January has been a busy month for us here at Wonderful Machine. Everyone is ramping up their task list in the new year and people are eager to meet! Earlier this month we met with Prudential, Avis Budget Group, and the McCann Health Agency. This time around, we met with Hillary Foxweldon from fashion production company, KF Media Productions, and Ash Barhamand, Photo Director at Women’s Wear Daily.
For our first meeting with KF Productions producer, Hillary Foxweldon, we decided to meet in a coffee shop near Grand Central Station in NY. She was doing some location scouting in the area later that day and our next meeting was just down the street. So it seemed like a good location for both of us. Unfortunately, the coffee shop was a bit more crowded than the conference room, so we weren’t able to show as many portfolios as we usually do. That being said, we were able to show off Melissa Valladares, which Hillary loved. As it turns out, KF Productions (which has historically worked more on fashion shoots) is looking to expand into other kinds of photography, including Home and Garden. In addition to Melissa, we also showed the work of Melinda DiMauro, and Michael Haug.
While we were only able to show three portfolios, in the end, we had a really great and far-reaching conversation. Hillary and Bill know a lot of the same people! She had also heard of Wonderful Machine before but was excited to learn more about it and wondered if WM had a BTW or “behind the scenes” category. We found this interesting because BTS is something we’ve had clients request more recently. Hillary told us that BTS is huge for them right now. Apparently brands like using it for social media and occasionally for campaigns. Once, Hillary even hired a studio manager to shoot BTS for a photographer’s shoot. Later on, her client ended up hiring just the studio manager to shoot an entire campaign composed of BTS shots. This story is a bit unusual, but it’s another great example of how social media is impacting our industry.
Once we finished our coffee, we walked over to Women’s Wear Daily. At WWD we met with Photo Director, Ash Barhamand, and Associate Photo Editor, Jillian Sollazzo. For this meeting we had a bit more space to spread out, so we were able to show off a lot more portfolios. WWD uses Wonderful Machine often and hires mostly fashion, portraiture, and reportage. So we brought a good mixture with us. Overall, they loved our fashion photographers, in particular, Sally Montana and Michael Haug. They also loved Fernando Decilis and Craig Orsini for portraiture. In reportage, they gravitated towards Angelo Merendino. They loved his work and found it interesting that he worked in Cleveland, OH. While they don’t assign much in Ohio, they like knowing someone there who could work when the time comes. Finally, they enjoyed Tim Black, who does a lot of work in LA and New Orleans. WWD has several photographers in LA, but hardly anyone in New Orleans. As we were talking, Ash and Jullian mentioned that they often assign shoots that document subcultures in fashion across America. Being a fashion photographer, well acquainted with the culture of New Orleans, Tim Black seemed like a perfect fit.
Our meetings are only becoming more frequent and we are thrilled to collaborate with these brands and agencies and share our wonderful photographers. If you’re interested in having your portfolio included in our portfolio events, feel free to reach out! We’d love to take your book with us.
Have questions about how we promote our photographers? Check out our Membership page. Want to know how you can get the most out of your Wonderful Machine membership? Check out our Jumpstart page or just reach out!