On this episode, podcast photographer Daniel Bedell talks with photographer Tim Tadder about the scope of his vision and skill sets. The two also discuss the importance of “doing your homework” and what that means to Tim.
DB: “So one thing I have found really interesting with you over following your work for a while now, since Ron Solomon turned me on to you, that I am both kind of perplexed by [you] and always super admire [you]. I’m curious how you arrived at this and what your strategy is, in that you in some ways shoot just this really wide variety, and I feel like a lot of times photographers are pushed/get in this narrow niche. And your stuff…I’m looking on your website right now, you have this series called Nothing to See which is right next to NFL football players, which is next to portraits. You have this kind of strange mix of classic commercial sports mixed with this kind-of-like-weirder fine art experimental thing. I just want to know what is the strategy behind that, and how did you arrive to maybe even having the confidence to mix those two together and think you could get work out of showing that mix?”
TT: “You can only shoot so much sports, right? For a shot at all. That’s part of it. You do get kind of a, ‘there goes another John Bond in spandex who is running by a textured ball,’ before you go, ‘God, I can’t shoot this all the time.’ It becomes pretty myopic, or pretty repetitive and exhausting. So you spend your time shooting things that you imagine and that you see in your spirit. I think that that’s where a lot of that work comes from, is the desire to create something, an image that needs to come out and ends up in the manifestation of it is in the other work.
“I think that on one hand I do have…I think almost half of my work is sports? And half of my work is other things. When you look at all my assignments throughout the year, 50% is sports and 50% is a wide variety of concepts and solutions where people hire me as a solution-provider, as someone who solves the visual problems. So I think that sports by its very nature…I’ve been doing it so long and been blessed so much with so much opportunity and so much exposure, and it’s something I love. I think I find a lot of comfort and joy in doing something that is imaginative and is something that I see. You know?”
DB: “When I’m looking at your site and I see that are more of that imaginative, fantastical things. From the Water Wigs, Double Exposures. Do these higher-end concepts, do they have to be born out of personal work? Or are you able to convince clients of concepts like that before they’ve seen this body of work, that maybe you just put together on your own? Do [potential clients] come to you and say, ‘Hey, Water Wigs. We have this idea.’ Or does it have to work the opposite way? Your personal work is the only way to get that kind of more fantastic kind of stuff? Or do people already come to you for that?”
TT: “Typically, how it works is I create a project for myself and art directors and creative directors find it and use it as a solution for a job. So then they reverse engineer it, created around my project. So, Water Wigs I went and shot on my own because it was kind of an evolution of a project into a manifestation into an actual viral project. And then I got hit up to do work. I think what happened was somebody saw it and wanted to use it as a creative. And I think that’s what happened with my Bella Umbrellas. It happened with my Dia De Los Muertos. That happened with my Nothing to See project. That happened with my Isolation project. So I think you create your own creative, and people find value in it if your creative is on point, and you get assignments.”
DB: “Can you speak a little bit to you said when you get a shoot, it’s important to do the research. What does that word mean to you? Does it mean that if I call you up, I’m a client, we settle on-‘”
TT: “I think I say ‘do the homework.’”
DB: (agreeing) “Homework. Yeah. Does that mean literally looking into things about the brand? Does it mean doing test shoots? What does ‘the homework’ mean to you?”
TT: “The homework is the pre-production. The homework is understanding what the creative needs are, and how they align with your vision so that you can make sure your team is up to speed on how your approach is going to be, and what you’re going to do for the job. That the wardrobe team knows what the expectations of the wardrobe are, and the location team knows the expectation of the location, and the props people are on point. All those things are doing the homework, like being engaged in the production.
“The biggest fail in our shoots is when we’re not able to control the production and we’re left to pick up somebody else’s poop. It’s like when we’re dealing with motion teams and it’s like, ‘Yeah they’re going to do everything. Just show up and shoot.’ And you get there, and it’s like they’ve stacked the deck for success in motion, which is very different from photography, and people don’t get that. A still photograph needs so many more layers of information than a moving image does because a moving image just gets to do that: move. It translates differently.
“So production, putting in the effort on the production and taking care of your body. Get good sleep, exercise, and do all the things that I know I need to be successful. Right? So I’m prepared for the job in the pre-production; I know what we’re shooting, I know why we’re shooting it, where we’re shooting it. What color tones, mood, lighting, all the things I’m going to bring to the table. And so when I show up, I’m one step ahead of everybody. Because they’re all looking to me for answers.
“So that’s the first step. The second step is being mentally ready. Having your body ready, having your health ready, having all those things, which early in my career I think I might have overlooked a lot of that. I did stupid shit. Like stay out late and not exercise along the road because it’s easy not to do that. But the reality is I know I need that to be successful. I know I need to be working out; I know I need to get that anxious energy away and be prepared. So it’s all those things. Doing the homework. Putting yourself in the best position for success. If you can start there, then you’re more likely to win.”
You can listen to the full podcast episode below.
Like what you heard? Listen to all Workbook Radio episodes here and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!
See our Workbook video series on Tim discussing Passion and Sports.
Check out more of Tim Tadder’s work here.
Tim Tadder is represented by Heather Elder Represents.