I’ve had some confused readers lately wondering: What is an Art Buyer?
Well, an Art Buyer is responsible for securing still imagery (photo or illustration) for Commercial use- I work for Advertising Agencies to source shooters for their print work and then manage the photography production. For a more detailed description, check out my website’s explaination here.
And then here’s something Art Buyers really shouldn’t be doing, and yet, I just did this about an hour ago, for my job:
Yep, I hauled my stinky green bin (In Toronto we compost our organic waste- yay!) into my house, took a picture of it and then emailed it to a bunch of people. So, “taking pictures of garbage” is now officially one of the things an Art Buyer does.
Hey, I think this might be a new feature we should have here at the Blog: Things Art Buyers Do.
For example, I always found it funny when I worked on McDonald’s how many very serious conversations I’d have about the Fillet of Fish. Or if you are working on a shoot that involves a baby as the main hero of the shot you might find yourself saying this a lot: “What’s your timing for the Baby Execution?” “I don’t have costs in yet on the Baby Execution” “I think we should get some backup babies for the “Baby Execution”. And then at least once a year I find myself working on a “Hand Job”: “Sure, I can give you ballpark cost for the Hand Job”.
So, Art Buyers, if you’re out there, send in the strange things you find yourself doing with your day- things you never expected when you graduated with your Barely-Related Degree, oh so many years ago.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
funny – art buyers have a sense of humor. Who knew?
my boss always says he is the Owner, CEO, and dishwasher of his studio.
Bruce: Art Buyers MUST have a sense of humor…or great drugs. Both are most helpful.
Seriously, though, I find that the creatives I work with, on all sides of the industry, are usually more successful when they just don’t take this all (and most importantly themselves) too seriously. The work is important, yes, of course, esp. when you look at the money involved, but don’t lose your spirit in that context. Besides, good humor is just another aspect of creativity.
I’ve found myself trying to think of ways to somehow whiten the mayo in a sandwich that is turning yellow under hot lights (proceeding to never eat a sammie with mayo again).. white paint
-art buyer in Boston…