Not long after celebrating the entry of the New Year, executive producer Craig Oppenheimer and producer Bryan Sheffield traveled to the nation’s capitol to promote member photographers in meetings with CEOs, CCOs, art directors, and producers at Design Army, Reingold, and Marriott; just more than a week later, they visited Virtual Farm Creative in Phoenixville, PA.
The first day was actually quite nice and unseasonably warm, and Craig and Bryan enjoyed a quiet drive during which they were able to drink their coffee, respond to emails (Craig was, Bryan drove), and discuss the matters of the day.
Their first stop was at Design Army, which is housed in a charming three-story building not far from the famous Union Station train depot. On entering they were ushered into the conference room, where they met with the CEO and the Chief Creative Officer. Although Design Army is a mid-size regional agency, they still direct international projects several times a year. They were in search of a high-quality still-life photographer for an ongoing DC project and a lifestyle/home&garden photographer for a hospitality brand they are working with.
Craig and Bryan showed portfolios by Colin Lenton (Philadelphia, PA), Tyllie Barbosa (Chicago, IL), Kate Thornton (Charleston, SC), Inti St. Clair (Austin), Marisa Guzman-Aloia (Washington, DC), Drew Anthony Smith (Austin, TX), Isaac Lane Koval (Portland, OR), Geo Rittenmyer (Seattle, WA), Chris Bradley (Chicago, IL), Lauren V. Allen (Chapel Hill, NC), Allie + Jessie (Boston, MA), Jen May (Woodstock, NY), and Will Strawser (New York, NY). Design Army was generally impressed with the work of each photographer and were familiar with Marisa Guzman-Aloia in particular, with her being local to DC.
After that meeting, they went across the river to meet with Reingold (for you Germanophiles out there, Reingold is a clever play off of the Rhine gold in Wagner’s Ring cycle, but technically the name says ‘pure gold’). Two art directors, one creative director, and a senior art director hosted Bryan and Craig. Reingold is a private branding and design agency, but they get a lot of work from the federal government, among other clients.
The team at Reingold spent a lot of time looking at only a few portfolios, unlike than the exhaustive tactic of Design Army. In particular, they were impressed with Colin Lenton’s work.
After that successful encounter, they had a more brief meeting with a photography producer for Marriott. In the past this producer had hired member photographer Natalia Weedy for a shoot on which Craig managed the production. Marriott has a bevy of different brands. Despite not having time to look at the work, the producer mentioned how he appreciated the site’s ability to locate photographers of certain specialties by location.
Having had a tortuous path over the metropolitan area, Craig and Bryan headed home, but not without the city reminding them that slow progress occurs not only in Congress but also on the Beltway.
A week later, when Craig and Bryan met with Virtual Farm Creative, which is located in a quaint exurb of Philadelphia called Phoenixville, they had only teh Schuykill Expressway to contend with (much nicer and less congested than I-695). Unlike their visit to DC, Craig and Bryan experienced more seasonal weather — namely, the global-warming-challenged cold made an appearance.
Virtual Farm Creative is housed in a charming early 19th century building that has been transformed into a hip creative office. In an earlier life the building was an inn, and the upstairs offices all enjoy separate washrooms as they had when they were bedchambers. The front of the building was once the general store serving the community. These days the interior walls are decorated with client work and awards.
The Creative Director, Production Manager, and Designer met with Craig and Bryan and examined the portfolios of the following northeastern photographers (on the request of VFC): Tom Cwenar (Pittsburgh, PA), William Geddes (New York, NY), John Kuczala (Maplewood, NJ), Jen May (Woodstock, NY), Tom McCorkle (Baltimore, MD), Ryan Smith (Mercersburg, PA), and Will Strawser (New York, NY).
Because Virtual Farm Creative is a smaller creative firm, they generally hire photographers from the area. They sought a good lifestyle and/or still life photographer and were particularly keen on Tom McCorkle’s work, although all of the portfolios impressed them.
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