Q&A with Pro Photographer Lou Bopp

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The human spirit has always fascinated Lou Bopp. He has keen insight, thoughtfulness and technical ability, and he'll also be the first to admit that spontaneity and serendipity are just as important ("if not more"). He has traveled the world being recognized for his craft by firms such as AOL Time-Warner, CBS, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, New York Times Sunday Magazine etc.

His soft-spoken, yet energetic, confident style captures the trust and essence of his subjects. He is an award-winning photographer and often shoots the diversity on the floor of the NYSE, capturing the energy and intensity of the markets as well as capturing reflective moments in a lull. From scaling the antenna of the Empire State Building for an annual report to the sands of Iwo Jima where he shot General Schwarzkopf for an ad campaign, Lou delivers beautiful images. Lou lives and works out of his brownstone in New York City.

For more information see: http://www.loubopp.com/

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Q&A with Pro Photographer Lou Bopp

iVIEW: Tell us about what you’re doing now.

BOPP: These days I’m honed in mostly on advertising, and I still shoot some annual reports, in-house Corp. Communications and a bit of editorial, and of course my personal projects. I’m based in NYC but shoot all over the world. In short, my photos are a blend of a fine-tuned production, my photojournalistic & art background and good old fashion serendipity.

General Schwarzkopf © Lou Bopp

iVIEW: How has going digital impacted your work?

BOPP: I could see the direction in which the industry was moving. And at the end of 2001 I filled my last film file cabinet -- which felt like an abrupt end to 15 years of shooting film. Back then (2001), digital was kind of cutting edge. I pride myself on being knowledgeable about industry trends. I never want to be left behind. I’ve had clients that thought digital would be cheaper. But some clients have to be re-educated, as photographers did because that’s simply not the case. It’s more expensive shooting digital when you factor in the technology and the time that’s required. At the same time however, it’s better – one way is that you get instant gratification, and clients appreciate that. But it is a double-edged sword. For example, when I began shooting digitally, if I shot an image that the Creative Director liked, we’d sometimes wrap because we had the image. It’s a bit of a trap to stop shooting too soon with digital, while with film I’d keep on firing away and make something even stronger. I don’t fall into that trap any longer.

iVIEW: What did you do before using iView MediaPro?

BOPP: I suffered. One of the first big digital jobs that I shot, I remember the client wanted photos the next day – hi res jpegs. I pulled an all-nighter and basically sat there, opening one at a time. The fact is, digital is more than just shooting with a digital camera. It has its unique set of challenges and can create a huge issue in post production, and that’s where you have to be prepared by having the technology that allows you to experience the pictures in the most organized and efficient manner as possible. You can’t just shoot digital and think you’re done. After that all-nighter I started asking around, and a colleague suggested MediaPro because that was what he was using.

Dan Rather © Lou Bopp

iVIEW: What other products did you evaluate? Why did you choose iView MediaPro?

BOPP: Many. I chose MediaPro because it was intuitive, and it did what I needed it to do. I spent some time comparing notes between different software aplications, and took a few for a test drive. I ended up going with MediaPro because it fulfilled all of my rigid requirements. It was an easy choice, and I’m not the type of person who makes choices such as that easily. I kick a lot of tires. I research everything. And I can tell you that this was one of the easier choices, and iVIEW continues to stay ahead of the curve.

Given the complexity of everything it’s nice to find something that simplifies your life.

iVIEW: How do you use iView MediaPro? Please describe a typical 'workflow'.

BOPP:
1) I have a digital assistant (DA) and a photo assistant (PA).
2) I make the photos, fill one of about 10 compact flash cards, and give it to the PA who gives it to the DA face down on the right side of the computer (I like to work with same crew because they know the process)
3) The DA downloads into MediaPro, adds the job number, caption info etc., saves everything and puts the card on the left side of the computer face up. Then it’s entered back into the workflow.
4) A full day of shooting means that 16-20 gigs may be downloaded; all of the images get dumped onto two hard drives. I use 2-3 Powerbooks on location and Powermac G5’s in the studio.
5) It’s an impressive workstation. We have extra monitors, an arsenal of hard drives and we back up everything 3 times. We essentially back up the back up, twice. When we leave a location, my DA will take a hard drive and I’ll have the other. We don’t keep them together at that point, we prepare for the worst.
6) My clients think it’s funny, but I like to name my hard drives, for example, I have Page & Plant as one pair of hard drives that mirror each other, and Lennon & McCartney, Loggins & Messina etc. I keep them separate and store all of them in fireproof safes and when they’re full I’ll split them between my homes in New York City and St. Louis, respectively. At this point I have about 80 hard drives – 40 in each location.
7) I also burn a copy of every shoot onto DVD that my DA hangs on to.
8) Delivery is to a Web site for smaller shoots or I deliver DVD’s of low res jpegs………or both.
9) Digital system embeds all copyright information
10) I use one MediaPro catalog per job. Back in the studio, with everything loaded into MediaPro, I may add additional client info, notes and what hard drives they’re saved on.

iVIEW: For you, what are iView MediaPro's most useful features?

BOPP: It’s my digital light table. It’s great to be on a plane, hotel, on location and be able to edit. It provides flexibility. I’ve found my comfort zone and work flow. Basically, I’m a creature of habit once I find an application that I like. I want a solid foundation in this area and I appreciate the ease of color coding photos and sorting them in different ways that work for me. The editing process is seamless – it’s truly a pleasure to edit. MediaPro saves me an enormous amount of time.

I never delete anything; I simply export selected photos. I save my catalogs according to the year and the job number – so on my computer I have thumbnails of everything that I’ve ever shot digitally, as well as some film scans. It’s a great feeling – I have everything at my fingertips.

iVIEW: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

BOPP: One of the coolest aspects about MediaPro is that you can create a system that works for you. There’s a lot of latitude to mold it into your style. At the end of the day it’s all about comfort level, being organized and what that takes. In many ways, the digital world is still the Wild Wild West. Fortunately, MediaPro happens to tame a critical portion of that for me.

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