Rangefinder Magazine
February 2005

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Profile: Yervant Zanazanian by Peter Skinner
Acclaimed Australian Wedding Photographer

Anie and Yervant

In recent years Australian wedding and portrait photographers have made a tremendous impact internationally, especially in the U.S., where the Aussies’ fresh, innovative style and technical excellence have really impressed their American peers and the WPPI judges. Among those at the forefront of the photographers from Down Under is Yervant Zanazanian, whose thriving and highly acclaimed Melbourne studio concentrates on the high end of the market. Yervant, renowned for his distinctive style of exciting imagery, is also recognized as a pioneer and leader in digital imaging in wedding photography—as both a photographer and software author. His unique software program, Page Gallery™, has given photographers the tools to present their own work in visually exciting magazine layout-style albums.

	Yervant’s elegant sales room.

While the Yervant imprint on wedding photography has the hallmarks of an Australian success story, his career really has its foundations in North Africa and Italy. It’s said that individuals are products of their environments. If this is true in general terms, it is probably even more accurate when applied to creative artists such as Yervant. Born in Ethiopia of Armenian parents, Yervant’s “environmental background” is a wonderfully diverse multicultural mix of North Africa, Italy and Australia. He spent his childhood and formative years in Ethiopia, lived and studied for four years in Italy, and has been living his dreams for about 30 years in Australia.

The southern city of Melbourne is Australia’s second most populous city. This metropolis is as cosmopolitan as virtually any other on the planet and is a far cry from Adidas Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, where Yervant’s father Jack operated a processing lab and portrait studio. From early childhood, Yervant was captivated by photography, and much of his free time was spent in his father’s lab, learning how to print and experimenting with other aspects of imagemaking. And at age 11 he claimed first prize in a major competition with a landscape image entered on his behalf by his father. From a photography viewpoint, Yervant has never looked back.

As exotic as Ethiopia was, the most profound influence on the young artist came from the Italian city of Venice where he attended Colegio Rafael di Carminé for four years, when about 17 years old. Even now, many years after his Venetian experience, he bubbles over with excitement at the memory of being immersed in the city’s creative environment, studying art and doing what he loved best—photography.

In 1974, the Zanazanian family went through a dramatic change. Revolution swept across Ethiopia and Haile Selassie’s ruling regime was overthrown by a socialist-communist movement. Yervant’s family, like thousands of others, fled the country. After three months touring in Europe, the Zanazanians moved to Australia. Yervant soon returned to Italy to complete his studies and then in 1978, back in Australia, attended the Melbourne Photographic College.

While being an admirer of two masters of their genre, Yousuf Karsh and Ansel Adams, and of a leading Melbourne wedding photographer Robert Piccoli, Yervant admits he was not influenced by any single photographer in particular and sought to develop his own style. Much of his inspiration came from the big screen and cinematography—the angles, the lighting, and the storytelling.

Given his love affair with movies, it’s little surprise that Yervant’s wedding photography is replete in both storytelling images and the human connection. He has that ability unique to photographers who know how to get people to relax and interact with the process. One of his self-promotional lines reads: “Brides trust him, grooms have fun with him, women adore him, men respect him, kids just love him, but dogs hate him!” Not having seen any snarling dog photographs, it’s hard to comment on that last bit, but images of brides, grooms and wedding parties having a lot of fun certainly support the other descriptions. How does he do it? “I really think it’s just my character that they are comfortable with. I don’t consciously do anything different with any of my subjects. I just take pictures; I have fun with them; I laugh with them, and I just enjoy the day. It is as simple as that, and it’s never a job—it’s just taking pictures in my mind and then seeing and sharing the results with the people involved,” he says.

Obviously, the Yervant approach works. His bustling studio photographs about 120 to 130 weddings and about 200 portraits annually. Even with two full-time photographers—Yervant himself shoots almost every weekend—and three assistant photographers who help on weekends, the studio is hard pressed to keep up with wedding work, so portraiture is not actively marketed at present—but that’s going to change. Yervant and his wife, Anie, whose domain is sales and marketing, have developed a soon-to-be-implemented marketing plan to expand the portrait side of the business.

The photographers are supported by a highly skilled production and administrative team. This includes two digital imaging workflow specialists, a studio manager, and a customer service representative. In addition to his wedding photography, Yervant also shoots portraits, makes digital albums for customers and oversees the album layouts created by the digital imaging staff. “I want the studio to have a consistent and uncompromising high standard, so it is very important for me to oversee every album or wall print that goes out,” he says.

Yervant has done exceptionally well in recent WPPI competition, but he actually claimed a second place WPPI award with his first entry 16 years ago. And he regards it as his most precious because the winner in the Wedding Album category that year was Monte Zucker, whose work Yervant has long admired. In the 2004 WPPI competition, Yervant won first prize in the Bride or Groom Alone category; second in Child’s Portrait; and scored 100 points and was given the Judge’s Award for Extraordinary Merit in the Wedding Album category.

He has also won numerous awards and accolades in Australia, and he cites his first Master of Photography AIPP Award in 1994 as his most cherished. That award coincided with receiving the Digital Image Maker of the Year Award, an unprecedented honor as it was the first time the Australian Institute of Professional Photography had presented it to a non-commercial photographer. “Winning this title proved to the industry that wedding and portrait photographers were willing to move with the times, adopt new technologies and set standards. The AIPP recognized digital imagemaking in professional wedding and portrait photography after my award, and I believe my winning it set new milestones in our field,” he says.

Additional AIPP awards have included Wedding Album of the Year, 1998; Wedding Photographer of the Year, 1999, 2000, 2002; Professional Photographer of the Year, 1999, 2002; Landscape Photographer of the Year, 2000; National AIPP Best Wedding Portfolio, 2001; and Wedding Album of the Year, Master’s category, 2002.

Yervant’s leading role in digital photography has been applauded by his Australian peers, and while he was astonished, few others were surprised when the AIPP made him a Fellow in recognition of his contribution to the industry in this area. Traditionally, this honor for lifetime achievement is given after the recipient has retired. And Yervant is far from that.

His first foray into digital was in 1992 when “I started playing with the computer and Photoshop, just as a hobby.” Quickly he discovered Photoshop magic, and the hobby evolved into a passion. He knew he was on the brink of changes that would revolutionize the way his profession operated. Early teething problems with digital—such as difficulty in capturing detail in black and white and low resolution—were overcome with technological advances. Today Yervant is completely digital, not having shot film in over two years. His clients were quickly won over by the results; his peers, many of whom regarded digital as a phase, were less receptive. That attitude has now changed.

Using all Canon equipment, Yervant and his photographers capture in highest quality JPEG, choosing not to shoot RAW because of the added processing time associated with the more than 2000 images that might be shot at a wedding. Yervant believes that correct exposure ensures JPEG more than meets his quality demands. “I have different white balance settings on my cameras for my style of shooting, and most of my images are shot with manual exposure. As for lighting, I mainly utilize existing light, whether it is tungsten or reflected ambient light—even the bride’s dress is a good source of light reflection for me.”

His most distinctive light comes from the same source as much of his inspiration—the movies. “I sometimes use a video light to create what has become my ‘signature’ light, a soft motion picture-like lighting. Essentially, I see and work with light and prefer not to introduce surplus illumination. I certainly had to tailor my lighting to accommodate digital capture and one of the first things was reduce the use of flash.”

The Evolution of Page Gallery
Yervant appreciated that digital photography provided a unique and improved avenue for presenting work to clients. Thus, from a tool created for his own use, evolved Page Gallery™, now a widely acclaimed software package for creating visually stunning album page layouts quickly and simply. The original Page Gallery—influenced by feedback from photographers—has been reincarnated as Page Gallery V2, with some 2000 templates and numerous other features enabling photographers to design and personalize albums with a magazine-look layout. Clients, especially the younger generation, love it. Yervant describes Page Gallery as a “skin” running with Photoshop. Initially he used actions and shortcuts to expedite album design and infuse a fresh new look, far beyond the traditional album. He saved these actions in templates. Other photographers were exposed to the system during his lecture circuit. He was willing to show his peers how to achieve the same result using Photoshop, but they wanted the software program. Thus Page Gallery was born and launched at WPPI in 2003.

“Page Gallery is simple to use with over 2000 variations of pre-designed album page layouts, so there is a virtually limitless array of presentation formats. You don’t have to be an artist or computer expert to use Page Gallery,” says Yervant. “A great feature is that the software allows batch processing of up to 90 single- or double-sided pages, and a studio can create a full 30-page wedding album within an hour.” You can crop, resize, and position a chosen image file into the selected layout in three minutes. Try doing that from scratch. Templates vary from simple and classic to more complicated options.

Presentation to clients can be on a computer screen or projected on a large screen. With music added, it makes for an impressive promotion and sales tool. Clients can approve or change the layout before any expensive printing or binding is done, and the excitement of seeing the dynamic layouts often encourages sales of wall-sized prints of individual images or the whole page itself. Also, if necessary, a low-resolution version can be emailed, a service that works for many of Yervant’s overseas clients. The final album(s) can either be printed in-house or by a printing firm or lab. And if the work is to be printed overseas, a disc can be sent. The whole process, from the initial shooting on digital cameras to making multiple albums for which healthy fees can be charged is extremely cost effective. Additional albums can either be the same size or different sizes based on the original design and layout where the bulk of the work is accomplished.

Apart from the cost effectiveness, Page Gallery™ helps meet contemporary client demand. Today’s couples want something different. They are used to having and paying for the best, so studios can charge higher fees if their product meets demands. “I feel we can tap into this mode by providing them art for wedding photography rather than merely offering our services as a ‘must-have duty’ of a wedding day. And, when something is presented as art, one is prepared to pay more for it,” explains Yervant.

Another useful software program is Yervant Actions, initially designed for his own studio’s use, but now in demand by others. Described as a “virtual darkroom at your fingertips” the program has a comprehensive set of actions to retouch or enhance images. A single action can turn color into black and white or create sepia, E6 or infrared effects. It offers instant soft focus, facilitates burning and dodging, selection-area soft focus, cropping and numerous darkroom techniques. Both Page Gallery and Actions run with Photoshop 6 or higher, in both PC and Mac.

As innovative, refreshing and high-tech as Yervant’s approach is, he believes the real success of any studio is based on traditional business philosophies. “Long-term success comes with quality products and services. I am adamant about giving my clients top-quality photography and service irrespective of any new trends or album design or packaging. I believe that providing quality products sets you apart and puts you ahead of the rest. Then offering novel products is an added bonus—for you and the client.”

Yervant has teamed with another exceptional Australian photographer, David A. Williams, for a lecture tour of Canada and the U.S. with the U.K. on a later itinerary. For details and to see more of Yervant’s work and learn about Page Gallery and Yervant Actions visit www.yervant.com or email yervant@bigpond.com.

Join Yervant at the 2005 WPPI Convention for his platform presentation, “Dancing With the Bride and Groom” on Monday, March 21, 9:00–11:00 p.m.

Freelance writer and photographer Peter Skinner has more than 22 years experience in the photo industry. His magazine articles and photography have been published internationally, and he has co-authored or edited numerous publications and books. He recently collaborated with the late Don Blair on Portrait Photography: The Art of Seeing Light (Amherst Media). He can be reached at: prsskinner@bigpond.com/.