#the work ethic at paddy's is something else for sure

[trophywifemac]

IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA ↳ S12E08 “The Gang Tends Bar”

[ceallachtomas]

Blowing (Up) Saint Patrick’s Day Out of Proportion

This past weekend, herself and I decided to get away for some rest and a bit of birthday celebration. We were in deep need of just getting away. We chose to head out to upstate New York. Since I attended cookery school there, we figured it was the perfect get away. We were both tired of cooking. Let someone else do the work we thought. After all, one should be able to get a decent meal at a culinary school.

Through the backroads of New Jersey and New York we trekked. The winding roads and scenery took us from one hamlet to another. The small towns were quaint. As we drove through the afternoon, we came upon an Irish pub. Never being ones to turn down an opportunity for a pint, we ventured inside. (As I unfold the rest of this story, please note that I will not reveal the exact name or location of the aforementioned pub. The purpose of this story is to elaborate on the heinous and disrespectful nature of the promotion that this particular pub was offering for Saint Patrick’s Day.)

The pub itself seemed charming. It had all of the qualities of a pub “down the country” back home. Sure there were American sport events on the telly. Keep in mind that they need to cater to an American demographic. We sat down at an old knotty wood table. The server came over and announced his name and asked if he could take our drink order - a cider for herself, a stout for me. We sat there, chatting about how nice it was to be anywhere but home. We talked about how nice it was just to be the two of us. We talked about how we do not necessarily miss being in an Irish restaurant environment around Saint Patrick’s Day. We talked about the pandemonium that this particular staff at this particular pub would face next month. Then she stopped talking. She glanced down at the table top advertisement. A simple and brief, “Oh. My, God.” came from her lips. She turned it around to face me.

The above image is what I was confronted with. A range of emotions stirred up inside of me. I could feel the hollow of my gut churn. Who the feic thought this was a good idea?

An Irish pub, in America, promoting terrorism and celebrating needless death. Or so, in this day and age would be considered the “snowflake” definition of the libation. Maybe the opening sentence of this paragraph is a wee bit extreme. That is however, what it comes down to. In reading some research before I wrote this piece, the creator, Charles Burke Cronin Oat, was quoted as saying, “The drink gets some bad press to this day," he told the Guardian newspaper in 2016. "It wasn't done to celebrate car bombs, it was done to celebrate Irish families here in America.” It was not done to celebrate car bombs? That is what the drink in fact “does”. You drop a shot of Jameson’s in a pint of Guinness and it “explodes”, frothing upon impact. "The next thing you know it is the Irish Car Bomb, although at first it was the Belfast Car Bomb," Oat said. Because naming it “Irish” takes the brunt and the insult off of making it specific to Belfast?

I must have sat there at the table staring at this promotion in my hand for what seemed an eternity. Words could not come out of my mouth. My wife’s eyes reflected the horror that was in my own. Neither of us knew what to say. At that moment our server came over and saw that I was looking at the table top advertisement. Not so much looking at it, as I was through it, and feeling all of the feels, and offensive messages it was conveying.

“Yeah, that is our special coming up next month. We infuse our own Jameson’s!”, he seemed to boast proudly. “Would either of you like to try one a bit early?”

“I would not want to to try one at all.”, my words came back, deadpanned and cold.

I do not think he knew what to respond, as he had seemed so proud of this “wonderful” idea someone there had come up with to promote their Plastic Paddy celebration coming up.

“We are just giving our customers what they want. Using our infused whiskeys is a great twist!”, he perked up. As if that was a good justification.

I went on to explain how it was not the idea of the flavoured whiskeys, and the choosing of you own kind of draft etc… (Although that idea is waste of all good ingredients.) But that is my own opinion and has no bearing on the lack of ethical message that this pub was sending out.

I could feel my whole body tense up as I went on about how “what” they are celebrating and “how” they were going about it were two completely mixed messages. The idea of connecting a drink called the “car bomb” with an Irish holiday is such an extreme polar opposite. The tragedy, the horrors, the fear, that that name evokes is still real in Ireland and Northern Ireland today. Just last month in Derry the IRA claimed responsibility for one that went off, as can be seen below:

Sure, most American can not identify with the feelings that those images evoke. I do not even know if many people are still able to identify with it no matter what their background. Maybe many of us have become desensitised by these things as the years have gone on. That is sad in of itself.

This piece is not meant to be a public service announcement. It is also not a means to get on my “snowflake soapbox” as some would say, and plead sensitivity. At first I really thought that they should reconsider the promotion. Then I thought that maybe they should at least rename the drink to something less offensive. But then, where do we draw the line? That is no worse than PETA asking for “a bird in the hand” or “bringing home the bacon” to be changed to less animal oriented phrases. Sure those things are as offensive to them as a Car Bomb is to me. Most people who celebrate Saint Paddy’s in that way; what I call the “plastic Paddy” ideal are not going to change. They will still drink to excess and down Car Bombs. That is their right.

In the end, I feel the real message is about educating people. It is about making sure these terroristic tragedies do not continue to happen. Whether they be in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Syria, Afghanistan, France, and yes, the United States. It is about not just remembering and preventing these tragedies. It is also about not trivialising them into hokey promotions so that the ideas of them come to mean something completely different.

I stated to the server that I am just one person passing through there. Most of their clientele are going to be celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day as a reason to just celebrate something. Being Irish or celebrating what they think the Irish are, is just a catalyst, an excuse to drink and party. For them, that is fine. I feel though, I made an impact by telling him why I thought the whole promotion was in poor taste. I could see my emotions mirrored in his eyes when I told him of the stories that friends and family had told me over the years. We made a connection. Maybe he would convey that message on to the owners and management. Maybe not.

For me Saint Paddy’s is about celebrating being Irish. It is about connecting with the things that are cultural and beautiful in Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is about the music, the art, the food (without a doubt), and the feelings that those things bring me. Sure, I’ll have a wee bit of whiskey as I raise a glass to Ireland, to family, and to friends. I will raise a glass to Patrick its patron saint. The only explosion that will be going off is the pride and passion for what and who I am; not just on 17 March, but everyday as well.

“In the end it was not a place, or a past, or any sort of single, dazzling epiphany. It was all the little things. Cold butter spread thick on sweet wheaten bread or hot, subsiding potatoes; the scent of wet, black soil; a bushy spine of grass on a one-track road; wide iron gates leading to high beech corridors; the chalky smell of a cow's wet muzzle, and, most of all, in Seamus Heaney's words, the sound of rivers in the trees.” ― Trish Deseine, Home

[limejuicer1862]

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.

The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

Moyra Donaldson

is a poet and creative writing facilitator from Co Down. She has published eight collections of poetry including a Selected Poems and most recently, Carnivorous, from Doire Press. Her awards include the Women’s National Poetry Competition, The Allingham Award, Cuirt New Writing Award, North West Words Poetry Award and the Belfast Year of the Writer Award. She has received four awards from ACNI, including the ACES award in its inaugural year.

Also widely published in magazines, journals and anthologies in both Europe, Australia and the USA. Her poems have featured on BBC Radio and television and on American national radio and television and she has read at festivals in Europe, Canada and America. Other projects include a collaboration with photographic artist Victoria J Dean resulting in an exhibition and the publication Abridged 0 -36 Dis-Ease, and a collaboration with Wexford artist Paddy Lennon, Blood Horses, culminating in a limited edition publication of artworks and poems.

http://moyradonaldson.blogspot.com/

The Interview

1. What inspired you to write poetry?/Who introduced you to poetry?

I was introduced to poetry in the same way that I think most of us are, by the nursery rhymes my mother sang and recited to me as a child. Then, from an early age I was sent to verse speaking classes. This gave me a great appreciation for the sound and rhythm of poetry. I loved learning poems off by heart and being able to speak them aloud. My teacher was Miss Drummond, a formidable but splendid woman, graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. I learnt so much from her and kept up her classes into my late teens. So I grew up with a love of poetry, the music of it as well as how it speaks to the heart. It was my love for poetry that inspired me to try to write poems, I wanted to be able to speak to people in the way that poets spoke to me.

2. How aware were you of the dominating presence of older writers?

I grew up at a time when most of the poetry that was taught in school had been written by male poets and as I got older I became aware of a lack of female voices. When I went to university the canon seemed to be almost entirely male. This really knocked my confidence and had the effect of making me feel my voice was in some way invalid. At that time, women in NI didn’t have much of a voice in any aspect of society – and poetry was no different. I struggled to find any contemporary Irish female writers. I have spoken about this before, the influence of absences, and have found that it has been a common experience for women. Thankfully times are changing and female voices are increasingly present. In Ireland, Fired; The Woman’s Cannon movement has done much recently to address the idea that no women were writing and being published; they were – it was just that they were being ignored. So for me, when I began writing, the dominating presence was male.

3. What is your daily writing routine?

When I was younger and working full time in a job that had no connection to writing, and also raising children and coping with all the other things that life brings along, I would do most of my writing late at night when the house was quiet. There was no routine as such, I just grabbed bits of time when they became available. I also found the support of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland absolutely invaluable. Through Support for the Individual Artist awards, I was able to ‘buy’ time off work and have stretches of a few months where I could concentrate on writing. Now that I’m retired, in theory I have lots more time, but in fact I have no more of a routine than I ever had! I write when I have something to write about, either when an idea compels me, or I have a commission or deadline of some kind.

4. What motivates you to write?

I have always wanted to write. Even when I was at primary school I wrote stories and poems. I suppose I sensed, even then, the power of words and stories. I loved reading and I wanted to be part of that world, to speak to others, entertain them and weave my own magic. That urge has stayed with me. Even though my experience at university silenced me for a while, the desire was still there and I couldn’t not return to it. If I examine my motivation now, it’s more complex. Sometimes I feel as if I do it simply because it is who I am.

5. What is your work ethic?

I don’t know if I have a work ethic! Whilst thinking about this question I looked up the meaning of ‘work ethic’ and found it is defined as – the principle that hard work is intrinsically virtuous or worthy of reward. I suppose over the years I have just kept on writing and producing work, and that persistence is something that I am proud of, but I don’t know that it is intrinsically virtuous or worthy of reward. I do think that you have to be able to stick at things in order to improve, in order to have a chance of being any good at whatever it is that you are trying to do. All of my life I have been involved with horses and around people who compete in eventing and show jumping. I am in awe of the dedication and sheer hard slog that it takes to excel at this sport (and I’m sure all sports are the same). It’s not enough to be talented, you have to put in the hours as well.

6. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

When I get a little jaded I find myself returning to the poets and poetry that I loved as I was growing up. I still can remember some of the poetry I learnt by heart and it is the musicality, rhythm and sensuousness of the language that I love. The sound of the poem, as much as the meaning. I am still influenced by that. Ballads, sonnets, the lusciousness of the language of the Romantics, the wit and intelligence of the Metaphysical poets – these are the roots of my love of poetry.

7. Who of today’s writers do you admire the most and why?

The poets I admire the most are those who write with heart as well as intellect. Poets where it is possible to sense in their work a deep engagement with what it means to be human. Just recently I’ve been re-reading Jane Hirshfield and Naomi Shihab Nye. I was blown away by Ocean Vuong’s first collection. I love Mark Doty’s work too. I find myself reading a lot of American poets. There are so many local poets that I also deeply admire, Damian Smyth, Jean Bleakney, Paul Maddern, Maria McManus, Ruth Carr  – the list could go on and on – we have so many wonderful writers in NI.

8. Why do you write as opposed to doing anything else?

Sometimes I think I write because I can’t sing! Also, I don’t feel defined by my writing. I do lots of other things too, and sometimes I like to do nothing at all. I think that leads to a healthier relationship with the job of being a poet.

9. What would you say to someone who asked you ‘How do you become a writer’?

On one level, this is a very simple question. You become a writer by writing. All the usual instructions apply – read a lot, practice your craft, develop your skills and voice. On another level, I feel it is a lot more complex. If you want to be actually recognised as a writer, a lot of other things come into play – a willingness and ability to promote yourself; fashion; privilege; fashion; determination; the zeitgeist. So many variables, including a slice of luck.

10. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment

My new collection, Carnivorous, has just been published by Doire Press. It was recently launched at the Belfast Book Festival and I have been lucky enough to have quite a few readings lined up for the book.

Last year my big project was Blood Horses, a collaboration with Wexford artist Paddy Lennon. I had been writing poems about horses, centred on the stories of three Arab stallions, the Byerley Turk, the Darley Arabian and the Godolphin Barb. These three stallions, imported to England in the eighteenth century, were the founding fathers of the Thoroughbred horse, and in fact every Thoroughbred alive today can have its lineage traced back to one of these stallions. When I was working on these poems, I came across Paddy’s wonderful, atmospheric paintings of horses. I got in touch with him and the outcome was an exhibition and limited edition book containing both paintings and poems. This is a rolling project which we are taking to a number of venues, including racecourses. I am also currently working on a commission from Big Telly Theatre Company. I have worked with them before and love their innovative approach to theatre, so it’s very exciting to have this commission from them. I find that after a new book is completed, there tends to be a bit of a fallow period, but I am just starting to get a few ideas popping into my head for poems, so I’m looking forward to having time to develop those.

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews: Moyra Donaldson Wombwell Rainbow Interviews I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me.

[pauldeckerus]

Behind the Scenes of a Travel Assignment for the New York Times

What is it like to shoot a travel assignment for a major publication? What’s the process from start to finish? Every publication is a little different but I’ll speak from my experience shooting dozens of assignments for The New York Times travel section throughout Southeast Asia for over a decade.

A day in the life of a travel assignment. Well, not really a day, it’s more like a travel day, a shooting day, and then another travel day mixed with editing, captioning, and uploading.

Tourist boats docked along the river in the ancient town of Hoi An, Vietnam at sunrise. In 1999 Hoi An was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

I’ve shot a variety of types of travel assignments but to keep things easy I’ll use the popular New York Times 36 Hours series as a sample assignment. For those not familiar with the 36 Hours series, it’s basically a travel story mapped out hour by hour on what to do in that location (here’s an example). They are exhausting and fun to shoot at the same time, sort of like a scavenger hunt for photographers. I don’t shoot as many of these types of stories anymore, but recently I shot one in Hoi An, Vietnam, so while it’s fresh in my mind I figured I’d write about it.

How It Starts

My editor in New York will email me, typically afternoon New York time, so middle of the night Vietnam time. It’s a little James Bond-like, except the part about me being handsome, a womanizer, and typically there isn’t much sophistication or danger in any way, but other than that it’s exactly like a Bond movie.

I wake up to a quick email asking my availability, telling me their deadline, and the name of a city, and how many days they can give me to shoot the story (you get paid pr/day). For 36 Hours stories, it’s always ironically 24 hours plus travel time. For other travel stories, it can vary depending on the story, but they are typically no longer than a few days as budgets have shrunk through the years.

Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

They don’t typically tell you any details about the story until you agree to accept the assignment. They do this to avoid the unnecessary slip up of you mentioning the story idea to another writer and overall just to avoid someone stealing the story. It might seem like overkill, but it makes sense.

You must respond quickly, so I always check my email first thing in the morning. You like to think you are important and it must be you, but it’s not really the case. They have a Rolodex of great photographers willing to shoot and they have a long list of assignments they need to manage so you need to be able to answer quickly and keep the questions to a minimal. You are expected to make all the necessary arrangements both for logistics and for access to the locations.

Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

Some photographers are bookmarked to just shoot in their city or their country and others are lucky enough to be chosen for bigger stories farther away from where they are based, it all depends on experience, skill set, and your relationship with the editor. I’ve been lucky enough through the years to get to travel throughout the entire region but this assignment just happened to be only a short plane ride away.

In my early days shooting a lot of news stories I’d be teamed up with a writer but for travel stories that was and still is a rarity. Typically, the writer has already completed their story (a few weeks prior) and once you commit to the assignment. you will receive a rough draft of their story along with some highlights of what your editor wants you to capture.

For 36 Hours, you will get a list of about 15 locations, a mix of restaurants, people, stories, museums, nightlife, local dishes, and an overall ambiance of the location.

Like I mentioned earlier, you get 1 day to shoot as many of these places as possible. I make a rough outline of my priorities based on what I feel will be visually appealing locations along with enough content to give me a good mix for a diverse and cohesive layout.

I strive to tell an eclectic and accurate story with my images, so I get a mix of details, people, general overview shots, and some nightlife. I’m always thinking about how the images will work together as a whole while providing my editor with a mix of compositions for different layout options. I’m a little old school, so I print out the story and carry it in my camera bag and cross out locations as I shoot them.

How I Shoot

I recently shot 36 Hours of Hoi An, Vietnam so I’ll use this exact assignment as a reference for my breakdown of how my timing goes. It’s supposed to be one shooting day only, but I like to arrive in the city the afternoon the day before my shooting day and shoot the morning the day after, giving me two extra sessions in gorgeous light. For all my assignments, editorial and commercial, I try to maximize sunrises and sunsets.

Here is a rough breakdown of my timeline for the shoot.

Wednesday

3pm Arrive in Hoi An from Hanoi

4-6:30pm Shoot street shots during the sunset to try to establish an overall view and mood of the location.

7-8pm Shoot nightlife on my list

8:30-9:30pm Back up images and review the day’s shots to see what I have and what I need.

Thursday

5am Wake Up

Cyclo tours through the ancient town of Hoi An, Vietnam are a popular tourist attraction. Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

5:15-8am Out the door with my camera in hand and hunt for more general images of the location and whatever I can find on my list.

8-8:30am The light starts to get harsh there around this time so I eat breakfast and slam a coffee.

8:30am-1pm Shoot as many indoor places on my list as possible such as temples, museums, restaurants, cafes, etc.

Guests at Vy’s Market can taste and see how a variety of local Vietnamese dishes are made. Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

1pm-3pm Visit a restaurant on my list and shoot what I can from the perspective of a guest and then order the dish or dishes I need to photograph. For the food or detail shots, I try to find some natural light to put the food in, typically by the window.

Locals relax on plastic stools, take in the sunset, and sip beer between near An Bang beach in Hoi An, Vietnam. Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

At some point, I’ll talk to the owner or manager and let them know what I’m doing especially if it’s a fancier place and I can’t just blend in without being noticed. I aim to capture the place as natural as possible so I don’t like to call ahead and have them do anything they wouldn’t normally do. You might think this is overkill, but even with travel stories, the New York Times has strict ethical guidelines and I adhere and respect those. For example, we can’t take any free food or anything like that.

3-3:15pm Slam another coffee

A worker at Thang Loi shows visiting tourists the silk making process in Hoi An, Vietnam. Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

3:15-5pm Capture whatever else I can from my list.

5-6:30pm Pray for a good sunset and shoot the most visual spots on my list during this time. If I’ve made good progress already for my list and the light is great, I’ll revisit places I’ve already shot to improve on those images. I always aim to get that one epic wide establishing shot in perfect light that they can run as a lead image.

Tadioto, a new whisky bar in the French Quarter tucked between a clothing boutique out front and a sushi ramen bar in the back owned by renowned author Nguyen Qui Duc. Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

6:30-8:30pm Capture more nightlife and a quick dinner.

8:30-9:30pm Back-up images and review the day’s shots to see what I have and what I need.

Friday

5am Wake up

Rice farmer Hồng Nguyen, 50 years old works in the lush rice paddies in the outskirts of Hoi An, Vietnam. The rice paddies are popular destination for bike tours. Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

5:15-8am Out the door with my camera in my hand shooting what I can in beautiful morning light.

8am Back to my hotel to back-up my images. I always save my images on multiple hard drives daily and I always do so before I board a flight to avoid any mistakes. I keep my hard drives in separate bags just in case something happens.

10am Slam a coffee and make my way to the airport. I typically start to tag my images in the taxi, at the airport, and on the plane.

Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

How It Ends

Depending on my deadline I’ll caption and edit the images the day after I return to give myself some space between shooting and editing. As you can see these shoots are quick but long days, so I’m typically tired the next day. Editing is very light, I just slightly tone the images in Lightroom and check my notes and start captioning in Photo Mechanic. Captioning can take several hours because you need to double check your notes and do a little research online to make sure you’ve got it all accurately. The last thing you want is your editor having to fix your mistakes.

Once my images are toned and captioned, I give everything another final quality control check. For a shoot like this, I typically upload about 75-100 images to their server and they may use about 10-15 total online and in print.

Once the images are sent, I file all my expenses on an automated server and photograph my receipts and send them to my editor. From there, I sit back and hope my editor likes my work. The payment doesn’t take long, typically a few weeks and the story could be published either the next week or sometimes even months down the road, it all depends on what else they have coming in and what’s happening in the world.

The images are under embargo until the story is published, meaning I can’t showcase or obviously sell them anywhere. After the story is published I’m free to sell the images shortly after, which I do so through my own archive and through my agency Redux Pictures. The NY Times doesn’t pay a ton but it balances out with stock sales down the road.

I love shooting for The New York Times because honestly they launched my career as a photographer and also because I highly respect their editors and their readership.

You can find the published story over on the New York Times’ website.

About the author: Justin Mott is an award-winning editorial, travel, and commercial photographer and director based in Vietnam for over a decade. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. Mott has shot over 100 assignments throughout Vietnam and Southeast Asia for the New York Times covering tragedy, travel, features, business, and historical moments. You can find more of his work on his website, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram. This article was also published here.

from Photography News https://petapixel.com/2019/03/21/behind-the-scenes-of-a-travel-assignment-for-the-new-york-times/

[sailorrrvenus]

Behind the Scenes of a Travel Assignment for the New York Times

What is it like to shoot a travel assignment for a major publication? What’s the process from start to finish? Every publication is a little different but I’ll speak from my experience shooting dozens of assignments for The New York Times travel section throughout Southeast Asia for over a decade.

A day in the life of a travel assignment. Well, not really a day, it’s more like a travel day, a shooting day, and then another travel day mixed with editing, captioning, and uploading.

Tourist boats docked along the river in the ancient town of Hoi An, Vietnam at sunrise. In 1999 Hoi An was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

I’ve shot a variety of types of travel assignments but to keep things easy I’ll use the popular New York Times 36 Hours series as a sample assignment. For those not familiar with the 36 Hours series, it’s basically a travel story mapped out hour by hour on what to do in that location (here’s an example). They are exhausting and fun to shoot at the same time, sort of like a scavenger hunt for photographers. I don’t shoot as many of these types of stories anymore, but recently I shot one in Hoi An, Vietnam, so while it’s fresh in my mind I figured I’d write about it.

How It Starts

My editor in New York will email me, typically afternoon New York time, so middle of the night Vietnam time. It’s a little James Bond-like, except the part about me being handsome, a womanizer, and typically there isn’t much sophistication or danger in any way, but other than that it’s exactly like a Bond movie.

I wake up to a quick email asking my availability, telling me their deadline, and the name of a city, and how many days they can give me to shoot the story (you get paid pr/day). For 36 Hours stories, it’s always ironically 24 hours plus travel time. For other travel stories, it can vary depending on the story, but they are typically no longer than a few days as budgets have shrunk through the years.

Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

They don’t typically tell you any details about the story until you agree to accept the assignment. They do this to avoid the unnecessary slip up of you mentioning the story idea to another writer and overall just to avoid someone stealing the story. It might seem like overkill, but it makes sense.

You must respond quickly, so I always check my email first thing in the morning. You like to think you are important and it must be you, but it’s not really the case. They have a Rolodex of great photographers willing to shoot and they have a long list of assignments they need to manage so you need to be able to answer quickly and keep the questions to a minimal. You are expected to make all the necessary arrangements both for logistics and for access to the locations.

Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

Some photographers are bookmarked to just shoot in their city or their country and others are lucky enough to be chosen for bigger stories farther away from where they are based, it all depends on experience, skill set, and your relationship with the editor. I’ve been lucky enough through the years to get to travel throughout the entire region but this assignment just happened to be only a short plane ride away.

In my early days shooting a lot of news stories I’d be teamed up with a writer but for travel stories that was and still is a rarity. Typically, the writer has already completed their story (a few weeks prior) and once you commit to the assignment. you will receive a rough draft of their story along with some highlights of what your editor wants you to capture.

For 36 Hours, you will get a list of about 15 locations, a mix of restaurants, people, stories, museums, nightlife, local dishes, and an overall ambiance of the location.

Like I mentioned earlier, you get 1 day to shoot as many of these places as possible. I make a rough outline of my priorities based on what I feel will be visually appealing locations along with enough content to give me a good mix for a diverse and cohesive layout.

I strive to tell an eclectic and accurate story with my images, so I get a mix of details, people, general overview shots, and some nightlife. I’m always thinking about how the images will work together as a whole while providing my editor with a mix of compositions for different layout options. I’m a little old school, so I print out the story and carry it in my camera bag and cross out locations as I shoot them.

How I Shoot

I recently shot 36 Hours of Hoi An, Vietnam so I’ll use this exact assignment as a reference for my breakdown of how my timing goes. It’s supposed to be one shooting day only, but I like to arrive in the city the afternoon the day before my shooting day and shoot the morning the day after, giving me two extra sessions in gorgeous light. For all my assignments, editorial and commercial, I try to maximize sunrises and sunsets.

Here is a rough breakdown of my timeline for the shoot.

Wednesday

3pm Arrive in Hoi An from Hanoi

4-6:30pm Shoot street shots during the sunset to try to establish an overall view and mood of the location.

7-8pm Shoot nightlife on my list

8:30-9:30pm Back up images and review the day’s shots to see what I have and what I need.

Thursday

5am Wake Up

Cyclo tours through the ancient town of Hoi An, Vietnam are a popular tourist attraction. Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

5:15-8am Out the door with my camera in hand and hunt for more general images of the location and whatever I can find on my list.

8-8:30am The light starts to get harsh there around this time so I eat breakfast and slam a coffee.

8:30am-1pm Shoot as many indoor places on my list as possible such as temples, museums, restaurants, cafes, etc.

Guests at Vy’s Market can taste and see how a variety of local Vietnamese dishes are made. Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

1pm-3pm Visit a restaurant on my list and shoot what I can from the perspective of a guest and then order the dish or dishes I need to photograph. For the food or detail shots, I try to find some natural light to put the food in, typically by the window.

Locals relax on plastic stools, take in the sunset, and sip beer between near An Bang beach in Hoi An, Vietnam. Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

At some point, I’ll talk to the owner or manager and let them know what I’m doing especially if it’s a fancier place and I can’t just blend in without being noticed. I aim to capture the place as natural as possible so I don’t like to call ahead and have them do anything they wouldn’t normally do. You might think this is overkill, but even with travel stories, the New York Times has strict ethical guidelines and I adhere and respect those. For example, we can’t take any free food or anything like that.

3-3:15pm Slam another coffee

A worker at Thang Loi shows visiting tourists the silk making process in Hoi An, Vietnam. Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

3:15-5pm Capture whatever else I can from my list.

5-6:30pm Pray for a good sunset and shoot the most visual spots on my list during this time. If I’ve made good progress already for my list and the light is great, I’ll revisit places I’ve already shot to improve on those images. I always aim to get that one epic wide establishing shot in perfect light that they can run as a lead image.

Tadioto, a new whisky bar in the French Quarter tucked between a clothing boutique out front and a sushi ramen bar in the back owned by renowned author Nguyen Qui Duc. Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

6:30-8:30pm Capture more nightlife and a quick dinner.

8:30-9:30pm Back-up images and review the day’s shots to see what I have and what I need.

Friday

5am Wake up

Rice farmer Hồng Nguyen, 50 years old works in the lush rice paddies in the outskirts of Hoi An, Vietnam. The rice paddies are popular destination for bike tours. Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

5:15-8am Out the door with my camera in my hand shooting what I can in beautiful morning light.

8am Back to my hotel to back-up my images. I always save my images on multiple hard drives daily and I always do so before I board a flight to avoid any mistakes. I keep my hard drives in separate bags just in case something happens.

10am Slam a coffee and make my way to the airport. I typically start to tag my images in the taxi, at the airport, and on the plane.

Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

Photo by Justin Mott for The New York Times

How It Ends

Depending on my deadline I’ll caption and edit the images the day after I return to give myself some space between shooting and editing. As you can see these shoots are quick but long days, so I’m typically tired the next day. Editing is very light, I just slightly tone the images in Lightroom and check my notes and start captioning in Photo Mechanic. Captioning can take several hours because you need to double check your notes and do a little research online to make sure you’ve got it all accurately. The last thing you want is your editor having to fix your mistakes.

Once my images are toned and captioned, I give everything another final quality control check. For a shoot like this, I typically upload about 75-100 images to their server and they may use about 10-15 total online and in print.

Once the images are sent, I file all my expenses on an automated server and photograph my receipts and send them to my editor. From there, I sit back and hope my editor likes my work. The payment doesn’t take long, typically a few weeks and the story could be published either the next week or sometimes even months down the road, it all depends on what else they have coming in and what’s happening in the world.

The images are under embargo until the story is published, meaning I can’t showcase or obviously sell them anywhere. After the story is published I’m free to sell the images shortly after, which I do so through my own archive and through my agency Redux Pictures. The NY Times doesn’t pay a ton but it balances out with stock sales down the road.

I love shooting for The New York Times because honestly they launched my career as a photographer and also because I highly respect their editors and their readership.

You can find the published story over on the New York Times’ website.

About the author: Justin Mott is an award-winning editorial, travel, and commercial photographer and director based in Vietnam for over a decade. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. Mott has shot over 100 assignments throughout Vietnam and Southeast Asia for the New York Times covering tragedy, travel, features, business, and historical moments. You can find more of his work on his website, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram. This article was also published here.

source https://petapixel.com/2019/03/21/behind-the-scenes-of-a-travel-assignment-for-the-new-york-times/