關於 famous portrait artists ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

五年前買了這本書，是一本捷克在08-09年舉辦一個捷克同波蘭的電影海報展覽圖集。眾所周知，波蘭的電影海報世界知名，然而其實捷克都曾經輝煌。這本書介紹兩地海報設計歷史同發展，把兩地同一電影但設計唔同的海報並排（左捷克右波蘭）進行比較，看到兩大設計巨頭在設計上的分別。

這本書很難找，花了我許多時間。首先找過各大網上書店，但都無功而回。後來我直接聯絡出版商（Terry Posters, 捷克出版社），他們也無存貨，不過卻找了兩間捷克小書店的網址給我。我再問了那兩家店，終在其中一家找到那本書。

小店負責人電郵我商討付款方法，但因他們沒有paypal，要直接匯款。我問過數間銀行，又上網查看過，弄了一週才找到方法從香港匯款到捷克。結果又花多數星期，書才到手。

從書中抄了Intro 數小段 (這本書是捷克語／波蘭語／英語三語對照）, 可了解多少少兩地海報發展:

//Let's mention a few widely known facts. Polish posters are, as opposed to the Czechoslovak posters, more pictorial. Polish graphic designers used collage, photo collage, montage, plucking of paper or unique author typorgraphy to a much lesser extent than Czechoslovak artists. The core of their posters lied in their perfectly mastered painting itself. Also, letters on posters are often written by hand (Franciszek Starowieyski, Jerzy Flisak), unlike famous examples of an imaginative typography and playing with letters in the Czechoslovak poster (Zdenek Ziegler, Zdenek Kaplan, Karel Vaca, Milan Grygar). //

//The czechoslovak film poster in the early 1960s when it was dynamically shaping into its form absorbed modern art styles like Czech infomral, abstraction, op art, pop art or others, more than the poster art in Poland. Many Czechoslovak Posters use a play with letters, cutouts, plucking and often a very wild and daring combination of techniques. It is quite an interesting fact that among Czechoslovak graphic designers there were more "non-painters" than in Poland.//

//After the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, Pollish and Czechoslovak graphic design posters found themselves in a much worse situation. [...] Producers of foerign films which started to flood Czechoslovak and Polish cinemas supplied the filmes with commercial material typical for the West and the USA with a governing elements of photography - a portrait of an actor in the centre of a poster. The Producers also included a new condition into their contracts - taht posters printed in Ploand and in Czechoslovakia must look just like the original photography, commercial promotion materials which were the same all over the world. The possibilitiy of creating new graphic design posters was, in fact, eliminated. However, the situation in both countries may differ today. Twenty years after the change of conditions, the balance is clear and evertyhing points to Poland as the country in a more favorable situation. One might want to say - and it would not be too far fetched - that the Polish poster, unlike the Czech poster, has managed to survive.//

P.S. 這是那家捷克小店的網址：
http://levnyantikvariat.cz/czech/index.php

#現在不宜消費
#唯有回顧以往買到的心頭好

During the Christmas Break, I started reading a few biographies.

I love biographies. I like stories about real people, real situations, and facts. I like them because, contrary to schoolboy belief, memories and biographies and histories, in general, are very exciting.

The account of a real life can be filled with adventures that we may never encounter in our own personal experiences. Of the three biographies I have been reading, the one about the artist Lucian Freud is the most compelling. It reminded me of something I discussed with Jamie Lin once.

He told me that artists and entrepreneurs have a lot in common. Being an artist myself, I know a little about what this means, but to go on about it for thousands of words will likely bore you, so I will just focus on one element of it.

Let me first start with a quote from Freud, who, yes, was the grandson of the late psychologist Sigmund Freud, though profoundly more artistically inclined.

"The fact of your life being your subject matter doesn’t in any way change the nature of art or artistic enterprise. And therefore it seems absolutely obvious, as well as convenient, to use as a subject what you are thinking and looking at all the time — the way your life goes.”

Artists are experts in the logical pursuit and maybe even the dissection of irrational facts of life. They take this observation and they articulate it in such a way that it presents to the audience a newly envisioned life, that is so detailed and so crafted that it entices us to think and to possibly even live in a new way.

If you even slightly doubt this, look at any of the pieces of impressionist art which are famous for being able to not only depict a scene of life, but to also depict the way in which the scene is seen. Look at pointillism. Look at the frightful and pitiful sculpture work of Giacometti.

All in all, this is to say that art is the action of becoming something new through observation and visual presentation. And to create such a thing requires significant work.

And here is the similarity between artists and founders. Really great founders are perhaps the best at acute observation of human nature. They take those observations and through trial and error, and injecting a little of the uncertainty of creation, they present to us, the consumer, a new WAY of doing something.

It does not happen slap dash, or haphazardly. It happens DELIBERATELY. Despite how irrational and illogical a new thing appears to be, that new thing came into being through the logical action of pairing creativity or imagination with, one might say, the biography of the consumer. So that it fits into that life in such a way that in a short time, or over a lifetime, it simply becomes as necessary to life as breathing.

Thank you for indulging my love of art and startups in this post. Please search the web for images of Freud's work, or any of the art I mentioned here. I am including one, which, as part of a collection in the UK's Royal Academy of Art, has common use rights, and can be freely circulated.

Spend a few moments looking at it. The one thing I will note about the portrait is that, as it is a portrait of the artist by the artist himself, the eyes seem to be missing. They seem to be chiseled into a squint, almost as if shaped out of mountain or rock. To me, this is the story of the artist. Work that over time shapes the ability to see and make the work -- a talent that is critical and permanent, and created as if it is a force of nature itself.

If you are a founder, ask yourself if you are also creating deliberately, and fashioning out of a passion for reality a new reality. Of being, in that reality.

This is not easy to do. This is a life's work. It never stops. But it also has the force of nature.

Doug Crets
Communications Master, AppWorks Accelerator

Image: Lucian Freud by Lucian Freud, Royal Academy of Arts

WPPA memeber of the months- One of the famous wedding photographer interview ( Nick Ghionis ) www.wppa.com.hk

Member of the Month – Nick Ghionis @ X Sight
( www.xsight.com.au )
MORE PHOTO AND INTERVIEW : www.wppa.com.hk

1. XSiGHT is one of the most famous leading brands in the photography industry and it already has its studios and galleries in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Darwin, California (USA) and also London (UK)… Can you please give us a brief concept about do these studios work closely together or independently while all can maintain such a high level of quality that is absolutely amazing in terms of both business and artistry sense.

Nick: From the beginning the idea behind XSiGHT was to create a BRAND that will represent the best image making in the world. The business model we have attract photographers who are at the top of their game and aspire to be a part of a select group of individuals that will not only compliment the brand but also cement XSiGHT’s position as leaders in the industry.

All our studios work independently of each other with the common goal of creating stunning images and offering excellent customer service.

We put in place a proven business model that all studios would adhere to, but the freedom to create and be artistic in your own right is what makes XSiGHT unique.

2. You are the owner of XSiGHT Melbourne and how you can keep a balance role as you are the boss and photographer at the same time, which seem to be quite difficult to run a successfully business like yours… Do you mind to let us know how many staffs do you have and what is the distribution of their work? Does the scope meet your expectation?

Nick: XSiGHT Melbourne and the XSiGHT brand is owned and run by my wife Sharifa and I. We have surrounded ourselves with a team that can only be described as the best in the business so the day to day running of our Melbourne studio occurs with ease.

Without a great team, it is impossible.

We have two portrait photographers and two wedding photographers, a studio manager (also a photographer), a customer relations officer, two in house digital artists as well as our Creative Director and Photographer Rocco Ancora. Each person has specific roles to help the business run smoothly but most important is client liaison.

All this is overseen by Sharifa Ghionis while I get on with working on the business.

3. For the past years, how you position XSiGHT Melbourne in the market? Did you have a clear target set from the beginning?
Nick: When it comes to marketing our business, we recognize it’s not a once off event, it has a beginning a middle but never an end. There is not one key that opens the door, rather there are many aspects to marketing to ensure that clients are drawn to you on a regular basis. We have consistent strategies in place to make sure this happens and always keep an eye on market trends so as to keep up with changes in client expectations.

4. How you come to the idea of XMENTOR? Any specific marketing plan of it?

Nick: The XMENTORS came about when Rocco Ancora joined the XSiGHT family as Creative Director. As speakers and educators, Rocco, Sharifa and I decided to create a brand where we can draw on each other’s strengths and include different aspects to the photography business from digital workflow to management and business. The brand XMENTORS is all encompassing, making our workshops unique, as we offer photographers content that transcends more than just taking pretty pictures.

5. From your point of view, is marketing plan very important in running an artistry business? Can you share with us your way to figure out your marketing plan as it is very common for artistes that most of them are idealistic and will shift to the “art” side more then forget about the money matter spontaneously… Any advise or suggestions to photographers who just entered the industry and thinking about to set up their own business; and also to those photographers who are already running their own company?

Nick: Many people have a romantic notion of what a photographer is. We consider ourselves artists and get annoyed when business gets in the way of our creativity. Unfortunately this is where many fail in business.
When it comes down to it, we are selling a product. Regardless of the product, a business plan needs to be put in place that takes into account all aspects of photography. You need to calculate ALL expenses: overheads, printing, retouching, production, your time etc in order to make informed decisions and grow your business and profit margin. You need to be a business person in photography rather than a photographer in business.

6, When was the 1st time you had your very first shot? In what circumstances? Was it an amazing one? Then immediate fell in love with “shooting”?

Nick: I first picked up a camera at the age of 21 whilst on holiday in Fiji. Unlike today’s digital world where you are able to see in an instant what you are photographing, I used the camera merely as a tool to document my holiday. It wasn’t until I developed the film that I realise that I might have a talent for this. I actually enjoyed the process of taking photos and instinctively was able to get consistent results without really knowing what I was doing. I thought to myself “..imagine if I actually knew what I was doing, rather than putting it on auto.” That’s when the journey began. I devoured every magazine and book I could get my hands on.
As my passion grew so did my expenses. I built three darkrooms and enjoyed printing my own B&W prints. Like many who enjoyed the fine art of printing, my hero was Ansel Adams. I remember going to an exhibition of his and marvelled at the tonal range and depth that he was able to get in his images.
I would work 3 to 4 jobs to make money and pay for my new addiction. It wasn’t long before I purchased a 5×4 Linhof Master Technica and my 500cm Hasselblad with lenses and backs.

7. Do you remember what was your first set of equipment as a professional photographer? How’s their performance? Good?

Nick: My first camera was a Pentax MG and I grew out of that quickly as I was unable to put it on Manual. I then bought myself an Olympus OM1 which I loved and still have to this day.

8.When and how you have started as a wedding photographer? And how’s this first shoot led you to the way you are now?

Nick: Every weekend for 2 years I assisted other photographers with no pay, just so I could learn, but was too scared to do a wedding on my own. It wasn’t until 1989 that a friend asked me to photograph her wedding. Naturally I declined and thought nothing of it until 2 weeks prior to her wedding when she asked me what plan I had for her big day?! It was too late for her to find another photographer so I found myself shooting my first wedding! At the end of the day, I went home and vomited from stress and exhaustion. I remember paying a premium to get the negatives earlier because I couldn’t handle the anxious wait. When I got the results back I was pleasantly surprised. They were beautiful and it gave me the confidence to do more weddings.

After freelancing for a couple of studios and offering B&W printing services to them, I continued to work from home while persuing other ventures and business opportunities. It wasn’t until I joined XSiGHT that I truly forged ahead with my career. Focusing all my energy into being the best I can be. While I continued to serve our clients and exceed their expectations, my only motivation was to grow the business and remain at the top of our game. However the face of our company for many years was my brother Jerry Ghionis, an amazing photographer, and in my opinion one of the best wedding photographers in the world. It was only until he left the company that I had to make a conscious decision to step into the spot light and stear the company into its next phase. Amongst many initiatives that were put in place, one of them was to participate into the world of awards. Something that initially I was reluctant to do, but felt was necessary to continue the momentum of being an award winning studio, something that Jerry was already doing for our Brand.

9. Which is your best shot? And why?

Nick: With thousands of images taken, when asked which one is your favourite, it is hard to choose. But one photograph that I have dear to my heart is “ The Prayer “ This photograph was taken in the Greek Island of Rhodes, one of my favourite destination weddings. It was taken at the wedding of George and Fiona, who after their wedding decided that it was time they too realised their dream of running a photography studio. They now run XSiGHT Darwin, a thriving business in the north of Australia. At the time this image won 1st Place in the Wedding category at WPPI, it was a proud moment for me, not just for the fact that it won 1st place, but it did so without the over photoshop images that was prevalent in competitions and to a degree still is.

10.Any advice or suggestion could be given to photographers, especially for those fresh photographers?

Nick: I consider myself a purist when it comes to photography I implore all photographers whether you are starting out now or seasoned photographers artistry begins in the camera.

11.What is your motto in your life?

Nick: Many people ask me, what is your mantra? What do you stand for? I think living your life with respect and integrity is what I aspire to do every day.