Anyone following the industry is probably now aware of the cuts that hit the BusinessWeek photo, art, and graphics department this week....unfortunately everyone was let go as the department is restructured. I shot a story for them, above and below, on Saturday and the p.e. on the story was feeding me info as it was unfolding early in the week. Sad news for all.
There was something about this crew of p.e.'s that always stuck with me. Facebook arrived in 2009 and it really allowed some sense of community to form with the p.e.'s there. It allowed everyone to view into their lives during the period where they were purchased by Bloomberg and how that effected everyone. There was a consistency to their group of p.e.'s...everyone seemed to work there a long time, and you got to know them over time, and that familiarity helped. The test of a good working relationship occurs when you really solidly and wholeheartedly blow a shoot...and are still able to move forward together.
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BW will continue with a new staff and will indeed produce good things as will all the editors who have been let go. This little eulogy is just taking note of an end of an era...and the start of something new.
7 comments:
Whoah, the whole crew, that REALLY sucks, and for once you and I agree on something, the BW editors were some of the best in the business... professional yet laid back, open and friendly, demanding but fair... this is a sad day and a portent of ugly things to come... I hope they received decent packages...
Yeah...it's been just bloody awful up there the past couple of days. I've known about the new Photo Director being hired for a couple of weeks now, and Ronnie was resigned to the fact that she was certainly gonna lose her job, but nobody could have thought Bloomberg planned to fire the entire art staff. It was brutal. Even my friends at Bloomberg Markets magazine commented on how it didn't make much sense to get rid of everybody.
yes let's all make a pact not to work with the bloomberg administration in whichever guise , in solidarity with our friends in the old art department , what do you say everyone ?
the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil...
sounds crap, sounds hopeful, sounds crap. good luck all of you.
When they were in the boom times BW held on to their ridiculously low rates. This resulted in the formation of Editorial Photographers and the push to share the wealth. Unfortuately I never worked for BW again. What goes around comes around. No sympathy here.
um, excuse me "anonymous" at 10:05am - but our day rate for the last decade ($850 plus expenses) was the highest magazine rate around. you can take your negative thoughts and go around and around forever kicking folks when they are down. talk about what comes around...sheeeesh.
Yeah. Really good people. What a waste. What a shame. Senseless. I did three shoots for them in the last three months. Some of my best experiences in recent editorial life. So nice to work for a magazine that paid fairly and really pursued quality.
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