General Pants lookbook

16 Comments

    • Yeah, it was a long haul. And the day i wrote this tweet.

      I was only supposed to be shooting the three bands, then the lookbook shoot got added the morning of the shoot. Completely last minute.

    • Thanks for the kudos, but seeing how few photos i’ve published here gives an indication that the vast majority were far from masterpieces.

  3. I’m sorry Daniel, but is this post an ad for the clothing company?

    It reads like one.

    • My blog has always been about sharing the photos i take.

      Since i started taking photos for a living, most of the pictures you see here are photos i’ve been paid to take.

      So no, this post isn’t an ad for a clothing company – but yes, the photos were taken as an advertisement for a clothing company.

      I link to the General Pants site to show the context for how the pictures are used.

      I don’t have a portfolio site, so this blog sometimes serves that purpose in some way.

  4. Hey Daniel, not meaning to be negative for negative’s sake but I think editorial needs to be thoughtfully separated from commissions in any medium. Photography is an especially slippery beast. I would imagine some photographers might package up blog posts as part of commercial deals and this is where blogs differ from journalism (or at least good journalism).

    As you say there has been a change for you personally, you are now paid to take photographs. As such they are now an extension of the paid work you have done. Effectively they are not your photos but are, by rights (legally or not), the property of the commissioning body. At the very least they are directly associated with the campaign.

    I have followed your photographic journey with great pleasure and interest over the last few years but I respectfully suggest you either need to start charging your clients for the additional exposure (and declaring it) or explicitly excluding them from it in a contract so that anything you take away with you is yours and only yours and flag it as independently as possible (ie ‘here is a shoot for a clothing company’).

    You seem like a good guy and this is probably the wrong place to make a point but there’s soooo much editorial mixing it up with commercial these days, especially online, that I think it bears dwelling upon.

    best

    CJ

    • I totally agree about separating paid content and editorial. It’s a pet hate of mine too. “Advertorial” makes me feel dirty.

      It pains me to see the organic, personal medium of blogging and “social media” that i’ve participated in since their birth being co-opted by public relations and commercial interests.

      In my posts i try to be clear about who i am taking the photos for. That way the reader can understand the context.

      For freelance work I shoot a lot of stuff for PR companies that are just blatant plugs for their brands that i never post here.

      Like i said above, i don’t have a portfolio site (still on the to do list). So this site has to act a bit like one and show off my photography. If anything i’m advertising me – not the clothing.

      In this case, i don’t think General Pants even know that i have this site (although they might now if they use Google alerts). It was never discussed.

      I posted the shots here because it’s something a little different for me. Something i’m proud of and wanted to share.

      I’m still learning on my photographic journey and i’ve shared most of my steps along the way – this is just another one.

  5. Refreshing response Dan, I think the continual pressure of commercial/editorial balance means you can’t question these things enough and as you’re really mindful of it, great to see it in print. I know a few of photographers who rarely bother to dwell of it. Keep snapping and sharing.

  6. Please keep posting pictures you’re proud of, no matter who they’re for. I really like to see the variety of subjects and styles you cover in your freelance work. Obviously some of that will be commercial stuff, and I’m happy to see that. I’m happy to see good photographers getting good jobs!

    Because I’m reading this as a photography blog, it never even occurs to me to see it as advertorial or promotional for the subject — if it’s promotional at all, it’s just promotional of *you* and your work. (I’ve once or twice struggled with a sort of reverse of the problem — I’ve taken a shot I really want to share, but for some reason or other it pains me to give any sort of boost at all to the subject. In the end, I always just opted to post the picture.)

    Keep it up!

  7. “Advertorial”…hardly. I don’t browse Boudist for my news. Great showcase of a days work Dan.

  8. I am pretty sure people can tell whether it is an advertorial or not pretty easily.

    Either way, if you are proud of your photos, you should post it.
    simple and if people happen to like what u are shooting, you may get another job from it and if they like clothes you shot then they may or may not go out and look for it.

    It is all pretty easy to find anything your heart desires on the Internet anyway.

    More importantly, nice photos Dan.

  9. Dan – Post the photos you take. They’re always good so we like them, regardless of the context in which they were taken.

    Nice work, as always.

  10. I’m with Rachel and the others. I love seeing your new pics, especially as your style is so varied.

    Declaring that the shoot was paid for by GP makes it clear that you’re their photographer and nothing more sinister.

  11. Hi Dan,

    As an avid follower of both your Flickr and blog, it’s been wonderful (and inspirational) to see you progress from happy snaps, to gigs, festivals, pieces for Time Out and this sort of advertorial work.

    I, like I’m sure many of your followers, focus on seeing your photography work. That’s the aim of your blog, innit? People don’t subscribe to read blogs for ad’s. Your post makes available to budding photographers your images for fashion/ad work and it just so happens that a business/brand is tied to it.

    If you had mentioned how wonderful the knitted jumpers felt when you put them on and how you wanted to get denim hot pants in your blog from GP, I’d probably begin to worry.

    That all said, <3 the image of Sonya sitting on the floor. Great work.

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