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Rangefinder
Magazine Yervant Zanazanian: Renaissance Man by David A. Williams
Yervant is generous with his time, almost to a fault. After extensively and patiently helping you (with something too complex for you and always time-consuming for him), Yervant always manages to make you feel as though he owes you a favor! One thing is absolutely clear: This man is a fabulous
photographer—full
stop. The fact that he makes the most wonderful albums using mastered
digital techniques does not mean he is Yervant’s father, Jack Hagop, was an Armenian working as the official photographer to Emperor Hailé Silassé of Ethiopia in the 1960s. Jack came to this position through the usual method of influence and connections. And what interesting connections these were. Yervant’s future wife’s (Anie) father, and Yervant’s mother both went to the same school. Yervant’s maternal grandfather was a highly talented jeweler, and the Armenian “Faberge” to the Ethiopian Royal Court, working in gold, silver and ivory. Jack’s position was largely obtained through the influence of this relative, and another that was the official royal tailor. But ultimately for Jack it was just a job—he didn’t really like photography. But his business, “Ethiofoto,” was highly successful. Annual graduation night meant a crowd of over 2000 people lined up outside his studio—the security gate being lowered by little Yervant after every 20 subjects entered, as a method of crowd control.
His auspicious beginnings
as an 11-year-old saw him entering a prestigious photographic competition.
His precocious win of a top award for landscape
did not endear him to many adult competitors and organizers. (They gave
him a shoddy little cup instead of the prize money.) But the win gave
him recognition and encouragement as a remarkable talent.
So what philosophies came out of this background and training? This is a man who has spent many years in darkrooms and who has exposed film in all different formats, making images of superb construction, quality and spontaneity—all before digital capture was even a gleam in a camera technician’s eye.
Long training means Yervant’s thought process begins with planning. He says, “I know how I want the picture to look,” or “I know the picture before I take the picture. I don’t do a lot of candids, so I don’t spend my time expecting it to happen—I make it happen. This occurs as the couple and the bridal party have fun with me.” Yervant works with the superb Canon D1s and Canon L-series lenses. He shoots mostly with an EF 16–35mm, f/2.8L lens, getting in close and “dancing” with the couple. He occasionally uses a little flash—either a Canon 550EX or a Quantum Q flash—but existing light predominates. Other lenses Yervant will often use include: EF 24–70mm f/2.8L USM, EF 85mm f/1.2L USM, EF 24mm f/1.4L USM, and the EF 70–200mm f/2.8L IS USM. He likes the influence of tungsten lights in predominantly daylight situations and happily mixes the two. The ability of digital to change color temperatures is a feature Yervant uses to brilliant effect, choosing often insignificant locations to provide stunning lighting effects. Freed from the duties of film loading, or holding this, fetching that lens, Yervant’s assistant now contemplates which CF card to hand the Master next.
A big part of the Australian photography scene is street photography—that is, using cafés, street scenes, flower shops, restaurants and public buildings to make stunning pictures. An accepted part of the Australian wedding day is a delay of anything from an hour to half a day between the ceremony and the reception. Getting couples together before the wedding for photography is very rare, and very difficult to “sell.” Sure, there is some formality in many wedding coverages, especially with families. But most couples demand a casual and relaxed approach. Most importantly, their points of reference come from fashion magazines. The real trick to understanding Yervant’s superb style is to look at the individual images. You soon understand and appreciate how they are outstanding, well-constructed images with excellent lighting technique. This knowledge has been passed onto Laura, Mark and Jeremy, who also shoot and assist in production. Five Macs with various scanners, printers and music systems attached to them, housed in a light work area, smooth the large workflow Yervant’s studio generates.
These days, with a new little brother for son Ricky (referred to as “Mini-me”), Yervant is doing increasingly more work from the relative peace and quiet of home. I suspect it’s also because so many other photographers are constantly wanting to use his knowledge and know his gracious and giving manner. Obviously, Adobe Photoshop 7 forms the basis of all image processing, although CompuPicPro has been a useful application for renumbering and other processes. Initial camera files are batch- processed, sorted and organized before being sent to The Edge Laboratories in Melbourne via the lab’s FTP link for proofing. The Edge provides an excellent digital printing service, which makes the proofs as 12-up on an 11x14-inch sheet of paper. All images carry Yervant’s logo, copyright symbol and image ID. The customers receive an attractive proof album of between 500 and 700 images from which they make their selections. They are given time away from the studio to do this—a procedure Yervant feels pays off in terms of providing support for referrals. Copying, if it occurs, does not provide the person with a first quality image anyway, and, as Yervant says, “We gave up worrying about that ages ago, and got on with making a quality product.”
When a couple returns to the studio to design their album, they are reacquainted with Anie (Yervant’s wife and partner), who does the original bookings. Anie also designs the album. That is to say, she helps the couple with all their choices, and organizes them into some sensible order from which Yervant and the staff create the digital layouts. Anie’s background in marketing means she uses the storyboard concept to great effect, showing the customer how selected images will occupy these pages, and if they should consider adding this image—or reconsider another image. The album design and sale is deliberately low-key, a concept opposite that of many other studios, but again one that pays off in return business. The resultant design from Yervant and the staff’s creative input is again sent via FTP to The Edge for printing through the 32-inch Lambda Digital printer onto Kodak paper.
Customers are invited into the Studio for album design approval, where they approve the prints. Yervant may have added pages, or changed the emphasis of certain pictures, but without exception, the customer approval rate is 100 percent. They are simply blown away by the combination and design of their wedding images. The album literally comes alive for them. After that, magazine-style albums (known as Page Gallery Albums™ at Yervant’s) are sent to John at Bookcrafts Albums in Melbourne for the album construction. Traditional albums (that is, individual pictures behind window openings), form an extremely small part of Yervant’s business. It has been many years since he made a 10-inch square album with matted pictures. “Those were albums for the ’70s and early ’80s—they do not reflect the mood of today’s couples. More importantly, they do not reflect the design principles bridal couples have been exposed to these last 10 years through lifestyle magazines. The ‘magazine album’ is in step with NOW.” Today, photographers have to be graphic artists as well as informed and educated photographers. Nothing stands still. The exchange of darkroom for computer does not mean we have fewer skills. It means we have different skills. Sure, it means that a steep learning curve has to be climbed, but what a climb it is! Yervant is the product of a traditional photographic background, but as he proves time and time again, nothing succeeds like quality, a keen desire for knowledge and continuous training and retraining to meet today’s challenges. He agrees that the day you cease to explore new things is the day you should stop. The inevitable question asked of many passionate photographers receives the affirmative answer: “Would you still take pictures even if you didn’t get paid for it?” Yervant goes further: “I live to take pictures!” And he’s got the Awards and Accolades
to prove it: Finally, Yervant has designed brilliant software for designing album pages. You get all of Yervant’s skill, style and brilliance without investing over 10 years of your life in research and development. The product is called Page Gallery, and you can get more details (and see samples) at the web site listed below. Suppliers: Yervant Photography Bookcrafts Handmade Albums The Edge Laboratories The Australian Institute
of Professional Photography (AIPP) David A. Williams M.Photog. FRPS ALPE owns and operates
HeartWorks in Ashburton, Australia. He has won major awards on three
continents.
He
can be reached at:
DaveHWorks@aol.com/. |
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Every now and again you get to see someone really get
what they deserve. My pal Yervant Zanazanian was recently recognized
with a Fellowship of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography
(FAIPP) for his numerous contributions to digital photography and the
professional photographic industry.
relying on a process to make good
pictures. No amount of special effects can hide or excuse poor vision
and poor technique.
Yervant’s love of photography grew from printing
the resulting images in the darkroom. He decided to be a portrait photographer.
But
was that always his destined career? “If I hadn’t become
a photographer, I would have become an accountant,” Yervant says.
Due to this other passion for accounting, Yervant has a very firm grip
on the business and finance side of things. He may be generous to a fault,
but he’s a bargain hunter and dealmaker, too.
After his family moved to
Australia (the choices were Canada, the U.S. or Australia—the U.S.
was too hard to get into, Canada already had one famous Armenian photographer,
so Australia it was), more study
followed at Melbourne’s Photography Studies College. The curriculum
did not enhance his knowledge of wedding and portrait photography—that
came from experience.
Like many of us, Yervant wondered how
he would take the change from the square format to 35mm proportions. “I
don’t crop my pictures,” he
says. Like all change, it was initially difficult—but practice
has made him more comfortable with the format. However, like many of
us in the portrait and wedding field, he would very much like to see
a square format option available in digital. 
