometimes they are more than happy to slap their hands together and be onto their next project.  Often, it is easier for us to manage without the photographer being involved.  So many of them are trying to do too much.  If we have a deadline and the photographer is off on another shoot we are at his mercy.  This is a bummer… We totally get that photographers want to deliver their look and feel and have a part in the final image and if it works out that is awesome.  If it doesn’t work out, it’s nice when they understand that we have insert and launch dates that can’t be moved. And, if say, they get stuck in Siberia without internet and cell service they are happy to let us retouch away without their approval.  No, this didn’t happen…not in Siberia! We want the images to look just as good.  We promise.  Give us the curve and we will make it happen. Retouching by The Digital Eye

We do a lot of retouching…not personally, but we hire the retouchers.  Sometimes the photographers want to handle it and sometimes they are more than happy to slap their hands together and be onto their next project.  Often, it is easier for us to manage without the photographer being involved.  So many of them are trying to do too much.  If we have a deadline and the photographer is off on another shoot we are at his mercy.  This is a bummer…

We totally get that photographers want to deliver their look and feel and have a part in the final image and if it works out that is awesome.  If it doesn’t work out, it’s nice when they understand that we have insert and launch dates that can’t be moved. And, if say, they get stuck in Siberia without internet and cell service they are happy to let us retouch away without their approval.  No, this didn’t happen…not in Siberia!

We want the images to look just as good.  We promise.  Give us the curve and we will make it happen.

Retouching by The Digital Eye