Q & A with John Francis Peters at The Fader

John Francis Peters is the photo coordinator at The Fader magazine. PDNedu asked John a few questions about working in publishing and what he looks for when hiring photographers.

Above: John Francis Peters

 

PDN   Where did you go to school and what did you study?

 

JFP     I attended the School of Visual Arts majoring in print design. I also studied 3 years of social documentary photography while there.

 

PDN   Could you tell us a little about how you landed your job working at Fader magazine? What is a typical  day like for you?

 

JFP     I started with Fader as a freelance photographer. After Dorothy Hong left the position I was offered the opportunity to become photo coordinator/staff photographer by the creative director Phil Bicker. Working first as a freelancer and being directed by Phil really helped me to understand the vision behind the magazine and how it could influence a generation in photography.

 

Each day here brings a new situation to contend with. It starts with a 1.5 hour commute from my home upstate. Once at the office it may be time to seek-out photographers in various locations for assignments or help initiate first contact and direction between photographers and music groups publicists. Some days I assist Phil on heavy amounts of editing, layout or proofing. Other times I’m shooting assignments myself while helping to coordinate the issues projects.

 

PDN   Do you have any advice for young photographers who would like to work for your magazine? Do you ever hire young photographers?

 

JFP     We are happy to see photographer’s work of all ages but we consistently seek new untapped talent from around the world. Young photographers are of course less jaded by the photo world and maybe more willing to take new direction in their work. This rawness in how some younger photographers approach a project can being very exciting and continue to build upon our visual direction.

 

I would just tell them to get a clear idea of how we approach assignments and edit them by really paying attention to the magazine each issue. That is the best way to understand what type of portfolios we seek. Sometimes a portfolio may have a handful of shots out of many that catch our attention as possible gateways to a new fresh photographic ability.

 

 

PDN   Could you talk about a recent promotion you received from a

photographer? Has anything stood out as particularly good or, perhaps,

unsuccessful?

 

JFP     To be honest most promotional material I receive is too commercial for Fader but randomly something stands out. Usually it’s good to see a few emailed images that were sent after the photographer first considered our aesthetic. I like to get emailed links to sites best as it saves materials. I know other editors may not consider emails as much but personally I look at every link.

 

PDN   Could you tell us about a recent photo shoot? How does the day go?

 

JFP     I think in general we try to initiate most photo shoots in a similar manner. We always aim to get our photographer into the most natural situation with the subject from the start. It’s best if the photographer can spend time in the artist's home or while they do their daily routine. Except for fashion shoots we never apply styling or makeup.  Ideally we want the photographer to be fully in the moment with the subject and communicate to us who the artist really is through creative, truthful images.

Some recent examples of this would be Leonie Purchas’s essay on The Tough Alliance in their hometown Gothenburg, Sweden or Gabriele Stabile’s essay on Cumbia artists in Argentina. 

 Above: Leonie Purchas for The Fader magazine.

Visit The Fader magazine's Web site here.