The fourth installment of moodboard's creative magazine is now available. Please click on the magazine above or the link below to access your free copy.

What projects have you recently enjoyed working on?

Christmas is always an exciting time in shopping centres as they pull out all the stops. We have to differentiate each Christmas’s marketing to be even bigger and better than the last year, so it really does mean the creatives are on top of their game thinking up original campaigns. Celebrities help build a great buzz and for Christmas just passed we organised Nicholas Cage to turn on the Christmas lights in Bath.

Have you seen a change in the way agencies use Stock photography?

In the last couple of years I’ve noticed a change in the way art directors produce campaigns. Before, an art director would draw out a specific idea. Now they work more with a concept or headline and then go through the stock sites to see which visual best works. They are more flexible with the visuals and are very open to other interpretations.  

Can you remember a moodboard image that was used in a recent campaign you were handling?

I remember using an image of a woman holding a camera in the snow. This was used in a shopping centre in Cheltenham. This image captured everything the client was looking for in the photograph. Sometimes it’s hard to meet all criteria but this photo really hit the nail on the head.

What makes for a great stock photo? 

What are you reservations about working with Stock Photography?

One of my concerns is that the image won’t be model released. This would have big implications for our campaigns if it wasn’t. Although we don’t have to worry about that with moodboard.

What do you like about moodboard’s photo library?

I was getting frustrated using larger agencies as it takes ages to search through many inappropriate images. With moodboard you know your selection of quality relevant images will be brought up. This saves me a lot of time. Also the range of images and price points helps me chose the right image for campaigns with different budgets.  

Do you include microstock in your campaigns?

No never as it’s not worth risking a campaign by scrimping on a very low budget image. We do use royalty free though as there are some amazing premium quality photos out there.   

With a lot of doom and gloom in the market at the moment it’s great to hear from an agency that is using stock photography successfully in more and more campaigns.  Better luck next time with your celebrity photography. If you want any tips I’m sure our photographers here would be happy to give you some pointers.  

Dear all, 

After an exciting year of blog posts here on the factory,  I am taking some time off to have my first baby in January.  I've been thrilled to feature some of my favourite artists and photographers on the blog and would like to thank all the contributors who spent time with the factory and everyone that took time to read the posts. It's been a really great year!

Whilst I'm away my colleagues Craig and Lauren in Sales will be running the show and I'm sure they will keep you entertained in my absence.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Deb H x

moodboard is delighted to be featured in this months F2 Freelance Photographer magazine which has a great interview with our very own Mike Watson.  The magazine is packed with interesting features and great photography so we are thrilled to be included.  

You can buy the magazine direct from the F2 website. 

Thanks to Sue Harper at F2 for the opportunity.

Deb H

My Creative Director and I recently met filmmaker Kate Perotti at PhotoPlus New York.  We were really impressed with her creativity in filmmaking and photography and were intrigued to hear about her project "MOMz Hot ROCKs: the women of Mamapalooza" which is a feature length original music documentary following moms in rock bands.  The film has been really well received at many film festivals and recently won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

I find the whole project a real inspiration, from the rocking moms to Kates tenacity in making the film happen.  I caught up with her to find out how it all came about and what she's going to tackle next ...

The moms in the film seem liberated by their involvement in these bands. Was one of your aims to show the empowerment of women through music?

Most definitely.   In all cultures, music is a form of accepted expression.  It can be simple or layered with multiples of meaning.  Rock and punk have traditionally been dominated by men.  Independent women have made marks in music no doubt, (Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, Patti Smith, Exene Cervenka to name a few).  This film aims to give voice to the most door matted members of society, mothers and caregivers.  Collectively, the film and women of mamapalooza spread the now popular Live Out Loud.

I hadn’t really heard of the phenomenon of mom bands until MOMz Hot ROCKs, how did you come about the idea to make the film?

Six years ago, I had not heard of any either.  I was writing a fictional comedy about a group of women (based on my air band best friends from high school) who have a reunion midst full lives and start to send lyrics in emails.  One thing leads to another and they add track by track.  The song is intercepted, put online and becomes an anonymous hit.  The women are hesitant to show themselves, go on a “spa retreat” and record the rest of the album.  More hits follow, they do the “KISS” thing, perform in disguise, eventually do the big reveal at a packed Madison Square Garden show.  CUT to June 2004, I am waiting in the car to pick up my son from summer school, reading the Wall Street Journal and see a full page spread “Mommie Loudest” featuring 5 of the bands in the film.  Frump, the Mydols, Candyband, Placenta and Housewives on Prozac.  After googling all of them, I send Joy Rose an email, ten minutes later we are talking for over an hour.  She says, “I’ve been vibing the universe for a filmmaker to come my way.” I say, “I’m the one.”  We finally meet in October when I extend what began as a trip to do the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.  I borrowed a camera and started filming the night we met.  That organizational meeting for Mamapalooza 2005 is part of the film.  I knew I had to just start, it was happening, these women were doing it.  No time to find proper funding, I ended up financing it myself thanks to the LA housing bubble.  It was personally liberating to shoot most of the footage myself.  I did however have a great crew for larger performances.  Shout out to Liz Rubin, an up and coming cinematographer, she rocked.

What advice would you give to other aspiring filmmakers who want to get started on a project?

As far as advice, there are no rules, follow your heart and don’t take no personally.  If you can maintain some sort of balance in your life (I almost laughed out loud), good luck.  This film did fall into place as I did not stop.

I did sometimes get the picture in my head of “one foot on a banana peel, the other on a roller-skate while jumping through a hoop of fire juggling swords…”

Before MOMz Hot ROCKs did you make any other films? What is your background?

I got my MFA in Film/’Video from CalArts in 1993 and have done just about everything behind the camera for various features, commercials and music videos.  I was a still photographer in NY and worked for a special effects house in NY before that.  I am proud to say that I completed the first digital media thesis in the CalArts film school, thanks to Eric Martin of the art department who let me use their computers before the film school had any.

This is my first feature film.  I have done many shorts and music videos for a lot of still unknown bands.

Music has always been a driving force in my life; I was in a band at CalArts and in Iceland in the early nineties.

You have submitted some great images to moodboard, do you still find time for your photography with all the film making/promotion going on?

I am just getting back into still photography.  I have missed doing it for years.  When I demoed the Canon Markll 5D at the Dances with Films festival last spring, I got more excited by that camera than I have in years.  The camera does HD video as well as stills.  I have always used Canon cameras, loving the ergonomics for someone my size and flexibility of the lens system.  When I got the chance to move to NY in September, I bought the camera the first week I arrived.

© moodboard/Kate Perotti 

You seem to have such a busy schedule, how do you manage to juggle family life with filmmaking and promotion?

I love what I am able to do and have wonderful people in my life.  My son turned 18 last June and went to college in August, freeing up a chunk of time this year.   During the production, he was the best, supportive from day one.  My friends are my family and they helped enormously.  In my film, Alyson Palmer restates Hillary Clinton’s “it takes a village” concept. I definitely know that to be true.

Any exciting new projects in the pipeline you can tell us about?

I would like to make a surf film that has an actual story line…I have something in the glacial works with George Clinton of P-Funk…I am developing several projects from books…Currently I have the opportunity to Executive Produce a narrative feature dealing with immigration in LA.  It’s with an A-list team, funding sources anyone?

What would you say has been your favourite memory from the whole process of making MOMz Hot ROCKs?

The best part is not over yet.  I have developed some lifelong friendships with some of the people in the film and because of the film. I will say that my son was key.  When I got home from first meeting Joy Rose, Lisa Ludwig, Jen/Ed, Alyson Palmer and Tina DeVaron, The Surreal World was a popular show that cracked my son and I up.  While viewing the footage of the Mamapalooza meeting, I noticed my son standing next to me; he watched the entire two-hour reels.  He was 13 at the time and was laughing out loud.  I realized that if a teenage boy could be entertained by these women, I had something special.

Check out the trailer for MOMz Hot ROCKs here  and find out more about the film and Kate Perotti  on her website www.momzhotrocks.com. 

Check out our video from PhotoPlus ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsmgpz1g7i8

Were you there? Let us know what you thought of PhotoPlus this year.

Deb H

Managed to get a few photos this morning in the quiet before the storm.  We've had a great show at the expo and enjoyed being next to the Lomography booth which was a hugely popular stand.  The guys opposite on Liberty, especially Alberto from Noritsu who was a pleasure to talk to everyday.  moodboard photographer Stuart Cox was also at the show promoting Imense Annotator which is a great keywording tool designed to help photographers. 

I was really interested to see the Professional Photographers of America on the list of exhibitors at this years Photoplus.  I caught up with Angela Wijesinghe from the PPA last week to find out what they can offer photographers.  If you are at the expo be sure to drop by and see them at stand 960 to find out more.

When was PPA established?

1880

What does it mean to be a member of PPA and what are the benefits to joining?

A PPA member is a photographer who is serious about the art and business of photography. (There are applications, along with descriptions of payment and benefits on PPA.com. ) 

As a member, a photographer has what could be considered a “season ticket” to success. They have access to our resources and benefits—I’ve listed a few below:

• Indemnification Trust – the industry’s only malpractice protection trust fund, protecting members from alleged negligence on assignment.
• Studio Management Services – PPA-exclusive financial and accounting experts to help manage your business profitably.
• Copyright & Government Affairs Staff – team that answers legal and copyright questions and lobbies for photographers’ interests.
• Professional Photographer Magazine – yearly subscription to the industry’s most trusted publication (also an award-winning magazine).
• Discounts – on equipment, education, insurance, software, services and other tools of the trade (including Apple discounts and one of the best credit card merchant services discounts in the industry).
• Find-a-Photographer – online client referral database on the PPA website.
• Crucial Photography Business Information –PPA Education classes, webinars (including free webinars only for PPA members), and resources for developing your art and business (including a library of online articles and weekly articles on topics for a healthy business).

The ability to network with your peers across the country (and the world) is also a good benefit. 

You can learn more about benefits at www.PPA.com/benefits (and just hover over the Benefits tab to jump to more details).

Are there any specific benefits to stock photographers becoming members?

The Stock Artists Alliance (SAA), is the only photography association dedicated specifically to the needs of professional stock photographers.  The association recently joined the Alliance of Visual Artists, an umbrella group of photographic associations that includes PPA.  Members of SAA receive benefits that are geared towards their business, helping to make them more successful.

One of the most significant, immediate benefits of the merger for stock photographers (and all photographers) is newly acquired strength in numbers for advocacy rights. A long-time active proponent for copyright, SAA can now add to AVA's more aggressive and well-funded lobbying campaign, effectively giving all a greater voice than they had yesterday. Current advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill are focused on securing health care for professional photographers and other small businesses, while constantly spreading the pro-copyright message.  So the increased power is a big benefit for those stock photographers. 

Along with the added influence in Washington, the merger opens up new educational and networking opportunities. SAA members will have access to AVA’s bundle of membership benefits. The addition of SAA will also widen the educational scope of Imaging USA, the first photographic convention and expo of the year, hosted each year by AVA. With today's merger, a slate of classes dedicated specifically to stock photography will be planned for the January 10, 2010, event.

Do you have to be a resident of the US to be a member?

No, although the official name is Professional Photographers of America, it is an international association. We have members from about 54 different countries, and many are represented at our annual Imaging USA event.

Is membership also available to semi-pros and how would a photographer qualify to be classified as professional?

Membership is available for any who are serious about photography. We do have an Aspiring membership, which is only good for 2 years as a new member. It’s good for those who are starting out or who aren’t sure if photography will become their full-time career. After 2 years, though, Aspiring members would either become full Active Professionals or would no longer be members. Aspiring members still have access to most of the educational and business resources/benefits, excluding the online Find-a-Photographer referral database. 

Is there a feeling of community amongst PPA members?

There is a very strong sense of community in PPA. In fact, many members say that Imaging USA, our annual event, is like a family reunion. Many also say that PPA photographers share more than any other group. Members find mentors among one another, and they often feel their fellow members form something like a support group of people who understand the passion they each have for photography. They don’t feel “alone” anymore. Membership gives them access to those who face similar issues and similar loves.

While we are spread across the world, we have many online chances for interaction, including an online OurPPA forum where photographer can share business and marketing questions, along with seeking advice about how to best do a certain shoot. They are peer-led conversations.

Do you have a yearly competition for members?

Yes, there is a yearly photography competition for members. The International Print Competition is a world-renowned photographic competition, and the images are evaluated against a standard of excellence, not against each other. Often members who are entering post their images for critiques on the Our PPA forums, in order to tweak their images one last time before entering the competition. 

http://www.ppa.com/competitions/international.php

Many thanks to Angela, Claire and Christel at PPA for their time.  Deb H  

moodboard had a great first day at the expo, meeting lots of new photographers and talking to existing contributors.  If you are at the expo tomorrow or Saturday be sure to drop by the stand and say hello to us, we are at booth 565.

Deb H