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Master Photographers Tell You How

Vincent Laforet Photojournalist Interview by Erica Wright Article rating: 9.36

Takegreatpictures.com (TGP): When and how did your interest in photography begin?

Vincent Laforet (VL): It started when I was 15. My father is a photographer. He worked at Gamma for 10 years. I was 15, and I thought, "It's silly that I can't take photographs when my father's a professional photographer." I asked to borrow his camera. He gave me a Nikon F3 with a 50-millimeter lens and a few rolls of Tri-X, and I went to the Louvre Museum in Paris and just went around photographing. I already had somewhat of a fine art background—life drawing and painting—and I'd been taught the basics of composition. So photography just kind of came immediately. I'd always been frustrated by how slowly paint dries. Photography gives you instant gratification, and I immediately got hooked. So, I went back with the camera to New York and started doing street photography right away.

TGP: Do you love digital photography because of the immediacy it offers?

VL: I love digital photography sure, and sure it's immediate. Although, at this point I can kind of see the image and the lighting in my mind's eye. I don't need the instant feedback, but it's nice. But that's not why I love digital, although it's a definite advantage. I love digital photography because you can go cover a story like Katrina or any news event and get an image back really quickly and go back to covering the story. You don't have to end your day right there, which is a huge advantage. In the film days, you decided at a certain point, "I gotta go back and process the film," and the next thing you know it's two hours later and you're still scanning pictures. If you had an early deadline, it would cut your day in half very quickly. Whereas now you can transmit two times a day or even as you go.

"Opium Smoker" - An opium addict lights up in front of a tomb stone as the moon rises above the mountains in the Quetta Satellite Cemetery where dozens gather each night in a haze of opium, marijuana, and heroin.  9/30/01 Quetta, Pakistan © Vincent Laforet

TGP: Were you always primarily interested in photojournalism?

VL: No. I found I've always been interested in every aspect of photography. I don't like cornering myself because there's so much different stuff to do. My career went through a lot of different paths. I went to Chicago, Northwestern University, for print journalism and fell into sports because Michael Jordan was there and the Green Bay Packers were playing every weekend. The next thing you know, I was a sports photographer. When I was a freshman in college I didn't know what a first down was. I had no idea about sports. I was a French kid. And a year later, we went from having the most miserable team ever in the Midwest to going to the Rose Bowl. It was a pretty incredible turn-around. If that doesn't make you a sports fan, nothing will.  So I became a sports photographer with the yearning to become a news photographer always and cover wars and whatnot because I read the books that my father had. He used to go to Beirut and places like that, so it was kind of a glorified thing. And two and half years after I graduated, The New York Times hired me, and they had to pull me back into news because I just kept wanting to do sports. Almost against my will, they were pulling me into other stuff. The next thing you know, 9-11 happened, and some people considered me a conflict photographer. Whereas, to me, I'm really not a war photographer. If bullets fly, I hit the ground. It's not for me. And now people are pulling me back to do sports, and while it's something I want to continue doing, there are a few other things I'd like to work towards as well.

Your career is interesting in that part of it you determine, by the choices you make, but a lot of it is determined for you by wherever you are and who you see. There's a good balance between what you have control over and what controls you. And now I'm going down a totally different path. I definitely want to keep my roots in photojournalism; it's really who I am right now. But I like to try other stuff. I want to try more commercial and corporate work, mostly because of the creative freedom that you have. As a photojournalist, you work with pretty stringent limitations—you can't tell people to do anything again; you can't tell them to look this way or that way, and I believe in that wholeheartedly. I've never crossed that line. It would be nice, instead of waiting a few hours for someone to walk just the right way for that one streak of light, to actually make it happen. There is more freedom, which is why commercial work attracts me. Creatively I have a lot more input on what people are wearing, what the lights are, where to do it and why—totally different. It's a challenge, which is why I want to try it. It's pretty exciting. While not leaving photojournalism behind—

TGP: And you're in the right city.

VL: Exactly. So hopefully it will work out.

TGP: How did you swing getting a job at The Times two years out of school?   

VL: Right place, right time. I had been at Allsport for two years, and I'd met The Times' sports photo editor, Stephen Jesselli, at the Super Bowl a few times, and he'd always say, "When you're in New York, look me up." I actually got mono at Allsport; I was working so many days in a row that I got really sick. And I was in New York. He [Stephen Jesselli] called me out of the blue one day, and asked, "Are you in New York?" And I said, "Yeah, I've been here for about two months." And he said, "Why don't you come into the city today or early next week; there's an opening at the website." And I replied, "I'm not interested in the website. I'm a photographer." And he replied, "Listen, kid, get your foot in the door, you'll be part of the union, and you'll be one of us. And you can work a four-day-a-week job at the website, which will give you three days to work for me." And that's what I did for six months, pretty much seven days a week, and then there was a staff opening. Jeffrey Salter left, and there I was, not a total stranger. And I had had six months to prove to them on my three days off that I could shoot and make good photographs that made the paper. And, low and behold, they gave me the nod.

Jobs are a lot about timing. People always misconstrue that when they're rejected, that it's because they didn't like you. Often they're looking for a certain, specific person. It's a lot more complex than what's on the surface. It's not personal; it's a lot about timing. So, you might apply for a job this year and not get it, but in two years you might be the perfect person for it. There's a lot of luck involved, too.

TGP: What work are you most proud of?

VL: I'm not sure "proud" is the best word. The news photographs are tough to be proud of. The most recent Katrina stuff is stuff that I'm honored to have done and been part of. As a journalist, it was the first time in a long time that there wasn't much PR control over what we covered. They kind of gave us free reign because they didn't have enough people to take care of the problem, let alone journalists. So I was really allowed to tell the story, the true story, uninhibited. And also I think that journalists play a very important role because that information needed to get out. The scale of disaster and how badly things were going needed to be told—that way the word got out and more resources were sent there. It was very fulfilling as a journalist. You really felt like you were serving a greater good there. It wasn't about meeting your deadline; it wasn't about making great photographs; it was really about doing a civic duty. It really felt like you had a place there, a purpose. That was really gratifying. And I think the work touched a lot of people's hearts. The situation was pretty unbelievable. It was interesting to call back to the office and hear these old, crusty editors on the verge of tears. These really hardened news people who'd been doing it for twenty or thirty years—you knew your photographs were having impact. If they were having an impact on them, they were going to have one on the public. And that's what you're trying to do. And you have to remember, that while I was out there, I had no newspapers or television; I was in a black hole, so I had no idea what else was going out. It was great just to see the response that we got.

TGP: For a situation like Katrina, it seems like the photographs have more of an impact than what is written.

VL: I was interviewed on The Today Show, and the quote they used, the most honest quote, was that as a photographer it was the easiest story to cover. Everywhere you looked there was an image. You'd have to be blind…they were everywhere. But as a human being, the toll was really, really hefty. It hit everyone. All the veteran journalists that went down there got hit from so many sides they didn't expect it to come from. It hit very close to home, literally and figuratively.

TGP: What's the experience like when you capture an amazing image of a horrific subject?

VL: The best example of that is the one I took of a woman on a conveyor belt [while covering Hurricane Katrina]. I felt sick to my stomach even making that photograph, but you bring yourself to do it because it's a responsibility at that point. And in fact the person from FEMA there begged me to take those pictures. She said, "We're overwhelmed. We have 900 people an hour coming in. We can't deal with it. I need more people here. You need to take these pictures." Literally. The FEMA person. You would think it would be in total opposite interest for me to take those pictures, but it wasn't about ego; it's wasn't about careers anymore; it was just about saving these people and helping them. And that transcended all the bureaucratic b.s. that we deal with all the time. And when you make that photograph, it suddenly becomes a burden because you know you have to get it back to the paper. Making it is just half the story; you have to somehow get it back. So we had to race back in the helicopter to Baton Rouge to get a cell signal to transmit just in time for the deadline. There was a lot of pressure. A lot, a lot of pressure to make sure you got it.

TGP: Has anyone besides your father influenced you work?

VL: Every photo I look at everyday. I still look through every newspaper and magazine I can get my hands on. Television. Movies. To see what people are seeing and how they're seeing it. I go to a lot of workshops to teach and to learn. It's like Paris of the 20s. You try to create a little world for yourself where you're surrounded by talent that will help you grow. You constantly want to be changing and trying new things, and the best way to do that is to see what other people are doing, perhaps copy it, and then make it your own. It's one thing to copy and just keep it at that level, which I think is a total waste of time, and it's another thing to copy and make it better, to improve the art of photography, take it to a new level. Maybe "copy" isn't the best term. The idea is more to push, to push the envelope and discover new fronts. And the best way to do that is to look at what other people are doing, keep up with them, and try to set the pace yourself.

TGP: Are you excited about how photographic technology is evolving?

VL: Yes, absolutely. The one problem with technology and digital photography is that while it makes your job a lot easier to get pictures out, you're also now as a photographer responsible for storing the images, backing them up, and archiving them, and that's a whole new set of responsibilities that people have to consider. You're taking the whole lab out of the picture and the whole file cabinet and that entire library or agency taking care of your body of work. You're now solely responsible for storing and editing, so that's the one downside of it. There's a lot of postproduction work. Photography's secret was that 90% of your time was spent traveling and making calls and setting things up. If you were lucky, you'd get 10% of your time to actually make photographs. Whereas now, that's still the case, but it's being cut even further because you have all the postproduction work. Actually making photographs is a very small percentage of my day. And I think that's true for most photographers. Most people getting into photography don't know that. 

TGP: What's teaching like for you?

VL: I teach as much as I can. It's tremendous fun. It's just cool to give back on the one hand, and I learn a lot from my students as well. I started teaching about six years ago, and I learned as much from the students as they learned from me. Not only from the exchanges I had with them, but it was one of the few times that I had to slow down and think about what I was doing. I too often get stuck in this realm of work, work, work, and I don't get a chance to take a step back and get some perspective. That's what teaching allows you to do—to think about the big picture. It can save you a lot of years of wasted time.

TGP: What advice do you give your students?

Never give up. That's the most important thing. When I started 15, 16 years ago, my dad did everything he could to dissuade me from becoming a photographer. "It's a hard business; it's competitive; why do you want to do this? Why don't you become a doctor or a lawyer?" And I said, "that's not me! Because I don't want to!" And then all the people in the business are always telling you how hard it is, and it's true. But the cream does rise to the top, and those times when you really just want to say, "that's it, I'm done," those are the times when you need to reach deep down, and that's when you usually make big leaps in your career. Or you give up because it's not the right thing. It's not for everybody. If you're not dying to do this career, if it's not really in your soul, in your core, I'm not saying you should give up, but you might consider it. Because people will give anything to have a career in photojournalism. They'll sacrifice everything. The only career that I think is more competitive than this is filmmaking. Everyone wants to become a filmmaker. Everyone and their mother. But the next thing is a photographer. It's a sought-after career. If you follow the standard approaches, it's not an easy way of life. Unless you really know what you're doing. So you've really got to learn the business and the best ways to make money doing it. But if you don't know, if you don't educate yourself, it's really easy to become a desperate idealist, holding your camera up as you're crumbling. You've got to educate yourself. The big problem with photography is that photographers have not been the best business people in the entire history of this business. And there's no excuse for that. We're our own worst enemies.

TGP: Did you take any courses while you were in school that addressed the business side of photography?

VL: No. I've been lucky to be surrounded by other photographers who are older and wiser and who talk to me about these concepts. One of the most basic things is not owning your copyright. That's huge a loss to not own your own copyright. That's passive income, which is the key to being successful. If you're always working day to day to make a living, then you'll never find a way to have a passive income, i.e. owning your copyright. It's becoming increasingly impossible to own your copyright. These days when you take a staff job, you almost always have to give away your copyright. Or if you're freelance, you're forced to sign contracts giving away all your rights. And it's not fair. The problem is if you don't sign them you don't work. So you have to be so good that you get the few opportunities that are out there that allow you to keep your copyright or to negotiate your position. It's very hard for people who are beginning, but they should always keep that in the back of their minds that when they sign that piece of paper, they're making a serious sacrifice—but with a little effort you can often find a compromise that will work for both parties. 

TGP: Do you feel good about the state of photojournalism right now?

Economically I'm not sure, but in terms of the content, what's being done, yes absolutely. It's almost a heyday. The highlight of photojournalism right now is that with this new technology we're able to really tell stories almost live. People are being bombarded by so much television, junk, that quality does seem to rise to the surface. Photography's very powerful and always has been. Good still photography has a way of arresting almost anyone and making them pay attention, making them aware. And for that, it's pretty exciting.

"Bus Stop" - Tensions rise steadily in the southern city of Quetta, Pakistan as the threat of war becomes a reality.  For many Afghans who have fled their country, they can only make a living by giving haircuts on the streets, near the main bus stop of the city.  9/24/01 Quetta, Pakistan © Vincent Laforet

TGP: And you must be excited about your own move into more commercial work.

VL: It's a whole different page, an open book right now. It could be a great success; I could be a shooting star, or it could be a disaster. I'm literally in the beginning stages of it, and I'm just looking for people out there who want to work on different things. With lots of energy and creativity, who like to take lots of chances. That's what I found in photojournalism that I seem to do well—take these ever moving and changing circumstances, real live news, and always take chances with them. Really roll the dice. And it would be nice to take that approach to something more stable, i.e. advertising, which is much more controlled, but keep that liveliness and that spunk and that search for that one little moment, that serendipitous or spontaneous moment, that has real relevance and content and bring that to advertising.

You don't get anywhere by not being ambitious in this business because there are too many people out there. The thing I ask almost every photographer when I do a portfolio review is why do you want to become a photographer? And you'd be surprised how many people have a tough time answering that. They're unable to answer because it's too emotional or they haven't thought about it. And a lot of them are honest enough to say "because it's cool" or "because I like it." I usually tell them that it's not about you; photojournalism is not about you. It's really about the people you photograph and the stories you tell. If it's still right now about you, that's probably part of the problem with your photography that I'm seeing that's transcending and coming to the surface—not really caring about the people you photograph or not as much as you care about yourself. The mark of a good journalist is that it's about them. It's about the people in the photographs or the stories you tell and getting those out. It's really not a very sexy or glamorous business at all. It's down and dirty. Real. You'll be very close to death—either your potential for dying yourself or being exposed to dead people right in front of you. And you're very close to danger and risk, and I'm not a thrill seeker or an adrenaline junkie at all. But I am drawn to telling stories and helping in whatever way I can. And that's the most gratifying thing. It's not about getting the award or getting the front page of The New York Times or about changing the world even. The chance of doing that is pretty slim, but if you can change one person's life for the better, then I think you've done well on this earth. And that's kind of what I try to do everyday as a photographer.  I think it's a privilege to be a photographer; I really believe that. I tell it to my students. You've got an incredible chance to do something different. Don't waste it. Don't make it about yourself, about your stories or your photographs. They don't really belong to you. (But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be mindful of your rights.).

>>Click here to read Vincent Laforet's Ten Tips For Photojournalists...

>>Click here to read Vincent Laforet's Bio/Background...

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At this point and at this time in my career as a photojournalist, 4 years, I found this article very inspirational. Although I still question my abilities and reasons as a story teller with a camera, the insight provided through your interview with Mr. Vincent Laforet has helped me to reevaluate and re-energize my goals as a documentary photographer. This is definitely a competitive career but as Laforet mentions it's not so much about myself... it's about the subject. I was almost considering another career, i.e. teaching English in China... thank you. Posted by: Kevin Chang Sep 8, 2008 @ 9:29 AM EST

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