Shoot: 2017 Addy's Winners with AAF-DC

I’ve been a member of the D.C. chapter of the American Advertising Federation (formerly the Ad Club) since I moved to D.C. in 2010. Joining an organization that is adjacent to, and often interacts with, your own industry is an easy way to understand how your own profession fits into the greater scheme of things. I personally love elegant communication strategy and execution in all forms whether it’s written, visual, aural, or all of the above.

I was (and am) a member of the committee that promotes and puts on the yearly “Addys” awards banquet, held each spring. One of our goals is to raise awareness of the awards and encourage more agencies and groups, of all sizes, to enter their work. One of the strategies we came up with was to interview previous award winners and make engaging portraits. The results would be shared on the AAF-DC blog and social media. Through mentions and tagging, our strategy as to get each subject to help us in spreading the word using their own social media channels. As past winners, they served as our evangelists.

The trick with this shoot was to come up with a studio set-up that I could drag, alone, into different agency offices. It had to be small, easily replicable, and have few moving parts. The theme was “unexpected” so we also needed a mechanism that allowed people to be fun and unique, but not so much that it required an intricate production. After some experimenting, I came up with the idea of a white (light gray) background and a white tabletop. I would intentionally have the subject on a low stool so they would be forced to interact with the white/off-white line formed at the intersection of the two. That was it. Everything else in the image would be up to the subject.

First a Few Self-Portraits to Nail Down the Lighting…

And, a few of the resulting images… . (Click for larger images.)

The Technical Stuff…

The set was pretty straightforward. I had picked up a Lastolite Hilite a few days earlier and that, with a Profoto A-1 inside, gave me a fairly uniform front. The key light was a Profoto B2 with a 22” beauty dish directly over camera. The white table top doubled as a bounce. This way the subject would have pretty much unlimited movement within the space and still be well lit. Everything was shot with a Canon 5D Mark 4 and a 50mm prime, tethered to Capture One Pro. Everything was around f7.1. Black and White Conversions were done in Capture One 10, using my own secret sauce.

Acadia Institute of Oceanography

After finishing the shooting for Try This: Extreme, my second National Geographic Kids book last summer (see how I name-dropped right there?) I had something of an epiphany: I really like photographing kids as they learn and explore. Witnessing kids tackling a problem and solving it (in often unexpected ways) is really fun. The experience of shooting both books reminded me of my two summers at the Acadia Institute of Oceanography in Seal Harbor, Maine. The experience had a huge impact on me– not just because of what I learned, but because of the kids I met, the music I heard, and the overall experience of getting out of my small world and exploring a larger (and wetter) one.

Reflecting on all of this, I contacted Sherry at AIO in the summer of 2016 and arranged to head up there to make some images. I was surprised at how it still seemed so familiar—the ping pong table, the salt water tanks, even the tie-dyed shirts! It seemed like very little had changed about the program in the 25 years or so since I had been a camper there. I don't know if the lack of cell phone reception in the area kept most of the modern world at bay or if it was just that the camp philosophy that I remember—relying on your intelligence and observation rather than technology, has held true. However refreshing, this anamnesis presented a challenge right off the bat. Was I photographing kids doing science or just documenting a mirror of my own childhood?  I only had a few days to shoot, so I was worried about tackling too much and coming up with an incomplete story.

In the end, I kind of punted. I decided to pursue the science/learning aspect of the camp, and only document the lifestyle, more personal side of the summer camp experience as it came up. I figured that I could always revisit camp in a year or two. The idea of poking around tidal marshes, climbing mountains, and snorkeling on the most beautiful coast in the world? The things I do for my job.

You can find many images in the Learn and Explore section of my website.  Here are a few other favorites showing the more personal side of camp.

On the Job.

While Hollywood has us imagining the globetrotting photographer with nothing but a camera around (usually) his neck and a wry disposition, I can promise you that's not the case. Photography projects require a ton of coordination, lots of work, solid communication and, according to researchers who specialize in these things, a minimum of 6 gallons of coffee, per person, per day. While most of us aren't as globetrottering as we'd like, we do usually get to shot in some pretty unusual spaces.

Here is a behind the scenes crew selfie from Wednesday's shoot for a moving company. Obviously we were in an undisclosed government storage facility where you-know-what is hidden.