Spotlight: Paul Owen for Target

BY Wonderful Machine 15 June 2017

Minneapolis-based photographer Paul Owen already had a long and productive relationship with the retail giant, Target, when he was commissioned to shoot one of its weekly ads focusing on home goods. Since Target is based in Minneapolis, Paul previously had the opportunity to work on various projects for the brand. He was eventually awarded this large campaign after his persistence and good track record with the retailer.

Paul partially credits his ascension with Target to his ability to make friends with the art directors on set and to continuing to nurture those relationships through networking, print promos, and portfolio showings.

Paul Owen's photo for Target's ad. The photo features a young man tossing a miniature blue basketball in the air while sitting at a desk.

The Project

This particular project for was for a Back-To-College pop-up campaign, kind of a mini story within Target’s weekly ad. Art Director Rebecca Cahill wanted the photos to maintain Target’s bright, fun, and poppy aesthetic they’re known for. She wanted something fun and a little quirky to showcase their back to school items.

Paul Owen's photo for Target's ad. The image features a gray couch with an array of decorative pillows spilling off of it onto a gray and white geometric-patterned rug on the floor. One of the pillows is navy blue and has "#loveit" written on it in white, where the "i" is dotted with a heart. Next to the couch is a side table with a bowl of colorful cereal and a pair of sunglasses with coral frames on it, and beyond that are a few home decor items: a blue pineapple sculpture, a yellow fake plant, and a blue "#" sculpture.

The Preparation

The preparation for the shoot began long before Paul became involved, but his collaborative skills were utilized a month or two before the shoot took place. Paul worked with Rebecca to cast several models in their early twenties with fun personalities as a foundation for the shoot. From there, they both worked with stylist Nicole Uphoff to pre-visualize the activities and props that the models would interact with. Paul was closely involved in brainstorming concepts and choosing the color palette they would work from in order to give the shoot a unified and energetic feeling.

We wanted to bring everything together and keep it simple in color and form, while still maintaining the fun and curiosity associated with millennials.

A photo for Target by Paul Owen of a woman in a staged bathroom set. She stands next to a bathtub with a shower curtain around it that has a city skyline design on it. She is surrounded by large bubbles and is catching the largest one on a bubble-blowing wand in her right hand. She has a pixie haircut and wears a bright yellow top, gray shorts, a short teal bathrobe, and gray flipflop sandals.

Paul Owen's image for Target featuring three plastic shower caddies surrounded by bubbles in the air on a pink surface with a blue background. The caddies are each filled with various toiletries and no branding or wording on the products are visible.

The Shoot

When it came time for the shoot itself, Paul enjoyed the challenge of bringing the ideas he had helped conceptualize to life. It was a constant challenge to keep the energy upbeat and lighthearted throughout the shoot. They had at least three solid ideas for each scene. That said, as with most creative endeavors, pre-visualized ideas don’t always easily translate to reality.

They would occasionally get stuck during the process, but these roadblocks gave them the opportunity to push through – letting each image they created spawn new ideas and help pave-the-way for more.

It’s frustrating and hard sometimes, but that’s how new ideas are born…

A photo for Target taken by photographer Paul Owen of a woman smiling while holding a badminton racket. She is posed in action on one foot and looks over one shoulder at a handful of badminton birdies which are floating in the air. The various items in the room (a red bike, an array of differently colored rugs, a totebag hung on a doorknob, a set of headphones) are coordinated with the colors in the woman's outfit. She wears a teal t-shirt, a denim a-line miniskirt, and red sneakers.

Paul appreciated Target’s willingness to give him creative freedom during this shoot. He loved the fact that Target allowed him to experiment and play with the concepts.

We’re so often tasked to crank out too many images in a short time, and we often don’t have the chance to fully work out and perfect an idea, or try out some new ones. Target really gave us what we needed on this one.

This freedom allowed Paul to let the images guide the process, resulting in some fun and unexpected results.

One of Paul’s favorite aspects of photography is the collaboration and opportunity for fun on the set. At one point, everyone on set was folding paper airplanes, and in another, they were blowing bubbles.

A diptych of photos by Paul Owen for Target. On the left is an image of a four-layer bunk bed with three women lounging on different levels. On the right is a closeup of a pair of red headphones hung over the side of a teal textile storage box with a container of pencils in the foreground.

In the end, Target loved the images! So much so that Paul is already gearing up to shoot this year’s campaign for the upcoming back-to-school season. He’s proud of what he was able to create and is excited to see the concepts progress and evolve. Although he hasn’t seen Rebecca’s initial ideas for the next shoot, he’s confident they’ll once again be able to make something fun and poppy.

See more of Owen’s work on his website.

Further Reading
Read more articles about Paul Owen.
Read more Photographer Spotlight articles about our other photographers.

Let us help you Find Photographers, source Stock Photography,
Produce Your Shoot — or just reach out to hear more!

< PREVIOUS

PUBLISHED

NEXT >