PDN's Promos We Kept

2008-2012 PDN's 30 Photographers on Tumblr

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:23:40 -0400

The post we put together linking to the Tumblrs of the 2013 PDN’s 30 photographers seemed to be of use, so here’s a list of the Tumblrs for photographers featured in the past five PDN’s 30 issues. We’ll do the preceding five years in a subsequent post. If you don’t know about our yearly PDN’s 30 feature on new and emerging photographers, use the link.

2012
Kyle Alexander
Meiko Takechi Arquillos
Peter DiCampo
Mark Hartman
JUCO
Sam Kaplan
Peter Ash Lee
Sebastian Liste
Mark Mahaney
Ryan Pfluger
Daniel Shea
Jake Stangel

2011
David Black
Rebecca Drobis
Justin Fantl
Therese + Joel
Matthew Kristall
Silja Magg
Jody Rogac
Will Steacy

2010
Lauren Dukoff
Matt Eich
Marcelo Gomes
Estelle Hanania
Wayne Lawrence
Thomas Prior
Ben Roberts
Peter Van Agtmael
Elizabeth Weinberg

2009
Chloe Aftel
Cole Barash
Flora Hanitijo
Emma Livingston
Dominic Nahr
James Pomerantz
Lisa Wiseman

2008
Michael Christopher Brown
Emiliano Granado
Andreas Laszlo Konrath
Adam Krause
Donald Weber

Unwrapping Laurie Frankel’s Recycled Promo Laurie Frankel’s...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 10:24:20 -0400

Unwrapping Laurie Frankel’s Recycled Promo

Laurie Frankel’s delightfully hand-made promo highlighting her Dutch still-life-inspired photographs from her “Recycled Beauty” project arrived yesterday. What attracted me to it was its inventive and wonderfully excessive materiality—it’s a feast of textures, with a very personalized quality to it.

“‘Recycled Beauty’ has been a collaboration with my friend and creative stylist, Diane Gatterdam,” Frankel told PDN via email. “Diane and I have long been intrigued by discarded objects. Even in their decayed state, they carried a kind of dignity: of having impact on our lives. At the same time, there was sadness in their beauty; having been scrapped while their age spoke of that service. Diane and I were inspired to capture that beauty, contrasting both the industrial and natural.”

The promo’s parchment paper envelope measures roughly 5.5 x 8 inches, and was labeled with notebook paper and held together with faux-copper and cello-tape. It was impossible to open it delicately. Inside the envelope was a package wrapped with a very long [16 ft.] piece of string binding together a handwritten card with Frankel’s branding debossed onto beer-coaster-thick white cardstock, with her images sandwiched between two different pieces of cardboard.

The three photographs at the heart of the promo are beautifully printed on neatly folded sheets of 14.75 x 19.75 onionskin paper, which feel precious and fragile. Frankel’s still-life compositions include rusted paint cans, fruit in varying degrees of decomposition, distressed glass, and detritus including a vintage tin of “M. Melachrino & Co. Egyptian Cigarettes.” The typography is understated, with only her URL printed in the lower-right corner of the images.

“As a former designer, presentation is as important as the images to me, so when considering how to share these images, I wanted the entire package to embody the concept of the project,” Frankel says. “We considered a lot of different materials but ultimately felt that burned parchment paper and recycled boards were the best fit.”

The pleasure of this promo for me was being able to sense the hand of the photographer through its construction, the promo was Tartis-like with its requisite layers needing unraveling for Frankel’s images to be revealed—in the end the unwrapped promo and all its components became a still-life of sorts on my desk.

—Darren Ching

Rebecca Drobis’s Oversize Booklet of Portraits of Young...

Wed, 29 May 2013 18:49:46 -0400

Rebecca Drobis’s Oversize Booklet of Portraits of Young Montanans

I received this great promo from Rebecca Drobis a while back and liked it immediately. It features Drobis’s photographs of kids who live in Montana on and near the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. The 11x17-inch booklet makes use of a lot of full bleeds, showing off the beautiful color in Drobis’s images. The pages are stitched together, giving the booklet an appropriate handmade feel, given that the work is about small-town, rural life for these youngsters. The card that’s stitched around the cover includes Drobis’s contact info and website URL, so she’s easy to find, and the subtle pinstripe design ties in with her website. On the first spread Drobis included a short write-up about her project and what she’s interested in as a photographer.

Clean design for clean images of clean Montana living.

—Conor Risch

LA-based portrait and lifestyle photographer Meiko Takechi...

Wed, 22 May 2013 19:41:00 -0400

LA-based portrait and lifestyle photographer Meiko Takechi Arquillos always makes awesome pictures of kids. This promo she sent a while back features some work she did for Paul Frank. It’s a simple quarter fold that opens up into a poster. Printed with great color on nice uncoated stock.

I have heard that kids can be difficult to photograph, with the fidgeting and whatnot. Meiko always makes it look easy and fun. Probably because for her it is. This promo is a great reminder of that, and it also flashes some of her still-life work, which is not to be missed.

—Conor Risch

Three Photographic Projects from Ture LillegravenYesterday our...

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:30:22 -0400

Three Photographic Projects from Ture Lillegraven

Yesterday our photo editor Amy Wolff handed over this nice softcover promo book by editorial and commercial photographer Ture Lillegraven. The 5 3/4- by 8 1/4-inch edition of 1000 collects images from three of Lillegraven’s assignments: a commission from SPIN to shoot Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon at a house in Wisconsin; a commission from GQ to photograph Aziz Ansari, James Murphy and David Chang on a trip to Tokyo; and a commission from the Thomspon Hotels to photograph the band Milo Greene in Big Sur, CA.The book is about 80 pages, printed on quality uncoated stock. Lillegraven includes a short intro/explanation to each project, and the cover image, which wraps front to back, shows two guys dancing. On the back it says “Dance your ass off.” A nice touch. Check out yesterday’s PDN Photo of the Day post to see some images from the Tokyo project.

—Conor Risch

Emily Shur Dares You Not To Love Ernie Los Angeles-based...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:58:07 -0400

Emily Shur Dares You Not To Love Ernie

Los Angeles-based photographer Emily Shur recently gave me a promo highlighting her fashion and portraiture. It’s a cleanly designed and nicely printed piece, on good, uncoated paper stock, that folds out into a small poster.

She put several examples of her work on one side, and a single larger image on the other. The large image, of a model in a sparkly red Peter Pilotto dress and Laura Kranitz fascinator holding a shih tzu, is from “Dog Days,” a fashion story Shur did for Paper Magazine. “That was a shoot I was really happy with and proud of, and showed a different side of my work than what people were used to seeing,” Shur says of the image choice. “I’ve been shooting more fashion lately and have really been enjoying it. I also love shooting animals, so I thought maybe this promo would help get me some different types of shoots.”

“I also think when sending out a promo it’s nice to show an image that people might want to hang onto or put on their office wall—something that makes them smile,” Shur adds. “I mean, if you don’t love Ernie (the dog in the photo) you’re dead inside.” Fortunately I do love Ernie. And this promo. Which is indeed now on my wall.

—Conor Risch

Matthew Salacuse’s Sticker HeadsPDN photo editor Amy Wolff...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:51:00 -0400

Matthew Salacuse’s Sticker Heads

PDN photo editor Amy Wolff brought Matthew Salacuse’s newish sticker promo over to me this morning. One can pull off each of the people pictured on the promo and stick them to things. With promos people are always talking “top of mind.” This promo encourages people to stick up little reminders of Salacuse’s work. He reports that most people have stuck heads on their phones. But, he says, “one art buyer told me that she had the Rick Ross sticker protecting her hard drive as some misguided idea of a firewall.”

“What I like about the stickers themselves is that they are not branded,” Salacuse explains. “The recipient has the freedom to put the stickers where they like without having to be bombarded with logos. But the upshot is that whenever they look at them, they are still thinking of Salacuse!”

The advertising and editorial photographer evidently has a history of using stickers as promos, along with other creative efforts that have included t-shirts, posters and even a wall mural.

I was going to stick Nas on something but Amy’s insisting on keeping the promo intact.

—Conor Risch

Adam Ewing’s Hand-Crafted “Lincoln” PromoGarden & Gun...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:26:03 -0400

Adam Ewing’s Hand-Crafted “Lincoln” Promo

Garden & Gun Photography Director Maggie Brett Kennedy sent me Adam Ewing’s “Lincoln” promo a couple of weeks ago. The hand-made quality of the promo and attention to detail convinced Kennedy that the promo was “definitely a keeper,” she says. “Every aspect of Adam’s promo stood out as soon as it arrived in the mail.”

Ewing, a Richmond, Virginia editorial and advertising photographer, made the promo from a personal portraiture project he created with his friend Anya Mills, an art producer at The Martin Agency. The project depicts the actors and extras from Richmond who were cast in Steven Spielberg’s film “Lincoln,” which was shot in the area.

The color portraits show the actors in modern-day clothes with 19th century hairstyles, and the images were digitally processed and printed to reference the wet plate collodion portraits of the era, even though they’re in color. “I liked the idea of respectfully nodding to this style of photography, but it was definitely not my intention to fool anyone into thinking that that was how they were created.” Ewing tells PDN via email. “My goal was only to blend the past with the present.”

“I felt this side/personal project was something I wanted to share with clients,” Ewing explains. “I do a lot of portraiture and automotive/motorcycle work, and want to show my range.” The loose prints in the promo are wrapped in parchment and bound with twine, and slipped into a clear plastic envelope with a brown-paper address label. The address is handwritten in an old style. And the stamps even commemorate the Emancipation Proclamation. “My producer Cindy Hicks (who was an art producer for 16 years), really impressed upon me which mailers caught her attention over the years, and she put the entire package together,” Ewing notes. The promos are all numbered as well.

—Conor Risch

Photolucida Edition: Jennifer McClure This simple leave-behind...

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 14:33:00 -0400

Photolucida Edition: Jennifer McClure

This simple leave-behind created by Jennifer McClure is smart. She made her series “You Who Never Arrived,” a contemplation of her personal experiences with love and relationships, by recreating her memories in hotel rooms. Not only does this DND door hanger remind me of one of the key elements of the work, but the image and the “Do Not Disturb” text convey the melancholy tone of the series as well. And there is a sense of (dark) humor. Always a plus for me.

—Conor Risch

Photolucida Edition: Gwen Samuels I’m out at the...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 20:34:00 -0400

Photolucida Edition: Gwen Samuels

I’m out at the Photolucida portfolio reviews in Portland for the next few days, so I’m going to try to share a few of the leave-behinds I receive from photographers. I think this little (2x3”) piece from LA-based photographer Gwen Samuels is great. Samuels, who has a background in textile design, creates her work by printing photographs she’s made onto transparency paper, then cutting them out and stitching them together by hand to make a finished piece.

Rather than giving out a postcard with an image of one of her finished works, she’s giving out these little unique handmade pieces that remind reviewers of her process. Great idea. But be sure to check out her site to see some of the finished pieces.

More to come…

—Conor Risch

2013 PDN's 30 on Tumblr

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:58:00 -0400

During our recent PDN’s 30 seminar at the School for Visual Arts Theater, photographers Geordie Wood and Bon Duke both talked about Tumblr as a useful part of their social media presence. Not only is it helping photographers network with, and share the work of, their peers. It also gives photographers a looser platform to show work, and to flash a bit of their personality with their networks and whomever else is looking (like clients, for instance.)

I personally see a lot of work because it’s recommended to me by the photographers I follow on Tumblr, which is one of the great things about the platform: Photographers promoting the work of their peers.

Here’s a list of the 2013 PDN’s 30 photographers using Tumblr:

Ian Allen
Olivia Bee
Ty Cole
Delphine Diaw Diallo
Bon Duke
Jessica Eaton
Michael Friberg
Adam Golfer
Nicholas Haggard
Rush Jagoe
John Francis Peters
Andrew Querner
Jessica Sample
Sim Chi Yin
Jonathan Snyder
Geordie Wood

If you don’t know about our yearly PDN’s 30 feature on new and emerging photographers, use the link.

—Conor Risch

: Photo District News: Financial Steps from PDN30 Alumni

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:58:03 -0400

: Photo District News: Financial Steps from PDN30 Alumni:

mahaneymark:

This article is a good beginning/addition to a conversation that’s hopefully being had in many photo programs at art schools everywhere. It’s a tough industry to get into. It’s even tougher to stay in it. Art schools should dedicate a good portion of the last two years of their undergraduate…

Troy House’s Newspaper Promo“Photographers hate it...

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:56:00 -0400

Troy House’s Newspaper Promo

“Photographers hate it when we hear an art director shot their own job, but why are we art directing our own promos?” Troy House posed this valid rhetorical question as he and I were discussing his recent newspaper promo, which I received a couple of weeks ago. House hired a copywriter and art director to help him put together a newspaper that told stories behind a series of images he made for a single campaign. The copywriter was a member of the client team on the shoot, so he was able to write short stories from House’s perspective, and, House says, he remembered a lot of details the photographer hadn’t.

House wanted his personality to come through in the promo. He’s hired for big travel jobs, he says, and when a client’s going to spend 30 days with a photographer, personality matters. “They want to know about you,” House says. The promo is funny and self-effacing, and shows House’s commitment to his work. One headline, attached to a photo of people on a roller coaster reads: “Man Rides Roller Coaster 41 Times in Drag.” House wanted clients to understand that if they hire him, “we’re going to have a great time and do great photos,” he says.

House printed 10 thousand copies of the newspaper, mailed seven thousand, and has been using the others as leave behinds. He’s also dropping stacks in coffee shops near the offices of ad agencies, guerrilla marketing style. Thus far he’s received 50 emails from recipients of the paper, he says, more than he’s received as the result of promos in 18 previous years in the business combined. House says he’ll never try to art direct his own promo again.

—Conor Risch

littlebrownmushroom: We are inviting photographers, writers,...

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:09:00 -0400

littlebrownmushroom:

We are inviting photographers, writers, illustrators, designers or anyone interested in visual storytelling to apply to the LBM Camp for Socially Awkward Storytellers. Be sure to get your application in before April 15th.

More info HERE

This is not a photographer’s promo, but it is an example of excellent workshop naming.

Trevor Traynor’s Book of iPhone PhotosAs we already know,...

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 18:59:23 -0400

Trevor Traynor’s Book of iPhone Photos

As we already know, a camera phone in the right hands can produce some excellent photographs. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say that photographers can make great photographs with just about any camera. Trevor Traynor’s new self-published book is a case-in-point. “The Time Between” shows a selection of the images that Traynor photographed during 2012 with his iPhone 4s while traveling and in-between assignments. I’ve heard editors, art buyers and other clients say that they value looking at photographers’ informal blogs, Tumblrs, Instagrams, etc, because it gives them an understanding of how a photographer sees the world that they might not get from a polished portfolio or website. That’s essentially what Traynor’s book does.

Traynor created a signed and numbered edition of 100 of the square-format, softcover books, and a run of 20 artist’s proofs to mail out as promo pieces. He’s sold nearly all of the books in the edition, and he’s donating 25% of the proceeds to a charity. Traynor plans to make this an annual project.

Also, we recently featured Traynor’s newsstand Instagram series on PDN Photo of the Day. Check it out.

—Conor Risch

I’ve been getting postcards from Emiliano Granado for a...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:41:00 -0400

I’ve been getting postcards from Emiliano Granado for a few years at this point, and he’s been sending them to photo industry folks since 2008.

I’ve saved quite a few of them, put one or two up on the wall, etc. They are straightforward, have included a variety of subjects, and on the back Granado always includes a handwritten hello. He tells me his mailing list is over 1000 strong, many of them paid subscribers, who part with $10 a year for 6-10 cards.

Just goes to show that promos don’t have to be elaborate to be effective.

(In case you’re inclined to send me anything, please note the above address is outdated.)

—Conor Risch

artbuyersarepeopletoo: Photographer, Ian Spanier, sent us a...

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 17:26:52 -0500

artbuyersarepeopletoo:

Photographer, Ian Spanier, sent us a note asking about paid advertising by photographers. We love, love, love your promos, but understand that they can be expensive. Ian also wrote that much of his work comes from hitting the pavement and social media. Dude, that is awesome and if it is working, then keep on keeping on! Just yesterday we discovered By The Barkers because they liked us on tumblr. We are social media whores! We are all over the place and have tons of bookmarks of folks who tweet at us, follow us on tumblr and are facebook friends. There are times that we wish we could just post what we are looking for, but then we couldn’t be so candid…so, not yet!

Promos do have a place for the growing photographer. Just yesterday up and comer Jeff Henrikson came in to show us his handsome and newly printed portfolio. We ooh-ed, we ahh’ed, we dished out words of encouragement. We flipped that last page and wanted our goodnight kiss of a promo to have something to remember him by…but no, nothing. We called him on this and bet that he is laying something out right this second! Keep it simple, a single image-postcard sized. When we love a book or a website, we need a little reminder to post on our wall or to stick in the pile under our monitor or our desk. We do look through this stuff. We promise you!

Above is a smattering of promos that have mostly been in the backs of books. The zines by Eric Ryan Anderson and Mike Perry were sent, but we included them anyway because zines make us feel special. You don’t have to promo the whole world. Start with a few select people that you like and work from there. Word of mouth does wonders for a career too and boy can we talk!

Included in the above image are promos by:

Amanda Friedman

Dan Monick

Daeja Fallas

Nicolas Haggard

Brigitte Sire

Daniel Seung Lee

Katherine Wolkoff

Straight from the art buyers’ mouths.

Anna Williams' Digital Promo: "The Voracity" Shoe Story

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:24:00 -0500

I’m partial to printed promos, but digital promos can be incredibly effective and interesting as well. Last year we wrote about “The Voracity,” an online journal created by photographer Anna Williams to showcase her work and introduce new visual ideas to clients. The project has helped Williams get several jobs for new and existing clients. For her most recent “Voracity” story, “The Shoe In,” Williams utilized the Stipple image tagging platform to embed extra content, like info on the shoes and other products in the shoots, video, music, Instagram images and even a testimonial from an art director. Check out the full “Shoe In” story here.

—Conor Risch

Blaise Hayward put his environmental portraits of small business...

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:34:00 -0500

Blaise Hayward put his environmental portraits of small business owners into a great promo recently. The images of hardware and clothing store owners, fishermen, bar owners, beekeepers and more, are very engaging. Hayward also includes a short paragraph about their businesses. He presents the work in a 5x7-inch perfect bound book, printed on Neenah uncoated paper, with a silver-foil-stamped cover. The last spread includes Hayward’s own story, which ties his own life and work into the presentation. “I have worked for myself since I got out of school, so in a sense I too am a small business,” Hayward told us via email. “I was able to really relate to these people in a way that enabled the pictures to be honest. The subjects were themselves, no styling, no hair and make-up, no pretense.” Hayward reports that the promo has helped secure two ad jobs shooting small business owners. To have a closer look download a PDF here.

—Conor Risch

This promo I received from photographer David Tsay a couple of...

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 10:52:00 -0500

This promo I received from photographer David Tsay a couple of weeks ago is impressive (Tsay’s stop-motion video showing off the piece is above). It comes in a stitched envelope that’s made from what appears to be a recycled proof sheet. Within that envelope are several pieces of different sizes, which show all the various subjects Tsay photographs, from fashion and portraits to kids to food to architecture and interiors. The whole package has a handmade feel. I already noted the stitched envelope. In addition there’s a paper bag that houses one printed piece, which is hand-stamped with Chinese characters, and there’s also a reproduction of one of Tsay’s notebook pages that shows his sketches on one side and has a handwritten note from Tsay on the other.

Back in our December 2011 issue we wrote an article about the different ways photographers are working on their branding (if you’re a PDN subscriber you can login to read that article here.) Tsay talked about how he was working to show clients that although he shoots many different types of images, he maintains a cohesive esthetic. When he began working with his rep Kate Ryan, Tsay told PDN, “My work was evolving into different areas and we didn’t know how to tie it all together to make a cohesive presentation.” I can’t help but think back to that conversation when I look at this promo. In it we see all that Tsay does in one package, and it all fits together beautifully.

—Conor Risch