“After leaving art school for photojournalism, Doug Menuez spent 25 intense years traversing the globe and in turn, becoming one of the most successful advertising photographers in the US. The time he spend between the Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, Life, Fortune, and People magazines exposed him to a variety of assignments ranging from the famine in Ethiopia to sports & celebrities to the AIDS crisis. He has photographed a range of personalities including Mother Theresa, Robert Redford, and Bill Clinton.
As many of you know, Doug spent much of his time in the 80’s and 90’s covering the explosion of new technology in the Silicon Valley – from the digital revolution through the rise of the internet while exploring the human side of technology development; the manic passion, struggles, and joys of the brave new world. In exchange for prints, Steve Jobs granted Doug the sincere and unlimited access necessary for the project. For years he documented Steve and his team everywhere from their labs, boardrooms, and off-site retreats.
The 250,000 photographs from this project are now archived in the Douglas Menuez Photography Collection at Stanford University Library. Tonight we will be seeing a preview of his next project, “Fearless Genius,” which revisits and expands upon the history and people of the Silicon Valley.”
On another double workshop weekend, I was able to assist and participate in Doug Menuez’s “Art vs. Commerce” class. As you can see from my introduction, Doug is an incredibly experienced photojournalist. He is also one of board members for the Center for Photography at Woodstock. For me, Doug is one of those teachers that uses his experience and learned information to benefit his students. Looking back at the notes I took in my sketchbook, they range from emotional advice to financial advice. It was quite refreshing to have a perspective that stretches the gamut of life as an artist.
As usual, we began the workshop with introductions. Unlike other times when one just talks about where they have been and what they do now, Doug asked the students to also describe their goals and what they needed to get there.
During portfolio reviews, Doug brought up the point of never showing anything that you’re not 100% proud of to anyone. This has definitely been something that I’ve learned over the course of this summer with nearly weekly portfolio reviews. Any mistake that you have in a print or image will stand out far more in a group of other artists, potentially even more than a great project. For example, one small spot of dust can really ruin an amazing print. Lesson learned : if you have to make excuses for any print in your portfolio, that image probably shouldn’t be in there in the first place...
For me, Doug really reinforced that being a photographer is a full time job…whether you’re actually on a payroll for it or not. He encouraged setting up schedules for yourself in order to keep on track of your photographic goals. These ranged from:
- projects : creating self-assignments to consistently push yourself technically and creatively
- financial : delegating certain percentages of your funds to savings, long-term liabilities, and short-term payables
- long term : writing down 6-month plans including what it takes to reach those objectives
These are the three areas I summarized from the weekend – all of which I realize are important, but can sometimes be difficult to sit down and actually manage. For my projects schedule, I would like to set up a photo project each month to accomplish from start to finish. That would include the research, production, processing, and sharing of the piece. Financially, we threw around lots of words like “profit & loss,” "revenue," and “profit margin,”…things I’m not quite ready to tackle. I intend to set up a plan, as rudimentary as it may be at my level, that can at least act as a starting point. Finally, my long-term goals are defined and written down in my sketch book…maybe, just maybe I will share them someday…
Doug had everyone bring in a portfolio along with a number of images they thought were close to - but not quite - good enough to make it in the top 20 selection. He then went through all of the images and chose his selects. He gave detailed explanations of why the images worked or didn’t and included an incredibly thorough analysis of where he could see us going with our work. As an intern, we are critiqued if there is time, and Doug was very generous in insisting to see my and Nikki’s work. Since I’m not from a photo-journalistic mindset, I was a little hesitant to bring in my work. Doug was really great at critiquing it and giving beneficial suggestions without imposing his personal style onto it. Summarizing his critique, Doug reminded me that with my conceptual approach, the photographs still need to be able to stand alone (without explanation).
The weekend invoked a lot of self-reflection and new realizations for everyone. It was interesting how the students ranged in age, experiences, and professions. Doug’s workshop was a great experience for those looking to find a balance between doing what they love and making ends meet. He was also encouraging in maintaining a personal style artistically even when you must work commercially. I think everyone left with a clearer vision of who they are as a photographer and the motivation to take their career to the next level financially and creatively.
(As a side note, I'm sorry the photos might not be as interesting in other posts…I think I got a bit wrapped up in listening to Doug and forgot a little about documentation!)
(Also check out Doug’s blog HERE!)
