For the past four years, Raleigh, N.C.-based still life photographer Bryan Regan has been stopping every morning to take a photo on the way into his studio. He calls the series of shots “Morning View” and says the project is a “really nice way to start the day.” Bryan shares these photos on his Facebook page, and adds that the project has gained a rather large and dedicated following.
If I’m late or miss a day, I get a ton of ‘are you OK?’ emails.
This past holiday season, Bryan evolved the project to be a bit “merrier,” changing the name temporarily to “Countdown to Christmas” and capturing fun Christmas decorations in his daily pictures.
The “Countdown to Christmas” project quickly caught the eye of Lenovo‘s senior marketing manager, who saw one of the photos as Bryan was uploading it at his studio. Bryan was working on a still life assignment for the computer brand at the time, but after seeing his holiday-fied daily shots, their creative team got another idea.
One of the features of the Lenovo Helix is a password swipe screen security feature [which allows users to choose their own image and “swipe” across it, instead of using a character/numerical password].
Their marketing manager came up with the plan to have Bryan swap out the giant Santas in his “Countdown” series for the laptop, to create interesting images for the Lenovo’s start-up screen.
So, with just ten days left until Christmas break, Bryan took to the streets of Raleigh armed with giant plastic Christmas props and “some pretty fancy computer hardware.” He tried to shoot as early as possible, when the “light looks fantastic” and only had about a 20 minute window to get the shot each day.
I’m sure I looked hilarious running around downtown with a 3-foot plastic Santa, a camera, and a bag of technology.
The client loved the images and they will now be used as backgrounds on Lenovo screens and to demonstrate the new password swipe technology. Bryan reflected on the experience saying,
Photographers are always talking about the power of personal projects, and I totally agree. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time on this one. For me, the best feeling is when I’m contacted by an art director or photo editor and they tell me to go do what I do. I feel like, wow, someone really gets what I’m trying to say with my photos.