“We all hide behind a facade,” notes Doug Menuez. “To get past that, I have to connect with my subjects on a basic human level and get them to trust me and open up. And then a true sense of that person comes through, without self-consciousness. We connect in that fraction of a second. They forget themselves. They let down their guard. And I see them.”

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Portraits by Doug Menuez. Images courtesy menuezarchiveprojects.com.

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Earlier this year, Doug traveled around the world documenting the new season of Iconoclasts for the Sundance Channel, and his portraits from this project all have the relaxed, intimate feel that you can get only when your subjects trust you. Here’s one of his photos of Charlize Theron and Jane Goodall:

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Jane Goodall and Charlize Theron. Photo by Doug Menuez for the Sundance Channel.

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I’ll be posting more of his Iconoclasts images, as well as the story behind the shoots, soon. In the meantime, I invite you to spend some time with “Persona,” a selection of Doug’s portraits available at Menuez Archive Projects, which is represented exclusively by Stockland Martel. Click on the image below…

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Click on the image to view "Persona," a handpicked edit of portraits by Doug Menuez, available at menuezarchiveprojects.com.

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The photo in this ad for Hewlett-Packard is from Lauren's project on the ways in which aging is changing.

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And, because Lauren does extensive research on her subjects and often stays in touch with them for years, she has releases for almost all of her images and can often obtain new ones tailored to the agency’s needs. Opportunity abounds.

“We’re doing a Stouffer’s print ad with a picture that I originally photographed for a US News & World Report cover story about the teen brain. We went back to the kids in the picture—who are now adults—and asked if they liked the proposed use,” explains Lauren, whose spring fashion portfolio for New York magazine last month is No. 1 on Refinery29’s list of top-5 spring fashion issues.
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At Stockland Martel Archives, you can browse a wide selection of Lauren’s stock images, and if you don’t see exactly what you need, we’ll be happy to work with Lauren’s studio to pull together a hand-tailored selection for you. Like us, Lauren believes in a positive collaborative process—which, for example, is how an art director from Leo Burnett Worldwide came to use some of Lauren’s photos for an award-winning BeingGirl.com campaign sponsored by Tampax. He visited Lauren’s studio in Venice, California, and went through hundreds of images, and then he wrote copy based on the photos he chose.
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“My archive is unusual in that most people who have journalistic work don’t have extensive contact information  or releases,” notes Lauren. “But we do extensive pre and post production that has resulted in a treasure trove of editorial pictures that can sometimes be used very effectively for advertising. Most of my commercial clients come to me because they want pictures that feel real, but with my stock, we have photos that are actually real.”

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Doug Menuez’s stock site, Menuez Archive Projects, went live this past Sunday. The site features a selection of images from throughout Doug’s career as an award-winning documentary photographer (with additional work available through Stockland Martel Archives), but in honor of its Valentine’s Day launch, the homepage showcases “Evidence of Love on Planet Earth, 1976–2010.” (For more on MAP, check out this post by Heather Morton of HMAb, as well as this interview by Miki Johnson of RESOLVE.)

MAP is putting a neat twist on the stock-site model by inviting guest curators to pull their own selects based on a theme of their choosing. The first guest curator is Karen Mullarkey, who is part of MAP’s official team and who has chosen images that are all about the many-splendored-thing that is love. Karen began her career at Life magazine and has served as photography director for Rolling Stone, New York, Newsweek, and Sports Illustrated. (She was also a photographic consultant for the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Ft. Worth, Texas—how cool is that?)

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To feel the love in person, stop by the launch party tomorrow night at MAP’s headquarters, 526 W. 26th St., No. 304, between 10th and 11th avenues. The fun kicks off at 6:30. Please RSVP to studio@menuez.com or 212.336.1561.

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Launching February 14.

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This is still a few weeks off, but Doug Menuez is hosting a big party at his studio in West Chelsea on February 18 to celebrate the launch of Menuez Archive Projects, his boutique stock site that’s officially going live on Valentine’s Day. (Here’s the MAP press release.)

Menuez Archive Projects will feature work from throughout Doug’s 30-plus-year career, plus new material, and he will continue to collaborate with Stockland Martel Archives, which offers selected images from his collection.

I know a lot of photographers are exploring the stock business, especially with assignments being relatively scarce, but Menuez Archive Projects is a dedicated effort, with substantial financial backing and a team in New York and Chicago and plans to expand to London, South America, and Asia.

Here’s the party invitation. All are welcome, but Doug asks that you RSVP (studio@menuez.com or 212.336-1561). By the way, the theme of this soiree, in keeping with Menuez Archive Projects’ Valentine’s launch, is loooooove.

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Photograph by Lauren Greenfield. Available at Stockland Martel Archives.

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We’re thrilled to announce that Stockland Martel Archives, a boutique stock site that we’ve been developing, is now live. As you know, we’re fortunate to represent some of the best-known commercial, advertising, documentary, and fine-art photographers in the world, and with Stockland Martel Archives, we’ll be able to offer you carefully curated selections that exemplify their signature styles.

We should note that we’re considering this a soft launch; as time goes on, we’ll continue to add images to the site. But overall, our approach with SMA is quality rather quantity. Our hope is that this will translate into a fruitful search process for you; rather than being overwhelmed with a deluge of similar-looking images, you’ll find a concise presentation of distinctly different photographs. That said, we understand that every project has different needs, so if you don’t see what you’re looking for, please feel welcome to get in touch. You can reach us by email at talentinfo [at] stocklandmartel.com or by phone at 212.727.1400.

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Some of the other Stockland Martel photographers you’ll find at SMA:

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