Web Ads: Feature Shoot

Tuesday January 8th, 2013

by Mark Harris

For our December web ads, I decided to update our designs a little. The ads were to be posted on one of our favorite photography sites, Feature Shoot, and I  knew I wanted something a bit different from our past advertisements. I started with the phrase which originally was “need a photographer?” and changed it to, ” Photographers when you need them”—not much of a change, I know, but I didn’t want to ask a question that someone could simply answer “no”. I also thought this would be easier to keep a nice consistency with line and word spacing. I wouldn’t have to worry about an awkward word or letter like the previous design had done with the letter “a”. Next I decided to tackle the fonts. Our past font choices didn’t match Feature Shoot’s look and feel, and needed an update—something a bit more modern and fun to for the sites quirky and interesting posts but also complementary to the photos. When it came to tweening the animation, I decided to make everything show up line-by-line so that you’re forced to read along. Plus, I thought it would be eye catching to someone browsing the site. I think the change was successful and I look foreword to the next ad project.

Below are the four ads featured throughout the month of December on Feature shoot:

Eric Kiel / Boise

“This image is part of a series from the Connecticut shore I did last summer. I shot my producer’s six year old son and the swimming dock early one morning and then his grandfather sailing that afternoon.  The weather was tricky and overcast but the light was inspiring and Long Island Sound was calm. I worked with my retoucher to pump up the sky, and despite a few mishaps like fingers getting stuck in the dock ladder, and my camera getting soaked in salt water, the final images have gotten a wonderful response.”

Toby Scott / Australia

This photo is from a collection of still life shots featuring ceramic tags made by Paper Boat Press.

Dean Alexander / Baltimore

This shot was for a series in Washingtonian Bride & Groom Magazine. Editorial design and art direction were handled by Design Army.

Pete Lacker / Dallas

“This photograph was taken during an annual report shoot in southern California. The models are actually my client and the art director, who were just killing time, waiting for the fog to burn off. The image’s wide open feel was a perfect contrast to the busy housing construction shots we did later in the day.”

Sunday Spotlight: 12/9/12

Sunday December 9th, 2012

Shooting (John) Deere

Thursday March 1st, 2012

Boise-based photographer Eric Kiel has been working with Bader Rutter for five years now. The agency first contacted Eric after seeing his work in Communication Arts, and have continued to develop their relationship since that first conversation. Eric’s most recent Bader Rutter assignment was a combination of motion and still for the worldwide company, John Deere.

Eric was immediately attracted to the project after learning it would have him shooting both still and motion. He says “having the opportunity to shoot six print ads along with a minute long motion piece is rewarding. The stills and motion translate through the campaign and it makes for a great project.”

This type of assignment—motion and still combined—is becoming more and more common for Eric. Over the last year, every client he’s shot a print campaign for has also hired him to direct a motion component as well. Eric attests that motion “has become a very important part of my work.”

The John Deere motion piece would complement the six print ads conceptualized by the Bader Rutter creatives. The ideas and layouts were pretty set for the print pieces, but Eric was given freedom with the motion aspect of the campaign. He was charged with creating something that complemented the print ads in an engaging and flattering way. According to Eric, his goal was “to creatively make their print ads come to life and tell a story through the moving pictures.”

As for the actual shoot, Eric and his crew worked with “real” farmers, although they did hire “back up” talent in case of a farm emergency. He describes the shoot days simply: “sun up to sun down, freezing cold and lots of coffee.”

View Eric’s John Deere motion spot here:

John Deere Motion + Stills from Eric Kiel stills.film.stock on Vimeo.

It was worth it though, as the client was “blown away that the six ads seamlessly translated into the motion and the motion seamlessly translated back into the stills.” John Deere is now using the print ads in trade publications, point of purchase displays and on the web. The motion piece is being used on the John Deere website and is played on flat screens at John Deere locations. Eric also adds why he believes they were so impressed, “I don’t think they thought we could pull it all off in two days of shooting…the stars were aligned.”

View more of Eric’s work on his website, kielphoto.com.

- Maria Luci

Sunday Spotlight: 11/20/11

Sunday November 20th, 2011

Web Ads: Behance Network

Thursday September 29th, 2011

By Peter Clark

For the month of September we ran a slew of interesting ads across the Behance Network. Just in case you’ve been living under a rock for sometime, here’s a little about the Behance site in their own words,

Behance Network, the world’s leading platform for creative professionals across all industries. Members create multi-media portfolios that showcase their work within the Network. Millions of visitors — including top creative companies, recruiters, editors, and more — come to the Network to see the incredible work and find talent to hire.

The Behance team also featured our ads on their Served sites, which are considered to be the “best of the best” from Behance. They have ten Served sites ranging from photography to typography. I got in touch with all the photographers we featured to get a little background behind their unique images. Also, don’t forget to take a look at the ads themselves here: Ad One, Ad Two, Ad Three, Ad Four.

Jose Mandojana / Seattle
“The photo was part of a personal project where I was incorporating sports into LA’s landscape. I found the location while riding my bike through downtown LA and knew I needed to shoot there.  I set up the shoot for a Sunday morning so there would be minimal road traffic.  The model and I went to the Nike store the day before the shoot to pick out wardrobe.”

Bruce Peterson / Boston
“When I’m not working on commercial assignments, I shoot found objects that speak to me. I sort of view it as they find me as I’m not necessarily looking for anything in particular. The soldier was a local flea market find. When I made that picture, I had just bought a new camera – a Sinarback 23, which at the time marked quite an improvement in what I was capable of shooting. My initial test of that system, strangely coincided with the day, we, The US under the Bush Administration, invaded Iraq. With this image I remember being horrified at the prospect that we as a nation were about to kill a lot of people, and hoping that our leadership had made the correct decision that kind of brutality would eventually make the world a better place. (My view at the time was skeptical, still is, but I’m really not that well informed on geo-politics and still hope that over time history judges it to be beneficial use of force). When I shoot my found objects, I shoot them as they find me, I don’t clean them. That soldier’s face is about 1/2 – 3/4 of inch in height, the print I have of him here at my studio is 24 x 38 inches – and it’s quite striking at that size – he’s beautiful, if not a bit creepy.”

Hollis Bennett / Nashville“I was traveling from Tennessee to the west coast, and eventually Alaska, on a huge solo road trip and had stopped to see friends in El Paso. We went close to the border out in the desert to drink beer and shoot guns and there was this fellow out there ‘guarding’ the border and looking for illegal immigrants crossing into the states.  He didn’t say much and I figured that further prodding a visually upset and unbalanced human with a rifle was a bad idea so, I shot a few frames and got the hell out of there.”

Van Ditthavong / Los Angeles
“Joe, the subject, is a furniture maker. His store was next to my studio. From time to time he would to ride his bike by our front window. On this particular day, I loved the colors he was wearing and stopped him to see if he wouldn’t mind if I took his portrait. He graciously agreed. At that moment I happened to be holding a kitchen mitt and since I knew he worked with his hands quite often, I asked if he wouldn’t mind wearing it. Ever the trooper, Joe agreed. He also agreed to hug the tree. Somehow it just felt right. The shoot lasted no more than five minutes.”

Eric Kiel / Boise
“The image was part of an assignment for Men’s Journal. I was shooting Hawaiian waterman Brian Keaulana, who’s in photograph, in the Maldives. I was using Aquatech underwater housing with my Canon 5D.”

Michael Clinard / Seattle
“I grew up in the South (Alabama to be exact) and have been loosely working on a longtime personal project documenting all the quirky characters in my hometown of Athens. Whenever I’m home, I usually end up in a stranger’s home querying them about the things that rev them up. Most of the folks don’t think they have a story to tell, but I can usually find that one jewel which I use as the backdrop for one of my scenarios. Such was the case with this image of Laura since we’d originally set our sights on doing an image of her in front of this amazing owl shrine of drawings and photos in her home. But when she came to the door that evening, she was dressed in her pajamas–unabashedly eating this cheese dip stuff. It was so incredibly honest and “her,” that I immediately saw this image of a night eater camped out in front of the fridge.”

CJ Benninger / Detroit“The photo is of a Detroit based band Fireworks.  This was a promo that I shot for them.  The concept came from a song lyric of theirs which is “bikes ride faster at 3 am.” We were shooting the photos in an alley behind where I used to live and a father and daughter from up the street rode by and stopped to watch. One of the band members asked if the little girl wanted to be in the photo and she said yes (her father agreed).  I told her to look scared like the boys were chasing her and this was the result.”

Cameron Davidson / Washington DC“The image was a personal shot I did as I was finishing up an assignment for a client. I was photographing the Chesapeake Bay bridge tunnel that connects the eastern shore of Virginia with Virginia Beach. There was this amazing half-light with haze while this ship was entering the Chesapeake Bay at dusk. The pilot and I slipped behind the ship and I shot about five or six frames fairly close the the stern with a wide-angle lens.  I then went off to finish my client shoot. This image is in the Corbis collection but, more importantly, it’s the closing image for my brand new just published book, Chesapeake: The Aerial Photography of Cameron Davidson. The book is the result of a twenty-year labor of love of photographing the complete Chesapeake Bay watershed from helicopters and airplanes.  As you may know, the watershed starts near Cooperstown, NY and extends from central West VA and Western PA into DE and the Capes of VA.”