Tag Archives: People and Portraits

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Kevin Twomey Visits a Local Legend Before It Closes It’s Doors.

_MG_7014Kevin Twomey spends his weekends riding his bicycle and hiking in some of the most beautiful places in Northern California.   Since my weekends are often very different (think being a mom, 3 kids and sporting events) I am always in awe of the photographs he shares at the end of a weekend of the latest remote place he discovered.  On a recent weekend trip to Point Reyes, he visited a place that compelled him to write a blog post.  

Here is what he had to say.

“When the  choice between paper or plastic at the grocery store was first offered to me (which today will cost you 10 cents per bag in San Francisco),  I stood there in front of the cashier with a confused look while taking too much time weighing the positive and negatives of both.

This  week, my indecision involves the agonizing question regarding extending the lease of Drakes Oyster Company’s operation in Point Reyes. I am glad I am not the “Decider”.

I visited the Oyster Farm on March 2nd to experience what might be my last tasting of DOC’s delicious raw oysters before  they close in a couple of months due to a 40 year lease that expired last year.

I had a nice talk with the son of the owner of Drake’s Oyster Co., Sean Lunny, as he worked on the line that sorts the oysters. He hopes that the federal government will at least allow them to finish harvesting what is still in the waters. The Oyster Farm plants and harvests 8 million oysters a year (producing about 460,000 pounds of shucked oysters).  They still have about 2 years of unharvested oysters in 1,000 acres of submerged land. Their operation accounts for about 40% of the commercial oyster production in the state. These numbers are quite impressive for a small company that strives to produce a product through sustainable agricultural practices with ecological responsibility.

After my conversation I walked around the farm and took a few snapshots of their farm & production.

As one who appreciates our natural wonders, I applaud the Park Service’s efforts to keep supporting our marine life.  But I cannot help but feel there is some way a company that provides sustainable, local-grown organic food can co-exist.  Because closing this company will affect the consumer market for oysters I wonder who will step up to replace what they provided and at what cost?  A company on some other less-defended shoreline waters 6000 miles away?  One that isn’t practicing sustainable agricultural practices?

Feeling compelled to help save Drakes Oyster Company?  Link to here to sign their petition.

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Andy Anderson Says that Ice Trolls Invented Drinking.

Over the years, the word I hear most when people are describing Andy Anderson’s photography is SOULFUL.  That is because he has a powerful connection to the people and places he photographs.  He doesn’t just take pictures, he makes friends.  Life long friends.

On a recent trip to Northern Minnesota to shoot personal work of the ice fishing sub culture,  Andy met some new friends.  Link to Andy’s blog to read what he shares about his trip and why he thinks the ice trolls invented drinking.

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David Martinez Finds a New Camera that Helps him Evolve his Look.

David Martinez recently called me to talk some about what direction he sees his worked heading this year.  It was a great call because David was so excited and passionate.  He had been shooting the new work for a while and said it would be ready to share soon.  He has big plans for the new direction and it got me excited too!

On the call, I asked him what were some of the things that inspired him to create a whole new body of work.  Besides it just being a natural progression and being inspired by the teams he had been working with, he mentioned a new camera that he was using.  Here is what he said about it. 

“Camera technology changes by the second. Sometimes the changes are big (like high def video on a DSLR).  And, sometimes the changes not so big (like an extra megapixel).  I have seen a lot of changes over the past few years; bigger sensors, better buffers, better transfer speeds, and they all help push my work even further.   At the end of last year,  I read about a new Canon camera and software that intrigued me (Canon EOS 1D X and Capture One Pro 7 software).  Thinking it was just another necessary small (albeit expensive) upgrade, I took the plunge and bought the camera. After spending a few weeks with it and the newest photo editing software, I can safely say it’s one of the biggest improvements that I’ve seen in a long time.  Every frame is sharp, I can shoot clean files in the lowest of light, there is a range of detail I’ve never seen in a digital format, tonal transitions are smooth and colors are rendered beautifully.

I’ve found that my new setup has been really freeing as an artist. I spend less time thinking about the technical limitations of what I’m doing and more time thinking about what kind of image I want to make. I’m able to really see what’s in front of me. I can be more present and more sensitive to my environment, which makes any  photographer, or any artist for that matter, better. I get more of the pictures I want more often.

Stay tuned in the next few months for a new collection of David Martinez images.

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Hunter Freeman Shares Insights from his Portfolio Roadshow.

Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 3.20.03 PMHunter Freeman recently redesigned his blog and started posting more content.  One of his first articles shared his experiences on two recent trips to show off his portfolio at events in LA and NY.  In typical Hunter fashion, his approach is thoughtful and light hearted.  It is no wonder that he came home talking about all the new friends he made.

The one sentence that struck me in the whole post was the following:

“I met more people in two days – just two evenings, really – than I’d be able to meet in a week of traveling and coordinating appointments.”

We have been talking a lot about this in our group lately and are convinced that attending events like At Edge’s Face to Face , Fotoworks, and Debra Weiss’  (invite only) One on One are the most efficient way for photographers to show off their portfolios.

To read more about his roadshow experiences and how Hunter made his meetings meaningful, link to his blog directly.

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Featuring David Martinez’s Video Portfolio This Week.

After spending all last week showing off our portfolios on appointments in NY, at the At Edge Face to Face event and in Los Angeles at Le Books’ Connections event, we were reminded how much people really appreciate flipping through an actual portfolio rather than clicking through one on line.

We know that timing and budget does not always allow for that, so we asked each of our artists to create a video of their portfolio for people to watch online.  It isn’t the same of course, but a little bit closer to the experience than a website.

This week we are featuring David Martinez.  See below for his full video.  To see the other videos from our group that we have posted so far, please link here.

Enjoy!

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Heather Elder Represents Rethinks the Agency Portfolio.

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Last year, we decided that it was a good time to create an AGENCY PORTFOLIO.  We had a fantastic group of photographers and many opportunities to show it off.  We didn’t want it to be a typical group book that had a section for each photographer.  While we like those and they are always very strong, we wanted ours to be a little different so that it would stand out more at events such as Le Book’s Connections.

What we came up with was a portfolio divided by SPECIALTY instead of by PHOTOGRAPHER.  We liked this idea because it allowed us to showcase the type of work our group can offer while allowing the viewer to file our group away by different specialities.  Of course it is always our main goal for a creative to learn who our photographers are and what they shoot individually.  This will never change.  But, by offering an alternate way for them to view the work in our group, we are opening up another opportunity for them to remember the work.

More often than not the Agency Portfolio is shown in conjunction with the individual portfolios so if a viewer is interested in seeing more, they can choose to do so right then and there.  This is particularly helpful in a setting like Le Book Connections because there are so many books to view and it can get overwhelming for some. We have found that our agency book provides a breath of fresh air in a crowded market.

Take a look for yourself and see.  It is no mistake that we chose the song, Breathe by Sia as the background music.  Enjoy!

Click here to see the video of our Agency Portfolio

Click here to see the video of our Agency Portfolio

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Commercial Photography is Not Dead. Just ask Ram Trucks, The Richards Group and Ten Talented Photographers.

Last night, I watched on Facebook as people commented on the Superbowl commercials.  The best post came from my friend Will Burns, President of Ideasicle, around the third quarter.  It read, ” Do the ads know it is the Superbowl?”  By the amount of similar posts it was obvious that people agreed.

I agreed until the Ram Farmers ad created by The Richards Group aired.  Once that spot hit, Facebook was a buzz with cheers and recognition for a spot well done.  The Paul Harvey speech was powerful, the message was powerful, the farmers of course were powerful.  But, for those of us in the industry, it was also the photography that was powerful.  How nice to see a tv spot, let alone a Superbowl spot, be a hero with photography.  Wasn’t is just a few years ago we were hearing that commercial photography was dying?  Well, thank you Ram Trucks and The Richards Group for reminding us that is still very much alive.

I am proud to say that our photographer, Andy Anderson, was one of the ten photographers that participated in this wonderful project.  Andy was humbled by the opportunity and honored by the chance to document visually his connection to the farming community.   To see what Andy had to share about this project, link to his blog here.

Special thanks need to go out to the Ram Trucks client, The Richards Group, Jimmy Bonner, Rob Baker and Deb Grisham for their commitment to their vision.  And of course to the ten talented photographers:  William Allard, Andy Anderson, Jim Arndt, Daniel Beltra, Mark Gooch, Andy Mahr, Kurt Markus, David Spielman, Matt Turley and Olaf Veltman.