For our most recent portfolio event, we got adventurous. After landing meetings with GMMB, Discovery, National Geographic and World Wildlife Fund, Alexandra, Jillian and I laced up our hiking boots and headed down to our nation’s capitol for a fun-filled day of networking.
First up was GMMB, an agency specializing in campaigns that engineer social change, whether that be elections, changing government policies or social-norming positive behaviors. We were excited when GMMB specifically reached out to us with interest in setting up a meeting. Here, we met with Art Producer Melissa Clarke and about 10 other creatives. They carefully paged through 13 different portfolios while we chatted with them about our members and all of the different services we offer. They were very interested in motion work and enjoyed the Vimeo playlist of different motion pieces we set up for them. They were also happy to learn about our crew and stock services.
While all of the portfolios were well received, DC locals Matt Rakola and Brooks Kraft were especially popular.
After taking a moment to enjoy the incredible harbor view outside of GMMB, we jetted off to Silver Spring, Maryland for our meeting with Discovery Communications, the company behind various worldwide television networks including Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet. When we arrived, we were greeted by Senior Photo Producer Robin Scofidio, who weaved us through the many animals and displays in the Discovery lobby on our way up to the second floor. We were happy to be met with a great turnout of about 30 people! The creative team flipped through all of the different portfolios while enjoying a delicious lunch courtesy of Taylor Gourmet Catering.
The portfolio of Ben Miller created quite a buzz around the office, while the books of Claudio Beier, David E. Jackson and Rickett & Sones were also well received. In a random “small world” moment, one of the creatives recognized a corporate portrait of a family friend in Matt Rakola’s book! After leaving them with multiple t-shirts (and fielding compliments about the unique name of Wonderful Machine), we headed off to our next meeting with National Geographic.
Once we arrived at NatGeo, we took in the amazing lobby complete with animals, trees, night skies and a “Mars Up Close” display. We then hopped on the elevator and met with Photo Editors Elizabeth Krist and Todd James, who chatted with us about the history of National Geographic and the specific storytelling skills that they look for in a photographer. They enjoyed Ben Miller’s book as well as the PDF portfolio of Mirjam Evers.
Our last, but definitely not least, meeting of the day was with World Wildlife Fund, where we met with Photo & Digital Asset Manager Sarah Forrest and one of her colleagues.
Sarah showed us a few issues of World Wildlife, which is the quarterly magazine that she’s in charge of. (I was happy to see a larger-than-life bee photo from WM photographer Adam Voorhes on the front of one of the magazines!) Sarah emphasized that she loved working with him. We let her know about our location-based search, which will be very helpful with the shoots that they do all over the world. She was also happy to learn about our stock and crew services. She flipped through multiple portfolios, complimenting the work of Ben Miller, Lianne Milton and Kamil Bialous, as well as Amanda Mustard, whose site we pulled up on our iPad.
After leaving Sarah with a t-shirt and some leave-behinds, we packed up our books and headed off, making a quick coffee stop before starting home towards Philly. All three of us felt very positive and accomplished about the connections made and are happy to share it with all of you. Until next time!
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