If our first portfolio review of 2012 was any indication of what’s to come, then we’re in for a fantastic year. We kicked off the New Year by dropping by the agency Tierney, right here in Philadelphia before traveling down to Baltimore to visit our new friends at Tri-Media and FILA.
Our meeting with Tierney was much anticipated. With big local clients such as Independence Blue Cross, PECO, and TD Bank, we were excited to meet the creatives behind the ads and commercials that are so prevalent in our area. Kayleen, Jess and I rolled up with our usual cargo full of fantastic portfolios and photo gear and spread out about 20 books next to delicious catering from DiBruno Bros. After hitting “play” on the iPad reels, we waited for creatives to fill the room.
It was great to see some familiar faces and meet new members of Tierney’s creative team. The room quickly filled with people eager to be introduced to new talent and snag some awesome leave-behinds. We were sure to include portfolios from local photographers such as Ryan Smith and Jeffrey Totaro, while also displaying portfolios from out-of-town shooters like John Schulz, Greg Vore and Roger Hagadone.
Overall, the meeting went incredibly well. Afterwards, we returned to the office to unpack, reorganize our cases and prepare for our excursion to Baltimore.
Two days later, we were on our way. The grey skies and wet weather didn’t impact our moods as Kayleen and I got an early start for our drive down I-95 towards “Charm City.” As an alum of Baltimore’s Towson University it was great to return to the area and reminisce on my college days. Our first meeting was with Tri-Media, located right in Towson, about 25 minutes north of downtown Baltimore. Tri-Media is a smaller agency that works in a variety of capacities with clients such as The Discovery Channel and Snyder’s of Hanover Pretzels. We set up shop on their large conference table (with a nice view of my alma mater out the window) and spread out a great selection of work. The agency was pleased to see the work of local shooters such as Dean Alexander, Clark Vandergrift and Steve Buchanan along with other photographers like Adam Ewing, Nick Hall and Leo Gong.
We chatted about the food companies Snyder’s had recently acquired, and how hopefully this will translate into bigger photo projects. In addition, we talked about their web work for Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, which seems to be exponentially growing in popularity every year. Really, who doesn’t love watching a shark leap out of water at 2,000 frames per second?!
We wrapped up our visit with Tri-Media around noon, which gave us some time to grab a quick bite and check our email at Buddy Maratta’s Café and Deli by the busy Towson traffic circle. After filling up, we got back on the road to head north to Sparks, MD where FILA is based. For those not familiar with the rural towns outside of Baltimore, the scenery quickly turns from cityscape and gridded streets to horse farms and windy roads. After stopping for a moment to snap some photos in the woods, we reached FILA’s corporate center. We arrived a bit early, so we took a moment to walk around the scenic pond on their attached corporate park, and carefully stepped around the goose droppings (seriously, I’ve never seen that much goose poop).
After thoroughly cleaning the soles of our shoes, we entered FILA’s office and Amy Gray (their director of photography) welcomed us into their conference room to spread out our books. A few other members of FILA’s creative team soon joined us, and we chatted about recent and upcoming projects. FILA shoots a lot of their catalog still life photos in-house, but they have plenty of projects throughout the year that they hire photographers for. Amongst other portfolios was the work of Kevin Winzeler, Laura Barisonzi and Rick Lohre to name a few. After hearing more about their recent projects, we learned that they have international offices that generate their own content for unique projects around the world. While FILA’s Maryland office mainly works on US-based projects, I was happy to present the work of Munich-based Christian Brecheis to elaborate on the vast presence of Wonderful Machine members in international locations.
After another set of successful meetings under our belt, we were excited to drive down into the heart of Baltimore for a photographer happy hour. We reserved space at one of my favorite spots from my undergrad career, Red Star Bar and Grill, located on the beautiful cobblestone streets of Fell’s Point. The turnout was fantastic, and Dean Alexander, Steve Buchanan, John Davis, Jonathan Hanson and Clark Vandergrift all joined us for a few rounds. Conversation topics included Clark’s competitive cycling career, the local ASMP scene, new studio spaces, and of course, the hot topic of iPad vs print portfolio presentations. Our photographers couldn’t have been friendlier, and it was a fantastic way to end a productive day.
After parting ways, Kayleen and I began our trek up I-95 back towards Philadelphia. Overall, the meetings went incredibly well, everyone was extremely friendly, and it was fantastic to finally put faces to names. The day was a complete success, except for the flat tire I got on the way home…but that’s a different story.
Waking up at 4:30 am isn’t so bad when there’s an action packed day to look forward to. This was the case for Paul and I as we geared up for another fantastic portfolio trip to New York City. After our festive Wonderful Machine holiday party the night before, we loaded up the car with cases of books and promos and began our journey up the turnpike.
Despite the traffic, we arrived exactly on schedule to our first meeting at Arnold Worldwide, located just around the corner from Union Square. While Arnold’s headquarters are located in Boston, their New York office is just as full of talented creatives producing work for clients such as Jack Daniels, Hershey’s, Titleist, Volvo, Carnival Cruise Lines and many others. After a quick ride up their freight elevator, we found ourselves in front of a giant conference table, waiting for us to paint with books.
We spread out about 20 portfolios covering a wide range of genres, including terrific fitness and lifestyle imagery by Mike Tittel, adorable dog photography by Winnie Au, and fantastic still life images by 8183 Studio to name a few. The talented folks at 8183 even supplied custom leave behinds for our Arnold meeting which were definitely a hit. We also included a handful of iPads showcasing video work by Bruton Stroube Studios and Jeffrey Lamont Brown.
Coffee flowed and pastries disappeared as we discussed the work of our talented photographers. As with many of our recent meetings, motion and video work was the hot topic. Specifically, we discussed Arnold’s recent need for photographers to capture still images alongside large video broadcast productions. While these shoots may not require as much art direction on the photographer’s side, they’re often asked to supply unlimited worldwide rights to their images in perpetuity. We had a great conversation on what’s expected from a photographer in situations like these, and how working alongside a broadcast production can be a great learning experience for photographers shooting motion.
After our meeting came to an end, we hustled over to our next meeting at Discover Magazine. I was excited for this meeting as I knew it would be an opportunity to showcase our industrial, science and tech geared photographers. As an eager learner of all things science (any other NPR Science Friday listener’s out there?) it was a pleasure to hear about their recent projects, including a great piece by Chicago-based Saverio Truglia on subatomic particle colliders. As I confidently pretended to understand how subatomic particle colliders actually work, we spread books out on their conference table and the photo team came by to view the work.
Discover‘s photo editor, Randi Slatken, informed us that they put out a “Brain Issue” twice a year, and are constantly seeking stories and imagery relating to the brain in any way. Paul and I instantly pulled up the work of Adam Voorhees and Joseph Escamilla, each with strong portfolios (including images of brains/heads) that would be right up their alley. We also presented a great series of beekeeping images by Matthew Rakola, industrial photography by Michelle McCarron, and a great presentation of portraiture by Cody Pickens and Vincent Ricardel (whose portfolio Paul helped curate over the past few weeks).
An hour later, we headed to our final meeting of the day at Reader’s Digest. Reader’s Digest has deep roots in covering a wide range of topics with a family-centric focus on health and wellness, finance, food, family and travel. Prior to our meeting, I discussed with photo editor Emilie Harjes their desire to see “slice of life” photographers, especially those in hard to reach locations. The spread of portfolios included work by Boise-based Glenn Oakley, Madison-based David Nevala, Santa Fe-based Julien McRoberts, and Birmingham-based Rob Culpepper. With great iPad and online editions of the magazine, Reader’s Digest is always looking for photographers that can capture motion, so we discussed the capabilities of our multi-talented photographers/videographers.
After our meeting wrapped up, Paul and I strolled around the corner to Connolley’s Pub for our much-anticipated photographer happy hour. It’s always great to meet our photographers and put faces to names. This round of drinks was attended by Claire Benoist, Chris Sembrot, John Kuczala, David Arky, Winnie Au and Matt Dutile. We had a wonderful time chatting with our photographers about their recent projects and upcoming holiday plans.
From left: Winnie Au, Craig, Chris Sembrot, Claire Benoist
With another series of fantastic meetings under our belt, it was time to make the drive back to WM headquarters in Philly and call it a day. With a solid face plant into my pillow, I obtained some much-needed sleep after our productive and successful day in New York.
On our second day in Minneapolis, Jess and I woke early and started what would be quite the long day. Our first stop was at the advertising agency Periscope, whose clients include Target, Truvia, Cox Communications, Red Robin, Arctic Cat and many more. We arrived right on time and met up with our contact, the friendly art buyer Keely.
Keely led us to a conference room where we unloaded the portfolios and spread out the breakfast treats. Keely then showed us their huge and utterly amazing touch screen TV where we put up the Wonderful Machine website. Keely, Jess and a Periscope creative played around with the touch screen, looking at websites of photographers that we felt fit what the creative was looking for. Soon after, a larger group of creatives joined us and we all chatted and paged through books.
Jess shows Jay B Sauceda's website to a creative.
We really enjoyed the Periscope meeting and the group seemed to enjoy our company as well. Most left with a smile and a WM t-shirt over their shoulder along with a handful of promos. A few of the books that stood out at Periscope included Michael Haug‘s iPad portfolio (and his nice interface) and all of the animal shooters on the table—the creatives were searching for an animal photographer—like Bruton Stroube Studios, Mark Katzman and Barbara O’Brien. They were also on the lookout for some boat photographers and we wrote down a few suggestions as well. All in all, it was a very successful meeting.
After Periscope, Jess and I decided to grab a bite to eat. We made our way to Black Sheep, a coal fired pizza joint. However, both being good, we didn’t try the pizza and opted for salads instead—but the pizzas looked fantastic!
Once our stomachs were thoroughly filled with lettuce, we headed to KNOCK, a creative ad and design agency. A few of KNOCK’s clients include Target, New Balance, and Namco Bandai. Their office was tres chic with wood walls, wood ceilings and polished concrete floors. Once inside, Jess and I were led to their conference room where we laid out the portfolios. A group of around 10-15 creatives came through in waves, browsing and asking questions.
The KNOCK group looks through books.
The group showed interest in David Ellis‘ large sized prints and in Mark Katzman’s recognizable work. They scooped up leave behinds, listened to our spiel, and exchanged cards. Soon after the crowd had left, Jess and I packed up and headed to our last meeting of the day.
Our next review was at the full service agency, Colle+McVoy. We easily made our way up to their floor without having to take a freight elevator (unlike in New York) and stepped out into their bright and airy office. We immediately noticed the work of our photographer Jonathan Chapman plastered all over the wall—huge prints of their Purina campaign. After browsing around the lobby, our contact, art buyer Chris Peters, arrived and showed us to the meeting area.
The Coll+McVoy lobby, complete with Jonathan Chapman prints.
I was wowed by the large space. This was mostly due to the ping pong table and fountain soda machine! I was green with envy, but put that aside to focus on laying out the portfolios. Once everything was set, and the snacks were in full view, Chris called in the creatives who happily started browsing our selection and crunching on cucumbers. Several commented on what a great group of photographers we had.
Julian Love‘s snowboarding images were soon discovered and the creatives wanted us to write his info down for them. Another creative enjoyed Jay Reilly‘s laid back lifestyle work while several pointed out Richard Fleischman‘s food shots.
As the creatives passed through, Jess and I chatted with Chris about all the things Wonderful Machine has to offer. He was happy to hear how much help we provide art buyers, especially when it comes to tracking down good photographers in obscure places. He was also enthused about our stock request capabilities.
After saying our goodbyes to the C+M group, Jess and I made our way to the ASMP Minneapolis event, Photo Marketing Rehab. There, Jess would be speaking on a panel moderated by Campbell Mithun art buyer Kat Dalager. The other panelists included freelance art buyer/producer Dave Lewis, Fallon art buyer Jason Cooper Hall, consultant Mary Virginia Swanson, Periscope creative resource manager Tina Long, consultant Carolyn Potts, Olson art buyer Mark Pakulski, and Target global photography manager Desiree Barbeyto. Jess was certainly in good company.
The room was packed as the discussion got started. Photographers sat and captively listened as the panel discussed promos, websites, emailers, and general marketing ideas. They also spoke on the best ways to contact potential clients. It was a very informative night with a lot of info packed into a relatively short amount of time. The audience seemed quite satisfied with the event and stayed around after to chat about what they’d learn.
Once the chatting had died down, the panelists and a few of our photographers decided to get together for a celebratory drink. We all met up at the Red Stag and squeezed in around two tables. We had a great time, laughing, talking and drinking for quite some time. However, Jess and I eventually had to leave as we had a very early morning flight to catch (this is the last time Jess makes the reservations). We said our goodbyes and made our way back to the hotel just in time for a good two hours of sleep. Then, half asleep, we flew back to Philadelphia.
The afterparty. From Left: digital tech David Anderson, Kat Dalager, Carolyn Potts, Jess Dudley
I have to say, this trip was not only successful but also very enjoyable. Hope to visit again soon, Minneapolis!
