Two weeks ago, after much planning and packing, Jess and I headed to the airport for another Wonderful Machine portfolio event. This trip’s portfolio tour would take us through Texas, with stops in Dallas, Austin, and Houston.
We left a rainy Philadelphia and flew to our first Texas destination, Dallas. As soon as we picked up our rental van, we made our way to The Old Monk to meet up with our Dallas photographers. The Old Monk came highly recommended, and I can see why. It was a beautiful Dallas day, and their patio was the perfect spot to kick back, have a drink, and talk photography.
Jess and I had a great time shooting the breeze with our Dallas photographers. They were a great bunch, and we definitely had some laughs. We discussed it all – Trey Hill and Chad Windham‘s motion work, extreme biking, triathlons, Cuba, and hand models. Chad told us an interesting story involving Danny McBride and Las Vegas, and Van Ditthavong explained how he ended up in Texas.
After several drinks and some Tex-Mex suggestions later, Jess and I said our good nights. However, before heading to the hotel, we made sure to grab some enchiladas and Chile Rellenos at Chuy’s. ¡Que Delicioso!
Our next day started out bright and early. We basked in the Texas sunshine as we loaded up the van and headed to our first meeting at the agency TracyLocke. TracyLocke has a wide variety of clients, including Pepsi, Playstation, HP, Nokia, and 7-Eleven.
Handtruck and cases in tow, we made our way up the freight elevators and entered a playful office with walls decorated with Simpson’s characters and fun images representing their various clients. We met up with our art buyer contact and headed to what they call the living room. It was aptly named, too, as it was furnished with a couch, side tables, and a coffee table.
Jess and I spread out a selection of books around the coffee table as TracyLocke creatives made their way in and started sitting. They began to look through books and pass them around. It was a very “family style” review. One art producer asked how we decided which books to bring, saying she enjoyed the selection.
The group was quick to recognize Kevin Marple’s food work (which made them hungry) and was impressed with Adam Voorhes’ still life shots. Some other favorites included Jay B Sauceda’s cowboy portraits and Rodolfo Benitez’s “Celebrate Life” portfolio. Rodolfo had pondered how to present his wide range of specialties. Eventually, he decided that rather than focus on a style, he would focus on a theme. The result was a book that he felt showed his lust for life. The creatives really enjoyed the portfolio, pointing out that everyone in the book was smiling.
After everyone was done chatting and looking through the books, we packed up and left, but not before pinning Wonderful Machine mailers around the “living room” for some guerrilla marketing.
Before heading to our next meeting, Jess and I took a barbeque pit stop. We drove around until we found a promising-looking spot called Hobbi’s Bar-B-Q. Walking in, the place was pretty bare, but a long line wrapped around the counter, so we figured it had to be good. We chowed down on some delicious Texas BBQ, hot and mild sauces, and mouthwatering sides.
After we were thoroughly stuffed, we made our way to our second meeting at both Boys’ Life and Scouting magazines. Boys’ Life is the official youth magazine of the Boy Scouts of America, while Scouting is an adult-geared publication for Boy Scout volunteers and professionals. Boys’ Life annual readership exceeds 8.2 million, and Scouting’s is over 3 million. Both magazines frequently hire photographers throughout the U.S.
Boys’ Life and Scouting share a photo department, and we met with their very welcoming Director of Photography, John Fulton. John was happy to tell us about their photo processes, rates, and the types of photography they use. Since we couldn’t bring all of our action/adventure photographer’s books with us, we pulled up a few of their websites, including Michael DeYoung and Nick Hall. Of the books we did bring, one of John’s favorites was Justin Clemons’. John liked the way we organized the different locations and specialties on our site.
After we’d shown all the books and asked/answered a lot of questions, John turned the tables on us, taking our photo with his enviable Leica camera. He then gave us a tour of the office, including his own space, which was filled to the brim with interesting objects, photographs, and posters.
After the tour was over, we said our goodbyes and made our way to our final Dallas stop at global cosmetics giant Mary Kay. Jess and I were very impressed as we drove up to their building. It was huge, with giant windows, a beautiful pink sign out front, and designated pink Cadillac parking.
We walked into their lobby, which boasted incredibly high ceilings and glass elevators. Jess and I waited for our contact while sitting on pink seats atop a pink rug. A woman from the art department came down to meet us and show us to the conference room. I introduced myself and teasingly introduced Jess as “the muscle,” to which she gave him the once over and replied with a laugh, “yes he is!” From that point on, I knew this was going to be a good review.
We set up in a conference room made of three glass walls that overlooked the lobby. Their art producers were happy to look through our collection of beauty and still life portfolios and to hear about Wonderful Machine. They have many shoots a year, sometimes a shoot a week. Their art producers especially liked Claire Benoist and Naoko Kakuta’s work, but all of the books were looked through and complimented.
After leave-behinds were picked up and we had swapped casting horror stories, Jess and I made our way out. We declared it a successful first day as we loaded the van and began our drive to the capital of Texas, Austin.
Check back for the Austin and Houston portions of our trip.
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