#professional practices

[barryschwartznotbarryschwartz]

Five Interviews This Week On Lenscratch

I have five interviews posting this week on the fabulous Lenscratch, @lenscratch http://lenscratch.com Not just words, pictures too, chosen by the very same photographers. Part of the series Photographers On Photographers. Barry Schwartz In Conversation With: Rachael Wright @rachaelwrightphoto Jesse Burke @jesse_burke Anastasia Samoylova @anasamoylova Victor Moriyama @victormoriyama Jana Ašenbrennerová @asenbrennerova

I am so grateful to each of these terrific photographers who spoke at length about how they came to be professionals, how they sustain themselves, what they exhibit and publish, and what matters in their work and their lives - and why there is only so much difference between the two.

Soon, I'll have all five interviews posted on my blog, Barry Schwartz Not Barry Schwartz https://barryschwartznotbarryschwartz.com

[windwenn]

My beautiful wife

[reasonsforhope]

Given the misinformation that's been going around and will be going around, thought this might be helpful to some people

For a lot of reasons, I'm very good at this/at searching, to the point where I have worked as a professional fact-checker for two different publishers. So, here goes:

My Article Fact-Checking Protocol

Thorough Version

Read the full article. Keep an eye out for emotionally loaded words, and all-or-nothing language

Keep an eye out or anything that sounds too good to be true, and in contrast, anything that sounds so awful it must be true

Run the website/source through the amazing Media Bias/Fact Check. They'll tell you about a publication's bias and history of accuracy

Go to the website's home page and read through the headlines. Look at what topics they cover/prioritize, sensationalist headlines, and whether they're framing anything in a way that feels odd/off to you

Do a search related to the topic. This can be keywords, a question, or even just copy-paste the article title (Recommended: use DuckDuckGo so the results don't change based on what Google thinks they can sell you)

If multiple highly credible sources that say the same thing pop up, and there's no major societal biases that might affect the coverage of the topic in those sources (e.g. anything related to the Israel-Palestine conflict/Palestinian genocide, no matter which side), then I'm done!

If there are major societal biases, or I can't get a consensus of sufficiently credible sources, then I do some combination of:

(1) search the topic again + the words "controversy" and/or "fake"

(2) search the opposite of the topic, or do some sort of other filtered search

(3) look up a sufficiently credible news outlet with the opposite point of view of my source, and see what they have to say

(4) if it's a big enough topic, start by looking up 2 of the top national papers and 1 major paper for your region (I usually do the ones in the US, because that's where I am In the US: the LA Times, the Washington Post, and the NY Times)

Adjust "news" to "relevant type of source, e.g. tech, environmental" as relevant for all of the above options

If no red flags come up, and it's a topic I understand enough to smell huge bullshit,

Then I'm usually done!

If there are red flags, or I actually need a certain amount of detail/understanding, then it gets more complicated, but that would be a whole other thing to break down and such

or

tl;dr

Quick Version

Read the full article. Keep an eye out for emotionally loaded words, and all-or-nothing language

Keep an eye out or anything that sounds too good to be true, and in contrast, anything that sounds so awful it must be true.

If I don't know the website:

Run the website/source through the amazing Media Bias/Fact Check. They'll tell you about a publication's bias and history of accuracy

If I trust the source, but something else pinged my radar:

Do a quick web search to verify anything that sounds suspicious or too good/bad to be true (Recommended: use DuckDuckGo)

[apocalypticnewt]

m a k e u p

tbh not in love w this one but im just gonna post it instead of fiddling w it anymore

[scribble-dee-vee]

Seeing a bunch of writing posts lately like “it’s okay if you only wrote a couple hundred words today :))”

As someone with a full time job, diverse hobbies, and a commitment to proper rest/self care, I would amend that. It’s okay if you don’t write anything at all on MOST DAYS OF YOUR LIFE. You’re still a writer if you’re passionate about creating stories and putting words on paper when time allows. Life is busy and full of possibility, and that’s beautiful, actually. Kill the hypercapitalist productivity demon in your head.

[morganbritton132]

The Corroded Coffin boys know that Steve and Eddie are dating way before Eddie tells them because he starts using sports terminology during band practice.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

you open my Super Important Documents and its just pictures of charles xavier

[junedidoo]

Shadow, we know you're not looking at the sunset.

Colouring practice because I can count with one hand how many times I've actually put in the effort to finish all my silly art, background and all (four). Also because I wanted a cute wallpaper for my laptop HAHAHA

[inkskinned]

no, but really, we need to talk about the casual objectification that has become the fallback discourse of the internet: if you're pretty and dressed nicely, you're a slut. and if you're even vaguely outside of their body standard, you're fucking disgusting.

too-frequently, people position sex workers as being "the problem". they sneer you're addicted to pornography, you don't know what a real woman looks like. but real women are in pornography. the real bodies on display are not the issue here: the issue is that other people feel extremely confident when commenting on someone's physique.

2000's super-thin is slowly worming its way back into the public ideal. recently i saw someone get told to "go for a run", despite the fact she was on the thinner side of average. not that it would ever be appropriate to say that: but it's kind of like sticker shock when you see it. people think that is fat? holy shit. do they just have no idea about things?

but what are you going to do about it? that's the problem, right. because chances are - you're a normal person. we can say normalize carrying fat on your body, but we are not the billion-dollar diet industry. we are not the billion-dollar fashion industry. we are just, like. people. who are trying to make content on the internet, without being treated shittily.

as someone who has been on both sides of things: you are treated better when you are thin and pretty. this is statistically correct. i am not saying that you cannot be bullied for being thin; i'm saying there are objective institutional biases against certain bodytypes. there are videos of men and women who lost weight all saying: i now know for a fact exactly how much worse you're treated. in the comments, some asshole inevitably says something akin to you deserved to be dehumanized when you were fat.

which means that ... the easiest thing to do is be pretty and thin. it is the path of least resistance, because of course it is, because any time you post a picture of yourself without a thigh gap, someone immediately comments something like you need to try a diet.

the other half is also dehumanizing though, huh, just in a different way. when i put on makeup and nice clothes, i am told i slept my way to the top as a professional. do you know how many women in STEM have told me they purposefully dress to "unimpress" because they already struggle to be taken seriously and if they're ever considered pretty - it for some reason takes away from their authority.

so they make it seem like it's your fault. you, existing in a body - it's your fault! if you didn't want shitty comments, don't have a body. they position us against each other like chess pieces; vying for male attention we don't even need.

and i can be an authority on this unless you think i'm fat and unattractive. when i am pretty and thin, i'm an activist. when i am just a normal person who makes a good point: i am immediately dismissed. nobody fucking believes you if you're not seen as attractive. you literally lose value. you cease to exist.

but the whole time, it feels like - is anyone actually grounded the fuck in reality? the line of "pretty and thin" keeps shifting. nobody seems to understand what "a normal weight" even looks like, because it's not something that exists - you cannot tell a person's health by looking at their body. even if you think you could tell that, even if you're sure a person is dangerously overweight - people are not your dolls. they do not need to be dressed up or displayed properly to soothe your aesthetics. you aren't concerned for them, you're stealing their agency. you don't get to say if they're "allowed" to take pictures and post them on the internet - you don't get to tell them how to exist.

people hide behind "the obesity epidemic" without any actual qualifications. they crow things about "normalizing unhealthiness".

but it's bullshit. i have visible abs. there is a pair of parallel lines on my body, even when i'm relaxed; where my obliques meet my abdominal wall. i am proud of this because it means i'm strong, because i overcame an eating disorder only to be ripped as fuck. it is genetic and physical luck that i even get any definition, i'm pleased as punch.

but it does mean that my abdominal wall sticks out a little bit. the other day i posted a video of myself dancing, and, for a moment, my shirt slipped. you could see a little bit of my stomach. i was cartwheeling to the floor. moments before this, i'd had my foot over my head.

a guy slid into my DMs. a row of vomiting emojis prefaced: you should really lose some weight before you think about dancing.

i stared at it for a long time. there was a time when i would have been triggered by this, where it would have encouraged me to starve myself. i would have ignored the fact i'm flexible, agile, good at jumping: i would have lost the weight for a stranger's passing comment. i would have found myself and my body fucking disgusting.

and for what? to please what? because why? so that he can exist in this world without an unchallenged eyeball? what would my self-hatred even accomplish? usually i write paragraphs. obviously. on this particular occasion, in this body i've been at war with for ages: i just felt exhausted.

it shouldn't be even worth saying. it shouldn't be hard to explain. all of this emotional turmoil when he cannot even comprehend the most basic truth: i am not an object on display for him.

[blood-orange-juice]

I realised I have a problem with the "Childe has cPTSD" idea that has been getting popularity in fandom, but it's probably more because of my gripe as a psych professional with the concept of cPTSD in general.

It's an understudied disorder and it's not yet in the DSM-V. Therapists use the term because it's better than nothing (they have to treat people regardless of whether we have a comprehensive theory of how humans function) but as it is now it simply clumps together too many things.

It started with a very reasonable thought that prolonged exposure to moderately stressful events can be just as harmful as One Huge Trauma, and also that the effects or prolonged exposure to stress will differ from only experiencing something once.

Sadly, the most common scenario in which a Western person (the type that has access to therapy and gets to talk about it online) can get cPTSD is child abuse. This means in the cases that are studied and discussed cPTSD response to prolonged stress is mixed with developmental trauma (all kinds of insufficient parenting and a child's needs not being met), attachment trauma (not having a stable relationship with a caretaker at a very early age when attachment strategies are formed), relational trauma (any trauma gotten in relationships at any age) and just general reaction to abuse (and all the damage to agency and self-worth that comes from it).

cPTSD of a person who came back from a war will differ a lot from cPTSD of a person who was raised by an abusive parent. There are similarities, sure, and it's important to recognise that a bad family situation can be just as damaging as being in an active war zone (in that sense the term has done more good than harm), but these two people won't have the same self-concepts and coping strategies.

The concept of cPTSD can be very useful if you are trying to understand what is happening to you personally or to explain it to your therapist (or to find a trauma-informed therapist), it isn't bad. But you can't say "this character has cPTSD" and derive meaningful predictions about his behaviour or self-image from it. It's too much of an umbrella term.

So, back to our boy. Bad things only started to happen to him at 14 and it's different from someone being consistently traumatised from an early age.

Does he have hypervigilance, bizarre strategies of self-regulation, at least some amount of dissociation, occasional attention problems and intolerance to helplessness? Yeah, probably, his lifestyle would do that to pretty much anyone. Prolonged stress just does that, doesn't matter how badass someone is. Some negative beliefs about himself are also likely. Difficulty with connecting with others is a given (everyone else lives in a different reality, how would he even begin to connect).

Does he have relational trauma? Also yes, we all do. Some justified guilt and anger over how things went? Not necessary but very possible. Some irrational guilt for things he couldn't control? Again, not necessary but I could roll with that (it's a common response to helplessness. guilt is easier to stomach than the loss of control).

Would he behave like a child abuse victim, thinking himself completely worthless and constantly doubting and pitying himself? I don't think so. He looks like a person who has never been abused in his life. It's very fun to write and I understand the appeal of it (I'm probably occasionally guilty of that too) but it's simply not how he's portrayed in canon.

He wouldn't think of himself like a child of narcissistic parents would either (having to be the best to prove his right to exist). He was long past the age when he could have gotten that type of trauma when Abyss and the Fatui happened to him. Also his resilience comes from somewhere and I think it's from having a loving family. Sure, it wasn't a perfect family (I have a lot of questions for them) and now it's irreparably messed up even more but he does look like a person who was loved as a kid.

[barryschwartznotbarryschwartz]

BUSINESS OF PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP - OCTOBER 29.

I am conducting an all-day, in-person workshop, sponsored by the ASMP L.A. chapter and LACP (Los Angeles Center of Photography) in Los Angeles. Workshop is based on my 16-week college class, Professional Business Practices For Photographers. Pricing and negotiating, copyright, industry cultures, contracts, insurance, releases, and art school.

Marketing: Social media, newsletters, blogs, mailers, websites, and SEO.

How to research clients and how to make it easier for clients to find you.

AI is on every creator’s mind these days, and while it’s not a settled topic, it must be addressed.

Soft skills are critical: understanding how clients think, what they expect from different specialties, and communicating what you have to offer.

Digital workflow is central to professional careers, so we cover color and data management, printing, metadata, all to speed your work, keep it safe and keep you sane.

Everyone gets 28 pages of resources, including links to free and paid software, books, and websites. Also, template contracts, releases, spreadsheets for taxes, and more.

There will be a light breakfast before the workshop, and lunch will be provided. Coffee ALL DAY!

Register here: https://www.asmp.org/losangeles/event/what-it-takes-building-and-maintaining-a-photographic-career/

Want to know more about me and what I teach? Check out my blog, Barry Schwartz Not Barry Schwartz, where there is also a link to my professional website (I'm one of you!). https://barryschwartznotbarryschwartz.com/education/

business, #photobusiness, #photographybusiness, #professionalpractices, #photographyprofessionalpractice, #professionaldevelopment, #photoprofessionalpractices, #photoprofessionaldevelopment, #professionaldevelopment, @barryschwartzphotography, #barryschwartzphotography, #barryschwartzphoto.

[soothifying-sounds-asmr]

I was accepted to a paid video editing internship and a lot of the work is very reminiscent of what I used to do here. It makes me so happy to know that my silly little Tumblr blog gave me good practice :3 I hope everyone is doing well <3 Tell me what you're going to be for Halloween!

[blueskittlesart]

I’m not the anon who asked about coloring but thanks for answering that! Do you have any tips you wouldn’t mind sharing? I struggle with colors so I usually just fudge it by coloring things in a very basic boring way and then slapping a colored layer on top and playing with layer effects lol. But I’d love to learn how to experiment and make actual choices and create interesting palettes the way you described

love your art, great work all day, and thanks for feeding us zelinkers so well all the time🫶

I wish i could be more helpful but honestly most of what I do is instinctual. in practice, the way that i got here was mostly by colorpicking from images I really liked (mostly botw screenshots LMFAO.) I would draw a decently complicated scene and then set a rule for myself that i could ONLY use colors from my reference to color that scene, which sort of got me into the habit of putting 'unusual' colors in certain places/not caring too much about if a color is 'correct' as long as it looks good. the more different your reference and your drawing are the more interesting this exercise gets, imo--I especially had a lot of success using video game environment pallets for character-only art (as opposed to just colorpicking from a flat-light reference.) Another exercise that I still find really helpful is limited palettes, usually between 2 and 6 colors depending on the complexity of the scene. this helps you get a feel for color placement and teaches you how to arrange your colors in a way that keeps your scene legible and engaging! in my current professional work I try to keep my palettes under 15 colors (with some variation) because I think it tends to make things look more punchy and eye-catching!

[strangeaxel]

How do you draw with rebornicas artstyle?

And how did you became rebornicas artstyle?

Well... LET'S SEE ... (i'm suffering, THIS AIN'T FOR THE WEAK/J btw english isnt my first language so excuse any mistakes :c) Ill tell you some things about the style but keep in mind, i've been drawing realistic stuff for years and also been drawing cartoons for about 2-3 years when i was a teen so keep that in mind, you gotta study other things too that i can't explain on a simple tutorial soo......

Ladies, gentleman and gay autistic aliens... I present to you...

MY REBORNICA TUTORIAL... SMALL... TUTORIAL.

(I ain't no professional on this, i'm a beginner on this style yet)

i think most of us try to go for the classic era but you can also go for the first one from fnaf 1 (You also gotta use the correct Mike uniform since the one where he has his tie on it's when he's working at the day shift because Jeremy took his shift instead :3)

When i was a kid and even this year i asked myself why all Rebornica's art was so fcking pixelated and thEN... I IMPORTED THEIR ART INTO MY ART PROGRAM AND DAMN DUDE, WHAT WAS THAT TINY AAAH CANVAS?!

Also, i personally use a very soft sensitivity for my wacom, the less you press the better(?)

There's a lot of detailed tutorials on how to study art from other artist, you can search it as "master studies" too i think. OBVIOUSLY studies are something you gotta credit ALWAYS, since it's a direct copy. Use references a loooot, i have a lot of references for these guys. ALSO, i recommend to study Mike at first since he's like the base of all the other characters!

I wish i could have made more of those Do's and Don'ts but i couldn't think of a way to teach some of them in a very simple way. But the most important thing to keep in mind is to not really try to correct much of Rebornica's old anathomy mistakes if you want it to be more authentic etc. :)

Here's some practice i did today before the tutorial and some from some days ago, I been drawing in this style since august approximately :D

Hope this helps even just a little bit, this can work with any style, you gotta learn how to study anything tbh!

Note: i might continue the tutorial later (reblogging this post) with some info about the body and stuff like that but you gotta know that at least for me (and other ex mutuals) faces/heads are the hardest in this style IDK WHY 😭

[ajmayrart]

hand practice but make it caitvi and a lil horny