Photography

A great photographer considers the camera only as a tool, a black box with a hole on one side. It is about being an artist, using creativity, intuition and observation to make an image. Lens and shutter, film or digital do not matter to the greatest photographers, only what they can create with the tools at hand. Because of the limits of the tools, the best photographers use their understanding of light, time and their intimacy with the process to create images.

In the most basic description, a professional photographer is someone who provides the client much more than they can create on their own through quality, creativity, and experience. This is accomplished most noticeably by the talent and judgment of the photographer behind the camera. Through observation and experience, a great photographer consistently captures the holy moment when the world as we imagine it in our dreams becomes truth.

I am a great photographer, some say the best

“Tyson has done for photography what Gary Vaynerchuk has done for wine criticism - changed the game.” - Jason Baer

“As a Marketing professional I realized after seeing my final images that work like this is a must for any organization with a public face, especially the Creative, PR, Marketing, and Sales fields.” - Steven B Shaffer

“His professionalism and his ability to read people are insurmountable. This can be illustrated by his knack for being able to capture his clients’ personalities in his work.” - Paul Martinez

“His devotion to his discipline, whether art or editorial or portrait, is apparent. I trust him. I admire him. I am, simply put, a fan” - Heather Herr

“Tyson is an amazing photographer. He’s taken some of the best photos I’ve ever had in my life.” -  April Holle

I often say that I steal souls for a living because, in the race to stay current on technology and methodology, many in my field have lost the most important skill of a photographer - to observe beauty constantly.

I am Tyson Crosbie

I’ve been behind the camera for nearly a decade, starting out as traditionally as possible, in the studio with a 4×5 view camera and slide film. As an artist I make my living photographing commercially.

I am not a big gear guy, meaning that I ascribe less to the philosophy that the photographer with the most expensive tools will always create the best image for a client. My view of professional photographic equipment is as a tool; a sharper knife will help me cut more quickly and precisely, but is unnecessary to cut warm butter. I currently use digital cameras and a digital workflow to shoot and process commercial work. My tools are maintained at the highest quality and in the best condition for the type of work commissioned, from web imaging to billboard art.

A Complete Education

With nearly a decade behind the camera shooting traditionally and digitally a complete education remains the only way to describe my experience. At the Utah State University, while enrolled as a Mechanical Engineering student, I took my first photography class as an elective. The following semester, I changed my major to Fine Arts because I felt more drawn to the idea of asking questions rather than finding answers.

My mentors Craig Law and Sara Northerner ran the photography program at USU. Craig is most easily defined as a strict traditionalist who ran class as a critique of the craftsmanship of a student, I owe him my love of the zone system, pride in presentation and skills in the nearly lost art of 19th Century non silver photography. Sara, though she never hesitated to call us out if we presented work of less than high craftsmanship, offered more of an education on how to think and talk about photography as art by taking a critical look at the ideas that build the foundation of any great image.

It is through this contradiction that I became a photographer who can just as easily copy the ad in a magazine as create an image from a fleeting idea or a few words on paper.

Breaking Tradition

Copyright is dead. Through digital media, and the ability to make a copy so efficiently that there is NO difference between the original and the copy, the founding idea of copyright has become obsolete.

Personally, a solution presented itself as something we are already familiar with – an attribution or a byline. Traditionally, through attribution, publishers managed to get photographers to work for free or substantially less than the value of their product. Talented but starving photographers would work for bylines in the hope of becoming noticed. They rarely did get noticed and bylines still get no respect from professional photographers.

Seeing the demise of copyright, I am actively seeking a compromise between rights management and the value of my work. Currently, it is now a client responsibility to attribute the work by displaying my name on or near the photo. In this way I do not work for attribution, it is merely a requirement of service. Some clients prefer to use images in the traditional manner and find attribution less than tasteful, I understand this and offer a waiver of responsibilities.

This causes a major rethinking by photographers who would normally consider an image free of rights management and attribution as an image buy-out. However, I still use the copyright in the legal sense and consider this kind of contract considerably less than a full image buy-out because I retain the right to reproduce and sell the work created and the client is limited to only using the image.

Contact

I am easy to find, on twitter, flickr, linkedin, facebook, biznik or simply google “tyson crosbie” or add “tysoncrosbie” to your skype, MSN, AOL, Ichat, Google Chat, or Jabber. I’ve made my studio address and phone number available at the top of this page as well as in the footer. Or use the contact form below if you prefer.

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