Sunday Spotlight: 5/19/13

Sunday May 19th, 2013

Sunday Spotlight: 10/7/12

Sunday October 7th, 2012

Photo Editing: Hitting The Mark

Thursday August 16th, 2012

by Paul Stanek

Earlier this year, Mark Weinberg came to our Marketing Specialist Kayleen Kauffman to put together a marketing plan. But before any promotions could begin, Kayleen and Mark agreed that his website and portfolio could use some updating. Being partial to his work, I was pleased to have been brought in to create edits for Mark’s new website and print portfolio.

I first set my sights on the web edit. Mark’s previous website was organized as “Book 1” and “Book 2,” which together provided a nice overview of his architectural, home, and food photography—with hints of travel imagery intertwined. I felt like a fresh edit was a good opportunity to explore each of these genres in greater detail. One of the remarkable traits of Mark’s photography is that any one genre can be presented on its own—each is strong enough to be interpreted as his primary focus. However, they all work splendidly together, making Mark a powerful asset for projects calling for dynamic ranges of imagery, as well as for highly specialized shoots. Mark had also sent me a group of images he shot for Gotham Greens, which is a great example of how Mark’s photography blends together as a cohesive form of visual storytelling. Ultimately, I decided on five galleries for Mark’s website: Home, Architecture, Food, Travel, and for a taste of his stylistic cohesion, Gotham Greens.

Mark’s website galleries

After trimming down his body of work in Bridge, I turned to a new online platform to work on creating engaging pairings and flowing sequences. This new site, MoodShare, wasn’t designed specifically for photo editing, but shows great promise as a place to work on edits while also sharing the work in progress with the photographer. As I approached the stage of finalizing each gallery in a virtual “mood board,” I’d invite Mark to visit the board and add notes or alternative image suggestions. We’d then discuss each gallery over the phone while simultaneously viewing the same board, which we could both manipulate in real-time. It proved to be a great way for Mark and I to work together. You’ll be hearing more from me on MoodShare moving forward.

Once Mark’s web galleries were squared away, I turned my efforts towards the print edit. I was geared up and ready for the challenge of mixing elements of Mark’s different genres into a single, flowing sequence. Combining separate types of photography into one body means finding cohesiveness in more abstracted, visually poetic ways. When sequencing/pairing images in this manner, I like to think of it as hunting for words that may have very different meanings, but that rhyme splendidly to create an appealing verse. Dissolving the context and deconstructing images into their most basic formal elements can provide a whole new visual vocabulary with which to compose fluid stories.

While Mark and I were reviewing the print edit in MoodShare and finessing it to its strongest possible form, we were also corresponding about the more pragmatic aspects of the book’s physical production. Based on his photos, I suggested going full bleed and double sided at a broad 11×17. Mark, a proficient printer, would be printing the pages himself. This made a screw post binding a natural choice, and after checking out samples from a few resources I’d suggested, he went with a custom build from Mullenberg Designs. The finished product is an alluring book filled with enticing photography that will keep the pages turning. Mark wasted no time in getting his new book in front of the right kind of eyes by debuting it at NYC FotoWorks this past July. Of which Mark says, “Country Living, Food Network Magazine, Popular Mechanics, and Bon Apetit expressed great interest in having me do work for them. Thanks for the great edit!”

Be sure to take a stroll through Mark’s new website, and get a peek at his new portfolio here:

Web Ads: Adsoftheworld.com

Saturday April 28th, 2012

by Peter Clark

April has come and gone like the wind, taking another round of web ads with it. This month, we posted our ads on Adsoftheworld.com, a social site for advertising creatives to post and comment on recent work from agencies around the globe. It’s one of the most popular websites for creative professionals and a source of inspiration for many.

Hopefully we helped inspire creatives ourselves with our striking images. You can check the ads out here (Ad One, Ad Two, Ad Three) and read more about each image with a little background from each photographer below:

Mark Weinberg / New York
This was taken in Valencia, Spain at the Ciudad de las Ciencias. I planned the trip for promotional/personal work. The entire complex was designed by the architect, Santiago Calatrava. The building in the photograph is the planetarium (L’Hemisfèric) and is in the shape of an eye. The exterior structure actually opens and closes like an eye-lid. Santiago Calatrava has stated that, “You are only bound in terms of the limits you set.” These buildings are truly unlike anything else. Calatrava’s work is clearly not constrained by the limits common to most architecture.

King Lawrence / Austin
The image was a commissioned art assignment. The idea was based off of the concept of Hell’s Half Acre, which was a generic name for the red-light district in many frontier towns back in the 1800′s. These communities were known for being lawless and immoral. The photograph represents the wrath from the preacher down upon Hell’s Half Acre. The actor for this was retired firefighter who had never been in front of the camera before. I thought he was great!

David Ellis / Minneapolis
I made this shot in Minneapolis at a triathlon. My assignment was to make the athletes look heroic, yet also relatable enough for people to want to sign up for the race. I tried to make the photos from lower angles as well as isolate one or two people with a good look and a bit of intensity.

Roger Hagadone / New York
This Zoltar image was a test shoot. I thought it was a fun concept that Zoltar is a real man trapped in a video game.

Markus Altmann / Germany
This was a self-assigned image I took for my portfolio. The idea was to show the car in an outdoor situation, but in a clean, studio-like setting. Lighting was done with natural light only, without any reflectors, flags or silks. So the most important part in creating this image was really finding the right location, and getting permission to shoot there.

Laura Flippen / San Francisco
This was a test shoot for my book. I really wanted to do a fun little balloon/color story and happened to find the perfect dress for the shot. The vignette had a bit of a monochromatic vintage/fine art feel to it, and it ended up being a nice set of images that folks have been really drawn to.

Phase One IQ Conference

Saturday March 24th, 2012

by Bill Cramer

As we reported in our member newsletter earlier this month, Wonderful Machine is working with Phase One to bring some of our expertise to their events around the country and to their website. Last Tuesday, Jess Dudley and I spoke at the Phase One IQ Conference at Milk Studios in New York. Digital Transitions, one of Phase One’s biggest distributors,  co-hosted the event.

About 130 photographers attended the all day conference. Phase One and Digital Transitions continuously ran presentations in three adjacent studios every hour throughout the day. During a given session, the attendees could choose to participate in a hands-on Broncolor lighting tutorial, immerse themselves in advanced Capture One or IQ Camera System training, listen to Jaime DeMarco talk about the advantages of shooting medium format, or watch Steve Giralt outline his innovative workflow solutions.

As for Wonderful Machine’s contribution, I spoke on Branding & Marketing For Commercial Photographers while Jess’ talk covered Pricing & Negotiating, including topics such as determining fees, building estimates, negotiating with clients and shoot production.

Bill speaks about branding and marketing.

Jess discussing pricing and negotiating.

Conference participants got to test out some cool Phase One cameras and software.

Milk happens to be right next to the High Line which is a very cool city park built on an old elevated train line. So after our presentations, Jess and walked a few blocks along the High Line on our way to the Standard Hotel where we met up with some of our New York photographers—Raymond Patrick, Mark Weinberg, Adriana Mullen and Joshua Pestka—for dinner.

Jess enjoying the spring-like weather as we walked along the High Line.

Dinner was great and our conversations took us well into the evening. Raymond particularly enjoyed The Standard Grill and before the night was over, he was already planning his next trip back with his girlfriend. We also got to see some of our photographer’s personal work such as Joshua’s tumblr which he started to keep track of the models he photographed and has now evolved into it’s own project. Good food and great conversation made for a enjoyable end to our day.

From left, Raymond Patrick, Mark Weinberg, Adriana Mullen, Josh Pestka and Jess at the Standard Hotel.