The Art of the Personal Project: Hollis Bennett

As a former Art Producer, I have always been drawn to personal projects because they are the sole vision of the photographer and not an extension of an art director, photo editor, or graphic designer. This new column, “The Art of the Personal Project” will feature the personal projects of photographers using the Yodelist marketing database. You can read their blog at http://yodelist.wordpress.com. Projects are discovered online and submissions are not accepted.

Today’s featured photographer is: Hollis Bennett

How long have you been shooting?
For myself, about 5 years.

Are you self-taught or photography school taught?
I went to photo school but the only thing it taught me was that school can’t teach you real world experience.

With this particular project, what was your inspiration to shoot it?
I’ve always been a fisherman and love all aspects of it and I have been working on building a body of work around Fly Fishing around the world because honestly, it’s one hell of a way to get outside, travel the world and have a damn blast while making solid images.

How many years have you been shooting this project before you decided to present it?
Well, this specific body of work that you see here was just completed in the last month as I was in New Zealand working on these images. Overall, I have been shooting fly fishing for about 3 years now.

How long do you spend on a personal project before deciding if it is working?
That’s a tough one – some projects are much more self-evident and reveal their failures (or success) quite quickly, and others take a bit more digging to find out. I give all my projects at least 2 or 3 attempts, but if it’s not working past that, I move on. It can be tough to stay focused at times too – I’m like a cat chasing a laser pointer at times…

Since shooting for your portfolio is different from personal work, how do you feel when the work is different?
Is it different? I don’t think it should be. Sure, you might be able to take liberties with your ‘personal work’ but in the end, it should all matter and fit in your portfolio somewhere.

Have you ever posted your personal work on social media venues such as Reddit, Tumblr, Instagram or Facebook?
I am a huge Instagram whore. I love the immediacy of it and I (try) to treat it as a rolling, evolving portfolio. I think that it’s great to be able to post something to the masses and add a bit of humor/insight/intrigue to the images via the captions.

If so, has the work ever gone viral and possibly with great press?
I’ve had images picked up by brands interested in what I’m doing and it has led to some success for sure.

Have you printed your personal projects for your marketing to reach potential clients?
Of course. I can’t think of a time when I haven’t used at least one image from a personal shoot on a promo. I don’t always call it out as such, but again, this goes to ‘brand’ consistency with my work. I want to show people that you are hiring me for a certain look, and a certain aesthetic and that will come across no matter the image or project.

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Hollis Bennett is an award winning photographer based in Nashville Tennessee. Originally from Tennessee, he has lived on 3 coasts (E, W, and Alaska) in the largest cities to the smallest remote communities.

He specializes in real people doing real things. His style carries over from editorial to advertising and back again, and he loves to tell stories, in any manner possible.

A life lived out of doors fishing, hunting, traveling and exploring allows him to relate to these situations and see them from the perspective of someone who has been there and experienced it first hand.

APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world. She has been involved in the photography and illustration industry since the mid 80s, after establishing the art buying department at The Martin Agency then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies. She has a new Twitter feed with helpful marketing information believing that marketing should be driven by a brand and not specialty. Follow her on twitter at SuzanneSease.