p.2 #1 · International Freelance Photographers Organization
Mitchel107 wrote:
looks like the press pass will still be VERY useful for me. i have gotten parking tickets working short notice assignments, it sucks.
and im thinking that on a wedding, in a crunch...i can park nearer to the spot i need to shoot/work.
...and i would definitely like the option of being present at meetings in my local government.
I can't believe you actually wrote that.
I can't think of anything to respond here that wouldn't get me banned from FM...
I'm guessing a few weeks with one of those high falootin' press badges and you'll be black balled for life from ever working for a legitimate publication...
p.2 #2 · International Freelance Photographers Organization
OK Great guys. I'm glad I never have drinks with you...that would be a hell of a friendly time, now wouldnt it.
OK, so far I have learned
1) An organization like the IFPO isnt going to give me what I had perked in my brainstorming here.
2) A press pass wont give universal coverage for my photography coverage i.e. while I'm on a wedding:
3) People on FM have silly quips to explain things:
I can't think of anything to respond here that wouldn't get me banned from FM...
I'm guessing a few weeks with one of those high falootin' press badges and you'll be black balled for life from ever working for a legitimate publication...
Good luck to ya.
Ken
Thanks for the tidings of good luck. And good luck to you holding your tongue.
The OP shoots weddings and needs a press pass for that? Or to get better parking spaces, or to have the option of being present at meetings in my local government." Seriously?
Why does it feel like we're all being taken in this thread.
I didnt say I needed a press pass for weddings. I was simply mistaken when I thought it would be useful to have in my car if on a wedding. If my ignorance of how this works has offended you.....well then I'm sorry you feel you are been 'taken'. Thanks for your words.
Guys, I think I'm done with this thread. I'll do my research on this myself.
The simple fact is that my dad had a press pass when he was young and had a lot of fun shooting with it, and he encouraged me to look into it. FM was my second stop after finding that IFPO link, and was looking around for input about what a press pass is and general stuff like that.
I can barely read the useful information in this thread for all of the jumbled WeeGee, fedora, high falootin', CRAP
Thanks to the beginning of this thread for the tidbit up there, I skipped the rest, sorry.
p.2 #3 · International Freelance Photographers Organization
Was your father's Press Pass a legitimate one, or just a toy form the IFPO?
I have a "press pass" from NYIP. I got it for taking a course. It impresses some people at backwoods festivals. It's probably better than the IFPO pass because it indicates you paid for and took a photography course. The IFPS just indicates you sent $19.95 to IFPO.
Edit to add: Oh, those gubmint meetings you want access to? They are all open to the public. Just walk in.
p.2 #7 · International Freelance Photographers Organization
Steve Ickes wrote:
Who is Weegee? I've always felt that part of learning your craft is also learning from those who came before you. When I first started I spent countless hours at the University library looking at photo books by various artists. You're really missing out by not studying the examples of those who came before you. You might also want to look up Arbus, Frank, Nagey, Bresson, Weston, Eddie Adams, Atget, Gibson, Avedon, W.E. Smith, etc. That doesn't even scratch the surface but it's a start.
Good post!
I'm also a painter and I've never met any other serious artists who don't know who Renoir and Van Gogh and Monet and Dali and Picasso (etc, etc) are. But I'm always amazed at the number of photographers I meet who think that they are the first photographer God ever put on the planet. They have no clue who came before them or what they might learn from them. And many of them couldn't care less - they have no curiosity or interest!
p.2 #8 · International Freelance Photographers Organization
my art 'collection' (i guess i could call it that) consists of an awesome water color painting of the chorpus christi bay where i used to live (dont know who painted it, i inherited it.), a large canvas of one of my wedding shots, large format books about da'vinci, michaelangelo, rodin, The Great Photographers of Life, Women Photographers of National Geographic, a pictoral in large format called Fathers and Sons, about ten of my own sketchbooks, at least four or five volumes of writing, and portfolio i used to take around to get jobs.
oh...and i have a couple of cool mini statues: a rodin, a julius caeser, a Laou Tzu, and a Venus on my bookshelf of books from the late 1800's and early 1900's
It's absolutely right and good to view other artists while you make your own art or arts. I just don't bitch about it when others dont do it the same way.
p.2 #10 · International Freelance Photographers Organization
Mitchel107 wrote:
Guys, I think I'm done with this thread. I'll do my research on this myself.
The simple fact is that my dad had a press pass when he was young and had a lot of fun shooting with it, and he encouraged me to look into it. FM was my second stop after finding that IFPO link, and was looking around for input about what a press pass is and general stuff like that.
I can barely read the useful information in this thread for all of the jumbled WeeGee, fedora, high falootin', CRAP
Thanks to the beginning of this thread for the tidbit up there, I skipped the rest, sorry. ...Show more →
Well, when you reduce a Press Credential to a "free parking pass" you should expect to get some ruffled feathers - after all, the people who carry real press passes have had to work very hard to get them.
p.2 #11 · International Freelance Photographers Organization
Thanks Ken, good input. I just want to clarify that I had no idea what a press pass means i.e. free parking.... to a photographer till I started this thread
A couple of posts early on said that you can park more easily with it, and I thought that was cool...thats it. I really couldnt care less what exactly it is that you get with it. I'm just starting to look into what it is and it got really damn silly in here.
I'll be doing the research but....not asking any more questions on fredmiranda for a while. Especially not in the 'professional' corner.
p.2 #12 · International Freelance Photographers Organization
"Guys, I think I'm done with this thread. I'll do my research on this myself."
That is a genuinely good idea. But, it's a rather long tradition that newbies in almost any endeavour are viewed as acceptable targets for all kinds of pranks. It comes from being trusting of those who have gone before and who should be mentoring the newbies mixed against they're having been taken advantage of themselves and the opportunity to "I gotta get me the next guy!"
Had you come in a bit better prepared, the question might not have been so, uh, inviting.
p.2 #13 · International Freelance Photographers Organization
It's weird. I've been biting the bullet in so many ways to get my business running right. I've been taking the hard hard times of a first year business owner with enough salt to keep my belly full. I'm just not here to fuck around. The "i gotta get me the next guy" attitude should stay at home in the bottom rung of LIFE.
this forum has been a pool of knowledge that i have tried to contribute to for four years. i have learned so much along the way that, well.....im running a business now. silly threads and posts take up bandwidth, waste time, devalue the comminuty and so much more.
you guys know that www.fredmiranda.com has a reputation for being 'the mean place'?
.....but...the one thing i can always rely on this community for is hard critique of my photos....
p.2 #14 · International Freelance Photographers Organization
Mitch,
I can see your point but I guess my thought is that along with earning that press pass you really need to develop thicker skin. I don't necessarily think that it's just newbies who get "jumped in". I think everyone takes their lumps from time to time. Yes, maybe questions could be handled differently on occassion but then again the majority of professional photographers I've met, specifically with Press passes, are very nice individuals but also very honest to the point of being blunt. Seriously, don't take it personally. Also keep in mind that many of the "old timers", at least those I know, have gotten to where they are by their own fortitude and initiative.
I have to agree that if you had simply asked about IFPO without mention of "better parking" answers would probably have been different. However, I can see that comment was simply something you threw out there but unfortunately that's not how it was interpreted. We see far too many individuals coming here explaining that they just got their new Rebel and kit lens and therefore should be entitled to everything that everyone else has worked hard to earn. The only legitimate Press Pass in my mind are those from a valid media outlets. Anyone who has a personal stake in having photo coverage will issue those press passes or request credentials on your behalf.
Yes it can get bit harsh here from time to time but wait until you do get credentialed and you are covering an important event under a heavy deadline. Miss the deadline or don't get the shot and your editor will make us FM'ers look like lambs
p.2 #15 · International Freelance Photographers Organization
Haha!!: don't get the shot and your editor will make us FM'ers look like lambs
Thats hilarious (and true)
I remember being on a day FULL of short notice assignments with approaching press deadlines (as a friggin intern) and my cell rang. It was my editor saying "WHY DIDNT YOU MAKE IT TO YOUR 10:30??!" Well, I had scheduled that shoot for 1:30 and I wasnt in the wrong but....I got a glimpse of the scarey editor.
(I got two effing parking tickets that day, so ya know, it WOULD be nice to have a pass)
p.2 #16 · International Freelance Photographers Organization
In another life I worked in Television. For awhile I shot ENG. Walking around with that camera on my shoulder was my press pass. The only time I was refused entry was when a large union in that town was having a meeting with a couple hundred members in attendence. The fellow at the mic asked if I had a union card. I said no and he asked me to leave.
Now I live in a small town. When I walk around with that big black camera and a tripod in hand I can go just about anywhere.
I just look professional so I must be shooting for somebody. I stay out of the way and never interfere with the event I'm shooting.
Works for me but like I said I live in a small town where we know all the cops on a first name basis.
