Promo
American Photography 28: Selected
Last week the American Photography 28 winners were announced. I am very excited and honored to have 2 images included in the AP28 print annual that will be published this fall.
Over 8,100 pictures were entered by over 1,200 photographers, magazines, agencies, publishers and schools, only 324 images will appear in the book. AP28 will be distributed worldwide in hardcover after the annual book launch event in New York City that celebrates the winners November 8, 2012. A full gallery of the winning images will also appear in The Archive, a searchable web gallery at ai-ap.com. It’s very nice to be included in this amazing group of photographers.
2011 PDN Faces Winner
My project “interacting With The Past” was chosen as a winner in the Photo District News: Faces photo contest for environmental portraiture. Two of the photos are featured on Page 63 of the August issue of PDN and five images are featured on the website in the winners gallery.
I would like to thank all my friends who have participated in the project. Here is the link to a previous blog post about the project: Interacting With My Past. I have already started photographing for the next installment and have plans to return to the midwest this fall to continue work on the project.
2011 Review Santa Fe 100
I was recently selected to participate in the Review Santa Fe 100, a juried portfolio review sponsored by CENTER in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Center is a nonprofit organization that supports and provides opportunities to photographers with developed bodies of work.
The event took place in early June where 100 selected photographers presented their featured projects at the four day event. The reviewers who attended were made up of museum curators, gallery owners, book publishers and editorial publications. The event consisted of one-on-one portfolio review sessions, an review open to the public and several panel discussions.
My project that was featured at Review Santa Fe is currently still in progress. I am choosing not to present it on my website at this time. Although I wanted to show a few images here since it was presented at the event. Review Santa Fe was a really good experience for me since my project is at an early stage and I received a lot of feedback on how to move forward with development of the project.
The Friday evening ‘open-review’ (pictured below) received a lot of traffic as it is open for public viewing and is an annual event with the the local art community in Santa Fe. There was an amazing group of photographers showing work over the course of the weekend and I feel honored to have been chosen to be a part of the event.
Portfolio: new print books
During the first few months of 2011 I spent time reworking some of my marketing materials. This process included getting new print portfolio books done. It had been over 2 years since the last time I had new book covers and slip cases created for my print portfolio (pages I update twice a year or before portfolio showings) so it was time to rework that aspect of my branding.
When approaching a redesign I didn’t want to totally change the design and layout of what I had before with previous versions of my print portfolio but simply improve upon it. I wanted to retain the minimalistic look and feel that I established with the branding of my website and other marketing materials and even take it a bit further on the design side. In modifying things, I decided to use a similar type of book cloth for the covers and cases and even a similar page size for the printed pages.
In the past I had always taken a very active step in creating the books using my own book making skills learned in art school. At this time I realized where my limitations lie and wanted to extend that responsibility to a more experienced party. In the end I worked closely with Roswell Bookbinding in Arizona to get a final product that met my expectations.
So far it has been a busy spring with meetings and book showings across the country and its exciting to have the new books along with new work to show during these meetings.
Interview for Adorama TV: “How’d They Do That?”
I was recently interviewed for a feature on Adorama TV called “How’d They Do That?”. The 12 minute interview covers background, lighting technique and creative process. Here it is…
Thanks to Mark Wallace and the crew at SnapFactory, great working with you on the production! Here is a link to the video on the Adorama website rather than the you tube site.
Portfolio: new books in progress
Working on new portfolio books and cases this week, getting things ready for Palm Springs at the end of the month. I have been in re-grouping stage for a while while making sense of all this new work. So I can’t wait to start printing all the new personal projects, including a full website update…
At the Mecca promo piece featured on No Plastic Sleeves
My recently completed promo piece “At the Mecca” is being featured on the No Plastic Sleeves blog. The NPS blog is the website extension of the book No Plastic Sleeves: The Complete Portfolio Guide for Photographers and Designers published by Focal Press. Check out the feature on the blog: No Plastic Sleeves.
At the Mecca promo, digital magazine and print piece
My new Fall 2010 promotional piece in digital magazine and print format. Click to view the digital magazine.
About the Project:
Over the past couple of years, I have been exploring a darker narrative for much of my lifestyle work. At the end of 2009 when I was planning out shoots for my marketing materials for 2010, I wanted to create a story driven piece that would take my promotional efforts a step further than just a traditional postcard. Before shooting began, I hadn’t decided what format the end piece would really be. I wanted to explore a number of different options and that included different formats, layouts, paper types and even printing techniques. I finally settled on a magazine style format where I could tell a story within the layout from the narrative that I had created from multiple shoots. I really wanted to create a mix between a promo piece, a catalog and a fine art piece.
About the Print Verison:
Instead of getting a large number printed, I decided to get a smaller quantity done that would allow me to control the product as well as manage the custom aspect of the piece. The version I am sending out as a marketing piece is hand numbered and includes a photo printed on water color paper that is inserted into the magazine.
The piece will be sent out this fall to a select list of existing clients and potential clients around the country. If you are interested in getting a copy please see the MagCloud site where you can order one. The copies from MagCloud do not include the additional print and are not hand numbered.
About the Digital Magazine:
I knew that whatever I created as a print piece would also have to have a digital component as well. After exploring a few options, I collaborated with Greg Welch of Welch Publishing who specializes in digital magazines.
The Omnia in Zermatt, my favorite hotel in Europe
The Omnia Hotel in Zermatt, Switzerland is my favorite hotel in Europe. Why have I singled it out? Well it’s the experience of staying at the hotel that I remember, but I can’t forget the place because of their amazing promotional pieces that keep showing up year after year.
My experience with The Omnia began in 2007 when my wife and I spent 2 weeks traveling throughout Switzerland via train. We stayed in Zermatt and at The Omnia over a weekend in October. It was definitely one of my favorite places that we stayed on the trip.
The hotel is a modern mountain lodge built into the foothills of The Matterhorn in Zermatt. The village of Zermatt is only accessible by train and cars are prohibited in the village. Visitors get around on foot, horse-drawn carriages or electric carts.
You enter the hotel from a cave/tunnel in the village and take an elevator 4 floors up through the rock to the lobby where the view overlooks the village. An added touch to the intimate feel and personal experience of the place is the fact that the rooms are lettered A-Z and not numbered.
As a past guest of the hotel, each year I receive a promotional piece from the hotel. The esthetic of the pieces are amazing with the design, photography and illustration completely planned down to the smallest detail.
I’ve included a few samples of their promo pieces from photos I created as well a photo collage from their site (above). I also included a few of my own shots, first photo is a view of the town from the hotel and below is a self-portrait from the balcony overlooking the mountains. Check out The Omnia website.
Self-Promo, postcards – Spring 2010
In January I started working on a number of different shoots that I intended to use for my self-promotion images for 2010. See previous posts: here and here. This is the first postcard and I have another print piece in the works that will appear later this year along with more postcards.
