Warmth

On a cold, wet Philadelphia day like today when a client calls and asks if you can be in Florida next week, what do you say?

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Playground

Playground.

Playground

“For Zave his camera his is toy. The set and talent is his playground.” Thank you Tricia Moravansky Bronsky for saying that. Made my day.

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Embrace the Sky

Enjoy!

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Not far from the train station

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Duets

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Young or Old?

The young of heart feel that life is a opportunity. The old feel that life is a threat…..
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Another Day in Philly

Another Day in Philly.

Another Day in Philly

Enjoy!

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From Last Week’s Shoot in New Orleans

See Our latest 40 seconds of fun from New Orleans:

http://zavesmith.com/#/MOTION/Tru:%20New%20Orleans/1/

Enjoy,

Zave Smith
www.zavesmith.com

What I Did This Summer

From one of several places I shot this summer for Medley Healthcare.

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Best Work

Sometimes I feel that I do my best work when I don’t give a damn. How about you?

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Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans….

From this weeks shoot for the New Orleans Tourism Office.

Zave Smith
www.zavesmith.com

Some Shoots Move You!

Philadelphia Portrait Project Movie!

Sincerely,

Zave Smith
www.zavesmith.com

Some Shoots Are More Fun Than Others

Sincerely,

Zave Smith
www.zavesmith.com

Procrastination with a purpose

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New Work, New Site, New Zave

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New Site

We just revised and posted our new website. Lots of new images. Lots of new galleries.

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Enjoy!

Zave Smith

Back on the East Coast-Shooting for Playworld

Enjoy!

Zave Smith
www.zavesmith.com

Rain Dance

Rain Dance.

Rain Dance

Enjoy!

Zave Smith
www.zavesmith.com

Party like its 1975

ok, shot this week.

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Reinterpretation

To view gallery: Reinterpretation

She was my first love. I found her on the pages of “Life Magazine” and hanging from the walls of the Detroit Institute of Arts. She was small, rich in the colors of black and white. She was the representation of an artist’s reaction to life. She was the etchings of Rembrandt and Brueghel and the photographs of Weston and Smith. Her images were honest, brutal and beautiful. She inspired my first black and white photographs. It was love at first sight. It became my method of interpretation of life as I felt it.

Musicians often reinterpret their work. Visual artists tend to create with the sprit of one and done. While visual artists might work on a theme or style for a series we seldom go back to the single original and rework it.

Recently I have had occasion to revisit some recent photographs. A client had asked me to convert a couple images into black and white. I did not simply do an image>mode>grayscale in Photoshop but I went back to the original raw file and completely reworked it. It was like bumping into my first love all over again. Seeing these images anew in Black and White rekindled a passion that had been left behind.

Sincerely,

Zave Smith
www.zavesmith.com

Summer Time

Summer Time

Sincerely,

Zave Smith
www.zavesmith.com

Take a Leap

Enjoy!

Sincerely

Zave Smith

www.zavesmith.com

34 Portraits

 

 

 

 

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A visual reinterpretation of the portraits photographed on South Broadway.

Enjoy!

Zave Smith
www.zavesmith.com

Next…..

Sincerely,

Zave Smith
www.zavesmith.com

Showing Off

It is hard to find the time to sit down with art buyers and show off the new portfolio. But it is such blast when we do it. The reaction is just so positive.

Sincerely,
Zave Smith
www.zavesmith.com

New Work

We posted new work on www.zavesmith.com.  Let us know what you think.

Sincerely,

Zave Smith

www.zavesmith.com

An Act of Murder

It is almost an act of murder. In order to grow you often have to kill off the very things that have made you successful, in the first place.

At first I tried to understand and follow the marketplace. This was reasonably successful. But I was not after being reasonable. Besides, who was willing to pay for a cheaper imitation of the latest trend?

After ten years of some success at being a generic photographer, I started to become bored. I then started to put my craziness back into my work. I let go of the food and the products that had made my pay and started photographing shadows, kids, old people and even twenty-something cute girls. My only criterion was to make pictures that made me smile.

I used to get a lot of assignments that started with a layout. “Here, photographer, create a photograph that looks like this.” That is what I was paid for. Now I get assignments like, “Come down to Mardi Gras for a week and see what happens.” Or when Capital One called and ask me to spend some time photographing several small business clients of theirs in Dallas and in New York. No layouts, few directions, “Go see what’s there and bring us home something wonderful that captures the real life of our clients.”

I have learned that my best work, the work that makes my client’s smile is the work that happens when I let go. When I forget all the preconceived notions of what they want or what an “advertising” photograph should look like and I just react to what I see, I create photographs that sell.

Kill the concept and create a killer photograph.

Sincerely,

Zave Smith
www.zavesmith.com

New Work Posted On Our Website

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We just added new work to our website: www.zavesmith.com

Check it out!

 

 

Downstairs

Enjoy!

Zave Smith
www.zavesmith.com

Who Knows

Enjoy!

Zave Smith
www.zavesmith.com

A New Short Story

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Anger

First visual experiment of 2011.

Sincerely,

Zave Smith
www.zavesmith.com

Last Picture of 2010

Black Hat and Puppy Charm

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From Today’s Fun and Games.

Sincerely,

Zave Smith
www.zavesmith.com

Advice to a New Photographer

Old City

News Flash! The Photography Industry is not dead. It is not even dying. Good photographers, with good business and marketing skills are earning good money every day in every niche of this industry.

It is not easy. It is not fair. If you want to be a fashion photographer and you live in Montana, forget it. But if you can match your skills to the needs of your area and if you know how to market yourself, you can make it.

I have been working full time as a photographer since 1982. I can honestly tell you that each year, in fact almost every month, some photographer laments that the gig is up. They are right it was up for them but not for others.

I will say that starting out in this industry is not for the faint of heart or those who need lots of cash flow right away. Like the music industry or being a professional athlete few, very few will make it and even fewer will rise to the top.

So how to start? I would suggest that you make a list of photographers whose work and career you admire. Then I would camp out at their doors. When they say go away, I would go away for a week and camp out again. I would do this over and over again until somebody gives me a break and lets me in. I would not ask for money. I would fine a way to support myself during the night or better yet, on weekends. I would just hang out and learn as much as possible. Do this long enough, a year or so, and you will know what your next step is.

It is a very hard road and it might not be for you. That’s ok. In twenty years of running my own studio. I have seen assistants’ come and go. Only one as made it to the ranks of being a true professional photographer and supporting himself well. You might be better off with a career in web design or information technology and just enjoying photographing for its pure pleasure. If a professional career is what you seek then follow the road to the brightest doors.

People like to blame the demise of Photographic Profession on digital cameras. They say it makes it to easy to take a decent picture. Has anyone noticed how word processors have made a dent in the book business? Has anyone noticed that having the latest version of Word makes people better writers?

I am not saying it’s easy, it never was. But, it is still doable if you have the talent, the discipline, the ambition and the people skills.

A little luck also helps.

I hope this helps.

Sincerely

Zave Smith
www.zavesmith.com

As Seen In Old City Philadelphia

From last weeks fun and games.

Old City

Zave Smith

www.zavesmith.com

Summer Time and the living is

Sincerely,

Zave Smith

www.zavesmith.com

The CEO Portrait

One of the most difficult assignments is the CEO portrait. Many CEOs are shy, not exactly handsome and usually very stiff in front of a camera. Here is one from a recent shoot. I guess I got lucky.

Sincerely,

Zave Smith

www.zavesmith.com