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Continuous Agitation: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Jay Fram and Bill Sawalich
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.
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- 2 weeks ago51 min
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 name-check:Dynalite (R.I.P.)Speedotron (remarkably, still in production)Lowel Tota-Light (a classic I will never surrender no matter how much I don’t use it)Profoto (B1, B10, A10, Acute, Pro-11)Elinchrom (THREE)GodoxBroncolor (Move)Nanlite (PavoTube)Aputure (1200d)Amaran (the CUTEST little sources)Litepanel Astras (hate)Lume CubeKino FloPhotek SunbusterBut for the desert island, I would suggest one of those expensive balloon canopy things, because then you could float on it to escape. Find us:Yell at us or with us on Substack: https://continuousagitation.substack.comOur big dumb faces on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ContinuousAgitationWrite to us: continuousagitation@gmail.comRead Bill's newsletter, Art + Math: artandmath.substack.comFollow Jay: @jayfram / jayfram.comFollow Bill: @sawalich / sawalich.comRate and review Continuous Agitation on Apple Podcasts — it actually helps.
- 3 weeks ago41 min
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.comOur big dumb faces on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ContinuousAgitationWrite to us: continuousagitation@gmail.comRead Bill's newsletter, Art + Math: artandmath.substack.comFollow Jay: @jayfram / jayfram.comFollow Bill: @sawalich / sawalich.comRate and review Continuous Agitation on Apple Podcasts — it actually helps.
- Sep 24, 202649 min
Video or Photo: Which is Harder?
Video Much Much Harder, Say Longtime Still Photographers– The OnionThis 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. And why does video pay worse for more work? Fight me."I think everything is hard if you care about it. And I think our world is too full of people who discount the expertise that other people bring to things."– Someone smartFind us:Yell at us or with us on Substack: https://continuousagitation.substack.comOur big dumb faces on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ContinuousAgitationWrite to us: continuousagitation@gmail.comRead Bill's newsletter, Art + Math: artandmath.substack.comFollow Jay: @jayfram / jayfram.comFollow Bill: @sawalich / sawalich.comRate and review Continuous Agitation on Apple Podcasts — it actually helps.
- Jul 13, 202641 min
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.comOur big dumb faces on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ContinuousAgitationWrite to us: continuousagitation@gmail.comRead Bill's newsletter, Art + Math: artandmath.substack.comFollow Jay: @jayfram / jayfram.comFollow Bill: @sawalich / sawalich.comRate and review Continuous Agitation on Apple Podcasts — it actually helps.
- Jul 2, 202652 min
Jay's Big Bid
We’re on YouTube! Now you can see our big dumb faces: https://youtu.be/gJTkpYIEOp4This 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 considered, theoretically. In practice, it's confusing. Are jobs like this still worth striving for, worth building a business around, or are they so rare that chasing them is more of a distraction than an actual strategy? If you shoot two a year, you’ve made it. But in the likely event that you shoot NONE a year, you're f***d.We get into the treatment process (and why I think it shouldn't exist), what a quarter-million-dollar budget looks like once you subtract 40 other people's paychecks, and the cold email that brought a dead job back from purgatory four years later. Bill asks the hard questions. My answers are FINE. Somebody brings up an orange sofa.Did I get the job? Tune in next week.Links:Bill’s Substack about our content futureNick VedrosLou BoppFind us:Our big dumb faces on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ContinuousAgitationWrite to us: continuousagitation@gmail.comRead Bill's newsletter, Art + Math: artandmath.substack.comFollow Jay: @jayfram / jayfram.comFollow Bill: @sawalich / sawalich.comRate and review Continuous Agitation on Apple Podcasts — it actually helps.
- Jun 25, 202648 min
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 York Times app ad despite being licensed only for unpaid marketing, debating whether to invoice, let it slide, or message the client tactfully and adjust future pricing, while weighing relationship value, leverage, and practical licensing."Not needing work is the ultimate negotiating position."Find us:Follow Jay on Instagram: @jayframFollow Bill on Instagram and Threads: @sawalichRead Bill's newsletter, Art + Math: artandmath.substack.comJay's photography: jayfram.comBill's photography: sawalich.comWrite to us: jay@jayfram.com / bill@sawalich.comRate and review Continuous Agitation on Apple Podcasts — it actually helps.
- Jun 18, 202627 min
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 a year for a client for less than you might have charged before, but making more than you would for a one-off shoot. Win sorta win? Bill also uses the C-word and Jay doesn’t like it."You give the same bid three times and you don't get it, and you say to yourself: I don't think this costs that anymore."Links:@asksternrep — Andrea Stern’s (generally) great advice resource on InstagramASMP — American Society of Media PhotographersMike Kelly, architecture photographerWonderful Machine — wonderfulmachine.com (commonly referenced resource for licensing and bidding)Find us:Follow Jay on Instagram: @jayframFollow Bill on Instagram and Threads: @sawalichRead Bill's newsletter, Art + Math: artandmath.substack.comJay's photography: jayfram.comBill's photography: sawalich.comWrite to us: jay@jayfram.com / bill@sawalich.comRate and review Continuous Agitation on Apple Podcasts — it actually helps.
- Jun 4, 202642 min
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 best photographer you can be, and clients will pay for limited licensing. Will they though? We try to unpack what actually happened to the commercial photography market, why work-for-hire is the real threat, and why "hold the line on licensing" is good advice for 5% of photographers all of the time, a few more photographers some of the time, but never all photographers all of the time. "Telling photographers to do better is an outdated answer to a structural shift in the industry."Links:@asksternrep — Andrea Stern’s (generally) great advice resource on InstagramASMP — American Society of Media PhotographersFind us:Follow Jay on Instagram: @jayframFollow Bill on Instagram and Threads: @sawalichRead Bill's newsletter, Art + Math: artandmath.substack.comJay's photography: jayfram.comBill's photography: sawalich.comWrite to us: jay@jayfram.com / bill@sawalich.comRate and review Continuous Agitation on Apple Podcasts — it actually helps.
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About 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.
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