The Documentary Photographer Podcast – Episode 4: Doug Menuez – Advertising Documentary

In this episode of The Documentary Photographer podcast, I get to talk to one of my heroes: Doug Menuez.

Doug is a US photographer who has found the holy grail – being paid advertising rates to photograph documentary images his way. The perfect blend of art and commerce.

We talk about how he gets access to his subjects and how he engages with them to gain their consent to their likeness being used in advertising. We also discuss his archive of photographs from the early(-ish) days of Silicon Valley – starting when Steve Jobs was reeling from being punted out of Apple.

Doug’s work is profoundly evocative and rich. I think the photographs from his tequila project are among the most beautiful I’ve seen. They are infused with life and insight. They give a sense of cultural context. They lift a veil. They reach out to the viewer.

Doug is the author of one of the most important articles that I have ever read. Every photographer should take half an hour to read and reflect on his piece On Chaos, Fear, Survival and Luck. It is a beacon for me whenever I lose the faith in myself and my ability.

Links

Doug’s Website
Doug’s Blog

Tequila

This slideshow comprising work from his Heaven, Earth, Tequila project will give you a good idea of Doug’s style and storytelling genius.

You can subscribe to The Documentary Photographer podcast by clicking on any of these links:

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Documentary Photography Isn’t Always About People

Doug Menuez is someone I really admire. I refer often to his article On Chaos, Fear, Survival and Luck, which is a wonderful piece of writing that every professional photographer should read. He has also forged a career as a commercial documentary photographer that is a beacon for me. While pretty much every advertising agency I have ever visited has told me there is no place for documentary photography in corporate communications and adverts, his portfolio of photography and clients proves the opposite.

Earlier this year, Doug was due to give a week-long seminar on documentary photography in the US. I couldn’t attend. I would dearly have liked to. I hope the opportunity presents itself again in different circumstances.

Even though I wasn’t able to go, I did learn something from the seminar – or, more accurately, from the promotional material about it on the web, which contained a photograph. Maybe there were more, but one photograph sticks in my my mind and taught me something. Ironically, I can’t recall exactly what the photograph was of, merely that it was of a thing rather than of a person. It taught me that documentary photographs don’t have to include human beings.

Wedding photographers will cry en masse that they have known this for years. After all, the average wedding album is laden with detail shots of the shoes, the bouquet, the rings, the table placings and so on.

Yet I don’t think that a photograph of a detail is the equivalent of storytelling – the point of documentary photography. Let me explain.

If you photograph the shoes, for instance, what is the story? Obviously, they are important to the bride. But that isn’t the story. A more useful question would be, “Why are they important to the bride?” The answer to that question is a story.

That said, there may be a story in the shoes. An example could be their intricate nature that hints at an artisan manufacturer. Yet rarely is that expressed in a detail shot of the shoes. Generally, the shoe shot in a wedding album is little more than a statement.

I suppose what I’m getting at is the difference between setting the scene (a factual detail shot) and establishing a rich narrative (a story-infused detail shot).

So while a record of the shoes may be a valid component of the story of a wedding day, I have come to feel that the narrative of an object should be more than merely, “Here it is”.

Here’s an example.

The veil. (c) Roger Overall 2011

Why do I think that this is a narrative detail shot? I think it tells you a lot of story about the veil. It tells you how long it is by placing it in a context. It also tells you about its texture and transparency. Together, both of those things suggest why the bride chose it.

As you can tell, I’ve started to view detail photographs very differently. All because of a single image in on a promotional website. I have to marvel at how much more I’d have learned if I had actually had the chance to sit at Doug’s knee for a week to learn.

Documentary Advertising Photography Works In Advertising – Honest

Now here’s a thing.

According to most of the Dublin advertising agencies I visited in January and February this year, documentary photography, however appealing, won’t work in advertising campaigns in Ireland. The advertisers are just too traditional.

They are not alone in this belief.

It was recently repeated to me by the marketing manager for an international parcel company.

I gave examples of campaigns abroad, most notably one for Emirates Airlines I’d heard about in a podcast interview with the photographer involved: Doug Menuez, a photographer I greatly admire. Not only that, Doug recently launched an agency to market his documentary work to the advertising sector – in response to demand for the kind of photography he provides.

It didn’t help. Ireland isn’t ready was the message.

Really?

In the seat pocket in front of me on flight EI 183 from London to Dublin yesterday evening was a copy of Aer Lingus’ in-flight magazine Cara.

Here’s a photograph of the full-page advert on one of the early pages in the magazine.

Vodafone ad in April/May 2010 issue of Cara

Now, I’m not for a minute suggesting that this is a purely documentary photograph. However, you cannot deny the photojournalistic aesthetic of the picture. You can tell the people on the shoot went to great lengths to get the right feel. London bus and some fellow in a high-viz jacket in the background. It all adds the the sense of reality.

By the way, if this is a genuine documentary photograph and you know the backstory, I’d love for you to share it here.

Back to the point I’m trying to make. Real equals honest, which is something we don’t often equate with advertising. At least, not in Ireland. Because, the agencies say, Irish companies can’t grasp the concept.

While Vodafone isn’t quite there yet (and I’ve no doubt a skilled street photographer could have produced a real documentary moment), it is a step in a direction that interests me greatly. After all, I’d love to shoot a documentary advertising campaign.

Compare Vodafone’s effort to this one by Bank of Ireland on the next facing page of the current issue of Cara.

Bank of Ireland advert in the April/May 2010 issue of Cara

Oh dear.

This is the worst of both worlds: a posed image that is so heavily staged it reeks of insincerity. In fact, I have a niggling suspicion it is a stock image, most likely American, to which the credit card in the girl’s had has been added in post-production. A tell-tale sign is that the card she is holding is the same as the larger one in the bottom left of the ad, right down to the name: Mr J Brennan of VBC Ltd. I have to say that Mr Brennan is a fine looking woman.

Of course, that could be JB in the background there on the phone.

The photograph doesn’t ring true, which undermines the advertisement. It doesn’t inspire. It doesn’t make me want one of these cards, even though I bank with Bank of Ireland and fly Aer Lingus regularly. A great documentary image taken in a real office would have been so much more powerful. Ironically, I spent yesterday shooting documentary photographs in a London office.

Even better, why not a photograph of people enjoying one of the Aer Lingus Gold Circle Lounges the card gives you access to?

Perfect material for a great documentary photograph.

Image Rights and Image Wrongs

Do you know what happens to the pictures taken at your wedding once you’ve taken delivery of your album?

I’m guessing no.

And really, why would you? You’ve got a lovely album and you’re as pleased as punch. Great day, great pics, great memories. Job done.

However, there is a huge demand for wedding pictures outside of the couple themselves. Hotels, caterers, wedding planners, car hire companies, florists, dress shops – you name it, they are all interested in wedding pictures to use in brochures, websites, advertisements, display stands and so on. And, without your knowledge, the pictures used could have been taken at your wedding. That could be you in the advert for the wedding venue.

Why is this wrong? After all, most photographers use pictures they’ve taken to promote their own business don’t they?

Good question. Provided everything is above board, we can all be relaxed. Sadly, things aren’t always hunky-dory.

Firstly, a photographer is well within their rights to use images taken at your wedding to promote his or her business in the shape of show albums, framed prints in the studio, sample work on the internet and so on PROVIDED they have your consent. The photographer owns the copyright to the images but should nevertheless seek your permission to use them to showcase their talents. It doesn’t always happen unfortunately. However, most couples would mostly be relaxed about this. My own way of dealing with this is to cover any use of images to promote my business in my booking form and in a subsequent written agreement with the couple.

Passing on images to a third party for use in their advertising and  promotional material is a completely different matter. In the world of advertising, your face on promotional material is akin to you endorsing the product. How do you think David Beckham has got so rich? Or his wife. They don’t give their faces for free.

For a photographer to be passing on wedding images for use by others is wrong – unless the bride and groom have given permission in writing for them to do so. This should take the shape of a model release form. And, really, everyone who is recognisable in the picture used should have signed one too if pictures are going to be used in such a commercial way by a third party. [Hello, Father Hickey. Beautiful mass. Hope I wasn’t in the way too much. Would you mind signing this?]

Why do I raise this issue?

Today I had a terse email from the owner of a premier wedding venue in Co. Cork. He had been looking for free pictures for his own commercial use from a wedding that I shot there over the summer. I had told him that a) I don’t give away my photography for free; and b) I couldn’t help him anyway as I didn’t have model release forms and the requisite permissions from the couple in the first place.

His response was to a) intimate that I would lose future business through him as a consequence; and b) highlight that other photographers had in the past been only too pleased to give him free images for his own promotional purposes.

Any photographer acting this way should be ashamed. Giving away pictures for free is bad enough. But running rough-shod over the rights of the couple is much worse.