This is new for us. We’ve never been selected for an American Photography Award, so this was a real treat this week when we found out this super fun image from our campaign for the Newport Beach Film Fest had been chosen!
It was fantastic collaborating with the amazing creative team at The Garage who came up with this whimsical campaign! Hoping we can work together again down the road!
What?
They’re Finally Running!
These are images I have been SO WANTING TO SHARE! And I FINALLY can. These three images are for a campaign we did for the Newport Beach Film Festival. The were connected by the Creative Team at The Garage. We shot all three images in one day on location in Newport Beach. We were of course granted perfect weather.. because… California. And the creative team was a blast to work with. A true collaboration! So why have I been so antsy to show these?… Because….
We shot them in February… 2020!!! These were SUPPOSED to be for the 2020 Film Fest and then we all know what happened next…. So we had to sit on these as the 2020 Festival basically got postponed a year. But it’s now 2021 and the Festival is back on! So here they finally are! Hope you have a chance to check out the Festival!
What?!
I have never picked up an APA Award and out of the blue took First Place in this years Lifestyle category. What a shocker and totally thrilling! Granted it was for this super fun campaign we did for fatherhood.gov. (#DanceLikeADad) Amazing Talent, Amazing Producer. Amazing Crew. Amazing Creative. It’s always a team effort! Thanks APA & Judges!
Today we were notified that we had been selected as one of Archive Magazine’s 200 Best Ad. Photographers Worldwide! This is some amazing company to be in and in my opinion, right up there with being in CA (Communication Arts). This is the second time in a row we’ve been selected and I am thrilled with the honor.. Gotta keep step-in’ it up!
This was a campaign we shot for Educational Insights and was Art Directed by Liesl Kadile. Along with some other images the campaign was all vibrant colors with kids taking an almost retro adult twist.
Okay.. where to begin?
THIS was a shoot! Once again we were on set shooting in tandem with a commercial production. They were shooting MULTIPLE spots and we were doing the print campaign. All in one day.. All on a tight sound stage.. All good! Right?! 😳
Snoop was in his space doin’ his thing…
Martha had some VERY kind words for us when she saw what we had shot on the monitor.
Camera time was minimal.. to be expected. But hey.. Agency and Client were thrilled with what we got considering the very ambitious shot list. All in a days work. Always amazing to work with a commercial production that plays nice, knows how to share, and realizes we are all after the same goal.
Were Bic Lighters used at the end of this production? 🤔
Always an honor to be recognized for recent work. This year we received two ICA awards!
You can see all of the other great imagery that won this year at www.colorawards.com
Literally 8 days before the first mandated COVID-19 lockdown we shot a campaign for Fiora Paper Products. It was a fun campy group of images that were paired with simple tag lines the likes of “Smart feels good!”
We shot these in a central Los Angeles studio in tandem with a commercial shoot for the products (something we do quite a bit). While the commercial production had a ton to do in a limited amount of time, we opted (in support of them) to shoot plates of the two sets and do all of our talent shots in an adjoining space to as to maximize their time with the sets & talent.
We got a TON of great images with talent and with the subsequent lockdown we had plenty of time to finesse things in post production. After elects we made and set plates were cleaned up we were ready to dig in and start compositing. We wound up with about a dozen hero’s (give or take) and were not only anxious to deliver them but also to share them out in the world!
“Put the brakes on that!!”
Remember what was happening at the beginning of the COVID lockdown? There were massive runs on all paper products… Toilet Paper, Tissue, Paper Towels.. everything! Why on EARTH would anyone want or need to spend any money on advertising these products when they can’t even keep any on the shelves?!
Flash forward 6+ months, to the end of 2020, and FINALLY the new campaign launched! We were finally able to post and share the imagery and the new Fiora website splashed on the scene. The imagery is still in use and we hope to be able to produce more quirky imagery for them in the near future!
Did we share our lates BTS video with you?? I don’t think so!
This was ANOTHER hysterically fun project we shot in tandem with a commercial production! Though, this was purely ours.. We cast our own separate talent (which is half the fun on jobs like this) and had own own separate day… Casting was hilarious as of course we needed over the top action with little to no concerns about such things as being self conscious! Talent pulled out all the stops, and we got three unique scenarios with both print and motion elements. Take a look, I am sure you won’t be able to tell that we had a good time on set! The print campaign (Dance Like a Dad – fatherhood.gov) were plastered on bus shelters EVERYWHERE!
As the pandemic geared up, folks were ending up at home with a lot of time on their hands. Those languishing home improvement projects all of a sudden became a sensible way to fill that time. So as folks started to “dig in” on their maintenance and upgrade tasks, San Diego Gas & Electric had a sudden uptick of emergency calls from people hitting gas and power lines as they starting digging before researching.
In late April of 2020 the creative team at The Shipyard reached out to us to collaborate on a Public Safety Campaign to draw attention to this issue and encourage homeowners to “Call BEFORE you dig!” SDGE‘s 811 line would assist in identifying if it was safe to dig in areas slated for activity.
The original as was for two print ads and a modest amount of motion for web and social media use.
Being the start of COVID, productions were still navigating the safest ways to execute shoots while still delivering much needed visuals, especially in the arena of PSA’s! As we laid the groundwork for remote castings, remote wardrobe fittings, remote make-up tests, and ultimately remote shoot days, the project morphed into a heavier emphasis on motion with the print portion playing a supporting role.
The creative team at The Shipyard was excited about telling the story through stop motion animation… with people!
To keep variables at a minimum we opted to use my home as the location and incorporate ALL of the other “remote” options, so on the day of the production the only bodies on set were, talent, one stylist, 2 assistants, my producer, and a sanitation officer wiping every surface that might be touched. ALL other stakeholders were streamed in via Zoom. May 2020 was early days in COVID production, but we pulled it off.. our first COVID-Safe production.
The shoot itself was a day and a half of meticulous frame by frame capture of the various scenes, and then a whirlwind half day of executing the two print ads.
When all was said and don’t eh motion portion, which was supposed to be for web use only, exceeded the clients expectations and they option to expand the license to include full broadcast rights so as to air on local TV in the San Diego market. The print ads were also licensed for additional use beyond the original scope of work.
We’re thrilled to have been at the forefront and produce this great campaign for SDGE collaborating with the fantastic Creatives at The Shipyard.
Recently we were called upon (for an undisclosed client) to create a photographic rendition of the classic Cassius Marcellus Coolidge painting “Dogs Playing Poker“. We weren’t tasked with exactly duplicating the original, or any of its subsequent variations, but rather to incorporate some characteristics and personalities of the talent we were going to be using to create the tableau. God this was fun!
It of course all began with pre-production. We got the opportunity to pull in set & prop stylist Hiroshi Yoshida who worked closely with us and the client, to ensure we captured the essence of each role without things going over the top. Hiroshi’s sensibilities brought the perfect understated tone, while keeping in the spirit of the overall theme. And under the heading of serendipity, go figure that Hiroshi already had a personal collection of quirky dog art that was a spot on fit for our smokey backroom. Over a several conference calls we settled on color, tone, mood, and all of the various props. We also discussed our game plan for how we would ultimately shoot the vignette.
The day of the shoot was a blast. Hiroshi came in with his crew started building our environment. We played with variations and worked the camera angle, till we found our sweet spot. Once we locked down the camera and set, we started by shooting plates and elements that we could use in post-production to fill out the scene.
Then it was time for talent on set! They say “don’t work with Animals or Kids”. I disagree! I love working with both. Our talent’s personalities were as varied as their breeds. I have been on both the great, and challenging ends of working with animal talent. For me it is three things, professional animal talent, a great trainer, and PATIENCE. Thankfully we had all three. We had budgeted the appropriate amount of time that we needed for this setup and having the peace of mind that you are not rushed brings an air of calm over the set, which animals clearly sense and consequently react accordingly. We also had a great trainer who had a long relationship with all of our talent, so there was an ease and comfort as we explored various positions and poses. The on camera time was chill. Everyone hit their marks and then some. And there was still time for some romping and belly rubs.
It all came together in post-production. I was confident we had everything we needed while we were on set, but once in front of the computer, it was really gratifying to see that all of our preplanning had paid off. There was a good amount of screen time invested, and a few variations explored with poses and expressions, but ultimately our photographic homage to this humorous illustration came together in an amazing way, thanks to an incredible collaboration, and permission from the client to do what we do.
