Student Success, Cindy Epstein

Cindy Epstein, of Fallbrook, CA, signed up for the San Diego Food Styling & Photography Workshop in February 2008 to help her determine if she wanted to move forward with her food styling career. Before moving to southern California she had a catering business in Philadelphia. After selling her catering company, she apprenticed with a stylist in Philly, but her career plans got postponed after moving to California. Within a few weeks of completing the workshop, she found herself in the studio. She was testing with another student, Carl Kravats, a photographer who lived nearby and styling a new cookbook with photographer Greg Bertolini!

Says Cindy, “I walked into the weekend with little confidence in my styling skills and with the hope that it would help me make a career decision about my next steps. The message was loud and clear. Go for it!! I walked away with a real sense of self-confidence.”

Here’s how Cindy describes her next project: “I've got a fabulous shoot with an ad agency on Monday. As one might expect, it wasn't finalized until Thursday afternoon at 4:45 and the agency was closed on Friday (4th of July holiday weekend). Ahhhhh! I've been shopping, prepping, and experimenting with various techniques for three days. They want to do 11 shots in one day - including ice cream - and there's no kitchen, no sink, no range, and no refrigeration. It's going to be a very busy day!” With Cindy’s skills and positive attitude, I’m sure she will have a successful day – and love every minute of it!

Afternote: “I finished prepping Sunday night at 10 pm, was up at 4 am and on the road before 5 getting ice, dry ice, and making a trip to the bakery for fresh pastries. (They didn't tell me there was no elevator in the building!) We plowed through the day without a break. I got home at 8:15 Monday night, and as I fell into a chair, exhausted, I realized I hadn't sat down all day except for when I was driving to and from the job. But Susan was right, I had a blast! I can't think of anything more fun than collaborating with a group of creative people. When the group energy starts flowing, the process of creating the image is very exciting!” And the client sent a note after shoot thanking Cindy for the wonderful job she did!

Visit Cindy's Website: www.cindyepstein.com

Cindy is now enthusiastically helping Greb Bertolini, Lisa Golden Schroeder, and me with promotions for the upcoming Food Photography and Styling Workshop in San Diego, September 2009.

Confessions of a Catalog Whore

It’s like this. My aunt Susan, besides being one of my favorite people on earth, is a photo stylist. And she has ruined me. Well, not ruined, exactly, that is not quite the right word – altered maybe. She’s taken one of my long secret passions and twisted it, tweaked it into an equally compelling, but completely lopsided passion. In both cases, the passion involves catalogs… But I’m getting ahead of my own story. Let me start at the beginning.

Long ago, before the internet, before one click-online-anything-goes-shopping, I used to hoard catalogs – and I mean hoard. Not just Sears, or the J.C. Penney Christmas book, but just about anything I could have sent to my mailbox for free. Seeds, tools, farm equipment, hand-dyed fabrics and my very favorite book of items to buy – greeting cards.

I loved the photographs of all that stuff – but mostly I loved the convenience. The idea that someday, pending money, I would be able to anonymously order anything from a John Deere tractor to a seashell-lined photo frame and have it sent to my home. Voila. No need to change my pajamas – just like that.

Needless to say, the advent of the internet made pajama shopping an ordinary event, (so much for my special secret of shopping in the dark.) But at about the same time that the internet pushed its way into my bedroom, my auntie began her career as a photo stylist, and because I have always been an avid admirer of her art (which was and is extremely avant garde and anything but “catalogish”) I began to question her about what I perceived as a muting of her creative instinct, asking how she could go from the canvas to the retail market without losing something.

As my aunt began to patiently describe her craft, the genius behind each catalog page, a new vision began to develop before me. Susan talked about the real art of the catalog, about her unique style of setting up a page, about how it excited her to fold dress shirts just right, so that they became three-dimensional with inanimate arms almost reaching for the potential buyer. And then it happened. I began to realize that there was a SOMEONE, an ARTIST, behind every page of every catalog I had ever lusted over. So BANG – I was ruined, or rather, altered.

I truthfully can no longer look at any retail ad – internet, catalog, newspaper or magazine without thinking about the person behind the page. And the result?? Everything is just that much more beautiful. And not from the point of view of “I need to buy that.” No, it is not that at all. It is a pure form of art. Ecstasy art. I no longer just look at the items in a catalog, I look at the pages, and not just look, I linger over them. Yes, I hoard them.

I have seen advertised one art exhibit displaying catalog pages from the 1940’s and 50’s. I am certain there are or will be many more art exhibits showcasing many more decades. The retail ad has become one of my favorite genres, thanks to my auntie – and I will always wonder about those anonymous artists behind each page.

So there you have it - catalog whore becomes art collector. Who knew?

by Janice Katz, M.D.

Image above from Janice's NEW favorite catalog Cambria Cove

Photo Styling and the Economy

Being in this industry for several decades, I have seen ups and downs and the effect the economy has on the creation of commercial photographs. When postal rates or paper costs increase the catalog industry is rapidly affected. In an effort to save money in tough economic times, advertisers cut print budgets and produce fewer images. They may use more stock photographs or squeak by without a stylist.

I found this editorial opinion in the August 2008 issue of Multi-Channel Merchant, formerly Catalog Age magazine, a trade publication for the catalog/web-marketing indusry. Written by Laura L. Hamblen, an independent stylist, it reflects the feelings of many of us. I was unable to find Laura in a Web search and I hope she doesn't mind my acolades for expressing her viewpoint so well.

She writes, "As a photo stylist, I have been affected by the current economy, along with most of my colleagues in the visual field. The 'bean counters' behind many catalogs are cutting the very people who are the interface between the company and its customers.

"Many are opting to hire people who cost less and have little experience to handle the presentation of their product, so photographs are not as striking and informative as they might be. After seeing the result, one might wonder why a customer might spend, say, $80 on a mid-priced catalog product that looks no better than the $10 offering at the local discount store. The answer is that in most circumstances, they won't.

"An experienced, talented stylist, photographer and crew will know a brand's customer and how to visually attract that customer to purchase. Understanding how to illustrate all of the product's unique qualities in an attractive and consistent fashion will typically enhance sales. And higher sales should more than offset the cost of hiring seasoned professionals.

"Many companies will blame their downturn in sales on the economy without thinking about the consequences of cutting the professionals who produce the images of their products. And this will make a difficult economic climate for catalogs decidedly worse."

Well said, Laura. What is YOUR opnion on the current economy's effect on stylists - and vice-versa? Please add to this POST.

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