Posted by Foto Care | Posted in Foto Care Interviews
Posted on December 27, 2011
Foto Care is pleased to present an exclusive interview with John Putnam. This interview may be of particular interest to photo enthusiasts that are considering whether or not to switch careers dedicating themselves to a full-time career as a professional / commercial photographer. J.K. Putnam specializes in editorial, travel, and outdoor photography. He has been featured in over a dozen photography and design books including CBGB: Decades of Graffiti, Decay, and Past Objects. His work has also been printed in a number of journalism publications including The New York Daily News and Overflow Magazine. He lives in New York City with his wife and traveling companion, Allison.
Tell us about yourself and how you got into this field?
My interest in photography was casual when I was young. It wasn’t until high school when my father gave me his old Nikkormat that I began to explore the creative side of photography, but even then I didn’t shoot much. The camera’s light meter was broken which made it hard to successfully expose entire rolls of film. I would typically use a whole roll to take one picture, experimenting with the settings and different types of film. I learned a lot about exposure, but for a kid it was an expensive process so I didn’t do a lot of it. I got into film making in college and learned about lighting and how to tell a story visually, but it wasn’t until Digital SLR’s began to take over that my interest returned to still photography.
What was your break out job that helped launch your career?
I can’t say that my career as a photographer has necessarily been launched yet. A portion of my income comes from photography but not a significant amount. When I moved to New York City a friend that worked for a publishing company gave me my first assignment, I’ve been working with them ever since, about six years now. I feel lucky to have that connection, there are a lot of photographers that make more money than me, but few of them could say that they have over a dozen books published.
What has been your favorite assignment(s) to date?
I worked on my most recent book, Past Objects, for almost two years. The author and subject of the book is a man named Scott Jordan who has been digging in construction sites and backyards in and around New York City for decades. He is an amateur archeologist of sorts, he digs up artifacts from old New York, things like bottles, shoes, toys, and pottery. All of it is hundreds of years old. His apartment is a museum of this stuff. For the book I photographed thousands of these artifacts, also Scott on digs, his apartment, everything. Scott and I became friends over the two years we were working together, I think the friendship had a lot to do with my attachment to the project, that and I like old stuff.
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
Other photographers. Before I leave for a trip or start a new project I always study the work of the photographers I admire. But once I’m out in the field it’s my subjects. The land, the light, the people, the animals, all dictate what the picture is. When I was younger, I remember seeing an exhibit of Frans Lanting’s photographs at the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY. It really opened my eyes to the possibilities of wildlife and nature photography as an art. He photographs nature in an often abstract way and his pictures erase any idea of the presence of humans thereby creating a prehistoric look. I didn’t know it then but Lanting would become one of my biggest influences. When I accomplish what he has I’ll retire.
What do you do to market you services?
Not much. I have a full time job that I am dedicated to and this takes up a lot of my time. I still take photography work when it comes to me but between the assignments from the publishing company and my own projects it is hard to find time for much else. Photography is something I always want to love, even if it were to become a full time job I would only want to do work that interests me on a personal level.
Do you use Social Media as part of your marketing mix? Do you think it is effective?
It is effective for what I want to do, which is share my pictures. Making a buck off of my photography is always a great thing, but the bottom line is that I want people to be able to view and appreciate what I am doing and social media sites are great for this. I also use them to keep the people that know my work updated as to what I am doing. As my business grows social media will become more and more essential just like with any other business these days. People want to find out what is going on through social media, if you can’t provide information in this way people will lose interest.
You mentioned you have a full time job — what field is this in? At what point, if ever, would you consider the transition from a full time 9-5 job to dedicating yourself to a career in photography? Is this a goal of yours?
I’m general manager at Eastern Effects Inc. in Brooklyn, NY, a grip and lighting rental house for film and television production. When would I transition to photography full time? When National Geographic calls…but really, I’ve thought about this a lot. I enjoy the stability that my job provides, and the people I work for understand how important photography is to me and give me the time to take on big projects. In all honesty I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without that job, it provides me with the resources I need. I think a full time career in photography is inevitable, but it’s a long ways off, I’m happy with where I am.
How has your work changed in the last few years?
It has just plain improved. It gets better and better year after year. This is important for me now because in the grand scheme of things I haven’t been shooting seriously for very long. Challenge drives it, whether that be the environment I’m in or the subject I’m faced with. My biggest fear is my work becoming stagnant, and I think that as long as I continue to challenge myself it will continue to improve.
Where is your work heading next? Where do you see yourself in the future?
It’s more of where am I heading next, that’s the real question. Traveling has become a love of mine and I never do it without a camera. I am becoming more and more interested in leaving my comfort zone, going farther into the wilderness or visiting places where I don’t speak the language. I just got back from a trip to Japan, I shot a lot at night and with the idea of converting the images to black and white. All of this was new to me and I believe I was successful in creating the look I wanted. I want to continue to adapt my style to the places I visit and hopefully turn traveling with a camera into a career. What I don’t want to do is manipulate my photographs in a dishonest way. I like things to play out naturally in front of my lens, I think I’m attracted to both nature and street photography for that reason. With both of these subjects things are out of the photographer’s control, it’s chaotic, I like that.
What equipment are you currently using to produce your work?
Canon DSLR’s and Canon lenses. I have nothing against any of the other brands, Canon is just what I started with.
What equipment would you most like to own but don’t yet have?
Anything that weighs less than what I currently use, when I go backpacking I typically carry one camera and three lenses, along with a bunch of other camera junk I don’t need to survive in the wilderness. Needless to say I carry a heavy load.
Do you work with Video? Have you stepped into the Hybrid Video market at all?
I own a 5D and 7D, I bought these because they are fantastic still cameras and I could rent them out as video cameras and make a little money back. I don’t have much of an interest in shooting video myself, but I believe the future of advertising photography is the moving image. So… I don’t know, maybe I should start, but I don’t want to, I like stills.
To Learn More about JK Putnam Photography:
facebook: www.facebook.com/jkputnamphotography
Book: Past Objects by Scott Jordan, with photography by J.K. Putnam: http://markbattypublisher.com/books/past-objects/
