Earlier this year, Mark Weinberg came to our Marketing Specialist Kayleen Kauffman to put together a marketing plan. But before any promotions could begin, Kayleen and Mark agreed that his website and portfolio could use some updating. Being partial to his work, I was pleased to have been brought in to create edits for Mark’s new website and print portfolio.
I first set my sights on website edits. Mark’s previous website was organized as “Book 1” and “Book 2,” which together provided a nice overview of his architectural, home, and food photography—with hints of travel imagery intertwined. I felt like a fresh layout was a good opportunity to explore each of these genres in greater detail. One of the remarkable traits of Mark’s photography is that any one genre can be presented on its own—each is strong enough to be interpreted as his primary focus. However, they all work splendidly together, making Mark a powerful asset for projects calling for dynamic ranges of imagery, as well as for highly specialized shoots. Mark had also sent me a group of images he shot for Gotham Greens. This is a great example of how Mark’s photography blends together as a cohesive form of visual storytelling. Ultimately, I decided on five galleries for Mark’s website: Home, Architecture, Food, Travel, and for a taste of his stylistic cohesion, Gotham Greens.
After trimming down his body of work in Bridge, I turned to a new online platform to work on creating engaging pairings and flowing sequences. This new site, MoodShare, wasn’t designed specifically for photo editing but shows great promise as a place to work on edits while also sharing the work in progress with the photographer. As I approached the stage of finalizing each gallery in a virtual “mood board,” I invited Mark to visit the board and add notes or alternative image suggestions. We discussed each gallery over the phone while reviewing the mood board, which we could both manipulate in real time. It proved to be a great way for Mark and me to work together. You’ll be hearing more from me on MoodShare moving forward.
Once Mark’s web galleries were squared away, I turned my efforts toward the print edit. I was geared up and ready for the challenge of mixing elements of Mark’s different genres into a single, flowing sequence. Combining separate types of photography into one body means finding cohesiveness in more abstract, visually poetic ways. When sequencing or pairing images in this manner, I like to think of it as hunting for words that may have very different meanings, but that rhyme splendidly to create an appealing verse. Dissolving the context and deconstructing images into their most basic formal elements can provide a whole new visual vocabulary with which to compose fluid stories.
While Mark and I were reviewing the print edit in MoodShare and finessing it to its strongest possible form, we were also corresponding about the more pragmatic aspects of the book’s physical production. Based on his photos, I suggested going full bleed and double-sided at a broad 11×17. Mark, a proficient printer, would be printing the pages himself. This made a screw post binding a natural choice, and after checking out samples from a few resources I’d suggested, he went with a custom build from Mullenberg Designs. The finished product is an alluring book filled with enticing photography that will keep the pages turning. Mark wasted no time in getting his new book in front of the right kind of eyes by debuting it at NYC FotoWorks this past July. Mark says, “Country Living, Food Network Magazine, Popular Mechanics, and Bon Apetit expressed great interest in having me do work for them. Thanks for the great edit!”
Be sure to take a stroll through Mark’s new website!