ambassadors Archives - SmartFrame

SmartFrame Ambassadors: Arjun Anand

Matt Golowczynski — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 15:18:09 +0000

In the third part of our series on SmartFrame’s Ambassadors, wildlife and fine-art photographer Arjun Anand discusses his passion for photographing tigers and why he uses SmartFrame

SmartFrame: What does life look like for you right now?

Arjun Anand: It’s hard not to be able to go out and photograph, but there are other things that can be done. The book I’ve been working on is finally going to print next week, so in about a month from now I should be doing an official launch – so that’s a silver lining for me.

The book maps the journey of me getting into tiger photography, and then eventually ending up with one tiger who I spent three years photographing, who then turned out to be a man-eater. He killed three people, and then, of course, he was captured. I was following him since he was a baby, but it just so happened that he turned out to be a man-eater, giving this twist to my story, and eventually leading to the book.

I first saw him when he was about eight months old, and he had this aggressive streak in him. He was a little different; he had stunning blue eyes, which made him stand apart. That’s how my initial interest in him began, and then it became an obsession. With each passing month, my hopes of him ruling some of the choicest parts of the national park diminished. I realized something was wrong. He was pushed out by one tiger, and then another tiger, and eventually, he was pushed out to the fringes of a park near human habitation. Eventually, he started killing cattle and domestic goats, and ultimately human beings.

S: Were you already photographing tigers before then?

A: Yes. I’ve been visiting tiger reserves since I was about seven or eight years old, but the photography part came much later. I was spending so much time in the wild, and I thought I might as well spend that time doing something constructive. I had no initial interest in photographing animals, but I wanted to use my time for something. And so I started photographing tigers.

I studied the work of leaders in the space, David Yarrow being one of them. Steve Winter and Nick Brandt, too. I studied their work and their focus – how they created focus on a body of work, as opposed to just photographing things randomly. So when I saw this tiger, I realized that this was the only way to succeed. With everyone being a photographer – with Instagram, mobile phones, cameras being so cheap – how does one really stand out? By focusing on one thing and completely owning it. Nobody else can do a book on that tiger as, unfortunately, he’s enclosed now. So that space is something I own as it’s not easy to replicate.

S: You have a varied background, trading derivatives and developing business automation software among other things. But you were photographing from an early age, correct?

A: I would photograph things but nothing I would share with anyone. I remember when I got my first DSLR, maybe 20 years ago, I was obsessed with trying to freeze motion. For me, that was a big thing. I would just take pictures of a bird flying, for example. It was nothing worth sharing, but for me it was not easy as I had to learn to be creative. I don’t think I’m creative at all. For someone like me to get into this area, I had to study the works of great photographers, not only in wildlife but in other areas such as fashion, glamour and street photography. I was questioning why these photographers did this and that, and that was a really interesting journey. And that taught me what I know today.

S: How has the coronavirus pandemic affected your work? What would you normally be doing?

A: I had a few projects lined up. The tiger that became a man-eater – apparently, his mother gave birth to a new litter. My plan was a continuation of sorts, to try and perhaps draw analogies between the two litters. Unfortunately, time has passed and I think the cubs are big now, so I’ve lost out on that opportunity.

I had some other non-wildlife projects as well, but they can’t be done. The thing is, you study some of these brilliant artists and see that there are millions of opportunities available – it’s just a case of actually trying to find one. I think it was Irving Penn who would photograph cigarettes in an ashtray, and cigarettes on the floor, and stuffed cigarettes that he would collect. That’s something most photographers would ignore, but he did it in a fine-art way. It taught me that you could do anything.

So I did lose out on certain opportunities, but others will come up. For example, the human interaction with nature – and not only wildlife but landscapes too – is quite a ‘hot’ area. This pandemic happened because we messed with nature, so [there’s a case for] trying to get the human elements with wildlife and landscape, and creating stories that combine these.

S: When do you imagine you will be able to start your next project?

A: For the book, I re-edited a lot of images that were on my website. So the website has been down as I’ll be changing a lot of the images, and adding new features and so on. I’m going to be focusing on promoting the book online, but I will be doing one-on-one Instagram talks called Tiger Talks. I’ll be interviewing professionals and amateurs – anyone who likes wildlife, basically. It’s called Tiger Talks, but it will eventually move into the broader wildlife area.

It’s not really about technique, more about how you travel, what you travel with, where you share your images and so on. It’s less about the technical stuff. If I tell you I shot this image with an aperture of f/16, you may try to emulate it but you wouldn’t be able to do it as you don’t have the same light, and you don’t know what my artistic vision is for that image. So from my point of view, it doesn’t make sense to get into technical details of it, unless you’re also there to experience the light and the process. So I want to focus on the softer side of things.

S: How did you come to use SmartFrame?

A: I emailed someone at SmartFrame to say that I had been looking for this kind of solution for a long time. I was involved in a non-photographic venture that involved publishing product images online, and the need for it came from there. I come from a family of intellectual property lawyers, so I understand the importance of intellectual property, copyright, trademarks and so on.

I always wanted to protect my images but I couldn’t find a solution. I realized you had to share low-quality images with ugly watermarks on them. And I did that – most people do – but in the back of my head, I was always looking for a better way.

I saw a website – I forget which it was – and realized I couldn’t right-click on an image. And that’s the first thing I used to do on photography websites, not because I wanted to steal the images, but because I wanted to see if it could help me with my own website. I tried right-clicking and other things … I come from a semi-technical background, so I went into the page source code where I was able to get a link to the SmartFrame website. I went to the SmartFrame site and signed up for a trial – and it took me less than a week to move to the paid version.

I’ve not actually got around to promoting my website as I’ve been focusing on the book, but I wanted a solution in place. I’ve hired a PR agency to help me promote the book, and when it’s released I’ll be sharing links to my website and they’ll be more focus on it. And now it makes my life easier as I don’t need to work on a solution – I’ve found one.

S: There’s a lot of functionality to SmartFrame, and we know that some photographers prefer to use many features and others only a few. You’re a fan of the Hyper Zoom feature, is that right?

A: Yes, it’s a fantastic feature. Once the book comes out, I want to promote the print sales side of things, not just for this collection but for other projects I’m working on. I think it’s very important to give users a gallery-like experience – and that’s where this feature comes in. People can zoom into my images and see exactly what they are getting.

That experience is important as, with e-commerce nowadays, a lot of companies have returns policies, and a lot of people have this misconception that sharpness is the most important thing in an image. Well, it’s not. Some of the most expensive photographs you’llsee being sold are not very sharp. I want to let the user experience what they are getting before they place an order – and from that perspective, Hyper Zoom is an extremely useful feature.

S: Do you look at the analytics side of SmartFrame?

A: I do look at the analytics. I’m still learning how to use it, but I think it’s important, knowing how my images are being shared, how my images are being used and so on.

S: Did you previously have a problem with image theft?

A: No, but I was using very low-quality images, and you can’t do much with them. They can’t be printed, for example, and if you do print them it’ll be an ugly print. You would need TIFF files or high-resolution JPEGs at the very least, which you cannot get as I have not posted these online anywhere. I want to be able to use large images, which I do now with Hyper Zoom. And I don’t want them to be accessible to anyone else, so the security features and the ability to stop them from being misused is invaluable.

All images: Arjun Anand. Visit Arjun’s website and follow him on Instagram.

Learn more about SmartFrame’s Ambassadors

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https://smartframe.io/blog/smartframe-ambassadors-janis-pipars/
https://smartframe.io/blog/23-ways-to-get-maximum-detail-in-images/
https://smartframe.io/blog/smartframe-ambassadors-peter-j-walsh

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SmartFrame Ambassadors: Peter J Walsh

Matt Golowczynski — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 12:47:13 +0000

In the second part of our series on SmartFrame’s Ambassadors, music photographer and videographer Peter J Walsh talks to us about his work and how SmartFrame has helped him.

SmartFrame: You’ve been a photographer for the best part of the last 30 years, correct?

Peter J Walsh: Yes, even longer – since around 1986. I did a lot of documentary work before the acid house explosion. I was working in Manchester, shooting things like corporate portraits, then I worked for City Life magazine, which was Manchester’s equivalent of Time Out, shooting portraits and fashion. I started covering nightlife, too; I’d gone to the Haçienda for years before as a punter, but it started to be different to all the other clubs I photographed. I trained as a documentary photographer and I could see a movement was happening, and that I had to record it.

I sent some pictures to the NME of a Happy Mondays’ gig, which they played on Tony Wilson’s TV show The Other Side of Midnight, and I got a call from the live editor, Helen Mead. She asked whether I wanted to work for the NME as their photographer in the north of England – and that’s how it all started with the NME.

I also started working for Mixmag, The Face and ID, and they would send me in to cover the club nights and gigs, but I would also cover things for myself too. I was trying to get an archive of work together as I realized it was going to be culturally important.

I moved to London around 1995 or 1996, just as the Manchester scene started to die out. I was shooting a lot for the NME and shooting stuff abroad too, but there seemed to be more work in London [than Manchester]. I also started shooting music videos.

S: This was the foundation of your video career?

PJW: Yes. When I was still in Manchester I got asked to make a video, so I learned the craft of putting one together. I went on to make videos for five Top 10 chart hits, before making a documentary for Channel 4 called Model Turned Actor, which was received very well.

Other things came from that, including a series of videos for the NHS called Shift. [The NHS] had a budget for making programs to change people’s perceptions of mental health in the workplace, and they were trying to get away from the corporate, talking-head-type stuff.

S: It sounds like you’ve worked across many different areas, which must keep it interesting. Was that conscious decision?

PJW: Yes, I quite enjoy doing different assignments. I’m pitching a couple of documentary ideas to some production companies at the moment, but sometimes you can wait for two or three years and then nothing happens. So in between times, if people want me to shoot something, I’ll shoot anything that comes along.

I spend a lot of time now on my archive, scanning in my negatives and doing the post-production, and pushing it out to different organizations. Last year there were events [with my work] in Paris and also at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany and I also have some work in a group show at the [London] Design Museum. There’s a lot of interest in rave right now, particularly with the 30-year anniversary of it, and a lot of younger people are looking back at that time. And the music is still relevant.

S: Presumably, you still have a number of images of well-known people that the world hasn’t seen?

PJW: I’ve got thousands of negatives but I’ve only scanned a small amount. Sometimes I’ll be scanning some of the club nights and I’ll see Johnny Marr or Shaun Ryder or someone like that. So it’s great to go back and look through.

S: What’s your workflow like?

PJW: I’ve got about 35-40 A4 files stuffed full of negative sheets, most of which are numbered. I go through and find negatives to scan, and scan them at around 4000dpi so that each one produces a file measuring around 50MB. From there I select the good ones before I put them in a folder and start the post-production, getting rid of dust and scratches and things like that. Once that’s done, I upload them to the cloud to have a backup, then I think about putting them on the website and my online shop. It’s quite time-consuming to get from an original negative to a finished file.

S: You must have enough for a hefty coffee-table book by now?

PJW: Yeah, definitely. I’ve been thinking about that for the last couple of years. There are a couple of publishers I’m thinking of approaching – I just want to get a really good selection and edit it down.

S: How did you come to use SmartFrame? Was it mainly for presentation or security? Or a bit of both?

PJW: It was a bit of both. Someone got in touch with me and asked for another copy of a t-shirt that had an image of [Happy Mondays members] Shaun and Bez that I’d taken. I explained that I’d never made a t-shirt – so obviously, someone has got that picture from somewhere, and not in great quality, and stuck that on a t-shirt and sold it. It’s been done quite a few times with merchandise; I’ll see a picture of something on Google and realize it’s my image.

So it’s about trying to protect the intellectual property of my images to stop them from being ripped off. Most people come to me and ask whether they can use an image, and then we agree on a fee. And that’s great because it’s extra income for something I spent a lot of time working on many years ago.

Two or three years ago, I Googled whether there was any way of stopping right-clicks and drag-and-dropping onto a desktop, and SmartFrame came up. I thought it looked really interesting; being able to embed pictures on a website, or on Facebook and Twitter, and then being able to see where that image is opened or clicked on.

Seeing which is the most popular image using the analytics too; I have my personal favorites, and I think lots of people are looking at these images, but then I look at the analytics and see another one has had a number of views that’s been unexpected. I never would have thought a certain image might be more popular than another of mine, so you start looking at your images in a different way. So it’s a great way to see what’s popular, and how it’s being used, and makes me think about which images to add to my online shop.

S: Was theft a significant problem for you before SmartFrame?

PJW: I never saw a penny from those t-shirts, so someone else has obviously made money! Not being able to drag-and-drop images to a desktop is a really useful feature [of SmartFrame]. If you did that with a normal website and had quite a sizeable image, people could use that to produce a fairly crappy t-shirt – but still sell it.

If people wanted to make money, it would be great [to collaborate] so you could make money together. They’d get a high-resolution file, so it’d be a fair representation of my work, and the quality of the t-shirt would be good too.

S: What other SmartFrame features do you use?

PJW: It’s great that you can protect your images, but also create Campaigns with them too. You can create ‘Buy’ or ‘New’ icons that you put over images, so when people hover over them these features come up and people interact with them.

Another great thing: I photographed an exhibition recently, and was asked for the images for the client’s website. I mentioned I was using a system called SmartFrame, and that once I had the images on my site they could embed them on their site – and if people clicked on them it would come back to me. That meant I didn’t have to send them over any reference image. So it cuts down on work.

All images: Peter J Walsh. Visit Peter’s website and follow him on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

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SmartFrame Ambassadors: Janis Pipars

Matt Golowczynski — Wed, 17 Jun 2020 10:17:36 +0000

In the first of a series of articles on SmartFrame’s Ambassadors, Latvian-based photographer Janis Pipars discusses his work and why he uses SmartFrame

SmartFrame: Did you study photography or were you self taught?

Janis Pipars: I graduated from the Latvian Academy of Culture with a degree in art, but I was already a professional photographer at the point, having worked for several local agencies and newspapers. Early on, I started to work as a freelance photojournalist for international agencies, and I had plenty of assignments for The New York Times and Time magazine, as well as several other US publications.

Later on, I switched to the Anzenberger Agency, which is based in Austria, but now I’m completely freelance. I still have occasional international assignments from magazines and The New York Times, but my main areas of focus are commercial work and unit stills for movies.

S: How did you get into unit stills photography?

JP: We have a small market in Latvia, so we tend to work on all kinds of assignments. For the project Survive (below), I was commissioned by a company called Film Solutions, who are based in Los Angeles but are also represented in the UK, after a friend of mine mentioned me as a possible candidate. It came down to three people, and in the end, they chose me.

That ended in December, but just before the COVID-19 crisis, I was commissioned for an action movie, which was filmed here in Latvia. We’re actually still in production; the second phase will start after travel limitations have been lifted.

S: A lot of your work on your Instagram page is documentary-focused. Do you still do a lot of that now?

JP: The documentary work is really in the past. But it depends; if a magazine wanted me to do it, I would still do it.

S: How did you come to use SmartFrame?

JP: I had a bad experience with my images online. I used to cover major worldwide events, and I had my work in many international publications. I noticed that a local online publication started to republish my pictures on their streams, without my permission. I spotted this just by Googling myself, and while I wasn’t against it, I felt that credits here were critical.

I thought that it would be nice to have a service that could track such behavior online. Small online publications were not the main market for me, but it’s crucial to support them for the sake of journalism’s role in society. In some cases, all I would want is for my images to be credited.

After a while, I started to use Adobe’s Portfolio service, which was low in maintenance and had additional security measures against illegal image copying, but the layout design choices were limiting. That was the reason I moved to my own hosted web server.

Then I found out about SmartFrame. It wasn’t easy at the beginning because of support issues from my web service provider, but then the magic started. Now everybody can share my photos, and see them on low- or high-resolution devices properly, and even zoom into them, with my credentials preserved. So that gives me peace of mind.

All images: Janis Pipars. Visit Janis’s website and Instagram page

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