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.
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.
Austin City Limits (ACL), PBS’ signature tv show showcasing live rock performances, recently tapped photographer Jonathan Jackson to shoot a time-lapse video of Pearl Jam’s show. The band’s performance commemorates the 35th anniversary of ACL, which also boasts itself as the longest running music series in American television history.
The show airs live on November 21st, and Pearl Jam recently posted Jonathan’s time-lapse video to their website. It’s generated 12,000 views of Jonathan’s video in only a few days:
To create the time lapse, Jackson shot one photograph every 6 seconds. This took place over an hour and a half, covering the setup of the show and the performance.
Jonathan considers Austin City Limits to be “one of Austin’s greatest assets,” and feels that helping “celebrate ACL’s 35th year is a thrill beyond words.”
35 years ago, the show focused on performances by the best Texas bands, and they’ve since gone on to feature the likes of Bob Dylan, Coldplay, Arcade Fire, R.E.M, and too many others to mention here. Their site lists almost everyone who’s performed on the show, and includes long excerpts of performances by many of the artists, worth a view if you like the band.
Newshour with Jim Lehrer also used some of Jackson’s footage in a story about ACL’s anniversary. Which was great for Jonathan to hear, because it’s the only news show that he watches.
In addition to his music work, Jonathan shoots architectural interior and exterior photography, including a recent project covering every architecturally-significant structure featured in the 2009 AIA Austin’s home tour.
On a side note: I just found out that his daughter’s first birthday is Dec. 5th, only four days before my son’s! And if you weren’t aware, Jonathan Jackson is an Austin-based photographer with Wonderful Machine.
