Shitty Draft

Emily Chavez

Shit Draft for Essay

            As a young man Ralph Clevenger watched his father growing up with a video camera in hand taking videos of the family.  This was the first step in in Ralph’s life that led him down the path of a career in the field of photography.  He has always loved the outdoors appreciating nature and all of its wildlife, taking pictures as he studied for his science.  He even earned a degree in zoology then decided to attend Brooks institute to pursue another degree for photography.   His main passions in photography are of environmental portraits, eco-travel, wildlife, and undersea subject.  These passions have led him all over the world such as, Antarctica, Brazil, and South Asia.  Many different companies, National Geographic, Popular Photography, Smithsonian Books, and Nature’s Best, have published his images.  Ralph even has some of his writing published for his photography.  He writes articles for presentations, magazines, and websites about photography and creativity.  He also writes for marketing and business pieces for his free-lance business.  As a photographer there is a lot of writing involved depending on the photography you do.  Some pieces of writing are more important than others but each document serves their own purpose for the job. 

            Each piece has its own purpose for the writing it is about but for Ralph another great purpose of the writing he does is to add another way to make money from photography.  He is paid to share his experiences and expertise in photography through those articles he has published.  Some of this writing may be more important than others because of the purpose whether it be communicating to clients, model releases, or articles.  Clevenger keeps a natural style of writing in most of his articles of writing as if he were talking to you in person.   While some of his writing artifacts are published some are not and these artifacts are what are what serve a big purpose in photography.

            One writing artifact that almost every photographer needs and has a big purpose for the work to be published is a model release.  The purpose for a model release is to give the photographer legal permission to sell any of the photographs containing that model.  It contains all the information of the model, photographer, the contract for the photos, damages rights, and signatures.  It also has another purpose for the photographer because if you want to hire that same model for a different job it contains all heir contact information to get ahold of them.  Ralph Clevenger for example keeps this writing artifact a very professional tone, which helps establish credibility as a photographer.  Having a model release can make you model feel comfortable too because they will trust by signing this model release that their image will be protected and used wisely. 

            One other writing artifact that is kept private but very important is a delivery memo from the photographer.  The purpose of a delivery memo is to have clear communication between the model, photographer, and the client of the delivery of the photographs.  It contains all the information of the photographer and model, the date written, copyright and metadata information, use for photographs, and the information of the delivery.  It is important that a photographer send this memo because with modern technology it is easy for files suffer a technical problem and not be delivered.  This way the client receives this letter and can respond if they hadn’t received the photos rather than thinking the photographer didn’t deliver.  This also covers you as a photographer if the client claims you didn’t deliver or were late.  The writing artifact establishes pathos too because it looks professional to take an extra step of writing a memo. 

            For some of Ralph’s published work the purpose can range depending on what the topic is on.  Most of his published work is on his expertise as a photographer or talking about some of his experiences on certain jobs.  One writing artifact he created was Range of Light, were he discussed how to work with light of all types.  This piece of writing had a professional yet friendly tone to it because he likes to write as if he were speaking directly to you.  Inn the chapter he discussed the different qualities of light, answered common questions, and equipment needed.  This chapter doesn’t serve much of a purpose to Ralph other than it’s another way to make money and help people with their photography.