Continuous Agitation
Continuous Agitation is two working photographers with decades of experience still struggling to figure it out. Jay Fram and Bill Sawalich talk about what’s working, what isn’t, and what the hell is happening to the photo business.
What are my pictures worth?
One day I’m paid six figures for a collection of my photographs, and the next day I’m offered less than $500. So which is it? Which one is the real value?
It’s both. Neither.
How do you quote a commercial gig when you have no idea whether the person on the phone (email to be honest, it’s always email) is expecting $1,000 or $10,000? Bill says you have to go the extra mile and do three versions of your estimate: small (streamlined), medium (realistic), and large (bells and whistles...
LED or Strobes - Which One Sucks the Most?
These week’s topic is very important: If you’re stranded on a desert island, which lighting kit are you bringing along?
I’ve spent my life lugging around heavy strobes (studio flashes), and I dream of replacing the whole mess with LEDs so I can see what the light is doing, not to mention not popping flashes in my subject’s face. But for reasons you’ll hear, Bill half convinces me I have to keep both kits.
You know what I quit.
Gear we na...
Squeezed
This week on Continuous Agitation: why everybody's rate is going up except yours.
Client budgets are down, while the cost of everything that goes into photography (equipment, crew, gigabytes, snacks) is up up up. I’m not complaining that their rates have gone up; I’m complaining that mine haven’t. But the important thing is that I’m still complaining.
Also, why is everybody happy but me?
Find us:
Yell at us or with us on Substack: https://continuousagitation.substack.com
Our big d...
Video or Photo: Which is Harder?
Video Much Much Harder, Say Longtime Still Photographers
– The Onion
This is an actual Onion headline. Or rather, it would be, if anyone ever listened to me.
Today we take a look at the differences between getting hired to make photographs vs. films. (I like to say film because it makes me sound more artistic.) I love movies and film and, conceptually, I love to see my pictures move. So why do I dread video jobs, or worse, video + photo jobs?
Because it’s difficult to do well, that’s why...
Did He Get It
Sometimes the fluke works out in your favor.
Find us:
Yell at us or with us on Substack: https://continuousagitation.substack.com
Our big dumb faces on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ContinuousAgitation
Write to us: [email protected]
Read Bill's newsletter, Art + Math: artandmath.substack.com
Follow Jay: @jayfram / jayfram.com
Follow Bill: @sawalich / sawalich.com
Rate and review Continuous Agitation on Apple Podcasts — it actually helps.
Jay's Big Bid
We’re on YouTube! Now you can see our big dumb faces:
https://youtu.be/gJTkpYIEOp4
This is the place for feedback, suggestions, support, and hate mail.
Today:
I thought we agreed that big photography jobs were dead.
And then a big ol' production plops right on my (Jay's) desk, and I spend a week to ten days gnashing my teeth and crying to Bill about how hard my life is. I'm glad these jobs still exist and I'm glad to even be con...
A Good Client Story
How do you handle a good client who becomes difficult? We discuss slow payment, unexpected image use, and how good communication skills are your most valuable asset. Jay describes an annual report/image library shoot for a publicly traded company where 30-day terms weren’t met; after 57 days and a new rush request for more images, he considers withholding delivery, worries about seeming unreasonable, and sends an email to say I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore if that’s ok?
Separately, Jay sees his interior photo used in a New Yo...
Unlimited Sausage
This one’s a Part Two. If you haven’t listened to the last episode – “Let Them Eat Cake” – go do that first.
We pick up where we left off on the unlimited (sa)usage debate that started last episode, this time getting into the practical reality of how we bid jobs, when we mention usage/licensing, and when we don’t. And why the idealistic advice to "hold the line on licensing" doesn't work the way it used to.
In the second half Bill introduces a possible future: retainers. Shooting multiple times...
Let Them Eat Cake
Is usage licensing dead? Not exactly. But the business it was built for doesn't really exist anymore. Print is all but gone. Social media now accounts for 80% (!) of ad spend in the US. Clients want the C word [rhymes with shmontent] by the dump truck load and there are ten times as many people willing to shoot it.
@asksternrep, a prominent photo rep with an excellent advice page, recently posted a follower’s question on her Instagram feed and the comment section got real spicy. Her advice to photographers losing bids over usage: be the be...
AI Moonrise Hernandez
The Danziger Gallery is showing a large-format AI-generated color version of Ansel Adams' Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico. Prompt: make a realistic color version of Ansel Adams' iconic Moonrise over Hernandez.
Reaction: gross. But also, this is the AI version of Richard Prince shenanigans. Which pulls us into Prince's Untitled Cowboys — Marlboro ads torn from magazines, rephotographed, sold for millions — and one real cowboy photographer describing what it feels like to watch someone copy your life's work and sell it for $3 million.
From there: do we use AI, and what for? Jay uses i...
Why are we doing this?
Continuous Agitation — Episode 1: Why Are We Doing This?
This first episode is an origin story — why two working photographers decided to start recording their phone calls and sharing them with strangers. We’ve been having these conversations for years and figured other photographers might get something out of it. But also: Jay can't find much content that reflects the business reality he’s actually living in. Not tutorials. Not influencers teaching us how to establish a personal vision. Just plain talk about commercial photography from people who are in it, confounded by it, and not pretending otherwise.
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