The Fruitcake Has Landed

Wednesday December 23rd, 2009

We have to hand it to food photographer Teri Campbell on his unorthodox holiday campaigns surrounding fruitcakes. In years past, he’s challenged his clients to do something clever with the fruitcakes that he’s mailed them, and send him the resulting pictures. One such example (photographed by his client):

In the first year, Teri says he was “a bit concerned when the  first three entries …all showed a fruitcake in the toilet.” Things progressed, however, and last year he held a contest offering the winner $1,000.00 to come up with the best use for this holiday dessert.

My particular favorites are videos from someone who jammed his fruitcake into a model rocket and shot it into the stratosphere, and a film of a dog eating one in its entirety:

This year Teri’s created a book of past favorites as an alternative to shipping the cakes, and he’s using the prize money instead to donate to a charity, Feed America. While I regret the delay in continued fruitcake debauchery, the charitable route is to be applauded. However, Campbell indicates that he’s willing to bring back the cake in the future.

Teri’s day job is photographing more delectable subjects (no offense to fruitcake lovers) for packaging and menus:

Teri shoots out of his palatial Cincinnati studio, which houses almost 10,000 square feet of kitchen, shooting space, rec. rooms with treadmills and pool tables, and this impressive prop room filled with probably thousands of plates of every color and style imaginable:

I plan to share more holiday cards after Christmas, since we’re still receiving them.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All!

-Neil Binkley

Not Your Typical Holiday Lights

Tuesday December 22nd, 2009

Roger Snider defies the typical categorization of “Automotive Photographer,” though he specializes in shooting automobiles for a living. He’s one of a select group of photographers who shoots, for the most part, 18-wheeler trucks. Even his website address bears this out: www.ultrarigsoftheworld.com.

National Geographic picked up on Snider’s specialty and featured his image above for their Visions of Earth section. These two trucks are part of a cultural phenomenon in Japan described as “art truck clubs.” They’re basically tricked out 18-wheelers owned by truck drivers who need to make their rigs look like mobile pachinko machines.

Roger regularly shoots for Peterbilt, including their annual convention of Peterbilt owners who have customized their rides. Snider’s specialty mostly takes him on location to shoot things like this:

How did he get into this niche work? “I always wanted to be a trucker as a kid…after shooting the stills on the doc film Big Rig I went to a truck show in Vegas…and knew I would be shooting show trucks on location for a long time to come.

Roger Snider is a Los Angeles-based photographer with Wonderful Machine.

-Neil Binkley

Fluffy Last Minute Holiday Gift Idea

Thursday December 17th, 2009

Down to the wire on Holiday gift ideas? Natalie Young, one of our  Los Angeles photographers, just informed us that you can receive her photo book in time for Xmas if you order by this Sunday (or the 23rd, if you’re in LA). And who wouldn’t want charming black and white dog photographs for the holidays? It’s called Georgia & Sabine, named for this dachsund duo:

Options for the 60-page book include either a soft cover version, or a special limited edition hardcover of 100 presented in a slipcase with an original silver gelatin print, which is signed by the artist.

The book includes an essay  by Mindaugas Kavaliauskas, director of the Kaunas Photo Festival, who describes the book thusly: “Georgia and Sabine stands out of thousands, if not millions, of pet photographs because of its simplicity and intimacy.” I certainly find it reminiscent of some of my favorite Elliott Erwitt dog photographs.

A few more of Natalie’s images:

You can purchase the book directly from Natalie’s fine art website. Just click on the “Books” link.

Aside from producing books of canine intrigue, this past year Natalie was named one of the Top 50 Photographers in PhotoLucida’s Critical Mass competition, as well as being nominated for the Santa Fe Prize for Photography. She was also in a  show with blogger/photographer Amy Stein, both featuring their animal photographs.

Natalie’s commercial work can be found here, and below is a sampling of the “tradtional” side of her work.

So we seem to cover all of the cute bases for the holiday: dogs and babies (and my apologies to those who don’t find them cute)!

-Neil Binkley