Sunday Spotlight: 10/16/11
Sunday October 16th, 2011
Posts
Sean at APA Midwest
Tuesday October 11th, 2011
by Sean Stone
My trip to Chicago began as these things often do—very, very early. A train and a plane later, I was riding the fabled “El” from Midway to downtown. The experience started out much like the subway in New York or Philadelphia, until a panhandler boarded and demanded everyone’s attention. “Come on…” “This guy again!” “Every day for two years…” passengers grumbled to each other. I was blown away. Not by this guy’s bold violation of Chicago Transit Authority’s “No soliciting” policy, but the fact that these strangers were speaking to each other. What? That’s right, people get friendlier when you leave the east coast, I forgot. Then there was a not so friendly interaction between the solicitor and a businessman, which made me feel more at home. But wait! After the guy changed cars, once again, these strangers started talking about what a crazy thing had just happened. How very unexpected!
Still intrigued by the Chicagoland friendliness, I headed over to the Intelligentsia coffee shop to meet up with David W Johnson, who had just finished a shoot in Millennium Park. David may not be much of a coffee drinker, but he has good taste in coffee shops. We had a great chat about the Chicago market, his recent projects, and his experience with Wonderful Machine. We’ve been helping him schedule quite a few meetings and he told me he’s been very pleased with the results. We walked through his portfolio and I gave him a few pointers.
David W Johnson
From there, I headed around the corner to The Gage for a lunch meeting with the delightful Patti Schumann. Patti has years of experience representing outstanding photographers, including WM members Terry Vine, Saverio Truglia, and Joe Wigdahl. She was very familiar with Wonderful Machine and our roster, but had plenty of questions about the extent of our services, our relationships with clients, and how we work with reps without stepping on any toes. We had a pretty lengthy lunch as she’s very easy to talk to. It was interesting to hear her perspective on estimating, branding, and photographic vision, among everything else we covered.
After lunch, I had a few minutes to kill, so I spent them wandering the park in search of that big shiny bean I’ve heard so much about. It proved harder to find than most big shiny beans, but when I finally found it, it was worth the hunt. It’s pretty amazing!
The big shiny bean.
From there I headed over to the Old Oak Tap, where I had the pleasure of meeting up with Matthew Gilson, Carlos Moore, and Beth Rooney. We talked about the usual—parenting, camping, surviving a move from The South to a freezing northern city, beer and wine, travel, and so on.
Carlos and Beth.
From there it was a quick jaunt down the street to the main event, the APA Midwest Portfolio Review. The review went by quickly, as usual, but I had the pleasure of looking at plenty of great work. Most of the shooters were from Chicago, but a few came from neighboring states just to talk to me…and maybe the great group of reps including Patti Schumann, Melissa Hennessy, and Katie Swanson, among others. I was especially interested in the lifestyle work of event organizer and APA Midwest chair Callie Lipkin, food by Simon Griffeth, and portraiture from Clayton Hauck.
The review. Photo by Ashlley Duarte
At the end of the event, I said my farewells and bedded down before my early morning flight back to Philadelphia. After my adventures with Craig and our extra day in Toronto, an on time departure and arrival has never felt so good. See you next time Chicago!
Atlanta Diary – Peachy Portfolio Visits
Friday March 5th, 2010
Wonderful Machinists Amanda and Jess went down to Atlanta last week to show our books to a few friends at JWT, UPS, CNN, 22squared, and Big Sky. It’s a fun study of logos and branding to view all of their entrances at once:
Amanda Hanley in front of CNN (sorry, we don't have a shot of Big Sky's)
Our first stop was One CNN Center to meet with CNN’s creative team for Multimedia and Interactive Storytelling. One of their producers explained how they’re trying to veer away from using stock images: “I can’t use the same picture of a plane taking off one more time!” A graphic designer expressed the same need for original photography: “In the Health section, we might be covering a new advancement or medical rarity, and we need creative, conceptual images to illustrate it and draw the reader in.”
She was especially impressed with Bill Cramer’s work with doctors and CEO’s, and his ability to animate them into more engaging subjects. They also enjoyed Martin Sundberg’s lifestyle and video work, as they try to incorporate multimedia work whenever possible. Here’s his portfolio:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfyDVMLyuAs
One producer recently had a situation where they needed images for a story about a Midwestern farmer who, in order to publicize his business, tweets from his tractor while he’s out in the field. Generally, technology trends like this change so frequently that there just aren’t enough stock images to choose from. The story itself was on a tight deadline and they needed an assignment photographer in a city/town that wasn’t familiar to producers, so the regional focus of our site was especially appealing to them.
We were also treated to a studio tour, so you may have spotted us in the background of the 11:00 AM broadcast of CNN News.
Next, we spent some time talking with one of 22squared’s art buyers, who says she’s been there since before it was 22squared. She was familiar with a number of our Atlanta-based photographers, especially Deborah W. Llewellyn and Harold Daniels. Always looking for “people, places, and things,” she responded most to books with a playful presentation, like Ryan Robinson’s humorous conceptual images. She was excited about their recent acquisition of the Baskin Robbins account, and she and her family have been big fans for years (and let’s face it, who doesn’t like ice cream?).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA6yWjLsLMI
After lunch we made a stop at Blue Sky Agency, who handles all of Atlanta’s major sports franchises. One of their creative directors explained that they didn’t set out to focus on sports, and handle other accounts as well, but love working with the teams and are excited to fill that role.
That evening we went to Cypress St. Pint & Plate to meet up with a crowd of our Atlanta photographers. It was great to see them all face-to-face and enjoy a few rounds, especially since most of our correspondences are through phone and email. We learned that Ryan Gibson has a music background himself, which helps musicians let loose on his shoots; Jon Kownacki is actually from Detroit, “which explains why I swear a lot,” he jokes; and Deborah W. Llewellyn’s husband is an attorney who pulls double-duty as her official negotiator with clients.
Jon Kownacki, Ryan Gibson, Stan Kaady, Calvin Lockwood, Jim Llewellyn, Harold Daniels, Deborah W. Llewellyn, Amanda Hanley, and David Smith
The next morning we greeted JWT’s creative team with a spread of portfolios and breakfast (kept the two separated of course – no spills). Can’t recall a broader client base: they work with the US Marine Corps, the US Virgin Islands, and FEMA. One art director responded to Terry Vine’s resort work, and loved his presentation of three books in one case, each featuring a different side of his lifestyle/travel work. Aside: No Plastic Sleeves just had a nice post about Terry’s branding collaboration with his rep Patti Schumann.
Another art director was very impressed with Tyler Stableford’s work, especially his recent project photographing the U.S. Air Force: “I had the amazing opportunity to fly with these guys for 90 minutes with five F-16s over the Rocky Mountains, all at my service to get the best possible shots!” Tyler said. He made an exciting, in-air behind the scenes video from that shoot: http://www.tylerstableford.com/portfolio.php?dirid=11 (get your Top Gun fix for the week).
And his portfolio that we showed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIRf0eWdhH4
We ended our stay with a stop at UPS’s headquarters, where we sat down with one of their graphic designers to share a few books and talk about our website. UPS is looking for authentic-feeling lifestyle shooters for their internal and external advertising: “We want to capture a driver on the road, talking with customers, and everything in between.” They were especially happy with Wonderful Machine’s international reach: “When we open up a new market,” she explained, “We want to show our trucks and employees on a real street in Shanghai, on a real doorstep in Thailand – you can tell if it’s done in a studio so we steer clear of that.”
Luckily we made it back into Philly before the snow hit again. So all in all it was a great trip and we’re looking forward to the next opportunity to head down!
-Amanda Hanley and Neil Binkley
After lunch we made a stop at Blue Sky Agency, who handles all of Atlanta’s major sports franchises. One of their creative directors explained that they didn’t set out to focus on sports, and handle other accounts as well, but love working with the teams and are happy to fill that role. They were exciting about an upcoming project that required a gritty, almost photojournalistic take on a racing event that draws thousands of fans to camp out in a small southeastern town. They enjoy these kinds of unconventional takes on sporting events as is allows them to search outside the box for the right photographer.
That evening we went to Cypress St. Pint & Plate to meet up with a crowd of our Atlanta photographers. For such an email- and phone call-heavy industry, it was great to meet them all face-to-face and enjoy a few rounds. We learned that Ryan Gibson has a music background himself, which helps him make let musicians let loose at his shoots; Jon Kownacki is actually from Detroit, “which explains why I swear a lot,” he admitted; and Deborah W. Llewellyn’s husband is an attorney who pulls double-duty as her official negotiator with clients. We were all witness to the opening of a cask beer that night, so if you’re into $26/glass beverages of unfiltered, “live” beer, head downtown to these guys.
The next morning we held a portfolio breakfast at JWT, located outside the business of the city center. Due to office maneuvers, they were all recently shuffled around with the creatives in one building and everyone else in the adjacent building, until they all reunite sometime this year in a new spot. We greeted their team with a spread of portfolios and breakfast (kept the two separated of course – no spills!) sure to start off the day right. Can’t recall a more different base of clients: they work with the US Marine Corps, the US Virgin Islands, and FEMA. One art director responded to Terry Vine’s resort work, and loved his presentation of three book in one case, each featuring a different side of lifestyle/travel work. Another art director was very impressed with Tyler Stableford’s work, especially his recent Air Force images: “I had the amazing opportunity to fly with these guys, for 90 minutes with five F-16s over the Rocky Mountains, all at my service to get the best possible shots!” Tyler said. Here is a trailer he produced from that shoot: www.tylerstableford.com/photos/fighterpilots.mov
We ended our stay with a stop of UPS’s headquarters; their building is incredible and one creative there said that they built it so that it looked like “someone had dropped it in the middle of a forest.” We sat down with one of their graphic designers to share a few books and talk about the site. UPS is looking for authentic-feeling lifestyle shooters for their internal and external advertising: “We want to capture a driver on the road, talking with customers, and everything in between.” They were especially happy about Wonderful Machine’s international reach: “When we open up a new market,” she explained, “We want to show our trucks and employees on a real street in Shanghai, on a real doorstep in Thailand – you can tell if it’s done in a studio so we steer clear of that.”
Luckily we made it back into Philly before the snow hit again. So all in all it was a great trip and we’re looking forward to the next opportunity to head down!
