A Hat Tip to Graphic Designers (UPDATED)

Sometimes I like what others do with my work. Sometimes I'm not so enthused about it.

The "others" I'm writing about are graphic designers. These are people whom shooters like myself rarely meet, nor do we often know their names. At least, that's how it is in my world. But, whoever they might be, when they do a good job, I'm appreciative. Why? Well, that should be obvious: How well they do their jobs reflects on how well I (seemingly) did my job. If I snap some good images and they don't do such a great job processing them and making graphic presentations with them -- trust me on this one -- it's often me, the shooter, who many viewers of that image will have a lesser opinion of. I can't tell you how many times I've been VERY appreciative of NOT having my name, as the photographer, credited on the artwork!

I didn't post the accompanying graphic to pimp some company's porn even if the image is a JPG of an 11x17, glossy, marketing, "slick" for a Larry Flynt Publications (Hustler) adult DVD product. (Sheesh. I think I just pimped this product.) If you didn't know, a "slick" is a high-gloss, printed, mini-poster used to market such things. If you semi-regularly read this blog, you're probably aware that a whole lot of what I shoot is destined to feed the art, graphics, web, and publicity machines of many adult company's products. Hey! It's a living, okay? Someone's gotta do it!

BTW, some of you might be wondering, "Where's the porn in that porn product image, Jimmy?" Well, porn packaging has become softer and softer over the years. It's become something of a dichotomy considering what's inside the packaging has become harder and harder. These days, much of porn's outer shell, i.e., the packaging, is not much racier than what you'll find in an average issue of Maxim or FHM. (And often-times, IMO, better shot and processed.) There's a lot of reasons for the "softening" of adult products' packaging, not the least of which is the fact that retail outlets like Fry's and Hollywood Video and others now carry adult DVDs. The internet aside, you don't have to don an over-sized raincoat and a big hat and sneak off to a sleazy adult bookstore these days to feed your appetite for porn, assuming you're hungry for such stuff. What all this means is that the photography and the allure of the model -- for the product to be competitive -- has had to become better and better, at least in terms of glamour photography.

Anyway, I kinda like what the graphics people did with my images for the product featured by the slick at the top. (You can click it and see it big... bigger than what I usually post.) So, whoever you are... you graphics gurus you... thanks for not F-ing up my stuff! (Leastwise, not this time.)

UPDATE: Reader Don asked if I'd post the original pic. Here it is below, originally captured as a Large Fine JPG and resized to 400px by 600px and saved for the web at high quality for this update. No other post performed other than the addition of a copyright watermark.