When I met Julie Grahame I found we had very similar ways of looking at the photo industry, and when she went live with aCurator, I wanted her to talk about photography. Julie is smarter than most, opinionated, funny as hell, ambitious and accomplished—a person full of ideas.

If you haven’t checked in with aCurator (she posts several times a week), and the blog you’re missing some wonderful photography.

Julie has already featured everything from portraits of queer kids by M. Sharkey to Ashok Sinha’s Uyghurs of Xinjiang, Dirk Anschutz’ BMX trick biking, Jesse Burke's Intertidal, and Jade Doskow’s World’s Fair Projects as well as other work.

If you’d like to be featured on aCurator, email julie@acurator.com with sample jpgs and if she’s interested, she’ll send you submission info.


Tell a bit about your photography background

I ran a C41 dev-and-print line at 16. Went back to college for a diploma and began working in the library of photo agency Retna in 1990. I was running the UK office within a year and begging to be sent to NY a year later. Been here in NY since 1992 and we sold the agency in 2006. I worked at ZOOZOOM for a couple of years,

I manage a few websites other than aCurator, am doing social media for a few photographers, and I still represent Yousuf Karsh in North America.


Who are your favorite photographers, past or present?

Brandt, Doisneau, Lartigue, Mapplethorpe, Avedon, Abbott, Cunningham, Parr, Frank, Hank Willis Thomas, Burtynsky, Arbus, Salgado...

Are you a photographer? If so, what do you shoot?

I took one paid job out of college, an architecture shoot of all things. Couldn’t sleep all night worrying about the film and decided I’d be better working with photographers than being one.

What made you start aCurator?

I’ve always wanted to edit a magazine and as the editorial print market is going down the dumper without embracing what the screen can offer, with things like the Boston.com Big Picture being great, but still a scrolling up and down column of images laid out around text. The time seemed ripe for something like this.

My husband, Mike Hartley of bigflannel, ran ZOOZOOM for years - way ahead of its time, a Webby Award-winning full screen online fashion magazine. So we knew people loved to see full screen images, and that photographers were eager to be featured in such a format.



What is the quality of the submissions you’ve seen so far?

I would say I am pleasantly surprised, they’ve been from excellent to not bad.

Do you prefer one genre over another?

I’d like to be as open-minded as possible. But I’m definitely a lefty and I assume that affects my choices.

What haven’t you seen that you would like to see?

I wouldn’t mind seeing more political work. As you and I have discussed, there’s a lot of work on “the recession” out there that consists of images of empty rooms with an old tissue in the corner of the frame and a drawer hanging open, for example. And (separately) more humour.

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about photography these days?

Both. I’m pessimistic for those who knew the days of decent day rates, expenses, rights retention and resale, and verbal communication, and built their business accordingly.

I’m optimistic because clearly the number of potential licensors of images, and the chance to reach them online, is increasing. If we can just get to the place where people pay for content, maybe there will be an industry that supports us.

I’ve found that not even the large companies, MSN for example, have been interested in differentiating themselves from blogs and fans by using ‘better’ or just different content (from the all-you-can-eat service model).
I hope this changes. I’m not thrilled that we might make money in pennies instead of dollars, but I am realistic about it.

What do you want aCurator to do?

To give photographers who value the web and how it can complement their work an opportunity to publish features that look fantastic online; and indeed other organizations who don’t have a good presence online to benefit from the space; and for a wide variety of viewers to enjoy it.

I hope to expand to physical exhibitions, print sales, collaboration and sponsorship. Ultimately if there’s a chance to make money and pay something to the contributors that would make me really happy. But first we have to get the number of viewers way up.

How do you feel about the ubiquity of photography and its effect on the professional market?

It’s been a pain in the arse really. It’s understandable where the industry has been headed, between the advent of digital photography (which, regardless of what anyone says, was and is a costly nightmare), the state of the economy, the acquisition of photo agencies, the general downturn in publishing - all support a turn toward cheap and voluminous. But I’m a bit surprised by how photo editors have embraced the agency deal (paying one fee for a month’s images, for example) because I think it’s incredibly short sighted.

If buyers don’t pay either a decent license fee or a decent day rate, in 5 years all there will be is stock and it’ll be crap. And I’m also surprised that Getty would concentrate on editing from Flickr. I go through these conversations in my head: “I love that image of blah blah - are there more from the shoot? Can I see the Raw files?”

Any pet peeves about photographers or photography?

Nah, nothing that I can condense to a couple of sentences, anyway.

Any idea where things are heading?


10 years ago I thought image buyers might pay-per-view of an image - indeed I tried to cut a deal with a major organization but they weren’t capable of tracking clicks.

5 years ago I thought fees would be driven down and never come back. This might well be the case. Pay-walls might help up fees or respect for photography.

We’re moving away from local hard drives to app-based cloud computing. I think there will be an ongoing burden on the image maker to stay up to speed - eg. now we’re having to repurpose websites for the iPad. Not free or simple.

Moving away from protecting and managing copyright in the same ways (eg. Creative Commons; Orphan Works).

What else do you want to talk about?

Just to say that I hope there is still a place for great photography, that we see broader and more in-depth publication of images online (with the photographers getting paid actual money), that people in general do want something fine amongst all the lowest common denominator rubbish being forced upon us culturally, and that there’s enough of an industry for photographers to actually make a living - but I encourage everyone to add skills to their repertoire.
0

Add a comment

ASMP New York has relaunched SHARPEN, the online magazine of ASMP New York.

Today begins a new feature, a weekly “spotlight” of our fellow ASMP NY members.  I'll introduce inspiring men and women that are world renowned, at the beginning of their careers, and somewhere in between.  Here we'll celebrate each others accomplishments and how their work moves the world forward.

Huge thank you to Elizabeth Avedon, Holly Stuart Hughes, Jody Quon, Marc Sobier and Hosanna Marshall for taking time to delve deep in all the wonderful imagery everyone submitted. Tough decisions but lots of fun! Enjoy the pics by Alex Geana.

ASMP New York has Relaunched SHARPEN, the online magazine of ASMP New York. We have daily news, features, advice and over 20 columnists.

I admit, it has taken me a long time to get used to the notion that a photo taken with a cell phone is totally acceptable. I was a student of old school photography and I wanted to remain that way for a long time.

(A wonderful perspective and advice for our community.)

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

It’s Just Business

Several recent threads on ASMP’s on-line forums have dealt with photographers’ frustration with client negotiations.

Photo by Ruben Natal-San Miguel, from the Nocturnal/Activo series, Bronx, 2012.

THIS SATURDAY!!!

Bronx Masquerade brings together ten emerging Bronx artists who uncover the true stories of the young people in the Bronx.

We would like to ask you help us support a former ASMPNY President in this election. As many of you know, Thomas Werner was central to the rebuilding the of New York Chapter, helping to create the strong and vital chapter that you know today.

As a reviewer for the 3rd year in a row I remembered how fast-paced the reviews can be. How stressful it is for the person getting reviewed. It reminds me of what speed-dating must be like.

1

Tuesday, Feb 7th is the annual Fine Art Portfolio Reviews, are you ready to show your stuff?

6:45-9pm

***Only prints will be reviewed (no iPads or laptops) unless the work is meant to be exhibited in a museum or gallery hooked up to a computer.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

7-9pm

How do you stand out in a crowded market? Not by spending the most and yelling the loudest — that’s a sucker’s game (and boy, do those suckers get annoying, fast.) The secret to gaining attention in a noisy world lies in making yourself irresistible at all turns:

Here is a wonderful interview with Anna Skladmann who has been photographing the children of Russia's nouveau riche. Her shots of these kids haunt me.

Last week was the 10th anniversary of the biggest art fair in the country. I had been to Miami before but not for ABMB. I was an Art Basel virgin...

You could tell who was from New York because every other person was wearing black even in the 77 degrees weather. Yeah, I saw art.

1

Wednesday, November 30th at 11th Street Bar

510 East 11th Street (Between A&B) beginning at 6:30

Congratulations to all the winners of Image 11!

Professional: 1st Place: Peter Dazeley

Student: 1st Place: Brad Curran

November 22nd, 2011

It was packed! And rightfully so, with an incredible line-up of reviewers from The New York Times, DDB, PDN, Magnum and tons more. The energy in the room was filled with excitement and maybe even a little nervousness.

October 4th, 2011

One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you'd be stricken blind.

Please join me for this online only exhibition of Kim Keever and Bruce Checefsky's work. From October 4-November 1

While peering into an alternate universe, such as Kim Keever has created using a 200 gallon glass tank filled with water, it's easy to get lost in the hidden chasms of his landscapes.

ASMP NY: CALLING ALL PHOTOGRAPHERS

NEW YORK, NY - September 2011 - Now in its 6th consecutive year, ASMP NY will host its annual Commercial Portfolio Review for all ASMP NY members on October 11, 2011.

Why should you take this course?

· Do you want to learn how to uncover a prospect's budget?

· Do you ever hear, "I'm interested, call me after the holidays?" or "This is great, I just need to run it by my boss/editor/wife/business partner?" but you never hear back from the prospect?

· Do you feel

2

Tomorrow night September 12th is the very special curated photography show by Ruben Natal-San Miguel about the 10 years since 9/11. This exhibition is supported by Finch & Ada.

1

Ahhh, the very important issue of stealing imagery from photographers to make a buck. In this case, Michael Dweck is $100,000 richer via Malibu Denim Co. thanks to the courts and rightfully so. Justice prevails! Click here for more on this story.

Longtime photojournalist Michael Kamber is the force behind the Bronx Documentary Center, a venue for photography, film, and new media that opens in September with an exhibition on the work of the late photojournalist Tim Hetherington, who was killed in Libya in April.

Focus on Sales: Sandler Sales Training Level One

Tuesdays, this fall! Sandler Sales Training is back ! Why should you take this course?

Do you want to learn how to uncover a prospect's budget? Did you ever hear, "I'm interested, but call me back after the holidays"? Then you never heard back from

Must give a major shout out to Stella Kramer who edited and published this blog for the past few years- keeping it chocked full of information and writings based on the contemporary photography world, commercially and in fine art. It must be noted that she posted everything before August 2011.

2

This hurricane will surely be a phot-op so if you are brave and want to take the risk, please take necessary precautions. And if you want to send them to the blog to post, please do at asmpsharpen@gmail.com.

For the rest of us, we'll opt to stay dry.

Most of us miss the smell of a darkroom and the potent chemicals that seep through our hands and clothes back in the day when the darkroom was king.

Attention All Photographers!- 2001-2011- A Decade of Insanity : Still Searching for Healing- Exhibition

Attention all Photographers!- I am back to curating, As a survivor of Sept 11 attacks, will like to celebrate life, commemorate the 10 year anniversary and how photography has changed the face of

Resource is putting together a Summer inspired film series (with the curation help of our friends at Vimeo) and we want you to be there. The event is at Factory Studios. factorybrooklyn​.com

We're taking over 2 floors of Factory!

Today at 7:00pm

@Factory Studios

79 Lorimer St.

Saturday, August 13, 2011, 12pm

ASMPNY's Summer Party on the Hudson

ASMPNY's Summer Party is THIS SATURDAY! Photogs will appreciate the beautiful view (and breeze) along the Hudson River at the PIER i CAFÉ. You might want to bring your camera, or ride your bike to get there.

Picture
Picture
Blog Archive
links
About Me
About Me
My Photo
I've been in the art and photography industry for 15 years as a photographer, curator and art consultant. I've been fortunate to work with ASMPNY as a portfolio reviewer as well as a panelist for photography events here in the city. Earlier this year my exhibition, "Hotter Than July" was reviewed by senior art critic of New York Magazine, Jerry Saltz. In the past I founded veaux.org, a site for emerging creatives with a gallery space in Chelsea as well as curator/consultant of exhibitions for the Hipstamatic iphone app. Currently I'm working on a project documenting the New York art world while curating exhibitions around the city.
Loading
Dynamic Views theme. Powered by Blogger. Report Abuse.