Before works began to transform the notorious Villa 31 slum into an official Buenos Aires “barrio”, Chilean photographer Cristóbal Palma documented its distinct architecture.

Villa 31 is the most well-known “villa miseria” in the Argentinian capital, home to more than 40,000 people including both Chilean nationals and immigrants from neighbouring countries.

Palma started visiting in 2019 when work was just starting to integrate the neighbourhood into the infrastructure of the city, with sewage systems, running water and connection to the power grid.

His photographs reveal the ad-hoc buildings and dense streetscapes that defined this unplanned part of the city.

“It was unique from other kinds of favelas because the pressure on land was so great,” Palma told Dezeen.

“It had a funny kind of metropolitan feel because it was so dense, with up to six or seven storeys of construction. I got the sense that, although it was very poor, there was a lot of pressure to have land there.”

Villa 31 has a definitive border, bounded by a highway on one side and a railway line and station on the other.

This fuelled its isolation, despite a location close to the city centre and adjacent to the affluent Recoleta neighbourhood. Since the 1930s, it had developed without any centralised planning or regulation.

As a result, the resident-built homes were built along narrow, unpaved streets. Cables hung overhead, illegally drawing electricity from nearby power lines, while rain caused the streets to fill up with polluted water.

“The whole thing was very precarious,” Palma said. “Everything felt like it was just about to collapse.”

“But it was also a kind of paradigm of what a city could be if there were no cars,” he added.

“The way people interacted with public spaces felt, in a way, very sophisticated.”

In 2016, the city government started drawing up plans to redevelop Villa 31 and improve conditions for its residents.

The project was not welcomed by all; media coverage revealed that many residents were fearful of the changes, with concerns they would be forced to leave their homes without any eventual benefit.

“It’s very politically charged,” said Palma, “because so many different people have tried to do different things there over the years”.

The scheme, funded by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, has already transformed the newly renamed Barrio 31, with more changes still to come.

As well as paved roads, sewage and power, the neighbourhood now has three schools and a bank, and is served by buses for the first time. Residents can also get mortgages to buy their homes.

Palma felt it was important to create a record of how things were before redevelopment began, offering insight into what life was like for the residents of this neighbourhood.

“In Latin America, these kinds of favelas are usually on the periphery; you don’t get to see them unless you go there. But this one was so very present,” he said.

His photos show buildings rising up around the highway flyover, made from an assortment of different materials, while others show rooftops covered with materials, washing lines, water tanks and paddling pools.

He also captured portraits of some residents within their homes.

“From the outside, it looked very homogeneous,” he said. “But once I went in, I noticed all of these different sub-neighbourhoods, some more affluent and some more precarious.”

“It was so dramatic with the highway going through,” he continued. “Some people could actually touch the highway from their bedrooms.”

Another thing the photographer observed was the lack of nature within the neighbourhood, besides the occasional tree. “It was a big contrast with the rest of the city,” he said.

Palma is one of the judges of this year’s Dezeen Awards. He has run his own photography studio, Estudio Palma, since 2008 and is one of the leading architectural photographers in Latin America.

He is currently showing four large-scale prints from the Villa 31 series in an exhibition at Galería Gallo, which is part of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago.

The exhibition Construcción Villa 31 is on show at Galería Gallo from 10 August to 4 September. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

In John Berger’s highly regarded book Ways of Seeing, he closed his chapter on the nude by posing a challenge: “Choose from this book an image of a traditional nude. Transform the woman into a man. Either in your mind’s eye or by drawing on the reproduction. Then notice the violence which that transformation does. Not to the image, but to the assumptions of a likely viewer.”

It seems a simple experiment. Can we change white into black and black into white, flip the script and see it anew? It is what Berlin-based photographer Hani Hape has attempted to do in her new photographic series, Helmut Newton As Seen By Hani Hape, which features recreations of Newton’s famous – or infamous – overtly sexual photographs of female nudes, replacing them with images of men.

Talking to the German website Monopol, in an article headlined “It’s not easy to find men who drop their pants”, Hape explains that the idea came to her after she began questioning the lack of sexualised male nudes in art. “How can it be,” she says, “that the world is full of female nudity and there are hardly any pictures of erotic men? Women are likely to have a similar interest in their sexual partners as men do. Newton’s work is the prime example of the female nude photograph. He created icons with them.”

Hape is right. These “icons” no doubt stem from a culture dictated by (male) old masters, who idealised the female nude through their portrayals of Venus. Images that have negatively enforced gender roles, perpetuated an inherent heteronormativity, and emphasised how, as Berger wrote, “men act and women appear”.

Hape plays with this idea further. Her photos have now been published in a book titled Sakura, meaning cherry blossom, which weighs 1.2kg. This is in direct contrast to Sumo, the 35kg book Newton published. In this way, Hape is questioning, literally, the cultural weight and price of a man’s art over a woman’s, given that copy No 1 of Sumo fetched a record 620,000 German-marks (about £272,000) at auction in 2000. Would a female photographer’s book go for the same price? And what does it tell us about our society if objectified images of female nudes can fetch such huge sums?

I am also fascinated by how widely accepted Newton’s images are, despite the criticism that his work is “pornographic-chic”. Although the response to Hape’s work has been predominantly positive, some objections were voiced by men. And when she asked hotels to exhibit her work, she was told, on one occasion, that it didn’t “fit the setup of the house”. This speaks volumes about the normalisation of female nudes in such spaces, where they are seen as chic (and unthreatening). Clearly, we have a long way to go before the male gaze stops being the default gaze.

Newton’s images are, fundamentally, derogatory towards women. But I don’t agree that this means we should objectify men. History, especially art history, has scraped away at women’s identities, valuing them as the object and dismissing their individuality. Although Hape mentions in the interview that her male models are “choreographers, computer scientists, psychologists”, they still don’t feel like much more than just a spectacle for my gaze.

Additionally, there is an ahistorical element to Hape’s images. The objectification of women has been bound up in shame for millennia, ever since Eve was blamed for tempting Adam in Genesis, the woman’s divine punishment being to remain forever subservient to the man. Consequently, men may not feel shame when they look at these pictures in the same way that women may when looking at Newton’s.

So what is the answer? I don’t think sexism can be solved by simply flipping something on its head. It’s about creating a fresh space, a new set of rules that benefit everyone. It doesn’t work to have one gender dominating another, nor for that to be reversed. I believe the value of Hape’s series is to spark a discussion around these complex issues. Her work also challenges Berger’s remarks. What if, rather than switching the gender of the subject, we could instead switch the gender of the creator? What would change if the creator had a similar anatomy to the subject’s, and who therefore understood its depths? It’s a potent thought, given Berger failed to reference a single artwork by a woman in his book.

Explaining why she referenced Newton, Hape says: “I didn’t want to do a niche project, but was looking for a strong reference that many people know, to challenge established viewing habits.” She is definitely on the right track here: sometimes you need a strong reference to challenge long-held assumptions. The discussion can lead to bigger and more important changes – and, ultimately, pave the way to equality.

This is part three of a three part series on editing wildlife images. You can see part one here, and part two here. 

HSL/Colour

We don’t use this a lot, but occasionally it’s handy to dampen down colours which appear unnaturally oversaturated, such as acid-yellow flowers.  If you use a polarising filter, watch out for foliage turning electric-green, and adjust the hue and saturation to combat this effect.

Targeting specific colours can be an effective way of helping make your subject shine.  If we’ve photographed a lion, with muted fur tones of yellow and brown, against a wet season grassy background, with verdant hues, we might drop the saturation of those greens so they are not out-competing the animal. 

We might even reduce the luminance of the greens, to darken the background if the animal is a light-toned subject.  As ever, subtlety is key.

Noise and sharpness

Once we’re happy with the image in Lightroom, we’ll finish it in Photoshop.  We prefer to do our dust removal in Photoshop, using a combination of soft-edged Clone stamp and Healing brush tools.

If there’s any noise reduction needed, we do this in Photoshop, using the Topaz Denoise AI plug-in. Topaz is a very powerful tool, but noise reduction should only be used on images that really need it, rather than by default.

Overuse can give a plasticky effect, soften the image, and produce random artefacts, especially around highlights.  We find the auto setting in Topaz far too strong and generally set a very low level of Reduce Noise, and the minimum level of sharpening possible.

As a rule we don’t sharpen our images before archiving them, other than occasionally applying a little local sharpening to, for example, an animal’s eyes if the focus was a tiny bit off.  Overall image sharpening should be applied according to the intended use, an image for the web will need very different settings to an image which is to be printed.

So we export our images from Lightroom as 16 bit tiffs, do any necessary work in Photoshop, then save them for archiving as uncompressed 8 bit tiffs, with no sharpening applied. 

Only when we come to use individual images for specific end purposes will we apply the appropriate amount of sharpening.  We have Actions set up in Photoshop to batch resize and sharpen images for various uses including Facebook, Instagram, etc.

invert, and then darkened to make the lion ‘pop’. This was further enhanced with tone sliders. White balance temp and vibrance were increased significantly, to bring up the golden hues that were lost in the RAW file.
Canon EOS 1Dx II, 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L lens at 400mm, 1/400 sec, f/11. ISO 500″>

The final edit

When we’ve worked through a series of images and output them fully processed, we’ll do a final edit, comparing all our images and deleting any that don’t make the grade. Working as a couple allows us to give objective feedback on each other’s images and point out the shots, that if we’re truly honest with ourselves, don’t quite work.

The final task is to keyword our images to make them searchable. We keyword our images individually in Photoshop, creating templates on the fly for use with multiple images of the same subject. 

It’s a laborious, painstaking process but ensures we are happy each image is thoroughly and accurately keyworded with all the relevant metadata fields filled in.

It works for us, as we edit our shoots very hard and only keep a relatively small number of images, but If you’re dealing with lots of images it makes more sense to do your keywording in Lightroom, where you can apply relevant data to multiple images at a time.  You can create sets of keywords in Lightroom which you can apply regularly, for different species, locations, etc.  

Keywording is essential if you wish to submit your images to photo agencies, but it’s also valuable for your own uses, especially as your image archive grows. 

Be thorough but relevant with your keywords, including the obvious info such as species’ common and scientific names, location, and behaviour, but also any relevant concept words, such as ‘fierce’ or ‘cute’.

We also include photo techniques, where relevant, such as ‘high key’ or ‘monochrome’.

This is useful if we’re looking for images to illustrate specific photographic approaches, perhaps for a slideshow or article.   And don’t forget to include copyright and contact details in the metadata.

Once we’ve completed keywording, we’re finally ready to archive the images. We save the tiffs and RAW files on three different hard drives, plus a fourth kept off-site and updated every couple of months. 

We also convert the images to high quality JPEGs and upload them to a cloud storage service, which means we can access them when we’re away from home, so long as we have internet access.

A final word

Perhaps more than most photographic genres, wildlife is unforgiving of excess in the digital darkroom. 

With post-processing we’re generally aiming for a final image with a good range of tones and no clipping, natural colours, a complementary, but subdued background, and emphasis on the animal through the restrained enhancement of contrast and clarity, colour saturation and luminance, and differential focus effects.  

But then sometimes we apply more radical transformations for creative effect and to push at the boundaries of the genre. Either way, there’s a balancing act to perform. The outcome should be like successful cosmetic surgery – the appearance enhanced, but no signs of the operation that produced it.

Today, JJ’s Star Spangled Salute honors Navy Veteran Walter Smith.  Every day is a challenge for Walter as he battles with his PTSD, but he has found a creative outlet that helps him deal with it – Photography. With the help of VA’s Veteran Readiness and Employment program, the aspiring photographer was able to make his childhood dream his new reality with the deluxe gift of a Sony camera, laptop and Photoshop software. Walter says, “As a PTSD Veteran, every day is a challenge. Photography helps my PTSD by allowing me to get out of my home and express myself without encountering too many people.” When the lens focuses, so does Walter’s mind.  Thank you for your creative gift Walter and THANK YOU for your service.

Photography is as much a business as it is an art. Amid the myriad choices that shape a photographer’s journey, one pivotal decision looms large: pricing. For those straddling photography alongside another profession, striking the right pricing balance can be both an art and a science. Navigating my dual professional roles, I discovered that pricing isn’t merely a reflection of an image’s worth; it’s a strategic tool, ensuring equilibrium between passion, profession, and personal moments.

Every photographer’s journey is unique, yet we often tread common ground, especially when it comes to pricing. As a fresh face in the world of photography, I had a passion for capturing moments but a scant understanding of the business behind the lens. 

When setting foot in the vast world of photography, the immediate instinct is to price low. This approach stems from a blend of humility, market assessment, and a desire to build a portfolio rapidly. For me, this strategy seemed flawless: I’d attract a clientele attracted by affordable rates, rapidly build my portfolio, and gradually increase my prices. And, for a time, it worked.

Getting Started

Life has a peculiar way of surprising us, leading us down paths we hadn’t anticipated. Such was my life as a PR manager at GE. One seemingly straightforward task—to find a professional photographer for our executives’ headshots—became a transformative experience. While the photos returned were technically impeccable, they lacked the vital element of capturing the essence of the subject. This revelation was a turning point, making me appreciate the intricacies of the art. As I delved deeper, I began to view photography as a powerful form of communication, akin to my PR responsibilities.

While the above headshot isn’t technically the best headshot, I realized I had an eye for the composition and could help serve a need in my local area of Richmond by providing actor headshots for the local acting community. So, I dove headfirst into YouTube videos on photography, learning the exposure triangle and some of the basics needed for headshots.

It was during these formative days of my photography journey that I confronted my first big hurdle: pricing my services.

The Dangers of Underpricing

While my “cheap” rates skyrocketed my bookings as word spread throughout the acting community, I soon faced a predicament. Overwhelmed with clients, juggling a demanding PR job, and spending hours commuting to work and to shoots, I was on the fast track to burnout. There was hardly any space for the things that mattered most.

Pricing wasn’t just about numbers; it was intrinsically linked to my quality of life. Every entrepreneur will tell you about the importance of work-life balance, but it’s the strategies you deploy—like pricing—that truly make it possible.

The Value Behind the Frame

Every photograph, every shoot, brings with it a plethora of costs – both evident and hidden. Beyond the tangible expenses of equipment, location, and post-processing, there’s the intangible yet invaluable cost of time, creativity, and energy. Recognizing this was my first step out of the “affordable” trap.

Transitioning to a pricing paradigm aligned with my evolving expertise and the actual value I offered was an uphill task. It demanded a shift not just in my rates, but also in my branding, marketing efforts, and the narrative I presented to prospective clients.

Delving into Pricing Psychology

Price Anchoring: This is when the first price a customer sees (the “anchor”) influences their perception of subsequent prices. My initial low rates set a particular expectation. When I decided to raise them, breaking that anchored perception was challenging.

Value Perception: Clients often equate price with value. Offering services at a very low price might unintentionally signal lesser quality or value, while higher prices can convey expertise and premium service.

Pricing Models Dissected

Understanding and choosing the right model for your photography business is crucial. Here’s a detailed look at the options I explored for my side-hustle-turned-six-figure business:

1. Package-Based Pricing:
   • Pros: Streamlines decision-making for clients. Ensures a baseline revenue.
   • Cons: Too many choices can deter clients, and psychologically, they often come in expecting to leave with only the pre-agreed number of photos. Potential earning caps if clients adhere strictly to the base package.
   • My observation: Setting a fixed number of images in a package anchored client expectations. Selling additional images became challenging, even when they were genuinely valuable.
2. Per Image Pricing:
   • Pros: Highly rewarding, especially with a polished sales strategy. Allows tailoring to different client budgets.
   • Cons: Requires adept sales skills and tactics.
   • My observation: The session fee plus image fee model I adopted from Tony Taafe’s TNT program offered a more profitable way and client flexibility. You can add image bundles at the time of sale to encourage the customer to purchase more images. 
3. Hourly Rate:
   • Pros: Guarantees compensation for all working hours. Transparent and straightforward.
   • Cons: Can deter clients wary of a mounting bill.
   • My observation: I discovered that an hourly rate often underrepresented my effort, particularly when intensive post-processing was involved.

Targeting the Right Audience: Aligning Price with Value Perception

One of the most crucial aspects of a successful photography business, or any business for that matter, is finding the right clientele. It’s not just about finding people willing to pay your prices, but about finding those who recognize and value the expertise, dedication, and unique perspective you bring to the table.

• Research and Niche Identification: Begin by identifying your niche in photography, whether it’s corporate headshots, candid wedding photography, high-fashion shoots, or local actor portfolios. Once you have a clear understanding, dive deep into market research to understand the specific needs, preferences, and spending patterns of your target audience.

• Positioning and Branding: Your brand speaks volumes. Every aspect of your branding – from your website design, portfolio presentation, to social media presence – should resonate with the kind of clientele you aim to attract. A luxury wedding photographer’s branding, for instance, would be vastly different from someone specializing in candid street photography.

• Build Authentic Relationships: Networking plays a vital role. Attend industry-specific events, seminars, or workshops. Building genuine relationships can lead to word-of-mouth referrals, often bringing in clients who align well with your pricing strategy and value your work’s inherent worth.

• Educate Your Potential Clients: Sometimes, the perceived value can be enhanced through education. Share behind-the-scenes glimpses, breakdowns of your post-processing work, or even snippets of your thought process during a shoot. This can help potential clients understand the hard work and creativity behind each photo.

• Tailored Marketing: Utilize targeted marketing strategies, be it through social media ads, blogs, collaborations, or content marketing. Ensure that your marketing efforts reach those who are most likely to value and afford your services.

• Quality Over Quantity: It’s tempting to cast a wide net, but remember, you’re looking for clients who see the value you offer and are willing to compensate fairly for it. It’s more rewarding, both financially and creatively, to work on fewer projects that truly appreciate your worth than to juggle numerous assignments that undervalue your skills.

In the vast sea of potential clients, it’s essential to find those who not only match your aesthetic vision but also recognize the value behind every click. By positioning yourself correctly and ensuring your efforts target the right audience, you can ensure a harmonious balance between your artistic vision and commercial viability.

Achieving Work Life Balance Through Pricing

For some, photography is a side business or a passion. But passions and side hustles can overwhelm you if not managed wisely. Strategic pricing was my way of ensuring I wasn’t consumed and I didn’t lose sight of my career in PR. By adjusting my rates and communicating value, I made space for myself. Instead of squeezing in every possible client, I started selecting projects that aligned with my vision and schedule. This meant I could reclaim my personal life: date nights, Braves games, culinary adventures, and all.

Power of the Value Conversation

When we discuss pricing, especially in a domain as personal and intimate as photography, the dialogue goes beyond mere monetary metrics. It encompasses an entire spectrum of value, from the palpable worth of the images to the intangible aspects that shape the experience. It was vital for me, and for any photographer, to recognize and communicate this spectrum to clients. Here’s a breakdown:

• Monetary Value: This is the direct financial cost tied to the service, which includes equipment, studio rentals, post-processing software, and more. It’s the tangible aspect that most clients initially focus on.

• Time Value: Every hour dedicated to a project is an hour away from other professional or personal pursuits. This includes the time spent in conceptualizing, shooting, editing, and even the back-and-forth communications with clients. My need to get back time prompted me to establish a studio environment in my home.

  • Personal Time: Time away from loved ones, hobbies, and personal growth.

  • Professional Time: Time that could have been invested in other projects, upskilling, or even the primary career, especially for those balancing photography with another profession.

• Experiential Value: The client’s experience from the first interaction to the final product delivery. It encompasses the ease of communication, the comfort during the shoot, the efficiency in post-production, and the joy in the final reveal.

• Emotional Value: The innate ability to capture not just images but emotions, stories, and moments. It’s about the feeling an image evokes every time a client looks at it.

Through these layers of value, the conversation shifts from a mere transactional exchange to a holistic understanding of the service’s depth and breadth. It was essential for me to frame my services not just as photos delivered but as a comprehensive experience enriched with dedication, expertise, and personal investment. By communicating these varied facets of value, clients could appreciate the entirety of the work involved and form a deeper, more meaningful connection to both the process and the final product.

Your pricing strategy is a testament to your growth as a professional and individual. It should reflect your evolving skills, ambition, and the personal life you envision. As you navigate your photography journey, remember that your prices aren’t just tags on a service; they’re markers of the life you wish to lead, the value you offer, and the balance you aspire to achieve.

How are you pricing your work? What models do you use? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.