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As we dip our toes into images that move, one big, bold thing remains the same…we seek the uniqueness in each of our subjects.
This gal impressed us during an audition we held in our studio. Her energy, enthusiasm and clear desire for “Fashion Diva-ness” inspired us to design this shoot around her.
Our own transition from seeing in still images toward seeing in motion is beginning to take shape. And we are thrilled by the opportunities.
Hope you enjoy our take on a bit of holiday cheer!
What a way to ring in the New Year…a new project…in new media…it’s motion alright! Shot in a part day in our studio, edited on another day. See the description below for more info.
Carol Engler/ Originator, Empathic Education from George C. Anderson on Vimeo.
George C. Anderson and Julie Schirmer take their years of enthusiasm and experience creating memorable still photography and step into video production with their first client-sponsored project, shot in George’s studio with sound captured by Jay Alton. Helping Carol convey her passion for Empathic Education, George and Julie consulted on script-writing, studio set, lighting, wardrobe/hair/makeup and of course, on-camera direction, to portray Carol as the authentic person she is: professional, informed and approachable. In support of Carol’s message, George and Julie licensed music from stockmusic.net and also selected and sequenced stock images from Shutterstock. They offered creative direction working with freelance video editor Eric Ringquist to finalize their collective vision.
Jules’ parents during their dating days in the late 1940’s
Both Geo and I have been busy the past few weeks, and it struck me that while what we were doing wasn’t always strictly business, it has all been photographically-based and important in many other ways too.
Those of us who find photography to be a way of life may forget that it hasn’t always been like that for everyone. Cameras used to be expensive and took some level of technical expertise to operate them successfully. For many years, not everyone had a camera nor easy access to photographs.
While most everyone nowadays has a camera, or very high quality image-capturing devices in their mobile phones, not everyone considers how to make great images, views the making of a photograph as important, nor necessarily has the patience to deal with the back-end of the digital process. So much time and hard-drive space gets eaten up just by managing the photos we go along snapping blithely. Oh, how I long for Foto-Mat kiosks…there was such ease in simply dropping your film off and returning to find neat prints in a little envelope.
Of course, that’s not to say we don’t love and embrace the new technologies and all that they enable.
I just spent a glorious weekend with family and friends celebrating my parents’ 60th wedding anniversary. The photo above depicts them during their dating days back in the ’40s. Upon my request, my mom supplied me a heap of snapshots from their last 70 years. I scanned the ones I chose and added others from my digital collection. I also had some video footage which I had converted from mini-DVs to a QuickTime format on DVD.
Working with Crit Warren, we assembled a retrospective movie through iMovie, Final Cut Pro and After Effects. It documented and honored my parents’ life together since the days in the photo above. We then projected the movie from our laptop and enjoyed it with nearly 50 of their friends during a celebration this past weekend.
Photos are history. Let us not forget their significance. It is no different now than it was except more people own the tools and images can be shared more easily.
All of the moments in my folks’ lives-when someone pointed a camera and went “click”- coalesced to create a historical record. Crit and I knit them together so we could share their story. What a pleasure.
Camper, Flying Horse Farms, 2011
Geo has been making a contribution in some special families’ lives as well. He recently volunteered to photograph campers at the Flying Horse Farm in Mt. Gilead, Ohio for the group Flashes of Hope. The children at the camp have life-threatening or chronic illnesses. Their attendance is meant to offer them the opportunity to have a normal camp experience, with consideration towards their particular health needs.
He has also worked with Flashes of Hope to capture portraits of kids at Nationwide Childrens’ Hospital.
Flashes of Hope exists to provide families with photos of their ailing children. Taking photos isn’t always convenient nor top of mind when issues of life and death can be on the line.
But when someone does go “click”, you can bet that later, the photo will be appreciated.
Remember, no matter what tool you have at your disposal, a big fancy multi-megapixel DSLR or a camera-phone, when you use it, those photos have the potential to tell the story of that moment. While it’s easier now, photography is no less important as a record of our times.
Summer is a great time to capture evocative images. Everyone can relate to the sweet simplicity summertime brings to mind. School’s out, days are long, temperatures are pleasant. The livin’ is easy!
It doesn’t get much simpler than fun times in the sprinkler. Just ask this boy. Hopefully you won’t have to, maybe the picture tells it all.
A recent article in the New York Times advertising section reports a new nomenclature in the ad agency and PR firm setting. Of course, reorganization and renaming are nothing new to our industry. But some of the monickers that we’ve come to know, love and understand are being replaced with more current, relevant titles. Here’s a primer so we might recognize who we’re working with.
GolinHarris, a PR firm with 700 employees and owned by Interpublic Group of Companies, is formalizing this shift as of this week. They say it is in response to changing consumer behaviors “most notably the public’s fast and fierce embrace of digital and social media.” Apparently, new hires had the skills to be useful, productive team members, but the old job title system just didn’t seem to fit the bill anymore.
No mention of a new title for Photographer. Any ideas?
We’ve all heard the phrase “Thinking Outside the Box” so much that it’s become a cliché. I was surprised to find the college students in my photo class didn’t know the brain teasing puzzle that started this concept. Follow this link to learn more about the puzzle. But I want to go a bit further.
A very astute and engaged designer friend, Crit Warren, has spoken about producing work that fits an audience’s “Circle of Understanding”.
The Circle of Understanding
The dot inside the circle represents a common group knowledge; everyone in the group “gets” what’s in the dot. The circle represents the outer limit of understanding of that particular group. Our messages need to fit the group and their knowledge.
For instance, if we need to show how to operate a fire extinguisher, our message and visuals had better be in the dot for everyone. When I talk to my photo students about photo styles and techniques, I will assume they have a larger circle of understanding.
Crit had said, and I agree, that good advertising should be right along the edges of the circle for your given audience. Make your viewers think a bit, and they will be engaged. No one likes boring.
Each audience is unique. We all have our own levels of vocabulary, and our visual vocabulary is no different. The internet and smart devices have enabled anyone with the resources to access a huge volume of imagery and data, expanding our limits of understanding. We can be edgy and still engage our audiences. As our viewers become more visually sophisticated, our opportunities as photographers just get more exciting.
For photographers, making something appear to be simple can actually be pretty involved. Here’s a 2.5 minute video from the above shoot where the object was to photograph some community members with the wind turbines they helped engineer and facilitate…caution, there is a soundtrack so you might want to adjust your volume settings!
I saw a piece on the Today show recently which featured an author of a book I did not know. Apparently everyone else on the planet has heard of this writer’s book, which stems from his blog, but in case not, I wanted to share here. It holds some basic truths that I think can be helpful to creatives who own their own small businesses and sometimes suffer not only the economic challenges shared by all small businesses, but also the extra difficulties of staying positive and producing creative ideas when forces in life may seem to be conspiring against you.
The author was Neil Pasricha and his new book is called “The Book of (Even More) Awesome.” The way he tells it, he had started ablog just chronicling little everyday events that brought some kind of simple joy to his life. He didn’t think anyone would read it. His first fan was his mom and then his dad, then his dad’s friends and so on. ‘Til the blog had a ginormous following and now, he’s a bestselling author.
Why go on and on about this fellow and his story?
When we make our income by parlaying our creative gifts into tangible, communicative messages, it’s not always an easy path. Yes, it’s all hunky-dory when you’re booked solid and budgets are ample. But when the calendar is lacking and every budget feels parsimonious, we have to find ways to appreciate the small things in life. The bigger stuff will work out. It always does. And in the meantime, it’s important to buoy yourself up, because the best creative comes from a well within each artist. And feeling satisfied helps feed that wellspring.
For example, this morning, I realized I was wailing away to a song I was listening to in my car. I like to sing, and I don’t always even realize I’m humming along to something on the radio…but today, I actually took note of how much pleasure I was experiencing in the moment. Plus I’m pretty sure the guy in the car next to me at the stoplight got a big chuckle from my antics, although he was probably thankful it’s not warm enough for open windows just yet here in Ohio…
In the fast-paced world we all live in, and the occasionally ego-crushing creative business we’ve chosen to work in, try to remember to stop once in a while and revel in something simple and fulfilling. Maybe it will inspire your next photo? Maybe that something little can be the start of your next big thing?
There is no denying that texting can be efficient, emailing unobtrusive and smoke signals…well, uh…pretty?
But as visual collaborators, there is nothing to beat a good phone call or personal meeting to hash out the how-to’s in a shared creative endeavor. As photographers, it is typically our role to execute others’ vision, research and layouts. A good conversation can go a long way to making this whole experience more satisfying and successful overall.
When interpreting others’ aesthetics, can we really get the full description as quickly and thoroughly via text rather than talk? Let’s admit it, most creatives got into this business because they are image people, not necessarily word people (our friends, the Copywriters, aside of course). Many times, they are also hunt-and-peck keyboardists who struggle to scratch out a few lines of text. How dreary it must feel to attempt tapping out all the subtleties they could better describe in even a brief chat!
So, when you are working with someone and are going to be the photographer who ultimately stands with your trusty camera at that critical moment in time and “makes it all happen,” I hope you’ve been able to have a previous conversation with your client. There will be things you’ll discover that simply can’t be communicated and discussed any other way. And you’ll do a better job for having a better understanding of your client’s wishes.
I know we’re all pressed for time and the natural inclination now for so many entering the working world of the communication arts may be to reach for their inter-planetary mobile device and send a message, even if the recipient is just across the hallway.
I encourage us to seek conversation. Audio, visual, person-to-person. We can keep it short, to the point, and in the process, perhaps we may remember that in fact, the spoken word can be more efficient than we ever realized.
