The Art of the Personal Project: Doug Menuez

The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Today’s featured artist:  Doug Menuez

I am deeply interested in both history and culture and how innovators and influencers such as Jeff Ho shape it. With this short film, I was very lucky to be introduced to this truly legendary but humble artist and get to spend a day hanging out with him and his colleagues from Juice Magazine. This film does not cover Jeff’s incredible history or details of his accomplishments and influence and someday I hope to do that longer piece. This is more of a haiku, a visual tone poem, a sort of glimpse into Jeff’s philosophy about street art, searching for the perfect wave and his life’s work.

Originally I was going to produce a short film for Leica about their lenses for the Leica SL camera. As I got to know Jeff and his friends Terri and Dan at Juice Magazine I decided instead that I needed to make this one a personal film. I felt very attracted to their totally independent spirit and approach to living life with an artistic integrity that is hard to maintain these days. I’m definitely an outsider to skating and surfing, but have a great appreciation. When I was 10 I really got into skateboarding with early boards. I migrated into go-carts and mini-bikes and then ended up channeling all my teen energy into photography and blues.

So for this film, I serve as the witness and storyteller, which is what I love doing above all else. And of course we used the Leica SL and the astonishing Leica Cine lenses. We are very grateful to Leica Camera USA and everyone else in the production for their generous help getting this done.

To see more of this project, click here.

a video of this project, can be seen here

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 decided to be a consultant in 1999. She has a new Twitter feed with helpful marketing information because she believes that marketing should be driven by brand and not by specialty.  Follow her at @SuzanneSease.  Instagram