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For Buffalo, N.Y.-based advertising and editorial photographer Scott Gable, personal projects are not only important, they also “guide a lot of his commercial work,” and adds that more art directors will reference his personal projects on his site than his portfolio galleries.
Last year, one such project gained a significant amount of traction. Scott completed a self-directed and self-funded project documenting rice production and culture in Asia. Scott was named “Best of ASMP 2014” for the project, had a solo show at CEPA Gallery in Buffalo, NY, and the show is now traveling to the Philippines IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) in February 2015.
Scott traveled for four months through many language barriers and continual challenges for the project. He was forced to be very flexible with time and comfort levels (which wasn’t foreign to him as he has 20 years of backpacking experience). As far as the language barriers, iPhone translation apps were key!
Scott took six months of Mandarin lessons beforehand to try and make his way around the major cities in China, saying he “had to secure as many contacts and favors as he could.”
As much as he enjoyed the project, Scott learned that nothing is as simple as it seems. His favorite part? Getting lost in the mountains of Southern China:
I had no clean clothes, no toothbrush, no anything with me except for my camera bag. I walked out of the house I was staying in one morning thinking that I would be back by lunchtime. I didn’t walk through those doors again for 4 days!
