New York has a reputation for bad traffic. Luckily, that wasn’t the case last week when Jillian and I packed up 30 of our photographer’s books and headed into Manhattan to meet with the talented folks at The New York Times Magazine, Time and Essence.
Our first meeting of the day was with photo editor Amy Kellner of The New York Times Magazine. While looking around Amy’s office, it was obvious that she is an avid animal enthusiast. So while she had initially requested portfolios from reportage and food photographers, she was delighted to find images of furry friends in Brooklyn-based reportage photographer Radhika Chalasani’s book. When Amy also commented that photographers in India were hard to find, we happily showed her work from Allison Joyce, a talented reportage photographer based in the eastern city of Kolkata.
Paging through the many books atop her tiny desk, Amy mentioned that when they hire food photographers they look for something a little extra: something “weirder,” but still appetizing. While most photographers are technically competent, she’s more interested in their personal style. With that in mind, we brought out David Arky’s beautiful food work, and also showed her Argentina-based Agustín Nieto’s playful food still life images before we scooted off to our next meeting with Time Magazine.
After arriving at Time’s headquarters on Sixth Avenue, we got right down to business with senior photo editor Michelle Molloy and her colleagues, cracking open the books of reportage photographers from all over the globe.
While looking at our site, Michelle appreciated the convenience of being able to find a photographer anywhere, noting that she likes to hire local New York photographers whenever she can but it’s really just about where the story is. She was also delighted to find out that many of our photographers work in motion, which is a regular need for Time. Work from Minneapolis-based duo Ackerman + Gruber was instantly recognized by multimedia editor Mia Tramz, who recalled working with them on her first assignment at Time— a story about lumberjacks in July, 2013. You can check out the archive of that story here. Associate photo editor Marisa Schwartz Taylor also told us about her need for reportage photographers based in the Midwest and Southern US while looking through Richard Beaven’s book featuring images from his Angusmen project. Check out those photos in his full portfolio below:
After lunch we headed up the freight elevator for our final meeting with Essence Magazine. As the creatives at Essence started coming in, associate photo editor Tracey Woods (who requested books from our fashion, celebrity and travel photographers), explained that while they tend to hire photographers in LA or New York, they currently have a shoot in a remote location so they were excited to look at work from photographers all over the world.
Art director Nathan Taylor liked the matte feel and look of portrait photographer Karl J. Kaul’s portfolio, and it was widely agreed by all at the table that his book left a good impression. Tracey Woods, who remembered New York celebrity and portrait photographer Stephanie Diani from a print mailer, informed us that she loves when photographers stay in touch with her and let them know when they are in town. As more and more books circled around the table, conversation turned directly to the images themselves. Los Angeles-based photographer Austin Hargrave’s celebrity work was a favorite for photo editor Michael Rowe and his “big beautiful landscapes” were a hit with all. Michael was also thrilled to find an index in the back of Austin’s book explaining some of the more perplexing photographs.
“SO beautiful” was a phrase that rang out when George Qua-Enoo’s book was passed around, and art director Ronda Thompson was wowed by Samantha Wolov’s fashion and beauty portfolio (she especially loved the patterned backgrounds in her fashion work).
Our day came to an end right on schedule, and luck struck a second time as we narrowly escaped rush hour traffic out of the city. Here’s to hoping our next event in New York goes just as well!
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