January was a jam-packed month for us and our photographers. Coming fresh off the heels of the holidays and another new year celebrated, we went into 2016 full force. With a record number of meetings in one month, we got to show off a lot of our talented shooters.
First up was a trip to New York, where Alex and I had the pleasure of visiting with Carpenter Group, Condé Nast Traveler and Architectural Digest. At Carpenter Group, we got to hear about projects for some of their clients – a lot of big name financial companies (and I mean big) – while sharing some of our portraiture, corporate and lifestyle photographers. They loved being able to look at physical books (the phrase “my eyes are drooling” was said), and were especially drawn to the work of Greg Miller and Amber Fouts.
Condé Nast Traveler’s entryway, and a copy of their latest issue.
Next up was Condé Nast Traveler in One World Trade Center, which meant loading up our arms with as many travel portfolios as we could manage (our new and improved rolling Pelican cases are not always security friendly). Because our meeting with Architectural Digest was in the same building, it meant we ended up carrying in 20 books total, which I can only assume we were able to manage through sheer force of will. Not shockingly, they loved hearing about our “On the Move” feature for our traveling photographers. After chatting about some upcoming projects, we went down a few flights to meet with Architectural Digest.
Alex chats with Gabby and Lyne about their upcoming projects and our photographers.
While talking with photo editors Gabby Pilotti and Lyne Lucien, we found out they’re doing a lot of international projects and use the search and stock tools on the site frequently. They were impressed with seeing how much Yadid Levy has traveled, and how nicely it’s portrayed in his portfolio, and also enjoyed the architectural work of Kristopher Grunert.
That same week, I took a quick afternoon trip down to Haverford College, which is only about 20 minutes from our office in Conshohocken. I met with photo editor Patrick Montero to show off some of our education and portraiture photographers, and loved hearing how excited and open he is to trying out new photographers he hasn’t worked with before. Because Haverford is one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country, their graduates go on to do impressive things all over the world, so Patrick is frequently hiring in virtually every location imaginable. He really enjoyed the work of Dero Sanford, Ron Wurzer and Luke Copping, and especially loved Eric Millette’s book.
Last, but definitely not least, Julia and I headed west to the City of Angels. I’d like to take credit for scheduling a trip to 70º weather right after a blizzard, but that was just pure luck. We started out our travels in the middle of the night to catch our early flight, and breathed a sigh of relief when our cases came out of baggage claim nine hours later after we had landed in Los Angeles. Our first meeting was with Team One, an ad agency that focuses a lot on automotive work. They were impressed with Jonathan Chapman’s style and the fact that he shoots video, and loved the work of Roy Ritchie and Dom Romney.
The Fox Studios lot, and a bronze Napoleon Dynamite ready to play some tetherball. Vote for Pedro.
The rest of the day was spent sharing our celebrity photographers, which seemed fitting for LA. At CBS, Kathleen Tanji, the director of photography, was excited to see all the photographers we brought, and is looking forward to meeting the local shooters for some one-on-one meetings. We then headed over to the Fox Studios lot to meet with Fox Searchlight, specifically Crystal and Reese in the electronic materials department. They commented on how nice it was getting to see and touch the paper and colors in physical books. They especially liked Stephanie Diani, and were excited to see some names that are appearing in upcoming projects in Daniel Bergeron’s portfolio.
Only some of us got the memo on silly faces. Left to right: me, Kyle Monk, Natasha Lee, Erik Isakson, Julia, Robert Gallagher, Karl J. Kaul, Natalie Faye, Rocco Ceselin, Jonathan Hanson, Michael Dorman, Mike Kelley, Amanda Hankerson (1/2 of Hunt + Capture) and Vern Breitenbucher.
We snapped a shot of the Napoleon Dynamite statue, and then headed out to meet a bunch of our local photographers for a happy hour. We love getting to meet our members in person whenever we can, and had a great time!
Our last day had us meeting with agency giant Saatchi & Saatchi to once again share our automotive photographers, along with some lifestyle and conceptual work. They, like Team One, were impressed with how well Dom Romney’s book showed off his work, and also liked the work of Darren Woolway and Roy Ritchie. John Fulton and David Zaitz were among the crowd favorites, and got lots of laughs.
I couldn’t not think “somewhere over the rainbow” at Sony’s lot, and Julia does her best Ghostbusters logo impression.
After a quick lunch, we headed over to Sony Pictures Entertainment in Culver City. It seemed there were never-ending beautiful and fun things to look at on their campus, but we managed to pull ourselves away from the Ghostbusters car to meet with Chrissy Quesada, Sony’s VP of photographic services. We talked about Sony’s upcoming projects, some of her favorite movies, and most importantly, dogs (I will NEVER get tired of talking about dogs). We once again shared our celebrity photographers, and she liked the printing in Karl J. Kaul’s book, and was impressed with Austin Hargrave’s extensive portfolio of A-listers.
It seemed like it was moments later we were back on a flight to Philadelphia, but we did manage to squeeze in the ever-important touristy thing to do, a trip to the Hollywood sign.
I would say my first trip to Los Angeles will go down as a success, and I’ll keep my fingers crossed that we’re back again before long!
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