The Daily Promo – Leah Fasten

Leah Fasten

Who printed it?
HH Imaging here in San Francisco
http://www.hhimaging.com/home

Who designed it?
I worked with Flight Design Co to create an overall brand for my business. As part of that branding process, they provided me with design assets and a branding guide to use in my design work. I did the actual art direction and design of the promo using their brand guidelines and assets.
http://www.flightdesign.co/

Tell me about the images?
2017 was a really, really busy year with a ton of client work and candidly I fell behind on my personal work. When this happens I push myself on location or on set to create both images that thrill the client as well as images that surprise me and inspire me. Working this way is what keeps me madly in love with this career.

Initially, the idea for the promo was a kind of “greatest hits” of 2017. When I started looking at the images I was truly drawn to I realized that none of them had actually been printed anywhere. They were all work done in collaboration with clients, yet these weren’t the hero shots or perfect shots. These were the photos that happened in between or didn’t quite illustrate the story. And these are the images that surprised me and inspired me. My attraction to these images was interesting to me and I wanted to explore that a bit more. I used the promo as a kind of sketchbook to do that. (with notes!)

How many did you make?
500

How many times a year do you send out promos?
I do a larger mailing of postcards to hand-selected people 3-4 times a year with smaller, personal postcards sent out on an ongoing basis as I feel emotionally moved.

Do you think printed promos are effective for marketing your work?
Oh gosh. Who knows what’s effective. Is it the postcards? The Instagram feed? The portfolio meetings? Word of mouth? The nice comment my mom made about me on Facebook? That time we stayed out too late and drank too much in LA?

I know that I love postcards. I love sending them. I love receiving them. There is still something so magical to me about print. It’s the same feeling I have when I see my image full bleed in a magazine or feel the weight of the paper for a portfolio print. It’s a great gift when a photographer friend sends me a postcard. I want to share that love with people I’d like to work with.