original online course
on photography
by jurij treskow
02.
pre production
  • 1
    inspiration
    photography
    inspiration techniques and sources
    photographers to watch
    books, articles & interviews on photography
  • 2
    mood-boards
    color theory
    strategies for creating eye-catching mood boards
    organizing and formatting images used as references
    different types of designs for mood-boards
    taking inspiration from: movies, music videos, painters,
    modern dance and modern art
    effects of color
  • 3
    treatment
    call sheet
    creating and using treatments during shootings
    call sheets
    brief
  • 4
    portfolios
    choose your best work
    google yourself
    what to include in your portfolio
    create multiple portfolios for different clients
  • 5
    commercial vs. personal work
    fashion industry
    creating concepts
    specifics of fashion photography
    list of articles, documentaries & magazines on fashion
    creating concepts
    case studies
  • 6
    negotiations with clients
    prices
    defining what is your product
    rates and billing options
    types of expenses
    negotiations with clients
2.1

Inspiration
Photography
Inspiration techniques and sources.
Photographers to watch.
Books, articles and interviews on photography.
HELMUT NEWTON
2.1 EXERCISE INSPIRATION
helmut newton: "siesta time"

goal: train your imagination muscle
QUOTE
" I spend a lot of time preparing. I think a lot about what I want to do. I have prep books, little notebooks in which I write everything down before a sitting. Otherwise I would forget my ideas. "

― Helmut Newton
SOURCES FOR INSPIRATION
QUOTE
On Instagram.

" It feeds my own insecurities in a bizarre way. They did that for a fashion photograph, they had this. They [all] seem like they're doing endless tons of fucking stuff. There is no criticism, it's just all fluff, and this self-promotion is overwhelmingly awful."

― Jurgen Teller
2.1 EXERCISE - SOURCE
create a mood board out of different media as photography
PHOTOGRAPHERS
RICHARD AVEDON, IRVING PENN, HELMUT NEWTON
2.4 EXERCISE - QUestion
make a list of reasons why do you do photography?
PHOTOGRAPHERS
2.1 EXERCISE - SOURCE
make your own list of favorite photographers
take time to review their work

ask yourself

  • what makes you like this photographer's work?
  • how do their photos make you feel?
  • what do you like about their style or technique?
  • do you have a favorite picture or collection of theirs?
  • why does it stand out to you?
  • how has their photography impacted the world of photography?
  • how does their work fit in with the culture of its time?
  • do you see any similarities or differences between their work and other photographers/artists?
  • has this photographer influenced your own work in any way?
  • do you think their work is still relevant today?
  • what do you think this photographer's lasting impact will be?
PHOTOGRAPHERS
INTERVIEWS
BOOKS ON PHOTOGRAPHY
2.2

mood-boards
color theory
strategies for creating eye-catching mood boards
organizing and formatting images used as references
different types of designs for mood-boards
taking inspiration from: movies, music videos, painters,
modern dance and modern art
effects of color
MOOD BOARDS
FOLDERS FOR REFERENCES
2.2 EXERCISE - CASE STUDY
you should organize your reference materials by creating categories that suit your needs
this will help you easily find and select the references you need for each shoot
CREATING MOOD-BOARDS
2.2 EXERCISE - QUESTION
ask yourself:
if you would get your dream model and your dream team for a dream magazine and you would have all resources for the dream production how and what would you photograph?
QUOTE
" Be true to your vision. You know, people try to copy him and they can't. Nobody can do a Penn picture because the picture was in his head. It's the light, it's the lens, it's the angle, it's the approach to it, all those factors—and the intellect—make a picture.

― Irving Penn's Assistant
FILM STILLS
2.2 EXERCISE MOOD BOARD
compose a mood board inspired on movies

look for directors that have a strong visual aesthetic

movie posters
If you're looking for some inspiration for your next photo shoot, you might want to check out some movie posters. They can be a great source of ideas with their unique and eye-catching designs that can help you to enhance your own work. You can learn a lot from studying the use of color, typography, and composition in movie posters and apply them to your photography. Plus, they can also give you an idea of the tone and mood of a film, which can be helpful when you're creating mood boards. So don't forget to take a look at some movie posters for inspiration!
THE STYLISTIC ELEMENTS OF FILM NOIR
MUSIC VIDEOS
2.2 EXERCISE MOOD BOARD
compose a mood board inspired on a music video
2.2 EXERCISE CASE STUDY TUSH
filming for tush magazine in nyc, in 2015
PAINTERS
ILLUSTRATIONS
QUOTE
99 % are inspired by photographs of other photographers ...

be the 1% !
2.2 EXERCISE MOOD BOARD
compose a mood board and add film stills, illustrations, paintings, modern art ...
QUOTE
" I don't use reference pictures, which some people do, because I think that kills creativity. You show someone something and they say, "Oh, that's what we're doing." I want the opposite. I want them to do something they've never done before, or do something different, and that's what Penn was after, it came from him. Penn never wanted to shoot the obvious. "

― Irving Penn
LAY - OUT
MOOD BOARD. TEAM WORK
2.2 EXERCISE MoOd boards
google for already existing mood boards

case study
self service magazine
2.2 EXERCISE MOOD BOARD
involve team-members in creating their own mood boards
so they can also share their vision and ideas
QUOTE
" Designers are now at a point with image-making that they could quite easily do it themselves to be honest.

They have a very good visual imagination and the technological side to making images is so accessible now.

Designers have now the ability to manage their own visual representation.

Traditionally, the photographer spoke for the designer. "

― Nick Knight
COLOR THEORY
2.2 EXERCISE COLORS
look how color palettes are applied in movies
QUOTE
"In nature, light creates the color. In the picture, color creates the light."

– Hans Hofmann

"Color provokes a psychic vibration. Color hides a power still unknown but real, which acts on every part of the human body."

– Wassily Kandinsky
2.2 EXERCISE
make a selection of your favorite looks from the last fashion week
MODERN DANCE
MODERN ART
SOME MORE EXAMPLES
2.3

treatment
call sheet
creating and using treatments at shootings
call sheets
brief
JEAN PAUL GOUDE
CASE STUDIES
2.3 EXERCISE - CASE STUDY
a calendar shooting in saint-petersburg
QUOTE
"A photograph is made, not taken. A photograph is not an automatic recording, neither is it an accident. It is a concept, a vision of the world translated into shades of gray, communicated in terms of simple devotion to the medium – a statement of the utmost clarity and perfection possible…"

– Andel Adams
On his side my first assistant at this shooting prepared some options for lights and ideas for equipment to each page of my treatment.
2.3 EXERCISE TREATMENT
for your next shooting create a detailed treatment based on a mood-board
include a location and what equipment you might need
A PHOTOGRAPHY BRIEF
2.6 EXERCISE - BRIEF
act as a company or a client

prepare a brief including your goals, defining your intentions
what are your restrictions and possible deadlines?
CALL SHEET
2.3 EXERCISE CASE STUDY CALL SHEET
mac cosmetics shot by david sims

look how many people are working on one set

*can you spot me in the final video below
PRODUCER
2.4

portfolios
choose your best work
google yourself
what to include in your portfolio
create multiple portfolios for different clients
CHOOSE YOUR BEST WORK
2.4 EXERCISE QUESTIONS
what is your best photo shoot or series?
if you could choose one photograph to represent your work, what would it be?
GOOGLE YOURSELF
2.4 EXERCISE - GOOGLE
google you name
check a section for images and news

goal:
what information potential clients can found about you
assess your online presence and its quality
REVIEWS
2.4 EXERCISE - REVIEW
check on reviews about your work online
WHAT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR PORTFOLIO
2.4 EXERCISE - WWW.TRESKOW.PHOTOGRAPHY
CREATE MULTIPLE PORTFOLIOS FOR CLIENTS
2.5

fashion photography
commercial vs. personal work
creating concepts
specifics of fashion photography
list of articles, documentaries & magazines on fashion
creating concepts
case studies
FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY
QUOTE
" Most fashion photography is done by gay people finding women sexy - which is sort of not sexy at all, at least to a heterosexual man.

I think it's highly questionable what the role of a normal fashion photographer is now – I'm not sure that still exists. "

― Jurgen Teller
QUOTE
" "In 1952," Mr. Penn recalled, "Liberman said to me, 'I must cut back on the work you do for Vogue. The editors don't like it. They say the photographs burn on the page.

After some years, I began to understand that what they wanted of me was simply a nice, sweet, clean-looking image of a lovely young woman.

I began to do that, and that's when I became valuable to them and had 200 to 300 pages a year."

― Irving Penn
FASHION INDUSTRY
QUOTE
" Photographers have to make the clothes look fantastic; that's why we get paid. "

― Patrick Demarchelier
2.5 EXERCISE question
how different is your approach to commercial and personal work?
BE PROACTIVE
QUOTE
A lot of photographers say how lucky I am while they do nothing and just wait for commissions. I don't do that! If there are no shows, no books, no commission, no magazines, I do my own thing. I always work. I take risks.

The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. What a lot of people lack is comfort with the unknown.

I think it's really important to not be afraid of failure and to push yourself to try things and jump in the cold water.

― Jurgen Teller
2.5 EXERCISE - CASE STUDY shooting for INTERVIEW magazine
lost in translation in nyc
QUOTE
" I'm my own benefactor for art! I just gave myself a Guggenheim grant this morning to start my new series! (Laughs) I'm going to do what I want to do, because I don't have to sell pictures to eat and to survive.
I make my commercial work so that I can pay for my art. "

― David LaChapelle
2.6

negotiations
prices
what is your product
rates and billing options
types of expenses
negotiations with clients
WHAT IS YOUR PRODUCT?
2.6 EXERCISE QUESTIONS
what makes you different?
what are you offering?
what's your product?
RATES AND BILLING TYPES
2.6 EXERCISE - QUESTIONS
price:

how much will you charge for it?
how much is my time worth?
what do your competitors charge for a similar product?
how much you need to mark up a product relative to your cost to make a profit?

place:

where will you sell it or position in the market?
where do your competitors sell their products?

promotion:

how will you promote it?
how is this different than the way your competitors sell their products?
EXPENSES
2.6 EXERCISE - FINANCES
make a list of all your costs
see how can you optimize them
PRIVATE REQUESTS
2.6 EXERCISE PRIVATE REQUEST
pitch your prices to your friends or potential clients and ask for their feedback
NEGOTIATIONS WITH CLIENTS
2.6 EXERCISE - NEGOTIATION
research and read books on negotiations

goal:
learn different negotiation techniques and improve your skills
QUOTE
" Don't waste time and efforts on clients who aren't ready to work with professional photographers. "

― Jimena Peck
DELIVERY OF PHOTOGRAPHS
2.6 EXERCISE -Questions
ask yourself

what is your personal preference for receiving the results of a shoot and in what format?