2022 is in the rearview mirror, and by now, most Americans could say the same about their New Year’s resolutions. It may be due to a lack of trying, or perhaps a lack of ability. The trials of adulthood, from the chronic condition of bill payments to the eternal misery of household chores, can hinder our memory, concentration, and reasoning. Ultimately, we’re incapable of learning and implementing new behaviors, whether we like it or not. It’s a sorry state of affairs that repeats itself like Groundhog Day, but Atlanta-based lifestyle photographer Lindsey Dowell worked on a recent campaign featuring Alton Brown for Neuriva, a brand of health supplements, that offers a solution.
Neuriva required a library of photos and videos to promote their products supporting brain health and sleep, a combination aimed at improving quality of life in adulthood. For the stills portion, they decided to collaborate with Lindsey, focusing on a mixture of product and lifestyle imagery.
Lindsey first got a call from Karen Berkowitz of Greenpoint Pictures, asking him to be part of Neuriva’s stills campaign on a hybrid shoot. From the looks of it, they got hold of the photographer through Wonderful Machine, with his experience in shooting lifestyle imagery and operating alongside video production crews working in his favor.
The shoot would be set in the idyllic neighborhood of Serenbe on the outskirts of Atlanta, featuring two outdoor locations and one indoors. Through several emails and Zoom calls, Lindsey ironed out the details with the video crew. The timing of the video and stills shoots had to be discussed in detail, to create an efficient schedule that accommodated both teams’ requirements over two days.
For Neuriva, the goal was to highlight their supplements for brain health and sleep quality. They’d need a credible proxy to stand alongside the products, and this came in the form of celebrity chef Alton Brown. As a regular sight on various food shows, from Good Eats to Iron Chef America, Brown’s bona fides in the nutrition landscape are well-established, making him an ideal ambassador for Neuriva. He also comes with a signature brand of quirky humor, revealed unabashedly on his Twitter page every single day.
As a lifestyle advertising photographer, Lindsey had to capture the celebrity chef’s personality in his images, an already difficult task within the environment of hybrid stills and motion shoot. When time is hard to come by, cooking up chemistry with the face of your photoshoot can be a near impossibility. But this is where prowess in the art of small talk can pay off.
Alton and I were both hanging out at craft services, and I asked him about the best way to cure a recently found cast iron skillet. I know Alton and his very scientific approach and knew this would be a great question to ask, and I really did have a skillet that needed to be renewed. Alton bit and proceeded to give me a 20-minute full description of the process, and we were bonded from then on. This made it much easier to shoot with the tight schedule because we had a connection. This was key.
While things moved exceedingly well with Brown, Lindsey had to navigate through a few challenges. For starters, the indoor location of the shoot, a condo that was cozier than expected, was a tight space accessible via just a single elevator, a nightmare for a crew consisting of over 30 people. When you keep in mind the different lighting setups required by the stills and video teams, an already tight schedule becomes even tighter.
If you are a photographer and you find yourself shooting alongside a film crew for a campaign such as this, my advice would be to check your ego at the door… The film crew works very hard and needs much more equipment, time, and space to do their job. As the stills photographer, it’s important to recognize that reality and keep a professional approach.
With the schedule being friendlier to the film crew, the photography team stretched the scarce amount of time they had with a productive workflow, getting the requisite shots across all locations. However, taking the backseat to the video crew didn’t negate the importance of Lindsey’s work. With his images on display across numerous media platforms, print and digital, they serve a critical role in Neuriva’s marketing campaign.
It’s also just as important to know the cost and worth of your work. The images for this campaign will be used for magazines, social, in-store, and signage. I also have a usage contract in place. This demands the correct billing for the job. You might feel like a 2nd team player, but in the end, the invoice says otherwise.
See more of Lindsey’s work on his website.
Credits
Producer: Chris Lettley
Director: Rob Soucy
Production Company: Greenpoint Pictures
Agency: McCann New York
Creative Director: Kat Saoyen
Lighting Assistant: Morgan Cooper
Digital Tech: Yesid Pulido