Frank Petronio photographer

Hooter Shooter

March 19, 2008

(Jessalyn rocks, as expected.)

Two years ago I was sitting alone in my home office, trying to figure out how to get projects for my marketing consulting and design business. Upstate New York’s economic stagnation has created a situation where most of the potential clients are mature and conservative — the up and comers get shaken out quickly or, more likely, don’t even try to start-up here. Local old school companies don’t really do anything dynamic — many of them hardly need to market themselves at all since the are de facto monopolies. Big corporations go out of town or subdivide the work into cheap little mindless freelancer increments. In plain English, business sucks. I was bored, depressed, and lonely from working by myself. My last decent client made orthopedic shoes….

But I’ve always thought of myself as a photographer first and foremost, from my Photo 101 class onwards. The short story is that I found it more satisfying and profitable to be the ad agency and graphic designer rather than being yet another struggling photographer in a crappy market. But now the entire local marketing industry seems to be contracting and disappearing. If Upstate New York were a state sans New York City, its economy would rank 49th out of 51.

Given the situation, becoming a photographer again started make sense, provided I could attract good clients from out-of-town markets. But I knew I could only do it on my own terms or I’d become suicidal. Yet my older work — landscapes and wry, ironic observations — was never commercially popular. I tried to imagine what kind of work would attract attention, be satisfying, and sell….

Cool wild sexy stuff sells.

The subject matter is dynamic — constantly changing and always in demand. As you might expect, it holds my interest — it’s never boring. I enjoy the friendships and have fun shooting. And people respond — heck, I get fan mail and generate enough web traffic that I could sell advertising for good money.

So I started shooting, without really knowing where it was going. It took the first year just to get my bearings and “find my voice.” I had to get comfortable with myself around young women and figure out how the boundaries and trust worked. At the same time, I had to keep my home life happy and intact. I made a few detours and worked myself into some dead ends, but I learned as I went along. Now I’m confident that I’ve found a sweet spot, I have my own style that is both flexible and marketable. And I have my head screwed on “right” for what I have to do next.

It’s funny, last year if you asked me where I wanted to go with this I would have said that I want to do elegant work like Paolo Roversi and Arthur Elgort, they were my favorites. But I took some risks and let myself develop organically — by allowing myself to shoot what I responded to. And damn if I didn’t end up following the path of some sickos like Helmut Newton and Richard Kern. Terry Richardson. A little Bruce Weber. I went towards a loose partying sexy vein using real people instead of doing pretty and atmospheric photos with beautiful mutants (i.e. agency models).

My portfolio is ready and I’m shooting new stuff all the time. Promos are going out and I’m talking to new clients. I’m raring to get going… so in the words of my hero, George W. Bush, “Bring It On.”

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