Last Tuesday, Jess and I once again rose before the crack of dawn and embarked on a New York portfolio adventure. My car was filled to the brim with books, cases and a dolly for the big day. Once we emerged from the Lincoln tunnel and I drove my way through the morning rush like a pro (if I do say so myself), we made a quick Starbucks run before heading to our first meeting of the day at Heart’s Country Living.
As you may know, the Hearst building is one of my favorite to visit in New York, so I was quite excited about this meeting. Jess lugged the portfolios as we made our way up to the Country Living floor. There, we were met by one of their photo editors, Will, who we had worked with on some projects in the past.
As the three of us started to sit at a conference table and pass around books, Will started gushing about his love for Wonderful Machine. He seems to be one of our biggest fans, stating we’ve made his job enormously easier and that he uses the site almost everyday to find photographers around the country. He was even more excited when we explained more of what we offer to art buyers, including stock requests and production services. As for the books we brought, two of Will’s favorites included Heather Anne Thomas’ of Beall + Thomas, and Christopher Shane‘s scrapbook style portfolio.
After looking through the book selection and learning more about Country Living, we said our goodbyes and headed out into the brisk New York air. Jess and I decided to walk the mile from the Hearst building to our next meeting at Ogilvy & Mather. I had visited Ogilvy last year for a large scale review including art directors and copywriters, but this meeting was a smaller one-on-one with one of their art buyers who was looking for some specific genres of photography.
The meeting went well, with the art buyer especially enjoying the work of Rebecca Drobis and Richard Fleischman, but the real highlight of the meeting was her delight in Heather Anne Thomas’ portfolio. The style was apparently just what they had been looking for. She liked the book so much, she asked if she could keep it for a few days and show the other art buyers. We happily obliged, and one portfolio lighter, we headed out the door.
With plenty of time to kill before our next meeting, Jess and I set out in search of the perfect New York lunch spot. We peeked in the various restaurants around Hell’s Kitchen before settling on the BBQ joint, Southern Hospitality. We both found it amusing to be in New York and eating BBQ at a southern themed restaurant (with a British waitress no less), but neither of us could resist the smells wafting from the open windows.
I think I should have my own food-related travel show, no?
After the scrumptious BBQ fare, we decided to take a quick stop by the Howard Greenberg Gallery to check out Wonderful Machine’s Landon Nordeman‘s prints in the show, Beyond Words: Photography of the New Yorker. Miscalculating the distance from the restaurant to the gallery, Jess and I ended up trekking across town. Let me tell you, my boots were not made for walking and my ankles were pretty sore by the end of our march, but it was worth it to see some large Landon photos.
Once we had given the gallery a good look through, we headed to our third meeting at the agency McGarryBowen, whose clients include Disney, Kraft, Reebok and more. Since our gallery expedition had taken longer than expected, we didn’t have the time to park and get up to the meeting in time. So, I dropped Jess off with a load of books at the front door and went to do some work in the car while he met with their art buyer Travis. The meeting went well, especially since Travis and Jess have a good history of working together on projects in the past. During the review, Travis expressed the most interest in the work of the New York duo Ball & Albanese and Austin still life pro, Adam Voorhes.
Eventually, Jess met me back at the car and together we drove over to our final meeting of the day at Inc Design. Inc is a design and branding firm with a focus on corporate communication design. Some of their clients include Ameritrade, Morgan Stanley and Hess. Jess and I met with their art buyer Michelle, who was already familiar with Wonderful Machine and had worked with some of our photographers before. Michelle really enjoyed Sean Gilligan book, Blake Gordon‘s aerial shots and thought Frank Rogozienksi‘s style was right up the Inc Design alley. The three of us sat around a table, chatted about projects and flipped through books until it was time for Jess and I to go. Once we had safely stored the portfolios (and ran into New Jersey Housewife Teresa Giudice in the parking lot) We headed for our last stop of the day, The Ginger Man.
The Ginger Man turned out to be great spot to meet for beers (66 on tap!) and chat with a couple of our New York photographers. Forest Woodward and David Arky stopped by and shared a pint with us and we ended up discussing everything from David’s x-ray photography to Forest’s hometown in North Carolina and work in Montana to New York traffic.
Eventually, Jess and I called it a night as it had been quite the long day. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the car only to be stopped by barricades on the street. We waited in a crowd until we found out what was happening. Turns out, President Obama was in town and he was on the way! We got the camera ready and snapped some pictures excitedly as he and his giant motorcade drove by.
Once able to cross the street, we thought the excitement was over, but alas, it was not. Our parking garage was actually barricaded in as Obama had decided on eating dinner next door. So, while Obama had a leisurely two hour dinner, Jess and I sat and waited (well Jess went and got us a couple cookies, but other than that, it wasn’t very exciting). Finally, we were able to leave and we quickly headed home, thoroughly exhausted but content with the successful day behind us.
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