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We’re fresh from a quick trip to San Francisco, where we shared our photographers’ work at some of the local creative shops, met-up with our Bay Area shooters, and held a cocktail party for everyone.
Jess Dudley, Bill Cramer and Neil Binkley getting ready to skinny dip.
Our excursion began with a visit to the San Francisco treat: advertising giants Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Jess and I, our producer and marketing director, respectively, brought about 20 portfolios to give the art department a good cross-section of our talent. We discussed a few projects, and made sure to let them know additionally about the other photographers on our website.
At our portfolio reviews, art buyers generally remark on the variety and number of books that we present (in addition to the nice spread of food). They also enjoy that our website shows photographers in smaller cities, which they’re often less familiar with.
Neil Binkley, at left, discusses the merits of Brazilian design culture with a Goodby art director from that region of the world.
That evening, we held a reception for our photographers and their admirers at the art gallery/bar, Varnish. We were happy with the location, feel, and layout of the place, which had come recommended from a few San Francisco designers. We’d certainly recommend it to anyone planning an event in the city.
We provided the obligatory drinks and hors d’oeuvres (honestly, I think that was the best turkey sandwich I’ve eaten), and also displayed our local photographers’ portfolios for everyone to flip through. We also projected a slide show of Wonderful Machine photographers’ work from around the globe.
Adam Voorhes’ tabletop work projects above our San Francisco photographers’ books.
In addition to nice conversations with creatives from Communication Arts, CBS Interactive and elsewhere, it was a wonderful opportunity to meet some of our photographers, in-person, for the first time. So much of what we do is by phone and email, so it’s nice to put a face to a name and have a relaxed moment to find out even more about our talent.
For example, I had no idea that Eric Millette had a pony tail, and was playing soccer against his son the next day in a parent vs. child team game. Or that Sonya Revell was originally from the south. Or that Martin Sundberg had been an APA/San Francisco board member. We thank everyone for coming out for the event.
Neil Binkley, Eric Millette, Sonya Revell, Erin Kunkel, Richard Morgenstein, Martin Sundberg, Bill Cramer, and Jess Dudley.
The next morning before our flight out, Jess and I paid a visit to Sara Filippi at the future-inspired Wired magazine. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have followed many of their articles in the hopes of seeing their sci-fi technology predictions come to fruition..
Sara has always been friendly to us, and gave us good feedback on the kind of work that they like to see. Fortunately, that was the bulk of the photographers’ work that we brought.
We weren’t allowed to see the production room because they were getting ready to print. Jess and Sara at right.
One surprise, especially considering that Wired is on the forefront of everything futuristic, is that they still prefer to have projects shot on film! So keep this in mind, photographers. Of course, they will still work with digital-only photographers.
Aside from the $3.50/hr. parking meters in front of Wired, we were charmed by the San Franciscans (?), and hope they felt the same of us. Look for more Wonderful Machine trips to other cities in the near future.
Oh, and if you’re looking for an interesting restaurant on your next trip to San Francisco, we had an inspired meal at Farmer Brown. A native had recommended it to us, and we were impressed with the jambalaya, fried chicken, and honey-jalapeno sauce with cornbread that brought comfort food to a new level. Plus, they projected Beat St. 2, Electric Boogaloo on a screen in the background.