photo.net: Let's begin at the beginning. Where and when were you born? How do you pronounce your name?

In Corpus Christi, Texas on January 15, 1957. "Ellis" is pretty much like it reads and "Vener" is pronounced "Vee-ner". The original family name was Winograd and was Americanized when my grandfather immigrated to the USA in about 1908.

photo.net: What kind of formal photography education do you have? Where did you go to college and what did you study?

I graduated from the University of Texas with a liberal arts B.A. in 1980, for which I mostly read History and English Lit. I had thought I wanted to be a writer or perhaps a lawyer but I wanted to spend more time roaming around and looking at things and meeting people than sitting at a desk...a teacher I trusted commented that since I was really good at describing scenes and places and light and not so strong on plot that I think about photography. I then sort of fell into a teaching assistant job in a photo illustration course. But I didn't really know what I was doing visually or technically so the professor said I could stay if I was willing to be to be the class assistant. That became my assignment for the first semester: I read all of the manuals, figured out the mechanics, kept the place clean & the equipment organized. After the first semester he forced the administration to hire me for the next year! My informal photographic education consists of two years of photographing frat parties while at UT; followed by three years of assisting with Houston based photographer Ron Scott from 1981 to 1984; and most importantly, a 1983 workshop with Jay Maisel.

Jay is an amazing teacher and photographer, a real mentor for a lot of photographers. From him I learned at least four or five great lessons: That color photography is about three things: color, light, and gesture; That a photographer must  be actively responsible for what is in every square millimeter of the frame; To not make triangles with the corners of the frame; That your eye will automatically go to the brightest area of the composition; And to be willing to constantly experiment, to play.

photo.net: So if you didn't do much with photography in college, how did you get your start?

I really, really wanted to be a photographer and could not afford to stay in Austin! My plan was to move to Houston to get a year or two of assisting experience under my belt and then move on New York City. While at UT I had attended a presentation by Ron Scott, who was a very hot photographer from the seventies into the nineties, making a lot of visually clever covers for Texas Monthly & also making a lot of technically amazing problem solving images for commercial clients. So I called on him when I moved back to Houston and after about a month of pestering he hired me as a freelance assistant and about two weeks later he asked if I'd like a full time job. I stayed there for three years. I learned a lot from Ron about how to think in terms of transforming ideas into images and also how to approach the technical "how to" stuff, and by osmosis, about working for clients. Ron is a very clever guy, especially when it comes to the possibilities of using computers to make images, and he was way into that area years before virtually anyone else so his studio was a very exciting place to work. But the short story is: I became a photographer because I wanted a career that would let me continue exploring the world and meeting interesting people. That is still true today.

photo.net: How does work as a commercial photographer influence and affect the projects that you do as an artist?

Well it gives me the technical chops and the discipline of deadlines but I think it can also interfere to a large degree with learning to see for yourself and finding out who you are and where you see the world from. You get used to thinking for clients and not purely for yourself. Right now I'm working at more directly expressing my own point of view through portraits. At this point in time (January 2002) I can look back and see what I've done and have a better idea of where I want to go. That path seems to be leading me back to photographing people.

photo.net: What kind of rates are you able to charge?

It floats depending on the type & length of assignment, as well as the usage and rights package the client needs. Editorial is in the $400 and up per day range , while corporate work is in the $1200 to $2500 a day range and advertising is in the $1500 to $5000 per day range. These rates are dependant on usage. For example a magazine cover is worth more than an interior page.  These are pretty much the standard fee ranges found across the USA. The bad news for working photographers is that these fee ranges, especially for editorial work, haven't really changed in about twenty years, especially in the editorial arena. Once you take into account inflation and cost of living changes, in real dollar terms editorial work has slid backward.

photo.net: Can you think of a particularly fun client or project that you've had?

Well it is always fun when a client gets really excited about the work I deliver and even more fun when they hand me a check!

CowParade Houston was a fun series of projects. Creating images to be used for the Wheel of Fortune TV game show was fun. Covering the Houston International Festival is always a lot of sweaty exhausting, fun too. Going to Mexico to photograph the 1991 total solar eclipse was just an amazing experience. So was being part of the official team of photographers for the 1986 Statue of Liberty rededication. I actually have fun with most of the assignments I do. I think I'm very lucky in that regard.

photo.net: What about a strange one?

Strange? The strangest architectural job I've ever done was a folio of interiors of a topless bar for an architect. The place was beautiful, but it was eight nights of working from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. I had to get new cases after that gig, as the old ones all stank of spilt beer, cheap perfume and stale cigarette smoke. And I never want to look at naked silicone stuffed breasts again!

In 1982 or 1983 I had a really strange self-assigned gig photographing what turned out to be a very drug addled Dennis Hopper when he was in Houston for a retrospective of his work at Rice University. I was helping him adjust the lighting on an exhibit of his photographs when he suddenly just flipped out, threatened to kill me and slammed a door in my face. Later that evening Hopper survived what he called 'the Russian Dynamite trick' (I'm not about to describe that except to say that if it had gone wrong he would have been turned into the human equivalent of toothpaste) which he claimed made him feel 'sober for the first time in twenty years'. This was about a year or two before he made the movie 'Blue Velvet' by which time he had broken his addictions.

The thing about relating stories about strange assignments or telling 'war stories' is that every photographer has good tales to tell, but in the end only one thing matters-- Did I get the picture?

Now how about if I substitute the word 'Interesting' in place of 'Strange' would that be okay?

One of the very few weddings I've photographed was a traditional Pakistani wedding in 2000 and that was a great and very interesting assignment. A wonderful job: The bride was extraordinarily beautiful and very nice to deal with. The colors were extraordinary, so was the very communal sense of joy, and the discovery of this entire and very lively Pakistani community virtually in my backyard was just icing on the cake.

Photographing buildings for architects is always intellectually and technically challenging because I really want to try and understand the whats and the hows of the architect's thinking, so I can visually express their vision and combine that with my own perceptions of the place, of the light, and then solve the technical problems of realizing that on film.

photo.net: Can you think of a commercial project or two that yield some good art photos?

A commission I did for Memorial-Hermann Hospital to create a portfolio of Houston landscape details: sculpture. gardens, and fountains; my work for the Houston International Festival; some of the commissions I had to create covers for Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages, and various portraits. I take making portraits very seriously. I don't really think of myself as a 'fine art' photographer. Other people do, which is fine by me.

photo.net: For what kinds of projects do you employ an assistant? Who pays for that person and how much? What does your assistant actually do?

I try to use an assistant as often as I can, and the client pays the $200-250 per day because an assistant makes me more productive. My assistant(s) help me stay organized and focused, acts as a second set of eyes for me, keeps me in good humor, and helps with transportation, driving, lugging, setting up and packing the gear. A good assistant is really hard to find.

photo.net: Do you teach others your secrets? If so, where and how?

Mostly on photo.net! I've also done some private tutorials and I usually get a few questions each week sent directly to me from a photo.net reader. I'm hoping to teach a workshop on using a large format camera sometime in nearly 2002 at The Houston Center for Photography. And I participate as much as I can as a volunteer in the bi-yearly Fotofest.

photo.net: What advice do you have for young people anxious to get where you are? What skills must they hone to become successful commercial photographers?

Desire, determination and perseverance mostly, I think talent really flows from that. You also have to have some poetry in your heart, a great desire to share your view of the world and have something you think is worthwhile saying. And you have to be very curious and willing to take big chances, as a commerical photographer you always need to be aware that other people are relying on you to come through for them, to deliver the goods, otherwise their jobs maybe in jeopardy. Commercial work is definitely a team sport and you have to be a good team player as well as a good solo act. It isn't a career for everyone, but I like it. After seventeen years I still like it.