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: Thomas Chadwick
In my younger days, before I moved to the States, I used to ride. I was part of the Corinium Cycling club, rode open road time trials & trained almost year-round. During the colder months, I would venture out less often & stuck to riding rollers in my garage. I never did particularly well in the colder weather.
That’s why one day, on my way back home from work early in my time in Chicago, on a bitterly cold February evening, I came across a messenger packing his bike into the back of his car. It blew my mind that he would even consider riding in these frigid & snowy conditions. As I quizzed him about why on earth, he would choose to ride his bike in these temperatures, he told me he was a bike messenger & that he liked working in the winter months as only the most committed riders went out in these months & it meant more work & better pay. I remember him saying anyone can be a messenger in the summer, but the cold had a way of whittling out those who weren’t serious.
That encounter left an impression on me & respect for those riders who I would see braving the cold & the traffic downtown.
My further introduction to the World of Bike Messengers came when Redbull hired me to photograph Nico Deportago-Cabrera at the NACCC (the North American Cycle Courier Championships). There I got a glimpse of the world of the sense of family, camaraderie & style that links the participants together. It was the sense of community, the dress sense, and the tattoos that really drew me in. The tattoos were awesome!
That following year, through Nico, I put a call out to Chicago messengers to stop by a studio I rented for the day if they wanted to have their portrait taken. It was late winter & still bitterly cold outside & the messengers that had impressed me so when I first arrived in the country were the ones who turned up.
To see more of this project, click 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 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
Success is more than a matter of your talent. It’s also a matter of doing a better job presenting it. And that is what I do with decades of agency and in-house experience.
