Author: Suzanne Sease

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 new revised 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:  Jennifer Serena 

JEN SERENA, PHOTOGRAPHER: Many years ago, on a trip to Ecuador, all of my gear was stolen – including the cards with all of the images I had taken. It was my first time shooting with the potential for a photo gig and it seemed like a message from the universe that maybe this wasn’t my path. The next day, I watched dozens of hummingbirds all fluttering their wings at hundreds of beats per minute just to stay relatively still and grab a meal. If they could work that hard just to survive, surely I could put forth more effort to pursue a career I absolutely love.  A decade later, I still push hard for every job, working to best share my subject’s story through my diverse styles, and striving to always get a little something more than we’d planned.  (And, I’ve become really protective of my backups.)

My Indiana Muse Documentary. The film is about an artist who discovers a muse (from Indiana). I co-directed/produced and shot stills for BTS and promo and designed artwork.

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 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.

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 new revised 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: Jonathan Beller

It was midnight on March 3, 2017, and Jonathan Beller decided it was time to go out.  This time, he wasn’t going out into the cold Providence night, to the local punk rock club or one of neighborhood hipster bars. It was time to go the hospital.

He put on a vintage t-shirt and then he rested. He got up, put on pajama bottoms, and then he laid down again. Get dressed, rest, and repeat.  A task that would have taken a couple of minutes had taken him three hours to complete.

At 3 AM, he called an Uber and waited.  He sat with the excruciating pain and the extreme fatigue and looked at how bony his hands had become, and wondered for the thousandth time what the fuck was wrong with him.

The ten-minute Uber trip to the hospital in the middle of the night turned into a month-long stay.  The first few days were filled with tests and acronyms: two MRIs, a CT scan, EKGs, an X-Ray, and PIC IV.

After the tests, the doctor told him what the fuck was wrong with him: sepsis and diabetes that had gone untreated for years.  “You were on death’s door when you got here. All of your organs were shutting down. A forty-five year old man of your height should weigh about 150 lbs. You came in weighing 109. You’re very lucky.”

This is a great way to celebrate just turning 45, he thought as he listened to his doctor and the beeping of his machine, and stared at the IV bag above his head.

Jonathan and I had dated for nine months in 2014 and 2015. I was always concerned about his health – he was losing weight and sleeping excessively. I only recall a couple of days together when he didn’t drink excessively. I told him a number of times to go to the doctor, but he always told me not to worry about him.

Of course, I still worried.

I knew deep down that he would end up in the hospital. I spoke to him from experience. I had had my own mortality up in arms when I was 25 with a cancer scare. I knew what I was talking about.

When I saw the first photo Jonathan had taken at the hospital, his arm mangled by syringes, it was my worries manifested. The series that Jonathan created during his month-long stay in the hospital illustrates the black and white tedium of the hospital, filled with bad TV marathons and fluorescent lighting. The waiting as time slowly ticks by. But it also illustrates someone who was on the edge of life and death, and is now reaching towards life.

Written by: Caitlyn DiPompo

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 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.

 

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 new revised 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: Steven Laxton

Steven Laxton Brings Voice to LGBT Refugees In New Show

American politics is on fire and moving at a blistering pace, it’s hard to pay attention to anything else. But for Steven Laxton, the moment that precipitated this chaos, the 2016 election, was a wake-up call to see the horrors happening on the other side of our borders. “I was very disgruntled and confused about the election and Trumpism and all the xenophobia and sexism and racism that transpired,” says Steven. “I realized that I rather than just post disgruntled posts on Facebook and go to a few rallies, I have a craft that can tell stories.” He started creating projects around immigration and came across Immigration Equality, the leading LGBTQ immigrant rights organization. Once he started hearing their stories, a whole new perception of what it means to be a refugee opened up for him and inspired his project “Free To Be Me,” on view at The LGBT Center in New York starting today.

“It occurred to me that I didn’t really think about this enough myself,” Steven explains. “When I think about refugees I think of people seeking political asylum or economic asylum or people fleeing from war zones. It’s not often you think about LGBTQ asylum but there’s over 70 countries in the world where it’s illegal to be gay basically. Some of the stories are horrendous so I realized this was something that was worthy of doing.” Steven sat down with a host of LGBTQ refugees to get their stories and act as a conduit for us to meet them, understand them, and recognize the injustice happening all over the world. Things aren’t perfect in the US, but they’re good enough that for many, the US is an escape and a step towards living a freer and fuller life.

It’s not just about facts and figures, as appalling as those are. It’s about the humanity behind those numbers and the absurd laws in other countries governing what is and what is not okay about being an LGBTQ person. “It’s important for people to know the stories and where they come from,” says Steven. “There’s one gentleman from Egypt who’s an architect. He went out on a date when he was younger with a guy, they just kissed, the cops saw him and he was locked in prison for three months only because he was a minor. If he had been older it would have been five years.” He was able to come to the US and build a new life here, a more honest life, and contribute to his new community here.

Check out Steven Laxton’s “Free to Be Me,” presented in cooperation with the LGBT Center and Immigration Equality, is on view starting November 14^th and running through the end of the year.

 

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 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.

 

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 new revised 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: Joe Pugliese

The long-running game show “The Price Is Right” shot at CBS Television City, is one of L.A. ‘s most durable icons. The more excited you can be as an audience member, the more outrageous your reactions and wacky your attire, the more likely you are to hear the legendary command to “Come on Down”

This is a series of personal projects that to be published in LA Mag, which is something I pitched them and they agrees. I have a grid of 9 images that run on the last page of the magazine each month called “Gatherings”, It’s up to me to shoot and provide the material, and there is very little editorial oversight from the mag, it’s really my project which is great.

I’m donating individual and family portrait sessions to raise money and awareness for The Pablove Foundation and their mission to invest in pediatric cancer research and improve the lives of children living with cancer. Sessions are still available at the link below. Come to the Valentine’s Celebration on February 11th for all kinds of art, crafts, food and fun for the whole family!

https://www.classy.org/events/-/e141923  https://www.pablove.org/truepablove/

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 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.

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 new revised 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: Raphael Olivier – I found his project on Reddit

Ordos, Inner Mongolia, is well known as the largest Chinese “ghost town”. Located in a province rich with natural resources (coal, gas, rare earth metals), the local government decided to invest heavily in the late 90’s / early 20’s to develop a new city which would become the pride of the country: a futuristic vision of a cultural, economic and political center boasting state-of-the-art infrastructure and real estate. However, following the classic Chinese tradition of building fast and cheap, without any urban planning or long term vision, the city quickly became a spectacular failure. The prices of property being much too high discouraged potential buyers so the only people who actually moved in were local government officials and migrant workers who could earn more here thanks to a special “relocation bonus”. As a result the city is now a surreal landscape of empty streets, decaying monuments, abandoned buildings and half-finished housing projects. It is more than anywhere the symbol of the Chinese Dream with all its challenges and contradictions, an Orwellian vision of a bright future caught up by a less flamboyant reality.

Copyright: Raphael Olivier

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 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.

 

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 new revised 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: Brinson + Banks

LA Woman celebrates female Angelenos in creative fields. We collaborate with each woman in her home in an attempt to create art together, reflecting an unguarded side of herself, and of ourselves in the process. We interview each woman to delve deeper into her creative pursuits, which often run much deeper and wider than the craft that pays the bills. Each subject recommends the next, splintering and expanding further beyond our sphere. According to the Guerrilla Girls, “Less than 4% of the artists in the Modern Art section of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art are women,” and we want to be part of the movement that applauds and supports talented women. We are more than two dozen women in now and don’t plan on stopping any time soon.

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 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.

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 new revised 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: Joel Salcido

ALIENTO A TEQUILA by joel salcido

Tequila, like Mexico, is meztizaje. (a coalescence)

When pulque, the fermented nectar of Mexico’s indigenous world, embraced the copper alambiques of the Spaniards, tequila was born.

Mexico’s iconic drink is earthly and deep-rooted in a past that is both complex and immense.

As early as the 16th century, the national drink of Mexico was known as vino de mezcal, from the Spanish word vino for wine and the Nahuatl word, mexcal for agave.

The mezcal of the Nahuatl culture played an enormous role in the lives of Mesoamericans. Not only was the agave critical for sustenance, but it also provided shelter, wardrobes and tools.

Not surprisingly, mezcal was considered divine and endowed with supernatural powers to the extent that Mayahuel – a Venus-like goddess that personifies the maguey plant – became the symbol of fertility for the Aztecs.

The town of Tequila or Tecuilan, also Nahuatl for a “place of work and cutting,” is where land, agave and man came together to produce the iconic spirit of past and present Mexico.

It is there in Tequila, and in other towns of the state of Jalisco, that I set out to explore the contemporary world of tequila.

My search led me to the original distilleries that literally founded the industry, as well as a series of artisanal tequileras totally committed to the ancestral ways of tequila-making, from harvest to bottle.

In this landscape of blue agave, I also discovered traditions of culture and religion – both ancient and modern, indigenous and foreign.

And still, in the midst of all this, the everyday toil of man becomes unified with the land and the sky, to produce a spirit that is true to the legendary character of Mexico and its people.

This photographic series reflects that mystical space where the weight of history and the bounty of earth, blend into a spirit called tequila.

Tequila is the elixir that faithfully remains the guardian of Mexico’s landscape, tradition and national identity.

It is indeed, that ancient lord of fire with a savage smile.

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 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.

 

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 new revised 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: Nicole Morgenthau

How did you get into photographing mountain men???

I get asked this all the time. Here is the algorithm…

Realize making a living as an artist is very difficult— go to school to study physical therapy about 4 years ago— realize an artist studying science is much harder than making it as an artist. When I jumped back into the art world I was lost and broke. An ad popped up on social media “Win a workshop with famed photographer Andy Anderson.” I’ve never won anything but entered and got lucky. I was off to Texas. We were all professional photographer in the workshop who knew how to take pictures- Andy pushed us/ me off the high diving board. “Go do what you want, do it from the heart and you’ll make your best work.”

I attended a rendezvous when I was 20, in Montana. This was no accident- I always had romantic visions of living in the 19th century (with the addition of Advil). I’m fascinated by this part of American history, the clothing, hard work it took to survive, simpler way of living, and wanted to tell the stories of those that still call themselves mountain men. I went to Fort Bridger Rendezvous, which was close to my home of Salt Lake City in the fall of 2014. I went for the day, but threw my sleeping bag in the car— just incase. Three days later I returned home and was completely rebooted. I started feeling creative again, started making my best work and started getting real jobs. I plan to make a coffee table book and have the images exhibited.

Sometimes you have to take the long way home.

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 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.

 

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 new revised 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 Ross

Artist Statement:

“Coney Island, a black and white retrospective” is my photographic journey of the past ten years shooting at Coney Island. My photographs, of Coney Island, Brooklyn NY, represent my vision of an ever-changing canvas of people and experiences by the water’s edge, on the boardwalk and the streets that surround. They bring the viewer into a place that is intimate, gritty and unretouched by society. The people are who they are and have no excuses or facades. The rich black and white tone strip away the screaming colors and even sounds of the seashore park and its patrons and leave the viewer to just be fixated by the subjects alone. I am pleased to present this compilation of some of my favorite images from the area I so love.”

The book will be available to the public mid-December.

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 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.

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 new revised 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: Anderson Smith

Anderson Smith Sr was an American photographer who started shooting roughly in the early 1960’s. He was part of a couple of camera clubs, one in L.A and The Chicago Camera Club where he has won numerous awards as an up and coming shutterbug. He was also a part of the only African-American ski club called the Snow Gofers who traveled around the midwest and skied in competitions. My father took a lot of picture of pretty much everything, from people, to objects and life. Some of his influences as a photographer as what he told me were Eggleston, Penn and Gordon Parks. As my mom told me, he always had a camera and was always shooting. Before he passed he left me his life’s work which I have been scanning and documenting since his death in 2006. Roughly 98% of his work has never been seen outside of the family and has been preserved in slides and in boxes for over 40 plus years.

My dad and I were never really close but we became a little closer a few months before he passed as we talked about photography and I had the opportunity to show him my work and hear his opinion as I was just starting out as a photographer.

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 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.

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 new revised 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: Callie Lipkin

After first discovering one of Chicago’s oldest and longest-running smokehouses, I immediately knew I wanted to create a project about it. Established on the South Side in 1928, Calumet Fisheries is one of only two smokehouses in the city still allowed to smoke fish and seafood over an open flame. The history of the place is something that can be felt the minute you begin walking up to the rather unassuming red and white hut. Their smokehouse is right on site, beside the Calumet River and the 95th Street bridge. And it’s a beautiful thing — covered in layers upon layers of char from decades of smoking fish and seafood. We’ve created both stills and a motion piece, including interviews with the current manager and their most experienced smoker. This cash-only, take-out restaurant is a James Beard award-winning cultural icon, and something not to miss.

Callie Lipkin is a commercial and editorial photographer specializing in creating beautiful lifestyle narratives. She started her career as a newspaper photojournalist shooting everything from state fairs to celebrities. She lives just North of Chicago with her husband and three sons.

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 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.

 

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 new revised 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: Conor Nickerson

I got the idea to do this project when I was home from University on spring break this year. I was looking through some old photos albums and a few stood out to me because they were nice photos. I did a project last year called Then & Now where I recreated historical photographs of Montreal, so I think that was in the back of my head when I was looking through these photos. I thought it could be an interesting project to put myself in these old photos, and it was also a personal challenge to see if I could pull it off!

 

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 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.

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 new revised 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: Adam Moran

the last 1/4

In March of 2015 I had been traveling non stop for almost 3 months shooting snowboarding and was getting a little burnt out.  No matter how beautiful the scenery I was in, it was all starting to blend after so many years working in the snow sports industry.  I was starting to get the itch to get out and shoot other things but my work schedule at the time had me going non stop. At the time I was living in Venice CA and finally home for a weekend. When I woke up to go walk for a coffee I realized that the LA Marathon was going on, and finishing just up the road from my house.   So I took my coffee, went home and grabbed a small camera bag and my bike and cruised up towards the finish line.  I had no plan, just the itch to get out and shoot something different.  I remember locking my bike up and thinking what am I doing here?, is this wasting time I could be home with my wife after I’d been traveling for weeks on end?  It honestly stressed me out at first, till I started shooting.  With no plan or goal I was able to just keep my eyes wide open and feel out the whole scene.  I only hung out at the last 1/4 mile of the marathon and quickly was taken by the energy of the scene.  People were cheering for everyone coming through, and you could see it lift their spirits as they finally had the end in sight.   What amazed me the most was the age range of people finishing, it truly made me feel I needed to get in better shape as people twice my age were finishing a run 8 times further than I thought I could make it.  As I kept shooting my focus started to narrow and I was drawn to the emotion on people as they were about to finish.  There was such a mix of pain, exhaustion, and elation all at once, with a huge crowd cheering so loud to make sure they made it to the end.  When I shoot action sports it’s common to frame in the whole scene, and this allowed me to depart from that and focus in on the elements I was missing in my normal work, close up emotion.  I’ve always loved the feeling of gritty b/w photos and wanted to keep it that way so the loud colors of running gear and bibs wouldn’t distract from feeling in the shot.  This was one of the first times I shot running and fitness work and it sparked something in me that I keeps me wanting to shoot more and more of it these days.  In the end after being burnt out on work, I came home from the race and spent my first Saturday at home editing photos, feeling inspired again.  So here it is, the last 1/4.

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 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.

 

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 new revised 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: Coco Amardeil

Crazy Mummy is a creative, photographic project, initiated in August 2014 with my 11 yeas old daughter. The concept was to realize a series of photos of Zhan in quirky, joyful situations, much like my work as a professional photographer. I proposed ideas of situations to Zhan; she then gave her point of view.. she for example refused to have an octopus on her head. I can say that we have done this project as collaboration. I wanted to share creative moments with my daughter whilst having fun. It is different view on mother-daughter complicity, on love and maternal love. Images full of humor and spontaneity.  After our first session in Greece, we continued the story during our various trips.  The  “snapshot” effect is voluntary..A Mom’s vision, simple and pure emphasized with the usage of grain and vignetting.

– How did you (or your daughter) come up with the idea? I wanted to do my first movie, and as i filmed i posted images on Instagram ..we got amazing feedback which motivated Zhan to keep going

– Who has the ideas for the photos?/How do you get the ideas? I prepared the ideas before our trip and took a suitcase full of styling accessories..we also improvised as we went along

– How do you work together? it is mostly fun but sometimes it is tough for Zhan…being buried in the sand, getting pricked by a cactus, kilos of bread wrapped around the waist ;

– How is the situation, when you take the photos? It looks so funny :-) Are you alone with your daughter? We are always alone…except the Kappla photo where her babysitter helped us. Where do you take the photos? In which situations? In Greece, on trips, at home

– How would you describe your daughter? How old is she? She is you adoptive daughter? She is joyful, positive, courageous and loves to laugh..she is 11 and adopted from Kazakhstan

– Has the project changed your relationship? Yes, even more complicity..and she gets my job as a photographer more.

– Do you still go on with the project?…we took a break but are planning on some new ones…I didn’t want to force her…but now she is asking for more..

To see more of this project, click here.

https://www.instagram.com/cocoamardeil/

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.

 

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 new revised 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: John Kealey

Jai Alai originated in the Basque country of Northern Spain almost four centuries ago. The sport was first played professionally in Miami around 1926. The Miami fronton is still active and often referred to as the Yankee stadium of Jai Alai.

Fronton Blvd is a personal photo study on the sport of Jai Alai in the U.S. The sport is very much overlooked and probably in it’s final years of existence with the exception of Dania Beach. Personally I wanted the project to serve as a testament to the beauty of the sport, players, courts (concha), stadiums (frontons) and makers currently surrounding Jai Alai in Florida.

A trip to the Pyrenees is in the works to photograph where it all started.

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 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.

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 new revised 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: Todd Burandt

ARTIST STATEMENT

I’ve been photographing rodeos as a personal project, for the last six years.  When I heard about a rodeo that was held inside of a maximum security prison, in which the inmates are the participants, I had to go.  It seemed like the perfect capstone to this obsession of mine.  After a lot of cold calls, and lengthy emails, I was finally granted access to photograph the event known as The Angola Prison Rodeo.

The Rodeo started in 1965, and has grown in size each year.  The general public originally sat on apple crates, and the hood of their cars.  Now, they sit comfortably inside a 10,000 seat covered arena.  Due to increasing popularity, the inmates are now allowed to sell their artwork, furniture, and jewelry to the public.  All of the funds go directly to the artist’s families on the outside.

Many people are torn on the thought of inmates with no prior experience riding bulls, and roping broncos, participating in this event.  But, the truth of the matter is that this is completely voluntary.  My goal was to depict them as ordinary citizens, in an extraordinary place.  But when the sun sets on the Rodeo, the reality of it all sets back in place.

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 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.

 

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 new revised 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: Joey L

Overview: WE CAME FROM FIRE: Portraits of Kurdistan’s Armed Struggle Against ISIS

The ancient Kurdish homeland is partitioned between modern-day Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Oppression by state powers led Kurds to embrace armed struggle, yet failed to produce a lasting resolution. As the new war against ISIS dismantle nation-state borders, the once persecuted have risen to secure the power vacuum.

 Artist Statement:

WE CAME FROM FIRE: Portraits of Kurdistan’s Armed Struggle Against ISIS is an independent and self-funded portrait photography series that transformed into a book project. It observes a controversial ideological guerrilla movement that has manifested itself into a sophisticated army in response to a crisis threatening the existence of an ethnic minority.

After a ruthless and exhausting 6 years of war in Syria, only the most ideologically strong militias have flourished, absorbing various fragmented factions and uniting them under strict philosophies. The statistics flooding our daily news cycles rarely capture the mental convictions that can turn the tide of war, often surprising analysts with years of experience observing from afar.

When one crosses into the North East of war-torn Syria, and is catapulted into a worldview crafted by the Kurdish guerrilla. Conversations often drift to conspiracy theories. It seems ISIS is just the beginning of a long list of culprits plotting to destroy the Kurdish identity. Oddly, the conspiracies begin to make sense. The militia’s secretive hierarchy vanishes due to its compartmentalization, and you find yourself among individuals who left their families with the intention of defending their culture and way of life.
 
I have never felt comfortable calling myself a “war photographer.” In the past, I have photographed projects highlighting the plight of minority groups, but never in a war environment. When finally approaching a project on the Kurds, despite my lack of experience in a war zone, it became necessary to focus on their fighters—the armed defenders of a language and distinct cultural practices outlawed by every state the Kurds live.

Portrait photography is an external medium that can remind us of our shared humanity, but it is also the best device for the nearly impossible goal of depicting the inner ideology which has fueled the Kurdish movement to rise to such a position of power.

To see more of this project, click here.

Purchase the book in pre-order: https://joeylshop.com/products/guerrilla-fighters-of-kurdistan-fine-art-photography-book

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/232453075

The full film can be viewed for free here:  www.BornFromUrgency.com

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.