Impact Visuals Internship Journal
This is my internship paper from a photo agency I worked at in NYC in 1995. Impact Visuals was a New York City -based cooperative photo agency dedicated to social documentary photography. Founded by Michael Kaufman, Impact Visuals operated for 15 years until shutting down in 2001. Most of the images in this collection were obtained when Impact Visuals acquired defunct South African cooperative Afrapix ‘s material. Afrapix was a collective, self-funded group of freelance photographers in South Africa operating between 1982–1992. A few additional images came from Southlight Photographic Agency .
Geraldine Baum
Internship Paper
Spring 1996
Impact Visuals is a cooperative photo agency geared towards documenting a wide range of social issues and movements with the intent of getting provocative and rarely seen images into both the alternative press and mainstream media outlets. Our goal is working towards progressive change and awareness. The agency was founded in 1986 by Michael Kaufman. Since that time they have been working with a large variety of clients from around the world including mainstream newspapers, magazines and publishing houses as well as many progressive, non-profit organizations and alternative media. Impacts’ photojournalists cover many social and political issues ranging from human and civil rights, labor, minority communities, women, developing countries, the environment and lesbian and gay issues.
Impact Visuals is owned by its full photographer members and its office staff members. All photographers who submit their work maintain ownership of copyright to their images and are allowed to market their work independently but can not work with competing agencies. At Impact there are two kinds of membership, Associate Membership and Full Membership. There are about 125 full Members, 10 associate members and a staff of 14 at Impact. All new photographers are accepted as associate members and remain as such for a period of time in order to become aquatinted with the agency and for the agency to get to know the photographer. The photographer is given press credentials and must work for a time and produce a required amount of accepted images before becoming a full member.
In order to become a full member, the associateship must be completed and the work reviewed by the Board of Directors. All photographers, associate and full receive 50% of the revenue generated from their archive sales and 60% of their assignment sales. In order to maintain full membership, the photographer must
do one of three things:
1. Generate $5,000 worth of sales with their images per year through the agency.
2. sell 30 images through the cooperative per year
3. Add 120 accepted black and white images or 500 accepted color slides to the archive per year.
Impact Visuals is very selective as to the images which they choose to send out to clients and a great deal of work, including that which is sent in by long term members, is not accepted.
Full members are also required to make an investment in the cooperative of $1500. This equity is non-interest bearing unsecured and can be paid in installments in a period of up to seven years. The reason for this investment is to capitalize the cooperative and provide equal and shared ownership among all members. In the event that a photographer leaves the agency, their equity will be redeemed over the following year, unless it is deemed that redemption will jeopardize the solvency of the coop. Full members also vote on vote on major policy issues with in the agency.
Impact Visuals also accepts work from non-members with the approval of the editorial staff. The work will be accepted only if it does not directly compete with work by existing members. For example, the staff will not accept work from a non-member that deals with issues that have already been covered by a member photographer. Proceeds from sales of non-member work is split with the agency 50–50%.
Applications for membership are reviewed by the Board of Directors and are required to include a well-edited and clearly captioned portfolio, a cover letter and current resume. In the cover letter, the applicants are asked to present themselves and address issues by explaining their past, current and future photographic and political interests and plans, any previous cooperative or activist experience, what they expect from Impact Visuals and what qualities and resources they would bring to the agency.
I had the opportunity to look at some of the members portfolios (usually when I was asked to deliver it to a publication editor, I’ve been to Spin , Rolling Stone and Time-Life). These portfolios generally contained at least one photo essay with a one page summary, one page of their best color chrome shots and 5 of their best black and white shots, a page of color portraits, both indoor and outdoor and some black and white, between five and ten tear sheets from editorial and non-profit sales, caption sheets (unless the images themselves weren’t captioned), summaries of completed and proposed stories, and a resume. The reason the sales staff recommends that photojournalists include non-profit work (pictures from conferences, community events and table top photography) is because they generally have a more positive content than raw photojournalism and if a foundation is considering you to photograph a program that they fund, they will want to see more than raw photojournalism in your portfolio. The chromes were all contained in black cardboard mounts that held 12 slides. Jane and Jen stress the importance of using dupes instead of original slides in your portfolio in case of any mishaps. The black and white prints were generally all 8 x 10, although Jen told me they usually prefer 11 x 14. A few of the photographers had their tear sheets laminated and all portfolios were either in black portfolio cases or in archival boxes.
What Impact Visuals is looking for in a photographer member is someone that is photographically skilled with a consistently unique style of shooting, someone that is dedicated to political and social awareness, someone that is able to produce at a consistently high level, and someone who will add to the racial, ethnic, sexual and geographical diversity of the cooperative. Of utmost importance is the applicants independence, motivation and interest in working together towards a common goal.
There are many issues that arise when running a business. When dealing with the media and photographers, communication seems to be a problem. Keeping everyone informed of what is going on can be very difficult. Some of the photographers have computers at home and are able to communicate and find out about events, etc. over the PeaceNet on which Impact has a bulletin board. Many of the photographers communicate with one another daily with this program. However, the high cost of technology eliminates those who can’t afford it, therefore newsletters are published monthly to keep everyone aware of what projects are being worked on and new situations and policies within the agency. Impact used to publish Picture Pages, a monthly newsletter sent to members and clients filled with the previous months most important and best selling images, but this got too expensive to keep up. Now, there is talk about uploading scanned images onto the PeaceNet and sharing them through the Web. Members need to keep informed of what’s selling and how. Member photographers also need photo criticism, news direction and general communication in order to keep on top of current trends. The criticism is usually provided by the photo editor or the sales department when they notice a certain photographers sales are slipping. They are thinking of putting together a monthly magazine to send to clients and keep them informed of the topics we are covering. We presently have a weekly fax sheet that lists new and incoming work for that week. Also in the monthly newsletter to members is printed a list of work that is needed. This list is comprised of photo requests that were unable to be met either because the work simply isn’t in the archive or because it is too old (most clients want recent work).
Some examples of requests that I’ve had but simply wasn’t able to fill because the work was too old or non-existent in the archive are photos of computer assembly lines, ethnically mixed groups of college students, Hells Angels, the Japanese stock exchange, and recent photos of personalities such as Steve Forbes, Colin Powell, and Ross Perot. Usually if an image was taken more than a year ago, it’s too old for editorial use.
I also learned the importance of obtaining model releases through the agency being unjustly sued for a how a photo by member photographer Donna DeCesare was used was used in New York Magazine. This lawsuit cost the agency approximately $8,000 in legal fees even though they eventually “won”. Being dragged into court means you have already lost and the only issue is how much money you will lose.
Other significant guidelines for the release of photographs that I learned mostly from working in the research department are that releases aren’t valid if the photo defames the person even if subject signed a release, the signature of a minor is also invalid because you need the legal guardians signature (I assume this is not the case for emancipated minors), a photo still requires a release even if you think their identity has been sufficiently altered (if the subject still can recognize his or herself, you can be sued). Most editorial use of photographs do not require a model release as long as the text is accurate and the image is used for editorial, education or travel purposes. A photographer can enter and photograph on private property as long as the owner is aware of the presence of the camera and does not attempt to prevent your entrance.
When one of the photographers, Donna Binder, submitted her slides of the Alabama chain gangs (prisoners chained together to do labor on the outside), I noticed they weren’t model released. I asked Michael if prisoners didn’t require model releases, if this was part of their revocation of rights for the crimes they have committed. He told me that the ASMP gave a talk on the subject in which they said that prisoners do not require model releases (as long as it’s for editorial use) but that this contradicted what he had heard at other times, so I’m still not clear on the subject. Nonetheless, I’ve learned to always get a model release, even if you’re taking the photo for personal sentiment, because you might have the opportunity to sell it in the future.
The standing on the use of photos from Impact Visuals is that they are licensed from the agency for one time editorial use unless a written release is accompanied from Impact for other use. This is stipulated so that no image will be used in any advertising or promotional products such as t-shirts ect., without special written permission from the agency. Of course the fee for advertisement usage is much higher than the cost for editorial usage.
A large amount of my time at Impact was spent in the research department. This is where I learned the most and got to really look at and critique many images dealing with a wide array of topics. I made a few mistakes and misjudgments, for example, when I had a request from a magazine who wanted “touristy” photos of a country in South America. I chose the initial landscapes and market places and then began to look for images of children. Most of the children were dirty and didn’t look very well cared for. There was one great image of four grimy kids with dirty faces looking longingly into the camera with their little hands clinging to a fence that was laced with barbs. When Michael saw this he told me it was inappropriate for a tourist type photo because it was practically saying “Oooo, look at the poor little children”, and exploiting them. I saw his point, and realized that I hadn’t separated myself from being a photographer and looked for images that I would be likely to take if I were a tourist in this particular country.
The most important knowledge that I gained at Impact Visuals is realizing the importance and responsibility of documentary photography. The best photojournalism gains in stature as these images become icons for future generations. This work that sustains has the ability to teach and to make a moment that has long since passed comprehensible to all. It has a place in history and communicates that with imagery, instead of just concentrating on the short term. The images that we remember transform a news event into a symbol of its time.
