- Octopus Tentacles
… or a disorderly yet orderly train of thought…
I
find it interesting how the title of ones function in my metier has
evolved since I began this profession in the early 80′s. A Fashion
Photographer was generally hired to capture images of men, woman and
children adorned in this seasons most or least captivating clothing,
that would be paraded in your local newspapers, catalogues or
magazines. Sometimes if you were really on a roll your images would be
glorified on a poster or billboard. This reality was the status quo for
quite some time until the www. the world wide web entered the fold of
important media to be considered in ones advertising marketing plan.
It
was akin to the wild west and up until recently was still quite chaotic
to say the least. In fact, as we all know things are still in flux and
will in my opinion remain so ad infinitum. But that isn’t really the
point here.
- Diversity
We
still thought that the status quo remained and we just needed to
capture the images to be used in the above medium. In fact a lot of
more traditional Art Directors still think that is what we do. Some
very strange things started happening and the snowball effect become
pretty evident. Other people in the business started to take on other
functions that would be normally considered inaccessible or tabu to
consider. Magazines were under pressure to bend to the whims of those
wishing to take on those functions with little or no resistance from the
Art Directors (considering their reduced importance in the metier since
the late 90′s) or the Editors, as those designers were spending a
fortune in advertising in their magazines and accepted their new
multifunctional attributes with open arms. The new paradigm began. The
designer slash photographer slash creative director slash…was born. Now
that really isn’t the point here neither, as I believe in diversity and
in the fact that being creative is being creative no matter what the
tool used to express yourself with.
The
“BIG SHAKE UP” was en route and there was nothing that was going to
stop it. Actresses became Top Models and Top Models became Actor
Celebrities and Editors. Creative Directors became Stars and the
Marketing PR companies adapted by producing and churning out new Human
Product by the Dozens Daily! It didn’t really matter what you achieved
or how capable you were, as that capacity or quality of output was left
to the technicians to make happen based on the story board being created
for the masses to assimilate, digest and to later regurgitate.
- Blurred Lines
The
mix was becoming more and more complex and the lines defining ones
profession were becoming more and more blurred until we couldn’t really
say for certain that what one did was really what they did or was it
just facade. But then again that isn’t really the issue here as that IS
the reality, so get over it.
As a
caveat, and in my classic form, I am meandering, because I am writing
this quite spontaneously as usual and will do my best to get back to
what I think the point of this is. Oh yeah, “The New Order”. Well the
New Order is not really a good title as it really isn’t very orderly at
all. It is rathe chaotic to say the least. But there is something very
comforting in that chaos and that is, that diversity and thinking on
ones feet and quickly either adapting to change or being responsible for
those changes is more or less the order of the day.
- Functional Overlap
I
am seeing so many blurred undefined or defined yet unbelievable multi
faceted beings out there, that if I did need to task someone with a job,
I honestly wouldn’t know which part of their definition I could
confidently employ. Expertise is becoming a more and more rare breed in
our not so well defined metier.
So,
when I see that photographer slash creative director slash magazine
owner slash blogger slash videographer slash retoucher slash celebrity
slash sex icon slash advertising agency owner and even clothing designer
on their resume I am no longer as surprised and gob struck as I was
when THAT reality hit me smack in the face. By the way you can mix and
match any of the above and the formula can still work. You can call it
Model slash Photographer slash Creative Director slash Clothing Designer
slash Actress slash, etc.
Is all of
the above needed to survive in this marketplace today? Perhaps. As
without diversity, you will have difficulty remaining competitive. But
you better be really good at all of it, otherwise…well you know.
If you don’t, don’t worry. Just set up a meeting with a very good Public Relations company and they will give you the run down.
How do I feel about all of this? Ok! As I too am guilty of being that multi faceted multi tentacled Octopus.
To see more from Benjamin Kanarak visit http://www.benjaminkanarekblog.com I like his take on the world of fashion and the changing relationship with photographers and other creatives.
