#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

[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)

[xxplastic-cubexx]

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

[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.

[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!

[keferon]

Sorry if this is going to sound bad, but I appreciate how loosely you draw transformers??? Like genuinely, I get so lost in the desire to get proportions/details right that I just stress myself out of practicing at all. However I love your art dearly, and it's making easier for me to just. Fuck It We Ball while drawing. LIKE THE RENDERED ART STILL LOOKS AWESOME DON'T GET ME WRONG but alot of my fav drawings you post have like. Just the sketchest arms imaginable. Just wanted to say thanks, and hope your week is doing well

Half assing my way through drawing process is the skill I'm actually very proud of because I took the time and effort to learn it so thank you ehehe

[jellyfishdoodler]

He/They

WOO GOT THIS DONE ON TIME FOR THE LAST DAY OF CHASE WEEK LETS GOOO

I entirely blame @kalcifers-blog for changing my brain chemistry over a single drawing of Chase with a enby flag and I could NOT get this out of my head fast enough lol

Transcript and close up shots under cut 💛

(Not part of the comic but remember today is the first day of the second Palestine Strike and me and a bunch of JSE artists are taking donation requests for Palestine relief! You can find the info and Tiltify donation link on my page, thanks for reading 🇵🇸)

♡♡♡

[First panel is Chase Brody (looking tired with hands in his pockets) and Jackieboy Man (much more awake and happy) facing each other while in a simple living room, Jackie's back more towards the camera]

Jackie: "Hey! I was just wondering how do you IDENTIFY?"

[Second panel is a close up of Chase crossing his arms and not meeting Jackie's eyes]

Chase: "I dunno..." [internal dialog in a thought bubble reading, "A LOSER, PATHETIC, A PROBLEM, ALCHOLIC"] "Like, Bisexual? I guess"

[Third panel is a close up of Jackie with a confused smile on his face, body language open]

Jackie: NO NO, I mean like- What are your pronouns?"

[Fourth panel is a smaller version of Chase uncolored lookind surprised with a gray background and a yellow circle behind him]

Chase: "oh."

[Fifth panel is Jackie walking away with a shrug as Chase looks to the side to think, background shows more doors and simple furniture]

Chase: "He/Him, I think? I haven't really thought about it before..." [whispered] "Nobody's ever asked me-"

Jackie: "Hey man, its all good! If you find anything out later just let me know! Its okay to experiment or stick to what you know. No biggie!"

[Page 2. The panels are surrounded in black unlike page one which were white. First panel is Chase laying sideways in a dark bedroom looking at his phone with his chin propped up on his fist. The screen lights his tired face and clock behind him reads "12:05 AM." No dialog.]

[Second panel is a close up of a cracked phone screen with Youtube on, two video thumbnails reading "WHATS THE DIFFERENCE?" and "IM NON-BINARY?! WHAT. PRONOUN QUIZ"

[Third "panel" is a thin google search bar with the question "what is nonbinary?" typed in]

[Fourth panel is a close up of Chase (looking from the top down) with his fsce lit by the screen, laying on his side looking at his phone with a surprised expression. Squares of webpage articles float around him.]

Chase: "HUH."

[Fifth and final panel is looking at Chase from the top down in the dark as he lays on his back with eyes closed in a happy expression. His phone is held to his chest as a yellow glow comes from his chest.]

[drunken-devotion]

guys just consider. actor courfeyrac x stage manager combeferre

[autisticiyami]

Imagine if Vic Diamond dated one of the pool boys in the movie 🏳️‍🌈

thank you so much random user for my first ever ask. i will now autisically rant.

literally my initial reaction to seeing them was "no way this fairy has a whole harem of mostly shirtless pool servants." ive never seen a gayer-coded man ever i swear. i actually kinda fuckin love the dynamic as is like.. im such a sucker for goofy-ahh bossman and loyal employee/whatever. its the ambiguous gayness 4 me... like he just has these guys walking around that make him his milkshakes and give him forehead kisses and shit but in a like professional sense. i think that being gay is business formal too.

i went and made a whole art 4 this bc i care ab the idea so much. cant be assed to draw any more of the boys tho.. mostly bc im not great at art lol. so to answer your imagine Yes i imagine vic is dating all of them at the same time but not actually dating them. a secret fifth thing if u will.

[fung-fungus]

the way jack is like “he’s fine” when will, sick as a dog, shot a man outside of alana’s house at ass o’ clock is ASTOUNDING

like ik jack’s always terrible and overworks will but why does it take hannibal urging jack to do something?

why did no one but hannibal notice will was sick and not doing well AND did something about it?

ik it’s an obvious running theme about the ablism in how people besides hannibal treat will (yes even beverly) but god every time i find a new instance of it or a new angle i fly in to rage

[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.

[coochiequeens]

The doctors were happy for the business and are now facing lawsuits.

By Seamus Othot August 13, 2024

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons has become the first major American medical association to express opposition to the controversial view that surgical interventions are appropriate for minors diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

The news emerged in a new report from Manhattan Institute fellow and pediatric gender medicine expert Leor Sapir.

Sapir revealed that ASPS, which represents the vast majority plastic surgeons in the U.S., has broken with the U.S. official medical consensus of support for transgender medicine for minors.

“The American Society of Plastic Surgeons, an organization representing 92% of all board-certified plastic surgeons in the U.S., becomes the first major medical association to break from the consensus over “gender-affirming care” for minors,” said Sapir on X.

Sapir reached out to the ASPS for comment last month, soliciting their opinion on the leaked internal documents from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which sets the guidelines for transgender care for minors in the U.S., showing that the organization consistently violated medical ethics and based its medical recommendations on a forged consensus.

Sapir found that the ASPS does not accept the guidelines from either WPATH or any other organization on transgender medicine for minors and recognized that there is no clear evidence that transgender surgeries provide any long-term benefits to minors.

The rebuke to the WPATH standards is significant because, in many states, including Maine, Medicaid reimbursement practices have been crafted according to WPATH recommendations.

The organization also acknowledged that the evidence provided in favor of transgender medicine for minors is “low evidence” and “low quality.”

ASPS stopped short of condemning transgender procedures and medication for minors, but its refusal to accept the existing, extremely permissive rules shows that the U.S. medical establishment is less united in support of child genital mutilation than WPATH or supporters of radical gender ideology wish to claim.

Sapir believes that the ASPS is likely working to provide its own guidelines for its members, some of whom have faced lawsuits from detransitioners who received surgeries as minors that they now regret.

One plastic surgeon at Kaiser Permanente faces a lawsuit from a girl on whom he performed a double mastectomy when she was only 13.

Despite ASPS’s dissent, the U.S. remains one of the most extremely permissive countries in the world for transgender medicine, where minors are routinely able to receive double mastectomies, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones, and in some cases, genital mutilating surgeries.

Recently, Europe has begun to step away from transgender medicine for minors.

Even the U.K., which is controlled by the far-left Labour Party, has decided to stop almost all use of puberty blockers for minors after studies revealed that the drugs cause permanent harm to bone development.

[subsequentibis]

i've had this thing for a little while where i'm like. fuck! a lot of the artists i look up to have really thin, precise lineart. i need to start using thinner lines so i can get the accuracy and detail and realistic, correct anatomy, and it makes you have to get better at colors because the color has to carry the piece more when the lines give them more space between, and it's made me a lot more critical with my work because i instinctively go for big thick linework, and my usual strokes look sloppy and disconnected when i use thin lines.

and then i realized it was also making me miserable and not want to work on anything, which was really getting in the way of doing art in the first place. so i cranked that brush size back up and it just feels good and easy and flowing again, and like. yknow. there's working towards improvement and then there's stalling yourself out because you're too focused on arbitrary measures. i think i'm gonna be happy with my thick lines for a bit.

[3-aem]

im going on a mini hiatus 😭

[grntaire]

one thing i’d love to see more of in the year of our lord 2024 is changing the way the word “talented” is used when what is really meant is “highly skilled”

one could argue that talent is the culmination of skill, sure, but i find that, especially as a musician but i see it in every medium of art, that the use of “talent” often diminishes and glosses over the THOUSANDS of hours (and often, dollars) it takes to become even proficient at your art, let alone masterful. it takes ruthless dedication and study to become highly expressive and effective at a professional level at your art and to reduce it to “talent” almost negates the hard work that someone puts into what they do. people aren’t born knowing music theory or the intricacies of sculpture! they learned it through study and practice and so can you!

[theartingskorpio]

Was bored and had some sudden art inspiration so here’s son fun doodles of the bois that I definitely need to get back into drawing more