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Saturday December 12th, 2009
Danielle Courier just posted an interview with me for the companion website to her upcoming book (coming in February) on portfolio design. Her book’s titled No Plastic Sleeves: The Complete Portfolio Guide for Photographers and Designers.
She was interested to know my thoughts on what makes photography portfolios and promotions stand out, as I had just judged PDN’s 2009 Self Promo Contest.
My encapsulation of her questions:
- What distinguishes the very best photographer’s promotions from the rest?
- What was most difficult and rewarding about judging the awards?
- How important is it to have a printed portfolio?
- Any advice to emerging artists?
You can see my answers on her site, but my overarching theme was that photographers should only show their best work, they shouldn’t try to promote twenty different types of specialties (because most can excel at 2 or 3, max – and that’s fine), and they should be open to feedback from clients, peers and consultants.
Danielle asked the same questions of another PDN Self Promo judge, Robin Milgrim, who is art director with R&R Partners and who’s worked on the Las Vegas Tourism, “What Happens here Stays Here” account.
I enjoyed that her responses had a strong point of view, and this one stood out to me. When asked about the importance of print portfolios, Robin replied:
Make it as good as you can. No excuses. If you don’t love it, don’t put it in your book. If you don’t have enough solid work, make more. Learn to edit yourself. Remember who your audience is. Consider what would appeal to them. Take them for a ride. Entertain. It’s a word often forgotten at the convergence of art and commerce.
The rest of the website seems to showcase a nice selection of design and photography portfolios and promos, so I recommend a peek.
-Neil Binkley
Thursday December 3rd, 2009
A year or so back, PDN contacted us looking for stories of photographers whose editorial work landed them advertising jobs. We had a few in mind, but the connection is not always so clear because art buyers may not always be aware of the first time they see a photographer’s work.
In the case of our Detroit photographer, Roy Ritchie, he was “discovered” by agency Team Detroit after their creatives saw his work in a local magazine (Hour Detroit):
Ford Motors was looking for a looser interpretation of their typical automotive photography and Ritchie, whose work focuses more on portraits and lifestyle, appealed to their need to create a more emotional connection between driver and car.
That’s part of the reason why PDN featured Roy in their “Behind the Lens” column in November (p. 74, if you have the print edition handy):
Roy’s been shooting the campaign worldwide over the course of the year, and it’s funny that Team Detroit’s Whitney Jenkins is quoted in PDN as saying, “My biggest frustration through the whole program is I have too much to choose from.”
“He’s told me that a few times,” according to Wonderful Machine producer, Jess Dudley, “but in a good way.” Jess has handled much of the bidding process for Ritchie, as well as on-set producing in Arizona earlier this year.
Roy’s work appears on full-page inside cover print ads in leading magazines, as well as on Ford’s website devoted to the new Mustang, whose videos and images appeal to a hipper audience than you might imagine:
Ford even had a contest, inviting people to submit their idea for a dream drive in a Mustang, and the winners were offered a ride. And yes, Queen Latifah (above) is a lifetime Mustang fan. Roy Ritchie photographed her taking the car for a spin, and the website has videos as well.
You can see more of Roy’s editorial and commercial work on his website. He’s a Detroit photographer with Wonderful Machine.
-Neil Binkley
Submitted By Wonderful Machine at 12:10 pm
Tags: advertising, art buyers, Automotive, behind the lens, car, detroit, Editorial Photography, ford, Jess Dudley, mustang, PDN, roy ritchie
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Tuesday October 20th, 2009
PDN’s Photo Expo uses Tyler Stableford’s image (above) to promote their annual photography conference, where Tyler is also leading several workshops. Tyler is a Wonderful Machine photographer based in Aspen. Here’s more about his workshops:
This Thursday, October 22, 2009 at the New York PhotoPlus Expo, acclaimed photographer Tyler Stableford will present a seminar on shooting high-selling images. The lecture is titled “Shooting Stock: Creating Exceptional Work & Making Your Ideas Profitable.”
Tyler Stableford’s photography has earned him a worldwide clientele in both assignment work and stock. An accomplished shooter of both Rights-Managed (RM) and Royalty-Free (RF) business models, Stableford focuses on capturing singular top-selling images of outdoor adventure and heavy industry, often in challenging locations. In this seminar Stableford will discuss his proven methods for getting world-class shots while traveling light and using relatively basic lighting setups. He will also share how he focuses his shot list to maximize income and how he gains access to restricted locations. Stableford will provide examples from his tightly honed list of top-selling shoots.
Tyler has been named by Men’s Journal as one of the seven “World’s Greatest Adventure Photographers,” and he is one of Canon’s prestigious Explorers of Light. Tyler has won numerous awards from Communication Arts (incl. the cover image), PDN and The International Photography Awards, among others. His stock imagery is represented by Getty Images. The lecture will be held at the Javits center in the TC4 auditorium.
Tyler is also hosting a two-hour seminar on Friday afternoon titled “Real World Lighting, Real Results: Using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 & Photoshop CS4 for Exceptional Travel and Outdoor Photography.” This will be held in the FC9 auditorium.
For more information on Tyler’s presentations at the PhotoPlus Expo, please see: www.tylerstableford.com/news To register for any of these events, please visit: www.photoplusexpo.com.
