Andy Anderson was so proud and excited to share with us the feature he shot for Town and Country Magazine about The American Hotel in Sag Habor, NY. He was honored to be able to collaborate with Design Director Edward Leida at the publication.
Tag Archives: Landscape & Travel
Curiosity, inspiration and finding your own voice are three of the things that Alison McCreery of POP blog discusses with Andy Anderson. That and how he got arrested in Cuba.
© Andy Anderson
Once again Alison McCreery conducts a wonderful interview. This time with Andy Anderson. She always finds a way to bring out the most interesting and relevant stories for her readers.
Together she and Andy talk about the importance of staying curious, bringing inspiration to his projects, and the idea of photographers having a voice. He shares with her his ideas on collaboration and the details of his “greatest story.”
Thank you Alison for being so thoughtful in your interview and providing Andy with a chance to share his vision with your readers.
Just bragging. Way to go Andy Anderson.
Congrats Andy Anderson, Connelly Partners, Liberty Mutual, Jonah Hubert, Kevin Cimo, Alyssa Toro and Nick Bontaites on your One Show Merit Award.
Jim Smithson shares how he shot 6 ads and 4 countries in just 10 hours.
© Jim Smithson - http://www.smithsonphoto.com
Recently Jim Smithson had the pleasure of working with RR Partners shooting for their client Norwegian Cruise Lines. He and his team produced 6 ads of NCL’s associates in New York, Alaska, Bermuda, Hawaii, Italy and the Caribbean.
The catch is that he shot them all at Smashbox LA in a 10 hour span.
“Naturally, my preference would be to shoot them on location so this gig was going to be a real challenge. We had 6 stock images that our real people talent had to be inserted into, with each location requiring a total re-light. In addition, issues of perspective and focal lengths had to be visually matched. Throw in a full compliment of agency and client in the studio and 10 hours to get it all done. His first though was, ‘What the hell was I thinking!’
In order to maintain the tight schedule, production had to be seamless and efficient. Sr. AD Hosea Gruber was instrumental in communicating the expectations of the campaign, which meant I had a clear understanding of each locations relationship to the travel agent and vice versa.”
Hosea had this to say about working with Jim, “From an art director’s perspective, working with Jim was just about as good as it gets. We had a challenging shoot, followed by some challenging compositing to get the campaign that we needed. Not only did Jim deal with all the pre-shoot changes, the during-shoot pressure, the post-shoot curve balls, and still deliver the beautiful art we needed — he also made our clients feel listened to and taken care of throughout the entire process. He was a true collaborator and that’s what I look for.”
Jim’s experience with post/retouching also played a key role, ensuring all the visual cues were in sync while he shot and retouched on the fly. “It was pretty smooth. It generally took a few takes to get lighting and perspective matched. Being able to drop them into the backgrounds and quickly treat them was very helpful to me and reassuring to the agency and client.”
© Jim Smithson - http://www.smithsonphoto.com
In his own words, David Martinez explains how film can be more liberating that digital.
© David Martinez-www.davidmartinezstudio.com
David Martinez recently shared with me that he was working on a personal project photographing landscapes at dusk. I know David’s work well and I knew that the imagery would be beautiful. I asked him when I would be able to see the images he laughed and said that it would be awhile.
He had shot film.
It had been a long time since anyone in our group had shot film, so I was even more intrigued. I asked David to write about it and here is what he had to say.
© David Martinez - http://www.davidmartinezstudio.com
“I like shooting landscapes at dusk. I see things that I normally wouldn’t in any other light and I wanted to explore that . I am just beginning the series, and plan to keep adding to it.
When I recently went out to capture some imagery for this series, I was in Mexico. There is a 5 mile stretch of beach that is slated for development in the next couple of years. It is one of my favorite places and I want to document it before it is gone. I have surfed this beach many a summer evening and really love the look of the light about an hour after sunset.
I remembered images I had made with film and the robust colors and rich textures that it would capture. It made me question if digital could handle the subtle transitions of color.
I knew film would be the way to go.
I decided to shoot with my Mamiya 6 which hadn’t been used in 5 years. This is a wonderful camera. I love how the lens is beautifully warm and sharp. One of the greatest things about the camera is how simple it is.
Initially I shot a few rolls of random things like my wife and daughter. I was getting reacquainted with film, so it was easy to just keep shooting. Oddly, it was liberating to shoot without the instant gratification of seeing what I had just shot. I kept going back to the location and over the course of a couple of weeks I had shot several rolls of film.
While I was in Mexico I was not anxious to get the film processed. However, when I got home I couldn’t wait to get to the lab. It of course took a few days to have it processed and proofed. So I just waited and wondered.
When I finally saw that first image, I was surprised at the emotion it brought up in me. I was looking at an old friend, beautiful skin tones, smooth color transitions, and a subtle texture of grain. I hadn’t realized how much I missed film, but upon seeing it again I remembered just how beautiful it is. With each image I viewed, I became more impressed with the quality.
© David Martinez - http://www.davidmartinezstudio.com
I was reminded that the look of film, as well as the process of shooting the pictures, was very different.
I no longer looked back and forth from the scene to the image on the back of the camera. I was just looking at what was in front of me and concentrating on creating a photograph.
It was very liberating to trust my eye and have to wait and see what I created. Ironically, I was feeling more freedom shooting film than shooting digitally.
It had been about 5 years since I shot film, but the look of it was so familiar to me. It was easy to see the appeal of it after not using it for so long.
I know that the practicality of digital has made it the medium of choice but there is a beauty to film that can’t be replicated.
© David Martinez - http://www.davidmartinezstudio.com
I have become so excited about using film again that on a recent cover shoot for San Francisco Magazine, I shot film as well as digital.
The art director preferred the look of the film version but due to an extremely tight deadline ended up not being able to use it.
However, I was able to once again enjoy the freedom of film.
Resource for Film processing and fine art prints http://www.dickermanprints.com/
In his own words, Kevin Twomey wonders about full body scanners, firewalls and bomb detectors.
© Kevin Twomey - http://www.kevintwomey.com
I sympathize with photographers when they say they never feel like they have enough time to shoot for themselves. There are always tests to plan, website updates to make, direct mail cards to print and calls to place. Knowing that, I am always extra impressed when a photographer shares with me something unexpected for them. It tells me they pushed aside their to do lists and found the time to shoot something just for themselves. Often times, that is worth so much more than another item crossed off of the list. Here is a recent share from Kevin Twomey when he spent the day in the Marin Headlands.
“Just on the the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge, opposite San Francisco, lay the Marin Headlands. It is a place where you can get to an elevation above the bridge towers to take in the beautiful panoramic views of San Francisco Bay.
Blended into the scenery, bunkers and batteries dot the landscape, revealing its military history of protecting the Pacific coast from attack.
While photographing one of the batteries recently, I could not help but think about the words “Homeland Security” and how, 70 years ago, it was represented by these massive concrete structures that housed guns that fired 25 miles out into the Pacific Ocean. A far cry from today’s full-body scanners, firewalls and bomb detectors.”
Jim Smithson was obsessed with the weather and Amtrak benefited. See how it turned out.
Jim Smithson has been fortunate enough to work with Arnold Worldwide and Amtrak on some wonderful projects. As you can see from his post, shooting for Amtrak is so much more than taking beautiful photographs. Here is what Jim had to say about it.
“Nature can prove to be a formidable foe, especially when you’re taking a picture. But how about before you take a picture?” Check out what had to happen before we even took out our cameras…..
This was the second of three campaigns we shot for Amtrak and Arnold Worldwide. We had to capture 5 unique snow covered landscape images throughout Amtrak’s North East Regional line, and forces of nature took us to task in a variety of ways. Due to strict federal safety rules and the inherent danger of working around 150 mph projectiles, our entire crew had to fulfill safety training before we could set foot on the rails.
Because we had no idea when the snow would fly, this meant having to train 2 teams of crew in the event a crew member got booked on another gig. Once trained, everyone was on standby ready to fly at a moments notice, and I became a Weather Channel Junkie.Our first glimmer of hope came in late December 2009. A cold arctic flow was traveling down from Canada colliding with moisture moving north from the Gulf of Mexico.
The God’s were smiling, or so I thought. After a generous dumping across the North Eastern Seaboard, I was pumped and ready to pull the trigger.
My elation quickly turned to despair when I was informed that Amtrak didn’t think it was a good idea to mobilize us during the holidays.
COUNT TO 10 JIM.
The month of January would prove to be one of the biggest months of accumulated snowfall on record back east. But the God’s were taunting me. All the storms tracked either north or south of our 100 mile stretch of approved locations. Oh no!
We were then approaching mid-February and still no love from the Gods. What did I have to do? Go to the crossroads and make a deal with the devil?Then, a glimmer of hope. A storm system originating from the midwest was tracking east heading in the vicinity of Connecticut. 2 days seemed like 2 years as the southern part of the storm finally gave us a generous dusting.
GO TIME!
The call went out. My LA crew was on a plane the following day and for the next 8 days we braved some very cold temps and trying conditions. We ended up having just enough snow and just barely enough time to pull it off.
Kudos to my super crew Tomás Arceo, Jeff Vogeding and Sady Callaghan for braving the elements and taking more than one for the team. A big shout also to creative director Bill Cutter for his vision and continued support and art buyer Andrea Ricker for her flawless attention to every last detail.
Just sharing new images from Andy Anderson’s trip to New Zealand.
Andy Anderson recently photographed the Tasman Glacier in the Cook Range on the South Island of New Zealand.
