From a very young
age I have been entranced with communicating both the story and feel of a
moment… The narrative and the atmosphere of what I was witnessing and/or
experiencing. Without
directly intending to, I have instinctively developed into a dynamic colorist…
whatever spectrum of color my work lands on, the vibrancy of the color has
become a common and often integral piece of the communicative nature impelling
me, and compelling the viewer in, in my photos. Educated as a documentary
photographer in college, my training has paired well with my proclivity and
adoration of working with natural and ambient light. For me, a defining &
clarifying moment - and honor - in understanding my style further was reading
the words of friend and collaborator, The Gentle Author, author of London’s
brilliant ‘Spitafield’s Life,’ when he wrote of my work, “You might think that
it is in the nature of photography to reveal the present moment. It should be
easy to take a picture and say, “This is how we look now,” yet one of the most
elusive subjects to reveal in photography is the distinct reality of the
present day… It is a strange experience looking at Ashley’s work because the
clarity of her vision makes me I feel I am looking through the lens of time,
yet being shown a world that still exists outside my own front door.”
How did you start shooting?
I delved into art of all kinds at
a very young age, but I was clearly leaning into photography enough by my 10th
birthday that a photographer family friend gave me a book of French
photographer André Gamet’s work, telling me that it would expand my world wide
open, and inscribed that he was very happy I chose photography as my future
orientation in life!! He was right.. I tore through every photography class I
could get my hands on in high school and college. Also very passionate about
writing (i.e. telling stories) and working in the environmental activism field,
I spent a year after college juggling jobs working at an environmental
non-profit, at San Francisco gallery SF Camerawork, and assisting in a
photography studio. A collective craving to tell stories, to find more ways to
make a difference, and to let the feelings, atmosphere and art piling up inside
me out, I realized my way of doing so would be as it always was.. Through the
visual storytelling of photography. Mere weeks later found me on a Skype call
with two dear friends who were living in London, a city I’d always wanted to
move to, and them insisting I move there instead of traveling through Asia
alone with my camera as I’d planned. I said yes on the spot, deciding I’d start
my freelance career in London. Two months later I did just that, and seven
months later I was working successfully in London and had a piece being
exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery.
At every turn in my life,
through lots of travels and some big moves, following my gut instinct and heart
for what I should do with my work has, without fail, always served me better
than any logical or ‘normal’ decision I have tried to make instead regarding my
career path. I lead and shoot with my gut, where the passion can come through
consistently, and I believe that is what has sustained and pushed me forward
and allowed for my work to develop, for everything to grow.
Who has inspired your style?
Despite working in color as frequently as I do, with an immense
affinity for portraiture and travel photography, my first great loves in
photography were and are the French and American black and white photographers
of the early/mid-20th Century… from Walker Evans, Edward Weston, the FSA
photographers, the f/64 Group, Diane Arbus, W. Eugene Smith, Eugene Atget,
Henri Cartier-Bresson, Lange, Arbus, Andre Kertesz, Penn, Mapplethorpe, Steichen,
Stieglitz… Paul Strand! The list trails on and on…
From that first love forward, there are many I could list, but some stand outs
at present are Gilles Bensimon, the pages of National Geographic, Anne Menke,
Lauren Dukoff, Jason Florio, Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s portraits, and without
fail, Richard Misrach, who was the first photographer I encountered, after
hearing him speak when I was 16, that made me realize a photographer could
simultaneously be a compelling fine art photographer and forceful environmental
activist all at once. I am also hugely moved and influenced by light based
multimedia artists like the amazing Olafur Eliasson, whose work from his early
years to present I find hugely compelling and inspiring.
Recent Work to Note:
Between my daily work which
oscillates between the fields of portraiture, lifestyle, travel, and music, I
have a few projects currently underway that I am extremely excited by, and
which have in turn been a galvanizing wellspring pushing me in the rest of my
work as well. One of which being that I am a proud member of The Arctic
Circle 2015 Summer Expedition. This June, while living & working aboard a
Barquentine Tall Ship, I will be embarking on a month long expedition exploring
with a select group of international artists & scientists in the Arctic
Circle & Svalbard, sailing just 10 degrees latitude south of the North
Pole. My project research has included a Visiting Readership at Oxford
University, with research stints in their inexorably engaging libraries. I am
concerned with how a space like the Arctic has become a ‘living spatial relic’,
and how its existence as such, paired with its perception throughout time
functioning only between a duality of extremes, has impacted the space itself
as well as the rest of the world.
Marcus Smith, born and raised in Chicago, is an emerging force tobe reckoned with.
Strapped with the token Midwestern accent, Smith has a degreein Business Economics from the University of Illinois. He got his feet wetworking as a full time assistant and retoucher for two and a half years beforebecoming his own boss. Marcus describes his style as “stylized reportage”,loves music, thinks awkward situations are hilarious, and believes anything is
possible because his momma told him so.
How did you start shooting:
I started shooting in a
very unusual way. When I was in college, a friend gave me a copy of Photoshop. I started messing around with it, just making desktop wallpapers for my
computer using every filter imaginable. I was also a huge sneaker collector and
started implementing pictures of my shoes into my Photoshop abominations.
I was taking photos of the shoes with a really crappy camera I had been given as a graduation gift. Wanting to get better, I begged my mom for a DSLR
for my 21st birthday. She made it happen and the rest is
history.
Who has inspired your style?
Carlos Serrao, Chris McPherson, Nabil Elderkin, Kareem Black,
Jonathan Mannion, Ben Watts, & Anthony Mandler
In January 2015, Jigisha Bouverat Collective (JBC) officially launched with a global roster representing diverse visual perspectives.
Founder Jigisha Bouverat, previously Director of Art Production for TBWA\Chiat\Day, brings an expansive level of experience from both sides of the business. JBC is grounded in the shared commitment to nurture the development of each artist’s creativity and career, balancing art with commerce.
Matt, a 34 year old Brooklyn based photographer, is our latest emerging talent.
Raised in New Jersey and educated at Drexel University in Philadelphia, he has been out of the ‘burbs for at least as long as he was a part of them. These environments helped build the aesthetic of his work. He works hard, everyday. If he’s on the way to a shoot or on his way home, he will take that time to photograph life on the street. Matt takes work seriously, but he believes that there is room for thoughtfulness and fun in every job. He defines photography as “direct and immersive”, allowing him to tell stories and to get closer to people and the world we live in.
How would you define your style?
I create portrait and lifestyle images that are immersed in the moment, direct, and engaging.
How did you start shooting?
Like many photographers, I was given a camera when I was around 14 or 15. It was my Dad’s Pentax Spotmatic and at first, I used chrome film, later black and white in school. I started by walking around my hometown in New Jersey photographing literally anything that caught my eye; trash balled up in the scrubby grass next to a baseball field, freight trains, a junkyard near the bowling alley I worked at, friends trespassing in the woods near sundown.
Who has inspired your style?
I initially saw myself becoming a photojournalist. I devoured “Life” and “Time” magazine compilation books that I got at garage sales, the work of W. Eugene Smith and others. While at Drexel University I learned about Robert Frank, Walker Evans, Garry Winogrand, Mary Ellen Mark, Dian Arbus, Lee Friedlander, William Eggleston, Stephen Shore, too many, really, to list. These are some of the “famous” photographers that have influenced me, but I learned just as much if not more from everyone that I worked for and with as an assistant, most importantly Walter Smith.
From him I learned that style is something you develop and change over time, but the humanity and compassion you bring to your work must always be there. It is the most important thing you have. Also, having a sense of humor doesn’t hurt!
Recent Work to Note:
I have recently worked on social media advertising campaigns, through Code + Theory in New York, for both Burger King and Snapple. I’ve worked on view books for both the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and the German-town Friends School through The Heads of State in Philadelphia.
To see more of Matt Zugale’s work, check out his Instagram and website!
Featured this month is Canadian native and 12 year award-winning photographer, Brent Mykytyshyn.
Brent’s strong focus in advertising, still life, editorial, and interiors has granted him projects with numerous advertising agencies and magazines all across Canada. A true man of his craft, Brent enjoys image manipulation, large format photography, and turn of the century photographic techniques. He has shared with us a project that took much learning and diligence to complete, but in the end is a complete work of art.
The project is titled “The Love Stare” and it has been years in the making. It is showing in the contemporary art gallery, Paul Kuhn, in Calgary. “The Love Stare” consists of 109 wet plate collodion images, made with the intention of capturing, sharing, and spreading the feeling of love.
After being introduced to the process of wet plate collodion in 2012 while travelling through Paris, Brent pursued learning the process. As it turned out, the artist, soon after Brent had seen his work in Paris, moved to Denver- where Brent took a workshop to learn the process later that year. It took over a year to build a darkroom, gather the equipment (8x10 camera, vintage 1901 lens, darkroom accessories, etc.), convert film holders, build lighting, and make the chemistry.
While that was unfolding, the idea of “The Love Stare” unfolded as well, rather organically. Once he began creating the body of work, it took one year to complete, working rather diligently. Now, the project has been on the cover of a local magazine and written about by numerous others in the city. Brent has done radio and video interviews discussing this project, which is all very new and exciting.
The project was received with great success. The opening afternoon brought an estimated 300 people into the gallery and the buzz has not stopped since. Brent tries to be present each Friday and Saturday afternoon at the gallery to greet new guests and talk about the concept of the project. The people who come really seem to connect with that. The show is extended another month until the end of March. After that, Brent plans to travel the project to different cities around the world.
To view Brent’s project updates and personal work, visit his blog OR visit his website .
Rob DeLuke’s over twenty five years of experience with east-coast agencies and design firms has helped set the precedent for reshaping many corporate brands and their strategic visions for today’s corporate climate.
DeLuke’s focus is corporate branding, and strategic creative development, aswell as marketing, collateral and new trans-media from web site design /e-Business and social, to broadcast and interactive campaigns. DeLuke hasworked on brands such as Disney, Sea World, Hilton, Embassy Suites, General
Electric, Pontiac, Toyota and The State of New York. DeLuke now has branched
out to form TILT36T ˚, an advertising, and content & design firm with a
creative mantra that “Good enough is NEVER good enough”. DeLuke wants to work with visionaries, ambitious go-getters, and
companies that stand for something; Companies that want to leave this world in
a better place than they found it. This is a place where creative concepts
matter. A place where the brands they create stand out, and stand for
something and never stand still. Find out what inspires a Creative Director of his magnitude.
As a creative director, I find myself in front of a
computer screen for long periods of time; that’s because it’s a part of my
job. While it’s easy to say that I find inspiration through visual blogs
and social media websites (which I do), the truth is that I’m most inspired by getting
away from the computer. Whether I’m coaching disabled kids on how to play
baseball, or wandering aimlessly through cheaply assembled tents in unbearable
heat to find that new up and coming artist. Ideas often spring out fully formed
when I am engaged in some sort of simple task not related to “advertising”. Inspiration, truly, is everywhere. You
just need to open your eyes a little bit to see it all around you.
For emotional inspirational freedom I love to seek out
interesting art. I’m an avid collector
of superhero paintings, outsider art, and toy tin robots. I look for things
that I’m not good at painting or creating myself. Outsider art really inspires me because I like
my art to make me feel something emotional, whether that’s fear, anger, sadness
or bliss.
For color and space inspiration I’m drawn to things that
make my home feel calm and relaxed, because my daily life is always “hair on
fire”. I get inspired by color and the use of space and pattern in architectural
designs that blend old and new to transform my home life into a peaceful
sanctuary.
Personally, I’m inspired by my daughter who has
constantly struggled with her disability trying to fulfill her dreams of some
day being a part of the musical theater world she idolizes. My biggest inspiration is creating art
with her. She is a huge musical theater fan. I mean how could she not be drawn
to the arts with a Mom who’s a photographer and a Creative Director Dad. We run
a non-profit business in which we create art for Broadway musicals. And when I
say non-profit, I mean we make the art and can never seem to part with it, even
though people are incredibly interested in buying them.
She has actually inspired me to take on a new chapter in my life of owning and
running my own advertising & design studio. Inspiration can be a powerful
motivator.
Midwestern photographer, Gabe Hopkins is known for his spectacular attention to detail. He is his own worst critic when it comes to scrutinizing every aspect of of his projects.
Gabe is a diversephotographer in the respect that he shoots a wide range of work. Varying fromfood to agriculture and conceptual; these genres reflect his versatility andcreative vision. He believes that his ability to shoot different genres pairedwith his ability to remain flexible is what has given many of his clients a successfuland enjoyable experience. Hopkins was kind enough to share with us, his experienceworking with Merck Animal Health.
“I was approached by an advertising
agency working with Merck Animal Health. The product they were advertising
worked faster than their competitors. To start, they asked me to estimate a
rough layout that they had produced. The look they were going for was an image
of a drag racer taking off from the starting line; speed, with a little bit of motion. It was important to find the right model. Luckily, we found a
professional, female drag racer that would be able to handle the job while
staying safe.
Three days before the photo shoot it
snowed on the track so we had to use a rake to get rid the snow in the grass; some
snow blowing was involved as well. We set up a four sided tent with
heaters for the clients, crock pots full of potato soup, and hot
chocolate. It was 32 degrees outside with 10-15 mile an hour winds,
however, with the wind-chill it felt like 23 degrees.
Around noon on he day of the shoot,we began setting
up the tent for the clients on the track and grass. We wanted to
make sure they were comfortable, warm, and happy. We pulled out the bike and started
getting the generators going so we could pop some fill light on the shadow side
of the bike. While we were doing this, the clouds started rolling in.
Very soft, wispy clouds that really helped bring this image to life.
Other concerns we had because of the
cold weather were that the tires of the race bike would break loose and send the
racer out of control. As you can imagine, we didn’t want to have her take off
the line to many times. We ended up getting this very quickly and the
softer clouds lowered the contrast ratio to really help capture the detail of
the bike, and the speed of her coming off the starting line.
We captured the final images about an
hour before sunset. We wrapped up and had sandwiches and hot chocolate to
celebrate the production.”
From a very youngage I have been entranced with communicating both the story and feel of amoment… The narrative and the atmosphere of what I was witnessing and/orexperiencing.
Without
directly intending to, I have instinctively developed into a dynamic colorist…
whatever spectrum of color my work lands on, the vibrancy of the color has
become a common and often integral piece of the communicative nature impelling
me, and compelling the viewer in, in my photos. Educated as a documentary
photographer in college, my training has paired well with my proclivity and
adoration of working with natural and ambient light. For me, a defining &
clarifying moment - and honor - in understanding my style further was reading
the words of friend and collaborator, The Gentle Author, author of London’s
brilliant ‘Spitafield’s Life,’ when he wrote of my work, “You might think that
it is in the nature of photography to reveal the present moment. It should be
easy to take a picture and say, “This is how we look now,” yet one of the most
elusive subjects to reveal in photography is the distinct reality of the
present day… It is a strange experience looking at Ashley’s work because the
clarity of her vision makes me I feel I am looking through the lens of time,
yet being shown a world that still exists outside my own front door.”
How did you start shooting?
I delved into art of all kinds at
a very young age, but I was clearly leaning into photography enough by my 10th
birthday that a photographer family friend gave me a book of French
photographer André Gamet’s work, telling me that it would expand my world wide
open, and inscribed that he was very happy I chose photography as my future
orientation in life!! He was right.. I tore through every photography class I
could get my hands on in high school and college. Also very passionate about
writing (i.e. telling stories) and working in the environmental activism field,
I spent a year after college juggling jobs working at an environmental
non-profit, at San Francisco gallery SF Camerawork, and assisting in a
photography studio. A collective craving to tell stories, to find more ways to
make a difference, and to let the feelings, atmosphere and art piling up inside
me out, I realized my way of doing so would be as it always was.. Through the
visual storytelling of photography. Mere weeks later found me on a Skype call
with two dear friends who were living in London, a city I’d always wanted to
move to, and them insisting I move there instead of traveling through Asia
alone with my camera as I’d planned. I said yes on the spot, deciding I’d start
my freelance career in London. Two months later I did just that, and seven
months later I was working successfully in London and had a piece being
exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery.
At every turn in my life,
through lots of travels and some big moves, following my gut instinct and heart
for what I should do with my work has, without fail, always served me better
than any logical or ‘normal’ decision I have tried to make instead regarding my
career path. I lead and shoot with my gut, where the passion can come through
consistently, and I believe that is what has sustained and pushed me forward
and allowed for my work to develop, for everything to grow.
Who has inspired your style?
Despite working in color as frequently as I do, with an immense
affinity for portraiture and travel photography, my first great loves in
photography were and are the French and American black and white photographers
of the early/mid-20th Century… from Walker Evans, Edward Weston, the FSA
photographers, the f/64 Group, Diane Arbus, W. Eugene Smith, Eugene Atget,
Henri Cartier-Bresson, Lange, Arbus, Andre Kertesz, Penn, Mapplethorpe, Steichen,
Stieglitz… Paul Strand! The list trails on and on…
From that first love forward, there are many I could list, but some stand outs
at present are Gilles Bensimon, the pages of National Geographic, Anne Menke,
Lauren Dukoff, Jason Florio, Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s portraits, and without
fail, Richard Misrach, who was the first photographer I encountered, after
hearing him speak when I was 16, that made me realize a photographer could
simultaneously be a compelling fine art photographer and forceful environmental
activist all at once. I am also hugely moved and influenced by light based
multimedia artists like the amazing Olafur Eliasson, whose work from his early
years to present I find hugely compelling and inspiring.
Recent Work to Note:
Between my daily work which
oscillates between the fields of portraiture, lifestyle, travel, and music, I
have a few projects currently underway that I am extremely excited by, and
which have in turn been a galvanizing wellspring pushing me in the rest of my
work as well. One of which being that I am a proud member of The Arctic
Circle 2015 Summer Expedition. This June, while living & working aboard a
Barquentine Tall Ship, I will be embarking on a month long expedition exploring
with a select group of international artists & scientists in the Arctic
Circle & Svalbard, sailing just 10 degrees latitude south of the North
Pole. My project research has included a Visiting Readership at Oxford
University, with research stints in their inexorably engaging libraries. I am
concerned with how a space like the Arctic has become a ‘living spatial relic’,
and how its existence as such, paired with its perception throughout time
functioning only between a duality of extremes, has impacted the space itself
as well as the rest of the world.
Style: Lauren Randolph is a creative portrait and lifestyle photographer based out of Los Angeles. Also known on Instagram as photographer “lauren lemon”, she has over 230K followers and over 150K followers on Tumblr. Lauren’s ability to compel her audience through sensory wonder and visual storytelling, along with her dynamic, colorful compositions are among her greatest distinctions.
Notable Clients: Acura, Adobe, Nordstrom, Coppertone, Caesars Casinos, The Academy Awards, Country Music Television/MTV Networks, Disney, Fox, Gap, Jamba Juice, Lipton, FX, National Geographic Channel, Progressive Insurance, American Express, MasterCard, Dolby, Sony, Universal, Saucony, PUMA, Mercedes, Toyota, Honda, Olympus, Fruttare Fruit Bars.
Current Projects to watch for: Lauren is currently working on a few projects that have yet to be released. She recently attended and shot behind the scenes photos at the Oscars. Also, she recently photographed the cast of Glee for the series finale.
Style: Cory Dawson is a product and food photographer based in New York. He is a visionary in design and concept; which is displayed in his colorful and graphic compositions throughout his work. Earlier in his career, Cory worked as an Art Director and staff photographer for a publishing company in Vancouver which helped him shape and launch his photography career.
Notable Clients: Refinery 29, Target,Vancouver Magazine, Sustento Design, Saxx Underwear, Conde Nast Traveler, One Twenty Three West, Faremont Hotels, Bocci.
Current Projects to watch for: Cory continually works on professional and personal projects, but his latest work is his collaboration with Refinery 29 and home-based Style Maestro: Bean the Bun. They have joined together to inspire decor that sings with artful and creative use of vibrant color and playful pattern.
Style: Based in Helsinki, Finnish entrepreneur Lauri Laukkanen has already become one of the world’s youngest commercial advertising photographers to have worked internationally. At just 22 years old and represented in the USA by Elizabeth Pojé + Associates, he is described as a director, producer, lecturer, motivational speaker, workshop teacher and author with his brand new book ‘Camp Creative’ due in Autumn 2015. It is no wonder his ambition and drive to succeed is astonishingly high, having turned down a place in Finland’s top university - University of Helsinki - in order to propel his enterprise at nineteen.
Lauri’s YouTube-tutorials have been watched over 300,000 times and the videos he has directed and/or produced boast views over 4.5 million worldwide. Having travelled the globe on many of these commercial assignments, it is understandable why Lauri’s passport currently holds stamps from over thirty countries on four separate continents - a count that is ever increasing.
Notable Clients: TBWA\Helsinki, Hewlett Packard, Hilton Hotels and Resorts, Instrumentarium, BMW, Nelonen, YLE, Fuji, Olympus, National ballet of Finland, Dynamo, Warner Music, Universal Music and Sony Music.
Current Projects to watch for: Lauri just returned from a month in Thailand, were he shot an advertising campaign and music video.
This month, Brisbane-base photographer Fred McKie, shares with us some of his favorite images from Las Vegas to Sydney.
A black and white
cityscape of Las Vegas, as seen at night from high above the Strip, has won an
Australian travel photographer an award.
Brisbane-based Fred McKie’s print “Vegas Nights” collected
silver in the Travel photography category at the Australian Institute of Professional Photography’s
(AIPP) 2015 Queensland Professional Photography Awards (QPPA) late last
month.
The photograph was
captured from the viewing platform of the Paris Las Vegas hotel and casino’s
half-size replica Eiffel Tower in late 2013 during a two-day stay in Sin City
at the start of a self-funded Southwest road trip that produced a few other
award-winning images also.
Fred shot the image, a 3.2 second exposure
time, on his primary camera – a Canon 5D Mark III – with his Canon EF 16-35mm
f/2.8L II USM lens squeezed through a small hole in the security fence.
Here he shares the
story behind the capture.
“I was there as a tourist like everyone else and had no
more right to stand where I was, but I’d been patient waiting for the chance to
utilise the hole in the fence and I was adamant I would hold my ground until
I’d captured what I wanted,” McKie says.
“I could only get one leg of my tripod firmly stabilized on
the floor, with the others strategically poked through the grill of the fence.
It was a logistical nightmare, with a high risk of it being bumped as people
jostled to get a better view.
“One of the Eiffel Tower
Experience staff even tried to hurry me along, to make way for the next group
of sightseers coming up the elevator, but the hole was small and it was fiddly
to make the precise focal length and focussing adjustments through the fence to
get the shot just right. Once I had the shot, I happily pulled back and let
everyone else in.”
He adds: “My appreciation of the photograph
has grown over time, with its true potential being revealed
through a recent conversion to black and white – not initially an obvious
choice for showcasing the City of Lights.
“I think it really
works and the dominating casinos, the Bellagio fountain, the lights trails of
traffic and other cars sitting in long queues all help to reference the madness
that is Vegas from high above.”
By AIPP rules, entries in the QPPA travel
photography category must be single-capture images with no retouching that
materially affects the authenticity of the document. Camera technique and print
quality are considered to be important, with the judges also paying special
attention to composition, light and camera angle.
“My QPPA success also includes Silver
awards in both the Landscape and Illustrative categories, with photographs shot
in my native Australia: a Sydney Opera House abstract titled ‘Sails’ and a
spooky image conjuring a sense of paranormal activity titled ‘Supernatural
Portal’ which was captured in an old reservoir below my home city, the
Queensland capital Brisbane,” McKie says.
“Previous industry awards for myself
include a Silver at the AIPP Australian Professional Photography Awards last
year for a Monument Valley landscape, which is my most celebrated image to date
having also been a finalist in the 2014 Head On Landscape Prize in Sydney - as
part of the world’s second largest photography festival - and collecting Silver
in the 2013 International Loupe Awards.
“In addition to celebrating these latest
awards, I am currently preparing for the first gallery exhibition of my
photography in Queensland, so it’s a nice momentum builder for me.
“I will be showing eight prints as part of
the SNAP15 photography group exhibition at Aspire Gallery in the inner-city
Brisbane suburb of Paddington from April 8th to April 25th, including a 45 inch x 30 inch print
of the Head On finalist ‘Monument Valley Storm’ finished in an exquisite
Italian hand-finished
and imported Bellini Fine
Moulding frame.
Associate Creative Director, Vince Murray, shares with us his daily inspiration.
Creative: Vince Murray
Title: Associate Creative Director
Current Clients: Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, Warner Bros. Studio Tour, Western Digital
A little about Vince:
Although he has worked on many products and services in his career, Vince can be what you call a “car guy.” He has over 14 years experience at Los Angeles agencies working on car accounts. Vince was trained at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in traditional advertising and design. He cut his digital teeth at a dot com in San Francisco in the early 2000’s. And he’s well versed in all facets of advertising – print, TV, outdoor, banners, websites, social, videos, pens, t-shirts, etc. You name it, Vince has done it. He believes the “idea” is king regardless of the medium.
Question:
What inspires you daily?
I’ve written down thousands of advertising ideas in my Moleskine notebooks – most were bad, some were good and only a few were great. So like a professional athlete who needs thousands of calories to burn just to keep his body from failing, I need to constantly burn creative stimuli to keep my brain functioning at a level where I stay relevant in this business. So what does my brain consume? What ever it can. But mostly, I get inspired by technology, great work and the humanity of others. And with the data rich world of the internet and social media – there is a constant and abundant stream.
I usually read a handful of blogs and sites in the morning to stay on top things and get ready for the day (see my hit list below). It’s good to know what new app, trend or technology breakthrough is about to be the next big thing. Communication is in constant flux so it’s a must to stay on top of emerging technologies and figure out how to twist them into something marketable for my clients.
For art and design I like to go to blogs that aggregate tons of work from all over the world. This is great because it gives me a quick hit of inspiration and jealousy that keeps me fired up. Sometimes I need that motivation, otherwise, I fear I would become complacent with my work.
But stories of people doing wonderful things inspire me the most. There is so much bad happening in the world today that it’s hard to stay positive. But there are always great stories of people overcoming obstacles that are bigger than the ones in front of me. Some make me cry, some make me laugh and some just make me smile. These stories inspire me to be better in my work and in life.
I’m not really sure where ideas come from but I do know I have many more notebooks to fill – so I need to keep my brain healthy and fed with good stuff. I do need others to inspire me. But hopefully, I return the favor with something good for others to consume.
New York based commercial photographer, Donald Bowers, boasts over twelve years of experience in the industry. Despite his often lively, energetic and color-intense compositions, Bowers took a step back for The Bathroom Series and let the naturally desolate elements of winter dictate the direction of this photoset.
Taking an almost stark contrast approach with these photographs, Bowers distinguishes his Bathroom Series by presenting those commonplace yet hauntingly reminiscent images of winter’s impact on the human spirit itself. The last scraps of toilet paper stuck to the roll, pure white pills on a black backdrop and torn warning labels from over the counter medications. In reflecting on the uncertainty of winter’s trajectory and that of those enduring it, Bowers successfully translates the ambivalence and domesticated sense of survival that courses through our veins come cold season.
Bowers shares with us his insight into the world of photography, the inspiration and vision behind this series and the artistic process he utilized moving forward with this project:
“The Bathroom Series is a reflection of my love of all things CVS, Walgreens, Duane Reade, etc. It comes from a young budding photographer’s interest in the wonderfully overstocked OTC section of any drug store and all you can find there.
Living in the cold Northeast during the winter months, my photography direction often turns to still life. And while Amazon online shopping is one of my favorite places to find inspiration and subject matter, I don’t always want to spend needless money…that’s when I raid my bathroom!
The Bathroom Series expresses things that are going on in my life, as well as a reflection on this time of year when you feel anything from lonely and vulnerable to hopeful and excited. The bathroom raid comes on the heels of a new year, new goals and new outlooks on life. It looks inward and represents using what we have to power through the tough winter months.
I try not to spend inordinate amounts of time on any one project, unless it’s an ongoing project which is years in the making. Otherwise you can get caught up in it forever and get stuck. But this one in particular took about a week.
I asked Donald to discuss his artistic process, and how this project may have challenged, derailed it entirely or simply differed slightly from that of his other works.
“I knew I wanted to create a little story, but wanted to do it in black and white. All the over sharpened, over saturated high depth of field work we see so much of these days made me want to see something different…a bit different even from my own style.
Photographers are constantly looking - not only at their own work - but often at other photographers, ads and editorial. This creates a challenge in that many photographers get derailed by the constant looking before and during a project. In order to overcome this, when I have a specific project I always try to just throw myself into my work and focus on the task at hand, rather than looking around to see what others are doing. There is plenty of time for that later!”
To view more of Donald Bowers’ work, visit his site.
Having gained a reputation for communicating the intangible, Bootsy Holler’s fine art photography transcends time and space, leaving the viewer with a profound perception of the given subject. In capturing and evoking all the depth of emotion the human spirit holds in a single photograph, Bootsy begs the question on her own website, who has time for a thousand words?
In her project Visitor: rebuilding the family album, Bootsy bravely reinterprets old family snapshots. By superimposing herself into photographs with family members of generations past, she is able to play with the concepts of blurred boundaries, place, memories gone by and time travel. In reimagining these frozen moments and placing herself amongst many family members who are no longer around today, Bootsy experienced a kind of voluntary catharsis, reconciling a great portion of her own identity by understanding where her mother and grandmother came from.
By embedding herself into these photos and subsequently choosing different wigs, outfits and ages, Bootsy remains an elusive member of her own family. Looking on in some photos, participating in others. Throughout the series, however, she is never far behind her loved ones. In toying with time-travel and re-touching history, Bootsy successfully coalesced a more rooted sense of family that she had previously felt robbed of. Of this notion, Bootsy writes, “…each [photograph] is an artifact that lets me connect with the family that fell apart. When I reflect on my ‘visits’ with my relatives, I once again feel part of a family history and legacy that is unbroken.”
I had the absolute pleasure of speaking with Bootsy in regards to the current success of Visitor, what the future has in store for the project and the artistic process that helped bring it to fruition.
Can you discuss your artistic process and how this photo series may have challenged, derailed it completely or simply differed slightly from that of past projects?
B: All my personal work starts organically. Often that means I have a bug in my head that sits until it finds a way out into a project. With the Visitor series, that was a need to use all my vintage clothes. The project really came into focus when I was asked to do a self-portrait. After sharing this image with people - the one of me standing with my grandmother Ruby and my dog Mouse - and seeing the reaction from people, I knew I had something special to work on. I’ve never had a reaction to my work like this. I really got true reactions, like gasps and ‘oh my gosh!’
The process, Bootsy elucidated, went something like this: “I collected family photographs and I looked for snap shots that had a place where I could fit in. I decided what to wear and collected the outfit, the wig and decided on makeup. Then once everything was ready, I would figure out the lighting in the image and how to match it. This last part became restrictive, like, ‘I’ve got to do that shot at high noon out in the alley or on the sidewalk in my neighborhood.’”
In sharing intimate details about the photo series, Bootsy noted that the only time she felt slightly removed from the process itself was in those brief moments of posing for a camera timer dressed in vintage clothing inherited by her grandmother, standing outside in an alley or on a sidewalk to get the perfect shot.
Bootsy explained that the challenge in Visitor came about when creating the space necessary to superimpose herself in an organic fashion. “I’m obviously a very meticulous person,” she said. “So naturally, finding the right image was vital to the composition of the piece.
How long did you spend on this project?
B: I think I worked for nine months to a year. My son was a year old when I took a class and that’s where I was asked for a self-portrait. I took the class for inspiration. The class met monthly so my goal was to be able to bring in two or three or even one new image a month.
Did your vision shift at all from start to finish with Visitor?
B: I think most of what changed is when I start a project, it’s subconscious for me. It comes with no heavy emotions behind it. Then I start to write about the work and I have to say, “What does this all mean?” And as time goes on, I think about how my interpretation of the work changes. It’s the process of me understanding myself better - a self-realization of who I am and why I’m here. My identity and everything I’ve learned from my mother about her and my grandmother changes my thought process about who they were and how I came to be. It has brought up a whole new relationship with my mom and me. A better relationship where we are working together on something that she is the expert in; her life. The project has changed me as a person; I like myself better.
Did you have to sift through a large pile of old family photographs that were already in your possession? Were these simply the first twenty photographs you came across? If not, why these particular twenty?
B: While working on the photo series Ruby & Willie, I took a bunch of photos that were in a box and my grandmother Ruby’s yearbook. That’s really all that was left.
In the midst of the project, Bootsy revealed, her Grandfather had passed away. What had been so carefully preserved by him since his wife’s death in 1978, was either torn apart or sold.
B: The rest of the photographs might have gotten taken to the dump, I’m not sure what happened to them. The box is literally extras and small 2 ¼ contacts. I saw them as snapshots, as artifacts. That was kind of huge for me, keeping them the original size. That box was all I had; I didn’t have a lot to choose from. A whole other wave of images emerged from my mother’s side as well that I can use up, but the first twenty came from the found box. I have possibly thirty usable images from my dad’s side that I want to start working with. Sadly, most all of his side of the family photos got lost.
Bootsy mentioned that she would like to progressively transition into utilizing the color album archives her family kept, thus sparking a further extension of the project.
B: I’m going to move into some color so when I do the book I’ll have at least sixty pages. This way it won’t only be a family timeline that’s depicted but a photography and fashion timeline as well. I want the book to be like a little diary of family snapshots, stories, photography, hair styles and clothing going across in this compressed time lapse, starting in the early 1900′s to the 1970′s.
While there are brief descriptions underneath the photos, were there stories that had been shared with you at some point in time regarding those family outings and memories? Or was there a lot of room for interpretation as you superimposed yourself into these images?
B: My mom had stories for some photos but not all. Almost everybody in the snapshot I’m connected to through family. I know most of the people, or have known them at one point in my life, so I do have feelings about each image and person in the photos.
When I first was putting Visitor out into the world, I entered a single image into a juried show and I thought, “Oh shit. If it’s just a single image with no text how will anybody get what’s going on without a heavy statement?” That one image made it into the group show and had a small paragraph under it about the feelings I had of sitting with my grandfather while he was fishing.
Some of the photos talk about the locations versus the people. So I don’t know. I think it was just a photo album idea to have that hand written text along with the work. The images are framed in a black shadow box with my hand writing on each in white ink. I’m also trying not to overwhelm whoever is looking at it. I want it to feel like a family photo - an artifact from the past - which is why they are printed, trimmed and sized as the original looked and felt. Creases, scratches, damaged corners and grainy photography included.
I do think when I do the book it might be nice to interview my mother and father a little bit more and add more story. People seem to really need the text with the images, so many people don’t get the work. They think it is just a vintage photo or don’t understand that it is me in the snapshot, even when the image has text and an arrow pointing to me, people still have a hard time believing it. This work is very quiet, not in your face. You have to want to understand what is going on or you will just walk right by and assume it is just an old snapshot from someone’s family album.
On her site, Bootsy writes of her fine art project, Ruby & Willie: “I used photography for what it does best, to document a place and time before it is gone.” Perhaps Bootsy has found a way to circumvent the finality of the passage of time with Visitor. In reconceptualizing the frozen moments, Bootsy has brilliantly traveled back in time, revisiting and sharing in the experiences and environments that once were.
To view more of Visitor and other works by Bootsy Holler, visit her site.
We caught up with adventure photographer Tobias MacPhee to discuss his recent success, his newest endeavors and his foundation that started him in the industry.
Maintaining a wild fascination with athleticism, adventure and adrenalin, MacPhee tends to shoot bodies in motion. Many, in extreme environments. As a youngster, MacPhee used to imagine what it must have been like to be alive in moments of old, archived black and white photography. He would place himself amongst those in the photographs, trying to envision life back then. Growing up, he told us, he often “played” around with photography but never took it too seriously. Although, he admitted, it was always on the back of his mind in some capacity. Eventually, MacPhee said, “It too became this voice that wouldn’t go away and I had no choice but to listen.”
For Tobias, communicating his vision from conception to completion despite the complexities of shooting imagery in motion has kept him incredibly motivated. Captioning a photograph of a smiling skier, MacPhee wrote: “It’s the energy a person brings to a project or a moment that inspires me to push myself creatively.”
Once, while shooting the sport beside an old friend, he was asked if Wyoming’s fly fishing lived up to his expectations. MacPhee responded that beyond the physical sport, he was most impressed by the community’s passionate dedication to the action itself. “…And that’s what I love to photograph, people in their element doing what they love.” It is this fueled desire to showcase the individual thriving in their environment that defines much of MacPhee’s work. In this same interview, when asked if he wanted to try out the sport next time, Tobias responded, “Although I would really love to try fly fishing and learn to catch fish like the ones I saw while in Wyoming, the truth is that I’m a slave to my camera and can never put it down.”
In a separate interview, when asked to make a distinction between ordinary and extraordinary photography, MacPhee once said, “The difference between an average photo and a great photo is often a fraction of a second. A great photo has the ability to send a message, express emotion, inspire, motivate or tell a story. A split second too early or late and you can lose that message or emotion. As a photographer you must have the vision of what you want to express and the patience to let that moment present itself.”
As an impassioned athlete himself, MacPhee not only understands but lives and breathes the energetic experience day in and day out. He magnificently seizes the spirit and stamina paramount to getting that perfect run, climb, hike, stretch, ride or action shot. His love for the land is abundantly visible in all of his work, particularly his personal project, The Clean Air Project. His work touts a bold and vivid stylistic approach inspired by Tim Tadder, Chase Jarvis and Joey L. Whether it’s the anticipation, the excitement, the fear or the pure bliss - there is a heightened sense of accomplishment, experience and fulfillment ubiquitously tying MacPhee’s photos together.
Boasting a client list including Climbing Magazine, Patagonia, The New York Times and Black Diamond Equipment - Tobias Macphee has no plans of slowing down any time soon.
To check out more of Tobias MacPhee’s work, visit his website
New York based commercial photographer, Donald Bowers, boasts over twelve years of experience in the industry. Despite his often lively, energetic and color-intense compositions, Bowers took a step back for The Bathroom Series and let the naturally desolate elements of winter dictate the direction of this photoset.
Taking an almost stark contrast approach with these photographs, Bowers distinguishes his Bathroom Series by presenting those commonplace yet hauntingly reminiscent images of winter’s impact on the human spirit itself. The last scraps of toilet paper stuck to the roll, pure white pills on a black backdrop and torn warning labels from over the counter medications. In reflecting on the uncertainty of winter’s trajectory and that of those enduring it, Bowers successfully translates the ambivalence and domesticated sense of survival that courses through our veins come cold season.
Bowers shares with us his insight into the world of photography, the inspiration and vision behind this series and the artistic process he utilized moving forward with this project:
“The Bathroom Series is a reflection of my love of all things CVS, Walgreens, Duane Reade, etc. It comes from a young budding photographer’s interest in the wonderfully overstocked OTC section of any drug store and all you can find there.
Living in the cold Northeast during the winter months, my photography direction often turns to still life. And while Amazon online shopping is one of my favorite places to find inspiration and subject matter, I don’t always want to spend needless money…that’s when I raid my bathroom!
The Bathroom Series expresses things that are going on in my life, as well as a reflection on this time of year when you feel anything from lonely and vulnerable to hopeful and excited. The bathroom raid comes on the heels of a new year, new goals and new outlooks on life. It looks inward and represents using what we have to power through the tough winter months.
I try not to spend inordinate amounts of time on any one project, unless it’s an ongoing project which is years in the making. Otherwise you can get caught up in it forever and get stuck. But this one in particular took about a week.
I asked Donald to discuss his artistic process, and how this project may have challenged, derailed it entirely or simply differed slightly from that of his other works.
“I knew I wanted to create a little story, but wanted to do it in black and white. All the over sharpened, over saturated high depth of field work we see so much of these days made me want to see something different…a bit different even from my own style.
Photographers are constantly looking - not only at their own work - but often at other photographers, ads and editorial. This creates a challenge in that many photographers get derailed by the constant looking before and during a project. In order to overcome this, when I have a specific project I always try to just throw myself into my work and focus on the task at hand, rather than looking around to see what others are doing. There is plenty of time for that later!”
To view more of Donald Bowers’ work, visit his site.
Having gained a reputation for communicating the intangible, Bootsy Holler’s fine art photography transcends time and space, leaving the viewer with a profound perception of the given subject.
In capturing and evoking all the depth of emotion the human spirit holds in a single photograph, Bootsy begs the question on her own website, who has time for a thousand words?
In her project Visitor: rebuilding the family album, Bootsy bravely reinterprets old family snapshots. By superimposing herself into photographs with family members of generations past, she is able to play with the concepts of blurred boundaries, place, memories gone by and time travel. In reimagining these frozen moments and placing herself amongst many family members who are no longer around today, Bootsy experienced a kind of voluntary catharsis, reconciling a great portion of her own identity by understanding where her mother and grandmother came from.
By embedding herself into these photos and subsequently choosing different wigs, outfits and ages, Bootsy remains an elusive member of her own family. Looking on in some photos, participating in others. Throughout the series, however, she is never far behind her loved ones. In toying with time-travel and re-touching history, Bootsy successfully coalesced a more rooted sense of family that she had previously felt robbed of. Of this notion, Bootsy writes, “…each [photograph] is an artifact that lets me connect with the family that fell apart. When I reflect on my ‘visits’ with my relatives, I once again feel part of a family history and legacy that is unbroken.”
I had the absolute pleasure of speaking with Bootsy in regards to the current success of Visitor, what the future has in store for the project and the artistic process that helped bring it to fruition.
Can you discuss your artistic process and how this photo series may have challenged, derailed it completely or simply differed slightly from that of past projects?
B: All my personal work starts organically. Often that means I have a bug in my head that sits until it finds a way out into a project. With the Visitor series, that was a need to use all my vintage clothes. The project really came into focus when I was asked to do a self-portrait. After sharing this image with people - the one of me standing with my grandmother Ruby and my dog Mouse - and seeing the reaction from people, I knew I had something special to work on. I’ve never had a reaction to my work like this. I really got true reactions, like gasps and ‘oh my gosh!’
The process, Bootsy elucidated, went something like this: “I collected family photographs and I looked for snap shots that had a place where I could fit in. I decided what to wear and collected the outfit, the wig and decided on makeup. Then once everything was ready, I would figure out the lighting in the image and how to match it. This last part became restrictive, like, ‘I’ve got to do that shot at high noon out in the alley or on the sidewalk in my neighborhood.’”
In sharing intimate details about the photo series, Bootsy noted that the only time she felt slightly removed from the process itself was in those brief moments of posing for a camera timer dressed in vintage clothing inherited by her grandmother, standing outside in an alley or on a sidewalk to get the perfect shot.
Bootsy explained that the challenge in Visitor came about when creating the space necessary to superimpose herself in an organic fashion. “I’m obviously a very meticulous person,” she said. “So naturally, finding the right image was vital to the composition of the piece.
How long did you spend on this project?
B: I think I worked for nine months to a year. My son was a year old when I took a class and that’s where I was asked for a self-portrait. I took the class for inspiration. The class met monthly so my goal was to be able to bring in two or three or even one new image a month.
Did your vision shift at all from start to finish with Visitor?
B: I think most of what changed is when I start a project, it’s subconscious for me. It comes with no heavy emotions behind it. Then I start to write about the work and I have to say, “What does this all mean?” And as time goes on, I think about how my interpretation of the work changes. It’s the process of me understanding myself better - a self-realization of who I am and why I’m here. My identity and everything I’ve learned from my mother about her and my grandmother changes my thought process about who they were and how I came to be. It has brought up a whole new relationship with my mom and me. A better relationship where we are working together on something that she is the expert in; her life. The project has changed me as a person; I like myself better.
Did you have to sift through a large pile of old family photographs that were already in your possession? Were these simply the first twenty photographs you came across? If not, why these particular twenty?
B: While working on the photo series Ruby & Willie, I took a bunch of photos that were in a box and my grandmother Ruby’s yearbook. That’s really all that was left.
In the midst of the project, Bootsy revealed, her Grandfather had passed away. What had been so carefully preserved by him since his wife’s death in 1978, was either torn apart or sold.
B: The rest of the photographs might have gotten taken to the dump, I’m not sure what happened to them. The box is literally extras and small 2 ¼ contacts. I saw them as snapshots, as artifacts. That was kind of huge for me, keeping them the original size. That box was all I had; I didn’t have a lot to choose from. A whole other wave of images emerged from my mother’s side as well that I can use up, but the first twenty came from the found box. I have possibly thirty usable images from my dad’s side that I want to start working with. Sadly, most all of his side of the family photos got lost.
Bootsy mentioned that she would like to progressively transition into utilizing the color album archives her family kept, thus sparking a further extension of the project.
B: I’m going to move into some color so when I do the book I’ll have at least sixty pages. This way it won’t only be a family timeline that’s depicted but a photography and fashion timeline as well. I want the book to be like a little diary of family snapshots, stories, photography, hair styles and clothing going across in this compressed time lapse, starting in the early 1900′s to the 1970′s.
While there are brief descriptions underneath the photos, were there stories that had been shared with you at some point in time regarding those family outings and memories? Or was there a lot of room for interpretation as you superimposed yourself into these images?
B: My mom had stories for some photos but not all. Almost everybody in the snapshot I’m connected to through family. I know most of the people, or have known them at one point in my life, so I do have feelings about each image and person in the photos.
When I first was putting Visitor out into the world, I entered a single image into a juried show and I thought, “Oh shit. If it’s just a single image with no text how will anybody get what’s going on without a heavy statement?” That one image made it into the group show and had a small paragraph under it about the feelings I had of sitting with my grandfather while he was fishing.
Some of the photos talk about the locations versus the people. So I don’t know. I think it was just a photo album idea to have that hand written text along with the work. The images are framed in a black shadow box with my hand writing on each in white ink. I’m also trying not to overwhelm whoever is looking at it. I want it to feel like a family photo - an artifact from the past - which is why they are printed, trimmed and sized as the original looked and felt. Creases, scratches, damaged corners and grainy photography included.
I do think when I do the book it might be nice to interview my mother and father a little bit more and add more story. People seem to really need the text with the images, so many people don’t get the work. They think it is just a vintage photo or don’t understand that it is me in the snapshot, even when the image has text and an arrow pointing to me, people still have a hard time believing it. This work is very quiet, not in your face. You have to want to understand what is going on or you will just walk right by and assume it is just an old snapshot from someone’s family album.
On her site, Bootsy writes of her fine art project, Ruby & Willie: “I used photography for what it does best, to document a place and time before it is gone.” Perhaps Bootsy has found a way to circumvent the finality of the passage of time with Visitor. In reconceptualizing the frozen moments, Bootsy has brilliantly traveled back in time, revisiting and sharing in the experiences and environments that once were.
To view more of Visitor and other works by Bootsy Holler, visit her site.
We caught up with adventure photographer Tobias MacPhee to discuss his recent success, his newest endeavors and his foundation that started him in the industry.
Maintaining a wild fascination with athleticism, adventure and adrenalin, MacPhee tends to shoot bodies in motion. Many, in extreme environments. As a youngster, MacPhee used to imagine what it must have been like to be alive in moments of old, archived black and white photography. He would place himself amongst those in the photographs, trying to envision life back then. Growing up, he told us, he often “played” around with photography but never took it too seriously. Although, he admitted, it was always on the back of his mind in some capacity. Eventually, MacPhee said, “It too became this voice that wouldn’t go away and I had no choice but to listen.”
For Tobias, communicating his vision from conception to completion despite the complexities of shooting imagery in motion has kept him incredibly motivated. Captioning a photograph of a smiling skier, MacPhee wrote: “It’s the energy a person brings to a project or a moment that inspires me to push myself creatively.”
Once, while shooting the sport beside an old friend, he was asked if Wyoming’s fly fishing lived up to his expectations. MacPhee responded that beyond the physical sport, he was most impressed by the community’s passionate dedication to the action itself. “…And that’s what I love to photograph, people in their element doing what they love.” It is this fueled desire to showcase the individual thriving in their environment that defines much of MacPhee’s work. In this same interview, when asked if he wanted to try out the sport next time, Tobias responded, “Although I would really love to try fly fishing and learn to catch fish like the ones I saw while in Wyoming, the truth is that I’m a slave to my camera and can never put it down.”
In a separate interview, when asked to make a distinction between ordinary and extraordinary photography, MacPhee once said, “The difference between an average photo and a great photo is often a fraction of a second. A great photo has the ability to send a message, express emotion, inspire, motivate or tell a story. A split second too early or late and you can lose that message or emotion. As a photographer you must have the vision of what you want to express and the patience to let that moment present itself.”
As an impassioned athlete himself, MacPhee not only understands but lives and breathes the energetic experience day in and day out. He magnificently seizes the spirit and stamina paramount to getting that perfect run, climb, hike, stretch, ride or action shot. His love for the land is abundantly visible in all of his work, particularly his personal project, The Clean Air Project. His work touts a bold and vivid stylistic approach inspired by Tim Tadder, Chase Jarvis and Joey L. Whether it’s the anticipation, the excitement, the fear or the pure bliss - there is a heightened sense of accomplishment, experience and fulfillment ubiquitously tying MacPhee’s photos together.
Boasting a client list including Climbing Magazine, Patagonia, The New York Times and Black Diamond Equipment - Tobias Macphee has no plans of slowing down any time soon.
To check out more of Tobias MacPhee’s work, visit his website
