Sunday Spotlight: 6/16/13
Sunday June 16th, 2013
Posts
Weekend Links 3/2/12
Friday March 2nd, 2012
Equipment error? Yeah right! It’s the beginning of the end.
Sexy stock photo of the day (happens to be by our own Andy Reynolds).
Live action recreation of The Fox and The Hound.
Watch for the cuddly sequel, "The Wolf and the Lab." photo by Darrell Lecorre/Canada
90′s nostalgia in full force.
Instagram is so last year…I’m all about Cinemagram now!
Find your doggelganger.
A great way to meet your new best friend! photo by Scott Witter/Los Angeles
New York Times’ launches Lively Morgue tumblr.
Creepy pictures.
"Limp body in dark parking lot" just missed the creepy cut. photo by Brandon Voges/Bruton Stroube Studios/St Louis
McDonald’s wins.
Cheesy typography humor.
Photographers Update:
- Seed9‘s Poor But Sexy is seeking submissions.
- Jay B Sauceda featured in American Photo.
- Alicia Vera‘s honorable mention in Photofest Mexico.
- Chris Sembrot‘s AltPick jury win.
- The Gren Group‘s new promo reel.
- Kah Poon, Sang Photography & Stephanie Diani in Graphis Photography Annual.
- Narayan Mahon shoots food for Pancheros.
- Zack Arias featured on CNN’s photo blog.
- Maria Luci
Poor But Sexy
Thursday October 6th, 2011
In 2009, discouraged with the dreary state of the photo industry, Thomas Bollmann and Ingrid Jones of Seed9 decided they needed to do something bold. The duo was frustrated with the lack of work and the isolation artists were starting to create for themselves. Thomas and Ingrid decided that just because they weren’t being hired as frequently, didn’t mean they had to stop working. So, hoping to catch the attention of new clients and break through the artistic community’s insularity, they created the magazine Poor But Sexy—a creative publication that features not only the work of Seed9, but that of other artists as well.
Each issue of Poor But Sexy explores the personal work of Seed9 as well as showcasing a collection of photo essays, fine art work, opinion pieces and interviews on both professional and emerging talents from across the creative realm. The publication not only focuses on photography but music, fine art, film, fashion, theater, dance and design. According to Thomas and Ingrid, “Poor But Sexy engages the creative community, as well as anyone looking for the non-traditional. It appeals to the reader who enjoys being visually stimulated and informed about current, fresh talent—no matter what genre they represent.”
Flip through Poor But Sexy Volume I:
The magazine is a collaboration between all the artists with each volume focusing on a different theme. Thomas and Ingrid decided on each issue having its own theme as to not have the publication pigeonholed into one genre of photography or another. The publication is, “looking for artists who enjoy a challenge and want to get back to making the imagery that inspired them to start creating in the first place.” Artists selected are given two to three months to complete their stories and are expected to fund their own projects, with no pre made work being accepted. Thomas and Ingrid see the magazine as a resource for clients as well as a marketing tool, explaining, “when you think of how much it costs as one artist to produce a marketing piece, this is a smaller investment [for them] by far.”
Even with their enthusiam for Poor But Sexy, Thomas and Ingrid didn’t rush into getting the project off the ground. They spent a great deal of time developing their ideas and figuring out exactly where to start,
We researched for months before putting a volume out to try and get the best picture of what people who hire talent would want to receive. We also did up a mock layout and shared that template with several artists to see if they liked the format because we wanted it to be as artist friendly as possible. We got the ball rolling only when we felt we had something exciting to share.
At first, it seemed in order to do what we wanted we needed to have massive distribution and tons of ads, but we found a better fit in keeping our runs small and tailoring our receivers to a select list. Funding is, of course, a challenge because of how we have chosen to work—with no standard ads, but it affords us, and the artists we select, the opportunity to create without limitations. Should we work with sponsors it’s because they ‘re like minded and want to push the envelope creatively.
The pair also put some thought into the name, Poor But Sexy, which represents that nature of the magazine quite eloquently,
We lived in Berlin for a couple of years—Thomas is from there. In Berlin, there’s a plethora of ‘starving artists’ who are collaborating in amazing ways. They are creative risk takers, which we admired. Poor But Sexy is also the phrase Berlin’s mayor, Klaus Wowereit, used to describe the city and we feel it aptly describes the state of many creative types around the world who pursue their art in various mediums because they have a passion for it, but aren’t necessarily making millions from it…yet.
Now already on volume 4, the response to Poor But Sexy has been “amazing.” Thomas and Ingrid have received a great deal of positive feedback from both artists and clients alike. Several big agencies have also let them know that they keep and use the magazine as a reference and they’ve received inquiries from artists worldwide asking to participate.
You can purchase a copy of Poor But Sexy here, or if you’re an artist interested in being featured, follow Seed9 on Twitter to hear about the next call for submissions.
- Maria Luci
