Canadian photographer Paul Couvrette has deep roots in Ottawa. A graduate of Carleton University, Couvrette has been taking photographs in Ottawa since the 1970s, and he has shot prominent politicians, judges, and businesspersons. His subjects include several prime ministers, Romeo Dallaire, Rick Mercer, and Canada’s favourite formerly-mustachioed game show host, Alex Trebek.
Today, after nearly 40 years in the business, Couvrette owns a studio on Gladstone Avenue and continues to do commercial and private work.
David Moscrop talked to Couvrette about the state of photography, life in Ottawa, and what it's like to live on a photographer's income. This is an edited version of their interview.
OpenFile: What is the current state of photography in Ottawa?
Things have changed, and it’s sad to say, for the worse. The photography industry in Ottawa has changed primarily because of digital photography... First of all, in Canada, our copyright law was never correct. In the [United] States it was a lot stronger; and this has allowed all kinds of people to believe that images could be grabbed from my website or copied off CDs that we sent them. It’s become a real nightmare. Consequently the Ottawa photography scene, compared twenty or thirty years to now, or even ten years to now, if we look at any of those eras, there were probably thirty to forty photographers in Ottawa. Of those thirty to forty, there were probably ten making a good living. Would you believe that there are now probably 500 people in Ottawa who consider themselves photographers? How can that happen when the city didn’t even double in size? It’s digital that did it.
Couvrette went on to discuss the rise and effects of digital photography. Driven by the increased accessibility to the market that technological developments as well as lower equipment and business start-up costs have provided, the photography industry has changed. Today, according to Couvrette, stay-at-home parents or spouses can operate mini-businesses from the suburbs, taking photographs in their spare time.
“The ability to shoot a billion pictures of something going on, and to get ten good ones, has changed the whole dynamic of the biz…some of these people are not bad; a lot are terrible, but some of them aren’t bad. So what happens is that they then decide to set up a website, put up a dozen images, and then, bingo, they’re in business…and they take a general bite out of the marketplace,” says Couvrette.
With the changing industry and what Couvrette calls the “general conservatism” of Ottawa, I wondered why he chose to continue to practice his craft in the city.
You could have chosen to base yourself out of any Canadian city and probably a number of cities throughout the world, and yet you stayed in Ottawa. Why Ottawa?
I’ve always thought that what was good enough for [late, legendary Canadian photographer and friend of Couvrette] Yousuf Karsh is good enough for me. But part of it is that my family is from this area, they’ve been from this area for almost 200 years, so something there stuck me to Ottawa. And the other thing is that eighteen years ago I decided to raise a family, and Ottawa is a great city to raise a family in.
I’ve got to do a lot of travelling across the [United] States and in Canada, and, frankly, I didn’t like it. You know that romantic notion of the photographer getting on planes with all his equipment? Well, after a month of that I was like, ‘Oh, man, this isn’t fun anymore at all.’ I didn’t like being in Chicago and Minneapolis and Milwaukee shooting stuff.
As attached to Ottawa as he is, Couvrette contrasted the health of the Canadian and American markets, noting that the American market pays more and American clients, especially corporate clients, have fewer stipulations about how money is spent. Still, Couvrette calls Canada “the land of opportunity.”
But I was left wondering if Ottawa was up to competing with New York, Toronto or London for innovation in photography, especially since, according to Couvrette, in the past few years Ottawa “has become less of a fun town,” and “has been wearing on a lot of people in the arts,” since “recessions and Conservative governments aren’t that friendly to people in the arts.”
Given what you’ve talked about with the proliferation of photographers and the mediocrity that’s out there, can you still innovate in a city like Ottawa while preserving quality?
Without doubt there are certain clients that will appreciate [innovation]. But in Ottawa, given the fact that we have a very conservative town, you’re going to have more trouble here. No question. Without doubt the world of photography, especially the world of fashion photography, the [United] States is substantially more innovative than we are. In terms of editorial magazines, you get some chances, but it’s tough. Ottawa is a tough town to be innovative in at all.
The big budget stuff is the stuff you can’t do here. And that’s where you look at [American portrait photographer] Annie Leibovitz and realize that she can go out on a set and do some remarkable things with four stylists and six make-up artists and a cast of thousands that we can’t do here in Ottawa. And you’ll never be able to do that in a city this small, because the budgets just aren’t there.
Couvrette explained that taxes, equipment costs, staff costs, and competition mean that profit margins are thin. And while this is true of most business, it’s especially true of photography.
Very, very few photographers in this city have ever retired comfortably—very, very few. And in the future, very few will because it is a very competitive business. I certainly would question if one of my kids was involved in photography. I’d question them on how keen they were to deal with the direction of where the marketplace is going, because unless things change, this won’t be a fun business to be in a decade down the road. That is for certain. I think I’ve seen the glory years of making money in this business pass.”
And yet, still, Couvrette loves his job.
What keeps me doing this is the people I meet. That’s what it is. I can’t imagine any other profession where I would meet that number of interesting people.
