Photo by Uwe Duettmann for Ford.
Photo by Uwe Duettmann for Ford.
Photo by Uwe Duettmann for Ford.
Photo by Uwe Duettmann for Ford.
Photo by Uwe Duettmann for Ford.
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Credits
agency: Blue Hive
art director: Tobias Vengalis
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AARP The Magazine asked Jeff Lipsky to photograph Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon for its February/March cover story. Below, one of our favorite images from the shoot. Read the interview, and see a behind-the-scenes video—in which Jeff and Susan discuss the finer points of Ping-Pong (she helped launch the popular Ping-Pong club Spin here in New York City)—here.
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Susan Sarandon. Photo by Jeff Lipsky for AARP The Magazine, February/March 2014 issue.
Jeff touts his Ping-Pong skills.
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Photos by Melanie Acevedo.
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Follow Another 52 Weeks, an ongoing series by Melanie Acevedo chronicling her children, Violet and Rockwell, on tumblr.
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For a feature on “How Great Portraits Are Made,” published in PDN’s March issue, managing editor Meghan Ahearn interviewed Nadav Kander about photographing actor Michael Shannon for a Port magazine cover story. Noting that Shannon is thought of as a bit of a tough guy thanks to his work in Boardwalk Empire and Man of Steel, Nadav explained that he aimed to show a range of emotion in his portraits.
“In the months after that shoot I saw so many pictures of him snarling at the camera and looking terrifying, and I was really pleased we didn’t go there.”
His shoot with Shannon, he says, was a collaboration—one fueled by the music of indie band Pavement and jazz guitarist Grant Green. “Actually,” says Nadav, “the cover picture is [Shannon] snapping his fingers to the music that he had put on and sort of going off in his own head.”
Though he spoke with Shannon on set before the shoot began, he said nothing to the actor while he photographed him. “Actors are very particular as a genre to photograph because they so understand an entertaining image—they so understand atmosphere, they so understand that there is an otherness to a picture, to a film, to a stage play,” says Nadav. “It’s not just what the words on your lips [are] or the look on your face, but there’s an atmosphere created, and that sits apart from you.”
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Michael Shannon as photographed by Nadav Kander for Port magazine.
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A former photojournalist who has seen more than his share of suffering around the world, Doug Menuez has made a habit of giving back whenever he has the chance. Sometimes it’s in the form of a book to raise money for a charity, and other times it’s by taking on a pro bono project.
Most recently, Doug photographed portraits of kids who are working to overcome severe stuttering problems with the help of a nonprofit organization called Our Time, which is being rebranded as SAY: The Stuttering Association for the Young. Below, he talks about working with art director John Doyle on the rebranding project, which makes its debut this spring, the personal reasons that inspired him to get involved, and what it was like photographing 20 kids in one day…
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Photo by Doug Menuez.
Photo by Doug Menuez.
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My agent, Bill Stockland, got a call from the legendary art director John Doyle asking for help with a special project he was working on for a nonprofit that is dedicated to helping kids who stutter. John was rebranding the nonprofit, then called Our Time, and needed portraits of the actual kids who participated in the program. He needed a lot of portraits, and they had to be great, of course, and done pro bono. The new name would be SAY—bold and to the point.
I have a very close friend who built a career as a top photojournalist despite a severe stuttering problem. I learned a lot about the challenges people who suffer from this disability go through and was so impressed by how he overcame his problem to succeed. I also am good friends with the former CEO of Apple, John Sculley, who told me he grew up fighting this same problem and overcame it to become an excellent public speaker. You can catch John these days on TV commenting articulately on everything from future tech to the economy. These friends are the reason I immediately said count me in.
Shooting kids is always a tough job. Even as a parent and someone who has always shot kids, I know from experience you can’t push things or try to control things too much. You have to be patient and open to the kid’s frame of mind, and try to connect. Essentially, you are a passenger on their train.
In this case, we were talking about young kids but also teens. Which raises a whole host of other issues around self-esteem, identity, and general discomfort with self-image that are just part of the package of growing up. Add in a disability like stuttering, and I knew it might be tough to deliver the portraits I envisioned.
I wanted to connect emotionally with the kids and try to show their sense of pride and accomplishment for what they were overcoming. It was an exciting opportunity. John and I talked at first about photographing to seven or eight kids, then maybe 12 or more. I thought on the outside we could get to 15.
Then he asked if I could shoot 20 kids—in one day. Hey, I’m game for anything. But to connect with these kids and shoot a range of images in the time allotted with a limited crew and budget (the crew was paid) was a daunting thought, to put it mildly.
Then came the shoot day: I was in heaven. Big surprise: The kids came in and rocked the house. They burst into dance, they sang, they talked and talked. We had a blast! It was such a gift to meet them and be part of their world. And we got the 20 kids done, barely, as our studio time ran out. It seems the Our Time/Say program is working wonders with these bright kids…
I just got a lovely note from John thanking us and saying how happy everyone was with the pictures. It’s a project I’m extremely proud to have been part of.
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Photo by Doug Menuez..
Photo by Doug Menuez.
Photo by Doug Menuez.
Photo by Doug Menuez.
Photo by Doug Menuez.
Photo by Doug Menuez.
Photo by Doug Menuez.
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Walter Iooss appeared on The Charlie Rose Show last Friday, in a segment dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Sports Illustrated‘s Swimsuit Issue. He has shot 13 covers and countless inside images in his 38 years of contributing to the issue, and it’s fun to hear him talk about his experiences. You can watch the full episode, which also features Swimsuit Issue founding editor Jule Campbell—who tells the story of how the Swimsuit Issue began and why she chose sports photographers to shoot it—and models including Carol Alt, Petra Nemcova, and MJ Day, for free at Daily Motion.
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The “Charlie Rose” episode includes archival footage from Walter Iooss’ Swimsuit Issue shoots.
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Overcoming setbacks is the theme of Liberty Mutual’s Rise campaign, which features the inspiring comeback stories of notable Olympic athletes. But with all due respect to featured Olympians like Picabo Street and Jessica Jerome, perhaps no Rise story is as dramatic as that of Heidi Kloser. The Team USA freestyle skier was on her way to living her Olympics dream in Sochi earlier this month when she was injured during a practice run the day before the Games started, destroying her chances of competing. And yet, when she asked her parents afterward if she was still an Olympian, their response was unequivocal: “Yes.”
Seizing on the timeliness of Heidi’s dramatic tale, Liberty Mutual decided to feature her in a Rise commercial to be broadcast during the Olympics, on February 19. Havas Worldwide tapped director Lauren Greenfield for the job, which went from concept to broadcast in just a few whirlwind days—practically an Olympian feat in itself.
Chelsea Pictures, which represents Lauren as a director, booked the job on midday Friday, February 14, and within a few hours, Lauren and her DP were on flights to the Kloser family home in Vail, Colorado, where Heidi had returned after appearing (on crutches) at the opening ceremonies. But it was President’s Day weekend, so they couldn’t find seats on the same flight. And the terrible weather complicated things further.
“My DP had to make two connections and then had to drive through a snowstorm to get there,” says Lauren, who was also delayed by the weather. She and her producer, Jonathan Gribetz, got stuck on the tarmac in Los Angeles for four hours. “It was a surreal scene,” says Lauren. “The plane was full of rich people worried about getting to the slopes. And at the same time, there were police surrounding the plane because there was a fallen soldier on the aircraft beside us. So there was an American-flag-covered hearse being lowered, and people were saluting a war hero.”
She finally made it to her hotel at 3 AM, had a call with the agency at 8, and was on set at 9. “Heidi and her parents were absolutely wonderful,” says Lauren, who spent close to 12 hours shooting at the Kloser home. In addition to interviewing Heidi and her parents and photographing a portrait of them, she collected archival items, going through their home movies and filming Heidi’s medals. “We stayed true to the documentary process,” notes Lauren. “We did real interviews. Nothing was scripted. They opened their home and their hearts to us.”
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Because the commercial was meant to air just a few days later, Lauren had a digital tech sending the footage to New York, where the editor was ingesting it. On Sunday they cut it, on Monday they colored and shipped it, and on Wednesday the 30-second spot aired on NBC. There’s also a two-and-a-half-minute spot; both are on view at Liberty Mutual’s YouTube Channel.
“It was really fun because it was almost like doing a news story but for advertising,” says Lauren. She knew that there had to be a considered narrative arc, especially in the 30-second spot, and she recalled Heidi having told a Denver newspaper about seeing her parents after her fall in Sochi and asking them, “Am I still an Olympian?”
“So in my head, I was thinking about the arc being the lead-up and excitement about going to the Olympics, and then the fall, and the question ‘Am I still an Olympian?,’ and the answer being yes—and her walking in the opening ceremonies on crutches, because that was a triumphant and tragic moment, and we knew there were pictures of it.”
Lauren says that although Heidi did get a little emotional in her interview, she mostly was focused on the 2018 Olympics. “She’s such a positive person,” says Lauren. “Even in the moment when she fell, she was thinking that this must have happened for a reason and that it will be a good story for 2018. That was part of why I was happy to tell the parents’ story too. The parents were able to express how crushing the accident was.”
As for Heidi and her family’s response to the finished spots, the truth is in the tweet, as it were. Heidi (@HeidiKloser) took to Twitter to say, “Thanks for making such a great piece on me and my family!”
Read more about the genesis of the Heidi Kloser Rise spots at adweek.com and in USA Today.
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Jimmy Kimmel. Photo by Art Streiber for Delta Sky, January 2014 issue.
Photos by Art Streiber for Delta Sky.
For a new campaign for Simmons Beautyrest Black, Vellum in Atlanta commissioned Steven Lippman to shoot black & white images that strike the perfect balance between sexy but also sophisticated and upscale.
Steven collaborated with stylists Jabe Mabry and Katie Hunt of Vellum and hair and makeup artist Stephen Mancuso.
“The entire crew worked together so wonderfully. It was an inspirational shoot and the work exemplifies that,” says Kristen T. Luther, the creative director on the campaign. “I look forward to collaborating on another project with Steven.”
Read more about Vellum’s projects at their blog.
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Photo by Steven Lippman for Simmons.
Photo by Steven Lippman for Simmons.
Photo by Steven Lippman for Simmons.
Photo by Steven Lippman for Simmons.
Photo by Steven Lippman for Simmons.
Photo by Steven Lippman for Simmons.
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Jason “Giblin” Hindley featured in Luerzer’s Archive 200 Best Ad Photographers Worldwide
Congratulations to Jason “Giblin” Hindley, five of whose photographs were published in the latest edition of 200 Best Ad Photographers Worldwide, which is issued by Lürzer’s Archive. Here’s a look at the images that were selected…
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Photo by Jason “Giblin” Hindley. Click to see more from this series.
Photo by Jason “Giblin” Hindley. Click to see more from this series.
Photo by Jason “Giblin” Hindley. Click to see more.
Photo by Jason “Giblin” Hindley. Click to see more from this series.
Photo by Jason “Giblin” Hindley. Click to see more from this series.
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