Category: Personal Project

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 Davidson

Seeing Clearly

Ciénaga, Colombia, home to ~120,000 people, is perched between the Caribbean Sea and a large estuary. These two bodies of water are vitally important to locals who rely heavily on fishing for sustenance and income.   Poverty is a hard reality in this area: many relocated here after they were displaced from violence in Colombia’s recent past. Eye and vision problems are very common, stemming from a combination of the intensity of the sun reflecting off water, poor nutrition, and inaccessibility to quality healthcare when accidents occur.

For over 20 years, a group of doctors from the US and Canada have been traveling to Colombia with Medical Ministry International to provide services for better eye health around the country. In 2015, I joined this team to document their work in Ciénaga, both in the clinic and operating room, and to connect with the people who were coming, some from great distances, to take advantage of these services. Through smiles and tears, people generously shared their stories and homes with me. I met a man with cataracts whose life was filled with tragic loss but has found solace in a family down the street. With his eyes straight after a strabismus surgery, an 11-year old boy expressed how eager he was to go back to school knowing that the kids there would no longer have reason to make fun of him. A young mom showed off her prosthetic eye and beamed with joy as she told me her story, now full of hope. This new eye meant social acceptance and the ability to pursue her dream job of hotel management.

When I ventured to the surrounding towns supported by Ciénaga, I found 10-year old refugee camps where people lived who had been displaced from their small towns by FARC guerillas. Even though it is safe for many them to return, these barrios are now their home, these people their family. There were isolated fishing villages built entirely on stilts deep in the estuary where a good fishing spot eventually became a community. Fishermen talked about having to raise their homes when the floods came though, a huge undertaking, but they preferred life in these quiet villages to the crime and noise of the cities where economic opportunities can be greater.

During the two-week program, over 5700 people came to the clinic, with 100s of surgeries performed and 1000s of glasses handed out, but what impressed me most was the resiliency of the people I met. It is easy to forget the power of simple things like reading glasses, which are abundantly available to many of us. Seeing someone who is able to read for the first time in years and the smile that brings to their whole being is unforgettable. So is the tenderness of people living in pieced-together houses with light beaming through cardboard walls, as they tell stories of lives filled with hardship, but also with family. With their new glasses or cataract-free eyes, people were able to see the world more clearly. Those who had come to the clinic with an eye crossed, or even missing, left looking forward to the way their culture would now see them. And I, who arrived with my vision physiologically sound, departed with a new perspective on the daily trials people survive and how, while they may be lacking in material comforts, together, can even thrive.

To see more of the 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: John Huet

About 20 years ago my wife and I moved to Manchester-by-the-Sea, a small coastal New England town north of Boston on Cape Ann. With a population of about 6,000, not a lot happens here. The small town aspect of living here has made it a great place to raise our family. I doubt that many people were even familiar with Manchester-by-the-Sea until the award winning film starring Massachusetts’s native, Casey Affleck, came out last year.

I’ve been photographing this town for as long as I’ve lived here, and after seeing Manchester by the Sea, I went back and took another look at some of my images from the vantage point of the movie. I’m always inspired by the quiet beauty of this little town, and that’s a big part of what this body of work is about for me.

See more of this project by clicking 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: Ashton Ray Hanson

Van Life is a new project I am excited to work on. This project focuses on the lives of individuals who have left their homes to explore this beautiful planet by means of modified vans. These people come from all over the world and are from all walks of life. What wonderful people I have met so far!

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: Evan McGlinn

I was originally asked to travel to Newtok, Alaska for a major US clothing company that wanted to rebrand itself as being an environmentally savvy and green. I was told to write a story and take dramatic photographs to document how Newtok, Alaska was sinking into the sea because of rising global temperatures and melting permafrost.

When I submitted the story and the photographs, the CEO of the company thought it was too depressing and she requested that I remove any mention of “climate change” from the article.

I asked that my name be taken off the article.

Many of my pictures – the ones showing garbage strewn about the town and muddy seawater amongst crumbling wooden boardwalks – were omitted from the story. “Don’t you have any images that are happier?” I was asked.

No I do not.

The situation in Newtok is more dire than my photographs could possibly convey and I have posted the original draft of my story on my website so that people can understand what is happening all across Alaska and the northern part of the globe. Similar stories are playing out in the Solomon Islands and other coastal regions of the world. We ignore these stories, and these images, at our own peril.

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: Kevin Arnold

A Farrier’s Craft – Artist Statement from Kevin Arnold

I’ve always loved to shoot people engrossed in an activity. I like the raw emotion that I can capture. When I was younger I was drawn to shooting adventure sports for this very reason: there was always an opportunity to capture a variety of genuine human feelings. Whether determination, fear, joy, contemplation, exhaustion or something more ephemeral, I found that these emotions lived close to the surface when people were stretching themselves mentally and physically.

Over time I’ve become more interested in finding this emotion in other facets of life, as well. The key, for me, is that the person I’m shooting is fully invested in what they are doing. And no one is more devoted to his or her movement than a truly skilled craftsperson. You can see the depth of their expertise, their skill and the years they have invested in their craft not only on their face, but also in the efficiency of their body and the movement of their hands. I love the challenge of trying to capture that deeply instilled choreography in a photographic image.

My eldest daughter has been riding horses for many years, and we now own our own horses and barn. But I can still remember the first time I watched the farrier at work. At the time, I didn’t even know what a farrier was, and I was astounded at the timelessness of his craft. The horseshoes, the wooden bench and leather chaps, the tools, the kiln – the anvil! It’s Old World, having stood the test of centuries of technological revolutions. Working by hand with each horse to sculpt their feet and shape each shoe to complement their stance and gait is still the way to get the job done. It is a craft that is as needed today as ever, yet is refreshingly untouched by modern technology. Dave wears his experience in his hands and face, and I knew the first time I saw him at work that I would need to photograph him.

I did the shoot in the winter – it happen to be one of the coldest days – because I knew that the steam from the hot shoes and the horse’s breath would add a quality that just wouldn’t be there on a warm summer day. There is a sense of dedication and old world charm in the black and white moody imagery, that for me matches the farrier craft so well.

To see more of the personal 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: Colby Lysne

Every fall Project Homeless Connect puts together an amazing event that gives the homeless people of Kansas City the opportunity to come to one place to receive many services that can help them get back on their feet. Among the services available are haircuts, showers, state issued identifications, housing solutions, employment opportunities and a hot meal.

For the past two years I have volunteered to create portraits at this event.

I saw it as an opportunity to give the subjects something they may not have had access to for some time or ever. As I started to make these portraits I realized it was bringing much more to them.

As the project progressed it became apparent these portraits were rather significant to my subjects. For them it was a day they felt hope and direction. One subject walked 4 miles to come back and claim his portrait. After gazing at it for some time he opened his backpack and placed it safely inside a book that was tucked in the middle of his belongings.

I have photographed families that have never had a portrait made together and children that have never had their portrait taken. I have photographed subjects strong enough to flee abusive relationships and others celebrating milestones of sobriety. I consider it an honor.

To see more on the 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.

Featured Artist: Abby Greenawalt

We know what baldness looks like.

What we don’t know is how it feels for a little girl with piercing eyes and alopecia; or a statuesque woman who boldly defies convention and defines her own aesthetic; or for men who confidently adopt —  or accept —  their hairlessness and know how to have fun with it. Like a group of strangers I met who agreed to be photographed juggling tennis balls.

Some people face baldness because of illness, of course, but they are not victims here.  People still must choose how to confront life, and there is power in their choices.

Different ages, races and genders, they slay stereotypes and share a singular characteristic: They are exposed from the neck up — naked, if you will. They are the counterweight to those who hide or disguise and deflect.

Growing up with a hairdresser mom can cultivate interesting interests. Six years ago, I began photographing this unique tribe. I’ve found in them an aura of self-acceptance, a little swagger in their step. And I have been consumed.

Here’s to the bald ones, who challenge us to recognize how beautiful and powerful it is to be free and unafraid.

For more on 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 Artist: Adair Rutledge

Nashville Cardinals

Each evening on my drive home in Nashville, I would pass a field dotted with tiny figures in plastic armor, smashing into each other again and again. It was a Pee Wee football practice, the players five and six years old. As a Southerner, I understand that football is a rite of passage taken very seriously, but the daily sight of kindergartners wearing oversized helmets and shoulder pads was curious and complicated. This photo essay looks at just one of the thousands of Pee-Wee football teams across America. I explore the tension between sweet, post toddler innocence and checks for concussions; between what it means to be a child and expectations for ‘what it means to be a Man.’ I try to understand how the dynamics between parents, coaches, and kids work to groom the next generation of professional athletes; how expectations of success and repeated physical contact impact kids early in their lives; how the industry of football establishes social norms of not only teamwork, discipline, and community, but also violence, race, class, and gender for American Youth

More of the 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.

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 newly 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: Sasha Nialla

ARTIST STATEMENT

In partnership with The 3% Conference and Jack Morton Worldwide, I photographed a series of female leaders in the advertising world. Before The 3% Conference, started by Kat Gordon in 2012, only 3% of all U.S. Creative Directors were women. Since the inception of the conference, the number of female Creative Directors has grown to 11%.

Women continue to play a role in the world’s culture, there needs to be a call for gender-balanced leadership with women’s and men’s contributions valued equally.

Through my photographic series entitled Female Creatives Sitting for Change: Portraits Highlighting Women of The 3% Conference, my goal is to highlight some of the powerful women in the advertising world and challenge conscious and unconscious bias. The series emphasizes the women’s strength and beauty with the use of dramatic lighting and a minimal setting. With this technique, the viewer is forced to see the women’s femininity and power without distractions. I approach all portrait shoots in the same manner. I spend time getting to know the sitters, I ask them questions and connect with them. Only with their trust, I am able to show their vulnerabilities and strengths. Although there has been progress in society’s thoughts about women’s equality, women still are not present in equal numbers in business today.

 

 

SASHA NIALLA BIO

Sasha Nialla was raised in California and spent the last 17 years in New York City. As a photographer for 11 years, Ms. Nialla has been continuously getting involved in photography projects that bring awareness to different causes and life experiences, including; children with HIV/AIDS, diabetes, Iraq war survivors and many more. All these projects have resulted in supporting vulnerable groups and people, and those not exposed to these situations in their everyday lives. Highlights include multiple billboards in Times Square for Bideawee, standees of breast cancer survivors with NFL players in Kroger supermarkets and on PepsiCo and Gatorade packaging, a photo exhibition of women immigrants with New Women New Yorkers and a photo exhibition of cancer survivors in the NYU Medical Centerart gallery.

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: Sara Forrest

http://saraforrestphoto.com/personal/RODEO-QUEENS/8

Growing up in ‘flyover country’ we were surrounded by the largest expanse of tall prairie grass in the world.  These are the Flint Hills, outside of Topeka, Kansas.  The wind moves through the tall grass, bending it and pushing it in waves, and it feels like you are standing on the edge of a vast green ocean.

My love for environment has always sparked my creativity, and I’m so grateful to have grown up in a family and a place with no preconceived notions of what I could or could not do.  My family and close friends have always encouraged to follow my dreams, so many years ago, I moved from Topeka, Kansas to NYC.  Lately, I find myself romanticizing my experience of growing up on the prairie.  Sometimes it takes leaving a place to realize how much it is a part of who you are.

This Rodeo series was shot in Topeka one late Friday afternoon last fall.  I had always been aware of these competitions, though I never had an opportunity to attend one, so once I found out about it, I grabbed my camera and headed out the door with absolutely no idea of what the next two hours would bring.  I’m so grateful to have spent that afternoon with these wonderful young women.  The contestants were all hopeful and nervous as they prepared for a weekend of competition.  Most of them have been riding horses on their family farms and ranches for as long as they could remember and all of them worked really hard to compete there.  Their enthusiasm was contagious, and every time I see these photos, I’m reminded of how important it is to follow your dreams.

Whether I am working on a personal project or on assignment, I always strive to make images that are honest and authentic.  Photography transcends language and cultural barriers, and my camera gives me the opportunity to share a special moment and energy in a particular space and time. My career as an image maker has allowed me to connect to so many people and unique environments…situations that a young woman growing up on the prairie could only imagine.  I’m so fortunate and so happy to do work I love, and I never take it for granted.

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.

Personal Projects are crucial in showing potential buyers how you think creatively on your own. I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or show something I have never seen before. In this revised column, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: projects are found and submissions are not accepted.

Today’s Featured Artist: Kris Connor

Artist’s statement:

“We knew that it would need to be his decision,” says Amy Rough, the mother of  Dawson, an energetic nine-year-old boy from Meyerdale, Pennsylvania. About his decision to have limb lengthening done in the summer of 2012. He was born with achondroplasia, the most common type of dwarfism. The same type of dwarfism that I was born with. 

Achondroplasia was not the only thing Dawson and me had in common. In the spring of 1994, I had my first limb lengthening procedure done by the same group of doctors as Dawson. Over the next five years I would go through an additional three operations to gain 12 inches on my legs and four inches on my arms. 

Limb lengthening and the complex reconstruction of bone materials is not only possible but has been performed successfully for about 50 years, starting in Kurgan, Russia. Limb lengthening and reconstruction techniques is used to lengthen and/ or straighten deformed bone segments. The limb lengthening and deformity correction process works on the principle of distraction. In this process, a bone that has been cut during surgery can be gradually distracted (pulled apart), leading to new bone formation, or osteogenesis, at the site of the lengthening. In this way, bone segments can be lengthened by 15 to 100 percent of their original length.*

The story has been told more than once by other photographers, but the one thing that would separate me from these other photographers. Is that I have traveled the same path as my subjects…in a sense I would be looking into the mirror. I would have an understanding about the pain, doing hours of physical therapy each day, spending my summer in a wheelchair and getting to miss out on some of the activities that my childhood friends were able to participate in.

Starting with his fixatures being put on July 17th, 2012 and standing at 3.5 feet. I followed Dawson’s journey through his first procedure over the next six months that would see him gain four inches from the surgery. “First couple of days were rough! He is smiling again through it all,” said Amy a few days after the surgery. 

http://www.krisconnor.com/portfolio/C0000WcdzozgDX4c/G00007.z22Y6qtwQ

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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.

Personal Projects are crucial in showing potential buyers how you think creatively on your own. I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or show something I have never seen before. In this revised column, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: projects are found and submissions are not accepted.

Today’s Featured Artist: Cade Martin

Cade Martin – Tattoo Series

To see more: http://cademartin.com/personal/

So often my personal projects are sparked by something small, and just as often I take that idea and run with it on a moments notice. This series of tattoo portraits came to be when on a break during a project, a client and I somehow got to talking about tattoos – I don’t think she had one. She mentioned a tattoo festival – the DC Tattoo Arts Expo – being held the following week in the Washington DC area and asked if I was going. I don’t have any tattoos myself but I was intrigued. My personal projects, a lot of times, have me chasing characters and stories they put forth. The thought of all those people with their stories essentially written on their bodies at one location was something I wanted to experience. From there I hustled to rent a space at the tattoo expo and set up a photo booth. 
 
I have used the photo booth set up before for portrait projects, having a ready backdrop and a space for people to step out of the commotion of the convention hall, seems to create an instant curiosity. At the tattoo expo, we simply asked people walking around the convention hall if I could create their portrait. I photographed everyone against a grey backdrop within our makeshift studio – a few minutes with each person, lights and all. 

In postproduction, we went to work exploring & sampling the tattoos on each of the subject’s torsos; from there we created a unique personal tapestry background for every subject. The idea was to create a uniquely textured and scene into which the subjects would be immersed, promoting the rich, multi-layered stories and characters.

The people I gravitated to had complete coverage and amazingly detailed tattoo work, it was such a clear commitment & passion on their part. The whole experience turned out to be a blast – talking and working with people from all walks of life bonded by their common interests.

I followed the DC shoot with another tattoo event south of LA and it was an equally amazing experience, both as a spectator and as a photographer. As is always the case with my portrait projects, I feel truly honored to be let in and given permission to share what I capture. It was amazing to spend a few passing minutes with these people and to see how they are expressing themselves – I found it captivating, equally mysterious and revealing. But, I still don’t have any tattoos.

You can see the behind the scenes video here: https://vimeo.com/175869636

http://www.briteproductions.net/cade-martin

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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.

Personal Projects are crucial in showing potential buyers how you think creatively on your own. I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or show something I have never seen before. In this revised column, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: projects are found and submissions are not accepted.

Today’s Featured Artist: Kris Davidson

http://www.krisdavidson.com/PROJECTS/IN-THE-SOUTHERN-GARDEN/thumbs

KRIS DAVIDSON // PROJECT STATEMENT // In the Southern Garden
MEDIUM:  20”x 24” and 30”x 40”prints on archival matte paper. 
SUMMARY: In the Southern Garden is a photographic study of how history lives on in the American South; primarily a portrait series, the project depicts southerners from all walks of life wearing their history

“The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero

In the Southern Garden is an exploration of how individual identity and everyday life continue to unfold in the American South, a place where the past is always present and constantly in a state of revision by the people who tell and re-tell their stories over time. Using a 4×5 view camera, the image-making process is slow, deliberate and collaborative. This project looks at how Southerners understand and wear their own history. 

The American South is lush, green and dominated still by vast expanses of the arable land that gave rise to a slave economy. The idea of a garden serves as a metaphor for the nature of memory, which is seeded and cultivated, and yet, grows wildly when left untended.  The portraits are typically made in garden settings, farming areas or in nature. Some of the portraits feature subjects directly referencing their embraced history (such as Confederate re-enactors or Harriet Tubman) while others are more subtle in every-day dress. It is in bringing all of these portraits together, that history conflates, strangely revealing parallels and intersections of the African-American and white narratives. Every subject is treated with respect. Every subject is an American.

The American South is a place that is tragic, strong, graceful, insolent, optimistic, beautiful, conservative yet wild — teeming with memories that are overgrown and intertwined like untended foliage along the banks of the Mississippi River.

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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.

Personal Projects are crucial in showing potential buyers how you think creatively on your own. I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or show something I have never seen before. In this revised column, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: projects are found and submissions are not accepted.

Today’s artist: Adam Moran

Shaun White, Beyond the Medals

In 2008 I was working for Burton Snowboards as a Team Manager and was approached help manage Shaun White. Shaun had just won gold at the Torino Olympics and was at times labeled the most popular teenager in the world. I knew it would be an interesting job, but also one that would allow me to document what life is like for someone in his shoes. Shaun and I had known each other for a few years, but suddenly we were spending over 5 months a year traveling and working together. Having always been inspired by the lifestyle of the skate and snow scene that Ari Marcopolous shot, and Walter Ioss’s behind the scenes of Michael Jordan, I knew this was a really cool opportunity. I wanted to show moments from  Shaun’s life that were real and honest and different than what might be in the magazines or catalogs at the time.

What made these photos possible and special to me was that there was a huge trust between us, and it was a pre social media world. Myspace existed, but Facebook was only at colleges, and Instagram still far away so whatever we shot never felt rushed or needed to be posted immediately. Shaun could always see what I shot, and he liked that someone was there to shoot all the fun and behind the scenes moments. We never shot with the goal of getting likes, it was just to document, and we laughed a lot along the way.  I quickly learned that everything needed to be shot on small cameras like a Leica, or point and shoots as to not create a scene around a celebrity. That also that allowed me to sneak in moments that people weren’t realizing.   The goal was to shoot what was real, and never make it feel like a photoshoot. At times we created moments, but it was always out of fun.

It was a crazy time for Shaun, he went from being a 19 year old famous in action sports, to a globally recognized celebrity everywhere we went. I saw the ups and down sides of fame, but also got to be a fly on the wall documenting it with no specific end goal. We spent a little over 3 years together, traveling the world non stop, and many of these shots just piled up as we went along. I was there at events, press conferences,  photo shoots, test driving cars, buying houses, etc, all the time snapping away. Not until recently did I go back through the archives and pull this all together to find some of my favorites.  As I look back, it was an experience worthy of two lifetimes, and I’m glad there was no Facebook or Instagram around to have felt compelled to post on.

To see the full gallery on my website click here.
http://www.adammoran.com/2918577-beyond-the-medals-shaun-white#0

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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.

Personal Projects are crucial in showing potential buyers how you think creatively on your own. I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or show something I have never seen before. In this revised column, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: projects are found and submissions are not accepted.

Today’s personal project: Pete Barrett

So that others may live…

These images came from a recent shoot as part of an ongoing personal project I’ve been shooting all across the country for the past year & 1/2 called “The American Worker Project” where I find people with interesting jobs and feature them in their work environment both on stills and video.

This particular shoot found me shooting the brave men and women of the US Coast Guard, Cape Disappointment Station in Ilwaco, Washington.

Located at the mouth of the Columbia River where it meets the Pacific Ocean, Cape Disappointment is known as one of the most treacherous and deadly waterways in the western hemisphere. Commonly referred to as “The Graveyard of The Pacific,” the waterways in the area are so turbulent that well over 2000 shipwrecks have occurred and over 700 lives have been lost. When the large incoming Pacific swells collide with the strong currents flowing from the mighty Columbia River, the result is incredibly turbulent water and high surf that is unpredictable and extremely unforgiving. When someone is in trouble at sea,  stranded,  alone and taking on water, it is the US Coast Guard who answers the call. They will go out in extremely adverse conditions and lay their lives on the line to rescue those in need.  

It was such a pleasure and honor working with them. As you would expect from any US military unit, their level of professionalism and expertise were unparalleled. During my several day shoot with them I was granted access to photograph them working on both their 47 foot and 52 foot motor lifeboats as they did high seas surf training, man overboard rescue training, boat to boat rescues and towing drills.

The most exciting activity of the bunch, hands down was the high seas surf training. I was reminded several times by the crew and Senior officers of how lucky I was to be included in this activity, as it is extremely rare that a civilian is allowed to go out in these conditions with them. It is not something that I took lightly and did my best to capture just a little bit of what it is like for them out on the water. The experience is amazing! At times it is not unlike being in a huge washing machine as the boats are tossed around like toys by the power of these huge waves. Imagine yourself standing roughly 15 feet off the surface of the water, tethered to the railing atop the upper deck of a 47 foot boat with 5 crew members, looking up at waves that are cresting easily 10 feet higher than you.  

Now consider this… the day I was on board for surf training was a relatively tame day for them. While it was a white knuckle ride for me, it was but a fraction of the conditions that they are actually able to handle.

Quite an experience to say the least, but all in a day’s work for these folks.

Response to this project has been amazing. The overall American Worker Project has been featured in 10 articles in various magazines and has brought in a bunch of estimates and even a few decent advertising assignments. Since releasing these Coast Guard photos, my blog has received well over 1000 unique visitors in the last 3 days alone and has generated contacts for future shoot possibilities shooting the helicopter rescue branch of the Coast Guard and the possibility of shooting on an aircraft carrier with the US Navy. Fingers crossed on those…. stay tuned. :-)

To learn more about these brave folks and see more images, please see my latest blog post here: http://blog.petebarrett.com/?p=2242

You can see more of my American Worker Project by clicking this link to that gallery on my website. https://www.petebarrett.com/Projects/American-Worker-Project/thumbs

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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.

Personal Projects are crucial in showing potential buyers how you think creatively on your own. I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or show something I have never seen before. In this revised column, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: projects are found and submissions are not accepted.

Today’s personal project: Lars Toplemann

http://www.larstopelmann.com/PROJECTS/lars-stickers/thumbs

One day I discovered that my Goatee and bald head made a funny profile. It was a shadow on a wall that I traced in photoshop and made into a sticker. I started sticking them around and handing them out to friends. I really loved finding creative places to stick them and photograph them.

I post photos on Instagram and Facebook. I wheat pasted some photos onto thin plywood and showed them as a collection at Chiat Day and Team One in Los Angeles. Next to the images, I had lots of “Lars Stickers” that I gave out for free in hopes that people would stick em up and the photograph them. I have have received images of Lars Stickers from all over the world. Even on a camel’s butt in Egypt!

It’s fun to see stickers that are up after a couple years in public places, but are out of plain sight.

I continue to “stick responsibly” and shoot the sticker locations all around Portland and my travels.

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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.

Personal Projects are crucial in showing potential buyers how you think creatively on your own. I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or show something I have never seen before. In this revised column, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: projects are found and submissions are not accepted.

Today’s personal project: Tom Hussey

http://www.tomhussey.com/PROJECTS/NORTHERN-LIGHT/thumbs

“Northern Lights” is a project conceived due to my love of things handcrafted. Vermont has a great number of artisans working a craft that long ago was outsourced or taken over by machinery. When I started planning the trip it was referred to as a “Cheese Tour”. I wanted to get to know and photograph the people raising the animals, making the cheese, and taking it to the world market. As I was researching the cheese process I came to discover that there were numerous other handcrafts happening in Vermont — thus the scope of the project expanded a bit. I did photograph six different cheese producers — loving every one for different reasons. However, along the way, I met other craftspeople, I met Calley Hastings, a wonderful woman who instead of making cheese from goat’s milk, took another approach and has a rapidly growing business creating craft caramel made with goat’s milk. I also discovered Timothy Clark Furniture. Tim hand crafts incredible Windsor style chairs and benches. White Room Custom Skis, owned by Vin Faraci, creates bespoke skis to fit each customer including gorgeous custom hardwood laminated designs on the ski tops. I spent a truly enjoyable 5 days crisscrossing Vermont, photographing people that were passionate about their craft and their process. These hardy New Englanders are keeping the tradition of hand creation alive and well — even thriving. I was inspired by the journey, the people I met along the way, and the goods they produce.
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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.

Personal Projects are crucial in showing potential buyers how you think creatively on your own. I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or show something I have never seen before. In this revised column, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: projects are found and submissions are not accepted.

Wilson Hennessy

VENICE NIGHTS

I grew up watching American films and loving American cars. This was back in the days when American cars were especially different and interesting. Remember the the Chevy Chase wagon? The A- Team Van? Wayne’s car in Wayne’s World? All these cars were unusual, yet still very cool.

When I travel to Los Angeles, as an outsider looking in, I am always awestruck by all the old cars still being driven on the roads throughout the city. LA’s ultimate hipster culture and perfect climate help to preserve these iconic cars. At night, you can see loads of great cars scattered along the streets parked in front of houses.

I have driven around admiring these cars on numerous occasions. On one particular visit last year, I spent a couple of evenings wandering around documenting some of the cars I came across. I photographed a wide selection of cars, trucks, and vans – some old, some new, some fully restored, and some completely wrecked. This became the project which I later called Venice Nights.
I try to have all my personal projects fit to a basic framework and follow some simple parameters. I find this helps me to maintain a series of consistent work. For this project, my ‘rules’ required that all the cars were shot in profile, at night, lit with ambient street lighting. These rules limited me to documenting only the cars I came across which fit the criteria. It was somewhat akin to a street-casting for cars. I had to hope I found a cool car and an interesting background. Choosing Venice Beach as the location made that a pretty simple task.

This project was a big departure from my normal commercial work. By that I mean, I was focused on capturing an existing image rather than creating one in the studio or on location. It permitted me to shoot a lot looser than I normally have the chance to do — wandering the streets, seeing a car I liked, setting up the camera and tripod, and shooting just one or two frames before moving on to find the next subject. The biggest challenge was to integrate the bold colours I like to use throughout my work. I ended up shooting quite a lot of cars and editing the selects down from there to make it a smaller, cohesive series.

When I originally shot this project, I used it as a tool to help transition my social media posts (particularly on instagram – shameless plug – @wilson_hennessy). I started to post images in groups of 3, 6, or 9 to give my timeline a bit more consistency. This is what ultimately defined my Venice Nights series as a series of 9 images. Although I consider Venice Nights completed in this form, I think there are plenty of ways to further the project and to expand on the idea of documenting unique cars in cities around the world. The cars will always interest me, and this project will push me personally to shoot in a different way and expand my comfort zone. And isn’t that what’s fun about personal projects?

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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.